2021
A Year-Long Cooking Adventure Jill Blaeser
2021 A Year-Long Cooking Adventure Jill Blaeser
WHAT DID YOU MAKE?
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE?
HOW HARD WAS IT?
WHAT’S IN IT?
HOW’D YOU MAKE IT?
HOW WAS IT?
Hello! Congratulations on your purchase or gift reception of this book! In the pages that follow, you’ll find 52 cooking themes that will challenge you to cook something new every week. We all get a little burned out in the kitchen; that’s what I’m here to help you with. Here’s what you’re going to do: 1. At the beginning of each week (or before if you’re a good little planner), read the lovingly crafted, charming and witty theme page. 2. Put on your thinking cap (or your Googling cap) and come up with something delicious to cook that satisfies the theme. If you’re having a tough time coming up with something, you’ll find om some weekly inspiration on theonceaweekchef.com. 3. If you already have the most well-stocked kitchen, skip to step 4. If not, you probably have to go to the grocery store now. 4. Cook that food! 5. Take a picture of that food! 6. Eat that food! 7. Write down the recipe that you made on the reverse of the theme page. Yes, pick up a pen and write it down. It won’t hurt you. Your grandma had to write her recipes uphill both ways in the snow, so you can do it on this nicely provided page. If you need more space, there are extra pages in the back that you can move to the appropriate spot. If you’re not sure how to go about filling it out, look over there for an example. Sidenote: this recipe is amazing and you should probably make it during week 39.
8. Write the name of your dish on the schedule page (pages 4-7) so you can reflect on your glory and find that killer stir fry recipe you made 5 years ago for that weird cooking challenge thing you did. 8. If you’re the social media savvy type, post your photo to Instagram using the hashtag #theonceaweekchef (down there if ever you forget). Your dish will be featured on theonceaweekchef.com and you can see what other people made for the week. 9. Lather, rinse, repeat for the next 51 weeks. Don’t stress out if you miss a week. This shouldn’t be another chore you have to complete in the monotony of life. It’s supposed to be fun!
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SCHEDULE WEEK 1, 1/1-1/7: Used to Dislike
9
WEEK 2, 1/8-1/14: Vegan
11
WEEK 3, 1/15-1/21: Spicy
13
WEEK 4, 1/22-1/28: Fusion
15
WEEK 5, 1/29-2/4: Crunchy
17
WEEK 6, 2/5-2/11: Hot Dish
19
WEEK 7, 2/12-2/18: Chocolate
21
WEEK 8, 2/19-2/25: Caribbean
23
WEEK 9, 2/26-3/4: Movie, Book, or TV Inspired
25
WEEK 10, 3/5-3/11: At Home Takeout
27
WEEK 11, 3/12-3/18: Irish
29
WEEK 12, 3/19-3/25: Eggs
31
WEEK 13, 3/26-4/1: Matzah
33
WEEK 14, 4/2-4/8: Caramelized
35
WEEK 15, 4/9-4/15: Sandwiches
37
WEEK 16, 4/16-4/22: Dim Sum
39
WEEK 17, 4/23-4/29: Copycat Recipes
41
WEEK 18, 4/30-5/6: Tex-Mex
43
WEEK 19, 5/7-5/13: Knifework
45
WEEK 20, 5/14-5/20: Noodles
47
WEEK 21, 5/21-5/27: Mystery Ingredient
49
WEEK 22, 5/28-6/3: Your Heritage
51
WEEK 23, 6/4-6/10: Street Food
53
WEEK 24, 6/11-6/17: Filipino
55
WEEK 25, 6/18-6/24: Marinated
57
WEEK 26, 6/25-7/1: Finger Foods
59
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SCHEDULE WEEK 27, 7/2-7/8: Picnic
61
WEEK 28, 7/9-7/15: Inspired by a Color
63
WEEK 29, 7/16-7/22: Southern
65
WEEK 30, 7/23-7/29: Salad
67
WEEK 31, 7/30-8/5: Garlic
69
WEEK 32, 8/6-8/12: Corn
71
WEEK 33, 8/13-8/19: Local Ingredients
73
WEEK 34, 8/20-8/26: Pickled
75
WEEK 35, 8/27-9/2: On a Stick
77
WEEK 36, 9/3-9/9: Burgers
79
WEEK 37, 9/10-9/16: Julia Child
81
WEEK 38, 9/17-9/23: Honey
83
WEEK 39, 9/24-9/30: Chickpeas
85
WEEK 40, 10/1-10/7: Japanese
87
WEEK 41, 10/8-10/14: Breakfast
89
WEEK 42, 10/15-10/21: Deep Fried
91
WEEK 43, 10/22-10/28: Potatoes
93
WEEK 44, 10/29-11/4: Squash
95
WEEK 45, 11/5-11/11: Gordon Ramsay
97
WEEK 46, 11/12-11/18: Soup
99
WEEK 47, 11/19-11/25: Cranberries
101
WEEK 48, 11/26-12/2: Leftovers
103
WEEK 49, 12/3-12/9: $10 or Less
105
WEEK 50, 12/10-12/16: Stuffed
107
WEEK 51, 12/17-12/23: Pies
109
WEEK 52, 12/24-12/31: Fancy Ingredient
111
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WEEK 1: Used to Dislike New year, new you! Kick off 2021 by giving a food you used to dislike a second chance. While the popular belief that taste buds change every 7 years isn’t exactly true (they actually change every 2 weeks individually, and are fully replaced in 7 years), they do dull as we age. That’s why children often hate the strong flavors of coffee, green vegetables, and seafood and can’t tolerate spicy food, but these foods often become favorites when we’re older. This week’s challenge is January 1 through January 7. Give that eggplant you always hated another try or come up with a way to make that funky cheese more palatable. You never know what you might like now that you’re older and wiser and (hopefully) a better cook. But not olives. Olives will always be salty, rancid orbs of filth that tarnish everything they touch. I will not be swayed.
