Recipes

For his wild mushroom toasts, chef Michael Reed starts with griddled sourdough bread, slathers it with homemade hollandaise sauce, tops it with sautéed mushrooms and spinach, and then crowns it with a mound of rich scrambled eggs. The end result is an impressive dish perfect for brunch. Reed uses a mix of mushrooms such as enoki, morel, and maitake, but you can use a mix of any fresh mushrooms available at the market.

Chef Michael Reed gives us a lesson on why it's worth it to take the time to peel and devein your own shrimp: He cooks the shrimp shells along with vegetables and herbs to create a deeply-flavorful stock, which he then uses as a sauce for these shrimp and grits. Pan-fried shrimp are spooned on top of a mound of cheesy grits, and topped with the rich shellfish stock as the finishing touch. Store extra stock in your freezer for your next batch of shrimp and grits, or add it to seafood soups, stews, and sauces for a boost of flavor.

To create biscuits with incredibly-distinctive flaky layers, chef Michael Reed adds very cold, thinly-sliced butter to the dry ingredients and folds the dough over several times. The accompanying gravy is packed with sausage and makes for a truly satisfying breakfast. The recipe calls for pork sausage, but you can use chicken or turkey sausage instead. You can also cut the recipe in half for a smaller group. If you'd like, top the biscuits and gravy with fried eggs.

"In this vegan version of mapo tofu, instead of ground pork, finely-chopped eggplant and mushrooms cook down to a meaty consistency that absorbs a richly-savory blend of broad bean paste and mushroom seasoning — two umami-packed ingredients that quickly add long-cooked flavor. Szechuan peppercorns and fresh ginger are balanced by a touch of sugar to round out this moderately-spicy dish. "My grandparents, who were from different parts of the world, colored my flavor map," says Jocelyn Law-Yone, executive chef and co-owner of Thamee in Washington, D.C., a 2020 Food & Wine Best New Restaurant, who came up with this meatless version of the classic Szechuan dish. "My paternal grandfather was from Yunnan, China, where tofu is enjoyed in countless ways by many different tribes. In Burma, where both my grandmothers were born, there's a counterpart of tofu called 'tohu' — it mimics the texture of tofu but tastes nuttier because it is made of besan flour." Known as "Chef JoJo" to her team, Law-Yone combined elements from her grandparents' cooking with her own twists to create this dish. "The additional layers of mushrooms and eggplants are mine but would have been familiar ingredients to all my grandparents.""

This sweet and sour soju cocktail from Kim Kyungmoon brings to mind the tart creaminess of a gin fizz but brings the punchier, grain-forward notes of Golden Barley 40% soju in place of floral gin. The frothy egg white cuts through those brightly boozy and acidic flavors to balance each sip. Soju, a Korean spirit made by distilling rice wine, is enjoying a renaissance in Korea; Kyungmoon imports it and sells it though his online shop, Woorisoul.

Inspired by the classic Adonis cocktail of sherry and vermouth, this stiff drink from Kim Kyungmoon balances earthy, fermented Chungju with amaro. Chungju, a Korean alcoholic beverage brewed from rice, and Amaro Nonino both offer a pleasantly musky, nutty flavor, while vermouth shines through with a burst of sweetness. For a source for artisanal Chungju from Korea's oldest brewery, visit Woorisoul.