Turkey Trouble? At Butterball, Operators Are Still Standing By

As Thanksgiving looms, no algorithm can comfort hordes of harried cooks like the 38-year-old Turkey Talk-Line.

At the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, outside Chicago, the calls start at 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day and end only when the experts leave at 6 p.m.Credit…
By KIM SEVERSON

FOOD MATTERS

How Spices Have Made, and Unmade, Empires

From turmeric in Nicaragua to cardamom in Guatemala, nonnative ingredients are redefining trade routes and making unexpected connections across lands.
By LIGAYA MISHAN

How Jell-O Molds Claimed Their Spot on the American Table

All aquiver for the holidays, festive molds and gelatin salads are a Thanksgiving staple with deep origins.

This modern holiday Jell-O mold is a bit less sweet and has more natural fruit juice than the classics, but is still extravagantly festive.
Ashley Baker is a law student in Colorado who holds an annual potluck Friendsgiving feast, for which she does all the desserts. This year, instead of pumpkin pie, she’s making pumpkin spice Jell-O shots with Kahlúa, vodka and cream. “P.S.L. Jell-O shots go really well with other desserts,” she said. (P.S.L., or pumpkin spice latte flavor, doesn’t necessarily include either pumpkin or coffee; it’s a mix of cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and nutmeg that used to be called pie spice.)

“This way I don’t have to make pumpkin pie,” Ms. Baker said. “No one ever ate it anyway.”

By Julia Moskin

A Few Words of Thanksgiving Advice

A mantra for the next 24 hours: Everything is going to be all right.
By SAM SIFTON

How Six Different Cooks Set Striking Thanksgiving Tables

We asked holiday hosts around the country to show us how they serve the feast.

By CHRISTINE MUHLKE

C.D.C. Reports More E. Coli Illnesses Linked to Romaine Lettuce

The agency said the outbreak had affected 19 states and resulted in 39 people being hospitalized.
By ABDI LATIF DAHIR

MONTREAL DISPATCH

A Montreal Bagel War Unites Rival Kings

A culinary symbol of Montreal has become ensnared in a battle pitting environmentalists against bagel-loving traditionalists.
By DAN BILEFSKY

Welcome to Redditsgiving!

Interacting with guests you invited online can be less stressful than being with family.
By ALYSON KRUEGER

EAT

What Do You Do With an Unripe Mango? Pickle It

Traditional recipes for amba take days. But this hacked recipe delivers the condiment’s hot, sour, salty tang in less than an hour.
By TEJAL RAO

Red Tacos Ride in from the West Coast

Tortillas dipped in chile-stained fat combine with Tijuana-style birria de res to make the year’s most talked-about tacos.

OUT THERE

In Praise of Lumpy Gravy From the Cosmic Kitchen

Without that texture, there’d be none of us.
By DENNIS OVERBYE

FRONT BURNER

New Scissors Reporting for Kitchen Duty
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER

Seedless Lemons Make Squeezing a Breeze

Wonderful Seedless Lemons, from the producer of Pom Wonderful, are available from November to May.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER

These Cocktail Cherries Have More Holiday Cheer

Bathed in American whiskey, these cherries from Dirty Sue work well in a manhattan or alongside holiday meats.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FRONT BURNER

Learn to Make Vegan Sushi

“Sushi Modoki,” a new cookbook, offers insights for creating nigiri, rolls, chirashi and molded sushi without meat.
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Get Ready!

Thanksgiving is almost here: Keep it simple in advance of the big push with one-pot spaghetti, or loaded nachos.
By SAM SIFTON

Our Best Thanksgiving Recipes: Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Pumpkin Pie and More

We have every recipe you need to host the best Thanksgiving yet.
By MARGAUX LASKEY

Our Best Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes

We have main dish ideas and all of the classic Thanksgiving recipes you need to host a fantastic meat-free feast.
By MARGAUX LASKEY

Turn back-of-the-package recipes into a memorable Thanksgiving meal with these simple upgrades

By Becky Krystal

The No-Turkey Zone

We’ve got all the sharp, bright flavors you need to make sure all your other meals next week taste nothing like Thanksgiving.

