The esteemed culinary team at Bon Appétit, renowned for their professional prowess in developing and refining recipes for a global audience, regularly extends their gastronomic expertise beyond the test kitchen into their personal lives. This commitment to culinary exploration, even during off-hours, forms the foundation of the "Bon Appétit Editors Cooked" series, a popular feature offering readers an intimate glimpse into the dishes that captivate the palates of these industry experts. The March installments of this series reveal a diverse array of culinary endeavors, showcasing a blend of efficiency, creativity, and adaptability in the home kitchen. From ingenious solutions for abundant produce and pantry staples to experimental takes on classic desserts and the embrace of global flavors, these selections underscore current trends in home cooking while reaffirming Bon Appétit’s role as a leading authority in food media.
Innovations in Weeknight Dining and Plant-Based Cuisine (March 13 Focus)
The first wave of shared recipes for March, published on the 13th, highlighted a focus on streamlined cooking, unexpected flavor pairings, and the continued ascent of plant-based alternatives. These selections reflect a broader consumer demand for meals that are both convenient and adventurous, without compromising on taste or nutritional value.
Efficiency Meets Flavor: The One-Pan Salmon Phenomenon
Nina Moskowitz, Associate Editor, Cooking, exemplified practical ingenuity by transforming surplus ingredients from professional recipe development into a delicious weeknight meal. Following extensive testing for Bon Appétit’s upcoming Summer issue, which involved a bounty of seasonal produce like corn, peaches, and various tomatoes, Moskowitz found herself with a significant quantity of Kumato tomatoes. These distinctive brown-skinned tomatoes, known for their sweet and slightly tangy flavor profile, presented an opportunity for resourceful cooking. Her solution was to prepare Senior Test Kitchen Editor Jesse Szewczyk’s "One-Pan Salmon With Burst Tomatoes."
This recipe epitomizes the growing appeal of one-pan meals, a trend driven by busy lifestyles and a desire for minimal cleanup. The method is remarkably straightforward: aromatics, soy sauce, butter, mirin, and sugar are combined in a cold skillet before the Kumatos—dubbed "love apples"—and salmon fillets are added. The dish is then cooked, covered, allowing the ingredients to meld and the tomatoes to burst, creating a flavorful sauce. This "hands-off" approach speaks directly to consumers seeking efficient yet gourmet-quality dinners. The popularity of salmon, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and versatile in preparation, further aligns with health-conscious dining trends. The choice to utilize test kitchen leftovers also subtly highlights sustainable cooking practices, emphasizing the reduction of food waste—a significant concern in contemporary culinary discourse.
Unexpected Umami: Elevating Desserts with Soy Sauce
Joe Sevier, Senior Editor, Cooking and SEO, ventured into the realm of unconventional flavor enhancement with his "Chocolate Cake with Soy Sauce Frosting." The impetus for this culinary revisit came from an unusual request by his partner, recalling a frosting made seven years prior. This anecdote underscores the lasting impression truly innovative flavor combinations can leave. Sevier paired his go-to "easy cocoa cake" with this distinctive frosting.
The inclusion of soy sauce in a sweet application, particularly chocolate frosting, might initially seem counterintuitive. However, as Sevier explains, the soy sauce does not impart a savory taste but rather acts as an umami agent, amplifying the inherent fruity notes often found in high-quality chocolate. This technique aligns with a broader culinary movement exploring the synergy between sweet and savory elements, exemplified by popular combinations like salted caramel or balsamic vinegar with strawberries. Such experimental approaches push the boundaries of traditional dessert making, encouraging home cooks to explore complex flavor profiles. The optional, yet encouraged, "unicorn sprinkles" also add a whimsical, modern touch, blending sophisticated flavor with playful presentation.
The Rise of Plant-Based Creativity: Soy Curls and Global Inspirations
Emma Laperruque, Director of Cooking, championed a cult-favorite plant-based protein in her "Vegetarian-style Peking Duck." Her unwavering advocacy for Soy Curls, a product she consistently keeps stocked in her pantry, stems from their unique characteristics. Made from a single ingredient—non-GMO whole soybeans—Soy Curls are celebrated for their remarkably meaty and chewy texture, often likened to chicken. This makes them a highly versatile ingredient for plant-based cooking, capable of absorbing flavors and providing a satisfying mouthfeel. The global market for plant-based proteins has seen exponential growth in recent years, with consumers increasingly seeking sustainable, ethical, and healthier alternatives to meat. Soy Curls represent a segment of this market that appeals to those looking for minimally processed options.
