Table of contents for February 2022 in Food & Wine

2017 COLLI DI LAPIO ROMANO CLELIA VIGNA ANDREA TAURASI ($45) Need a red to tame any kind of winter stew? Taurasi, from Italy’s Campania region, is made with the powerful Aglianico grape. Too often, the wines are overwhelmingly tannic; this one, though, is perfectly balanced, its gamy intensity playing against gorgeous, dark plum fruit. 2020 TIEFENBRUNNER PINOT GRIGIO ($19) A breath of springtime in the middle of winter, this vivacious white from northern Italy has a pretty nose of spiced pears and mint and more substance than you often find in Pinot Grigios at this price. It will make you forget that it’s still frozen outside; it would be excellent with a similarly springy green salad. 2019 BLACK STALLION NAPA VALLEY CABERNET SAUVIGNON ($28) I tasted this on a recent…

FROM SLINGING S’MORES at one of her The Baking Bean pop-ups to creating pastries for hot NYC spot Kimika to competing on popular cooking shows, there’s never a dull moment for pastry chef Clarice Lam. Sporting rosy-pink locks, killer yoga moves, and a cat who slays Instagram (@MisterTuts), she brings a sweet punch of personality to every dessert she dreams up. —JOSH MILLER Chocolate-Raspberry French Crullers With Fudge Glaze TOTAL 1 HR 15 MIN; SERVES 10 Made with a classic choux dough, these crullers feature a crunchy crust and an airy, churro-like center. Dip them in warmed glaze so the dried raspberries stick. CRULLERS 1½ cups water½ cup unsalted butter (4 oz.)¼ cup granulated sugar½ tsp. kosher salt1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4¼ oz.)¼ cup unsweetened cocoa4 large eggsVegetable oil,…

Gingerbread Margarita PHOTO P. 60 TOTAL 5 MIN; SERVES 1 This cozy margarita has a warm, wintry, cake-spice panache that wouldn’t be out of place at a holiday party. The spiced syrup is key: It intensifies the orange flavors of the cocktail while adding a seasonal spice hit that brings much-needed warmth during the winter months. ¼ cup (2 oz.) añejo tequila1½ Tbsp. fresh lime juice (¾ oz.)1½ Tbsp. Spiced Orange Syrup (¾ oz.) (recipe follows)½ oz. orange liqueur (such as Gran Gala)Orange peel twistCinnamon stick Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice. Add añejo tequila, lime juice, spiced orange syrup, and orange liqueur; stir until chilled, about 20 seconds. Strain tequila mixture into a coupe glass. Wrap orange peel twist around cinnamon stick, and lay across coupe glass to garnish. —DAVID…

Home Team HOW HAS YOUR IDEA OF HOME changed in the past two years? For me, home will continue to double as my part-time office, one with the fringe benefit of a well-stocked snack drawer. For my daughters, junior Siskel and Ebert for the Netflix Kids set, home is a movie theater several nights a week, one equipped with a wood-burning fireplace. In this annual Home Issue, we tackle the evolving meanings of home now that winter is upon us. For the Mahendro family, the restaurateurs behind Badmaash, a modern Indian concept in Los Angeles, the lines between home and work blur. As Restaurant Editor Khushbu Shah reports, the Mahendros, who operate three restaurants and a catering kitchen in Los Angeles, make cooking together in their off hours a priority. That’s…

CAST YOUR MIND BACK to a time when the color choices for your new fridge were white or … white. The stove? If you were lucky, you could pick one that came in black. I remember when my parents installed dark gray kitchen appliances in the early ’90s, and I thought they were fancy as hell, even as I clung to my double-denim wardrobe. And while the world of appliances (and my wardrobe) has progressed swiftly since the monochromatic ’80s and the stainless steel–accented ’90s and aughts, it’s really only in the past 10 years that manufacturers have leaned into more choices from the color wheel. There are those companies that offer sleek, primary colors, like Viking, Fisher & Paykel, and Bertazzoni, or retro pastels (looking at you, Smeg…