1. French Onion Macaroni and Cheese

2. Quick Lamb Ragù

3. Coconut-Lime Shrimp

4. Vegetarian Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

5. Roasted Salmon Glazed With Brown Sugar and Mustard

By EMILY WEINSTEIN

Leftovers Never Tasted This Good

Gabrielle Hamilton’s latest recipe is for risotto al salto, a pancake made with day-old risotto Milanese.
By SAM SIFTON

A GOOD APPETITE
Your Thanksgiving May Be Classic, but Your Leftovers Don’t Have to Be
There are no rules to making turkey sandwiches: Pack them with bright flavors, and salty pickles.

This take on the Cubano substitutes sliced turkey for pork, but retains the cheese, ham and pickles
By Melissa Clark

THE T LIST

The T List: What to See, Drink and Wear This Week

A nonalcoholic aperitif, Mike Kelley’s “paintings” and more ideas from the editors of T Magazine.

When ‘Drinks’ Is the Only Box Left Unchecked

Last-minute decision-making for Thanksgiving beverages does not have to be an ordeal. But you do need to make a few choices.
By Eric Asimov

THE POUR

The Best Wine Books Are Not Always About Wine

The top picks from 2019 include volumes on cider that have a lot to teach wine lovers, along with stories about sommeliers and essential new texts.
By ERIC ASIMOV

The Trick to Hosting a Better Holiday Party

Batch drinks let you make a perfect drink for every single person in the room simultaneously — including yourself.

Make big batches of cocktails like martinis and Boulevardiers for a holiday party and you’ll barely have to think about drinks all night.
By REBEKAH PEPPLER

It’s easier to make cheese when you have cows, goats, or sheep with a constant stream of milk available to dip into.

When I was a youngin, my mother would, from time to time, railing at the high cost of dairy products in the grocery stores, make cheese and butter. The butter was always salted, but I don’t remember if it was frozen or just stored in the fridge.

One set of grandparents had a glass and electric butter churn which the three of us kids thought was just great, and the other set had the wooden churn my mother grew up with, and preferred, as long as there was somebody around to turn the crank.

The cheese always ended up as cottage cheese. In those days of yore, the cream that was not consumed or turned to butter, was put in cream cans and sold to the creamery. The leftover milk went to feed the farm cats and the pigs when we had pigs. When we didn’t have pigs, the skim milk was waste product.

The skim milk would be warmed in a large pot and rennet slowly stirred in. The ritual involved a glass-encased red alcohol thermometer to measure the temperature of the milk before the rennet was added. Then the curd was cut with a knife and poured into a colander lined with cheesecloth. It would be hung to drip for a period of time and then refrigerated.

At some point, the creamery closed, and for a short while, we sold whole milk. That entailed buying a bulk tank to hold the milk, and a once or twice a week pickup by a milk truck. Eventually, the state health department started upping the requirements for milking cows and storing milk, and the cows went off to the hamburger factory. The barn stayed around for quite a few years after the cows left, but it’s long gone now.

Here’s a link to the cheese story: Making Cheese with the Romans: Caseus Fumosus Velabrensis (Smoked Velabran Cheese)

Thanksgiving at War

We asked readers to share their memories and photographs of their time spent in harm’s way, when all was turkey and gravy at home.
By SAM SIFTON

The Era of Fast-Food Toys Begins to Melt Away

As environmental concerns grow, chains like Burger King and McDonald’s are rethinking what to offer with children’s meals.
By DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY

Dread the Holidays? Feasting Together Might Actually Help

Sharing a meal with loved ones, co-workers or friends may seem like a chore, but research shows it has real benefits. Stick with us here.
By SIMRAN SETHI

Nestlé Says It Can Be Virtuous and Profitable. Is That Even Possible?

The world’s largest food company is trying to show it can be environmentally sustainable and still make money. Activists are skeptical.
By JACK EWING

Apple sleuths hunt Northwest for varieties believed extinct

By GILLIAN FLACCUS

Chinese Roast Duck, but Make It Turkey

With juicy meat and extra-crisp skin, Thanksgiving turkeys cooked in the manner of ducks are keeping Chinatown barbecue restaurants busy across the United States.

