James Kenji Lopez-Alt

I was wondering if anyone has any tricks they can share to get toddlers to eat a bigger variety of foods. My 2yo is not too bad but is definitely pickier than I would like, in particular with vegetables but there are also many carbs and meats she will randomly decide that she doesn’t want to eat, too. I want her to eat more variety because it’s healthier, but I also feel like the way to get her to eat more stuff is to make things more appetizing, which often requires more sugar and fats, so it’s kind of a tradeoff. I’ve considered exploring more modernist techniques to transform the texture of things, but I’m hesitant to be spending time trying to make michelin-starred meals for my toddler, especially when there’s the risk that it won’t even work… Any advice would be appreciated.

I got my hands on some anchovies extract, would anyone have recs on how to use it ? Feels like anytime you would put some anchovies or marmite or something for an umami boost, that can help also ?

We picked up some milk bread from our local bakery this morning, so I decided to make the konbini style egg salad sando! The filling is spot on, but I like mine on the sweeter side so I upped the sugar a bit. The bread we picked out was so delicious but a bit too heavy to replicate the iconic konbini sandwich. Check out this recipe for what you can do with the ends: https://www.justonecookbook.com/shokupan-crust-rusks/

Made the perfect grilled steak for 2 for the first time from the food lab today because ribbeye was on sale. It turned out so good!

Kenji, I had a RiffTrax streaming channel on in the background and I just heard you get name-dropped in a joke. Looks like it was from a while ago so you’ve probably already heard but I thought I’d mention it just in case you hadn’t 😆 (the video was Merlin: the Return I think?)

So I just went to go look at a recipe I’d looked at before to see it locked behind a higher tier. Was already doing $5 a month but now it looks like it’s $10 to access the recipes? When did this happen?

I went with a friend to the soft tofu restaurant that Kenji mentioned he went to as a kid. The sundubu was delicious! I recommend

If anyone’s looking for a fantastic Indian cookbook, I just got my copy of “Number 1 Best Indian Cookbook In The World” by Meherwan Irani. His restaurant Chai Pani in Asheville NC is the best Indian I’ve ever had.

https://youtube.com/shorts/vut-WnKdS-Y?is=rh7iUYEECxWfNxsz calling out how they love kenji recipes

Yo! Here’s a question for the crowd. What’s everyone’s approach to tomato paste in recipes? I typically only buy the double concentrated stuff, so when I see a recipe calls for 1 TBSP, I always have an internal debate on whether the writer meant concentrated or traditional paste. Do you assume that you should halve or double your portions of tomato paste?

Could you make it possible to view your conversation with Pailin? I was only able to see a fraction of it–I actually became a paid subscriber so I could see it. Thanks!

Hi - just read the email about roux. Alton Brown addresses roux in S10 ep 15 “Bowl of Bayou”. Brown uses the oven. I’ve made roux following his method and it worked. You did not mention the oven in your email. Just a thought, looking forward to your test results.

anyone else hip to this YouTube channel, CHEF’s LABO? https://www.youtube.com/@CHEFSLABO His work and recipes are very experiment-driven, really reminds me of what we’re all doing here as Kenji fans :P A lot of the recipes are ideal for those nights you just can’t be bothered.

New experiment tonight. Using the burner on my Pitboss pellet grill as a wok burner! Definitely works better than the stove burner

Maybe I shouldn’t have read some recipes before my H Mart trip!! 💸

Today was a good day