HANDMADE DUMPLINGS WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE: It’s a Tuesday night—you’re home from work late, fresh out of inspiration, and tired of takeout. Before you reach for that frosty bag of store-bought frozen dumplings, think about how much better they’d taste if you’d made them yourself. That’s where Anita Lo comes in. As a restaurant industry vet and cookbook author, Lo values the convenience of a shortcut but believes in making every bite of food count. “Food is defining for me; if I’m not eating well, I’m not taking care of myself,” says the 2001 Food & Wine Best New Chef, whose restaurant Annisa earned a Michelin star. And though she’s adept at making dumpling dough from scratch, she’s not above using store-bought wrappers to speed up the process. Lo prefers…

I GREW UP IN UZBEKISTAN in the city of Samarkand, an ancient, beautiful city that’s nearly three millennia old. It was a very important place on the Great Silk Road, which connected the East and the West, and it was a place where many different cultures intersected. Samarkand is famous for its gardens and orchards, and there are many kinds of apples, pears, grapes, and especially apricots. Even in our backyard, we had six trees of different kinds of apricots. My husband’s family is Tajik, and they cook many old, traditional recipes that are different from the ones my own family cooked. I learned this Mashhurda recipe (opposite) from my mother-in-law. It’s a thick soup made from mung beans, rice, carrots, onions, dill, and cilantro. Right before the soup is…

ONE OF THE BEST hosting tricks I’ve learned is always having a house drink at the ready when friends come over—ideally something extremely simple, easy to keep on hand, and that’s a sure crowd-pleaser. The house drink can be boozy or alcohol-free, but at its core, it must be unfussy. My go-to is a cocktail so simple that I’m not sure that I can even properly call it a cocktail. It’s a drink I picked up from the team at Saint-Germain in New Orleans: a gentle pour of Dolin Blanc over a good ice cube, with a twist—ideally served in a Nick and Nora glass, but any thin-rimmed cup will do. It’s refreshing, with only three ingredients (if you count the ice cube). Here are three other notable house drinks…

DRIED FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS, a big decor trend of the 1970s that quietly petered out into bowls of potpourri, have made a colorful comeback across homes, weddings, and events in a movement that’s both beautiful and sustainable. For florists across the country, preserved arrangements of pampas grass, eucalyptus, and safflowers are a different way to delight customers who already trust their talent for sourcing the best fresh blooms—while maximizing the use of each flower. “We find that we can get all of the textures and colors of fresh flowers without the heartbreak of having to throw them out in a week or two,” says Carla Wingett, who owns California-based Idlewild Floral with her husband, Michael. They began experimenting with drying flowers in 2020, during the early months of the pandemic, when…

GROWING UP IN CAMEROON, chef Carine Ottou and her family did most of their cooking outside. Though she’s adapted to a European lifestyle over years of moving around the continent, she still prefers to make her food while immersed in greenery—even in her London home. When Ottou’s culinary businesses (including a global cuisine supper club, pickling workshops, and a line of sauces called Marie’s Little Jar) outgrew the cramped kitchen in her Victorian terrace house, she knew its renovation would have to include an open-air cook space seamlessly connected to the interior. “I wanted people to be able to see me cook. I wanted to be able to talk to them about what I’m doing and really make that essential to the experience,” she says. Ottou’s vision featured an earthy…

AFTER FIVE-PLUS YEARS of unstable housing and powering through what felt like a personal horror movie, I moved into an apartment of my own. And I woke up each morning hoping to feel at home. For most of the first year, disbelief greeted me daily. I’d kept it together while living in loud, chaotic shelters in Manhattan and the Bronx for almost three years. After signing the lease, I unlocked and locked my door for months, listening for someone coming up the stairs to kick me out. My logical mind knew I wasn’t homeless anymore, but getting the rest of my hypervigilant body on board took some time. I pieced together my very own place, one calming blue, plantain-yellow, and pimiento-orange-pink paint stroke at a time. I bought a ballet…