Roasted turkey hangs next to char siu in a barbecue case at New Yee Li in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. New Yee Li is one of several shops and restaurant across the United States that offers Chinese barbecue-style turkey for Thanksgiving.
By Cathy Erway

SHOPPING GUIDE

Shopping for Cutting Boards

The cutting board — an all-in-one chopping block and serving platter — may be the most useful item in your kitchen. Why limit yourself to just one?
By TIM MCKEOUGH

Thanksgiving tips to keep everyone happy and sane at your holiday gathering

By Becky Krystal

Meatballs! Squash! Pasta!

They’re all here, in an Italian wedding soup, a delightfully simple sheet-pan sausage dinner and a white bean piccata pasta.
By EMILY WEINSTEIN

The Best Roast Potatoes Manage to Get Even Better

How do you improve on perfect potatoes? J. Kenji López-Alt coats them with Parmesan for a crisp cheese crust.

Extra-crispy Parmesan-crusted roasted potatoes.
By J. Kenji López-Alt

The Real Heart of Thanksgiving

Long relegated to the stockpot and the crudité tray, celery is the holiday’s unsung hero — and deserves a special spot on your menu.
By Alexa Weibel

A GOOD APPETITE

A Brilliant Thanksgiving Strategy: Make Sides Quickly, or Ahead

The turkey and potatoes may be sacred, but when it comes to the vegetables, you can break from custom. Make them to your convenience.

This cumin cauliflower side can be prepared long before the guests arrive.
By Melissa Clark

Rice at Its Finest

To elevate rice to the center of the holiday table, Yotam Ottolenghi bakes it in fragrant stock, with mixed mushrooms.

Sweet spiced mushroom and apricot pilaf.
By Yotam Ottolenghi

Our Best Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes

Everything you need to host a delicious meat-free, dairy-free feast.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s vegan pumpkin pie.
By MARGAUX LASKEY

The Shortcut to Crisp, Tender Pie Crust

Once the chef Clare de Boer learned the grating trick, she never went back to rolling.

From left, three pies made with buttery, crisp shortcut pie crust: hazelnut, pear and cardamom tart; walnut and molasses pie; and a British bakewell tart with cranberry sauce.
By Clare de Boer

EAT

This Breathtakingly Crisp Risotto Cake Is Italian Perfection

Repurpose creamy risotto Milanese as a crispy, golden disc. No garnish needed.

By GABRIELLE HAMILTON

The Weekend’s Best Beef Stew

Make David Tanis’s braised beef stew with Vietnamese flavors tonight, let its flavors meld into excellence and eat it all weekend.
By SAM SIFTON

WINES OF THE TIMES

And Now the Easy Part: Selecting Thanksgiving Wines
By Eric Asimov

Gulf Oysters Are Dying, Putting a Southern Tradition at Risk Cheap and plentiful, they’ve long been a menu staple in New Orleans and beyond. But recent months have brought a crisis that worries fishermen and chefs.

Thomas Stewart, a veteran oyster shucker at Pascal’s Manale in New Orleans, is known to customers as Uptown T. He and other shuckers are finding themselves spending more time in the kitchen, as restaurant managers redeploy employees idled by the oyster shortage.
By Brett Anderson

The Zagat Guide Is Back in Print
After a three-year absence, the New York City survey will return on Tuesday with the same cover and pocket-size dimensions.
By Florence Fabricant

A Milk Giant Goes Broke as Americans Quit Old Staples
Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. It’s not the first food giant to be caught off guard by a shift in tastes.
By David Yaffe-Bellany

Handcuffed for Selling Churros: Inside the World of Illegal Food Vendors
On the male-dominated black market, a permit for mobile food vending can easily cost $25,000.
By Sharon Otterman

UPDATE
At Museums Around the World, a Focus on Food
The new Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie de Lyon in southeastern France is one of a growing number of museums and centers devoted to food.
By Vivian Song

On Hawaii, the Fight for Taro’s Revival
The root vegetable was a staple food for centuries until contact with the West. Its return signals a reclamation of not just land but a culture — and a way of life.
By Ligaya Mishan

The Chefs Growing Vegetables for Paris’s Best Restaurants
As they prepare to open their own ambitious farm-to-table project, James Henry and Shaun Kelly have discovered a sideline as sought-after producers.
By Alice Cavanagh

36 Hours in Barolo, Italy
Sleepy villages, hillsides blanketed in grape vines, pasta dusted with shaved truffles, and wine that tastes of violets: just a few reasons to visit this gastronomic paradise in the Piedmont region.

