Cook Around Anything
Tell us who's coming. Every recipe re-renders with its best honest substitution, or tells you kindly to cook its sibling instead. Your choices follow you around the site.
Or pick it apart:
Dairy-free? You're already home. Every recipe here is dairy-free as written.
Cooking for someone who wants the real thing? Flip it: the cultured butter, cream, and pecorino come back, macros re-priced.
Starters7 dishes
Avocado Toast1 h 13 min
Thick sourdough fried crackling in olive oil, guacamole cool on top, a lace-edged egg with a liquid yolk, and cold ribbons of lox draped on last so they never cook.
Hot Honey Bacon-Wrapped Dates2 h 17 min
Each date roasts to a candy chew inside a lacquered ring of bacon, a marcona snapping at the center, and the hot honey lands sweet, then chile, then a sherry-vinegar edge that sends your hand straight back.
Carciofi alla Giudìa2 h 23 min
Bronze petals shatter like chips and give way to a heart gone sweet and cream-soft, the whole flower eaten with fingers, nothing on it but flaky salt and a hard squeeze of lemon.
Chicken Karaage2 h 44 min
Rough-cut thighs steeped in soy, sake, and ginger, squeezed into a craggy potato-starch shell and fried twice so the crust shatters over juicy meat. Lemon first, always; the spicy mayo is why nobody stops at one.
Guacamole38 min
Rubble of ripe Hass folded through a knife-made paste of onion, serrano, and cilantro, half a lime, and salt built in stages until the avocado gets louder.
Levantine Mezze15 h 39 min
Hummus blends scalding hot and whips ivory-pale with ice water and lemon, warm cumin oil pooling in the spiral well. Muhammara answers in rust-red, coarse with toasted walnuts and sour with pomegranate molasses, and the pita hits the table still steaming.
Seared Scallop Amuse-Bouche2 h 53 min
One scallop per spoon, crusted mahogany and translucent at the center, set on smoky red pepper coulis with herb oil.
The Morning After6 dishes
Chocolate Babka French Toast8 h 47 min
Slices of yesterday's babka griddle bronze in plant butter, chocolate rings molten, flaky salt, a cold tangy spoonful alongside.
Cabin Eggs5 h 7 min
Kept barely above the temperature where eggs set and stirred slow, the curds stay glossy and custard-soft. Herb-steeped cabin oil pools amber in the folds, capers fried crisp in it shatter salty-sour on top, and pea-size dots of hot-sauce fluid gel ring the mound, flaring bright against all that gentleness.
Filet Bites16 h 35 min
Cubes of tenderloin, four seared faces each, basted in foaming lemon-parsley butter.
Liège Waffles15 h 57 min
Brioche dough proofed overnight in the cold, studded with pearl sugar, and pressed on a hot iron until the sugar runs molten into pockets of caramel and lacquers the edges to glass. The shell cracks, the crumb chews, and nobody reaches for syrup.
Patatas Bravas3 h 46 min
Potatoes go into the oil twice, so they click against the spider before they hit the platter. Brick-rust bravas sauce stripes over half and cool garlic aioli sits in its own zones, bare crackling edges showing between.
Shakshuka with Zhoug2 h 21 min
Charred pepper and bloomed cumin turn the sauce brick-red, yolks wobble like set jelly in their wells, and zhoug threads fierce green across the top.
Pasta9 dishes
Linguine Aglio e Olio1 h 31 min
Slivers of garlic gone honey-gold in cold-start olive oil, then beaten with starchy water until the sauce grips the flat of every ribbon. Peperoncino warmth that arrives a beat after you swallow, a thread of raw green oil poured over off the heat, lemon crumbs crackling on top.
Beef Pad See Ew2 h 15 min
Wide rice noodles blister against screaming steel until they char smoky-black, lacquered in sweet dark soy with seared beef, browned egg curds, and snapping gai lan.
Tonnarelli al Pepe1 h 25 min
Toasted Tellicherry blooms warm and floral through every strand, the tonnarelli lacquered in a savory pale-gold cream of cashew, miso, and pepper-stained pasta water.
