Good morning. We had a reader submit a great Q/A about how to keep food warm for serving when hosting a crowd.

We provide our tip and thoughts below for you to keep in mind as you plan your upcoming holiday menus!

TECHNIQUE BREAKDOWN🤯

Mastering pasta with 6 concepts

Why is restaurant pasta often so much better than homemade?

• It turns out there are 6 cooking fundaments that show up over and over in most amazing pasta dishes, but home cooks don’t really take advantage of.

Next time you cook pasta, follow the “pasta chef” framework:

1/6 Layering salt

• Use salted boiling water, season your sauce correctly, and make sure to add salty garnishes like grated cheese.

2/6 Layering fat

• Fat enhances both flavor and texture, and a good pasta dish incorporates it in the: 1) Aromatic Base (oil or butter) 2) Sauce (meats, cream, oils) 3) Final Garnish (like cheese or EVOO)

3/6 Controlling sauce consistency

• You don’t want something to be oily or too thin — sauces should be properly reduced, emulsified, or tossed with the pasta so it clings to each noodle.

• Never just add sauce to drained paste directly on the plate

4/6 Choosing the right pasta

• Go for a bronze cut instead of the smooth Teflon die extruded pasta for better texture and flavor. You can tell by looking at the color and smoothness of pasta, but the package will also say.

5/6 Ingredient quality matters

• Splurge where you can. Good Extra Virgin olive oil or San Marzano tomatoes come to mind.

6/6 Plating like a pro (you eat with your eyes)

• Sauce and shape the pasta into a tight bundle, then add extra sauce, fat, or reserved meat over top. Garnish for contrast & freshness w/ cheese or herbs, respectively.

RECIPE RECOMMENDATIONS ✅

Our best pastas…

Here’s our go-to pasta dishes, which are perfect for you to practice some of these principles on to level them up:

FOOD TRENDS 🚀

Bruschetta boards

Can these bready bites save you this holiday season?

If you’re looking for an easy snack to host or bring over to a holiday party, look no further than bruschetta — slices of bread topped with punchy or fresh ingredients.

Traditionally, the Italian antipasto is topped with fresh tomatoes and olive oil. But since most of us don’t have access to ripe tomatoes this time of year, we’re giving you the freedom to interpret the appetizer with whatever seasonal ingredients you have around.

Restaurants do this all the time — we’ve been seeing inventive bruschetta samplers on menus with jams, fruits, cured meats, and pickled ingredients alike.

• Popular American chain restaurant Postino let’s patrons choose 4 different kinds of curated bruschetta options, which come served on a board for the table to share.

If you want to do the same, last year we covered a guiding framework to make your own. The summary is to layer creamy, sweet, salty/funky ingredients, then garnish with herbs or oils.

Let us know with a reply — do you have accessible appetizers for hosting or bringing to holiday parties? We’ll report back with the best replies.

READER Q&A 🧠

How to keep food warm 🔥

Answer: Serving temperature is huge! Way more important than people realize, often why restaurant food is better than at home.

• Because most of us don’t have plate warmers, industrial heat lamps, catering equipment, or a staff of line cooks to fire our food right before it hits the table, home items often finish at different times and fall to room temp, or worse, get cold.

So how can you mitigate this and serve guests food at the right temp?

• Prep as many things as possible ahead of time — and focus on warming them up or finishing for serving. (Keep things in the oven on a low temp, wrap things in foil to help maintain the heat, or pop them back on the stove before guests arrive — sealed containers stay warm much longer than open vessels).

• Remember, thermal mass is your friend: cook food in a thick-walled cast iron or Dutch oven and bring it all to the table on a trivet right off the stove.

• Right before serving, pop a stack of dinner plates for your guests into the microwave for a couple of minutes at a time until warmed through. You’d be surprised at how much of a difference warmed plates can make in your food and eating experience.

If that all sounds like a lot of effort, it is. If you want to work smarter, not harder, our rec is to plan sides or dishes that can be served cold or at room temp, which will contrast nicely against one main dish that can be brought out piping hot!

Have a culinary question? Reply to send it in for a chance to be featured and get your question answered.

WINNING READER SUBMISSION 🏆

A respectable ribeye

This week’s winner is Jefferson U., who made ribeye with roasted beets, mashed potatoes, and Bearnaise sauce. Perfect edge-to-edge pink cook on the steak.

Reply with your best home-cooked food photos for a chance to win & be featured!

EXTRA HELPINGS 🍽️

A read: Three Decades of Serving the First Family

In a minute or less: One of NYC's Viral Pizza Restaurants

What we’re watching: Melissa Clark Ice Cream Two Ways

Food science: Food reactions 101: emulsification

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