By Ingrid K. Williams

Slideshow

Your Thanksgiving Helper? The Sous-Vide Machine
The kitchen tool can make preparing the big meal much easier, whether you’re stressing over the turkey or looking for a way to cook and reheat potatoes.
By Melissa Clark

FOOD MATTERS
I’ll Have What She’s Having
A new crop of restaurants is embracing family-style, communal eating, creating a necessary spirit of communication and collaboration for our fractious times.
By Priya Krishna

Lasagne 3 Ways — Quick, Vegan, & Slow Cooked

WHAT TO COOK
Alison Roman’s Big Thanksgiving

YouTube

By ALISON ROMAN

On the Hunt for Mushrooms in Central Oregon
Photographs and Text by Stephen Hilktner

WINE SCHOOL
Champagne-Style Sparklers, Made in America
By Eric Asimov

Scandinavian Wine? A Warming Climate Tempts Entrepreneurs
Hotter weather is fueling efforts to create a commercial wine industry in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
By Liz Alderman

Star Sommelier Resigns After Accusations of Sexual Assault

Anthony Cailan in July at the Usual.
By Julia Moskin

Narayana Reddy, YouTube Star as ‘Grandpa Kitchen,’ Has Died
Mr. Reddy, a cook in India, started a YouTube channel in 2017 featuring videos of him preparing huge portions of food for children. His channel has more than six million subscribers.

By Daniel E. Slotnik

Popeyes Sandwich Strikes a Chord for African-Americans

In a Facebook post in August, Nadiyah Ali, a nurse from Katy, Texas, compared the sandwich to a rival’s: Chick-fil-A’s version, she wrote, tasted as if it were made “by a white woman named Sarah who grew up around black people.” The Popeyes sandwich, she added, tasted “like it was cooked by an older black lady named Lucille.”

By John Eligon

What Could Come Between These Two Allies? A $100 Jar of Honey

New Zealand producers, in the face of protests by their Australian counterparts, want to trademark manuka honey, a costly nectar beloved by celebrities.
By Jamie Tarabay

The World’s Best Cheese? It’s Blue and Comes From Oregon

Rogue Creamery, which took the top prize at the World Cheese Awards with its Rogue River Blue produced in Oregon, has seen sales and interest jump.

Cathy Strange, vice president of specialty foods at Whole Foods, with the winning cheese at the World Cheese Awards in Bergamo, Italy.
By Laura M. Holson

‘After His Death, I Didn’t Cook Anymore’: Widows on the Pain of Dining Alone

Readers share poignant stories of the pain and comfort that food can bring after a loved one dies.
Compiled by Aidan Gardiner

How to Eat Alone (and Like It)

Table for one? It’s not as bad as it sounds. Here’s how to dine by yourself and enjoy every bite.
By Jess McHugh

FOOD VISIONARY
After Rehab and Loss, a Restaurant Leader Helps His Colleagues

Steve Palmer is a food industry success story. But he is most proud of his efforts to reach workers in the hospitality business who struggle with addiction.
By Kim Severson

SCRATCH
What Does It Take to Stand Out at a New Orleans Seafood Market? (Hint: Worms)

An illustrated look at how fishmongers diversify. It’s a tough business — especially when the competition includes your own sisters.
By Julia Rothman and Shaina Feinberg

Sean Sherman’s 10 Essential Native American Recipes

The founder of The Sioux Chef, a company devoted to Indigenous foods, created recipes to showcase tribal diversity across the lower 48 states.

