Cooking
Lidey Heuck’s easy and versatile brownie recipe is already racking up stars and raves.
Brownies — especially Lidey Heuck’s brownies — are the most considerate dessert. They don’t require any special equipment or ingredients. They come together in less than an hour. They have all the textures: fudgy in the center, crispy on those corners and edges, crinkly on top. They’re very, very chocolaty. And they don’t call for room-temperature butter, a real boon to those of us who never remember to take the butter out of the fridge.
You can add nuts to these brownies or, as some readers call out, a teaspoon of instant espresso (yes). Swap dark chocolate for semisweet for a more bitter, complexly flavored treat. Top the brownie squares with spheres of ice cream, or use them in a showstopping Death by Chocolate. In other words, here it is: your go-to brownie recipe.
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Let’s keep with this go-to theme and talk about a go-to dinner of mine, chicken adobo. It’s one of those dishes I make differently each time: sometimes with coconut milk, sometimes in the pressure cooker, but always with Datu Puti soy sauce and vinegar, which come packaged together like a gift set at my local Asian market. Naz Deravian’s new recipe skips the coconut milk and is made on the stovetop with bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces, though she provides cooking instructions for boneless, skinless thighs if that’s how you’d like to adobo.
My go-to meal for a fun, use-your-hands dinner is shrimp, specifically shrimp with the head, shell and tail still on. (Shrimp-head sucker hive, rise!) If I stare at this photo of Naz’s salt and pepper shrimp for too long, I start to salivate. I want to crunch into those salty, peppery morsels, crispy shells and all, and wash them down with a bracingly cold Tsingtao. You can keep the napkins; I’ll lick my fingers.
Dorie Greenspan’s honey mustard salmon rillettes are the perfect party food for several reasons, she writes: “They come together quickly and are easily made ahead, best served chilled and happy to be tinkered with.” Mustard and salmon is a famously no-fail duo, as is musky cumin and sweet green beans, brilliantly demonstrated in this Hetty Lui McKinnon stir-fry.
Lastly, my go-to cocktail this summer has been a highball, usually a whiskey soda — they’re so easy, refreshing and not too boozy. I think August’s highball will be a paloma, made with grapefruit Jarritos from my local Latin grocery store and a healthy rim of salt.
Our August Grilling Challenge with Wirecutter kicks off next week! Every Tuesday in August, you’ll get our favorite grilling recipes — and Wirecutter’s recommendations for the best grilling gear — to help you optimize outdoor cooking, as well as exclusive discounts on editor-approved gear. Make sure you’re signed up here!