#too late and one side becomes much more toasted than the other and the yolk cooks leaving u with an adequate breakfast

[altaroftransexuality]

top ten breakfasts that inspire poetry

[misora-msby]

scarred love.

rating : mature

word count : 4.3k

themes : angst, slight fluff, implied and mentions of sex

notes : based on vistlip’s CLASSIC OPERA // this is my first work on this blog, i hope you enjoy!

“I don’t think he loves me anymore.”

“No way… That’s not the case, I’m sure!”

“That’s what I want to think but…”

Suna could barely believe as he stood outside the bedroom door, hand barely making contact with the handle. Was that really what you thought? 

“I wonder if it’s normal for couples to fall out of love at this stage.”

“Mm… there’s certainly been couples I’ve known like that. They were in love for years but after they got married they decided it wasn’t the life for them and divorced.”

Suna heard your gasp follow the tinny voice from the phone. He had heard of similar stories before but never thought it would happen to him and you. 

Ever since you had gotten together, he was always subtle in his love. He was never the type to outright say “I love you” in public or to boldly proclaim his love for you on social media. Suna preferred linking pinkies while walking or to post photos of your study dates with simple captions like “another ‘10 minute break’” or “we are going to collapse”. 

Despite this, when you were in the privacy of your apartment, he almost never left your side. It was either his head on your lap, his legs laying over yours on the couch, or you sitting on his lap in some way albeit still being relatively quiet. 

So to think you were getting upset with the little attention he was showing recently had him confused. Wasn’t he always like this?

“But Y/N, I doubt Suna-san’s fallen out of love. Isn’t it just that his new job with EJP Raijin is keeping him busy?” 

“Y-Yeah but… he hasn’t said anything about it. He comes back late and leaves early and it just… It just sucks so much! I don’t know what to do!” you sob and Suna can hear the sound of you blowing your nose and coughing through your tears. 

Taking a step back from the bedroom door, the middle blocker moved to the couch and sat for a moment, head in his hands. He knew love couldn’t be perfect. A perfect relationship without fights or problems was just waiting to crumble from the slightest crack in it. But he wanted to at least prevent you from thinking this way. 

He wanted you to know he did love you. 

Later that night, he crawled into the bed, freshly showered and in his pyjamas - an old thin t-shirt and a pair of boxers. You laid beside him in your own pyjamas - one of his big t-shirts and a pair of shorts. 

“Y/N,” he turned onto his side and called your name, causing you to almost jump while attempting to fall asleep with your swirling thoughts.

“Yes, Rin?” 

“You have a free day tomorrow too, don’t you?”

“Well… yes. Why?”

The bed shifted under his movement to hold himself over you. 

“W-Wait a second! Rin! I’m not prepared or anything- mmf!” 

He pressed his lips to yours, his fox-like eyes shut delicately as he kissed you passionately. Before you knew it, his hands moved to your sides and began to lift the edge of the shirt up, but were quickly pushed down. 

“Rintarou,” you lightly pushed on his chest, “I uh… I’m not wearing any nice underwear… A-And I haven’t shaved. Can I go change and do that?” 

Honestly you were very surprised that he suddenly wanted to do this. Suna was always one to do things out of the blue; your relationship was built on impromptu dates and spontaneous gifts he claimed ‘reminded him of you’, but this really had came out of nowhere. 

You hadn’t been intimate in weeks and you wanted to at least look good for it, but Suna just shook his head. 

“You’re fine like this. I love you however you look.” He leaned back down and began to place kisses along your jaw and neck. 

His kisses were softer than usual, you noted. And his hands weren’t rushing to tear your clothes off like he usually did.

“Rin- ah! Rintarou, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”

“We’re both free tomorrow. Can’t I spend my free day with my girlfriend the way I want to?” he asked, looking up at you through his thin lashes. 

“Still! That gives me more time to go get ready.”

“No,” he shook his head and continued to kiss and bite along your neck and collarbones, leaving his marks of love on your skin, “I want to spend every second that I can with you now that I have the time.”

“Wait a second.”

Suna finally pulled his lips away from your skin, now littered with little marks, “What’s wrong?”

“Since when were you so romantic? It just… Don’t get me wrong, I’m super happy it’s just a little funny…” 

His eyes widened at the sight of tears welling up in your eyes.

“Y/N, are you okay?” he asked, cupping your face in his large rough hands gently. 

“I’m more than okay! No… I don’t know why I’m crying…” you sob softly, rubbing at your eyes. 

Suna chuckled lightly. “Is it because you’re filled with overwhelming love for me?”

“Rintarou!” you whined and hit his chest lightly. “You’re absolutely insufferable!”

“You say that but you were the one who asked me out on our graduation.” 

“...you little shit. I really do love you.” 

“Mm, I thought so. I love you too.” He continued to kiss and strip you.

Unlike your usual nights together which were spent fucking roughly, leaving bodies sore and lightly scarred, tonight was slow and loving albeit passionate as ever. Soft kisses and laughs were exchanged in the dark as Suna made love to you, thrusting slowly while mumbling words of love into your body. 

The next morning, you were woken up by the feeling of a kiss on your forehead. Your eyelids fluttered open and you squinted in the morning light to see Suna sitting on his side of the bed, clad only in boxers. There was also the scent of eggs and toast, and when you looked down, you saw it sitting on a plate between you two.

“I’m no Osamu here. But I think my cooking is still edible,” your boyfriend sighed before flopping down onto the bed beside you and closing his eyes. 

“You actually woke up to cook for me?” you asked, sitting up to look at the sunny-side-ups with broken yolks and the toast that was just a little too toasted for your liking. 

“Surprised myself too,” he yawned before squinting his eyes open, “More like… I wanted to surprise you. And wake you up with a kiss.”

“You’re so cheesy today, aren’t you!”

“I know, I think it’s weird too.”

On that day, you knew he still loved you. And you loved him more than ever before.

But that happiness couldn’t last forever. In the city of Tokyo where sadness and troubles rained down, something was bound to happen. Even the most heavily cemented cracks could once again break under a heavy enough pressure. 

Even if it took a couple of months.

“Rintarou! Welcome home!”

“Mm.”

Your brow furrowed slightly as you noticed his short answer. After shutting your laptop where you were answering some work related emails while waiting for your boyfriend, you made your way over to Suna who was hanging his winter coat by the door.

“Rin, are you alright?”

“Just tired.”

You sighed softly, “You shouldn’t overwork yourself. You need breaks sometimes too, you know?” And reached up to begin massaging his shoulders as you usually did. But he only pushed your hands away quickly, saying, “Not tonight,” before walking further into the apartment.

You bit your lower lip to prevent it from trembling any further while your hands stayed still as if frozen mid air. You were hesitating to tell him what you wanted to say earlier.

“Rintarou… Tomorrow you don’t have scheduled practice, right? I…” you took a deep breath as he turned to face you, eyes dark and heavy-looking. 

“Yeah.”

“I was wondering… Well, I don’t have work tomorrow either so I reserved a place at a nice restaurant for dinner! I think we both need a bit of a break, work’s been so busy and you’re also training so intensely and-”

“No.”

“H- Huh?” you laughed nervously, “What do you mean by ‘no’?”