The following links are to NYTime’s Cooking, which is a firewall within a firewall. (It seems to be accessible through the NYTimes phone app, but don’t tell no one.)
01. Bison Pot Roast With Hominy
02. Roasted Turnips and Winter Squash With Agave Glaze
03. Roast Turkey With Berry-Mint Sauce and Black Walnuts
04. Tepary Beans With Chile-Agave Glaze
05. Rocky Mountain Rainbow Trout With Trout Eggs
06. Chia Pudding With Berries and Popped Amaranth
07. Seared Salmon With Crushed Blackberries and Seaweed
08. Wild Rice and Berries With Popped Rice
09. Three Sisters Bowl With Hominy, Beans and Squash
10. Crawfish and Shrimp Pot With Spiced Sweet Potatoes

A GOOD APPETITE
These Ingredients Deserve Your Attention

This sheet-pan chicken dinner stars two ingredients, paprika and parsley, you may be taking for granted.

Bell peppers and jammy cherry tomatoes round out this simple roast chicken supper.
By Melissa Clark

A Pastry Chef’s Book, and Life, Start Again

Claudia Fleming’s cult, out-of-print cookbook, “The Last Course,” is being reissued as she emerges from a dark decade.
By Julia Moskin

EAT
The Pork Chops You’ll Make Again and Again

Pork chops in lemon-caper sauce.
By Sam Sifton

FRONT BURNER
A Farmed Striped Bass Worth Roasting

This fish, raised in Pacific waters off Baja California, makes a worthy substitute for wild striped bass.
By Florence Fabricant

FRONT BURNER
A Japanese Sweet Tradition a Thousand Years in the Making

Yokan, a jellied confection, will be celebrated this week in New York.

By Florence Fabricant

A Celebrity Sommelier Is Accused of Sexual Assault

By Julia Moskin

Pour at Your Own Risk: America Warms to a Spill-Prone Wine Jug

Passé in its native Spain, the porrón has become a popular bar accessory among patrons who don’t mind possible wine stains.

A growing number of restaurants and bars in the United States are using porróns, including Bar Celona at Mercado Little Spain in New York.
By Robert Simonson

FRONT BURNER
Curious About Orange Wine? There’s a Subscription Box

Orange Glou will send you bottles of these funky wines from around the world.
By Florence Fabricant

THE POUR
In Napa Valley, Winemakers Fight Climate Change on All Fronts

Wine producers are grappling with a maelstrom caused by a warming planet: heat waves, droughts, cold snaps, wildfires and more.
By Eric Asimov

When the Menu Turns Raw, Your Gut Microbes Know What to Do
Before scientists tested the effects of some dietary changes on the microbiome, they ordered a special menu from a chef-turned-chemist.
By Veronique Greenwood

‘Seared’ Review: For a Pompous Chef, Comeuppance on the Menu
Raúl Esparza faces the realities of the restaurant business in Theresa Rebeck’s energetic but formulaic art-versus-commerce comedy.

>
Raul Esparza as a Brooklyn chef who doesn’t take well to compromise in Theresa Rebeck’s play “Seared.”
By Elisabeth Vincentelli

Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Returns, but Will the Hype?
The company poked fun at a competitor in its announcement about the sandwich, which previously proved so popular that it sold out.

Popeyes announced the return of the sandwich in a video that took a jab at rival Chick-fil-A.
By Niraj Chokshi

The Secret Ingredient That Improves Meat Every Time
You may love it. You may hate it. But a smear of mayonnaise before cooking makes beef, pork, chicken and fish better as if by magic. J. Kenji López-Alt explains.

By J. Kenji López-Alt

ONE GOOD MEAL
The Arepas That Transport One Venezuelan Performance Artist Back Home
Migguel Anggelo shares the recipe for a dish he ate growing up on his family’s farm.

Migguel Anggelo at home in Brooklyn Heights. His current show at Joe’s Pub is “LatinXoxo.”
By Nick Marino

Savoring the Taste of Memories in Northern India
An Indian-born chef explores the foods and culture of Himachal Pradesh, where Punjabi and Tibetan flavors meet.

A woman making stuffed roti at the Kalasan Nursery Farm, near the tiny town of Karsog, in Himachal Pradesh, India.
By Romy Gill

The Chocolate Cake That Saved My Vacation

By Dorie Greenspan

A GOOD APPETITE
A Pancake That’s Ready for All the Vegetables in Your Fridge
Pajeon, Korean scallion pancakes packed with vegetables, make for an easy, vegetarian weeknight meal with a kimchi kick.

