Food & Wine June 2022

2021 PONZI PINOT GRIS ($21) What’s not to love about this bright, jasmine-scented white from Oregon? It’s full of pear and citrus flavors, with enough depth that the flavors linger after each sip. I tasted it in the F&W Wine Room and then took the rest home and had it with steamed sea bass with burst cherry tomatoes, basil, and pine nuts. 2020 THACHER CINSAULT ($40) An offbeat red variety from an excellent up-and-coming producer, this is crisp and zippy, full of red fruit and spice, and just waiting to be chilled down for summer. I featured it in a Paso Robles AVA tasting I did recently; there are stellar wines coming out of Paso right now. KOPKE 10 YEARS OLD WHITE PORT ($40 FOR 375 ML.) Port for summer? It’s an odd idea, maybe,…

A Cook’s Treat SOMETIMES, THIS MAGAZINE BUSINESS is like parenthood. I’m not supposed to play favorites, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: This is my favorite recipe issue of the year so far. And just in time, too, especially now that farmers markets are heaving with late spring and early summer produce. Not to mention the upcoming slate of cookouts for Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July Fourth, and Labor Day. You have dinners. We have recipes. The season of abundance comes with the kinds of problems we’re grateful for, like what to do with the squash fatigue that creeps in around midsummer? Enter chef Vishwesh Bhatt, aka “The Gourdfather” (p. 78), whose recipes for squash and its kin in the cucurbit family will be on my dinner playlist all season long.…

IT WAS 1 A.M., but I couldn’t put my phone down. I found myself immersed deep in the endless scroll of TikTok, watching videos of people making tanghulu, a Chinese street snack of sugar-coated fruit. I was mesmerized as they gently dipped skewers of plump red strawberries into a pan of scalding hot, bubbling sugar. The fruit emerged encased in a glasslike coating, as smooth and clear as an ice rink moments after a Zamboni completed its run. Once the fruit had cooled, the cooks would take a giant bite, shattering the sugar shell and sending sweet shards flying in every direction. Traditionally, tanghulu is made from hawthorn berries, which have a sour, crab apple–like flavor. They are difficult to source in the United States, so resourceful cooks most commonly use…

UMAMI, THE SATIATING, SAVORY “FIFTH TASTE,” is what gives ingredients like dashi, chicken bouillon, fish sauce, and Parmesan cheese their power to satisfy. But where does umami fit in a changing culinary landscape where more people are leaning into the power of plants? A new generation of makers is answering that question by deriving umami from vegetables and mushrooms to create robust vegan sauces, sprinkles, and soup bases. Our editors put this new wave of plant-based flavor boosters to work in our home kitchens; here are our favorites. YONDU Soybeans go through a 100-day triple-fermentation process and are then blended with vegetables to make this concentrated, salty, umami-rich vegetable sauce. We liked using it in place of salt or meat-based stocks in soup, and a few drops deepened the flavor of vegetable…

ALTHOUGH WE WAIT ALL YEAR for summer’s warmth, we still end up spending the entire sweaty season struggling to stay cool. But an ice-cold beverage makes the heat bearable—maybe even enjoyable—when you’re outside. To ensure you’ll have a chilled drink everywhere you go, we used 72 pounds of ice to test coolers from our most trusted brands and determined the best options for every occasion. From the heavy-duty hard cooler that will transform your next camping trip to the insulated backpack engineered to keep wine at the perfect drinking temperature, here are four coolers you can rely on to keep their cool. FOR THE AVID CAMPER YETI TUNDRA 45 HARD COOLER Yeti offers the best ice re-tention, strongest latches, and hardest-wearing exterior in the game. Thanks to durable rotomolded construction and Fatwalls with…

ORDERING TAKEOUT from a restaurant is a luxury. (There’s no cooking, no dishes, and it only costs about 20 times what it would cost to make it yourself!) Over the past two years, takeout orders have soared, more than doubling during the pandemic. I’ve been working in restaurants for over 20 years, so I know my way around a to-go order. And here’s the thing: To-go orders take real effort because once that food goes into the insulated bag of a delivery person, there’s no going back. Orders are checked and double-checked for accuracy so we’re not yelled at over the phone by someone who didn’t get their extra ranch dressing, and they’re painstakingly packed so they make it to their destination intact. Here are a few takeaways for takeout…