Carbonara1 h 52 min
Rendered guanciale, a six-yolk custard built off the heat, and black pepper bloomed in the pork fat until it perfumes every tube inside and out. The short ridged shape traps the sauce instead of merely wearing it. A fine amber snow of cured egg yolk carries the salt and the savor, and the Pecorino waits on the dairy table for whoever wants Rome.
Dan Dan Noodles3 h 10 min
Sesame paste, brick-red chili oil, and ya cai wait under the noodles; nothing looks like the dish until everyone tosses their own bowl: twenty seconds, bottom to top, every strand running terracotta under crackling pork.
Hand-Cut Tagliatelle4 h 40 min
Rolled by hand until your palm's shadow shows through the sheet, cut into quarter-inch ribbons, boiled ninety seconds. Broiler-blackened peppers and San Marzanos blend into a sauce strained smooth as paint, thick enough to lacquer every strand without pooling in the bowl.
Harissa Rigatoni alla Vodka1 h 23 min
Ridged tubes carry coconut cream turned burnt-orange by harissa bloomed brick-dark in oil, vodka sharpening the edges, caraway humming underneath.
Lasagne alla Bolognese8 h 10 min
Six whisper-thin sheets of egg sfoglia stack with brick-brown ragù and nutmeg besciamella until the layers fuse into one sliceable thing. The top blisters gold, the exposed corners brown and crackle, and a full thirty-minute rest lets every square stand up with its stripes showing.
Linguine ai Gamberi2 h 29 min
Shrimp heads and shells slow-toasted in good olive oil until the fat runs deep coral, and that coral oil becomes the sauce: glossed ribbons, sweet shrimp barely curled through the tangle, chili arriving late, lemon over everything, crumbs fried in the same oil for the crackle.
Rice2 dishes
Saffron Risotto alla Milanese with Bone Marrow4 h 30 min
Marrow melts into the onion before the rice goes in, and saffron blooms orange-red, smelling of honey and dried hay. Carnaroli takes the color, turns satiny in the final off-heat beat, and ripples out all'onda beneath a soft scoop of roasted marrow and lemon gremolata.
Seafood Paella (Paella de Marisco)3 h 51 min
Bomba drinks a stock built on toasted shrimp heads and saffron until every grain runs gold, mussels gape open, and the head-on shrimp curl coral-pink. The last two minutes are for listening: rice crackling against hot steel as the socarrat sets, scraped up at the table.
Mains5 dishes
Beef Birria7 h 49 min
Chuck and short rib collapse into a brick-red adobo braise that pays twice: shreds for the tacos, consommé for the cup. Flour tortillas drag through the lifted fat, hit the griddle, and come up stained red with lacy, crackling edges.
The Chimichanga9 h 54 min
Blistered gold shell that knocks when you tap it, packed with chile-dark braised chuck and toasted red rice, riding a plate of refritos, charred salsa roja, and cool guacamole. The steam when you cut it is half the argument.
Filet Mignon25 h 35 min
Dry-brined overnight, the filet leaves the cast iron under a deep brown crust and a 30-second baste of foaming thyme, rosemary, and garlic. It rests to rose at the center, then lands on garnet reduction whisked glossy with cold butter and threaded with emerald herb oil.
Soy-Braised Short Ribs8 h 20 min
Short ribs braised in soy, charred scallion, and ginger until the bone barely holds on, then painted with their own reduced braise and broiled to a sticky mahogany lacquer. Cold Asian pear and a sharp smashed-cucumber pickle bite back at all that beef.
Toum Fried Chicken Sandwich9 h 32 min
Crag-crusted thigh hisses against cold whipped garlic swiped edge to edge, and the pickles anchor in the toum so nothing slides out of the roll.
Wings4 dishes
Buffalo Wings14 h 14 min
Frank's and cold plant butter, mounted into a sauce that clings instead of splitting, over naked twice-fried wings tossed hard and served on a ten-minute fuse. A ramekin of honey mustard waits on the side, because sweet mustard against buffalo heat is the pairing the bar never admitted.