The chef Sohui Kim’s vegetable pajeon.
By Melissa Clark

THE POUR
Freshness in a Changed Climate: High Altitudes, Old Grapes
In its wineries, Familia Torres, a global producer, fights climate change by lowering emissions; in its vineyards, the company tries to adapt.

Miguel A. Torres, left, and Miguel Torres Maczassek, in their historic cellar. They have made climate change a priority for Familia Torres.
By Eric Asimov

How Do the New Plant-Based Burgers Stack Up? We Taste-Tested Them
The new generation of veggie burgers aims to replace the beefy original with fake meat or fresher vegetables. To find out how well they do, we ran a blind tasting of six top contenders.
By JULIA MOSKIN

CULINARY ARTS
How Did the Diner Menu Get So Long?
You can get just about anything at an American diner. This illustrated history has some insights into why.
By RACHEL WHARTON and KOREN SHADMI

On Capitol Hill, the Caucus Grows for Diwali
Five members of Congress now celebrate the Indian festival of lights with feasts and family gatherings. But some of them think the version on the Hill needs work.
By Priya Krishna

The Way to a Better Meatball
Alison Roman’s latest, for lamb meatballs with chickpeas and eggplant, is a layered, restaurant-style dish that’s fancy without being too complicated.

Alison Roman’s crispy lamb meatballs with chickpeas and eggplant.
By Sam Sifton

MY DETOX
The Floral Tonics One Designer Relies on to Stay Balanced
Behnaz Sarafpour shares her recipes for restorative elixirs inspired by Persian folk medicine.
By Kari Molvar

FRONT BURNER
The Art of the Chinese Banquet
An exhibit at the Princeton University Art Museum explores feast culture in China.
By Florence Fabricant

FRONT BURNER
Chocolate Spiders, Oh My!
No trick. These confections from Kreuther Handcrafted Chocolate are definitely Halloween treats.

By Florence Fabricant

The Greatest Fish Recipe
Julia Moskin’s pan-roasted fish with herb butter may just teach you a technique that you’ll use for the rest of your life.
By Sam Sifton

THE POUR
In Oregon Wine Country, One Farmer’s Battle to Save the Soil
Agriculture can play a leading role in combating climate change and reversing ecological damage. Mimi Casteel is showing one way to get it done.

At Hope Well in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, Mimi Casteel raises ducks and other animals. She also grows grapes, vegetables and apples.
By Eric Asimov

A Lafite From China? This $300 Wine Is the Real Thing
A Rothschild estate in Shandong Province has released its first vintage. It was 10 years in the making.

Domaine de Long Dai, the Chinese wine estate that the owners of Château Lafite Rothschild in France decided to establish a decade ago.
By Amy Qin

Whilst shopping for my New Year’s Day Open House, I found salmon on sale at the Uptown Lunds. They had sides of both Coho and, I think, King. Both were richly colored and dark, but the Coho was much, much, much cheaper. Back in the meat department, I asked if they had a good sized side, and I ended up with about a two-pound piece. I also purchased some coriander, just to ensure I already had some, and another hunk of dill.

2 teaspoon whole white peppercorns
2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon allspice berries
4 tablespoons sea salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 2-pound salmon fillet, skin on
1 cup chopped fresh dill
absinthe

Gravlax is essentially salt and sugar cured salmon. Dill is the standard herb, and pepper, that other essential Scandinavian spice, is the second. The outline of the recipe I used, DILLED GRAVLAX WITH MUSTARD SAUCE also added coriander, which is why I bought some. I’m going to guess that any of the bitter herbs and spices would work: fennel, caraway, tarragon, licorice, anise, etc. As usual, I opened up several online recipes and kinda winged it. I did not make the mustard sauce. Why ruin good salmon?

The main recipe said to toast the spice. I toasted two teaspoons black and white peppercorns, coriander, and some allspice berries. I put them in the mortar and had at them with the pestle. When they started getting toward crushed, I threw some of the salt on it and pounded away a bit longer.

I ended up using a wire nippers to pull the bones out of the salmon, and I gave up about a third of the way to the tail. (You want to leave the skin on the fish for cutting.)

I washed and coarsely chopped a mess o’ dill. The dill is traditional, and it’s good, but it can be used in almost any amount.