Week pillae on e h t f Fact on have extra paa tastebuds. d e k i l s Di extr pulatio
po ten ave they h s and are of of the s % n 5 a 2 e m ter g Roughly gues, which pertas e stron g on u v s a d h n e o ll d t atin s an e ca their picky e ople ar strong flavor r e u p o y e s The e to Blame sensitiv rtain foods. a r t x e e ns to c aversio tra papillae! ex those
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WHAT DID YOU MAKE?
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WEEK 2: Vegan For those of you still desperately clinging to your healthy eating New Year’s resolution, we’re not here to lead you astray. This may be more of a struggle for some of you who love your meats and cheeses, but it’s easier than ever to be plant-based these days. If you’re not sure where to begin, why not try adapting your favorite non-vegan meal to something free of animal products? Substitutions abound! Vegan week is January 8 through January 14. Don’t be afraid to try some ingredients you’ve never tried or even heard of before. The tofu isn’t scary. It really can taste like chicken if you just close your eyes and use your imagination a little.
Vegan Fact of the Week
Famous vegans include Benedict Cumberbatch, Zac Efron, Beyoncé, Bill Clinton, Natalie Portman, Madonna, James Cameron, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michelle Pfieffer. So maybe if you stick with this, you can finally start being a little more like Bey and a little less like that other one who decided she didn’t want to be one of destiny’s children anymore before they hit it big.
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WEEK 3: Spicy This is a broad category, but most likely involves traveling outside of our fair nation (or at least the midwestern part of it) where heartier palates prevail. You might be thinking Mexican, Thai, Indian, or Chinese cuisines for this week, but the opportunities are endless! Peppers will probably be your go-to, but don’t forget about things like ginger, horseradish, and wasabi that can also add a spicy zing to a dish if used correctly. Spicy week is January 15 through 21. It’s cold outside, so now’s the time to set your mouth afire, but don’t get too crazy and make your food painful to eat. And always remember to wash your hands after you touch the spicy.
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WEEK 4: Fusion The world is full of an absolutely delectable variety of cuisines. How cruel it would be to make you choose just one when you can mash two of them together into some sort of glorious franken-dish (Frankenstein was the chef, not the dish!). Put some ramen on a burger, put some sushi in a burrito, put some Korean BBQ on a pizza! You have from January 22 to January 28 to fuse your favorite culinary traditions. This is a chance to exercise that creative muscle in your noggin’, so have fun with this one!
Fusion Fa ct of th The wo r e
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WEEK 5: Crunchy The difference between crispy and crunchy is hotly contested (it probably isn’t) in culinary circles. Crunchy refers specifically to the sound the food makes when bitten into, while crispy refers to a rigid texture that cracks easily when eating. Most crispy foods might also be described as crunchy, but not all crunchy foods are crispy. Remember that for your SATs. Crunchy week is January 29 through February 4. Try a lovely salad of crunchy cruciferouses, some homemade granola (you crunchy hippy), or whip out that deep fryer and get your unhealthy crunch on. Just as long as it has that satisfying sound!
Crunchy Fact of the Week
In 2003, a researcher named Charles Spence conducted a test in which he had participants eat Pringles into a microphone and played the audio feedback into their headphones. He adjusted the volume of their crunching for different containers of Pringles, then asked the participants if they thought some containers to be fresher than others. The containers which had their crunching amplified were perceived to be fresher by the participants than those whose crunch was dulled.
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WEEK 6: Hotdish Call it “casserole” if you’re one of those coastal elites, but in the heart of America, that one-dish mess of meat, vegetables, and canned soup is called a hotdish. We can’t gather in the hotdish’s natural habitat of potlucks and church basement suppers right now, but this hearty comfort food and its leftovers can keep you warm for most of the week. This week’s theme runs from February 5 through February 11, so think hard about what you can put together beneath that layer of crispy tots.
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WEEK 7: Chocolate We all know Valentine’s Day is a bit of a commercial sham of a holiday, but any opportunity to indulge in some extra chocolate is a welcome one. By far the most romantic of the foods, chocolate can be used in many a decadent dish. You may gravitate towards the sweet desserts, but don’t sleep on a savory mole, an unsweetened chocolate-infused stew, or a cocoa-based meat rub. Chocolate week is February 12 through February 18. Americans buy 58 million pounds of chocolate in the week preceding Valentine’s Day, so fingers crossed that you can still find some. But 43% of people are buying it for themselves, so at least you won’t be alone in treating yourself this year.
Choco
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WEEK 8: Caribbean This is what we refer to as “the dead of winter”, so you’re headed on a pleasantly tropical vacation to your kitchen this week! Caribbean cuisine is made up of a wide range of influences from the world over, predominantly India, Africa, and Latin America. The countries of Caribbean take that influence in quite a few different directions. You can go with the flavors of the islands like Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados, or stick with the more Latin-inspired dishes of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the coastal regions of Colombia, Venezuela, and Central America. Popular ingredients you might turn to include jerk seasoning, coconut, papaya, rice, beans (which they call peas? But also call peas peas? So be sure you’re using the right peas), plantains, and sweet potatoes. Caribbean week will be February 19 through February 25. Turn on some steel drum music, make yourself a fruity frozen cocktail (preferably with an umbrella), and forget you’re in the cold, dark tundra for a few hours.
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WEEK 9: Movie, Book, or TV Inspired This week, we take to the picture show for inspiration (or the page, or the small picture show). So many of our favorite stories are brought to life with their rich written descriptions and visual depictions of food. We all have a formative memory of a literary culinary experience, whether that be a teacher explaining what Turkish Delight was while reading the Chronicles of Narnia, mixing up your own butterbeer after reading Harry Potter, or even the cafeteria serving a horrifying rendition of green eggs and ham once a month. If you want to head to the big screen, there are plenty of movies exclusively devoted to food. Focus on the eat in Eat, Pray, Love; see if you can cook Ratatouille better than a rat; or whip up some wild dessert creation from the mind of Willy Wonka. This week’s theme will be February 26 through March 4. Search your bookshelf or your DVD rack (do people still have DVDs?) for an inspiring food scene to recreate. Bonus points if you enjoy your dish while reading or watching its companion piece.
