Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024/January 2025 i Bon Appetit

I relish the period of reflection that comes after the holiday parties and before the new year. It’s filled with best-of lists, from everything we ate, our favorite trips, and the recipes we tried. As the covers of Bon Appétit filled my office over the past year, a collage of stories, stunning photography, transportive dining experiences, and new recipes emerged: a mood board of food culture worthy of a toast. Our team has accomplished so much this year, including snagging a James Beard Award for our video series Street Eats, and a triumphant celebration of 2024’s Best New Restaurants in Portland, Oregon. As I scrolled through Instagram drafts from meals that never made it onto my feed, and hearted moments for my 2024 highlight reel, I found picking my favorite covers…

THE FLORAL SOCIETY LOVELY TAPER CANDLES Add drama to any dinner party with these 12- or 18-inch paraffin wax candles. Each stick is dipped 35 times to achieve deep, rich color. Lasting up to 15 hours a stick, this candlelight will linger as long as those late-night conversations. From $60; food52.com HOLCOMB STUDIO PUDDLE COASTERS For the most fastidious type A hosts on your list, these heavyweight, nonslip, stainless-steel coasters will catch every drip of condensation. $48; holcombstudio.com MINNA MERIDIAN APRON Even if you’re popping in and out of the kitchen to greet guests in a sauce-spattered apron, you can still look cute. This apron’s thoughtful design has a big pocket and a loop for hanging a kitchen towel. Plus, it’s machine-washable. $168; minna-goods.com continues on page 18…

Low tide on Palm Island, a private marsh off Charleston, South Carolina’s southern-most tip, holds an ethereal air just before sunset. Estuary life stirs behind the sprawling spartina grass, all burnished with an auburn glow. By winter, August’s humid cloak is long gone, freeing up temperate breezes that whirl in from the cooling waters of the Atlantic—a time locals know in their bones as oyster season. James London, chef and co-owner of Charleston’s Chubby Fish, grew up relishing the region’s distinct culinary traditions. From October through May, oysters that have matured throughout the summer months are ready to harvest. The Low-country, stretching along the Palmetto State’s coastline, hosts an abundant population of wild oysters, which grow in clusters along coastal waterways and marshlines. These are unlike their farm-raised counterparts, which…

Sometimes your statement dish just needs an extra sparkle. A getup that truly shines, that makes everyone ooh and aah when it reaches the table. Edible glitter, a decorative product that adds a tinselly glint to food surfaces, is the diamond of the season. Pinterest-loving bakers who swirl sparkles into cookie batter and pastry chefs who sprinkle gold dust on wedding cakes have long known this. We want to let you in on the fun. Party hosts and food stylists are proving that you can liven up food with glitter in original and playful ways. Why limit its uses to cookies and cakes? In Berlin, creative director Hannah Kleeberg dipped cherries in iridescent pink syrup for glitzy dinner parties. At the Rosewood London, food artist Imogen Kwok coated peanuts in…

The sturdy Marcato Atlas 150 Pasta Maker ($89; amazon.com) is one of our favorite gifts. It rolls smooth sheets of pasta at adjustable thicknesses and cuts dough into three shapes. Don’t have pastaios on your list? We’ve got something for bakers, latte lovers, dinner party hosts, and even those relatives you’re keen to impress.…

YESFOLK KOMBUCHA This upstate New York company’s 750-ml craft kombuchas hold their own on any home bar cart. We love Infloressence, a fruity combination of green tea, white tea, bougainvillea, and sumac, aged in American oak barrels. $23; yesfolktonics.com NAMA M1 PLANT-BASED MILK MAKER This newly released milk maker rocketed to the top of our wish lists for its ability to elegantly transform nuts and oats into creamy milks. $400; namawell.com KINTO WATER BOTTLE Hydration looks good with these sleek, softhued water bottles. Thanks to their copolyester material, they’re durable and scratch-resistant too. From $14; kinto-usa.com…

WHY WE LOVE IT If I had to choose one type of dish to make for the rest of my life, it would be soup. It’s the perfect one-pot meal that can be as complex as spicy laksa or as comfortingly simple as a vegetable purée. Christina Chaey’s Creamy Cauliflower Soup With Cheesy Mustard Croutons falls in the latter camp. It starts with humble, full-ofpotential cauliflower, which you’ll gently simmer with garlic, onion, and a generous pour of half-and-half. While the soup bubbles away, scatter shredded Gruyère over mustard-slicked cubes of bread and bake them into croutons. A blender quickly transforms the cauliflower into a velvety purée before you add the final flourishes: floral pepper and a squeeze of lemon. The result is a monochromatic bowl with unexpected oomph. 4…