Garlic Lemon Pepper Wings16 h 19 min
Lemon pepper wet, the Atlanta order: wings brined overnight, fried twice to glass, then dragged through plant butter heavy with confit garlic and a lemon pepper dried in-house that morning. Fresh zest and juice land last, so the citrus arrives alive over the warm pepper haze.
Louisiana Rub Wings14 h 13 min
Twice-fried wings with skin gone to glass, tossed the second they land in a garlicky cajun rub bloomed in a ladle of the frying oil, so it clings like paint instead of settling like dust. Lime at the end, because heat this steady needs a reset.
Smokehouse Wings15 h 3 min
Dry-rubbed like a smokehouse order: paprika two ways and a restrained hand of brown sugar roasted into bark at 450°F, then scattered black under the broiler. The white sauce never touches the pan. It waits cold in its own bowl, sharp with vinegar and horseradish, for the dunk.
The Sauce Cellar14 dishes
Buffalo Sauce145 h 32 min
Fresh cayennes ferment a week on the counter into a bright, roundly sour hot sauce, then cold plant butter mounts it into buffalo that is entirely yours.
Cherry-Port Coulis49 min
Ruby port simmered into dark cherries, strained to a silk that holds a line.
Cured Egg Yolks99 h 42 min
Yolks buried four days in salt and sugar come out amber and firm as gumdrops, then dry hard enough to grate. A fine savory snow over pasta, risotto, beans, or greens, and no dairy anywhere near it.
Garlic Aioli1 h 2 min
Raw garlic pounded to cream, then a whisk, a thread of oil, and the moment the bowl goes from liquid to sauce under your hand.
Gremolata23 min
Lemon oil, raw garlic, and parsley chopped together in the last hour, loud on purpose.
Harissa1 h 43 min
Toasted dried chilies pounded with garlic and caraway into glossy brick-red heat.
Honey Mustard58 min
Dijon bite under wildflower honey, whisked thick enough to cling to a hot wing.
Hot Honey41 min
Sweet first, then the chile catching up, then a vinegar edge that resets the bite.
Romesco3 h 3 min
Mortar work, not a blender: ñora pulp, charred pepper, and fried bread pounded with toasted almonds and hazelnuts until it comes out rust-red, faintly grainy, sharp with sherry vinegar.
Salsa Roja1 h 35 min
Charred tomato and serrano fire, blended coarse and fried into itself until it tastes like the comal.
Italian Salsa Verde1 h 20 min
Parsley and capers chopped by hand, anchovy melted invisibly through, loose in grassy olive oil.
Spicy Mayo1 h 8 min
Kewpie logic from scratch: yolks whisked rich, seasoned with rice vinegar and a defended pinch of MSG, then spiked salmon-pink.
Toum (Lebanese Garlic Sauce)12 h 48 min
Whole head of garlic whipped stiff into oil. Fierce, matte, spoon-holding white.
Zhoug (Yemeni Green Hot Sauce)1 h 30 min
Serrano fire, then cilantro, then the camphor cool of cardamom in fresh-cut-grass green.
Desserts20 dishes
Acai Berry Cheesecake (Raw, Frozen)6 h 22 min
Nothing here meets an oven: coconut oil freezes the cashew-and-açai cream into a bruise-purple slab over toasted nut crumb, tannic with dark berry, barely sweet.
Alfajores8 h 10 min
Two parts cornstarch to one of flour makes discs that dissolve on the tongue, their seam an amber ring of coconut dulce rolled in shredded coconut.
Apfelstrudel5 h 10 min
Tart apples sharpened with lemon, rum-plumped raisins, and toasted walnuts, rolled inside a dough stretched by hand until you can read through it. The wraps bake to a crackle while the fruit collapses into warm, cinnamon-scented slices that barely hold their shape.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread6 h 14 min
Black-skinned bananas roast to jam, their juice reduced to syrup and stirred back in, so the browned-butter crumb tastes of banana twice over. Torched two-tone meringue crowns each slice, crisp-shelled over a pillowy middle, with chocolate pockets and a crunchy turbinado lid underneath.
