Power Out? The Party is On 🔥
Welcome to Secret Breakfast / The best place to start your day with a power outage dinner party, while making a better world breaking some eggs
Hi there!
A major power outage left Spain and part of Portugal without electricity.
I can't even imagine the difficulties in managing the consequences of this unprecedented event. The problems with road safety, the sustenance of the people in hospitals, the anxiety of those trapped in elevators, or the drama of non-self-sufficient people who may have been left alone or simply isolated.
While we were texting to some friends who live in Spain, my wife and I were reflecting on how much our daily lives depend on electricity.
With a blackout of a few hours, not much would change in our lives.
With a blackout of a day, we would already start to have problems.
With a blackout of weeks, it would be total chaos. The Last of Us level of chaos (with less mushrooms).
This event has somewhat inspired this week's newsletter.
As usual, don't take this too seriously and don't get angry if we end up talking about food even in the face of dramatic events.
Enjoy your week!
✹Bill Buford, author, quoted by Julia Skinner on Root.
If you want change, break the rules
José Andrés emerges as an extraordinary figure whose new book brilliantly captures his dual identity as a renowned chef and humanitarian powerhouse. The memoir-style essays reveal how Andrés has consistently broken conventions—whether in his Michelin-starred restaurants or through World Central Kitchen's service of 400 million meals in disaster zones—always prioritizing adaptation and local knowledge over rigid formulas. What makes this book particularly thought-provoking is how Andrés transforms culinary wisdom into a broader philosophy for addressing global challenges, showing that meaningful change often requires breaking established rules, embracing flexibility, and respecting cultural contexts, all while maintaining the simple essence of cooking.
Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Breaking Some Eggs by José Andrés and Richard Wolffe
→ Shortplot: 🍜 🍳 ♥️ 💣
How to Transform Disaster into a Culinary Party
Ok, you're having massive a power outage while you're at home. You can't go to work because you don't have a relevant job for the community (I mean, you're not a doctor, even if your mother wanted you to be one).
The you realize that a city blackout isn't the end of your culinary world - it's the beginning of an adventure. When electricity abandons your home but the fridge is full, it's time for creativity.
Zero Hour Snack: Have an Ice-Cream to Keep a Cool Head
Reach your fridge and examine the ice-cream situation. One portion cornettos are perfect to be eaten right now, while you examine the situation with your family or neighbors.
Nuts' natural oils and dark chocolate will sharpen your mind while you make an inventory of perishable food, survivalist stuff, and candle sticks. Why haven't you been more romantic? How come you're living an emergency and you don't have an emergency torch? Who was the tool who brought into your home a three-pieces set of Sparkling Cinnamon Yankee Candle?
Refrigerated food is generally safe for 4–6 hours if the fridge stays closed. Nothing more to do right now, let's hope for the best and get to bed. Tomorrow the power outage will be in the past.
Breakfast: Dawn of the Brave
Jeez, it's 9AM and no electricity still. That means no Nespresso, no induction stove, just some yogurt for breakfast. Why haven't you made some cold brew coffee (★recipe)? You do it now, using the half of the grinded coffee you have in the fridge.
You're still hungry, then invite over your old scout's friend who's bringing his camping stove. You share some bread toasted, spreaded with naturally softened butter.
You have a gallon of semi-melted chocolate ice cream, time for an affogato poured over coffee prepared with the camping moka pot. He brought that too.
Lunch: Freezer Roulette
Time to risk your life, but it's lunchtime: improvised beef tartare "in natural defrosting phase" with capers and onions; semi-thawed mixed vegetables sautéed on the camping stove, christened "Apocalypse Ratatouille"; cold rice salad with everything that's about to wilt.
Afternoon Snack: Desperation Happy Hour
In case you're still alive, celebrate with a "Blackout Manhattan": a cocktail with melting ice (add angostura, it's antibacterial... maybe).
Emergency tiramisù with melted vanilla ice cream instead of cream and cookies soaked in liqueur (alcohol kills bacteria, right?).
Dinner: The Grand Finale by Candlelight
People arrive with three "vanilla and coconut" scented candles and a bag of marshmallows to roast. Someone enters triumphantly with more camping stove and gas canisters: "Folks, tonight we eat hot food!".
Mixed grill of "everything that's defrosting" with improvised sauces
Side of cheeses at "perfect room temperature" - for once you don't have to apologize if they're out of the fridge
When the power finally returns, nobody notices right away: too busy toasting in the dark with the neighbors from upstairs, never met before, who brought a wheel of Parmesan and a bottle of prosecco as warming gifts "since it was warming up anyway". You've never eaten so well as when you had to improvise.
And tomorrow?
Tomorrow you're spending your day trying to buy a camping stove.
Experts in Food Technology and Nutrition explain that refrigerated food is generally safe for 4–6 hours if the fridge stays closed. Fun fact: appearance or smell isn't a reliable safety indicator, as contaminated food can look and smell normal.
🥩 However, perishable items like raw meats, eggs, sauces, and ready-to-eat products should be discarded if the temperature exceeds 4°C or if power was out too long.
🍍Whole fruits, vegetables, pickles, jams, and hard cheeses are usually safe.
🥫Non-perishables like soda, canned goods, and chocolate don't require refrigeration.
❄️In freezers, food may remain safe for up to 48 hours if full and doors remain closed. If items still contain ice crystals, they can be refrozen. If fully thawed and not cold to the touch, they should be discarded.
🇯🇵Even When You Think Your Life is Boring, You Can Have a Shock of Pleasure Thanks to the T Magazine Special Issue about Japan: starting with The 25 Essential Seafood Dishes to Eat in Tokyo 🍪30 Minute Brown Butter Anzac Biscuits (★recipe and variations) 💿1001 Albums Generator, explore the history of music, one album a day. 🤢How ultra-processed foods are making us sick (video) 🍲The Soup That Cures All My Hangovers (★recipe) 🐙24 Mediterranean Appetizers to Channel the Idyllic Coast 🍅Why Beefsteak Tomatoes Are Named After A Meaty Dish 👩🏻🍳The Best New Restaurants in the World: 2025 Hot List 🥠The Fortune Cookies Economy (podcast) 🏠If You're Crazy About Rich People's Homes, You Should Watch Your Friends & Neighbors featuring Jon Hamm
What the nose knows
Colleen Walsh / The Harvard Gazette
From the archive. Experts discuss the science of smell and how scent, emotion, and memory are intertwined — and exploited.