“It means what it means, I don’t want to go.”

“Rintarou, you can’t just- I can’t- I promise it’s a really nice place! A-And I wanted to spend some time with you…” there was a lump welling up in your throat as you tried not to suddenly pour out your recent feelings towards him. 

The recent frustrations of not being able to spend much time with your boyfriend anymore, the annoyance at the way he would always spend his free time doing self training, the anger towards his schedule which rarely ever allowed you to meet, the sadness of the fact that your shared apartment no longer had the sound of laughter when you two played games or watched silly YouTube videos together...

All that frustration felt like it was just being held up behind that lump in your throat, and to think he would simply dismiss it without a second thought.

“You should’ve asked before you started making plans. I’m going to the gym tomorrow again. We have a match against the Red Falcons in two weeks so I need to become at least a bit stronger,” Suna explained monotonously, as if you should have known that already.

“I- I know but… I thought… it’d be a nice surprise…”

The man sighed and turned to walk towards the bathroom, ready to just shower and go to sleep. He simply could not be bothered to argue with you, thinking this problem would solve itself like it always did. But you had had enough of this issue.

Suna hadn’t even realised it was coming until he felt a small bell keychain hit the back of his head. It fell to the hardwood floor with a loud clang which lasted for far too long, causing him to inhale sharply and turn around, anger and annoyance replacing the bored expression on his face for once. 

“What the hell is-” he was about to raise his voice until he saw the way your features trembled and your eyes had already become red and puffy. His own features softened and his body unstiffened. “Y/N…”

“You know, the least you could do is try to be nice to me!” you yelled, furiously wiping away the tears forming. “You could at least say “Mm, I’m really not free but we can do it some other time.” or some shit like that! But no! I- I’m busy too, you know! I’m trying to get promoted so I don’t have to rely on yer dumb ass all the time, but I still want to make time for you because I love you so much! But I don’t think ya get that!” 

Something in the back of your mind was telling you not to say these things, that maybe you could just talk this out calmly. Maybe you didn’t have to explode, but something else told you this was the only way to get a point across.

“I’m your girlfriend, but I feel more like a roommate or burden at this point! Ya know, even ‘Tsumu’s able to make time for his girlfriend! And- And Bokuto’s always doing his promotions and ads but still makes time for his boyfriend! Ojiro-senpai too! Miyu-chan tells me he’s the one planning the dates! But ya can’t even be bothered to pretend you’re happy I tried ta plan somethin’ for us!” 

Suna knew you really were angry when your dialect started coming out but he just didn’t know what to say. He could only stand there in silence with his head hanging like a child being scolded.

“Rintarou… I love you so much you know… I just wonder these days- no, I just wonder if you ever loved me back the same way.”

Oh, he knew. Ever since that night when he heard you crying on the phone, he knew he wasn’t doing enough. 

“I… I’m sorry.” Suna looked up when he suddenly heard those words from you amidst the sobs and chokes. 

“I already left your pyjamas on the bathroom counter… Please don’t… Just please don’t talk to me tonight.” you hurried to the tiny kitchen to wash your face as he silently made his way to the bathroom, thoughts swirling around in his head. 

Suna stared at your figure silently for a second before bending down to pick up the bell - a cheap gift he had given you for your third month together right after you two first started university. It was old, the string slightly frayed and loose, and the golden paint had chipped in places to reveal the stainless steel underneath it. There was even a dent on the bottom from when you accidentally dropped one of your heavier textbooks onto it. It was old, and Suna had told you countless times it was fine to throw away, but you always kept it. 

The man took it and carefully placed it back on the key rack before heading into the bathroom. He took his time in there, gathering his thoughts as he knew he wouldn’t be sharing a bed with you tonight.

It was understandable really, he hadn’t been a great boyfriend. Suna knew a relationship took work from both sides and he shouldn’t have been as blunt as he was earlier that night. 

One couldn’t count the number of times he had muttered profanities aimed towards himself while sitting in the bathtub thinking about his mistakes. He didn’t know if you would even want to see him tomorrow morning. Maybe it was for the best he just went to the gym…

The next morning, Suna woke up early. Even in winter, the sun rose far too early in Japan for his taste. Sitting up and grumbling, he rubbed his eyes and stumbled to the bathroom to begin his morning routine.

Looking at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth, he could only sigh at the sight of the dark circles under his eyes. 

Though you made him sleep on the stiff couch last night, you gave him the shared duvet and his pillow while you took the slightly thinner blanket from the closet. 

Despite the added comfort, Suna could barely fall asleep. He kept twisting and turning, thinking about you. Your pained face, your strained voice, your kindness even when angry at him. 

“I fucked up so bad,” he muttered once he washed his face and stared at his pathetically tired self in the mirror, water dripping from the ends of his hair. Would you want to break up with him after that? He’d understand if you wanted to, though he knew he would never be able to forgive himself for losing you because of some stupid mistake he could have prevented. 

Suna sighed for what felt like the thousandth time in the past 12 hours and dabbed his face dry with a towel. He knew that now would be the hardest bit - entering your bedroom to get his change of clothes.

Opening the door as slowly as possible in order to prevent the loud whiny creaking that he wished he had fixed months ago, Suna walked slowly towards the open closet. As quickly as possible, he grabbed a set of clothes and turned to face the door. Though it wasn’t without looking at your sleeping form on the large bed. 

Your face was puffy, dehydrated from sobbing last night, only emphasised by the wads of used tissues on the nightstand and floor. He noticed your breathing was a bit heavier than usual and your body was curled up as you hugged the thin blanket as close to yourself as you could.

The sight pained him intensely. 

With silent footsteps, Suna set his clothes on his side (the empty side) of the bed and tiptoed out to grab the duvet before returning and carefully laying it over your body. He tucked it right up to your chin as you always liked it and sat on the floor, eyes scanning every little feature on your face. From the smallest moles he loved to kiss to each individual eyelash.

“You’re not hearing this, I guess,” he muttered, looking down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at you, “I thought about it for a really long time. I really should’ve been better to you.”

The silence in the room was deafening. 

Suna gulped and bit the inside of his cheek as he thought about his next words, wondering if you could hear him in your sleep. 

“I always left you alone but you would always be nice to me. When you could, you’d make me bentos and clean the house while I did the laundry. Hm… putting stuff into a machine isn’t anywhere equal to cooking and cleaning surfaces, but I guess that’s another point to make.” 

Suna smiled to himself just a bit at the memory of you running into the bedroom to make him try your new pastries or dinner creations. He always thought you were so adorable in your old and stained apron that sometimes he would just stand in the kitchen to chat with you or watch you cook.

Then he was reminded of the dinner you had planned for the two of you and he suddenly frowned remembering how horrible he acted towards you the night before.

“You never expected me to be perfect since day one. I think I’m the furthest thing from a handsome prince on a white horse. But you’ve always been wonderful to me. And I was thinking…” You were asleep, right? Was it worth it to say such cheesy things?

“I kept wondering if you would leave and I thought I don’t want to lose you. I’m nowhere close to a prince but I thought I want to always be the one who wakes you up with a kiss. Or, I want you to wake me up with a kiss. Either is fine really. But… yeah. I’m sorry. Really, really sorry. ” He was certain you weren’t hearing these things yet there was a dark blush on his cheeks.