MIDWINTER IS THE SEASON of unpredictable, plan-canceling weather. Going out for dinner always seems like the best idea … until suddenly, it isn’t. But perhaps that’s not a bad thing. For me, a cozy, home-cooked meal is far better than trekking across town in the rain, sleet, or snow (or all of the above!). It’s a reset for my entire week, a sort of self-care session to work out the kinks in my mind and body. Slowly stirring risotto gives me a chance to clear my thoughts, while braising chili in my Dutch oven allows me just enough time to take a Peloton ride, shower, and change into my pajamas. Digging into a bowl of chili by the fire in your PJs—there’s no better self-care than that. —JUSTIN CHAPPLE Buttery…

A CHEF ONCE SAID TO ME, regarding fancy ingredients, “You know, sometimes rice is just rice.” There’s something to that when it comes to wine. The world is full of wines that demand attention—intense, complex Napa Cabernets, nuanced Burgundies, aged Bordeaux that require an hour or two in a decanter—and all of them cause a wince or two when you reach the cash register. Some days, especially in the depth of winter, you just want a really delicious red that is a pleasure to drink, goes great with dinner, and costs little enough that you don’t have to think about it when you pull out the debit card. Call them everyday reds, or Wednesday night wonders, or what have you. I’m not talking about super-simple, bargain-basement porch-pounders; rather, wines that…

CHEF EDUARDO RÍOS AND I will end up agreeing on many things, but our first agreement is a profound one: Tacos are our favorite food. We’re shooting the breeze after breakfast service at Ríos’ restaurant at the heart of Paradero Todos Santos, a new hotel built on the edge of a farming community amid the arid geological tumble of Baja California Sur. It’s vacation enough for me to absorb the silent desert dotted with cacti, the glittering Pacific in the distance, the vault of blue sky above, and yet I’m even more captivated by the view from my stool. From the polished concrete bar that surrounds the restaurant’s open kitchen, I can see Ríos and his small team stoking wood-fired ovens, stoves, and hibachi grills in amicable silence, sending…

Whenever the word “woman” or “female” is used as a prefix, you can cue the arched eyebrows and weary eye rolls from millions of women. Female judge, female engineer, female chef—why should a job description need gender specification? TO THOSE WHO SAY it’s a way of making up for lack of representation: We need to work harder at creating equal opportunities so that women don’t need pink fences to mark our space. Yet here I am, writing about the women of bread. But I do this to bring attention to an exciting movement and a specific moment in time. Historically, men have baked commercially in shops and kitchens, while women baked at home or in markets. Today, this old dynamic is being turned on its head, with women leading the…

IT’S THE END OF A BUSY DAY AT BORICUA SOUL, A PUERTO RICAN–SOUTHERN RESTAURANT in the heart of downtown Durham, North Carolina. I’m staying out of the way as I watch tables being pulled in from the light-strung brick patio, the chairs stacked on top; fryers are drained, counters wiped down. And as always, Serena and Toriano Fredericks—the wife-and-husband team behind this food-truck-turned-restaurant—are there together. “It’s James,” the cashier calls back to Serena, who runs the front of the house while Toriano, or Tori, as he’s known, manages the kitchen. “Good,” she says. “I need to get his caretaker’s number.” She steps back to the soda machine. James is a small, quiet man in his sixties who appears to be struggling with dementia and comes by the shop each day for…

“Bake in glass! The newest method: swift, clean, economical.” —CORNING GLASS WORKS AD FOR PYREX, OCTOBER 1915 IN 1908, Corning Glass Works, in Corning, New York, developed a borosilicate glass that could withstand extreme heat and cold without breaking. They called the glass “Nonex” and used it in battery jars and railroad lanterns. Ironically, Nonex’s strength meant battery jars and lanterns no longer broke and needed replacing, so the company looked for other ways to use its heatproof glass. In 1913, a woman named Bessie Littleton, who was married to Corning scientist Jesse Littleton, found it. After an earthenware baking dish cracked in her hot oven, Bessie asked Jesse to bring home a Nonex battery jar for her to experiment with. The sponge cake Bessie baked in the jar turned…