The title of this post is something I ask Dan every Friday night. That's when I typically plan out our meals for the week, usually 3-4 dinners that will produce enough leftovers for lunch each day. It may seem like a lot of cooking for just two people, but I find it so relaxing at the end of a day to make a nice meal and surprise Dan with something tasty and new every night.
Like every household that regularly cooks we have a few standbys that we make once or twice a month, but I love trying different cuisines and experimenting with unfamiliar ingredients. I have a few favorite online resources that I thought I'd share with you for this week's blog post. Please comment and share your favorite recipe repositories!
My number one nemesis to personal productivity: YouTube. Dan can attest that I have fallen down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos on more than one occasion, and most of the time it's food videos (but also funny pets...). I've mentioned FoodWishes previously, but my other two addictions are Cooking with Dog and Binging with Babish/Feast of Fiction. Cooking with Dog is brilliant because it is a collection of instructional videos where Chef (an adorable Japanese home cook) whips up traditional and local Japanese cuisine. The best part is that each video is narrated in English (but with a French-sounding accent) by the dearly missed Francis, a poodle, who hangs out on a stool next to Chef throughout the meal prep process. Binging with Babish and Feast of Fiction were grouped together as one addiction because both of these shows are themed around food from movies and TV. Odds are, if you're wondering how they made something on a show or what the dish in that film might have tasted like, they've got a video for you. |
If you're willing to pay the teeny subscription for it, I highly recommend NYT Cooking. Not only will you have access to some of the most tested and annotated recipes on the internet, you will also be able to save/sort them in your Recipe Box and receive these super awesome "What to Cook This Week" emails that really put a dent in meal planning. I have found some recipes on here that I will be cooking/baking for the rest of my life, especially the milk bread featured in the picture on the left - tied with challah for my most favorite bread. |
If you're looking for something a little cheaper (i.e., free), BuzzFeed Food is a surprisingly great option for recipe inspiration as well as fun videos/surveys that are useful for even the most inexperienced cooks. allrecipes and FOOD52 are awesome because they are both easily navigable collections of recipes contributed by everyday cooks; one's just a wee bit more posh than the other.
I've saved my biggest weakness for last: Great British Bake Off. For those who are unfamiliar, GBBO is a competition TV series where a dozen British amateur bakers undertake a series of challenges over the course of 10 weeks until only one baker is left standing. It is hands down my most favorite TV show of all time. I can't come up with the words to describe to you my infatuation for this show, but know that it's a combination of the factors that are somewhat brazenly described in this GQ article by Freddie Campion.
I have learned so much from the amateur bakers that have participated in the last seven seasons of GBBO, and even follow my favorites on social media. I know that doesn't seem like much in the ways of admiration, but, honestly, I would be more excited to meet some of these people than I would be for nearly every celebrity (exceptions are Ellen DeGeneres and a select few from the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones casts). I find a fair few of the baker's (and judge's) recipes here, but a lot of them have blogs and cookbooks out as well. For the record, if Chetna Makan's cookbook just happened to show up at our house I would not mind in the slightest :) Cheers everyone, and happy cooking!