Movie Food Fact of the Week
By the third Harry Potter Film, the wardrobe department was forced to sew the pockets of everyone’s robes shut due to Tom Felton’s (Draco Malfoy) habit of sneaking food out of the extravagant Great Hall scenes in his robes.
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WEEK 10: At Home Takeout Chinese food might be your gut reaction when it comes to takeout, and while it may be the food most associated with takeout thanks to its containers masquerading as plates, designed to maximize takeout convenience, really no food is off-limits here. Thanks to multiple delivery services and a never-ending quarantine, technically every food has become takeout food, but might I suggest some of the other classics: Thai, Pizza, Indian, Sushi. And remember, just because you can get a food as takeout, doesn’t mean you should. Some things objectively do not travel well. Fish and chips? Soggy. Saucy sandwiches? Soggy. Nachos? Soggy. Eggs? Cold. Rubbery. Ice cream? Warm. Soupy. At Home Takeout week is March 5 through March 11. While it may be more work than pulling up the DoorDash app, just think of the reward of finally getting to try that favorite takeout dish hot from the pan, the way it was meant to be eaten!
Takeout Fact of the Week
Takeout dates all the way back to Ancient Rome and Greece. Archaeologists have found thermopolia, which were service counters opening onto the street providing food for take away, in many ancient cities. Over 200 have been found in the ruins of Pompeii.
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WEEK 11: Irish When mid-March rolls around, suddenly everyone has a little bit of Irish in them. This week is your opportunity to prove you’re a true Irelander (or at least a dedicated pretender) with a dish from the homeland. The Irish don’t have quite the bad food stigma of their neighbors of the British Isles, but you might need to break with tradition if you’re hoping for a flavor explosion this week. You’re in for hearty stews, soda bread, and, of course, no Irish meal would be complete without some potatoes. Irish week is March 12 through March 18. Pour yourself a tall glass of green beer (or an Irish whiskey if it’s 5:00 somewhere), put on your green socks, probably don’t put green food coloring in your dish.
Irish Fact of the Week
Corned beef and cabbage is not actually a traditional Irish dish. Farmers in Ireland who raised beef were typically under contract to wealthy English owners and were forced to send most of the commodity to England. It wasn’t until Irish immigrants moved to the northeastern United States and replaced the more typical pork with beef that corned beef became synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day.
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WEEK 12: Eggs This week’s ingredient notoriously has at least 100 different preparations: the egg! This is of course a versatile ingredient and can be incorporated in an almost endless number of recipes, but the egg should be your star performer this week. You can focus on truly mastering a simple egg dish like the poached egg or the omelette, be a little more adventurous with a dish heavily featuring egg like a quiche, breakfast burrito, or a sandwich topped with a fried egg, or try something sweet like a meringue, an egg custard, or the temperamental chocolate soufflé. Egg week is March 19 through March 25. The ability to cook eggs well is a benchmark for culinary skills, so get crackin’ on your way to chef mastery.
Week e h t f o t c a F Egg e of great sourc
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WEEK 13: Matzah Passover begins this week, and even if you’re not Jewish, it’s the perfect time to enjoy Matzah, an unleavened bread being eaten as part of seder celebrations all over the world this week. You can buy the matzah to feature in your recipe if you want, but it traditionally only has 2 ingredients if you want to give it a shot yourself. You can use the cracker-like matzah to build a sandwich, as a layer in dessert, or even as a replacement for noodles in a lasagna. Matzah meal gives you even more options as the staple in matzah ball soups, latkes, and matzah cakes. This week’s challenge is March 26 through April 1. If you want to keep with Jewish custom, enjoy your Matzah after sundown on the 27th or 28th when the first and second Passover seders are held.
e Week h t f o t c a Matzah F made in 18 minutesah.
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WEEK 14: Caramelized This week you’ll be bringing out the sweet, nutty flavors of your food by caramelizing it. This is a chemical process where the heating of sugar causes browning and the release of chemicals that lead to the signature caramel taste. Science aside, it’s a delicious thing to do to your food. While a good caramel sauce is a worthy opponent for the week, you can really caramelize anything with a relatively high carbohydrate content, from onions to bananas and most of the fruits and veggies in between. This week’s challenge goes from April 2 to April 8. Go ruin a pan or two with ooey gooey caramelization!
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WEEK 15: Sandwiches The world’s best portable meal is up this week in the sandwich! We all know them. We all love them. Bread (or perhaps something just bread-like?) around some kind of filling. Seems simple, but depending on who you ask or what state you live in, it can be quite controversial. New York, for example, legally considers a burrito a sandwich, while a Massachusetts court ruled it must contain two pieces of bread. We’re not here to judge you if you want to call your pizza an open-faced Italian sandwich (but the Internet might be), so get creative. Sandwich week is April 9 through April 15. While the definition of sandwich may be open to interpretation, the delicious factor of sandwich entry can not be. The sandwich is a treasure and must be done justice.
Sa
ndwic Iran onc e tried t h Fact of th e os for the largest s et the Guinnes Week s andwich it before , but peo World Record it could p le officially can blam started be ea e person a them? Put a sa measured. And ting ndwich in w nd they’r e going front of ho to eat it a !
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WEEK 16: Dim Sum Dim sum is like the Cantonese version of brunch with a hint of high tea thrown in. Traditionally this is a social meal consisting of many different bite-sized morsels to be shared among friends, much like the Spanish tapas. Among the carts of a dim sum restaurant you’ll find a wide variety of dumplings, steamed buns, spring rolls, small cakes, and custard tarts. It pays to be an adventurous eater if you’re trying this meal at a restaurant, but at home you can tailor your selection to your own palette. Dim Sum week is April 16 through April 22. Gather a few friends or family members, make a dish or four of small bites and let the jasmine tea flow freely!
Dim Sum Fact of the Week
Dim sum is the Cantonese word for the small bites themselves and translates to “touch the heart.” The meal itself is called yum cha, which means “drinking tea.”
