TIMES INSIDER
Inside Our Subway Tuna Sandwich Test
Sending samples to a lab was just the beginning. The reporter behind the recent investigation talks about getting deep into the science of seafood.
By SARAH BAHR

ASK WELL
Do I Always Need to Wash Fruits and Vegetables? Do I Need a Special Soap?
A food safety specialist offers tips on helping to keep your food safe.
By SOPHIE EGAN

A GOOD APPETITE
This Bean Salad Is Ready to Go Places
Whether you take it to a picnic or toss it together for dinner, this three-bean salad couldn’t be fresher, faster or tastier.

You can have this three-bean salad on the table — or ready for the potluck — in just 20 minutes.
By Melissa Clark

EAT
The Best Way to Cook Vegetables: Low and Slow
Crisp vegetables are often prized, but long-cooking them into tenderness can bring out their deepest flavors.

By TEJAL RAO

Ditch Marinating for Delicious (and Faster) Summer Grilling
Quickly cook main ingredients over direct heat, then flavor them with bright, fresh seasonings.

Halloumi is grilled over high heat, then served over fresh tomatoes seasoned with coriander and cumin for a simple yet exciting summer meal.
By Ali Slagle

The Best Party Dessert Comes From Hawaii
What’s not to love about butter mochi? It’s simple to make, fun to eat and easy to customize.

Add a little food coloring to a passion fruit glaze, and you can make a beautiful ombré pattern on your butter mochi.
By Genevieve Ko

Buttermilk Scones

A History of Ice Cream | A Recipe from 1789

Shane Smith’s Guinness Bread with Pickled Cucumber

How Chef Ed Szymanski Perfected Fish & Chips at NYC’s Dame — Eater New Guard

Enjoy Bianca’s basil pesto lasagna with beans and potatoes | Pasta Grannies

Cutting Taters

Perfect Cakes for Youngins and Summer

FRONT BURNER
Gin from Cachaça Country
Amázzoni makes use of the Brazil nut and cocoa in its London dry-style spirit.

Amázzoni, $35 plus shipping for 750 milliliters, amazzoni.us.
By Florence Fabricant

THE POUR
Pastis, a Perfect Aperitif for the Lazy Days of Summer
It’s no more than a blend of water and spirit, but for a relaxed afternoon, it can’t be beat.

When water blends with the oils in the pastis, the liquid turns milky, a process called the louche.
By Eric Asimov

WINE, BEER & COCKTAILS
The Best Cocktail Is the One You Know by Heart
Committing just a few key ratios to memory can make at-home mixology a breeze.

Cocktails like the Negroni, which features equal parts Campari, gin and sweet vermouth, are easy to adapt and make on the fly.
By Rebekah Peppler

Romulo Yanes, Whose Photographs Captured the Beauty of Food, Dies at 62
Best known for his long tenure at Gourmet magazine, he brought a sense of elegant realism to his job and let his delectable subjects take center stage.

“Romulo Yanes, who in his 26 years as the staff photographer helped define Gourmet magazine’s striking visual identity by capturing the natural beauty of food without relying solely on the embellishments of ornamental props or elaborate styling, died on June 16 at his home in Tampa, Fla. He was 62.

His husband, Robert Schaublin-Yanes, said the cause was peritoneal cancer.’

The food photographer Romulo Yanes in an undated photo. “I want the dish to be the star,” he once said. “Everything else is secondary to that.”
By Alex Vadukul

Your Steak Is More Expensive, but Cattle Ranchers Are Missing Out
Demand for beef is spiking as people dine out and grill, but the profits aren’t being evenly distributed. Ranchers blame the big meatpacking companies.
By JULIE CRESWELL

Smithfield Foods is sued by an advocacy group claiming it stoked fears of meat shortages.
The group claims there were ample supplies of meat in cold storage even as Smithfield warned that the country was in danger of running out of meat.
By MICHAEL CORKERY

Grocery-to-Table Is a Challenge for Restaurants in the Pandemic
Looking for new ways to get their food to customers, chefs are reinventing their dishes as retail offerings — and it can be tricky.
By Jane Black

A GOOD APPETITE
It’s Time for Spinach Dip
That retro party staple gets a fresh, garlicky upgrade just in time for your summer barbecues, or your breeziest weeknight dinners.

Full of minced herbs and Greek yogurt, this dip runs through with deep, bright flavors.
By Melissa Clark

More Than ‘Just Takeout’
A new generation of Chinese American chefs is celebrating the inventiveness, resourcefulness and deliciousness of American Chinese food with menus dedicated to the classics.
By Cathy Erway

Pasta Grannies

Wolfgang Puck Answers a Few Questions

The Understated Splendor of Grilled Oysters
J. Kenji López-Alt makes a compelling case for throwing your oysters on the grill this summer, and offers three vibrant ways to finish them.

Flavored butters give these grilled oysters added appeal.
By J. Kenji López-Alt

Sponge Cakes You’ll Make Again and Again
Claire Saffitz has tips and recipes for a perfectly fluffy dessert that’s as good alone as it is paired with supple summer fruit.