Laperruque’s creative application of Soy Curls involved drawing inspiration from Peking duck, a classic Chinese dish known for its crispy skin and rich, savory flavor. She sizzled the rehydrated Soy Curls until crisp and frizzled, serving them with warm flour tortillas (as an accessible alternative to traditional jianbing, or Chinese crepes), store-bought hoisin sauce bolstered with peanut butter for added depth, and fresh, thinly sliced cucumber and scallions. This fusion of convenience, plant-based innovation, and global culinary inspiration highlights the increasing sophistication and accessibility of vegetarian and vegan cooking at home. It demonstrates how readily available ingredients can be transformed into dishes that evoke complex, internationally recognized flavors.
Resourceful Baking: Transforming Pantry Staples into Gourmet Treats
Joe Sevier made a second appearance in the March 13 compilation, illustrating a common household scenario that often leads to creative culinary solutions: an overabundance of a particular ingredient. In Sevier’s case, it was peanut butter, with four jars (including one for his dog) accumulating in his pantry due to mistaken stock assessments. This relatable predicament led him to bake. While initially considering a traditional criss-cross peanut butter cookie, a delve into "King Arthur’s Cookie Companion"—a highly respected baking resource—inspired him to create "Magic in the Middles."
These cookies are described as a chewy-firm peanut-butter-and-cocoa cookie, ingeniously stuffed with a filling reminiscent of peanut butter cups. Sevier provided a valuable practical tip for home bakers: freezing the peanut butter balls prior to stuffing significantly simplifies the process. Additionally, setting up an assembly line for the peanut butter, dough balls, and sanding sugar streamlines the formation of these complex cookies. This entry not only offers a recipe for an elevated comfort food but also provides actionable advice for efficient home baking, reflecting an emphasis on both quality and practicality that resonates with home cooks. The careful management of pantry staples also subtly nods to mindful consumption and reducing food waste.
Reimagining Classics: The Evolution of Vegan Comfort Food
Emma Laperruque contributed another plant-based highlight with her enthusiastic endorsement of Jesse Szewczyk’s "Vegan Chili." Laperruque confessed to years of making "fine" bean chilis—variations with black beans or pintos, tomato-based or tomatillo-based, with varying vegetable content—but none had truly stood out. Her encounter with Szewczyk’s recipe in the Test Kitchen, however, proved transformative.
Szewczyk’s "Vegan Chili" is distinguished by its use of smoky chipotles and cocoa powder, ingredients that impart a profound depth of flavor often associated with meat-based chilis. The chipotles provide a robust, earthy heat, while cocoa powder, much like in mole sauces, adds a complex bitterness and richness that rounds out the savory profile. Laperruque lauded it as "approximately 17 times more flavorful" than her previous attempts, underscoring its ability to deliver the satisfying heartiness of a traditional chili without meat. To further extend the meal and utilize existing pantry items, she incorporated a couple of cans of lentils, a nutritious and affordable legume known for its ability to bulk up stews and soups. This chili not only offers a nourishing meal but also highlights the advancements in vegan recipe development, demonstrating that plant-based dishes can achieve exceptional flavor and satisfaction, making them ideal for meal prepping and freezing for future consumption.
Seasonal Adaptations and Culinary Versatility (March 6 Focus)
The second set of recipes for March, published on the 6th, further explored themes of seasonal adaptation, creative problem-solving in the kitchen, and the appreciation of diverse ingredients, reinforcing the dynamic nature of home cooking.
Defying Seasons: Bringing Summer Brightness to Winter Tables
Kelsey Jane Youngman, Senior Service Editor, shared a strategy for combating "winter blues" through culinary means: leveraging frozen produce to inject out-of-season brightness into meals. Her freezer, strategically stocked with fruits and vegetables alongside essential butter, always contains charred corn. This practice taps into the broader trend of utilizing frozen ingredients, which offer convenience, extend shelf life, and often retain nutritional value comparable to fresh produce.
