Monthly Archives: February 2022

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Maria Speth
Maria Speth’s enthralling documentary spends a year in the classroom of an unconventional teacher in a German industrial town.


Dieter Bachmann, observed by the filmmaker Maria Speth, in “Mr. Bachmann and His Class.”
By A.O. SCOTT

Servants
NYT Critic’s Pick | Unrated | Drama | Directed by Ivan Ostrochovský
Teenage priests in training resist the mingling of church and the Communist state in Ivan Ostrochovsky’s drama.

Samuel Skyva, left, with Samuel Polakovic in “Servants.”
Samuel Skyva, left, with Samuel Polakovic in “Servants.”
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Friends and Strangers
NYT Critic’s Pick | Comedy, Drama | Directed by James Vaughan
In this funny, productively cryptic Australian feature, the characters are alternately abrasive and invasive.


By BEN KENIGSBERG

Three Months
NYT Critic’s Pick | Comedy, Drama | Directed by Jared Frieder
This sensitive comedy by Jared Frieder sketches a relationship that blossoms in the shadow of not knowing.


From left, Viveik Kalra and Troye Sivan in “Three Months,” a film by Jared Frieder.
By TEO BUGBEE

— Of Possible Interest —

Cyrano
PG-13D | rama, Musical, Romance | Directed by Joe Wright
Peter Dinklage wields pen and sword in a musical adaptation of the durable French romance.
By A.O. SCOTT

2022 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Animation
Animation | Directed by
From near-future nightmares to inspirational sports narratives, this year’s shorts are an eclectic bunch.
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS AND AMY NICHOLSON AND BEN KENIGSBERG

Food! Glorious Food!

The Diet Worked For Them. Now Their Pets Are on It.
Paleo, vegan, gluten-free: Owners are putting animals on human regimens and fueling a huge pet-wellness industry. But some health experts are concerned.
Darshna Shah is one of many pet owners who have created customized diets for their pets based on human wellness regimens.
By Priya Krishna

FOOD MATTERS
What We Write About When We Write About Food
Since the days of the Greeks, writers have been consumed by their meals. But are we writing about food — or is food a metaphor for something less palatable?
By LIGAYA MISHAN

Dreamy Breakfasts for a Long Weekend
Crepes, tacos and noodles are all great ways to start a slow day off.


By TEJAL RAO

12 Soothing Braises to Help You Get Through the Rest of Winter
A few hours on the stove or in the oven does wonders, turning hearty short ribs and dense root vegetables soft and silky

Ali Slagle’s Sunday sauce.
Ali Slagle’s Sunday sauce.
By Tanya Sichynsky

A Lamb Stew With a French Onion Twist
Simmering meat in a deeply flavored broth is an easy, adaptable way to dinner, J. Kenji López-Alt writes.

Part French onion soup, part lamb stew, this long-simmering dish is just right for the depths of winter.
Part French onion soup, part lamb stew, this long-simmering dish is just right for the depths of winter.
By J. Kenji López-Alt

In This Roasted Orange Chicken, Every Part of the Fruit Shines
The peel is as important as the juice in this fresh take on American Chinese home cooking from Genevieve Ko.

Cooked to tenderness, orange peels soak up flavor while keeping their razor edge of bitterness.
Cooked to tenderness, orange peels soak up flavor while keeping their razor edge of bitterness.
By Genevieve Ko

The Beef Patty Is Jamaica in the Palm of Your Hand
One of our new Eat columnists, Bryan Washington, on a quintessentially Jamaican food that’s now found all over the world.


By BRYAN WASHINGTON

LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION
Try New Fruit. The Weirder, the Better.
Each tasting is a chance to be rendered wide-eyed and wordless.
By TRACY WAN

20-Minute Olive Pasta
Yasmin Fahr’s recipe blisters Castelvetranos in olive oil, then tosses them with feta and short, curly noodles for bold flavor.


By EMILY WEINSTEIN

A GOOD APPETITE
What’s the Right Crumb Cake Ratio? This Recipe Tries to Find Out
Melissa Clark argues the secret is in a base layer of cake that’s delicious enough to eat on its own.


By Melissa Clark

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

A Banquet
NYT Critic’s Pick | Horror | Directed by Ruth Paxton
A family of grieving women is thrown once more into chaos when the eldest daughter refuses to eat, saying she must do so by divine decree.