Until he saw you shift in the bed. 

Suna swears his heart stopped momentarily as he leaned closer, checking to see if you had woken up. 

Your eyelids slowly opened and you squinted tiredly at Suna, just barely able to see him with how blurry your vision had become. “Rin…?”

The man hurried to his feet, hoping his morning wouldn’t feel any heavier than it already did. 

“I’m gonna give you some space. I’ll be back after my jog.” 

Suna turned to exit the bedroom but was stopped by the sound of stumbling, followed by your warmth around his waist and resting on his back.

“Please… don’t go.”

He stared silently at the floor in front of him. 

“I don’t think you want to-”

“Stay here! …please?” 

Your soft voice broke but mended his heart at the same time. The scratchiness and fear in your voice contrasted with the words that he wanted to hear so badly.

“Did you…”

“Yeah, I heard everything.”

“You’re not mad?”

“Of course I’m still a little mad. But right now I’m just really happy you would say those things when you normally wouldn’t tell me how you feel. So… please, don’t go. Stay with me.”

The few moments of silence seemed to pass in eons as Suna took in a shaky breath before turning to hug you tightly, burying his face into your neck so you couldn’t see his tears of relief.

“Of course I will. I won’t go anywhere, babe.”

Four years have passed since that night. Suna yawns and scrunches up his face slightly at the way the sunlight enters your shared bedroom. Squinting his eyes, he looks around the room and wonders if maybe he should’ve put on a shirt like you did last night to deal with the first bites of winter. Then again, you did take his shirt.

He then looks to you, sleeping quietly by his side. You looked a little like a mess; hair messy, dwarfed in his big shirt, cheek smushed against the pillow, but he thought you looked adorable. 

It’s cold, but he feels warm by your side. 

And when he looks down at your left hand resting under his even in your sleep, the sight of the silver ring with its diamonds adorning your finger makes his heart even warmer.

[omegaling]

Allez Cuisine! ~Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Chocolate and Pomegranate 

Chapter Eight: Chocolate and Pomegranates (read it on AO3 here)

Updated 04/02/2017 to add some very quick but much deserved Stormpilot fluff

After her small, personal victory over the Iron Chef’s team - the look on Kylo Ren’s face when she fixed the ice cream machine was enough of a reward on its own whether she, Poe, and Finn won or lost today - she turned her whole focus back to the battle at hand.  They only had a scant twenty minutes left, and each second had to be utilized.  

“Rey, how’s that tartare dish coming?” Poe called.  The majority of the cooking was beginning to wrap up, and he had already started to arrange plates and various styles of dishes on the counter.  Four pastry bags were laid out by his elbow, and he alternated through them as he carefully piped the pureed rainbow carrots and parsnips into a spiral design on a square plate - white, orange, and a thin curl of purple to tie it together.

“Ready for plating, chef!” Rey called back, pulling several long, thin tubes of wax paper out of a hotel pan they were resting in.  Shortly before the fiasco with the ice cream machine, Rey peeled some avocados and cut the pliable flesh into paper-thin slices, then rolled them tightly around Poe’s wagyu tartare.  The avocado-rolled tartare held together beautifully when Rey undid the wax-paper binding, and with a feather-light touch she cut the bright green cylinders into equal-sized portions.  Three went down on the plate prepped for her, one topped with a quail egg yolk, one with the pulp and seeds of a cherry tomato, and the last with a heap of black caviar.  Across from her, Finn was plating his perfectly pink strawberry flan atop a drizzle of deep red fruit puree, then added a puff of sweetened milk foam off to the side.  

Rey could not see what was happening on Ren’s side, but the snippets she caught of Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch’s running commentary kept her updated.  Phasma was spooning a sauce made of uni and copious amounts of French butter onto a whorl of her fresh-made pasta.  Hux lay a bed of cooked spinach on steamed artichoke hearts, which was then topped with a fat oyster that had been poached in a champagne-based broth, and Ren was drizzling slices of seared duck breast with a cherry and reduced port wine sauce so dark it was nearly black.  Basically, it all sounded like the dishes one would expect to be made with aphrodisiac ingredients.

And Rey didn’t like it.  She had seen the photos of the food Ren made in his restaurant and watched and rewatched all of his ICA episodes.  She knew what he was capable of doing in an hour’s time, so why was he suddenly holding back and playing it safe?  Was he hoping to mock and humiliate Poe by winning the battle with a half-assed meal?  Based on the little she knew of him, it felt exactly like the kind of douchebag move he’d do.

Then again…

It could very well be that that was exactly what he wanted them to think.  Rey had watched all his battles too closely (entirely for research purposes, she kept telling herself) to not pick up on his patterns and techniques.  After a while, Rey started to feel sorry for the chefs who thought they would finally be the one to topple his title of being the only undefeated Iron Chef in the show’s history by skill alone.  Almost all of them were wholly unprepared for the sheer crushing weight of his mere presence when they were finally face-to-face with him, their confidence shot before the secret ingredient was even revealed.  Those were the battles where Ren always looked like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world than there - or that he’d sooner snap the challenger’s neck and be done with it.  There were a few episodes where Rey truly concerned for the other chef’s mental and physical well-being.

Every now and then, though, a chef came into the stadium who didn’t immediately wither under Ren’s initial glare, and the game shifted into an entirely new gear.  Both the proverbial and literal knives came out right from the start, Ren pulling out every stop to painfully remind the challenger why Vader was one of the top restaurants in the country and why he was Snoke’s protege.  That was the kind of battle Rey had been mentally preparing herself for for the last two weeks.  Poe would never allow Ren to intimidate him into submission, so she fully expected today’s battle to be especially ugly.

Except that it wasn’t.

Other than the occasional insult the two sides hurtled across the studio at each other at the top of the battle, the first fifty minutes had been unexpectedly tame.  She had a dark feeling that Ren was up to something on the other side of the kitchen; she overheard Alton saying something about him scrapping one of his ongoing dishes and starting on something new from scratch, and then Kevin confirming it a moment later, but everything turned so fast and furious that she couldn’t follow anything else they said after that.  It made her nervous.  Ren was turning out to be a much more complex person than Rey originally took him for, which left her feeling unnerved.

“Ten minutes to go.”

“I’ll finish this,” Poe said as he laid down his coffee- and spice-rubbed oxtail on his bed of pureed carrots and parsnips.  “I need you to get on the hollandaise sauce.  We’re way behind schedule.”

“Yes, chef,” Rey said, surrendering her garnishes to him before dashing back to the stove, a small thrill not unlike panic jolting through her.  Her little stunt with the ice cream machine had cost them valuable time: she was supposed to start on the hollandaise sauce for the oyster presentation five minutes ago.  Luckily she had the foresight to prep it ahead of time; her double-boiler was at a perfect simmer, the butter she needed completely melted. Rey deftly separated four egg yolks into the top pot of the boiler, whisking them with a dash of lemon juice so ferociously that her shoulder burned at the joint after the first minute.  Hollandaise was, in truth, one of Rey’s least favorite things to make.  It was one of the main reasons why she was grateful that Poe gave her so few brunch shifts when he incorporated it into their menu.  It all came down to proper timing, of which she had very little of.  Force the mixture to cook too fast, and you were left with a scrambled mess (although it was pretty good on toast).  Don’t cook it long enough, and you have a weak, watery abomination with no flavor.  Start it too soon, and all the ingredients separate and congeal and become horrible.  The clock hit the five minute mark when she started to add her butter to the thickened yolks, and in that instant she hated Poe for adding this specific item to their lineup.

