Pie

What Dorie Greenspan Makes When She's Got a Case of "The Yucks"

June  6, 2017

We're asking writers, chefs, and other people who we admire for the recipe they make when they're not feeling their best (interpret that as you will). This week, we asked Dorie Greenspan, author, most recently, of Dorie's Cookies. (Catch Julia Turshen's feel-better meal here.)

I’ve got such a long list of things I make when I’m feeling yucky—does this mean that I’m not as cheerful as I thought I was? Oh no!

For years, the yucks would send me to the stove to make rice (long grain, cooked in broth, sometimes with a few cardamom pods tossed in), which I’d eat at every temperature and sometimes with raisins and sunflower seeds.

Then there were the roast chicken years. Somehow, knowing that I could roast a chicken made me feel really good—it was more about the romantic idea of chicken-comfort than the chicken itself, although I did love making something I could pick at all week.

Shop the Story

These days, I make a tart, the perfect life-will-be-better project. With a tart, the process is as rewarding as the dessert is satisfying. And, since I work at home, I can make the tart in stages—better for the tart, better for me—and stretch out the pleasure.

Also, given the choice before between tart and chicken, I’ll always take tart. (Why did it take me so long to admit this?)

What's your therapeutic cooking or baking project of choice? Tell us in the comments.

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • caroberts77
    caroberts77
  • Nicole S. Urdang
    Nicole S. Urdang
  • Cassandra Brecht
    Cassandra Brecht
With the publication her 14th book, Baking with Dorie, New York Times bestselling author Dorie Greenspan marks her thirtieth anniversary as a cookbook author. She has won five James Beard Awards for her cookbooks and journalism and was inducted into the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. A columnist for the New York Times Magazine and the author of the xoxoDorie newsletter on Bulletin, Dorie was recently awarded an Order of Agricultural Merit from the French government for her outstanding writing on the foods of that country. She lives in New York City, Westbrook, Connecticut, and Paris. You can find Dorie on Instagram, Facebook, Bulletin and her website,

3 Comments

caroberts77 July 19, 2017
Cookies or loaf cakes, those are my go to 'I'm having a bad day and need to control/create something' bakes. A good roast chicken is always nice, though.
 
Nicole S. June 11, 2017
I temper chocolate for both gustatory and emotional reasons. It gives me a creative outlet, takes very little time, can feel quite meditative, and I end up with something delicious.
It you want inspiration on which chocolates to temper check out Chocolate Ratings.
 
Cassandra B. June 7, 2017
I love Doria Greenspan. And I completely second her motion to make a pot of rice or a roast chicken to dispel the "yucks" . . . serious comfort foods, those are.