Food & Wine November 2023

2021 PLANETA CERASUOLO DI VITTORIA ($23) Planeta is one of Sicily’s best-known wineries. This blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato is all cranberry and currant with hints of minty eucalyptus. It’s light enough to serve as an aperitif, but flavorful enough for main courses. 2019 RHYS SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS CHARDONNAY ($45) With this vintage, the more affordable Alesia label gets folded in under the main Rhys name. Winemaker Jeff Brinkman says, “There’s that lemon-rind citrus that comes through, then a chalky minerality.” He’s exactly right. MORTLACH 16 YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY ($115) A very wintry whisky, this expression from Mortlach is the perfect post-holiday-dinner sipper as the weather grows colder. It’s full of sweet sherry-cask notes that play against its innately rich dried fruit and spicy character.…

Cooking the Classics FOR HOME COOKS LIKE ME who take their kitchen cues from the farmers market, this is such a wonderful time of year to cook for the people you love. Take this simple, elemental recipe for Silken Turnip and Potato Soup from the late Edna Lewis, who codified farm-to-table cooking in the regional Southern vernacular, starting in 1972 with The Edna Lewis Cookbook and finishing in 2003 with The Gift of Southern Cooking, her now-classic collaboration with chef Scott Peacock. Lewis and Peacock first shared the velvety soup and the Cheese Straws recipe on p. 110 in the November 1998 issue of Food & Wine, as part of a 19-recipe Thanksgiving menu that may be the largest we’ve ever published. “That [soup] was pure Miss Lewis,” Peacock told…

THERE IS NO GREATER LUXURY than a platter of perfectly cut fruit. Just ask chefs Justin Pichetrungsi and Calvin Eng (both 2022 Food & Wine Best New Chefs), who serve thoughtful, gorgeous fruit platters as the grand finale to a meal at their respective restaurants, Anajak Thai in Sherman Oaks, California, and Bonnie’s in Brooklyn. And it’s not just impressive in restaurants: When entertaining this holiday season, consider laying out a large plate of well-sourced and -prepared fruit. Whether enjoyed at the beginning or end of a meal, the fresh, crunchy, and juicy fruit can provide a welcome respite from the endless parade of rich holiday dishes. Follow these pro tips on how to assemble a truly showstopping fruit platter at home. PLAN YOUR PLATTER 1. PICK YOUR FRUIT There…

KNOWING THE EXACT TEMPERATURE of your food can prevent you from overcooked steaks, rubbery fish, or even a dry holiday turkey. Sure, you can press and prod, insert a cake tester and hold it against a tender area of your body, or observe the color of the juices running out. But as time-honored as these temperature-testing techniques are, they still leave room for error. This is where a meat thermometer comes in to save face—and your meal. Provided it’s accurate, a meat thermometer leaves no question about the current state of your food. To help you decide which meat thermometer is right for you, here are five of our F&W Test Lab–vetted favorites. BEST INSTANT-READ 1. THERMOWORKS THERMAPEN ONE This meat thermometer is about as easy to use as it…

THE SWINGING, BULBOUS, BRIGHT GREEN GOURDS in my grandparents’ backyard didn’t belong there. After all, their tiny spot in San Francisco was often wrapped in a blanket of fog and averaged a crisp 60 degrees. It was the opposite of the steamy, tropical climate where chayote (or mirliton, as it’s referred to in the Deep South) typically grows. But despite it being geographically out of place, the squash thrived, and today it wends through memories of my home and family. The curlicue chayote vines wrapped around my nana’s clothesline, reminding me of her nimble fingers threading wet clothes to dry. On rare sunny days, the chayote shaded my grandpa while he hoed weeds, humming a tune that I still know by heart. In the early days after I was born,…

TALKING TO ERICK WILLIAMS about roux is like going to church. After the owner and executive chef of Virtue Restaurant & Bar in Chicago wrapped our conversation about his approach to—and, more importantly, philosophy on—the power of cooking equal parts flour and fat for the foundation of so many sauces, gravies, and stews, I was a true believer. It starts with Williams’ position on turkey gravy: He goes dark with the roux, patiently stirring flour and butter together until it takes on a coffee-brown color and an intense, nutty flavor. It’s a process that stems from childhood memories of his mother’s rich smothered chicken, which she made by incorporating browned bits from the frying pan with fat and flour to thicken the gravy. Later, when he was taught how to make…