Youngman’s chosen recipe, Senior Test Kitchen Editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s "Miso-Brown-Butter Rice Cakes With Corn," demonstrates how to transform these frozen staples. While the dish naturally shines in late summer with fresh corn, it proved equally satisfying during a rare blizzard when prepared with frozen kernels. The recipe features Korean rice cakes, which provide a chewy texture, nearly a full stick of butter for richness, and a robust pantry-staple sauce made from miso, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. This combination creates a comforting, umami-rich meal that tastes like "a ray of sunshine," effectively bridging seasonal gaps and offering warmth and flavor during colder months. This approach highlights smart pantry management and the versatility of well-developed recipes.
Adaptability in the Kitchen: Navigating Culinary Challenges with Innovation
Abi Lieff, Assistant to the Editor in Chief, showcased remarkable kitchen adaptability when faced with an unexpected appliance malfunction. Her weekly comfort meal is Carolina Gelen’s "One-Pan Garlicky Chicken Couscous," a popular recipe known for its simplicity and robust flavors. However, a broken oven necessitated a deviation from the original one-pan method. Lieff creatively split the dish, cooking the chicken in an air fryer—an increasingly popular appliance lauded for its ability to achieve crispy textures with less oil—and preparing the grains (opting for rice due to a lack of couscous) on the stovetop.
The air fryer’s use reportedly "unlocked a new level of crispy goodness" for the chicken, demonstrating how modern kitchen tools can enhance traditional recipes. Both components were then finished with a tangy dill sauce, which Lieff wisely doubled for use in salads the following day, illustrating a practical approach to meal preparation and ingredient maximization. While acknowledging the absence of the "schmaltzy edge" typically imparted by oven roasting, the adapted meal was still deemed "chef’s kiss," a testament to the editor’s resourcefulness and the inherent flexibility of well-conceived flavor profiles. This experience underscores the importance of culinary agility in the face of household challenges.
Celebrating Seasonal Produce: The Art of Bitter Greens
Marisa Alia Malanga, Research Fellow, highlighted the fleeting joy of "peak bitter vegetable season," a period she clearly savors. Her focus was on radicchio, a vibrant and complex chicory known for its distinctive bitterness. To take advantage of its seasonal availability, she prepared the "Radicchio, Bean, and Feta Salad." Alia Malanga specifically chose Castelfranco radicchio, a milder and sweeter variety, and further enhanced the salad’s crunch by substituting Brussels sprouts with red endive.
The salad’s success lies in its balanced flavor profile, where the subtle bitterness of the greens is expertly complemented by creamy feta cheese and a bright, mouth-puckering lemon dressing. The choice of cannellini beans, noted for their delicate bite, provided a hearty yet refined base. This dish not only celebrates specific seasonal produce but also demonstrates the sophisticated use of contrasting flavors and textures to create a cohesive and satisfying salad. The emphasis on bitter greens reflects a growing appreciation for diverse vegetable varieties and a more adventurous approach to salads beyond conventional leafy greens.
Experimental Baking: The ‘Choose-Your-Own-Adventure’ Challah Approach
Alaina Chou, Commerce Writer, transformed a professional assignment into a creative baking marathon. Tasked with testing stand mixers for an article, she used the opportunity to bake "many batches" of challah, a traditional braided bread rich in cultural significance and known for its soft, slightly sweet crumb. Rather than producing identical, plain loaves, Chou embraced an experimental "choose-your-own-adventure" approach, polling colleagues for topping ideas and foraging the Test Kitchen for spare ingredients.
This innovative process resulted in six distinct challah varieties: furikake (a Japanese seasoning blend), a whimsical fairy-bread-inspired sprinkle loaf, sun-dried tomato and Parmesan, classic cinnamon sugar, butter-brushed dinner rolls, and her personal favorite—a scallion-pancake-esque loaf. This last creation was stuffed with scallions and toasted sesame oil, then rolled in black and white sesame seeds, merging traditional Jewish baking with Asian-inspired flavors. This extensive baking project not only served its primary purpose of rigorously testing kitchen equipment but also underscored the endless possibilities for culinary creativity when a staple recipe is used as a canvas for flavor exploration. It highlights the intersection of practical testing with genuine passion for food.
