baking
Bagels
A stiff, low-hydration dough held overnight in the fridge, boiled in malted alkaline water and baked hot for a shiny, chewy skin.
- Time
- 14h 12m
- Serves
- 8 bagels
- Effort
- Moderate
#make-ahead
53 entries filed under this tag.
Recipes
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-
dessert
Baked Cheesecake
A low-and-slow water-bath bake, cooled in the switched-off oven and chilled overnight so it slices clean and cracks never appear.
- Time
- 9h 30m
- Serves
- 12
- Effort
- Moderate
-
braise
Beef Bourguignon
Brown everything separately, braise it low for three hours, and add the garnish at the end so it still tastes of itself.
- Time
- 3h 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
-
braise
Beef Chilli
Chuck cut by hand instead of minced, dried chillies instead of powder, and three hours where you do nothing at all.
- Time
- 3h 30m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
weeknight
Bibimbap
Rice under a wheel of separately seasoned vegetables, a fried egg, and gochujang sauce stirred through at the table.
- Time
- 1h
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Involved
-
baking
Biscotti
A lean, fat-free almond dough baked as logs, sliced warm and dried a second time until they snap rather than bend.
- Time
- 1h 35m
- Serves
- 30 biscotti
- Effort
- Easy
-
pasta
Ragù Bolognese
Milk before wine, wine before tomato, and three hours at a bare blip. The soffritto is where the patience pays.
- Time
- 3h 40m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
braise
Braised Short Ribs
Beef ribs in red wine and stock, cooked until the bone slides out. Chill overnight to lift the fat off cleanly.
- Time
- 16h
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
side
Briam
Sliced summer vegetables baked slowly in a great deal of olive oil until the edges blacken and everything collapses together.
- Time
- 2h 15m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Brioche
An enriched dough kneaded to full gluten before a single gram of butter goes in, chilled overnight, and baked as a row of joined balls.
- Time
- 16h 30m
- Serves
- one loaf
- Effort
- Involved
-
baking
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Browning the butter first trades some chew for a lot of flavour. The dough rests overnight, which is where most of the improvement actually comes from.
- Time
- 12h 37m
- Serves
- about 20 cookies
- Effort
- Moderate
-
dessert
Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate, eggs and a little sugar. No cream, no gelatin — the structure comes entirely from beaten whites.
- Time
- 4h 25m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
baking
Chocolate Babka
An enriched dough chilled overnight, rolled thin with a cocoa butter paste, twisted so the layers show, and soaked in syrup straight from the oven.
- Time
- 14h 55m
- Serves
- one loaf
- Effort
- Involved
-
baking
Cinnamon Rolls
An enriched dough proved overnight in the fridge, so the baking happens while you are awake.
- Time
- 13h 8m
- Serves
- 12 rolls
- Effort
- Involved
-
dessert
Crème Brûlée
A baked custard in a water bath, chilled hard, then blowtorched at the last minute. The contrast only lasts minutes.
- Time
- 5h 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
salad
Crunchy Slaw
Salt the cabbage, wring it out, then dress it. Twenty extra minutes buys you a slaw that is still crisp an hour later.
- Time
- 1h
- Serves
- 6 as a side
- Effort
- Easy
-
indian
Dahi Vada
Urad dal fritters soaked soft in warm water, squeezed dry and drowned in sweetened curd with two chutneys and a lot of cumin.
- Time
- 5h 25m
- Serves
- 5
- Effort
- Involved
-
indian
Dal Makhani
Black lentils soaked overnight and simmered for hours until they turn glossy. Butter and cream at the end, not the start.
- Time
- 11h 45m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
side
Dolma
Vine leaves rolled around herby rice and simmered under a plate. Undercooked rice going in is what makes them tight going out.
- Time
- 2h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
-
salad
Freekeh Salad
Green wheat with a smoky, chewy bite, dressed while still warm so the grain drinks the lemon rather than sitting in it.
- Time
- 1h 10m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
salad
Gado Gado
Blanched and raw vegetables, egg and fried tofu under a thick peanut sauce loosened with tamarind and kecap manis.
- Time
- 50m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
side
Gigantes Plaki
Big white beans baked in tomato and olive oil until the sauce reduces to a jammy skin and the beans turn creamy.
- Time
- 14h 30m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
breakfast
Granola
One syrup, one fat, and a low oven. Press it flat and leave it alone if you want clusters.
- Time
- 1h 55m
- Serves
- about 8 cups
- Effort
- Easy
-
side
Gratin Dauphinois
Thin potato slices simmered in cream before they go anywhere near the oven. No cheese, no stock, nothing to hide behind.
- Time
- 1h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
side
Hummus
Dried chickpeas cooked soft with bicarbonate of soda, then whipped with tahini and ice water until the purée mounds like buttercream.
- Time
- 13h 30m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
side
Imam Bayildi
Whole aubergines split, stuffed with sweet onion and tomato, and braised in olive oil until they can be cut with a spoon.
- Time
- 2h 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
side
Japchae
Sweet potato noodles, springy and translucent, tossed with vegetables cooked one at a time and a soy-sesame dressing.