She certainly wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure.  Finn had slipped into a stoic state he only adapted when his stress levels maxed out, rolling out cinnamon ice cream quenelles for his Mexican hot chocolate cake with mechanical, almost robot-like precision.  Poe darted back and forth among his dishes like a giant bird, garnishing and adjusting them as he went.  Rey had never seen him look so harried, not even on those nights at BB8 when they had a full dining room and everything in the kitchen seemed to go wrong.  Even Ren’s side, who were infamous for maintaining their icy composure no matter what the situation, was caught up in the chaos of those final few minutes.  It was not immediately clear to the untrained eye, but Rey could see it in the line of tension in Ren’s broad shoulders and the way Phasma pressed her lips so tightly together.  Rey was sure Alton and Kevin picked up on it as well, but one look at the maniac, almost homicidal gleam in Hux’s eyes was more than enough to warn them to keep quiet on the matter.

“Two minutes to go.”

“Rey, I need that hollandais, pronto!”

Knowing she had to cut her losses and that they were just going to have to work with what they had, Rey took the whole pot over to him, still whisking vigorously as she went.  Poe was putting the final touch on his oyster ceviche on a half-shell.  A second oyster rested on a bed of sauted spinach awaited her hollandais, and a third mollusk stewed in a tall, thin glass containing the smoked cocktail juice she helped prepare earlier.  Across the table, Finn poured his lavender-infused honey sauce over his strawberry flan.

“One minute to go.”

“You can finish this, right?” Poe asked, breaking away to rush towards the fridge before Rey could answer the question.

“A little late to be making last-minute additions, don’t you think?” she called across the kitchen to him, but she had a feeling that whatever he was after had nothing to do with the plates they were finishing up.  As soon as she made her final touch to their dishes - a small, plump piece of uni atop their fancied-up oysters Rockefeller - she felt a significant loosening around her chest, like some great big bloody snake had been gradually constricting her for the last hour and suddenly let go.  Finn garnished his flan with a sprig of mint and immediately snapped out of his stress-induced catatonic state with a gargantuan sigh, looking for all the world like he was ready to collapse where he stood.  

Poe returned from his mystery errand with a bottle of prosecco in hand and one hell of a cheeky smile on his face.  Rey couldn’t help but laugh aloud.  “You just couldn’t resist, could you?”

“A spectacular performance deserves an equally spectacular ending,” Poe said, picking up a large knife.  With a practiced flick of his wrist, the cork was sent flying from the neck of the bottle with a resounding POP just as the buzzer sounded.

“Put it down and walk away!” Alton crowed from his station.

“You’re such a freaking show-off, you know that?” Finn scolded him, even though he was smiling and already prepared to catch the foaming liquid in a couple of glasses.  “Don’t you ever put us through something like that again!”

"Oh, you'll thank me for it later and you know it," Poe sniggered back, leaning forward to give Finn a quick but nonetheless passionate kiss.

Rey, overwhelmed by a wave of pure giddiness, threw herself at Poe and Finn, wrapping an arm around each of their necks, sloshing a good deal of prosecco out of the glasses and on them instead.  They had done it, and with time to spare, no less.  On a show like Iron Chef America, it was liking finishing a race a mile ahead of the rest of the competition.

On all the other episodes of Iron Chef America, the end of the battle signalled the time for the two teams to come together to offer their congratulations for a battle well-fought, which genuinely consisted of a lot of hand-shaking, back-thumping and more than a few hugs all around.  Of course, Ren’s team, with their fancy endorsement from Gioccavani Snoke and world-renowned praise for their food, were always too good for that, choosing to stand separate and look haughty because god forbid they ever looked like they were enjoying themselves.  When Rey happened to glance over to their side, however, she saw Ren was looking at her.  She braced herself, fully prepared to throw back the smirk or glower or whatever other nasty look she was sure he was about to give them.

What she was not prepared for was his nod in her direction.

Rey, unsure of how to process this unseen turn of events, nodded back.

She was jarred from her bewilderment when Poe threw an arm around her shoulders.  She hadn’t even realized that he had already finished his post-battle interview with Kevin Brauch.  “Come on, kid.  The easy part is done.  Now we get to see whether or not the judges actually like any of it.”

Since only the Iron Chef and the challenging chef were allowed in the presentation to the judges, Rey and Finn had to watch the entire proceedings from the stadium floor.  Now that the cooking portion was over, she and Finn had flipped roles: he was the one who was calm and collected, and she the one jittery with impatience.  The rush of the last hour made her forget that they were still filming a television episode, and now that that part was done the stage manager was back, barking orders on who needed to be where and the time frames they had to adhere to.  For Rey, who always needed to do something with her hands, having to just sit there while the Chairman and the judges ate their way through ten courses was  short of torture.  She wasn’t even allowed to help clean up the monumental mess they made, which meant she could do nothing but literally sit on her hands and wait.

Poe went first after Kevin gave the usual run-down of how the judging worked (“Ten points for taste, five points for plating design, and five points for the chef’s creativity in the use of the secret theme ingredient”).  Rey felt a spike of apprehension when the first of their dishes - an appetizer of oysters prepared three different ways - was laid out before the judges.  Poe briefly explained his inspiration for the course (“You can’t hear the word ‘aphrodisiac’ without thinking ‘oysters.’”), followed by a summary of key ingredients and the different components of the dish.  Rey held her breath as the first of the oysters disappeared into the judges’ mouths.  

It was only a few scant seconds later that the praise started pouring forth, and did not let up for the entire judging session.  The nervous energy that had been flooding Rey’s system evaporates almost instantaneously, turning instead into a surging tide of pride.  Normally, the judges on ICA would give their individual opinions on each course, pointing out its strengths and weaknesses and how well the secret ingredient was integrated into the dish, along with the occasional banter thrown in between each other and the chefs for good measure.  It was generally a very organized affair, with the floor manager giving cues and instructions on how long they spent of each dish and making sure everyone said something so the post-production team had plenty of material to work with.  

That status quo was utterly forgotten as the judges began to talk over one another in their enthusiasm, desperate to say everything they wanted to before the floor manager started to impatiently wave for the next course to be brought out.  Rey couldn’t help the massive grin on her face as they raved about Poe’s and, by extension, her and Finn’s food.  They could not seem to get over the genius blending of flavors and textures, or the sheer artistic quality of Poe’s plating technique.  Jeffrey Steingarten seems especially keen in emphasizing Poe’s approach to recipes that were typically very much overdone in the gourmet kitchen.  Though Rey did not doubt the sincerity of his comment, she couldn’t help but wonder if he purposely said it just to get a rise out of Ren.