By LENA WILSON

— Of Possible Interest —

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing
PG-13 | Documentary | Directed by Rory Kennedy
This documentary on Netflix leaves the impression that the 737 Max’s entire existence is rotten.
By BEN KENIGSBERG

Food! Glorious Food!

The New Secret Chicken Recipe? Animal Cells.
Here’s an early taste of the laboratory-grown meat that companies are racing to bring to market, and a look at the questions it raises about how we feed ourselves.
By KIM SEVERSON

U.S. Temporarily Bans Avocados From Mexico, Citing Threat
The move is a blow to the Mexican state of Michoacán, which exports roughly $3 billion worth of the fruit annually.
By JULIE CRESWELL

Forget Chocolate Bars: Baking With Chips Is Often Better
It’s not just nostalgia. Those bagged chips can lead to better-tasting desserts, Genevieve Ko explains.
By Genevieve Ko

IN THE GARDEN
Are Your Tomatoes ‘Epic’? If Not, Here’s What You Should Be Doing
Tomato experts Craig LeHoullier and Joe Lamp’l have some advice for you.


Nearly 12,000 heirloom tomato varieties are listed in the annual Seed Savers Exchange yearbook, a staggering choice for gardeners, who can choose among hundreds of hybrids for the right tomatoes to match their particular space and soil conditions.
By MARGARET ROACH

24 Brilliant Baking Recipes to Change Your Kitchen Game
These delectable treats are full of light-bulb moments that educate as much as they impress.
By KRYSTEN CHAMBROT

EAT
Chicken and Potatoes With Commanding Flavor
Country Captain is a Southern classic with roots in the British Empire. This Anglo-Indian version is simple yet luxurious.


By LIGAYA MISHAN

A GOOD APPETITE
Refresh Your Sweet Potatoes With Fried Eggs
Melissa Clark adds eggs, almonds and warming spices to a 2011 dish for a lifting, smoky meatless meal.

Roasting in coconut oil is the key to these sweet potatoes, which are delicately crisp on the outside and velvety within.
Roasting in coconut oil is the key to these sweet potatoes, which are delicately crisp on the outside and velvety within.
By Melissa Clark

FRONT BURNER
The Perfect Sheet Pan for a Big Batch of Brownies
The higher sides on Nordic Ware’s new half-sheet pan allow for more options in the kitchen.


Nordic Ware Nonstick High-Sided Oven Crisp Baking Tray, $42.50, nordicware.com.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER
Del Monte Pineapples Go Pink
The company has been cultivating the Pinkglow variety since 2005 in Costa Rica.


Pinkglow pineapple by Fresh Del Monte
Pinkglow Pineapples, $12.99 each, $75.95 for six from Baldor Food, baldorfood.com; about $30 each from Melissa’s, Tropical Fruit Box and Full Moon Fruits. They’re also sold at some supermarkets, including Wegman’s.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER
Where to Start With Balkan Wines
The website Wine&More offers hundreds of wines from Croatia and the surrounding region.


thewineandmore.com.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

THE POUR
12 Natural Wines to Drink Now
For 20 years, natural wine has been dismissed as a fad or a fraud. Yet more people make it, more drink it and good bottles are easier to find.


By ERIC ASIMOV

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Kimi
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Crime, Drama, Thriller | Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Zoë Kravitz stars in the latest from Steven Soderbergh, a story that plays with genre, triggers your anxieties and shreds your nerves.


Zoë Kravitz in Steven Soderbergh’s woman-in-peril movie “KIMI.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Playground
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Laura Wandel
In this stunning Belgian drama, a little girl and her brother go to school, read, write, fight and learn some brutal lessons about life.


Family ties: Maya Vanderbeque, left, and Günter Duret play brother and sister in Laura Wandel’s “Playground.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

The Sky Is Everywhere
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG-13 | Drama | Directed by Josephine Decker
Josephine Decker unlooses a slipstream of adolescent passion and anguish in this radiant drama about a musician grieving the loss of her big sister.


Jacques Colimon, left, with Grace Kaufman in “The Sky Is Everywhere.”
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

— Of Possible Interest —

The Fabulous Filipino Brothers
Comedy, Romance | Directed by Dante Basco
The Abasta family of California is celebrating a wedding. The Basco family writes, directs and stars in this warm, welcoming comedy.
By TEO BUGBEE

Death on the Nile
PG-13 | Crime, Drama, Mystery | Directed by Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh’s second adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot stories forgets the simple pleasures of ensemble excess and pure messing about.
By NICOLAS RAPOLD

Indemnity
Action, Thriller | Directed by Travis Taute
This South African thriller trades plausibility and originality for a worthy substitute: a great deal of fun.
By DEVIKA GIRISH

Big Bug
TV-MA | Comedy, Sci-Fi | Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
A squabbling family is locked in its home by robots in this overlong artificial-intelligence comedy on Netflix.
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Food! Glorious Food!