I mixed the salt and spice mixture with brown sugar (about equal to the salt). I’m sure there’s a level of salt and sugar that you don’t want to go below, but as long as you’re above that, the salt and the sugar amounts, kind, and type are up to you.

The recipe says to prick the skin of the salmon, which I did since the fish is firmly dead anyway, although I don’t think I have before. You simply rub the spice, sugar, and salt cure all over the salmon, and the dill on top. Most recipes will ask you to weigh down the salmon in a non-reactionary pan, but I find a good old plastic zip-lock bag is a lot simpler. After I got the fish in the bag, I tossed in a good glug of absinthe. If the salmon is too long for the bag, just fold the tail over. When the fish goes into the fridge, it’s dry, but the salt and sugar rapidly draw fluid from the fish, and turn to liquid. You’ll want to keep the salmon submerged in the liquid. You can submerge it in water to get the air out, or just fold it. The goal is to cure the salmon by keeping it in the liquid, and you can perform any ritual you want to ensure this.

After a couple of days, the color of the fish will have turned darker, and you’ll want to slice it against the skin. You can clean the salmon before slicing if you want, but we did not. The absinthe, which was quite strong if you sniffed the bag, was merged with the peppers, coriander, and allspice. It was a lot more peppery than the gravlax I’ve made before, but I really liked the flavor of the fish, and it was gone by the end of the night.

A Spice Company Spent $92,000 on Pro-Impeachment Facebook Ads in a Week

A Wisconsin-based purveyor of pepper, paprika and poppy seeds spent more on impeachment-related Facebook ads than any entity besides President Trump.

An employee at a Penzeys Spices store in St. Paul, Minn. “I think the luxury of not being on a side is something of the past,” the company’s owner said.
By Jacey Fortin

At the New Orleans Airport, a Taste of Leah Chase’s Food and Art

The family of the famed Creole chef is collaborating on a restaurant in her memory, to open soon in the new terminal.
By Kim Severson

TRENDING

Reinventing Afternoon Tea, With Deliciousness and Delight

Upscale hotels around the world have started to “blow the dust off their afternoon tea tradition.”
By Sarah Firshein

TRILOBITES

This Fungus Mutates. That’s Good News if You Like Cheese.

American scientists set out to simulate a fungus’s evolution into the edible mold that makes French cheeses like Camembert.
By Emma Goldberg

TRILOBITES

What Was Kept in This Stone Age Meat Locker? Bone Marrow

In an Israeli cave, paleoarchaeologists unearthed what may be the earliest example of humans storing food for later consumption.
By Nicholas St. Fleur

Hey, Look! Nonna and Her Pasta Are on YouTube

A filmmaker is trying to preserve the art of handmade pasta by turning Italy’s Pasta Grannies into video stars.

The Pasta Grannies creator, Vicky Bennison, and the videographer, Andrea Savorani Neri, recording a pasta lesson in Rosa Turri’s kitchen in Faenza, Italy.
By Kim Severson

The New Makers of Plant-Based Meat? Big Meat Companies

Tyson, Smithfield, Perdue and Hormel have all rolled out meat alternatives, filling supermarket shelves with an array of plant-based burgers, meatballs and chicken nuggets.
By David Yaffe-Bellany

For Sondheim, Raúl Esparza Protects His Voice. For ‘Seared,’ His Fingers.

The actor, best known for “Company” and “Law & Order,” cooks, chops and sautés onstage as a finicky chef in Theresa Rebeck’s play.
By Amelia Nierenberg

Your New Monday Dinner

Yewande Komolafe has an amazing new recipe for baked tofu with peanut sauce and coconut-lime rice that may just earn a place on your weekly rotation.
By Sam Sifton

The Creamiest Chickpea Pasta

Hearty and so satisfying, Alexa Weibel’s creamy chickpea pasta with spinach and rosemary is the perfect cool-weather pasta.
By Emily Weinstein

What Are We Supposed to Think About Shrimp?

Americans eat more shrimp than ever before. But a cloud hangs over much of the global industry that produces it, with questions about labor practices and sustainability.