When their last course was presented to the judges - Finn’s Mexican hot chocolate cake with cinnamon ice cream - when one of them at least breached the subject that Rey had been waiting for.  “Tell me, Chef Dameron, because we’re all dying to know: was your ‘secret weapon’ your spitfire of a sous chef fixing the ice cream machine if it started acting up on you?”

Poe threw back his head and laughed.  “Believe it or not, that was entirely coincidental.  No, Rey has a much more special skill that makes her an invaluable addition to my team in the kitchen.”

“Oh?” The judge cocked an eyebrow at Poe.  “Any chance you’re going to tell us what that is, or are you just going to leave us hanging?”

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you hanging this time,” Poe said with his most winning smile.  “Just because I agreed to be on the show doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my secrets all at once.”

Finn jabbed Rey in the side with his elbow, making her jump.  When she looked at him he inclined his head sharply towards Poe, silently asking her what secrets they were keeping from him.  Rey shrugged and shook her head, trying to tell him that her guess was just as good as his.  Two years ago the thought of vital information about herself being kept from her would have raised every wall she built for herself while she was in the system, but now she only made a mental note to give Poe a stern talking-to later.

“Chef Dameron,” the Chairman said as the very last bite of cake disappeared from the plates. “Thank you for a truly spectacular meal.”

Applause rang out through the studio and Poe shook hands with the judges, who still weren’t done giving him their compliments.  Rey was more than happy that the judging went so well - not that she had any doubts that it would go any other way - but her earlier anxiety returned to dig its claws into her even deeper than before as Kylo Ren stepped up to the stage.

Ren’s judging turned out to be infinitely worse than Rey feared.

The first course set the tone.  Ren also opened with his  oyster appetizer.  As soon as it was placed before the judges, one of them began to giggle and clasped her hands over her mouth, unable to hide the blush spreading over her face.  Even Jeffrey raised her eyebrows.

“Mr. Chairman, I do believe your producers will have to censor this from the general viewing public when it’s aired on television,” he commented in his deadpan voice.  His fork hovered over the dish, as though he wasn’t quite sure how to go about eating it.  Rey couldn’t see Ren’s dish from where she was seated, but based on what she had seen of his other food from Vader and his previous episodes she could only imagine what liberties he took today.  Not a very promising start for Team Dameron.

It got worse when the judges started eating.  What Rey had earlier assumed to be typical, even boring uses of the ingredients were quickly proven to be anything but.  Per usual, Ren said little when introducing each dish, opting to let his food do his talking for him.  It certainly had a lot of say today, though it was mostly in the form of eye-rolling and moaning rather than the constant chatter that Poe’s food invoked.  Finn shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and Rey couldn’t blame him.  She was feeling more and more voyeuristic, like they were invading on something that should be private and intimate.  Even the slightly overdone lamb paired with avocado and watermelon couldn’t alter the fact that their side was in trouble.

Then came the dessert.At first glance it was deceptively simple; nothing more than a sphere of chocolate sitting in the middle of a plate with no other garnishes, accompanied only by a small, slightly steaming white pitcher.  Ren said even less about it than usual, only instructing the Chairman and the judges to pour the contents of the pitcher over the sphere.  Rey half-stood in her chair, her curiosity finally getting the better of her.  The judges took up their pitchers and poured a stream of thick, melted dark chocolate on the spheres.  Chocolate enveloped chocolate, and a second later the spheres broke apart like a blooming flower, revealing a center of soft pink sorbet beneath sugar-dusted flower petals and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds.  There was a chorus of gasps from the judge’s table, and Rey felt something uncomfortable lodge low in her stomach.  She knew, without anyone having to say anything, that this was the mystery dish Ren started as the battle started coming into its home stretch.

“Just when I think I’ve seen you do it all, you still manage to surprise me,” Jeffrey Steingarten said, scooping some more of the sorbet into his spoon.  “This flavor… it’s pomegranate, am I correct?”

“It is,” Ren affirmed.

“I have a feeling there’s a specific source of inspiration behind this one,” the third judge said.

“As any self-respected chef and food critic knows, true aphrodisiacs are only a myth.  People like to think they work because it reminds them of a certain part of human anatomy, or because they believe that it increases blood flow or heart rate after consumption to help them prepare for sex.  Those are only base, primal reactions they’re focusing on: in other words, lust.  For me, a true aphrodisiac should be something that makes us feel something deeper, something outside ourselves.  Take the pomegranate, for example.” Ren reached over to pluck a deep red pomegranate seed from the plate closest to him.  “In the myth of Hades and Persephone, Hades - Lord of the Underworld, besotted by the goddess of spring - offers his wife the seeds of a pomegranate so she might return to him year after year, despite her mother’s resentment of the arrangement.  Their love is one that should not be…” His words hung in the air as his line of sight found Rey’s like a homing beacon: “Yet it is the passion of it that humans continue to find themselves enthralled with, even though their story is tens of centuries old.  Here we have the sweetness of the pomegranate, married to the dark temptation represented by the chocolate.  What can possibly be more sensual than that?”

Rey fell heavily back into her chair, suddenly finding a stain on her apron very interesting.  She could feel Finn’s gaze boring into the side of her head, but she pointedly ignored him.  Ren was obviously trying to her under her skin, to get her back for making fools of him and his sous for the ice cream machine.  But the cooking was long since done, and the judging was wrapping up; she couldn’t imagine what he was possibly hoping to gain by it now.

It was still easier to think about than any alternative.

The judging was done, the altar of the secret ingredient cleared away, and Kylo Ren and Poe Dameron stood before the Chairman, waiting for the verdict to be announced.

Rey and Finn stood outside the camera’s shot, their sweaty hands clasped together.  Rey’s heart was beating so hard she could feel her pulse in every fiber of her being.  Standing opposite of them was Hux and Phasma, who were also looking nervous in their own stone-cold way.  Kylo Ren may be the Iron Chef, but they were part of the victory or defeat just as much as he was.

“Today, two champions met in Battle Aphrodisiacs,” the Chairman announced to the camera.  He turned to Poe and bowed, then repeated the motion to Iron Chef Ren.  “The judges have spoken.  And after a long and hard deliberation… The winner is…”

Ending notes:

I totally wrote Kylo Ren's Hades and Persephone speech in Mads Mikkelsen/Hannibal's voice. I think it actually helped.

Poe's avocado-wrapped tartare and Kylo Ren's lamb with avocado and watermelon were actually inspired by real dishes made on Iron Chef America. The avocado-wrapped tartare was on Bobby Flay vs. Jose Andres (who, in this story, is one of Poe's mentors) in Battle Goat, and the lamb dish on Babby Flay vs. Michael Smith in Battle Avocado. Unfortunately I don't have pictures or video links for either of them.

Picture credit here

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27 Breakfast Recipes for a Hungry Holiday Crowd

[Photographs: J. Kenji López-Alt, Daniel Shumski]

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Breakfast

Everything you need to make the most important meal of the day delicious.

I grew up in a small family and have never had much practice cooking breakfast for more than a couple of people. If you come from a similar background, you may have also felt a bit lost and overwhelmed on the rare occasions that you have had to feed a large group—especially first thing in the morning, when your coffee has yet to take effect.