Greece holidays
‘A unique culinary repertoire’: What makes food and drink in Thessaloniki so special?

Bars and restaurants in the popular Ladadika district of Thessaloniki, northern Greece.
Bars and restaurants in the popular Ladadika district of Thessaloniki, northern Greece.
Greece’s first Unesco city of gastronomy is famed for perfect pastries, spicy meatballs, wine, frappés and local specialities reflecting a rich cultural heritage
Elise Morton

How The Sims Became the Internet’s Most Exciting Place to Eat
The 22-year-old life-simulation video game has evolved into a world where players can farm, forage, cook and learn about the many ways people experience food.
By NIKITA RICHARDSON

‘A Sense of Crisis’ for Wasabi, a Pungent Staple of Japanese Cuisine
Climate and demographic threats are chipping away at a centuries-old culture surrounding the cultivation of the fluorescent green plant.


By MOTOKO RICH, MAKIKO INOUE and SHIHO FUKADA

PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS
Home-Cooked Vietnamese Meals, Served Up Alongside Bouquets
In Berlin, a small flower shop is now offering twice-monthly lunches, with such dishes as spring rolls, crab noodle soup and salad garnished with edible blooms.

A Vietnamese spread of cá chiên (fried dorade marinated with garlic), sườn xào chua ngọt (sweet-and-sour pork ribs) and canh chua (sweet-and-sour soup with pork broth and mirabelle).
A Vietnamese spread of cá chiên (fried dorade marinated with garlic), sườn xào chua ngọt (sweet-and-sour pork ribs) and canh chua (sweet-and-sour soup with pork broth and mirabelle).
By Gisela Williams

This Chicken Will Take You to Spain
Ali Slagle’s paprika-spiced recipe with fries, inspired by patatas bravas, is transporting.


By EMILY WEINSTEIN

This Valentine’s Day, Make It a Kitchen Date
With this special menu, you can enjoy the splendors of a restaurant-worthy meal in your own home — and have fun cooking, too.

This dinner menu of individual beef Wellingtons, cheesy pan-seared radicchio and olive oil ice cream with hot fudge is as joyous to prepare as it is to eat.
This dinner menu of individual beef Wellingtons, cheesy pan-seared radicchio and olive oil ice cream with hot fudge is as joyous to prepare as it is to eat.
By Eric Kim

These Bold Mushrooms Are Ready to Meet the Moment
Portobellos served atop a versatile chile-bell pepper sauce and finished with corn nuts are perfect for 2022, Yotam Ottolenghi writes.

Prepared indoors on a grill pan, this hearty and satisfying vegetable dish is a little bit of summer in winter.
Prepared indoors on a grill pan, this hearty and satisfying vegetable dish is a little bit of summer in winter.
By Yotam Ottolenghi

SHOPPING GUIDE
Shopping for Cake Stands
Because you might want to bake a cake for Valentine’s Day.
By TIM MCKEOUGH

How to Cook to Feel Good
Tofu curry, garlic rasam and dumpling soup deserve a spot in your rotation.


By TEJAL RAO

CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
Indigenous Ingredients and Inspired Baking Mastery, at Gusto Bread
A modern panadería in Long Beach, Calif., is challenging the idea of Eurocentric authority in the fine pastry realm.


By Tejal Rao

A GOOD APPETITE
The Magic of Meringues
Don’t be intimidated by this marvel of food science: It’s much easier than you think to get the lofty egg whites of your dreams. Melissa Clark explains.


This raspberry meringue tart is just the thing to impress your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.
By MELISSA CLARK

How to make lemon meringue pie – recipe

Felicity Cloake's lemon meringue pie.
Felicity Cloake’s lemon meringue pie.
An explosion of colour and flavour to blast away those winter blues
Felicity Cloake

How to Make the Best Meringues
Melissa Clark has tips to yield results that are sure to impress. Let her set you up for success.
By MELISSA CLARK

The Warm, Sticky-Sweet Resurgence of Hotteok
Crisp and chewy on the outside, gooey on the inside, the popular street food feels nostalgic for some Korean Americans, novel to others.