Effortless Elegance: The Enduring Appeal of Sheet-Pan Dinners
Kate Kassin, Editorial Operations Manager, championed the sheet-pan dinner, a category of recipes celebrated for their minimal effort and maximum flavor. Her go-to "lazy-chic dinner" is former Bon Appétit staffer Kendra Vaculin’s "Sheet-Pan Chicken With Grapes and Fennel." This recipe features skin-on chicken thighs roasted alongside grapes and fennel, all seasoned with paprika, vinegar, and Castelvetrano olives.
The highlight of the dish, according to Kassin, is the "jammy, blistered fruit"—the grapes, which caramelize and burst with sweetness under high heat, providing a delightful counterpoint to the savory chicken and aromatic fennel. While the recipe suggests serving with crisped torn sourdough, Kassin sometimes opts for baby or fingerling potatoes, showcasing a simple yet effective way to adapt the meal. The enduring popularity of sheet-pan meals reflects a significant culinary trend towards convenience without sacrificing the quality or gourmet appeal of home-cooked food. They offer a complete meal cooked on a single pan, significantly reducing cleanup, a major selling point for busy individuals and families.
Reflecting Broader Culinary Trends: Convenience, Sustainability, and Global Flavors
The collective culinary experiences of the Bon Appétit editors in early March serve as a microcosm of broader trends shaping contemporary home cooking. The emphasis on "hands-off" and "one-pan" meals directly addresses the modern consumer’s demand for efficiency and ease, a trend amplified by the proliferation of specialized kitchen appliances like air fryers. The strategic use of frozen corn and leftover Kumato tomatoes, alongside the integration of lentils to "stretch the mixture," reflects a growing consciousness around food waste reduction and sustainable ingredient utilization.
Furthermore, the exploration of plant-based options, from the versatile Soy Curls mimicking Peking duck to the "17 times more flavorful" vegan chili, underscores the mainstreaming of vegetarian and vegan diets. This shift is driven by a confluence of health, environmental, and ethical considerations, with food developers constantly innovating to create plant-based dishes that are equally, if not more, satisfying than their meat counterparts. The adventurous incorporation of global flavors—such as miso and Korean rice cakes, umami-rich soy sauce in dessert, and furikake on challah—demonstrates a sophisticated and open-minded approach to cooking, reflecting an increasingly globalized palate among home chefs. These trends collectively paint a picture of a dynamic culinary landscape where practicality, innovation, and global influences converge to redefine the home cooking experience.
Bon Appétit’s Role in Shaping Home Cooking Narratives
Through the "Bon Appétit Editors Cooked" series, the publication effectively reinforces its authority and relevance in the culinary world. By sharing the authentic, personal cooking experiences of its experts, Bon Appétit humanizes its editorial team, making their extensive knowledge and passion for food more accessible and relatable to its readership. This approach fosters a deeper connection with the audience, establishing the editors not just as professional critics or recipe developers, but as enthusiastic home cooks facing similar daily challenges and seeking the same joys in the kitchen.
The series serves as a direct source of inspiration, offering actionable recipes and practical tips that home cooks can readily adopt. It demonstrates how high-level culinary expertise translates into achievable and delicious meals for everyday life, encouraging readers to experiment, adapt, and find joy in their own cooking journeys. By consistently showcasing innovative uses of ingredients, efficient cooking methods, and a willingness to explore diverse flavor profiles, Bon Appétit continues to shape the narrative of contemporary home cooking, positioning itself as a trusted guide for culinary exploration and excellence.
In conclusion, the March entries from the "Bon Appétit Editors Cooked" series offer a compelling snapshot of current culinary practices and trends. From leveraging kitchen efficiency and minimizing waste to embracing global flavors and pushing the boundaries of traditional recipes, these personal culinary adventures provide invaluable insights and inspiration. They collectively affirm that the pursuit of delicious, innovative, and practical cooking is a continuous journey, one enthusiastically undertaken by both professional food experts and home chefs alike, ultimately enriching the broader food landscape.