Maggie Hoffman

Drinks don’t need a million ingredients to be delicious. These are simple enough to commit to memory for next time.

Amy Thielen may have years of fancy-restaurant cooking experience, but the cooking and entertaining style that comes through in her latest book, Company, is one that she describes as “radically casual.” You’d never hear her utter the word tablescape. These are parties where kids get full-on grilled garlic bread scraped with a dripping tomato and run off before the meal. Someone’s frying chicken outside so they can hang out where everyone else is, and the sauce from the meat mingles deliciously w…

These bitter cocktails are the ones we come back to over and over. Bitter drinks can kick off an evening, stoking the appetite while you snack on hors d’oeuvres. But they’re also perfect for wrapping up a meal, and there are folks who swear that a little amaro can settle the stomach. These cocktails lean on bittersweet liqueurs like rosy red Campari and vegetal Cynar, citrusy Aperol and luscious Amaro Nonino—once you become devoted to the world of amari, you may find your collection grows fast.…

Shake up a cloud of frothy drinks tonight. Why do we make egg white cocktails? It’s not just to show off our shaking technique or because we want everything to be eggnog; the delicate froth of foamed egg white can soften the tartness and sharpness of a drink. Some classic cocktails—and new ones too—are just not the same without it. In general, you’ll find that the recipes below recommend a dry shake—this means you’ll emulsify the egg white by adding it to the cocktail shaker along with any other…

When Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen pinned shrimp cocktail onto a cone of frilly kale leaves, crowning the tree with a red and gold bow, she kicked off a genuine Shrimpmas Tree boom. Hayden credited her inspiration to an aunt who makes one every year, but it’s a project that dates back at least to the mid-sixties. In 1974 Bon Appétit’s version appeared complete with pimento-stuffed olives gleaming like ornaments. It’s a lot. So it’s perfect. Shrimp decor didn’t go out of season with the hol…

We’ve mentioned that there are a lot of new cookbooks coming out this spring. We’ve covered new and upcoming vegetarian books and cocktail-focused books—and all the others we’re excited to page through in the coming months when we’re debating what to make for dinner. But perhaps the most important list is here: new dessert books from some of our favorite authors, plus bread-baking guides that’ll keep you in fresh brioche. Preheat your ovens and scroll down to see the baking books we’re most look…

Some people could make classic cocktails over and over at home and never get bored. But if you’re looking to expand your repertoire and learn more about drink ingredients and pro-level technique, you’re going to need to do some reading. You may want to start with a few historical cocktail books and essential modern guides. Or you may be curious what’s new in the world of drinks. Below you’ll find seven of this year’s new and soon-to-be-released cocktail books; we’re excited to start paging throu…

Recipes for creamy, luxurious rice desserts to make at home. Rice pudding is far from the only way to turn a bag of rice into an after-dinner sweet. Some of the best rice desserts are simply simmered puddings, scented with cardamom, vanilla, cinnamon, or lemon zest. But you’ll find more ideas below, including an Italian Easter pie filled with tender pieces of arborio rice, an apple-butter-swirled rice kugel, rice pudding ice pops, and the classic combo of coconut sticky rice with juicy mango. Gr…

See recipe. This pie begins with a sweet and salty sesame-stick-crumb crust, layered with coconut milk caramel and filled with creamy jasmine rice pudding...

These recipes will help guarantee that your first barbecue of the year is a hit. See recipe. Ribbons of shaved asparagus and zucchini top this verdant spring...