Cortisol Cocktails and Batch Drinks🍹
Welcome to Secret Breakfast / The best place where you can invite somebody into your heart by making salads, freezing cucumbers, and serving bizarre concoctions
Hi there!
As Stephen King wrote in Never Flinch, one drink is too many and a thousand are never enough. Stay hydrated and have some fun.
Piero
PS: This issue features two photographs from this year's Les Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles (closing on Oct 5th).
✹Maya Angelou. Have I posted this quote already?
Power to the Pizza
Pizza is always a good idea. And when it's not, it's still a good idea anyway. We the Pizza chronicles Muhammad Abdul-Hadi's Down North Pizza in North Philadelphia, a Detroit-style pizzeria staffed exclusively by formerly incarcerated individuals. The book combines 65 recipes with employee stories and historical context about mass incarceration, showcasing how the restaurant uses exceptional food to create second chances and reduce recidivism in the neighborhood. Abdul-Hadi transforms pizza into both sustenance and social justice, proving that great food can serve as a vehicle for community healing and economic opportunity.
We the Pizza. Slangin' Pies and Savin' Lives by Muhammad Abdul-Hadi with Michael Carter and David Joachim. Recipes by Michael Carter.
→ Shortplot: 🍕 🔔 🔥 ✊🏿
When Breadcrumbs Become Dinner
They say bread is gold, and to me, nothing could be truer.
You can toast breadcrumbs, sardines, and herbs in a pan to create a sublime topping for your pasta. Or, you can blitz some digestive biscuits or crackers, mix them with butter, and get a wonderful base for a sweet or savory cheesecake.
You can even make my favorite, passatelli (★recipe), by simply combining an egg, Parmigiano, and breadcrumbs to form a dough. And let's not forget how breadcrumbs can thicken soups and gazpacho. I remember a guy telling me that on Sundays, poor families used to make meatballs with stale bread and tomato sauce, just so they could trick their neighbor's nose into thinking they were cooking a meat stew. And I haven't even mentioned the panko you use for frying.
I bet you wanna try one of the following:
🍝Pasta c'Anciuova e Muddica Atturrata (★recipe), Sicilian Pasta With Anchovies and Toasted Breadcrumbs.
🍞No Meat Bread Meatballs (★recipe), a real no-waste resource.
🥖Roasted Cauliflower Toast (★recipe), don't be cheap with hazelnuts.
🥮Leftover breadcrumb plum cake (★recipe), because we need something sweet.
🍸The “Cortisol Cocktail” Isn’t Just Delicious—It Also Works + I Drank a “Cortisol Cocktail” Every Day for a Week, Here’s What Happened 🛢️Batch cocktails are the summer party lifesavers 🥗80 Ideas for Salad Season (★recipes) 🪵Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Log (★recipe) 🍈Melon and Peach Salad (★recipe) 🥒Why Southern Chefs Freeze Their Cucumbers 🥱The Full Tesla Diner Menu, Revealed 🥕I Prepped This Carrot Coin Salad For The Week & It’s Still Crunchy 🍤How to make the perfect fritto misto 📈20 Food Trend For 20 Years, by Eater
For the Privileged Few, Airport Food Hits a New Height of Luxury
Priya Krishna / The New York Times
In pursuit of well-heeled fliers, airlines and credit card companies are stocking their elite lounges with caviar, sushi bars and big-name chefs.
Why Alinea Is One of the U.S.’s Most Influential Restaurants
Mercedes Streeter / Eater
"In 2014, Ruth Reichl wrote: 'What makes Alinea such a fabulous experience is the sheer exuberant fun of the place. This is food as performance, food as surprise, food as you’ve never seen it before'. The restaurant still holds three Michelin stars. Today, Chef Grant Achatz reflects on 20 years at Alinea and considers what lies ahead". Quick reminder: it's the restaurant of the edible helium balloon and the dessert assembled right on the surface of your table.
🇮🇹 PS for Italian readers: you can donate to support Palestinian civilians in need through the Cocomero ebook, a beautiful ebook featuring recipes, articles, and artwork from 76 international authors. Read more here. 🇵🇸
