New Year’s Resolutions are the worst. Really, they are! As my colleague, Sarah Jampel, pointed out “45% of Americans usually make New Year's Resolutions, but only 8% succeed.” Ugh, I know. It seems we’re doomed for failure.
There are some resolutions, however, that are easier to keep than others: cooking resolutions. You don’t have to go to the gym (“I’m going to exercise every day”) or hyper-organize your life (“I’d like to color coordinate my closet”), but eating is essential. And cooking’s just about more fun than most any other resolution out there.
Here’s what a few of us at Food52 resolve to do in 2017:
Sarah: I'd love to tackle some of my dry goods—kamut, Indian butter beans, matcha powder, glutinous rice flour—that have been hanging out in my pantry for quite some time now. The goal is to stop hoarding and start using.
Nina: I want to master all the ways you can cut an onion!
Lily: I resolve to actually use the food I buy, and get better at finding ways to make it last through the week. If I buy three lettuces at the farmer’s market on Saturday, I cannot throw two out on Friday, soggy and sad.
Hannah: Cook one new recipe a week out of a cookbook. I tend to make the same things over and over again and am convinced the reason my mother is such a good cook is because she is always trying new recipes from her huge cookbook collection! I have so many cookbooks, but never cook out of them and this is a great way to start. One a week isn't that daunting (fingers crossed...).
Olivia: 1. Stop eating popcorn for dinner. 2. Host more dinner parties where I let the perfectionism go and embrace an easier route—so I'm not stooped over the stove the entire time. (Repeating to myself: More complicated is not always better!)
Lindsay-Jean: I want to make more recipes out of my cookbooks. I just got some for my birthday (and I have a feeling I'll be getting more for Christmas) and want to be better about cracking open a book in the kitchen instead of my laptop.
Natalia: Host more dinner parties!
Merrill: In no particular order: Cook more with Clara (my nearly-five-year-old). Cook more dishes outside of the European/Mediterranean realm so my kids start to become accustomed to a wider variety of flavors and ingredients. Too often I default to what's familiar. Bake more. Do a major cookbook purge, Marie Kondo-style!
Emily: I want to live A New Way to Dinner! The plan is to outsource to my husband because he loves Sunday meal prep.
Amanda Hesser: I want to get better at cooking rice, so that I can move beyond the soggy lump I often end up with. I used to blame by pan, but that's no longer a worthy excuse.
Kenzi: I still haven't taught myself how to make a classic omelet. I'm telling myself it's because my preferred egg incarnation is an egg and cheese, but it's likely because the fold intimidates me. I'd like to learn this year.
Now, tell us, what is your New Year’s cooking resolution?
Written by: Riddley Gemperlein-Schirm
Popular on Food52
18 Comments
See what other Food52 readers are saying.