Here’s a roundup of what was on The Bittman Project this week, plus a recipe for very in-season rhubarb crisp, and a couple of links to what we’re reading right now. Read on for more.

On Wednesday, we launched our new interactive project How to Eat Less Meat, a 30-day, SMS-based meal planner.

The Bittman Project

Want to Eat Less Meat?

I’m excited about a new cooking product that my team and I have created that really speaks to our values. It’s environmentally-minded, saves you time, and presents us all with something new and potentially exciting. It also happens to be tech-forward…

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10 months ago · 21 likes · Mark Bittman

Kayla Stewart wrote about the New Orleans cook who debuted on public television a full decade-plus before Julia Child. Read more about it here.

The Bittman Project

The Black Creole Chef Who Paved the Way for Food TV

In 1949 — more than a decade before Julia Child’s television debut — a boisterous Creole chef put on a cook’s uniform and made history. That was the year New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU aired the first of many episodes of “Lena Richard's New Orleans Cook Book.” Running twice a week through 1950, its host, Lena Richard, would become the first Black woman to have her own cooking television show, breaking through barriers imposed by the Jim Crow-era South, and helping a wider audience learn more about the Black roots of Creole cuisine…

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10 months ago · 15 likes · 4 comments · Kayla Stewart

On the podcast, timed with the release of “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” we’ve got the delightful Lesley Nicol. And Mark gives you his recipe for English Cream Scones.

LISTEN HERE

Follow on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Pocket Casts | Amazon Music

The Bittman Project

Mrs. Patmore Is Starting to Like Cooking

“Neither Sophie, who plays Daisy [on Downton Abbey], nor I are any kind of cook. We made sure that we never did anything too technical. So if anybody watches it closely, they'll see that I never do anything, like even rolling pastry: I won't do that, because I won't do it right. I season things, I stir, I present things…

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10 months ago · 17 likes · 4 comments · Mark Bittman

And Kerri spearheaded this week’s “What’s for Dinner?” fronting recipes with lots of fresh herbs — and inspiring us to pick up a wagon so our potted herbs can follow the sun.

The Bittman Project

How To Up Your Herb Game

At the first sight of weeds in the spring, I crawl out of my spice cabinet and head for greener pastures. For me, that means the garden. For you that might be the farmers market, a neighbor's yard, or the produce aisle. We share a singular goal: More fresh herbs…

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10 months ago · 7 likes · 5 comments · Kerri Conan

Beyond The Bittman Project

• Your car is killing coho salmon —a wildly popular fish. “In 2019 alone, there were 27 million pounds of coho harvested for consumption in the U.S.” It’s on one of our favorite sites that’s unfortunately in its last week of publication, The Counter.

• Want to know why food prices won’t go down anytime soon? Ask a farmer. A UK take on rising food prices that are affecting every country in the world, in The Guardian.

Rhubarb Crisp

Serves: 6 to 8
Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for greasing pan

• 2 ½ to 3 pounds rhubarb, trimmed, tough strings removed, and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (about 5 to 6 cups)

• ¼ cup white sugar

• 1 tablespoon orange or lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest

• ¾ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup all-purpose flour

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste

• Pinch salt

• ½ cup rolled oats

• ½ cup pecans

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking or gratin dish with a little butter. Toss rhubarb with white sugar, orange or lemon juice and zest, and spread in baking dish.

2. Put the 6 tablespoons butter in a food processor along with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt, and pulse for about 20 or 30 seconds, until it looks like small peas and just begins to clump together. Add oats and pecans and pulse just a few times to combine.

3. Crumble the topping over rhubarb and bake until golden and beginning to brown, 45 to 50 minutes.

—Mark Bittman recipe from The New York Times

Rhubarb Crisp

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