Innholdsfortegnelse for December/January 2021 i Bon Appetit

IN SWEDEN THE HOLIDAY SEASON revolves around one beverage: glögg. Seemingly every single meal during the month of December begins (and ends) with a glass (or three) of this warm ruby red mulled wine. When I was growing up, the moment my grandmother started to cook up a batch on her stove signaled that the festivities were about to begin. I knew that delicious spreads of baked hams, herring prepared in a variety of ways, lutfisk, and gubbröra would be landing on the dining room table in no time. Oh, and I was amped to realize that it wouldn’t be long until I’d receive some Christmas presents too. I was blessed to be raised by a family that put a strong emphasis on tradition and customs, especially when it came…

• Ceramist Lalese Stamps was feeling stuck. “I was making the same pieces over and over—pieces that people wanted to buy—but I wasn’t challenging myself,” she recalls. To break out of her rut, Stamps made a different mug every day for 100 days. She chose sleek black clay for the project and fashioned unique handles for each. One resembles the rings of Saturn, another a tiny steering wheel, and a third sports spikes worthy of Bowser Koopa. These two, which we love, suggest rainbows in monochrome.…

• There’s a singular disappointment in being bewitched by a bottle label’s chic design only to find the contents… underwhelming. Thankfully, these three new aperitifs deliver in both style and substance. From Negronis to Americanos to nonalcoholic spritzes—hello, Ghia!—they bring high-quality apertifhour bitterness.…

FOR ARTIST DERRICK ADAMS, depicting civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a state of repose was a radical yet logical choice. “When you’re dealing with oppressive structures, being able to relax is a revolutionary thing,” he says. And yet there are very few images out there of Black activists at leisure. Painted from an Ebony magazine photo of King vacationing at a Jamaican resort with his family in 1967, the piece is meant to humanize a figure so often viewed as one-dimensional. “What I’m showing here is Martin as a whole person,” Adams says. “In doing so, I’m shedding light on the type of activism that can exist today—how it can be a part of anyone’s life. People can protest and then go out to lunch with…

MARCUS SAMUELSSON: So, how’s quarantine been for you? What have you been up to? JANELLE MONÁE: It’s gone in different stages. When there was a mandate to stay in the house, I was like, Oh, it’s going to be a snow day. When you don’t have school and you have your friends over and you have a good time. Then it turned into something worse. I have been depressed. I’ve cried. I’ve accepted. I’ve adapted. I’m just putting my energy into figuring out how I can be of service, how I can help. MS: Let’s talk about food. Growing up, who was the cook in the family? JM: My mom was the cook—and actually my grandmother was the cook too. My grandmother served food in the county jail for 25…

This year was one to remember. Though 2020 was difficult, I also wanted to pause to recognize the joys that came out of this historic time. But first I had to ask: Can we celebrate this year, and what does that look like? I realized we could—we just had to get creative. So I invited a few neighborhood friends to Harlem for a socially distanced New Year’s Eve party and asked others to join us on Zoom, which is such a sign of the times. I thought it was important for us as a community to appreciate making it to 2021. I served food from my new book, The Rise, which showcases the diversity of Black excellence in cooking and the vast creativity of Black people, two things we should…

PRETZEL AND POTATO CHIP MOON PIES P. 96 Little Debbie’s chocolate marshmallow pies were my favorite packaged treat as a kid. I’d carefully separate the layers with a butter knife, toast the marshmallow on a fork over the gas burner, then sandwich it all back together. Even as a kid I knew that desserts are better with a bit of extra-toasty flavor. That’s why I’m obsessed with these all-grown-up moon pies. The shortbread cookies are loaded with blitzed-up pretzels (for that extra toastiness) and salty potato chips—the perfect contrast to the sticky-sweet marshmallows and half-dip of bitter dark chocolate.—SOHLA EL-WAYLLY COFFEE-HAZELNUT BISCOTTI P. 96 When I was growing up, biscotti was a hard sell. Compared with all the other holiday cookies, the rock-hard one that you dipped in licorice-flavored liqueur…

