Food Network Magazine September 2021

What’s your favorite item in the frozen food aisle?…

an old friend of mine wrote a book last year that explains the impossibly complicated world of college admissions. It’s called Who Gets In and Why, and I never imagined that I’d end up talking about it here. But I was reading the book while we were judging hundreds of entries for our recipe competition, America’s Best Kid Cooks, and now I think I have a rough idea of what it feels like to be an admissions officer at Yale. My friend, Jeff Selingo, says that in 2019, Yale accepted 2,178 students out of 36,843 who applied—a 5.9 percent acceptance rate. We, by comparison, went searching for the best young cooks in the country and chose five winners from an entry pool of 413, an acceptance rate of just 1.2…

Chilled Tomato Soup with Crispy Chorizo from FOOD NETWORK KITCHEN Serves: 4 | Active Time: 15 min Total Time: 1 hr 15 min (includes chilling time) INGREDIENTS 1 ¼ pounds yellow heirloom tomatoes (about 4), stemmed and roughly chopped2 tablespoons sliced almonds2 tablespoons sherry vinegar½ English cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped½ yellow bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oilKosher salt and freshly ground black pepper4 ounces Spanish chorizo, finely diced2 cloves garlic, thinly slicedSliced crusty bread, toasted, for serving DIRECTIONS Add the tomato, almonds, sherry vinegar, cucumber, bell pepper, ¼ cup of the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper to a blender. Blend on high until very smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and refrigerate until very cold, at least 1 hour and up…

1 MIX A COCKTAIL This drink has become a favorite at chef Richard Sandoval’s new Washington, DC, spot DLeña. “Tamarind can be sweet, sour, tangy and tart all at once,” the chef says. Tamarindo Margarita Rub the rim of a glass with lime and dip in Tajin. Combine 1½ ounces reposado tequila (such as El Jimador), 1½ ounces tamarind puree, ½ ounce agave nectar and ½ ounce fresh lime juice in a shaker with ice; shake until cold. Fill the prepared glass with ice, then strain the drink into the glass. Garnish with a lime slice. 2 MAKE A GREAT BITE Chef and Food Network Kitchen instructor Yia Medina makes this recipe whenever she wants to feel close to her family in Puerto Rico. Pinchos 1. Combine ½ cup sofrito, ⅓ cup olive oil, 1½ tablespoons each…

How much would you pay to taste the world’s best strawberries? The ones pictured here, from oishii.com, sell for about $5 each! Oishii cofounder Hiroki Koga grew up eating delicious Omakase strawberries in Japan, so he brought seeds stateside and worked with farmers and engineers to replicate the environment of the Japanese Alps where the berries grow—in a New Jersey warehouse. The result is most likely the juiciest, sweetest strawberry you’ll ever taste. They’re available for pickup and delivery in New York City and Los Angeles, and Koga says a more affordable version is in the works. STRAWBERRIES: DANIELLE DALY; FOOD STYLING: ADRIENNE ANDERSON; PROP STYLING: PAIGE HICKS. KOGA PORTRAIT: TEDDY WOLFF.…

hot sauce has never been hotter: Retail sales have almost doubled since 2015, and new versions just keep coming. Chefs across the country have started bottling and selling their own, and other celebrities are joining the fun, too. Mötley Crüe, Rob Kardashian and basketball star Joel Embiid have all released hot sauces during the past year! We asked experts for their top choices. “I like mixing hot sauce, along with store-bought Thai red curry paste, into mayo and butter to give them a little kick.”—Arnold MyintPM Nashville, BLVD Bistro and Suzy Wong’s House of Yum, Nashville“Add hot sauce to seafood. I love it with clam chowder and any kind of seafood roll.”—Donny FarrellQuality Crab & Oyster Bah, Chicago FAVORITE: CRY BABY CRAIG’S HOT SAUCE $20 for three; crybabycraigs.com “I love using hot sauce…