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WEEK 17: Copycat Recipe Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and this week is your chance to flatter your favorite restaurant. Your challenge is to recreate a recipe that’s famous in some regard. This could be something from a national chain, a local restaurant known for a certain dish, or even a supermarket brand. Have you moved away and crave that In-N-Out Burger? Did you forget to stop by McDonalds during McRib season? Love Girl Scout Cookies but have a phobia of small children in uniform? Developed an allergy and miss your old favorites? Now’s your chance to indulge. Copycat week is April 23 through April 29. Check that Pinterest board you’ve been keeping of Olive Garden soups and Red Lobster biscuits and pick out something for your original copy!
Copyca
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WEEK 18: Tex-Mex This week wraps up with Cinco de Mayo, an Americanized celebration of a minor Mexican holiday, so what better time to try out Tex-Mex cooking, an Americanized version of traditional Mexican foods. Tex-Mex typically uses more cheese than Mexican food does (of course, this is America!) and borrows other spicy flavors like cumin that are found more often in Spanish foods than Mexican. Most of the dishes you love from your local “Mexican” restaurant probably actually fall under the category of TexMex: fajitas, enchiladas, nachos, queso dip, refried beans, and the crunchy taco. Chili is also a much-loved Tex-Mex classic. This week’s challenge is April 30 through May 6. Some may frown upon Tex-Mex as a bastardization of one of the world’s most beloved cuisines, but you should feel no shame in enjoying the flavors of Mexico with extra cheese. Blend yourself up a big ol’ margarita for this week because, remember, everything’s bigger in Texas.
Tex-Mex Fact of the Week
Until the early 1970s, Tex-Mex food was considered Mexican food. It wasn’t until Diana Kennedy made a distinction between the food served in Mexico and the stuff served north of the border in her 1972 cookbook “Cuisines of Mexico” that Tex-Mex became its own category of American cuisine.
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WEEK 19: Knifework A good knife may be the most important tool in the kitchen, and this week it’s time to put your skills to the test. Uniformly cutting your ingredients will make your final dish more visually appealing and help it cook more evenly. Julienne some vegetables and chiffonade some greens to make a beautiful salad, mirepoix some onion, carrot, and celery to serve as a base for a soup, or find yourself a fish to delicately fillet. Knifework week is May 7 through May 13. Watch out for your fingers on this one! Nobody’s getting stitches on my watch!
Kn
If you fin ife Fact of the We d down yo yourself with t ears str ek ur face eaming e maybe it’s abou very time you cut an o t time y knife. A ou sh nion, sh an onion arp knife slices arpened your ’s c and rele cell walls, caus leaner through ing less asing fe damage we leave yo u looking r of the irritan ts The Not like you just wat that ebook f or the 1 c 7th time hed .
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WEEK 20: Noodles The noodle is one of the most celebrated and versatile foods known to humankind. You can find a noodle dish in almost any culture’s cuisine, but you’ve got two obvious directions you can go. The first is an Asian style noodle, like those from Japan, China, Vietnam, or Thailand, that typically feature a wider range of main ingredient, from wheat to rice to mung bean, but are usually handpulled and cooked fresh. Or you can go the Italian way, with many possible shapes of rolled and dried pasta made from the traditional semolina dough. Just don’t spiralize some zucchini and try to call it noodles. I’m sure it’s good enough, but it’s a lie! Noodle week is May 14 to May 20. Put your noodle to noodlin’ and create some noodle magic in the kitchen this week!
Noodle Fact of the Week In China, noodles are symbolic of long life. The longer the noodle, the longer the life! Because of this, uncut noodles are often served for Chinese New Year and at birthday parties in lieu of cake.
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WEEK 21: Mystery Ingredient If the television has taught us anything, it’s that the true mark of a good chef is the ability to cook something delicious using bizarre ingredients in a preposterously short amount of time. This week you’ll be testing yourself on at least part of that challenge by using mystery ingredients. There are three avenues you can go down here: the MasterChef, in which you have 10-12 mystery ingredients and some pantry staples to create a dish; the Iron Chef, in which you have a single mystery ingredient that you must use in multiple courses; or the Chopped, in which you get four mystery ingredients that must all be featured in a single dish with the help of an extensive pantry of other ingredients. Whichever route you take, this week will require some serious creativity. But at least you can take as much time as you want. This challenge will go from May 21 through May 27, so call up a friend and ask them to choose some random ingredients for your dish. Don’t have any friends? Ask a stranger at the grocery store to help you out or use a random ingredient generator from the Internet.
Mystery Ingredient Fact of the Week
You may think that nutrition labels have to list all of the ingredients in a food, but producers can get around this by claiming an ingredient is a “trade secret.” If you see a label that lists “other ingredients,” you can be sure there’s a mystery ingredient in there giving it a unique taste.
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WEEK 22: Your Heritage The goal for this week is to celebrate your culture in some way. You can take this in a few different directions: a recipe traditional among your ancestors, something passed down through generations of your own family, or a well-known recipe from where you grew up. This is a highly individual category, so the best guidance I can offer is to call your mother (I know, I know, you’ve been meaning to) and finally find out what that secret ingredient in her special sauce is. This week’s theme is May 28 through June 3. Dig deep into your personal melting pot and pull out something tasty.
Heritage Fact of the Week
When Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson asked the public to submit recipes for his Nordic cookbook, he received several dozen meatball recipes, handwritten on index cards and promised as treasured family recipes. Nilsson soon discovered that most of these secret meatball recipes were exactly the same. Spurred by this experience, Atlas Obscura informally polled its readers and discovered many of them had a tale of grandparental deceit centered around a secret family recipe that actually came from the side of a box.
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WEEK 23: Street Food This week brings a challenge ripe with opportunity! Street food comes in many forms, depending on where you find yourself in the world, but its hallmarks are affordability, portability, and rapidity. Typically sold at a cart, stall, or food truck, street food is prepared before your eyes, in what can sometimes seem like a performance by the masterful vendors. Whether you want to explore New York’s famous hot dogs, Mexico’s tamale markets, Europe’s love for drunken kebabs, or the rich food market culture of Southeast Asia, you should have no trouble finding something tasty this week. In fact, you might have trouble settling on only one something tasty this week. Street Food week is June 4 through June 10. I really must insist that whatever is made this week be eaten from some kind of paper wrapping whilst walking around outside, otherwise it’s not really street food, now is it?
