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What kind of cooking do we want to do in the new year?
For the past five years, Epicurious has answered that question with COOK90, a monthlong challenge to cook every meal, every day, for the entirety of January.
That was a fitting challenge in a world where, studies showed, home cooking was steadily on the decline. But home cooking is one thing that hasn’t been in short supply in 2020. You could say we’ve all been doing COOK90, together, every day since March.
So this year’s cooking poses different challenges. We know we’ll be cooking (we don’t have much of a choice). The question is, how will we keep up all that day-to-day cooking without getting bored or burned out?
To find an answer, we asked a slew of cooks we admire what they’re excited about. Their answers were so inspiring that we put them together into a new January initiative, You Can Cook This.
You Can Cook This features some of the best cooks we know, teaching us recipes and techniques they love. Wilson Tang will show us how to make dim sum at home. Esteban Castillo will walk us through the coolest thing to do with Jell-O. Claire Saffitz will help us bake the biggest, butteriest pastry you’ve ever seen, and Tara O’Brady will share a sandwich to beat all other sandwiches. (And if you really miss COOK90, you're in luck: David Tamarkin is doing a three-day COOK9, just for old times’ sake.)
It’s a flexible program, meant to follow along every day in January on Epi’s Instagram feed, or to dip in and out as you please. Our first lesson, starring Hetty McKinnon and her homemade noodles, goes live on January 1st; check out the rest of the schedule below.
Cashew curry, part of our (extremely craveable) Vegan Weekend menu.
Friday, January 1
You Can...Make Hand-Pulled Noodles
Hetty McKinnon gives us a preview of her forthcoming cookbook, To Asia, With Love, with a method for easy handmade noodles—and a miso cacio e pepe recipe to use them in.
Saturday, January 2 – Sunday, January 3
You Can...Get Your Kitchen Organized Again
If you don’t do it this weekend, are you ever going to get to it in 2021? We’ll hold your hand through the process and break down the weekend down into five truly satisfying cleaning and organizing projects.
Monday, January 4
You Can...Break Out of Your Lunch Rut #1
Join an Epicurious editor every Monday in January as they cook through a recipe that’s guaranteed to make lunch exciting again.
Tuesday, January 5 – Thursday, January 7
You Can...Actually Stick to a Meal Plan
For five years, David Tamarkin spent January doing COOK90, where he cooked three meals a day, every day, all month long. This week, he’ll distill those years of COOK90 wisdom into a short, three-day challenge—COOK9 as opposed to COOK90. Find the meal plan and grocery list here to cook along with him.
Friday, January 8
You Can...Make Soy Milk From Scratch
Soy milk—remember soy milk?—takes on whole new dimensions when it’s made from scratch. Cookbook author Andrea Nguyen walks us through the process.
Saturday, January 9
You Can...Bake Great Bread Without a Sourdough Starter
Because, admit it, you threw away your sourdough starter months ago, right? Roxana Jullapat of Friends and Family has a recipe for a loaf that’s just as crusty and complex as any sourdough, no starter required—and some thoughts on sourdough snobbery.
Sunday, January 10
You Can...Make Homemade Hot Sauce
Attention hot-heads (and/or those looking to dip their toe into fermentation): Epi’s Kendra Vaculin will share the formula for making hot sauce to your personal specifications.
It looks like a Negroni. It is a Negroni. It's a non-alcoholic Negroni.
Monday, January 11
You Can...Break Out of Your Lunch Rut #2
Tuesday January 12 - Wednesday, January 13
You Can...Cut the Buzz Out of Your co*cktails
There’s never been a more exciting time to make a nonalcoholic drink. Epi’s Maggie Hoffman (author of Batch co*cktails) walks us through the fundamentals of NA co*cktailing, and the best alcohol-free bottles (including some bitter options) for your home bar.
Thursday, January 14
You Can...Make Jell-O Cool Again
Okay, Jell-O never really lost its cool, but Chicano Eats author Esteban Castillo is here to show us a way to make it even cooler, with his recipe for gelatina de mosaico.
Friday, January 15 - Sunday, January 17
You Can...Go Vegan (for the Weekend), Part 1
Plant-based, climate-conscious cooking is the future—or, at least it can be your future for the next three days. Epi’s Lauren Joseph has the meat- and dairy-free meal plan to make it happen.
Saturday, January 16
You Can...Go Vegan (for the Weekend), Part 2
Cookbook author Ramin Ganeshram has been researching plant-based dairy for her next book, and she’s here to tell us which products are great—and which just aren’t there yet. Plus, she shares a vegan onion dip, just in time for Sunday football.
Sunday, January 17
You Can...Go Vegan (for the Weekend), Part 3
Epi’s Lauren Joseph is back, this time with her recipe for a vegan cashew curry.
Monday, January 18
You Can...Break Out of Your Lunch Rut #3
Join staff writer Kendra Vaculin as she walks you through this Niçoise Salad Toast.
Tuesday, January 19
You Can...Cure a Fish
Dianna Daoheung, executive chef of Black Seed Bagels, walks us through her recipe for the ultimate bagel-topper: beet-cured salmon.
G.O.A.T.
Wednesday, January 20
You Can...Make Vegetarian Pozole
Pati Jinich unveils a new recipe for a rich, homey pozole verde con hongos.
Thursday, January 21
You Can...Make Tempura at Home
Chef Atsushi Yokota of Secchu Yokota—and chef de cuisine Nicholas Seider—guide us toward perfectly crisp, feather-light frying at home.
Friday, January 22
You Can…Griddle the G.O.A.T.
Epi contributor Tara O’Brady shows us her take on the classic Bombay Toastie, which is possibly the greatest sandwich...ever?
Saturday, January 23
You Can...Make Gnocchi from Any Vegetable
No offense to potatoes or anything, but Epi’s Kendra Vaculin is here to demonstrate how to make the pillowy Italian dumplings from carrots, sweet potato, squash, and broccoli.
Sunday, January 24
You Can...Make a Really, Really Big Kouign-Amann
You might know kougin aman as a hand-held pastry suitable for one person. But cookbook author Claire Saffitz is here to show us how to make kouign-amann the original way: as an enormous (or at least enormously buttery) cake.
Monday, January 25
You Can...Break Out of Your Lunch Rut #4
Tuesday, January 26
You Can...Make Curd from Any Fruit
Get lost, lemons! Epi’s Lauren Joseph is here to curd-ify passionfruit, cranberries, and more.
Wednesday, January 27
You Can...Make Crispy Mushroom Tacos
And we mean truly, actually crispy. Epi contributor Andrea Aliseda has the recipe, which includes a peanut butter salsa.
Thursday, January 28
You Can...Make a Somali Breakfast
Hawa Hassan shows us two recipes from her new book, In Bibi’s Kitchen: the sourdough pancakes canjeero, and a spiced tea to go with them.
Friday, January 29 - Sunday, January 31
You Can...Dim Sum at Home
Nom Wah’s Wilson Tang takes us through an entire weekend of shopping and cooking recipes from his new book.
