Leah Eskin

Holiday season can be hard, especially for the leafy vegetable. Gingerbread gets invited to every open house. Eggnog is the toast of the town. Escarole, endive, radicchio? Shut-ins of the...

Fall demands that leaves leave. Acquiescing, they fall. After which, they lie in wait. For what remains unclear. Mine looked perfectly happy lazing around in heaps that faded from red...

Sheet pan: Meet spotlight. Sure, you’ve spent your career quietly cradling cookies, crisping potatoes, catching drips. It’s true that no one suspends you from a showy rack, like the saucier....

Apple first. That’s our policy. Special interests may back pumpkin, pecan or mincemeat. But citizens across the political spectrum agree on apple. That’s good news at the holidays, when we...

The pastry investigator hews to scientific method. She formulates her hypothesis: Pastry perfection rests on the ratio of flour to fat to water. She gets to work — years of...

Beans are fine fellows. Hearty, wholesome, humble. The old-kind humble — hard workers who sidestep the spotlight. As opposed to the new kind of humble. Now, every promotion, book deal...

Coconut is optimizing its resume. As it should. No job is secure in the gig economy, not even topping seven-layer bars over the holidays. Coconut counts up its credentials: the...

Potato pancakes can fry the cook to a frazzle. Too floppy, too flat, too forlorn. These frustrations can be fixed with proper technique — from correct temperature to correct temperament....

The duck, noting chill air and dusky sky, takes off. In arrow-sharp formation, his squadron flaps out many a message: Winter’s coming. Who needs Waze? Take that, chickens! Surely the...

The tart artist works in texture, contrasting crisp shell, supple filling, slippery slices of fruit. She works in color, choosing golden pastry, pale almonds, wine-stained pears. She works in pattern,...