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WEEK 25: Filipino This group of islands off the coast of Southeast Asia has a uniquely global take on food. Their history of colonization, invasion, and prime trade route location means a lot of cultures have come to visit. Most of their foods try to blend sweet, sour, and salty in one dish and you might find rice, tropical fruits, root vegetables, and seafood (they are an island after all) to be common ingredients. This week’s theme is June 11 through June 17. The Philippines celebrates their independence day this week, so pay them their respect by bringing them into your kitchen.
Filipino Fact of the Week
During Spanish colonization, the concept of “Merienda” was introduced to the Philippines. This is the practice of eating a mid-morning and afternoon snack every day. Most Filipinos eat breakfast early, have a sweet snack around 10:00am, make lunch their main meal, have another afternoon snack, and then a late dinner.
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WEEK 25: Marinated This week you’re playing a bit of a long game with marinating! This is the process of soaking your food in a liquid to tenderize and/or flavor it. The key is to choose a marinade that’s fairly acidic and let your food sit in it for an appropriate amount of time to perfectly break down its tissues enough to let the flavor come inside. This can make a mediocre cut of meat into a delicious one, but you don’t have to stick only to meat. Tofu is a great receptacle for a marinade as are many vegetables and mushrooms. Marinated week is June 18 through June 24. You’re going to need more than half an hour to properly marinate, so plan ahead, get your Tupperware out, and infuse some delicious flavors.
Marinated Fact of the Week
Marinades were originally just salt water used to help preserve meat or fish and impart an extra salty flavor. Sometimes sea water was used, which is where the word marinade comes from: the Latin word for the sea, mare.
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WEEK 26: Finger Food Throw away your forks, for this week we are using only our phalanges (that’s fingers for those who haven’t taken an anatomy class and/or watched 90’s sitcom Friends). Technically, any food can be finger food if you’re dedicated enough, but do try to lean towards the foods traditionally eaten with the hands: little hors d’oeuvres-style small bites, empanadas, tacos, pizza, even an ice cream cone! It’s all good as long as you’re getting your hands dirty (wash them thoroughly first, of course). Finger Food week is June 25 through July 1. Whatever you make this week, we expect you’re going to need to also stock up on napkins while you make your grocery run, especially if you decide to challenge yourself to finger food soup.
Finger Food Fact of the Week
Finger foods came to popularity during Prohibition when speakeasies provided their patrons with bite-sized snacks to keep them drinking and dancing all night. Their miniature nature allowed people to carry food in one hand and a drink in the other as they socialized.
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WEEK 27: Picnic Time for a pic-a-nic, Yogi! It’s the peak of summer, which means you should be spending as much time as possible outdoors. That means eating, too! Any food can be picnic food if you pack it up and take it somewhere, but sandwiches, salads, pies, or a nice cheese board might be considered customary. Don’t forget a little birthday treat for America this week. Or do forget it if you want, it’s entirely possible she’s been naughty and doesn’t deserve a party. Picnic week is July 2 through July 8. Put your food in a basket, get yourself a nice red gingham blanket, and settle in somewhere beautiful to enjoy this week’s theme. Watch out for thieving bears, though.
Picnic
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WEEK 28: Inspired by a Color The world is in full bloom, which means there should be plenty of ingredients available for your colorful dish this week. Your challenge is to choose a color, any color, and prepare a dish that in some way exemplifies that color. There’s not much more to say this week. This one’s up to you! This week’s theme runs from July 9 through July 15. Whether you want to prepare an herbaceous dish of greens, a fiery plate of reds, or a stinky assortment of bleus, get out there and taste the rainbow!
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WEEK 29: Southern We’re headed south of the Mason-Dixon Line this week! The South hath given our nation many an unpleasant gift: slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, rednecks, and the occasional grating accent. But you certainly can’t fault them for their food. You’ve got lots of options this week: the classic southern food that mixes Scottish and English influences with African and Native American tradition; one of the state specific outliers: Tex-Mex, Floribbean, Cajun; or BBQ something up in one of the many hotly contested barbecue styles across the region. This week’s theme will be July 16 through July 22, so get in the kitchen and whip up a nice mac and cheese, simmer some greens, bake a sweet potato pie, or chicken fry a piece of shoe leather for all I care!
Southern Food Fact of the Week
The South (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico [what are you doing here, southern imposter??]) produced 5.5 billion pounds of peanuts last year. 60% of those were used to make peanut butter. *You may want to flip ahead to week 34 about now if you want to ensure you’re fully prepared.
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WEEK 30: Salad Salad sometimes gets a bad rap, probably thanks to the hideous bowl of soggy iceberg your mom used to eat when she was back on her diet again (no? just me?), but the salad is so much more than just a lettuce-based dish. The true definition of a salad is any mixture of small pieces of food combined with some kind of sauce or dressing. Lettuce and vegetables in a creamy ranch meet the criteria, but so do potatoes in mayonnaise, raw tuna in soy sauce, and even Jell-o in Cool Whip. Salad week is July 23 through July 29. The peak of fresh ingredients is almost upon most places, so you should have no trouble finding some fresh bits for your salad creations this week. Just make sure you don’t leave that mayonnaise based salad out too long. We can’t have you catching the food poisoning, now can we?
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WEEK 31: Garlic Garlic comes from a family full of flavors, the alliums, yet still manages to be the standout child. Nearly every cuisine in the world uses garlic, with Japan and Scandinavia being the notable exceptions. The sharp and biting flavor of raw garlic or the mellow nuttiness of roasted garlic lends itself well to just about every kind of savory food there is (and really a few sweet ones too. Try some garlic honey and thank me later). Find some way to make whatever garlic flavor you prefer shine this week. Garlic week is July 30 through August 5, so stink it up a little. Without exception, whenever someone asks me what I did to make something taste so good, the answer is always “I put an entire head of garlic in it!” So what if the smell seeps from your pores for the next 4 days? At least you’re happy and smelly. Plus, no vampires!
