The Workhorses

The Friday Cookbook tries to find something close to normal.

I’m trying to hard to act like any of this is normal.

Things aren’t normal, of course, and they won’t be for a while. I’m being responsible, of course; staying away from crowds, wearing a mask, all that. School and work and life in general remain in a state of upheaval—a little bit steadier than a few months ago, but nowhere close to actually normal.

So I’ve got to carve out the normalcy where I can.

These Friday newsletters are always headlined by a recipe, and the things I’ve featured here over the last year-plus tend toward the Big Weekend Dish. Whether it’s a complex traditional recipe like gumbo or maqluba, a fun hybrid food like the Kentuckiana Hot Loin or Halal Balls, or a ridiculous trolling stunt like the Cincinnati Chili Cinnamon Rolls of a few weeks ago, they’re almost always Sometimes Foods. The things you carve out a good portion of a Saturday afternoon or Sunday evening to do, and don’t do very often.

I love those kind of recipes—they’re the essential nature of the Friday ne…