Cook outside your comfort zone
In 2026, I intend to cook (and eat) more outside my comfort zone.
I plan to start with Korean food from “Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking” and Eric Kim’s beautiful “Korean American” cookbook. I just picked up “My (Half) Latinx Kitchen,” published last February by Kiera Wright-Ruiz. It’s citrus season, and I need to make her ceviche poke recipe (half ceviche, half poke).
I recently cooked a vegetarian pot pie with lentils from Carolina Gelen’s “Pass the Plate,” a cookbook I’m loving. The recipes, a bunch of which skew vegan, were inspired by her Romanian-Hungarian heritage. From the cookbook “Good Things,” I’m excited to make Samin Nosrat’s kuku-kopita — a riff on spanakopita inspired by the Iranian herb frittata, kuku sabzi — and chewy sesame flatbreads. I’m on the hunt for Meyer lemons so I can make preserved Meyer lemon paste, and I’m putting her ginger-miso dressing on everything (gift link).
Will 2026 be the year of tavern-style pizza? More celery and fibrous veggies on plates, more fermented foods, more nostalgic dishes with a contemporary twist? I really enjoyed seeing how local food lovers are looking ahead in Ashley Rodriguez’s recent piece. I do want to see more eggplant on menus, less distinction between quote-unquote “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods, more Asian ingredients and more sweets of all kinds.
This is the year I finally buy a table-crank pasta maker, the year I try more African food, the year I expand my seafood-cooking repertoire. I want to gradually up my spice tolerance, learn to make my family’s jaternice (a Slovak sausage) and recommit to sourdough starter. I want to eat the edible flowers I’ve been growing in summer.
In 2026, write to me. I love dining tips, food questions and cooking success stories. It’s a pleasure to do this work with and for you…