Garlic Fact of the Week
Garlic has amazing health benefits, including supporting healthy blood pressure, cholesterol, and heart health, as well as serving as an anti-bacteria, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory. Many of these healthy properties come from a chemical called allicin, which is released when garlic is chopped, bruised, or chewed. To get maximum benefit from your garlic, let it sit for 10-15 minutes after chopping it to allow the allicin to develop before cooking.
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WEEK 32: Corn This week you’ll be exploring the world’s largest crop, except for sugarcane, but where are you going to find sugarcane? You’re not. So you’re doing corn. You can always find corn, but this delicious sweet and starchy vegetable should be coming into season, so try to find some of the really fresh stuff for best results. While few foods are more perfect than a simple grilled ear of corn slathered with some butter, you can also make a salad, fritters, pizza, chowder, bread, and even ice cream with it. Corn week is August 6 through August 12. Normally this is where we’d insert some kind of corny joke, but we’ll spare your ears this week (that was bad, huh?) Just get to shuckin’.
Corn Fact of the Week
Some form of corn is present in almost all processed foods. It’s also used in many nonfood items, like fireworks, plastic, fabric, glue, paint, laundry detergent, aspirin, antibiotics, ink, and cosmetics. Stick to food this week and save the rest for your Once a Week Chemist book (coming soon to stores near you).
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WEEK 33: Local Ingredients Chances are good that if you live in the northern half of the world, your local markets are just about bursting with fresh local ingredients right about now. Find out what’s in season near you and plan a dish of beautiful, just harvested foods. Your other option, if you live somewhere still stuck in the doldrums of late winter, is to utilize an ingredient that is unique to your area. For example, many states have their own version of a horrible cured pork loaf conglomerate: goetta in Ohio, pork roll in New Jersey, scrapple in Pennsylvania, boudin in Louisiana. So if you’d rather use that than some immaculate heirloom tomatoes grown 5 miles away from where you live, that’s your prerogative. This week’s theme will run August 13 through August 19. Embrace the locavore movement this week. Ask your farmer’s market vendor questions about what you’re buying and find out why local foods are better in all ways.
Local Ingredient Fact of the Week
Apples have a relatively short harvest season, but a massive year-round demand. To meet this demand, apple producers store the fruit in low-oxygen coolers, use a gas that stops natural ethylene production, and apply a protective wax coating to retain moisture. All of these tactics mean that the apples you buy in your grocery store could be up to a year old by the time you buy them. Yes, I also found it very upsetting when I learned this.
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WEEK 34: Pickled I know it’s hard to accept, but summer’s slowly winding its way to a wintry conclusion. In order to make it through, you’ll need to ensure a well-stocked pantry because after the toilet paper crisis of 2020, you can never be too sure which pandemic is going to come along and decimate the pickle population next. Pickling is one of the tastiest ways to stretch the late summer harvest out for a few more months. You can pickle much more than cucumbers, including most veggies, some fruits, eggs, meat, and fish. The key, though, is you should want to still eat it in January, so that probably excludes at least the meat and fish. Pickled week is August 20 through August 26. This one requires some patience as most true pickles take some time to mature, but if you’re bad at delaying gratification, go the quick pickled route this week and then starve through the long barren winter. But don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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WEEK 35: On a Stick In homage to the greatest state fair in the country (don’t with that Texas and Iowa nonsense), look to the Minnesota State Fair’s plethora of foods on a stick for inspiration this week. The stick can transform almost any food into a highly portable snack, but some will lend themselves better. Corn dogs, caramel apples, popsicles, appetizer skewers, and grilled kabobs are all a match made in stick heaven. This week’s theme is August 27 through September 2. The Minnesota State Fair is in full swing all week if you find yourself in the area and in need of some field research on the topic. If not, you’re just going to have to try and recreate the glory on your own.
On a Stick Fact of the Week
In 1905, an eleven year old boy named Frank Epperson accidentally left a glass of water mixed with soda powder outside overnight. In the morning, he discovered it had frozen solid and he happily ate it off the stir stick he’d left in the cup. He started selling the treats to kids in his neighborhood as Epsicles. In 1924, he decided to patent his invention and change its name to the popsicle.
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WEEK 36: Burgers Summer is coming to its unofficial end with Labor Day this week, so take this opportunity to celebrate the last of the quasi-patriotic, grill-based holidays with the most American of foods, the burger. Make yourself the patty of your choice (beef, turkey, bean, a big ol’ mushroom cap!), gather some toppings (lettuce, cheese, tomato, fried egg, pineapple!), and slather on the condiments (ketchup, mustard, guacamole, aioli!). We’re having a barbecue! Burger week is September 3 though September 9. Slip into your all white outfit for the last time this year, fire up the grill, and get flippin’ those patties!
Burger Fact of the Week
The Economist has a measurement of a country’s purchasing power based on how many Big Macs could be bought in that country with $50 USD. It’s called the Big Mac Index.
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WEEK 37: Julia Child You’re going to be getting French this week with the woman who made French cooking accessible to your average American schlub. There should be no shortage of possibilities from one of Julia’s 17 published cookbooks or 22 different TV shows and specials. Just remember, if your recipe doesn’t have butter in it, you have failed. This week’s theme lasts from September 10 to September 16. If Julie Powell managed to cook all 524 recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking for her Julie & Julia blog in a year while her life was falling apart, you can handle one in the next seven days. Just stay away from the aspics chapter because meat jelly will undoubtedly make everything worse.
Julia Child Fact of the Week
In 4 seasons of her show Baking with Julia, she used 753 pounds of butter. She loved butter so much that there’s a butter yellow rose named after her.
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WEEK 38: Honey The bees have busied themselves all summer and the time has come to collect their delicious, delicious barf. Honey is a versatile ingredient for sweetening up sauces and dressings, glazing grilled or roasted meats and vegetables, replacing sugar in your favorite baked goods, or drizzling over just about anything to increase its deliciousness. Honey takes on the flavors of the plant nectar it’s made from, so experiment with a mild clover or a bold buckwheat to fine-tune your dish. Honey week will run from September 17 to September 23rd. The hardest working members of the animal kingdom buzzed their butts off to give you that sweet nectar, so get off yours and into the kitchen!
