ONCE UPON A TIME, I subsisted on frozen meals from Lean Cuisine and Amy’s Kitchen. Then I “got religion” via two sources: Tamar Adler‘s An Everlasting Meal — Cooking with Economy and Grace (which also contains one of the finest essays on cooking I’ve ever read), and the video version of Michael Pollan’s Cooked. Both preach the gospel of self-sufficient cookery and the evils of processed food, and filled me with the fiery zeal to cook for myself.
Of course, any budding home cook needs a bit of help. Fortunately, that help is only a click away. Here are some websites which send me daily emails filled with recipes, cooking tips and the various wisdoms of household management:
– The Kitchn‘s mission is twofold: helping the reader to shop and cook more efficiently/economically, and also to tend more effectively to a variety of domestic issues. Expect a big email larded with recipes and also covering topics ranging from meal planning to the best supermarket buys to how to clean and/or remodel your kitchen.
– Epicurious/Bon Appetit sends a “blended email” with pointers to both publications; mostly with recipes, but also such features as how to clean and care for a cast-iron skillet or how to use a variety of fresh herbs. Articles have titles like “23 Potato Salads That Want an Invite to Your Cookout” or “75 Summer Recipes Everyone Should Know How to Cook.”
– Tasting Table is slimmer version of the above two, usually with links to only four or five recipes (many for cocktails), but also featuring non-recipe items like how to choose the best snacks/meals to take aboard a commercial airliner.
– The Nosher is a Jewish food magazine, with emails similar in format to Tasting Table’s, that goes beyond what you might expect (heavy on the carbs, say) and offers recipes for Israeli street food, salads, and other healthy stuff.
– TASTE is a weekly email (the only one on this list) for a site that’s light on recipes, leaning more toward hospitality-industry essays (my favorite so far? A history of the Continental Breakfast) and interviews with professional chefs.
These resources have been of immeasurable help in my quest for tasty, home-cookable dining. I hope you also find them of use.