These are superior crispy potatoes

Kenji López-Alt's extra-crispy Parmesan-roasted potatoes are, as you'd expect, unfailingly crispy.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story January 26, 2024 Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Susan Spungen. These are superior potatoes By Sam Sifton Good morning. Mark Bittman is a freewheeling cook, a minimalist, open to improvisation. His recipes are often set-it-and-forget-it in style. If I were writing his biography, I'd title it "Largely Unattended." Kenji López-Alt is the opposite: an exacting, scientifically minded kitchen authority who employs terms like "polysaccharide glue" to explain why, for example, his Parmesan-crusted roasted potatoes (above) are so shockingly crisp and delicious. Kenji's recipes aren't difficult, but they do demand attention so that you can achieve outstanding results — in this case, that marvelous, cheesy crunch, like a cross between Italian frico and the crust of a Detroit-style pizza. Read the recipe a few times before you make it, and then watch him make the dish on our YouTube channel so you're well acquainted with the process. You'll see. These are superior potatoes, amazing potatoes, just the dish to accompany a cast-iron steak that, when you've come to the end of the cooking process, you should take off the heat and baste in butter, with a healthy sprig of rosemary and a couple of cloves of garlic. Dinner is served. Featured Recipe Extra-Crispy Parmesan-Crusted Roasted Potatoes View Recipe → Say that's your meal tonight. (It oughta be!) Tomorrow you might ship up to Boston, and enjoy Sarah DiGregorio's recipe for baked cod with a buttery cracker topping. If cod's unavailable, don't substitute. Make Gabrielle Hamilton's fried saltines with Cheddar and onion instead. And how about some banana pancakes for breakfast on Sunday? You could eat those, go for a very long walk, skip lunch and make a big pan of kalpudding for dinner: a deconstructed Swedish meatloaf, essentially, with deeply caramelized cabbage. Alternatively, you could bail on breakfast, get to the pork store for cold cuts and make an Italian hero for lunch. Then follow it up at dinnertime with a spicy peanut and pumpkin soup. Or, if it's gotta be three squares, you could start with a Denver omelet as the sun begins its rise, make some kimchi tuna salad in the middle of the day and then finish up with spaghetti al limone for dinner, a day well spent. Many thousands more recipes are waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. You need a subscription to read them, it's true. Subscriptions support our work and allow it to continue. Please, if you haven't done so already, I hope you will consider subscribing today. Thanks extremely. Please ask us for help should you find yourself crosswise with our technology. We're at cookingcare@nytimes.com. Someone will get back to you. Or, if you'd like to complain about something, pay a compliment to my colleagues or simply say hello, you can write to me. I'm at foodeditor@nytimes.com. I can't respond to every letter. But I read every one I get. Now, it's far from the subject of gastronomy or its practice, but I've been enjoying "The Gold," on Paramount+, a series inspired by a 1983 robbery in London in which some 26 million pounds' worth of gold bullion was stolen by a gang of thieves who then conspired to launder it. The language is fantastic: villains and pinches, bent money and all matter of rhyming slang. A New Yorker social-media algorithm served me Ian Parker's 2018 investigation into the serial deceptions of the thriller writer Dan Mallory, who writes under the name A. J. Finn. Thank you, machine. Definitely read Soraya Roberts in The New York Times Magazine, on the long, licentious history behind that Calvin Klein ad starring Jeremy Allen White. Finally, here's Dolly Parton covering Billy Joel's "The Entertainer," proving that she really can do anything she wants. Enjoy that with your potatoes and I'll see you on Sunday. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Sang An for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Baked Cod With Buttery Cracker Topping By Sarah DiGregorio 25 minutes Makes 4 servings  Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Hadas Smirnoff. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky. Kalpudding (Meatloaf With Caramelized Cabbage) By Sam Sifton 90 minutes Makes 4 servings Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Spicy Peanut and Pumpkin Soup By Yewande Komolafe 35 minutes Makes 4 servings Christopher Simpson for The New York Times. Food Stylist:Frances Boswell. Denver Omelet By Ali Slagle 20 minutes  Makes 2 servings Johnny Miller for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Sue Li. Banana Pancakes By Samantha Seneviratne 20 minutes Makes 4 servings Sign up for the Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter Fresh dinner ideas for busy people who want something great to eat, with NYT Cooking recipes sent to you weekly. Get it in your inbox Sign up for The Veggie newsletter Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties. Get it in your inbox Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Cooking from The New York Times. To stop receiving Cooking, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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