Has New York Times Cooking Changed? Or Have We?
I looked at the New York Times Cooking constantly when I was learning how to cook. I’ve since stopped. Why? Is it because it has gotten bad?
Doing some deep internal reflection, I’m probably jealous that people actually work there as a real job tbh. They work with cool people, some of whom have contributed to the zine (cough cough), one who made an excellent dinner for me one time and is very nice. Also, I will never admit this to anyone but Melissa Clark taught me how to cook a sweet potato.
I’m trying to get better at the humility required to quietly admit “just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s bad, it may just not be for you.”
But then I see them put out a recipe for avocado toast with sardines on it and I lose my shit.
It’s less the fact that it is an avocado toast with sardines on it and more of how they attempt to make you feel like you’re making a “deceptively simple” dish when really you’re just making an avocado toast with sardines on it.
Well… that’s not entirely fair. You are rubbing a garlic clove on the “warm bread.” You are also adding vinegar to the emptied sardine tin to mix it up with the oil in it to then pour on top of the sardines. And you’re specifically not mashing the avocado on the bread so your vinegared sardine oil can “pool in its nooks.” If you like avocado toast and sardines you will probably like this recipe and it may give your typical morning an upgrade.
But also, you’re reading The New York Times. Have you never had avocado toast before? Have you never been to Cafe Gitane? Are you telling me you’ve never mashed an avocado on a piece of bread with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chili flakes but not garlic? If you pour olive oil on it, you will notice that the oil still very much does “pool in the nooks” of the mashed avocado. In fact, one may argue that mashing the avocado beforehand allows any oil or dressing drizzled on top of it to also soak up in the bread, thus making its flavors more evenly distributed.
Does a PB&J warrant a recipe?
Potentially.
What if a properly trained dog could make it?
That would be cool.
A cat would be more impressive… I’m a cat person now. (I like dogs still too.)
I’m contemplating the history of the hallowed institution of NYT Cooking as I plop onto the couch. I insert a pen into my mouth and put on The Matrix, the best movie ever made. In inhale and exhale. Trinity shows up in her sleek black vinyl cat suit, which when I was younger made me feel something I could not quite explain (gay). I’m whooshing through time and space, just like Trinity wooshes in the air…
So fucking sick.
It's Oscar’s Night on March 7th of the year 2010. The straight gay guy you have a crush on even though you’re also straight comes over. The Hurt Locker wins best picture, lol. You eat the best spaghetti with meat sauce you’ve ever had in your life. Taly started making it in the morning from a recipe she found in New York Times Cooking. It’s a Zappa Family recipe (as in Frank Zappa) and it calls for spare ribs, brisket or chuck (did she use both?), and pepperoncini. You went a whole week where you ate nothing else because there was so much of it, but you were more than happy to. That pepperoncini jar remained untouched in the fridge until your parents moved to Hollywood nine years later.
We’re moving forward now… In the closest thing you’ll ever have to a twink era, you turn to New York Times cooking to make anything your heart desires: lamb stew, chili, enchiladas with tortillas made from scratch. I made large quantities of soupy things back in the day, convincing myself I was doing so to save money when I really should have been eating instant ramen and pb&js.
When Ian first started dating Grace, I invited them over for beet tikka masala since that was something they could both eat… but also vegetables were really hot back then. I found a chicken tikka masala recipe from my trusty source the New York Times and followed it to a T, treating the beets exactly like they were chicken. It was so delicious that I made it multiple times after that because I genuinely liked it.