Sponge cake gets a bad rap for being dry, but when properly made, it is tender, bouncy and soaks up whatever flavors it’s paired with.
By Claire Saffitz

SQUARE FEET
Craft Distilleries Aim to Make Whiskey an Experience
Despite the financial pain wreaked by the pandemic, the industry grew in 2020 as businesses moved tastings and other activities outdoors.
By KEITH SCHNEIDER

Mark Peel, Who Helped Forge a New Culinary Path, Dies at 66
A pillar of California’s pioneering food scene, he worked at Spago and was a founder of the renowned Campanile and La Brea Bakery.

Mark Peel in 2006 at Campanile in Los Angeles, his signature restaurant. One food critic wrote, “It is hard to overstate Campanile’s contributions to American cooking.”
By Kim Severson

British Restaurants Are Battling a Staff Crisis, Worsened by Brexit
A shortage of workers is forcing restaurants to turn away eager customers and confront a bigger problem: how to make hospitality an industry where people want to work.
By ESHE NELSON

Acclaimed Seattle Chef’s Staff Quits After Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Multiple women have accused Edouardo Jordan, known for running the restaurants Salare and JuneBaby, of unwanted touching or kissing. Almost all of the restaurants’ employees have resigned.

Chef Edouardo Jordan preparing chitlins and hog maw stew with okra and tomatoes at JuneBaby in Seattle in 2019.Credit…Kyle Johnson for The New York Times
By Daniel Victor and Jacey Fortin

Starbucks, Flush With Customers, Is Running Low on Ingredients
At locations across the country, there have been complaints about shortages of key ingredients for popular drinks, breakfast foods and even cups, lids and straws.
By JULIE CRESWELL

Oyster Farmers Who Feared Going Broke Brace for a ‘Bonkers’ Summer
When restaurants closed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the nationwide market for oysters cratered. That’s not the end of the story.

By TRACEY TULLY

Four Decades on, Martin Yan Faces a New Audience and a New World
The man who used television to help many North Americans start cooking Chinese food at home is as cheery as ever, but aware of some harsher truths.

Martin Yan at home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since he started cooking on TV in 1982, he has taught millions of people how to cook various Asian cuisines.
By PRIYA KRISHNA

How to Grill Just About Any Vegetable
Two grilling methods are all you need to cook summer’s bounty, from broccoli to asparagus, cauliflower to tomatoes. Even leafy greens benefit from a brief turn on the grill.
By STEVEN RAICHLEN

Consider the $34 Lobster Roll
The pandemic has exacerbated a price spike in the iconic New England summer sandwich.

A lobster roll piled high at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, Maine. The motto at Red’s is “We don’t measure… we pile it high.”
By STEVEN KURUTZ

Out of the Pandemic, a New Marketplace for Native Ingredients
The owners of Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace aim to build one of the most comprehensive shops of its kind.

Matthew Chandra, left, and Ben Jacobs have created an online shop for Native and Indigenous ingredients called Tocabe Indigenous Marketplace. It’s an offshoot of their American Indian restaurant, Tocabe, in Denver.
By Priya Krishna

Crawfish

Rome Gets Its First Pizza Vending Machine. Will Romans Bite?
In a city with no shortage of pizza — or self-appointed food critics — an entrepreneur is betting on diners with a sense of adventure.
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Don’t Eat Cicadas if You’re Allergic to Seafood, F.D.A. Warns
The insects have emerged by the billions this year across the Eastern United States and have curious foodies salivating. But their similarities to crustaceans makes them an allergy risk, health officials warned.
By DERRICK BRYSON TAYLOR

Summer’s Greatest Prize: Watermelons, With Seeds, Please
For many Americans, juicy, scarlet watermelon is a must for Juneteenth. The heirloom varieties are a sacred summer fruit.
By NICOLE TAYLOR

IN THE GARDEN
If You’ve Never Tried Growing Radicchio, Now Is the Time
This cultivated form of chicory is having a moment. Here’s what you need to know before you plant it.

When most people picture radicchio, they think of the kind that comes in a bagged baby-salad mix. But there are a dizzing variety of radicchios, including (top row, from left) Rosso di Treviso Tardivo, Variegato di Lusia and Variegato di Castelfranco; (middle, from left) Rosso di Chioggia and Rosso di Verona (a large and small example); and (bottom, from left) Rosa del Veneto (two examples) and Rosso di Treviso Precoce. (Puntarelle, bottom right, is not a radicchio, but a cousin among the cultivated chicories.)
By MARGARET ROACH

FRONT BURNER
Saffron Harvested by Female Farmers
Moonflowers is a new company that employs women in the Heart region of Afghanistan.

Moonflowers, $12.99 for .07 ounces (a generous tablespoon) to $53.99 for .35 ounces, moonflowers.co.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

This Pasta Is Inspired
Eric Kim’s asparagus pasta is run through with a subtle seaweed flavor, and finished with an irresistible onion-cream sauce.