SHOPPING LIST HOLIDAY GIFTS pp. 13–30 SORI YANAGI STAINLESS STEEL MIXING BOWLS, $217; jinenstore.com CASA BOSQUES CHOCOLATE BARS, $12–$22; casabosques.co GHIA NONALCOHOLIC APERITIF, $33; drinkghia.com MOMMENPOP BLOOD ORANGE APERITIF, $34; mommenpop.com FACCIA BRUTTO APERITIVO, $35; leonandsonwine.com THE SPICE HOUSE BERBERE, $7 for 2.4-oz jar; thespicehouse.com PARWANA COOKBOOK, $31; amazon.com MAFI MAFI ETHIOPIAN SCARVES, $150; instagram.com/mafimafiet FLAMEKEEPERS HAT CLUB TORCH MB DLUX BURGUNDY HAT, $150; flamekeepershatclub.com SERENGETI ETHIOPIAN BLACK TEA BLEND, $18 for 3.5 oz; serengetiteasandspices.com BARBUTO COOKBOOK, $28; amazon.com HARLEM CANDLE COMPANY CANDLE, $60; harlemcandlecompany.com DANYAKI IDEATION APRONS, $90; danyaki.com NONG’S KHAO MAN GAI SAUCE, $14, khaomangai.com SAINT FLORA THE EVERLASTING MINI DRIED BOUQUET, $28 each (two pictured); saintflora.com HELL’S BACKBONE “DESERT IN A JAR” SPICE RUB, $14; hellsbackbonegrill.com TACOS 1986 COACH’S JACKET, $70; tacos1986.com LIL’ DEB’S OASIS CANDLE, $25;…

• Pastry chef Ayako Kurokawa, owner of the tiny Brooklyn bakery Burrow, swears by this set of stainless-steel bowls from Japanese midcentury industrial designer Sori Yanagi. “They’re beautiful and practical, stackable and easy to hold,” Kurokawa explains. Whether you’re prepping your mise en place in the small bowl or mixing up holiday cookies (we have some good ones on page 82) in the big bowl, you’re covered. For Kurokawa, no others will do; she brought her own personal set to Burrow the minute she signed the lease.…

The problem with flowers is that, like youth and Girl Scout cookie season, they don’t last forever. Three days in, petals brown and stems turn slimy. This explains the appeal of artist and floral designer Tosha Stimage’s arrangements—they’re already dead! The Everlasting Mini showcases exuberant dyed pink blooms, magenta leaves, and fuchsia grasses, all dried and ready for indefinite display.…

• In 2020 we stockpiled beans and babied our sourdough starters, but nothing changed us quite like growing our own mushrooms. We watched with fascination as tiny capped heads sprouted from a brick inoculated with millions of spores, sometimes doubling in size over the course of a workday, until the largest mushroom caps neared the size of Eggo waffles. When we realized we were no longer in control, we harvested them. And we ate them, sautéed in butter and soy sauce.…

It was a small houseIn a small neighborhoodTheir bedroom was in the front overlooking the front porchMine in the back sharing a windowInto our next door neighbor’s homeEdith White always closed the curtainsWhen darkness arrived The living room held a pianoWhich I never learned to playAnd a television set that I rememberBeing awakenedTo see Lena Horne onEd SullivanThe couch was a rose color print and I still have itThough now it holds mostly my booksAnd a quilt given to me when I was diagnosedWith lung cancer Our kitchen held a pantryThat I arrangedAnd waxedUntil the mice gave upAnd went away Grandpapa purchased GrandmotherA stove that had a deep wellA forerunner to the slow cooker The refrigerator never held chicken eggsThey lay in a triangular dishWhich I still have with blue…

1—LANA TURNER An icon of Harlem fashion—and wearer of incredible hats—who has worked in New York City real estate and art. 2—BEVY SMITH Television personality, host of SiriusXM’s ‘Bevelations,’ and author of the forthcoming book, ‘Bevelations: Lessons from a Mutha, Auntie, Bestie.’ 3—DAPPER DAN Fashion designer and Harlem native who introduced high fashion to hip-hop. 4—RAKIEM WALKER Composer, saxophonist, pianist, and leader of the Rakiem Walker Project. 5—MARCUS SAMUELSSON Chef, cookbook author, and the host for the evening. 6—MELBA WILSON Cookbook author, president of the New York Hospitality Alliance, and founder of quintessential Harlem restaurant Melba’s. 7—MAYA HAILE Model, philanthropist, and founder of Three Goats, which supports the health and well-being of vulnerable communities in Ethiopia. She and Samuelsson have been married since 2009. 8—THELMA GOLDEN Director and chief curator…

“I started working here as a cashier in February, right before the shutdown. When we reopened in May, nothing was the same. Our lines used to be a lot longer, but people are scared. I’m worried about another quarantine. If we have to lock down again, everything’ll be over. Like, Los Tacos is gonna close. I could lose my job. Yet rent will still be due! I’m Mexican and I know so many people from my country who’ve gone home because they don’t feel there are any more opportunities here. I feel safe at work, at least. We wear masks; we wear gloves; we take our temperature; and there’s hand sanitizer everywhere. Most customers wear masks, but some still think it’s a joke. I tell them, ‘I’m taking care of…