Hotteok, a Korean pancake often filled with sugar, nuts and cinnamon, was brought to the country by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century.
Hotteok, a Korean pancake often filled with sugar, nuts and cinnamon, was brought to the country by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th century.
By Priya Krishna

THE POUR
The Wine Business Sees a Problem: Millennials Aren’t Drinking Enough
As baby boomers retire and buy less wine, producers need new ways to tempt a White Claw generation back from other alcoholic drinks, according to a new report.
By ERIC ASIMOV

NYT Critic’s Pick Movie(s)

Lingui
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
In this electric liberation story from Chad, a mother struggles to protect her daughter’s future and finds both herself and a world of possibility.

Rihane Khalil Alio, left, and Achouackh Abakar Souleymane in Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s “Lingui, the Sacred Bonds.”
Rihane Khalil Alio, left, and Achouackh Abakar Souleymane in Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s “Lingui, the Sacred Bonds.”
By MANOHLA DARGIS

The Worst Person in the World
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Comedy, Drama, Romance | Directed by Joachim Trier
Renate Reinsve stars in Joachim Trier’s funny-sad story of a woman on the verge of figuring herself out.


Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie in “The Worst Person in the World,” from the director Joachim Trier.
By A.O. SCOTT

Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary, Biography, Music | Directed by Celeste Bell, Paul Sng
In this new documentary, Poly Styrene’s daughter grapples tenderly with the legacy of her punk rock mother.


Poly Styrene as seen in the new documentary “Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché.”
By LISA KENNEDY

Jackass Forever
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Documentary, Action, Comedy | Directed by Jeff Tremaine
Sharp cinematography and enviable camaraderie continue to hoist Johnny Knoxville and friends above their many imitators in this deceptively kindhearted sequel.


Clockwise from left: Johnny Knoxville, Rachel Wolfson, Steve-O and Sean McInerney in “Jackass Forever.”
By AMY NICHOLSON

— Of Possible Interest —

Moonfall
PG-13 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi | Directed by Roland Emmerich
Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson save the world from a rogue moon in the latest disaster movie from the director of “Independence Day.”
By BEN KENIGSBERG

Food! Glorious Food!

Restaurants to Customers: Don’t Call Us, We Won’t Call You
When restaurants abandon their phone lines, it can make the lives of employees easier but leave diners confused and frustrated — or relieved.
By Victoria Petersen

On the Cajun Coast, a Chef Grapples With Threats to a Seafood Tradition
From her New Orleans restaurant, Melissa Martin sees the environmental damage that could end the region’s rich culture of food and fishing.
By Brett Anderson

McDonald’s, now with higher prices, topped $23 billion in revenue in 2021.
Profit soared 59 percent from a year earlier, to $7.5 billion.
McDonald’s said global revenues for 2021 reached the highest level since 2016.
By Julie Creswell

Top 10 cooks in fiction
From PG Wodehouse’s ‘peerless’ Anatole to John Lanchester’s merciless Tarquin Winot, a novelist chooses her favourite kitchen creations
Annabel Abbs

A GOOD APPETITE
This Scottish Chicken Soup Is Its Own Kind of Medicine
Rich with chicken, leeks and prunes, this cock-a-leekie soup from Melissa Clark is a penicillin of a different order.

The rich fruitiness of prunes sets this recipe apart from many chicken soups.
The rich fruitiness of prunes sets this recipe apart from many chicken soups.
By Melissa Clark

A Brand-New Cake From a Pastry Paradise
Paris’s Left Bank is brimming with sweets, including the financiers that inspired this elegant and easygoing dessert.


By Dorie Greenspan

The Accidental Vegetarian
Vegetable-centric meals aren’t just delicious; they’re also incredibly well suited for weeknight cooking.
By Nikita Richardson

A paleo-friendly chicken soup owes its velvety texture to a Cantonese cooking technique


By Ann Maloney

By The Way
Dragons, dumplings and draft beer: How three cities are celebrating Lunar New Year
By Huong Truong, Youngrae Kim and Amanda Villarosa

How to make the perfect pork (or chicken, duck or tofu) larb – recipe
Larb, larp, laap, lap … however you spell it, this salty-sour staple of south-east Asia has myriad versions, which won’t stop our resident perfectionist from seeking out the best


Felicity Cloake

The Best Wine Glass for Any Occasion: Our Critic Reviews 5 New Contenders
Each turns holding and swirling a goblet into a rare and sensual pleasure. But how do they differ when it comes to experiencing the wine?


These five high-end glasses are intended for all wines.Credit…Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
By Eric Asimov