By EMILY WEINSTEIN

Three Ways to a Better Chicken Breast
Unlock juicier, more flavorful white meat with these smart techniques.

You can enjoy these dry-brined chicken breasts right out of the skillet with a spritz of lime juice, or save them to serve in salads, sandwiches, fried rice and the like.
By Eric Kim

Adobo

Pasta Grannies

Potstickers

Shrooms — Lots of ’em and a few great recipes:

Phouket

A GOOD APPETITE
For Lemon Curd in Less Than 10 Minutes, Use Your Microwave
Lemon-lovers, beware: You may not be able to stop making this super simple dessert.

Perfect this recipe, then change up the flavors, swapping in lime or grapefruit.
By Melissa Clark

THE POUR
This Summer, Make It Chianti Classico
Even in warmer weather, some occasions cry out for a red. This Tuscan wine is a gorgeous expression of sangiovese, with many excellent producers.

By ERIC ASIMOV

FRONT BURNER
For an Extra Special Celebration
Louis Roederer has released its top-tier Champagne, the 2013 Cristal vintage.

Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal 2013, $219 (preorder), Crush Wine & Spirits, crushwineco.com; $269, Morrell & Co., morrellwine.com.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Voices Across America
Opinion: Those $300 pandemic checks aren’t the only reason restaurant employees might not want to go back to work
Opinion by Micheline Maynard

TRILOBITES
Where Your Watermelon Came From
A genetic analysis of a melon found in Sudan may point to the wild fruit that gave rise to one of summertime’s sweetest treats.
By VERONIQUE GREENWOOD

OPINION
GUEST ESSAY
Americans Don’t Want to Return to Lousy Low Wage Jobs
By Daniel Alpert

Upended by the Pandemic, Haute Chefs Move Into Hotels
Hotels not necessarily known for fine dining are drawing award-winning chefs seeking opportunities for reinvention.
By SHEILA MARIKAR

The Forgotten Queer Legacy of Billy West and Zuni Café
The restaurant is a culinary landmark in San Francisco, but its history as a space for gay visibility is little known.
By John Birdsall

Still Here and Still Queer: The Gay Restaurant Endures
Many have closed in a time of growing inclusion and more fluid sexual identities. But in several places around the country, they remain anchors of safety and community.
By Erik Piepenburg

Why ‘Kim’s Convenience’ Is ‘Quietly Revolutionary’
In not explaining every detail of Korean food culture, the award-winning Canadian sitcom speaks volumes.
By Priya Krishna

A Black Whiskey Entrepreneur Will Help Bankroll Others Like Her
Fawn Weaver, the founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, has amassed a $50 million venture capital fund to seed minority-owned spirits businesses.
By Elizabeth G. Dunn

A GOOD APPETITE
Move Over, Ricotta. This Pasta Gets Its Creaminess From Cottage Cheese.
A summery riff on a childhood favorite, this one-bowl dish with currants, tomatoes and mint is sweet, savory and very quick.

This pasta is a riff on an Eastern European dish of homemade egg noodles tossed with butter or sour cream and a curdy white cheese.
By Melissa Clark

EAT
A Coconut Cake for the Ages
This gâteau d’Hélène recipe from the 1970s is just as elegant and delicious today as it was decades ago.

By DORIE GREENSPAN

FRONT BURNER
Toni Tipton-Martin to Receive Julia Child Award
The cookbook author will use the $50,000 award to mentor a new generation of food writers.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER
A Cocktail Shaker Made from American Stainless Steel
This Boston cocktail shaker, made in the U.S., is the first product from a new barware company, C&D Tools.

C&D Tools, Boston Shaker, $135, cdtoolsusa.com.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER
Inverness Is Closer Than You Think
Cowgirl Creamery’s Inverness is buttery, with a subtle tang. And it’s now available nationwide.

Escape to Inverness, three cheeses plus flatbread crackers, roasted curried cashews and chocolate-covered candied honeycomb, $80 (including overnight shipping), cowgirlcreamery.com.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER
Brush Up on Your Canning Skills
A series of webinars from Penn State Extension covers the basics of food preservation.
Preservation webinars, extension.psu.edu/preservation-webinars.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER
Master the Art of the Toast
A new book gives readers a look at how people raise their glasses around the world.

“Cheers! Around the World in 80 Toasts” by Brandon Cook (Red Lightning Books, $29).
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Get slushed! 10 delicious frozen cocktail recipes
Celebrate the first signs of summer with these ice-cold concoctions – from watermelon margaritas to frosé

Stuart Heritage

Enjoy 8 Classic Summer Drinks, With a Twist
You can’t go wrong with a gin and tonic or a caipirinha. But many summer cocktails could stand a spark of whimsy without compromising their honest appeal.

From left, Blushing Bellini, Melon Agua Fresca, Spanish Gin and Tonic, Rosé Sangria, Freshened Paloma, Ruby Spritzer, Strawberry Lemonade, Devon Yacht Club Southside.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT