Happy Sunday!

Enjoy your weekly recipe inspirations — our goal is to get your cooking juices flowing and help excite your next grocery run.

As always, a shopping list for the recipes is linked in Notion at the end of this email.

In This Week’s Edition:

Try Something New 🤯 — Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

Throwback Time 🍳 — Burger Science

The Leftover Shelf 🥡 — Loco Moco

Extra Helpings 🤤 — Natural Wine, Kosher Salt, & More

Shopping List ✅ — Sorted Ingredients for Easy Shopping

Try Something New 🤯

Learn a new cuisine with Gumbo.

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

Gumbo is the perfect dish to learn Louisiana Creole techniques — it utilizes a dark roux for color and texture, and the flavors are built upon the “ Cajun Holy Trinity,” the aromatic combo of equal parts onion, celery, and bell pepper.

Gumbo Components

• 1 lb (450 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs

• 1 lb (450 g) Andouille (or any smoked sausage), sliced into coins

• 1/3 cup flour

• 1/3 cup cooking oil + extra

• 1 large onion, diced

• 2 large bell peppers, diced

• 4-5 stalks of celery, diced

• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 sprig of thyme

• 6 cups chicken broth

• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper and/or paprika (for a less spicy alternative)

• Kosher salt & black pepper

Serving Components

• Cooked white rice

• Scallions, thinly sliced

• Hot sauce

Instructions

1. Sear the meat: In a wide pot or dutch oven, sear the chicken and sausage coins over high heat, in batches, until some browning occurs on the surface of each piece. Use cooking oil as needed. The chicken doesn’t have to be cooked through, just seared on the outside. Set aside all seared chicken and sausage.

2. Cook the roux & aromatics: Add the oil and flour to the pot over medium-high heat. Whisky constantly and cook until the mixture has reached at least a chocolate shade of color (may take 10+ minutes). This is your dark roux. Add in the onion, bell peppers, and celery and mix into the roux. Continue cooking on high heat for 7-10 minutes or until the vegetables have softened. Add in the garlic, spices, a sprinkle of salt, lots of black pepper, bay leaves, and thyme. Stir until fragrant.

3. Simmer: Slowly add in the chicken broth, mixing to break up any lumps of roux. Add the chicken and sausage back in. The broth should cover everything by an inch or so (add more water or broth if necessary). Bring to a simmer, partially cover, and let cook for 1-2 hours. The chicken should be falling apart and the broth should be slightly thickened with no residual flour taste. Season to taste with salt and a dash of hot sauce for acidity.

4. Garnish & serve: Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Ladle hot gumbo into bowls, then add a scoop of cooked white rice over top. Garnish with scallions, hot sauce, and more black pepper.

Pro Tip - This gumbo is thickened with a roux. Okra or file powder can also be used to thicken the broth and happen to be gluten-free.

Throwback Time 🍳

What are the fundamentals of making a good burger? From thick to thin to smashed patties, why do burgers taste so good in the first place?

Making the perfect burger is not about following the right recipe. Instead, it’s about truly understanding how fat content, moisture, and browning (Maillard Reaction) actually work during cooking. Check out the video for how to nail the perfect burger at home, in any style you want.

After you understand the basics, here are a few burger recipe ideas to get creative:

​15-Minute Triple Smash Burger with Bacon​

​The Breakfast Smash Burger Blueprint​

​Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger​

And, if you find yourself with a lot of extra ground meat or burger patties, don’t worry. Here’s the best way to use up leftover patties:

The Leftover Shelf 🥡

Leftovers are back in style…if you know how to use them.

This week’s move:

Leftover burger patties → Loco Moco

All you need is some rice, eggs, and a saucy component to turn a sad burger patty into this Hawaiian staple!

Loco Moco Components (per serving)

• Leftover burger patty

• A scoop of cooked rice

• 1-2 fried eggs

• A saucy component (see below)

• Scallions for garnish

Sauce Options

Usually, loco moco comes with beef, onion, or mushroom gravy. Here’s a recipe for a mushroom sauce, but anything with umami and a saucy texture works, like instant/jarred gravy, barbecue sauce, or teriyaki sauce.

To assemble:

Heat up the burger patty over a portion of rice. Top with a few spoonfuls of sauce, a fried egg or two, and scallions.

Extra Helpings 🤤

🚀 Viral Eats

Food trends explained.

Q: What’s the deal with natural wine? How it is different from any other organic wine?

A: Natural wine is made with the philosophy of not adding or taking away anything from the wine. Natural wines have soared in popularity for their funkier flavors and novel aesthetics, like orange wine.

From the vineyards to the cellar, everything involved in natural winemaking focuses on keeping the wine as close to its natural form as possible. Even at the end of the winemaking process, the wine is not filtered, often resulting in sediment pieces that settle in the bottle.

Growing organic grapes is seen as a prerequisite for making natural wine, meaning that all natural wines are organic. However, not all organic wines are natural since organic wines often still make use of additives or filtration.

Natural wine seems to be a way forward for sustainable winemaking, as it reduces its impact on the environment and consumers. It’s exciting to see wine, a product that’s steeped in so much tradition, start to evolve and push forward.

🧠 Reader Q&A

Q: “Why do all your recipes call for Kosher salt specifically?” — Peyton H.

A: Kosher salt has a number of benefits over table salt that make it a favorite of chefs and home cooks alike.

First, its larger crystals make it easier to pick up and sprinkle, allowing for more precise seasoning. These also make it easier to see and control how much salt is being added to a dish, unlike fine table salt which disappears into food.

Second, the lack of additives makes it a purer form of salt, allowing the natural flavor of the food to shine through. Table salt often has added iodine, which can have slight bitter or off flavors.

Recommendation: Diamond Crystal and Morton’s Kosher salt are great for everyday use and widely available. Pick a brand a learn to season to taste by hand (through feel, sight, and trial and error).

Warning: Every kind of salt has a different level of saltiness, mostly due to how compact or dense the salt crystals are. For example, Morton’s is about twice as salty as Diamond Crystal by volume. Keep this in mind if switching between salt types. When baking, weigh out your salt in grams instead of using a volumetric measurement (like tablespoons).

🏆 Dinner Winner! Reader Photo Submission of the Week

This week’s dinner winner is Jake S, who made congee topped with meat & vegetables. Beautiful presentation, Jake!

Reply with a picture of the best meal you made this week for a chance to be featured in a future email.

🍽 More Yummy Content

A Read: The New Yorker’s Samin Nosrat Interview​

In a Minute or Less: Make Roasted Garlic the Easy Way​

What We’re Watching: The Taco Chronicles (Netflix)

Food Science: Can Ice Cream be Low Cal?​

Upgrade Your Feeds: Connect with Ethan everywhere​

Ready to shop? 🛒

​✅ Shopping List 4/2