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WEEK 39: Chickpeas This week is a certain author’s birthday, so you are being forced to cook with what she considers to be the world’s most perfect food: the chickpea! They’re high in protein, zinc, and fiber, low in carbs, calories, and environmental impact, and the most versatile of the legumes. Hummus will spring to mind immediately, but look beyond that and you will see an ocean of falafel, curries, soups, pastas, and salads. You can even bake with chickpea flour or use the liquid in canned chickpeas as a vegan egg replacement! Chickpea week is September 24 to September 30. You probably already have a can of them knocking around in your pantry, so open it up and celebrate my birthday by exploring the true majesty of the chickpea.
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WEEK 40: Japanese Japan is the home of one of the world’s most celebrated culinary traditions. Quite unlike anything else out there, the Japanese take great pride in carefully preparing simple dishes to the highest of standards using fresh and local ingredients. Their mild flavors are bolstered by an array of condiments. A traditional Japanese meal usually includes rice, seafood, and miso, but they are also renowned for their modern culinary inventiveness, so any direction you go can be a success. This week’s theme is October 1 through October 7, so get your chopsticks out (don’t you think it’s really about time that you learned to use them so you can stop asking for a fork when you go for sushi?) and lovingly craft some bites that would make the Japanese proud.
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WEEK 41: Breakfast We hear this is an important one, as far as meals go. At least in the top three. Most people seem to be strongly pro- or antibreakfast food. If you are the former, make yourself a full bacon, eggs, and pancakes feast. If you fall into the latter camp, do some research on traditional breakfast foods around the world. Japan starts the day off with rice, fish, and pickled vegetables. Tunisia’s breakfast of champions is a spiced chickpea stew called lablabi. Russians get a quick morning caviar pick-me-up on their toast. You might just find something that finally turns you into the morning person you’ve always hoped to be. Breakfast week is October 8th through October 14th. Put a little extra thought into what fuels your day this week and try something new to break your fast.
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WEEK 42: Deep Fried The first rule of food is that if it tastes good on its own, it will definitely taste better if you coat it in batter and plunge it into hot fat until crispy. And that is exactly what you will be doing this week when you break out the deep fryer (or a deep saucepan if you have no time for frivolous single-purpose kitchen appliances). The Japanese have their tempura and the Germans have their schnitzel, but nobody does deep fried quite like the U.S. of A. The land of endless possibility has brought the world the deep fried Twinkie, deep fried guacamole, deep fried Coca Cola, and deep fried butter, among a litany of other crimes against food. You can be better than that and make this something truly delicious. This week’s theme is October 15 through October 21. Hopefully the weather has finally taken a turn for the chilly and standing over a vat of boiling oil won’t make you melt into your kitchen floor like it would have a month or two ago. If not, suffer through for that delicious, unhealthy treat.
Deep Fried Fact of the Week
If you’re frying with good quality oil at the optimum temperature, your food will only directly contact the oil for less than half of the frying time. The bubbles that are rapidly released from the food when put into hot oil actually push the oil away from the food, so very little oil is absorbed into the food in the fryer and most is trapped by the surface after it’s removed, which is why it’s important to blot off some excess oil after taking your food out.
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WEEK 43: Potatoes I know I have claimed at least twice this year that you would be cooking with “one of the most versatile ingredients this week,” but I am a known liar and the potato is the true winner. There are over 4000 varieties of potatoes and at least as many dishes that you can prepare with them. From sweet to starchy, white to purple, over a pound to a tiny fingerling, make this tuberous tot into your masterpiece. Gnocchi, potato pancakes, aloo gobi, mashed, baked, boiled: the possibilities are endless! Potato week is October 22 through October 28. The entire fortune of the nation of Ireland once rose and fell with the potato, and so too shall your fate be tied to the humble spud.
Potato Fact of the Week
In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space. NASA and the University of Wisconsin created the technology with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually, future space colonies.
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WEEK 44: Squash It’s that time of year where just about everything that can (and some things that really cannot) has pumpkin added to it. If ya basic, go ahead and live your best pumpkin spice life and add to the cacophony of pumpkin in the world right now. But maybe it’s time to embrace some of the pumpkin’s underappreciated autumnal cousins: the acorn, the butternut, the spaghetti squash! All make a hearty base for many a fall meal. Squash week is October 29 through November 4. Celebrate Halloween in squash-style this year!
Squash Fact of the Week
Squash is one of the highest yielding crops. Just one planted acre can produce 11,000 squash in a season, which would be enough to last you 30 years if you ate one squash a day.
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WEEK 45: Gordon Ramsay This week marks the birthday of TV’s favorite foul-mouthed chef, Gordon Ramsay. Though perhaps more famous for his temper than his cooking at this point, Ramsay has a huge catalog of French, Italian, and British fare for you to dig into. And don’t pretend like you haven’t been meaning to make his soft scrambled eggs since you saw that video on Facebook. Now’s the time! Gordon Ramsay week is November 5 through November 11th. Nothing you do this week will probably be good enough to make him proud, but just try to do enough to avoid him holding two pieces of bread up to your head and calling you an idiot sandwich. That’s really the best you can hope for.
Gordon Ramsay Fact of the Week
Ramsay’s favorite midnight snack is baked beans. If the restaurant he’s dining at has beef Wellington, he will always order it. He does not like Girl Scout Cookies, presumably because he is a monster.
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WEEK 46: Soup The days are getting colder and the nights are getting longer, no thanks to that pesky daylight saving time coming to an end. Few foods can bring more comfort to your chilly bones than a warm bowl of soup. You can put just about anything in a soup if you’re creative enough. Go meaty or veggie, creamy or brothy, even hot or cold! Soup week is November 12 through November 18. Find a new recipe to try out or create your own with whatever you’ve got hanging around in your fridge right now. It’s hard to go too wrong when you’re making soup.