Canelés de Bordeaux28 h 56 min
Lacquered near-black outside, barely-set custard within: rum and vanilla concentrated into a two-bite paradox that asks for two days and a fearless oven, and repays every hour of both.
Cannoli9 h 5 min
You hear the first bite across the room. Shells fried to a bronze blister, filled the minute someone asks: cool vanilla cannoli cream studded with mini chocolate chips in half, a deep chocolate cream in the rest, the ends pressed in more chips.
Chocolate Babka10 h 20 min
Dark chocolate, cocoa, and cinnamon wind through a rich enriched crumb, so every cut face opens as a ring of layers. Hot sugar syrup goes on straight from the oven and sinks in, leaving the deep-brown crown lacquered; toasted on day two, the fill runs molten again.
Dark Chocolate Mousse2 h 56 min
Cocoa butter alone sets it: whipped whites, dark chocolate, melting on the tongue.
Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Torte6 h 46 min
Seventy percent chocolate and a fruity olive oil, whole eggs whipped to ribbon for the only lift: a set edge, a barely-fudgy center, and a deep-cracked crust that shatters over the knife.
Joe's Dessert7 h 15 min
The story of a people, plated left to right. A deep date caramel that eats like butterscotch, thin sugared pastry baked to glass and broken by hand, one cream carrying saffron and cardamom, one carrying coffee and honey, and an arrival of dark chocolate, halva, and salt. Nothing fruity about it. It ends the way it should: bitter, toasted, and glad to be home.
Kardinalschnitte4 h 48 min
Ivory meringue and gold sponge baked side by side in stripes, sandwiched around a vanilla pudding cream beaten to mousse. Every slice shows its colors.
Kokosh8 h 56 min
Babka's humbler, denser cousin, and the one you bake when you want the chocolate to win. The dough is rolled nearly translucent, loaded until the filling almost outweighs it, coiled flat, and baked to a fudgy dark seam that runs the length of every slice.
Kormos5 h 16 min
Dark chocolate poured over broken butter biscuits and toasted hazelnuts, rolled into a log, chilled hard, and sliced into mosaic rounds. Every Greek household has a version; this one is salted properly and cut with orange, which is most of the difference between good and forgettable.
Millefeuille11 h 40 min
Three shattering leaves of hand-laminated pastry, vanilla-bean cream piped between, the top burnished to caramel glass. Built minutes before it is eaten, because the crackle runs on a clock.
Olive Oil Cake3 h 35 min
Fruity olive oil in the gold crumb under a lemon glaze that cracks at the knife.
Sticky Toffee Pudding2 h 16 min
Black-brown date sponge, stabbed to the pan floor and flooded with salted coconut toffee while it's hot, meets a cold pour of cream at the table.
Tarte Tropézienne21 h 31 min
Saint-Tropez guards the filling recipe like a state secret, and this is the honest answer to it: a pearl-sugar brioche breathing orange blossom, split like a sandwich and piped two fingers deep with a chilled cream that is half mousseline, half diplomate, silky where it meets the crumb and light where it meets the tongue.
Pastel de Tres Leches11 h 20 min
Holes poked to the pan floor let the sponge drink nearly a liter of coconut milk, coconut condensed milk, and cream overnight, cutting cold and dense under cinnamon cream.
Trubochki5 h 41 min
Spirals of rough puff wound to a point and baked until the sugared coil goes glassy, then piped full of a silky caramel buttercream built on boiled condensed milk. The Soviet sweet counter's finest hour.
Vegan NYC-Style Baked Cheesecake8 h 39 min
Biscoff crumbs pack into a caramel-spiced wall and the filling bakes over a low water bath, down to a coin-sized wobble at the center. Frozen blueberries streak the pale crumb purple, and each cold, dense, tangy slab arrives under a spoonful of glossy ginger-warmed berry sauce.