That recipe was by Alison Roman, I realized several years later… but if I had known back then I would have been excited. Remember, she was the person behind “The Pasta” and who got millions of white women all over the country to use a bench scraper – I didn’t even know what a bench scraper was! But even so, it’s hard to over-exaggerate her impact, especially to New York Times Cooking. Before her, New York Times Cooking (for me at least) was an archive of sorts. Sure, their recipe for caramelized onions might be flawed, but it was still a place to go to find the best spaghetti with meat sauce you’ve ever had. But after her, it became a place to make things you couldn’t find anywhere else:
Even the best versions of the most basic things like not-chicken tikka masala or stovetop mac & cheese
Her cooking was never as simple as she made it seem, but cooking never is, and you didn’t need to be that experienced to follow them well. Not only were her recipes good, but they taught you stuff you could take with you. Now that I do know how to cook and I’ve found my own voice more or less in the kitchen, Alison Roman isn’t for me anymore. But I’d be lying if she didn’t help me get there. And she only helped me get there because her recipes were in the New York Times.
Then The Pandemic:
“The action that will apply balm to your worry is to cook for others, for those close to you, and those close by, even if you need to keep six feet away from them.”
Sam Sifton
March 16th, 2020
Then Alison gave “The Interview.” Subsequently, The New York Times put her on an extended leave that never ended. As amazing as Mark Bittman and David Tanis are, she brought something to New York Times Cooking that was exactly what people were looking for at the moment. Bold flavors. Straight-forward recipes. Things you can cook for your friends or loved ones that they’ve never had before with ingredients that they thought they knew.
We’re moving forward now…
George Floyd.
Peak Covid.
“Cook for people. I know it helps, even if you don’t start out wanting to do it, I promise.”
Sam Sifton
September 8, 2021
Bon Appétit.
Then Delta happened, then beany leaky greens. Then Brat Summer…
And now we’re here. Post-garlicky-miso-gochujang-butter sardines on avocado toast. Looking in the mirror a la Trinity in The Matrix Resurrections, catching a glimpse of someone else in our reflection. Someone we don’t recognize, that shouldn’t be there…(if you’ve never seen The Matrix Resurrections, the Machines imbued Neo and Trinity with other people’s reflections so that the people trapped in the Matrix could never learn of their true identity, or something like that)
Yeah they don’t know either.
Sardines on avocado toast has all the trappings of New York Times Cooking. But it also hints at another New York Times hidden underneath.
I’m whooshing some more. It’s Margaux Laskey’s roundup of New York Times Cooking top recipes for 2025:
“Weeknight chicken (no surprise here!) is a clear winner, but plenty of vegetarian recipes and even a handful of ground beef ones made it to the finish line this year. Cook one, cook all, then come back and tell us all about it. We’re so glad you’re here.”
Some of its top recipes include lemon pepper chicken breasts, House Dressing from Via Carota (salad dressing), and Easy Chicken Tacos. Other top recipes include Crispy Halloumi with Tomatoes and White Beans, Chicken and Chickpea Tray Bake, and Spicy, Creamy, Weeknight Bolognese.
“Oh muh gawd. This was outstanding.”
“Not gonna lie — we might have licked our cast iron frying pan if it wasn’t so hard to hold up!”
“Where I’m planning my next meal while eating my current meal, my partner eats because nutrition is a biological requirement for maintaining life. Halfway through this dish, he proclaimed, ‘Way to go, New York Times. This is a keeper.’ Higher praise has never been spoken.”
These are real quotes lifted from the comments on these recipes, the last one being about Skillet Gnocchi with Miso Butter and Asparagus. Indeed, it does look good, albeit a bit dry. The salmon in the pic One-Pot Miso-Turmeric Salmon and Coconut is crumbled on top of brown rice, and the grains in One-Pot Beans, Greens, and Grains are crusted on the side of a Dutch oven. You may notice that One-Pot Beans, Greens, and Grains does not specify which beans, greens, or grains to use.
“Customize your mix based on your cravings and your pantry.”
“Add brightness with lemon and garnish wildly — or not at all.”
We’re going back again.
It’s Brat Summer.
Void in Chicago serves a riff on SpaghettiO’s that comes in a can, and Bad Roman in New York serves an appetizer of pepperoni cups with a side of ranch dressing.
It’s January 27, 2022.