It seems fitting that the hometown of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening is best known for Homer Simpson’s favorite food: the irresistible doughnut. While neighborhood mom-and-pop shops have been satisfying city doughnut hounds since the 1980s, it was Voodoo Doughnut’s pink boxes and left field flavors—such as the much-mythologized and since-discontinued NyQuil doughnut—that made Portland a doughnut destination in the early aughts. At Voodoo, the doughnut was reimagined as a canvas for experimentation. These “nonconformist doughnuts,” as Anthony Bourdain once called them, struck a chord in this capital of all things quirky and have been a recognizable culinary marker ever since. Today, there’s a variety of doughnut shops and styles, with innovative entrants like springy mochi ones that pay tribute to Portland’s diverse food culture. The city’s eight best include made-to-order…

“WASSAIL!” Hundreds of revelers roar at once, thrusting homemade torches into the freezing air and banging pans together with cacophonous glee. It’s stadium-loud, a din to wake the dead. January in New York’s Hudson Valley is typically a quiet time. Summer’s giddy rollicking is a distant memory. The fall foliage that sets the hills ablaze come October has long scattered, rustling leaves underfoot giving way to the hush of snow. With the holidays in the rearview mirror, most who call the region home gratefully give in to the slowness of the season. Everything in the valley becomes muted; hibernation is the order of the day. But on one particular afternoon each year, folks break from their slow puttering to gather in the orchards of 200-year-old Rose Hill Farm with a…

Don’t believe what they’ve told you: You can indeed improve on a classic, especially when you marry the best of two worlds. This cold-weather tipple combines the cozy spice flavors of buttered rum with silky-smooth hot chocolate, creating a drink that’s luscious and complex. It’s an after-dinner drink and a luxurious dessert in one steaming hot mug. In our update, butter and rum super-charge the chocolate, while pantry staples like cinnamon and nutmeg complement the delicately spiced notes of dark rum. The hot chocolate starts with melted bitter-sweet chocolate and is sweetened by brown sugar. Topping the velvety blend with fresh whipped cream is optional, but is absolutely encouraged. Buttered-rum hot chocolate can do double duty as a nonalcoholic drink too. Just leave out the rum and you’ll find yourself…

BREVILLE ORACLE TOUCH ESPRESSO MACHINE It grinds beans. It textures milk. It extracts coffee at the ideal water temperature. The lucky recipient of this do-it-all wonder can get fresh ground café-quality java with the touch of a button. $2,800; williams-sonoma.com ELIA OLIVE OIL CAKE MIX COLLECTION Subtly sweet and luxuriously textured, these Greekinspired cake mixes take approximately five minutes to throw together, which is far less time than a flight to the Mediterranean. They come in lemon vanilla, dark chocolate espresso, and citrus almond. $87; eliaelia.co PROPER SYRUPS Sweeten your cup with all-natural syrups made from organic cane sugar and agave. With rich flavors like strawberry, lavender, and pistachio, they’re crafted for specialty coffee. From $15; propersyrup.com…

BON APPÉTIT TOMATO NOTEBOOK It’s always summer with this journal made by premium stationery brand Papier. Its 96 blank pages are ready to fill with recipes, grocery lists, or meal-prep planning. $40, shop.bonappetit.com MIDDLETON MADE KNIVES FOLDING CHEF’S KNIFE A handy five-inch ultrasharp stainless-steel blade is ideal for the on-the-go cook who can’t Airbnb without a good knife. It clicks into place with a grooved ergonomic handle. $280; middletonmadeknives.com SIR/MADAM BAKER’S DOZEN WOODEN SPOONS Each set of these beechwood spoons is hand-carved into various shapes and sizes, ready to tackle baking projects, rustic stews, and more. From $120; hawkinsnewyork.com…

COLOSSAL CRÈME BRÛLÉE 6–8 SERVINGS This oversized crème brûlée isn’t just an impressive centerpiece dessert. It is actually far easier to make than individual ones requiring ramekins that see light once a year and can waterlog during the baking process. The large format also makes it harder to overbake, ensuring a luscious silky custard heady with floral vanilla. The signature crackly amber topping is created from sugar caramelized with a blowtorch. Do yourself a favor and invest in one if you haven’t already (see sidebar below). 3 cups heavy cream1 Tbsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract¾ cup plus 3 Tbsp. (188 g) granulated sugar8 large egg yolks1¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal or¾ tsp. Morton kosher salt SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: A blowtorch or kitchen torch Place a rack in middle of oven…

Capers are like flattery—a little goes a long way. These pops of brine, moody in color and assertive in flavor, more than carry their weight; often, a tablespoon is enough to enliven a dish. You know their power if you’ve added a sprinkle to a bagel with lox, scattered some over a niçoise salad, or used them to fortify a pasta puttanesca. Though petite in size, the pantry stalwart makes a big impression on anything savory needing a hit of lemony tang. Technically, capers are the flower buds of the Capparis spinosa plant, a prickly shrub commonly found bordering the Mediterranean, in places like Morocco and Greece. The smallest variety is nonpareil, meaning “without peer” in French and available in most grocery stores. Sold packed in salt or submerged in…