But the holiday season is in full swing, and with that often comes houseguests. That means this could be one of the few times a year that preparing a big, crowd-pleasing breakfast becomes a necessity in your household. Fortunately, we've got lots of dishes to help you get through the season unscathed, from scrambled and baked eggs to airy, fluffy stacks of pancakes and (crucially!) tips on how to make a ton of bacon. Keep reading for 27 of our favorite recipes for easy breakfasts to feed the whole extended family.

Eggs

[Video: Serious Eats Team]

If you like your scrambled eggs soft and moist instead of drier and fluffy, you'll want to cook them gently over low heat, and start them in a cold nonstick skillet to keep them from seizing up. Residual heat will keep cooking the eggs after you take them off the burner, so pull them a few seconds before they look completely done.

Soft-Scrambled Eggs Recipe »

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[Video: Serious Eats Team]

Prefer your eggs on the firmer side, the way they tend to be cooked in diners? Start them over medium-high heat, and stir them more sparingly so that big, light curds can form. The higher heat will start to dry out the eggs just a little, but as long as you pull them off the heat in time, they should retain enough moisture.

Fluffy Scrambled Eggs Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

The morning after a lively holiday cocktail party, few things feel so curative as a big plate of migas. This simple Tex-Mex treat is made of warmed corn tortillas filled with scrambled eggs, chili peppers, onion, tomato, and home-fried tortilla chips. Pre-salting the eggs and salting and draining the tomatoes keep the dish from getting too soggy. Can't face the task of frying up your own chips first thing in the morning? Try our Doritos version.

Tex-Mex Migas With Scrambled Eggs, Tortilla Chips, and Chilies Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

This dish feels fancy, but it's not much more work than a standard plate of soft-scrambled eggs—all you'll do is top the eggs with sumac, parsley, pine nuts, and olive oil after they finish cooking. To make this dish even easier, try toasting the pine nuts in the microwave instead of a skillet.

Scrambled Eggs With Sumac, Pine Nuts, and Parsley Recipe »

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[Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]

Homemade biscuits don't seem like they'd belong on a list of easy breakfasts for a crowd, but trust us—these fluffy, tender drop biscuits require just five ingredients and 25 minutes. We like to serve them with scrambled eggs seasoned with dill and packed with so much mozzarella and feta, they take on a texture reminiscent of queso fundido.

Scrambled Egg and Cheese Drop-Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

North African in origin and wildly popular in Israel, this homey dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce has also become super trendy at US brunch spots of late. Part of its appeal is that it's completely customizable—we make this particular version with charred peppers and onions, paprika, and cumin. Some shakshuka recipes call for finishing the dish under the broiler; we find that that method risks overcooking the egg yolks, so we prefer to let the dish gently simmer and steam in a covered pan on the stove.

Shakshuka (North African–Style Poached Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce) Recipe »

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[Photograph: Jennifer Olvera]

This dish is like shakshuka's Iberian cousin, made by baking eggs in a peppery tomato sauce studded with chorizo and topping them with sharp white cheddar and Parmesan cheese. With two serrano peppers added to the sauce, it's a little on the hot side—if your guests aren't big fans of spicy foods, seed the serranos, or replace them with a single jalapeño.

Portuguese Baked Eggs With Chorizo and Ricotta Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Tortilla chips softened in warm salsa and topped with fried eggs—something akin to soggy breakfast nachos—may not sound that delicious, but that's exactly what chilaquiles are, and they're a winner. It's fine to use jarred salsa instead of homemade salsa verde, but you'll want to fry the tortilla wedges fresh, for sturdier, crispier chips that won't get too soggy when soaked in the sauce.

Chilaquiles Verdes With Fried Eggs Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

If you opt for huevos rancheros instead of chilaquiles, it's really worth it to make your own salsa—it takes only a few minutes, which you'll have time for since you won't have to fry any tortillas. We like a simple red salsa here, made of canned crushed tomatoes, dried ancho chilies, and canned chipotles in adobo, which we purée using an immersion blender or countertop blender, then spoon over tortillas and sunny-side up eggs.

Quick and Easy Huevos Rancheros With Tomato-Chili Salsa Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Boiled eggs are easy to make by the dozen, so, although it may not be as familiar a concept to you as some of the other items on this list, this Singaporean breakfast of soft-cooked eggs, seasoned with dark and light soy sauce and white pepper, scales up well. Though boiling the eggs on the stovetop works just fine, a sous vide cooker is your best bet for nailing that incredibly soft, spoonable texture. In keeping with tradition, serve the eggs with toast and coconut-flavored kaya jam.

Singapore-Style Soft-Cooked Eggs With Kaya Jam and Toast Recipe »

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[Photograph: Emily and Matt Clifton]

This meaty version of chilaquiles calls for homemade tortilla chips, chicken stock, and homemade salsa verde—but in a pinch, with lots of mouths to feed, you can just as easily pick those items up at your grocery store. Even without the homemade chips, the fresh Mexican chorizo, tangy quick-pickled red onion, and sharp radish slices make this a rich, slightly spicy, and totally satisfying breakfast for a crowd.

Chorizo and Egg Chilaquiles With Salsa Verde Recipe »

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Pancakes and Waffles

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Making pancakes from scratch isn't a super-fast project—unless, of course, you've thought ahead and made your own mix out of flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar, for keeping in the pantry at all times. With the mix made ahead of time according to our instructions, all that remains is adding the wet ingredients: buttermilk, melted butter, sour cream, and eggs. There is one slightly involved step—whisking the egg whites to stiff peaks before incorporating them into the batter—but that's what makes these the tallest, fluffiest pancakes around.

Light and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Toasted steel-cut oats are a great way to bulk up pancakes, and browning the butter used in the batter helps to reinforce the oats' earthy, nutty flavor. Because oatmeal pancakes often run the risk of being too heavy, we bump up the quantity of baking soda to keep these pancakes light and fluffy, yet hearty.

Oatmeal and Brown Butter Pancakes Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

There's no rule that says pancakes have to be sweet! This recipe takes them in a savory direction, adding diced bacon, corn, jalapeños, scallions, and cheddar. Subbing in cornmeal for some of the flour gives the pancakes even more corn flavor, and using cubed (rather than shredded) cheddar means that the pancakes wind up with delightfully gooey pockets of melted cheese.

Savory Bacon-Cheddar Pancakes With Corn and Jalapeño Recipe »

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[Photograph: Yvonne Ruperti]

Usually we think of pancake recipes as making a whole stack, with two or three individual pancakes for each person. But this single soft, custardy cake, made with an unleavened, crepe-like batter, is large enough to feed eight on its own. Serve it however you like, but our caramelized-apple topping is especially delicious.

German Apple Pancake Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Aquafaba—the liquid inside a can of cooked beans—is a pretty amazing ingredient for veganizing some recipes that call for egg whites. It's not quite the universal egg replacement that some people claim, but it does whip up into an astonishingly meringue-like foam. If there's a better way to make light, fluffy vegan pancakes, we haven't found it yet.

Vegan Pancakes Made With Aquafaba Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

The batter for these brown butter–infused waffles comes together in just a few minutes. The only trick is that the yeast in the batter needs 12 hours in the fridge to work its magic, so be sure you're making all the batter you'll want for breakfast. But the upside is that you'll have practically no work to do in the morning—just pour the batter into your waffle iron of choice and heat until crisp and golden brown.

