Today is the 10th anniversary of New York Times Cooking, and I have to say — I’m feeling kind of sentimental about it! It’s our little app that could, a dormant recipe archive that not only came to life but has grown into something much more vast, with videos, newsletters, cookbooks and more. The kind of quick, inspired recipes we talk about here in this newsletter have become essential to Cooking every day.
Krysten Chambrot, one of the many wonderful editors who bring Cooking to you, has assembled a collection of 50 of our greatest hits: recipes that resonated with you, bailed you out or drove you to the kitchen because they just looked so good. We could’ve made this list 10 times over, each version populated with different recipes — that’s how many beloved dishes there are.
As I pored over all the spreadsheets with our highest-rated, most-saved, most-loved recipes, a few jumped out. You know how a familiar recipe can feel like an old friend? The dishes below are like that to me. Consider these five extras to add to the list, all with five-star ratings.
Thanks for cooking with us all these years. Reach out to me anytime at dearemily@nytimes.com. I love to hear from you.
1. Kimchi Fried Rice
I love Francis Lam’s fantastic recipe for kimchi fried rice, which he adapted from a home cook named Grace Lee. It’s one of the reasons I always have kimchi in my fridge (with a backup jar in my pantry, just in case). And it’s one of the most delicious ways to use leftover rice.
2. Garlicky Chicken With Lemon-Anchovy Sauce
Melissa Clark taught me to love anchovies, and this is the recipe that did it. Start here if you love salty, lemony, garlicky dishes and dinners that are ready in 30 minutes flat.
3. Hot Honey Shrimp
Remember the time before the hot honey trend exploded, when most of the honey you’d encounter was broadly sweet and gently plodding — nothing to get too excited about? Melissa was an early adopter back then, and created this speedy shrimp dish with eye-opening spark and chile-vroomed honey flavor.
4. Pasta Alla Vodka
The photo on this excellent Colu Henry recipe just makes me want to open a bottle of red wine. It’s simple home cooking that also manages to be a little sexy.
5. Mapo Ragù
This is a bit of a Cooking deep cut, and not the speediest dish for a weeknight. But I can’t resist pointing you toward David Chang and Tien Ho’s amazing mapo ragù, adapted by Sam Sifton: a five-star recipe with thousands of ratings and flavor for days.
We wrote a cookbook! “Easy Weeknight Dinners: 100 Fast, Flavor-Packed Meals for Busy People Who Still Want Something Good to Eat” comes out on Oct. 8. Preorder it now, and if you’d like a signed edition click here.
Thanks for reading and cooking with me. If you like the work we do at New York Times Cooking, please subscribe! (Or give a subscription as a gift!) You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, or follow me on Instagram. I’m dearemily@nytimes.com, and previous newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have any questions about your account.
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