Milk Street Staff's Favorite Recipes of 2024

Garnish-as-You-Like Potato-Leek Soup

Potato-leek soup is a blank canvas for all manner of garnishes. Keep it simple for family—chopped thyme and black pepper—and for a larger gathering, double the soup and set out an array of options so guests can add what they like. With a base of water

By Courtney HillDecember 21, 2024

Pasta with “Fake” Sauce

In Italy, we learned about Tuscan sugo finto, or “fake sauce,” so called because the vegetables—onion, carrot and celery—are minced, then gently cooked in fat to the point where they resemble, in both appearance and texture, bits of long-simmered meat

By Rose HattabaughOctober 4, 2024

Browned Butter Gâteau Magique

Gâteau magique, or magic cake, is a French dessert that lives up to its name. During baking, its seven-ingredient batter separates into three layers: a firm, flan-like bottom, a creamy, pudding-like center and a puffy, souffléed crown. Our version get

By Hisham Ali HassanDecember 17, 2024

Orange–Olive Oil Sweet Breads

French gibassiers (pronounced zhe-bah-see-ay) take a couple different forms. In certain areas of Provence, the baked good is a cookie made with olive oil. But the better-known version is a sweet yeasted bread rich with butter, olive oil and eggs and f

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 12, 2024

Roman-Style Chicken Cacciatore

Cacciatore, it turns out, is not always a chunky, tomato-heavy braise. At Piatto Romano in Rome, we learned how to make the Roman version—an elegant, minimalist dish bright with the acidity of white wine and vinegar and heady with rosemary, garlic and

By Courtney HillAugust 16, 2024

Babas au Rhum

A classic French dessert with Eastern European roots, babas au rhum traditionally consists of yeasted, mildly sweet, bread-like individual cakes heavily soaked in a boozy, rum-spiked syrup. At Restaurant Astier in Paris, we tried a lighter, fresher i

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 24, 2024

Pissaladière

French Provençal pissaladière is a flatbread-like savory tart featuring a thin crust topped generously with onions that are slow-cooked until jammy and sweet, plus briny black olives and umami-rich anchovies. Diminutive Niçoise olives are the traditio

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 11, 2024

Frozen Lemon Mousse

Thanks to store-bought lemon curd, you don’t need to spend any time at the stovetop to make this ethereal frozen mousse. With the help of a stand mixer, the base comes together in a few minutes, then is frozen in a loaf pan until firm enough to unmold

By Rose HattabaughAugust 12, 2024

Meringue-Topped Cake with Cherries

Romanian prăjitură cu rubarbă is a simple, rustic rhubarb-studded cake that is covered with a snowy cloud of meringue after baking, then slid back into the oven. A few minutes later, the two-layer treat emerges with a crown of golden swirls and peaks—

By Rose HattabaughJune 27, 2024

Agrodolce Red Onions

Italian sweet and sour onions—called cipolline agrodolce—typically are small whole onions simmered with sugar and vinegar. But Ristorante Barbieri in Calabria uses sliced tropea onions, a variety that is a specialty of the region. We apply their techn

By Kevin ClarkAugust 16, 2024

Korean Hand-Torn Noodle Soup with Chicken (Sujebi)

Rustic hand-torn wheat noodles are the star of sujebi, a hearty, brothy Korean soup. In Seoul, we learned there are countless ways to make the dish, but for our version, we combined our favorite elements of the recipes we learned from home cook Insook

By Courtney HillJanuary 19, 2024

Scalloped Potatoes

This recipe for scalloped potatoes is designed to be easily scaled up to serve as many as 12 (see below). The ingredients are basic, but the finished dish is rich and elegant enough for a holiday spread. Be sure to use Yukon Gold potatoes, which have

By Courtney HillSeptember 20, 2024

Buttery Hazelnut and Winter Squash Tian

This winter squash side comes together easily. It takes its name from a classic French Provençal dish of vegetables baked in a shallow, round earthenware vessel called a tian. Either a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate or an 8-inch square baking dish works f

Easy-Stretch Yogurt Pizza Dough

Is it heretical to use yogurt in pizza dough? Traditionalists would say yes. But there’s no arguing that the yogurt in this high-hydration formula yields a dough that is easy to shape into rounds because it does not recoil when stretched. It also adds

By Christopher KimballSeptember 19, 2024

Arrabbiata Slab Pizza

This slab-style pizza features a puffy, crisp-bottomed, focaccia-like crust and a spicy, garlicky tomato sauce inspired by pasta all’arrabbiata. We like mild, buttery fontina cheese for the way it counters the intensity of the sauce, but if you want b

By Courtney HillDecember 2, 2024

Cantonese Sweet-and-Sour Pork

In Hong Kong, we sought out true Cantonese sweet-and-sour pork, predecessor of the gloppy, overly sweet versions served in many Chinese American restaurants. After sampling dozens of versions, we created our recipe by combining the attributes of the b

By Courtney HillOctober 9, 2024

Romanian Crème Fraîche Cake (Lichiu)

During a trip to Transylvania, we tasted lichiu, a sweet yeasted dough spread with a creamy, lemony, semolina filling and a custard upper layer made with crème fraîche and egg yolks. The semolina and custard fuse during baking, resulting in a deliciou

By Hisham Ali HassanSeptember 5, 2024

Puff Pastry Khachapuri (Penovani Khachapuri)

Penovani khachapuri is one of more than 50 regional variations of kachapuri, the Georgian cheese-stuffed savory bread or pastry. Winery owner Ani Lomidze taught us this easy version during a visit to Georgia’s Alazani Valley. Store-bought puff pastry

By Rose HattabaughDecember 17, 2024

Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

Vietnam’s technique of simmering in dark caramel, mixed with fish sauce and aromatics, yields complex savory-sweet chicken.

Indonesian-Style Corn Cakes or Fritters

In Indonesia, we learned to make light, airy corn fritters from plump kernels of fresh corn, shallots and chilies, all held together with only eggs and flour. A food processor makes quick work of prepping the batter. As for cooking, you have a couple

By Courtney HillJuly 30, 2024