Back in November, my friends and I went to the Poconos for a weekend, sharing a house next to a near-frozen lake. It was to jointly celebrate two friends’ birthdays, which was honestly a brilliant idea. These are friends from my last job, where we bonded over stress and shitty hours (lol, remember when I worked overnights? I don’t recommend it); I love them all dearly, and obviously volunteered myself to cook a meal.
The day we were to leave, the 2019 Joy of Cooking arrived in the mail. I was originally thinking about bringing a Julia Turshen book, or maybe Smitten Kitchen; something, anything, that wasn’t so enormous and heavy. My girlfriend told me not to bring it. My brain told me not to bring it. My heart, and my friends in a cooking Facebook group that I mod (hi!), told me to just do it, and I did, and I had no regrets. I mean, aside from its weight. It’s a delight, a beautiful new addition to the Joy of Cooking catalogue; the recipes I recognized felt like old friends, and the ones I didn’t, new journeys in food.
I love the Joy of Cooking books. My parents have a battered copy, I think of the 6th or 7th edition. When I was younger, my dad would make drop biscuits out of it on weekends. Some were plain; others were topped with cinnamon and sugar, or chocolate chips, or cheese. I liked to help because it gave me an excuse to eat raw biscuit dough. I also liked the part where we added the liquid ingredients. When my dad showed me for the first time how if you pour oil into a measuring cup and then add milk, the oil will float back up to the top, I felt like I was seeing something magical. It was my favorite task, and something that still feels a little bit wondrous to me.
Eventually, I took over the biscuit making. (He said it was because I made them better; I suspect it was out of sheer laziness. Sorry, Dad.) I got to know the recipe so well that I didn’t have to consult Joy of Cooking anymore, but that didn’t stop me from buying a copy of the 2006 edition when I moved into my own apartment and decided I wanted to properly learn to cook for myself. I could always bake, and while baking is time-consuming, it’s easily shared. I believe it is generally advised that women try not to become the office baker, because of the gendered optics, but it’s really hard to resist. I love to feed people, and when I lived by myself, I would get bored quickly of whatever I had made. The solution was to bring it to work and give it to my coworkers. All that is to say that I had nothing to prove in the Poconos, but I wanted to make my friends happy, and I wanted to take on the challenge of cooking for more people than just myself and my girlfriend. This is what I made.
a wedge of cheese (well, ice)
Mashed potato casserole
Adapted from Joy of Cooking (2019)
Serves 18 or more, depending on how you portion it out
The basket
6 lbs potatoes (approx. 18 medium potatoes), peeled and cut into large chunks
1.5 cups heavy cream or milk
20 tbsp butter
2 tsp salt
1.25 tsp black pepper
8 oz grated cheddar (or more! I did more)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
The path
Preheat oven to 375°F and generously butter a 13x9x2 baking dish.
Cover potatoes in a pot with a few inches of cold water, and add 1/2 tsp salt for every quart. (Or, if you’re me, just throw a few pinches in there.) Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender enough to be smoothly pierced by a paring knife. This will take about 15 minutes. Drain and rinse off any excess starch.
Combine heavy cream, 18 tbsp butter, 1.5 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp pepper in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Do not bring to a boil; just heat gently.
Put potatoes back in the pot they were cooked in and shake it over medium heat until the potatoes are dry and mealy. Mash them and fold the cream and 6 oz cheddar into the potatoes, stirring until just combined. Taste for seasoning and add more if you need. Pour the potatoes into the baking dish, spreading evenly.
In a small bowl, combine 2 oz cheddar, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle this over the potatoes, then dot the top with 2 tbsp butter cut into small pieces.
Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. If you have leftovers somehow, for breakfast the next day add an egg or two (depending on how much is left), then form into small cakes and pan-fry.
Jerusalem bagel dogs
Adapted from Molly Yeh, Molly on the Range
Makes 16
The basket
4 cups bread flour, plus extra for dusting
2 packets active dry yeast
1.5 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
4 tbsp olive oil
16 precooked hot dogs or veggie dogs (we used chicken hot dogs, beef hot dogs, and vegan Field Roast sausages)
2 large egg yolks beaten with 2 tbsp water, for egg wash
Molly also calls for toasted sesame seeds and za’atar but whoops, we did not have them.
The path
Stir together flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, combine water, milk, and olive oil, then add to dry ingredients. Knead by hand on a lightly floured surface (or a stand mixer on medium speed, if you have one) until smooth, about 7-10 minutes. Place dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it doubles in size.
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide dough into 16 equal parts. One at a time, roll out a “long, skinny snake” and wrap it firmly around a hot dog. Roll it back and forth once or twice to make sure the dough coils stick together, then place on baking sheet. Repeat, spacing the hot dogs out by 1.5 inches, until done. Let rise for 30 minutes, then brush with the egg wash and sprinkle on whatever toppings you want.
Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Mulled red wine
Adapted from Joy of Cooking (2019)
Serves 12 or more
The basket
Four 750ml bottles of dry red wine
6 cinnamon sticks
10 whole cloves
8 allspice berries
Zest of 2 oranges, in wide strips
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (to taste)
The path
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes. Pour into warm mugs, add a cinnamon stick or strip of zest to each, and serve.
If making everything in this post for one meal: start with the bagel dog dough, then get to work peeling the potatoes. By the time you’re ready to put the mashed potato casserole in the oven, it should be time to put the bagel dogs on their second rise. When the casserole comes out, lower the oven temperature and put the bagel dogs in. Start the mulled wine around this time; it’ll be done a little bit after everything else, but the hot dogs can cool enough to eat, and the casserole will hold heat if you just cover it with tinfoil. Enjoy!