Overnight Brown-Butter Yeast-Raised Waffles Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

This recipe takes only 45 minutes and makes a batch of a dozen muffins—plenty to feed a hungry extended family. And each muffin is utterly packed with blueberries, thanks to a 1:1 ratio of blueberries to flour by weight. That might make the batter seem a little thick, but it helps keep the berries from all sinking to the bottom. (Before getting started, be sure to read Stella's take on the best pan material and liners for muffins.)

Classic Blueberry Muffins Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

This oversize blueberry "muffin" is baked in a 10-inch cast iron skillet, making it perfect for a slow, lazy, big-batch breakfast. A thick layer of jammy fruit covers a light and tender muffin base, scented with a pinch of lemon zest and a small amount of coriander, which offers its own lemony profile to highlight the blueberries' flavor. Cut it into wedges and serve it warm.

Upside-Down Blueberry Muffin Recipe »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

If you're cooking bacon for one or two people, the standard skillet method is perfectly adequate. But if you're cooking for any more people than that, the easiest route is to bake it—and whether you like yours extra crispy or a little chewier, we can help you out. Another option, for those who have the equipment and the inclination to plan ahead, is to cook the bacon sous vide. You'll still need to finish it in a pan to crisp it up, but that will take only about two minutes per piece.

Bacon, Two Ways: Baked and Sous Vide »

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[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Perfect French toast is all about using the proper ratio of eggs to milk, and we find three eggs per cup of milk to be just right. You can use either milk or cream, depending on how rich you want the dish to be. Either way, sprinkle a little sugar on the bread after dunking it in the batter to give the French toast a crisp, caramelly crust.

Perfect Quick-and-Easy French Toast Recipe »

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[Video: Serious Eats Team]

As far as I'm concerned, hash browns should be as shatteringly crisp as possible. How to do it? Squeeze as much water as you can out of the grated potatoes, then par-cook them in the microwave. Nuking the spuds dries them out thoroughly and creates an outer layer of gelatinized starch, which helps get the hash browns even crispier.

Crispy, Crunchy, Golden Shredded Hash Browns Recipe »

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[Photograph: Daniel Shumski]

If you want hash browns that balance a creamy interior with a crisp crust, the waffle iron is the tool for you. We grate and drain the potatoes just as we would if we were making hash browns on the stovetop, but then pile them into the waffle iron, where they cook evenly and develop tons of crispy crevices. The cooking times given in this recipe are really just a starting point—the hash browns could take more or less time depending on your waffle iron and how finely you shred the potatoes.

Waffle-Iron Hash Browns Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Whipping thick, rich Greek yogurt makes it lighter and more refreshing, ideal for topping pancakes or waffles, or layering with fruit and granola (see below!) for parfaits. A little cream added to the yogurt helps it aerate, while golden syrup or honey gives it both flavor and sweetness.

Creamy Whipped Greek Yogurt Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Few breakfast items are better suited for a crowd than a big batch of granola. This particular granola is light and crispy, with plenty of sweet clusters—the best part of any cereal. The surprising secret ingredient is buttermilk, which we use to soak the oats and seeds before baking; its acidity tenderizes them and keeps them from browning too quickly. A unique blend of dried fruit and nuts provides an addictive mix of flavors, colors, and textures.

Crisp Homemade Granola Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Sure, caramel sticky buns aren't exactly the healthiest breakfast. But the holidays come but once a year, and these gooey pastries are sure to please everyone at your breakfast table. Darkly toasted sugar or Belgian cassonade (a.k.a. candi sugar) is key to making a true caramel for both the filling and the topping.

Double-Caramel Sticky Buns Recipe »

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[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Just like pancakes, French toast can also be great when made savory. This recipe turns out spicy and funky from store-bought green curry paste, which we fortify with fresh herbs, lime juice, and fish sauce. Soaking the bread overnight ensures that the curry gets to the core, and means that most of your prep work is already done by the time your kitchen fills up with hungry family. That means all you have to do in the morning is cook the toast, sip your coffee, and relax.

Savory Green Curry French Toast Recipe »

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Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/roundups/breakfast-for-a-crowd

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The 16 Dishes You Should Have Eaten in 2018

The year 2018 has not been a great one for the food world. There was the loss of two of the brightest people in the business, Anthony Bourdain and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles critic Jonathan Gold. Likewise, it was hard to find one new, unifying restaurant that captured everyone’s imagination.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t captivating dishes. In fact, these 16 were positively remarkable. They run the gamut from just-caught king salmon in Alaska to exquisitely aged Irish beef in London. There’s a lot of bread—it was, after all, the 2017 dish of the year and still looming large—but no noodles. New York introduced two places you’d assume would make the cut: Missy Robbins’s pasta-focused Misi followed her breakout, Lilia, and David Chang reimagined ramen at the new Momofuku. Yet different dishes stood out more on their menus instead.

To find out what those dishes are, and the 14 other most outstanding ones, read on. And grab a snack while you’re at it—you’re going to get hungry.

Sukchae | Atomix, New YorkUnlike most dishes that feature a dollop of caviar, what grabs your attention with this exquisite Korean omakase counter’s cooked vegetable course is not the pricey fish roe. Chef-owner Junghyun Park layers tender celery root on a bed of fresh, yogurtlike buttermilk cheese—and adds the caviar, sure. But then comes the unforgettable component: creamy, softly sweet hazelnut sauce that Park pours over it all to finish the dish. It balances the saline pop of caviar, the silkiness of the celery root, and the tang from the cheese.

Whole Roast Duck With Duck Confit Salad | Spoken English, Washington, D.C.This small, standing-room-only restaurant (literally) is hidden in the groovy Line hotel, a new D.C. hotspot that once was a church. The dining room consists of two short counters, which are an extension of the kitchen; it’s like snacking at a friend’s house. On the menu are twisted classics such as chicken skin dumplings from chefs Erik Bruner Yang and Matthew Crowley, as well as the best duck I ate this year—a time when there’s been a lot of good duck out there. Here it’s cured in tea for four to five days before being roasted over wood and carved up. The legs are confited and tossed into a salad, the breast is thickly sliced, and the supple tortillas to roll it all up in are made with duck fat instead of lard.

Roasted Tomatoes With Hot Honey | Misi, BrooklynA few years ago at Lilia, chef Missy Robbins made a long, curly stretch of malfadini noodle with buttery pink peppercorns New York’s most sought-after dish. At her new place, Misi, in the southern reaches of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood, the best thing isn’t pasta but oven-blasted tomatoes. Roasting for a couple of hours intensifies their sweetness, which is then hit with a drizzle of Calabrian chile-infused honey, further punching up the shriveled halves. A licorice bite from the cracked coriander seeds and fennel, tucked into the oil, takes it over the top.

Maine Chutoro Hand Roll | Mr. Tuna, Portland, MaineInstagram: Mr. Tuna on Instagram: “End Labor Day…

Forget lobster and oysters. The local bluefin tuna belly that Jordan Rubin gets in late summer and the fall is the seafood standout in Portland, Maine. In mid-2017, Rubin bought a hot dog cart and started making hand rolls and sushi burritos on the downtown streets. His operation quickly grew into a mini food truck empire that now includes a space in the Portland Public Market. The hand roll’s nori wrapper is notably crisp because Rubin keeps it warmed in an electric toaster before wrapping it around tangy rice and fatty, melt-in-your-mouth chopped fish mixed with sea salt, scallions, and potent fresh wasabi sauce.