• We heard about Casa Bosques from chef and artist Laila Gohar, who used the chocolate to create edible surrealist busts. Cool, we thought. Then we tried it. Tasty, we thought. The bean-to-bar chocolate company was founded by Rafael Prieto, who runs design agency Savvy Studio when he’s not tinkering with chocolate in Mexico City. “We have these ancient traditions of eating and drinking cacao in Mexico,” Prieto says, “so why, when you think ‘chocolate,’ do you think of Belgium and Switzerland?” Prieto works with chefs like Enrique Olvera and Elena Reygadas to pair chocolate from Latin America with roasted blue maize, hoja santa, pink peppercorn, and—Gohar’s favorite—cardamom.…

• Chances are you’re not going to be shoulder to shoulder at a holiday party this year, alternating between slurps of oysters and sparkling wine. But you can re-create the experience in the comfort of your home with a sack of bivalves from Hog Island Oyster Co. Before COVID, restaurants made up the majority of its business, but direct-to-consumer sales have kept the lights on. A bag of 60 plus shipping averages out to $2.50 per oyster—which means you’re actually getting them cheaper than you would at a restaurant.…

• If you have a candle problem, consider Josephine Heilpern an enabler. Heilpern, the ceramist behind BA fave Recreation Center, turned us on to Piera Bochner’s wild candles—one part produce and one part NSFW. Bochner learned the art of mold making while training as a sculptor in Berlin, and after casting a candle mold from a romanesco, she knew she had found her muse. She scours the produce aisle for textural fruits and vegetables like bitter melon, sugar apple, and bumpy decorative gourds. Heilpern laments, “I can’t bring myself to burn these—they’re too beautiful.”…

WHEN CHEF SOPHIA ROE cooks dinner at home, it’s always streamlined for speed. Based in Brooklyn, Roe has been busy producing and hosting a new food show for Vice (debuting this month). When she’s not doing that, she’s teaching her devoted Instagram followers how to preserve lemons and braise cabbage while also engaging them in candid conversations about subjects such as anti-racism and how to cope with trauma. When Roe cooks for herself, she prizes healthyish plant-based dishes with minimal prep or fuss. “Some people think elevated food needs to take a long time, but that’s not true,” she says. “You just need to put purpose and thought into it.” Instead of relying on too many ingredients or high-tech equipment, Roe deploys practical techniques (preheat your baking sheet for the…

“RESTAURANT PEOPLE are used to throwing themselves at a problem until the problem goes away, but the situation we’re in is not one that can be solved with more hours or work. We were hoping to make 2020 all about employee and guest education. On March 9 we hosted a public event where we shared our profit-and-loss statement from 2019. The bottom line: It’s really hard to run a restaurant. And then it got a lot harder, like, one week later. We voluntarily closed Mei Mei a couple days before the state ordered it. In April we furloughed a number of employees and started doing takeout, groceries, and prepared foods. We launched a donorfunded initiative that delivered 40,000 pounds of groceries to immigrants and undocumented workers, and we started a…

RAY OF HOPE José Andrés, chef and World Central Kitchen founder “I closed two of my restaurants. Why? Because it was the smart thing to do. I don’t feel defeated; it’s part of life. There’s an old saying, ‘Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.’ We are in for a big fight in the months ahead. Let’s hope the government gives us an injection of capital. We are an army of millions, and those people need to go back to work to feed America. Restaurants have always been a place to break bread, a place to come together. Sometimes it’s not even about the food. It’s about restoring our bodies and our faith in each other and the idea that together we can get through this.” How…

Life-of-the-Party Layer Cake 8 SERVINGS If you don’t have or want to invest in six 6" pans, you can bake layers in batches two at a time. Let pans cool before cleaning and preparing with fresh parchment between batches. CAKE Nonstick cooking oil spray2⅔ cups (335 g) all-purpose flour1 Tbsp. baking powder½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt1½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar½ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature3 large eggs1⅓ cups whole milk1 Tbsp. vanilla extract Orange, green, yellow, red, pink, and black food coloring FROSTING AND ASSEMBLY 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature2 8-oz. packages chilled cream cheese, cut into pieces1 Tbsp. vanilla extract2 lb. (907 g) powdered sugar2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt Yellow,…