“One night last week, cold and tired after a busy day, I craved a very specific comfort food from childhood for dinner: buttered noodles with cottage cheese. I was musing recently about a fantasy dinner party at which I’d serve all the things I loved to eat as a child and realized that most of those foods were unlikely to appeal to guests, who’d have few if any of the positive associations I do with the foods in question.”
It’s December 3, 2021.
“Simple, quick dishes like Ali Slagle’s five-ingredient cucumber-avocado salad and Hetty McKinnon’s cauliflower piccata dominated our list of most popular recipes, but project recipes like Claire Saffitz’s croissants and Josef Centeno’s birria de res also made an appearance.”
Joe Biden is elected president.
Alison Roman acknowledges her white privilege, which is something people did back then.
The Pandemic happens.
Pelosi Rips Trump’s State of the Union Speech
1917
CATS
It’s December 20, 2019. Margeux Laskey introduces New York Times Cooking’s best recipes of that year, as she will continue to do for the following six years:
“Assembling cassoulet, proofing sourdough bread or constructing a Harry Potter Sorting Hat croquembouche are all worthwhile pursuits, but, for many people, the word ‘cooking’ means weeknight cooking: recipes that are fast and easy without sacrificing a little excitement.”
“Some are innovative in method or flavor, which means you get to try something new without having to dedicate the entire weekend to it; all are just plain delicious. And be sure to take a look at the full list of our 50 most popular recipes of 2019, determined by how many times readers viewed them on NYT Cooking. You’ll find plenty more weeknight wonders there, but also Dorie Greenspan’s Lisbon chocolate cake (No. 10). Always leave room for cake.”
Weeknight recipes that are fast and easy without sacrificing a little excitement…
When we aren’t finding the extravagance in the simple dinners we need to make for ourselves, we are dedicating time to making cassoulet or croquembouche. These aren’t “projects.” These are “worthwhile pursuits.”
Weeknight recipes that are fast and easy without sacrificing a little excitement…
Weeknight chicken? No surprises there!
We are only making simple dinners pretty much. One-pot, sheet pan, and skillet meals. Most with chicken but some with even ground beef.
Even ground beef.
Weeknight recipes that are fast and easy without sacrificing a little excitement…
“How fabulous is that?”
Top Recipes in 2019 include Via Carlota’s actual salad (not just their dressing) and Alison Roman’s aforementioned Vinegar Chicken with Crushed Olives. Although its chicken is cooked using a sheet pan and uses sparse ingredients, the chicken it calls for is bone-in “parts,” and its seasonings are unexpected. For someone who doesn’t have the time it takes to cook a whole roast chicken but wishes they could, the idea that you can just throw bone-in “parts” in a 450° oven for 25-30 minutes is a revelation. For Alison, “‘weeknight cooking’ doesn’t mean lazier; it means smarter.”
Six years later, adding lemon juice to Lemon-Pepper Chicken Breasts adds “the perfect hit of brightness” to “buttery, garlicky pan sauce.” You still don’t have time to cook a whole roast chicken, but you would also rather cook something that doesn’t require you to deal with bones. You may learn something new by following this recipe, especially if you’ve never cooked anything before, but you’re also looking for familiar flavors and recipes that exploit them to their max. You know that they will be exploited to their max by their use of adjectives:
“Boneless thighs take a quick dip in garlic, lime juice, hot sauce and onion powder before they’re seared in a pan, chopped into small chunks, then returned to the pan to simmer in the rich gravy that forms from the chicken’s juices and the marinade.”
That’s in the description for Easy Chicken Tacos. So is this:
“Serve taqueria-style with minced onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and hot sauce, or if you have more time, add guacamole, salsa verde or pico de gallo to your spread.”
You have never had a taco before.
“For a heartier meal, serve alongside rice or beans, or both.”
You can have both?!