Poulet Roti | Frenchette, New YorkTwenty years ago the roast chicken at Balthazar, carved tableside, made the bird chic in Manhattan. Now the chefs who helped put it on the map there—Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr—have reintroduced it at their beyond-buzzy Frenchette. Not simply a vehicle for crispy skin, it’s a superbly juicy and supple bird served in a shallow casserole. Standing alongside is a separate pot of pommes purée that’s approximately half butter, and often garnished with roasted maitake mushrooms, giving you all the earthy flavors on one table.

Panna Cotta | Brawn, LondonFor those who think they never want to eat panna cotta again, it’s time you taste the triangular wedge at Columbia Street’s cult favorite wine bar, where it’s served as if it were a cake. The custard is infused with piquant cardamom and topped with charred orange slices that offset the sweetness. But the beauty of this dish is the rich double cream that chef-owner Ed Wilson sources to make it, lending a texture that’s not too gummy, not too loose—just perfect, like the best ice cream made ever-so-slightly more solid.

Aged Beef Sobrasada on Toast | Bright, LondonAt this spare new Scandi restaurant and wine bar, chefs Will Gleave and Peppe Belvedere rely on their neighbors—specifically the great local butcher shop, Hill & Szork. They take Irish sirloin that’s been aged at the shop for 45 days (there’s not enough room at Bright to age it themselves) and then grind it with funky aged beef fat and salt, pepper, and paprika. It’s served on sourdough toast brushed with more of the fat, then topped with capers and chives macerated with elderberry. It’s the platonic ideal of beef tartare.

Blum’s Coffee Crunch Cake | Valerie, Los AngelesValerie Gordon may have gained notoriety for her chocolate bars, now a common sight at coffee shops across the country, with their bold packaging and flavors such as salt and pepper with crispy rice. But the real standout of her eponymous confectionary are the classic desserts she re-creates out of fear they’re fading into oblivion. Blum’s cake is an architectural masterpiece, studded with shards of chewy, coffee-infused honeycomb that superbly contrast the coffee whipped cream oozing out between layers of tender yellow cake.

Cheese & Crackers | Elske, ChicagoThe deceptively simple dish at Michelin-starred restaurant Elske has just three components: cheese, jam, and crackers. The cheese is Wilde Weide, a two-year-old aged raw cow gouda with crystallized streaks. The jam is vanilla-infused tomato dolloped into a nest. And the crackers are made from a yeasted dough that’s doused in olive oil before baking, which gives them a superbly flaky, buttery texture, like a French pastry you didn’t know existed. Together, they’re unstoppable.

Slow-Roasted Lamb Neck Shawarma | Bavel, Los AngelesAmong the slew of promising new Middle Eastern restaurants across the U.S. is the greenery-filled Bavel in downtown L.A. Ori Menashe takes an underused cut—lamb neck—and coats it with a paste of tangy sumac and caramelized onions. The meat is roasted for hours until falling-apart tender, and the rub is baked in. It’s served with an array of sides including pickled vegetables and creamy house-made tahini, as well as the flatbreads for which the restaurant has rightly become famous.

Fried Blue Prawns | Momofuku Noodle Bar Columbus Circle, New YorkDavid Chang is on a mission to get you to eat the whole shrimp—shell, head, all of it. To accomplish this, he and his crack chef team of Tony Kim, Matthew Rudofker, and J.J. Basil have created a scintillatingly spicy coating at the new Noodle Bar in the Shops at Columbus Circle, aka the Time Warner Center. A blend of cumin, togarashi (the Japanese version of chili powder), sugar, salt, and Sichuan peppercorn is plastered onto the delicately fried shrimp, making it impossible not to eat the wafer-crisp shell along with the sweet meat inside. A spritz of lemon and an accompanying bowl of yuzu mayo cools it all down.

Dilliwala Butter Chicken | Adda, New YorkNormally, butter chicken is a forgettable staple of Indian takeaway. That all changes at the thrilling, no-frills Adda in Long Island City, Queens. The dish is recognizable only by name, and it makes you realize that all the versions you’ve had before are lame. The deep orange sauce is lit up with darkly sweet fenugreek, cardamom, cilantro root, and a generous hit of red chiles, making it much hotter than usual. The biggest difference: the local tomatoes and honey that replace the standard canned tomatoes and sugar, lending the dish a punchy freshness that cuts through that classic slick of butter on top.

Pork and Shrimp Bao Bao With Fried Egg | Kym’s, LondonWell-made dumplings are enough for most people, especially when the filling is a mix of juicy seasoned pork and chopped shrimp in a tender wonton wrapper. But at Kym’s in the Bloomberg Arcade, chef Andrew Wong, who heads the Michelin-starred A. Wong, ups the ante by frying them with eggs for extra unctuousness. The result is an Asian-style shakshuka with golden, crispy bits of white and creamy yolk enriching the already rich dumplings. The final touch is a sprinkling of scallions, sesame, and chili oil studded with alluring bits of fried onion.

Grilled Ivory King Salmon | In Bocca al Lupo, Juneau, AlaskaChef Beau Schooler of Juneau’s In Bocca al Lupo calls his dish simply “salmon offcuts,” which may be true, if perhaps a disservice to the quality of what you get on your plate: a combination of the collar, belly, tail, and head, depending on what was caught in the last 24 hours. There’s never a guarantee that he’ll have white king salmon, but if he does, order it. The incredibly fresh fish has a cleaner richness then common salmon. Salted and drizzled with olive oil, the fish gets popped into a wood-burning oven, right next to the coals, so the skin chars. The accompaniment is an equally elemental charred lemon wedge, a garlicky parsley pesto that’s intensified with a blast of fish sauce, and a finishing sprinkle of Alaskan sea salt from Sitka.

Ibérico Katsu Sando | Ferris, New YorkIt’s been a big year for sandos in New York, the most high-profile being the $185 version of the Japanese sandwich made with wagyu beef. But pay attention to the one crafted by chef Greg Proechel at Ferris that costs about one-tenth the price. Made with succulent acorn-fed Spanish pork, about ¾-inch thick, it’s egged, breaded, and fried to medium rare so it’s crunchy but still supremely juicy. The toast is judiciously brushed with a fruity, hoisin sauce and is just thick enough to keep the cutlet secure.

Ilaria Pie | Una Pizza Napoletana, New YorkPizza prince Anthony Mangieri figures he’s tried every buffalo mozzarella in the U.S. and half of the ones in Italy. He came across his favorite outside Naples—it’s grassy and slightly animal-y—and along with that classic “mozz,” he brings in a quantity that’s been wood-smoked to star on Una Pizza Napoletana’s simple, standout pie. The Ilaria, named for his wife, is a doughy delight, like a lightly charred pillow. It features pools of that smoky mozzarella paired with the refreshing snap of cherry tomatoes and arugula.

The post The 16 Dishes You Should Have Eaten in 2018 appeared first on Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East.

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