Comfort Food
There's nothing like the perfect burger, grilled cheese sandwich, or roast chicken to cure the winter blues. We scoured the city to find the comfort you crave.
Food for Thought, by Christopher Kimball
Hear the good news! Comfort foods are back! Again!
If this siren call to meatloaf sounds familiar, well, it just means that you’re old enough to remember Julia Child in black and white and Howard Johnson’s fried clam dinner. We are doomed, it would seem, to continually rediscover what we’ve left behind as we race down the culinary road to geoduck clams, pho soups, and miniature towers of watermelon-and-tomato aspic drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Even dressed in Prada and Armani, we can’t seem to shake off the timeless appeal of mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and sides of cornbread. And then, feeling ashamed at the gastronomic ecstasy evoked by a perfect grilled cheese sandwich, we refer to comfort foods as "guilty pleasures," as if pot roast were the culinary equivalent of extramarital sex or listening to a Little Walter harmonica solo on your iPod during an evening at Symphony Hall.
Here’s a thought: Let’s just give in and admit we are in love with the girl next door, the one who used to invite us over for coffee and a big sweet square of Blueberry Boy Bait. She’s flannel, not cashmere; kisses on the mouth, not the cheek; and she’s mac ‘n’ cheese, not wild-mushroom risotto. Even if you forget to write, she’ll take you back with a welcome-home supper of smothered pork chops, each as big as your fist. And when she smiles, it’s all milk and cookies. You can check your big-city attitude and your cell phone at the door.
I grew up on pot roast, potatoes, molasses cookies, and milk from the cow out back. But since that’s not always possible for city dwellers, restaurateurs have come to the rescue. They know the truth: You can’t run from meatloaf and fried chicken. And if you try, well, it’s just a matter of time. Sooner or later you’re going to want a short stack of buttermilk pancakes with a bottomless cup of coffee. It’s always a good time to pack your bags and head home, thinking of that apple-pie blonde—the one still waiting for you at the kitchen door.
Christopher Kimball is editor and publisher of Brookline-based Cook’s Illustrated and host of the PBS program America’s Test Kitchen.
Food for Thought, by Christopher Kimball
Hear the good news! Comfort foods are back! Again!
If this siren call to meatloaf sounds familiar, well, it just means that you’re old enough to remember Julia Child in black and white and Howard Johnson’s fried clam dinner. We are doomed, it would seem, to continually rediscover what we’ve left behind as we race down the culinary road to geoduck clams, pho soups, and miniature towers of watermelon-and-tomato aspic drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Even dressed in Prada and Armani, we can’t seem to shake off the timeless appeal of mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and sides of cornbread. And then, feeling ashamed at the gastronomic ecstasy evoked by a perfect grilled cheese sandwich, we refer to comfort foods as "guilty pleasures," as if pot roast were the culinary equivalent of extramarital sex or listening to a Little Walter harmonica solo on your iPod during an evening at Symphony Hall.
Here’s a thought: Let’s just give in and admit we are in love with the girl next door, the one who used to invite us over for coffee and a big sweet square of Blueberry Boy Bait. She’s flannel, not cashmere; kisses on the mouth, not the cheek; and she’s mac ‘n’ cheese, not wild-mushroom risotto. Even if you forget to write, she’ll take you back with a welcome-home supper of smothered pork chops, each as big as your fist. And when she smiles, it’s all milk and cookies. You can check your big-city attitude and your cell phone at the door.
I grew up on pot roast, potatoes, molasses cookies, and milk from the cow out back. But since that’s not always possible for city dwellers, restaurateurs have come to the rescue. They know the truth: You can’t run from meatloaf and fried chicken. And if you try, well, it’s just a matter of time. Sooner or later you’re going to want a short stack of buttermilk pancakes with a bottomless cup of coffee. It’s always a good time to pack your bags and head home, thinking of that apple-pie blonde—the one still waiting for you at the kitchen door.
Christopher Kimball is editor and publisher of Brookline-based Cook’s Illustrated and host of the PBS program America’s Test Kitchen.
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