Very messy, very spicy peel-and-eat shrimp get dunked in melted lemon butter and chile-seasoned shrimp broth.
“But with new technology, this may be changing. Businesses like the
Tru Shrimp Company in Balaton, Minn, are working on improving land-based water recirculating systems to raise shrimp more sustainably in tanks, without using antibiotics, and without the carbon footprint of shipping frozen, perishable shrimp from Asia and South America.”
By MELISSA CLARK

Shrimp and Chemicals: What You Need to Know

What exactly is added to shrimp, and how can you avoid it at the store?
By Melissa Clark

How to Make the Cardamom Bun That Took New York

Fabrique’s version of the Swedish bun is tender, buttery and brimming with woodsy spice.

Fabrique’s kardemummabulle, or — a little less fun to say in English — cardamom bun.
By Charlotte Druckman

Fondue Flavor, but Make It Pie

Yotam Ottolenghi’s love of wine and cheese leads to a pie inspired by fondue parties from long ago.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s butternut squash and fondue pie with pickled red chiles.
By YOTAM OTTOLENGHI

EAT

This Knockout Spicy Sauce From Yemen Will Improve Almost Any Dish

Looking to punch up your eggs? Or add some zing to your salad? Just give it a little zhug.

By Gabrielle Hamilton

FRONT BURNER

Cook Dinner Like a Warrior

These new oven mitts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art look like the armor of a 16th-century duke.
By Florence Fabricant

THE POUR

How Will Climate Change Alter Agriculture? Winemakers Are Finding Out

The accelerating effects of climate change have forced the wine industry to take decisive steps to counter or adapt to the shifts.
By ERIC ASIMOV

Bruce LeFavour, ‘a Good Cook,’ Dies at 84

As a restaurateur, he was in the vanguard of moving from rich French fare to more fish and seasonal, locally sourced fresh produce.

Bruce LeFavour at his restaurant Rose et LeFavour in California’s Napa Valley in 1986. Despite rave reviews, he kept his restaurants only as long as they held his interest.
By Katharine Q. Seelye

CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
Taking On the Tortilla Industry

Kernel of Truth Organics, in Los Angeles, is one of several producers trying to get a better, traditionally made tortilla into supermarkets, restaurants and home kitchens.
By Tejal Rao

A GOOD APPETITE
Fry Some Eggplant Before the Season Is Done
Crisp-edged, golden, soft-centered and thoroughly appealing, this fried eggplant is also easy enough to make on a weeknight.

Creamy ricotta, red-pepper flakes and honey complement the eggplant here.
By Melissa Clark

Angela Dimayuga’s 10 Essential Filipino Recipes
The creative director for food and culture at the Standard hotels and former Mission Chinese Food chef chooses the dishes that define the cuisine for her.
By Angela DimayugaWith Ligaya Mishan

FOOD MATTERS
The Chefs Reinventing the Midwestern Supper Club
Once a mainstay of midcentury dining, the convivial establishments have reappeared, even as the meaning of “all-American” has become more complicated.
By Ligaya Mishan

The Chicken That May Sweep the Internet

See what all the excitement is about, and make Alison Roman’s vinegar chicken with crushed olive dressing.
By Emily Weinstein

Alison Roman’s Tangy Sheet-Pan Chicken Is #1
Make her recipe for vinegar chicken with crushed olive dressing.

Jumbo Shrimp and Lobster Tails: D.C.’s Fund-Raising Hot Spots
Political campaigns spend a small fortune on food, drink, staff and other fees when they raise money in the nation’s capital. These are the top 11 spots.
By Jennifer Steinhauer and Mark Walker

THINGS EDITORS LIKE
T Suggests: A Pioneering French Designer, a New All-Day Cafe and More
A roundup of things our editors — and a few contributors — are excited about in a given week.

The Art of Sourdough

Claire Saffitz has a smart and exhaustive guide to the process of baking beautiful, flavorful bread with natural leavening.
By Sam Sifton

Expect Higher Prices on Lighter Wines
Some European wines with less than 14 percent alcohol will be subject to new U.S. tariffs on Oct. 18.
By Eric Asimov

WINES OF THE TIMES
Priorat Reds Raise the Question: Style or Identity?
By Eric Asimov