- Time
- 45m
- Serves
- 6 as a side
- Effort
- Moderate
-
technique
Labneh
Yoghurt salted and hung until it turns into something between cream cheese and clotted cream. One ingredient, one day, no cooking.
- Time
- 24h 10m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
braise
Braised Lamb Shanks
A cheap cut that needs three hours and rewards them. Brown hard, braise low, reduce the sauce at the end.
- Time
- 3h 55m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
pasta
Lasagne
Two sauces, assembled in thin layers and rested before cutting. The béchamel is what stops it collapsing on the plate.
- Time
- 1h 55m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Involved
-
dessert
Lemon Tart
A thin sweet pastry shell sealed with egg white, filled with a strained lemon cream and baked barely warm so it sets glassy.
- Time
- 6h 45m
- Serves
- 10
- Effort
- Involved
-
baking
Mushroom Wellington
A duxelles cooked until it squeaks, roasted portobellos at the core, and pastry that goes into a hot oven cold.
- Time
- 2h 50m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
-
baking
No-Knead Bread
Twelve hours of time doing the work of ten minutes of kneading, baked in a lidded pot that traps its own steam.
- Time
- 16h
- Serves
- one large loaf
- Effort
- Moderate
-
baking
Overnight Focaccia
A wet dough, a cold night in the fridge, and almost no kneading. The oven does the work; you mostly need to be patient in advance.
- Time
- 15h 45m
- Serves
- one 23x33 cm tray
- Effort
- Moderate
-
breakfast
Overnight Oats
No cooking at all. The ratio is the recipe, and the chia seeds are what stop it being soup.
- Time
- 8h 5m
- Serves
- 1 jar
- Effort
- Easy
-
dessert
Panna Cotta
Cream set with the smallest amount of gelatin that will hold. It should barely stand up and wobble when the plate moves.
- Time
- 5h 25m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
dessert
Pavlova
A meringue with cornflour and vinegar stirred through, baked low and left in the cooling oven so the shell crisps over a marshmallow middle.
- Time
- 5h 55m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Moderate
-
baking
Pizza Dough
Three days in the fridge, a hot stone, and dough shaped by hand so the rim keeps its air.
- Time
- 48h 53m
- Serves
- 4 x 250 g bases
- Effort
- Moderate
-
braise
Oven Pulled Pork
A dry rub, eight hours at a very low temperature, and a rest that matters as much as the cook.
- Time
- 9h 20m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Easy
-
technique
Quick Pickled Onions
Ten minutes of work and thirty of waiting. They turn bright pink on their own and improve almost anything savoury.
- Time
- 43m
- Serves
- one jar
- Effort
- Easy
-
baking
Leek and Gruyère Quiche
A properly blind-baked shell, a custard baked low until it still wobbles, and leeks sweated down to almost nothing.
- Time
- 2h 35m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Involved
-
braise
Ratatouille
Each vegetable cooked on its own terms, then folded together at the end. Cooked all in one pan it becomes a grey stew.
- Time
- 1h 25m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
-
baking
Sourdough Loaf
A single-loaf schedule built around one long bulk ferment and an overnight retard, baked cold from the fridge in a preheated pot.
- Time
- 20h 25m
- Serves
- one large loaf
- Effort
- Involved
-
weeknight
Stuffed Peppers
Halved rather than hollowed, filled with underdone rice that finishes in the oven, and roasted uncovered until the edges char.
- Time
- 1h 20m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Thepla
Soft fenugreek flatbreads with gram flour worked into the dough. They stay pliable for days, which is why they travel.
- Time
- 1h 10m
- Serves
- 12 theplas
- Effort
- Moderate
-
dessert
Tiramisu
No baking at all. A whipped mascarpone cream, a fast dip in coffee, and a full night in the fridge.
- Time
- 12h 30m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Moderate
-
dessert
Vanilla Ice Cream
A cooked custard base, aged overnight, then churned. The ageing step is the one everyone skips and the one that matters.
- Time
- 12h 45m
- Serves
- about 1 litre
- Effort
- Moderate
-
indian
Vegetable Biryani
Rice parboiled separately, layered over a spiced vegetable base, and steamed sealed so the two finish together.
- Time
- 1h 45m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Involved
-
side
Vegetable Gyoza
Cabbage salted and wrung out, mushrooms browned dry, then pleated and cooked by the fry-steam-fry method that gives one crisp face.
- Time
- 1h 25m
- Serves
- 30 dumplings
- Effort
- Involved
-
weeknight
Veggie Chilli
Dried beans, whole spices toasted and ground, and a long uncovered simmer. Cocoa and cinnamon do the work meat usually does.
- Time
- 9h 55m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
braise
White Bean Stew
Dried cannellini cooked slowly in a lot of olive oil and their own broth, with a ladleful mashed back in for body.
- Time
- 9h 40m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Easy
-
braise
Vegetarian Moussaka
Lentils simmered dry with cinnamon, roasted aubergine instead of fried, and a thick béchamel enriched with yolks so it browns properly.
- Time
- 2h 20m
- Serves
- 8
- Effort
- Involved
-
side
Zaalouk
Moroccan aubergine and tomato cooked right down to a dark, garlicky jam. It is finished when a spoon leaves a clean trail.
- Time
- 1h 45m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Moderate