Weeknight recipes that are fast and easy without sacrificing a little excitement…
“Mexican groceries generally have better-quality tortillas than the ones you find in supermarkets; it's worth seeking those out and heating them gently over steam, or by toasting them in a dry cast-iron pan,” instructs a chicken taco recipe from 2018, which also offers you the option to substitute pre-cooked chicken “to make this already quite simple recipe as easy as falling out of bed.” (emphasis mine) It gives you the benefit of the doubt that food is an important part of your world, that you not only know what a taco is but are willing to travel to a Mexican grocery store to make the best at-home tacos you possibly can even if you don’t have time to make chicken.
Weeknight recipes that are fast and easy without sacrificing a little excitement…
A year later, you are making Creamy Chickpea Pasta with Spinach and Rosemary, but you are also making Crisp Gnocchi with Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter. You are also making One-Pan Shrimp Scampi with Orzo…
Maybe we do actually need to backtrack our argument here. Yes, we now have to live alongside cabbage parm but maybe we always have in a way. I’ve tried to replicate the magic of the Zappa Family Red Sauce many times over the years, but my own recipes would come out better. Grocery stores would not have spare ribs for some reason, one time brisket stayed tough long after simmering for hours, and Adam put it in a Nutribullet to make it more digestible.
“I cooked it and found the brisket to be too tough to enjoy in the sauce or on sandwiches. I recommend beef short ribs instead,” writes Bob M in the comments.
“i made this but i could not bring myself to add 4 1/2 cups of water i added 1 cup it turned out fantastic also made it a second time with 1 lb sweet sausage,” writes dennis.
Recipes are never blueprints. Why do I question the New York Times’ integrity when they put out a basic recipe instead of just acknowledging that it’s just not for me like I’ve been trying to? Why do I discard one of their recipes when it fails me instead of, like the commenters, rolling with the punches or making it my own?
Actually… I did make them my own. I invented beet tikka masala goddamnit. Their recipes gave me something to chew on. They didn’t feed me hacks and shortcuts. They challenged me and helped me grow. Every grain of rice in One-Pot Turmeric Coconut Rice with Greens from 2019 is glowing; I dreamed of my rice one day looking like that, and sometimes it did when I followed their recipes. The grains in One-Pot Beans, Greens, and Grains (quinoa in the pic) are clumpy yet no less stylized; unsqueezed lemon wedges are strewn on top, suggesting you can squeeze them (if you want to) but also as a “hint of brightness” to draw us in. It has all the trappings of a trendy recipe but gives us little to aspire to if anything at all...
Woof.
That’s not exactly without reason, right? We’ve been through a lot these past few years, we’re craving childhood and freedom from having to project an image of ourselves that may not be true to us, just like Neo and Trinity broke free from their false projections of themselves. We are broke or single or rich and depressed. We work at home and don’t go outside or go outside but only to go to work. Some of us are cooking for our families. But many of us are cooking for ourselves.
Despite it all, we find time for enjoyment, even if that enjoyment is delivered by scroll. We all have our own shows and podcasts and Radicchio Salads. And we all have our own Personal Alison Romans (or PAR if you will), whether it’s Justine or Cassie or Hailee or Claire or Jessica or Tanya.
Even Alison Roman is a PAR these days, and a comfortable one at that. While it’s become easier to reach a smaller, targeted audience, it's harder to reach large audiences than it used to be. That’s my theory anyway for why New York Times Cooking is leaning into some new choices as of late. With its 25-minute-recipe-sheet-pan-chickpea-bake-Hillary-Duff-chicken-soup of it all, it is trying to appeal to all of its readers various interests and political leanings while still being a go-to trendy outlet. It appears to aspire only to the lowest common denominator, meeting people where they think they’re at vs. trusting people will meet them where they are. Maybe they haven’t been and are blaming us for it, maybe the masses really haven’t had olive oil “pool in the nooks” of their mashed-avocado toast. We may ultimately never know, but either way:
“You’re doing amazing, sweetie.”
Is now their message. Even though we all know we are not.
Good night.