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WEEK 47: Cranberries It’s the only week of the year that most of us eat cranberries. If you’re strictly a fan of the jellied cran can, it’s time to expand your horizons. This little fruit is quite tart on its own when raw, but can be featured in a number of tasty dishes. You might try a salad with the dried version, a decadent cobbler or pie, a saucy meat situation, or just fancy up the traditional cranberry sauce. Cranberry week is November 19 through November 25, but I don’t know why you would make these on any day but Thanksgiving. This is your chance to finally show your family that you can be responsible for more than the can of Ocean Spray on the table!
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WEEK 48: Leftovers You’ve stuffed yourself with a glorious meal and argued with your dad about politics, but everyone knows the best part of Thanksgiving comes after Thursday’s dinner: the leftovers! Strive to go beyond the classic sandwich and try a mashed potato waffle, a leftover lasagna, or, my personal favorite, the Thanksgiving egg roll. Leftover week is November 26 through December 2. You’ll be acquiring those leftovers right off the bat, so it gives you a solid week to gorge yourself.
Leftover Fact of the Week
The first ever TV dinner was made from Thanksgiving leftovers. Swanson ordered 260 tons of extra frozen turkeys in 1953, so a company salesman suggested they package it on an aluminum tray with cornbread dressing, peas, and sweet potatoes.
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WEEK 49: $10 or Less We’re on a budget this week, which means you need to make the ingredients for your dish come in at under $10 total. You can add some basic items that you already have to your $10 grocery store haul, but if you’re dipping into the extensive caviar and edible gold collection already in your pantry to supplement that package of ramen you bought for 12 cents, I’m going to call that cheating. A little creativity (and maybe some coupon clipping) should make this challenge a breeze. This week’s theme is December 3 through December 9. The holidays approach, so use this opportunity to save some money and get yourself something pretty in a couple weeks (or someone else I guess, season of giving, yada yada).
$10 or Less Fact of the Week
While ramen today is so cheap that you could eat it for every meal for a whole year and only spend about $140 (never mind the hospital bill for your massive heart attack), when it was first introduced in Japan in 1958, it was six times more expensive than fresh udon noodles.
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WEEK 50: Stuffed Sometimes, when two foods are just so right for each other, when adjacent to each other on a plate just isn’t close enough and on top of each other is just too messy, the only thing to do is to stuff one inside of the other. The truest method would be to fill a naturally occurring cavity, like a stuffed pepper or squash, but you can also get away with wrapping dough around a filling, like ravioli or dumplings. This week’s theme runs December 10 through December 16. Stuff your food, then stuff yourself. But don’t give yourself the salmonella by stuffing a raw bird and undercooking its filling. I shan’t be held responsible for that blunder.
Stuffed Fact of the Week
The world’s most infamous stuffed abomination, the turducken (turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken) is believed to have originated at Hebert’s Specialty Meats in Maurice, Louisiana in 1985, though the NFL’s John Madden is credited with making it famous after singing its praises during a Thanksgiving broadcast. What a legacy these men have left for the world.
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WEEK 51: Pie It is my firm belief that all things are better with pastry, and what is a pie but a delicious filling wrapped in pastry? Pies at this time of year usually feature heartier ingredients like pumpkin and custards or perhaps a classic apple filling, but you can bring out your frozen summer berry crop or try a cream or meringue-based pie too. If you want something savory, you can delve into a range of pot pies, pasties, shepherd’s pies, and empanadas. If the challenge of good pastry seems insurmountable, get creative with a less traditional pie shell like graham cracker, Oreo, or puff pastry. Pie week is December 17 through December 23. If you time this right (and have the willpower to hold off for a couple more days), your pie creation can be featured prominently at your holiday celebration.
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WEEK 52: Fancy Ingredient This week features not one, but two holiday events, so it’s your opportunity to splurge on something that you might normally pass up due to the cost. Maybe truffles or caviar make you feel fancy, or maybe it’s something simpler that you just don’t use day to day, like real vanilla beans, champagne, or some real bougie cheese. Fancy is relative, so don’t bankrupt yourself, but remember all that money you saved at the beginning of the month during $10 week? Live a little! Fancy Ingredient week runs from December 24 through the end of the year. You’ve made it this far and it’s time to treat yourself a little! Celebrate 52 weeks of cooking glory in style, my friend!
Fancy Fact of the Week
The world’s most expensive spice is saffron. It comes from the stigmas of the saffron crocus flower. Each flower has 3 stigmas which are dried and dehydrated to become saffron. Harvesting is delicate, 170,000 flowers are needed to make a pound of saffron, and the flowers only bloom for 6 weeks of the year, which makes the $5,000/lb price tag a little more understandable. Luckily it’s very flavorful and a small amount goes a long way in a dish.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jill is a graphic designer, a highly disorganized but generally successful home cook, a bad vegetarian who sometimes eats fish and sometimes aspires to be a good vegan, a sauce connoisseur, an enthusiastic (like, very enthusiastic) lover of cats, a big fan of writing about herself in the third person, and, if you’re reading this, the proud new owner of a master’s degree. She created The Once a Week Chef project as her master’s capstone after a long pandemic summer ruined her social life but gave her plenty of free time to try some weird stuff in the kitchen. And now here you are, out in the world, with this little book open in front of you. So that’s pretty cool, huh? She hopes this cooking adventure you’re embarking on brings some joy to your heart and some deliciousness to your tummy.
If you find yourself with this book in your hand, wondering “what is this handmade, questionably illustrated binder of wonder?” then look no further for your answer! The Once a Week Chef is a year-long cooking adventure/challenge/social activity. Each week for the next year, this book will encourage you to make a dish that uses a particular ingredient, sends you to a new culinary region, pushes you to try a new cooking style, or motivates you to draw inspiration from an unlikely source. You’ll document your recipe, share your progress on social media, and, at the end of the year, have a book full of tried and true recipes and a warm, fuzzy feeling in your soul*. *Warm, fuzzy feeling in soul not guaranteed
Learn More At www.theonceaweekchef.com