Q&A: How to get out of your cooking rut with Abigail Koffler
The burnout is real.
This week’s newsletter features the first Q&A of 2021, with Abigail Koffler, who writes the food and cooking newsletter This Needs Hot Sauce! I started reading Abigail’s newsletter in 2020 and it quickly became one of those newsletters I looked forward to seeing in my inbox every week, because it was always a treat to read.
In our Q&A, we talked in particular about cooking burnout — we’ve all been cooking a lot more since the pandemic began, and I know I've found myself periodically hitting a wall, feeling uninspired or just plain tired of the never-ending task of cooking (and the mountains of dishes). Abigail had tons of ideas on how to get out of your rut and get re-inspired (she wrote about even more ideas in her newsletter this week too). Enjoy!
First, tell us about your newsletter! Why did you start it? How did you get interested in food and cooking?
This Needs Hot Sauce is a newsletter and community about cooking, dining out, and making the most of it. Every Monday, I share recipes, restaurant recs, links, and reader comments along with a short intro about what's going on in the world or my kitchen. Paid subscribers get bonus editions on Thursdays.
I've been interested in food and cooking my whole life—some of my earliest memories are of making challah with my mom and tagging along on grocery runs with my dad. I started This Needs Hot Sauce in October 2017 while working in nonprofits. I was really unhappy at my job and wanted to do something different. I wrote it every Sunday and when I got laid off the following spring, I decided to give full time freelancing and writing a shot. The newsletter helped me land my first stories and has grown since then.
Everyone's been cooking a lot more since the pandemic began, and I find myself frequently having cooking burnout — where I just can't muster up the energy to do all the work. Because it's not just the actual cooking, it's also planning ahead and researching recipes, making grocery lists, mentally keeping track of what you have on hand and need to use up, meal prepping. How do you manage that mental load of cooking, especially when you're burned out on cooking all the time? Do you have any systems that help you?
First of all, same! I find my energy for cooking ebbs and flows. May was a really bad time for me as were the weeks leading up to the election. It's really hard when something that's usually fun feels like a drag. I'm not much of a meal planner because I like to eat what I'm in the mood for that day (and I don't have kids, which I know changes the equation). That being said, I do try to keep the basics stocked (for me that includes lots of canned beans, baking supplies, pasta, rice, frozen veggies, lots of spices, condiments, eggs, at least one cheese, and tortillas) so I never have to start from zero. My boyfriend and I take the bus or uber to Wegmans once a month to stock up on that stuff. For perishables, I buy hardier vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, and kale or I'll freeze the more delicate ones like spinach if it's starting to go bad. Smoothies and fried rice are two ways I use up ingredients that are about to go bad. We have a running grocery list on a shared note so we can pick things up as we run out. I also try not to start cooking too late or too hungry, which makes it way harder. I'll cook an early dinner on a Sunday or eat a small snack before I start cooking so the actual experience is more pleasant. Once I put my phone down and start, I usually enjoy the process.
When you're burned out on cooking, what are your go-to easy recipes that don't require a lot of time or effort?
I love a vegetable fritter and they can be a dinner or a side dish. You can make them with broccoli, corn, or zucchini. I also love fried rice, which works with any nearly wilted vegetables (add kimchi if you have it). Chickpea pasta is another house favorite, it's so comforting and quick. I always add spinach to the recipe for some extra veggies. I also aim to have frozen cookie dough around at all times. You don't need a mixer for these cookies and they're so good with flakey salt on top. I also make tofu with peanut sauce and rice almost every week. It comes together in about 40 minutes and is mostly hands off. Tofu also lasts for a while in the fridge or you can freeze it. And one of my all time favorite lunches is crispy chickpeas with yogurt sauce. I like it with broccoli but any vegetable works.
How do you get out of a cooking rut if you're feeling uninspired and tired of cooking every day?
I'm really okay with taking breaks from cooking (besides breakfast which is a fairly limited rotation anyway). A friend once told me that the best thing they cooked that week was takeout and I loved it. Sometimes a few days off can really reinvigorate me and that's when I rely on local restaurants (get enough for leftovers). Or I'll make quesadillas or frozen tortellini. Snack dinners are easy during these breaks too: I'll make a mini cheese plate or some homemade pita chips with store bought hummus.
Then I look for something I really want to cook—over the holidays it was gnocchi from scratch. It doesn't have to be the quickest or most practical recipe, it just has to be something I'm excited about. I also love hearing about what other people are cooking to get new ideas. I do a cooking recap every Monday on Instagram stories and have gotten lots of inspiration from that.
Where do you discover new recipes that make you excited about cooking again? What are your go-to sources?
I consume a lot of food content from Instagram to TikTok to Youtube to blogs. I love Smitten Kitchen, Cookie and Kate, Aaron Hutcherson's recipes (he's now at the Washington Post), Rachel Miller's blog, Jeremy Scheck , A Cozy Kitchen, Shreya's Kitchen, and Dan Pelosi. I'll save recipes using the NYTCooking Browser extension, which works with recipes from any website. I also take a lot of screenshots from Instagram stories which are usually things like simple pastas, salads, or snacks (Sophia Roe's IG is the best). And to get away from a screen, I'll flip through a cookbook and mark recipes with post its.
What are some of the most fun things you've cooked at home during the pandemic that you'd recommend?
These flatbreads were a huge success and they're pretty quick all things considered. I found my favorite banana bread (add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips), started making veggie burgers from scratch, and made gnocchi and classic baked ziti. For a fancy dessert, try this pumpkin fudge torte. Before Covid, I definitely relied on restaurants for a lot of fun foods and it's been an adjustment to make that stuff at home. I also got the Omsom sampler set as a Secret Santa gift and love it. It's a meal starter that you can use with various proteins and the results are delicious.
What's on your cooking wish list — what are some ambitious things you want to try or new skills you want to learn?
I got In Bibi's Kitchen for Hanukkah and want to cook more from that book—the first recipe I tried was great. I also want to make saag paneer at home and I have some paneer in the freezer waiting. I've liked a lot of paratha videos on TikTok so maybe I'll try that too. And I want to make enchiladas from scratch. I've also been trying different cacio e pepe recipes and want to find one that compares to my favorite restaurants.
My overall cooking goals are to cook more from my cookbooks, cook a broader range of cuisines, and reduce food waste. I hope the city opens up compost soon and I also volunteer with a local free fridge to rescue food.
Check out Abigail’s newsletter here for more.
Good things to read
These precious days, Harper’s. If you read just one thing this week make it this piece by Ann Patchett. I don't want to say too much and spoil what is a beautiful reading experience, so just trust me: set aside an hour to read it - you will not regret it.
My highly unexpected heterosexual pandic Zoom wedding, Wired. A good read if you love love!!!
Yes, the pandemic is ruining your body, The Atlantic.
When did this become The Rug?, New York Times.
The return of the homemaker, Refinery29. How the pandemic has made us all homemakers.
What’s wrong with the way we work, The New Yorker.
Chill imbibes, The Verge. On the rise of drinks that want to help us relax.
Screen memories, Real Life. What screenshots can tell us about our lives.
I rejected cooking in the name of feminism — until I had to feed myself, Bon Appetit.
Good things to cook
For dinners this wrek I made these warm chickpea bowls with lemony yogurt, Melissa Clark’s famous anchovy chicken, and cauliflower fried rice with crispy tofu.
Another night I did seared tuna steaks with a soy lime marinade: just mix together soy sauce, lime juice, minced garlic, and minced ginger and marinate for a few hours before pan searing. It’s my fave marinade that I used on tons of other things, too!
And for lunches, I riffed on this Asian chicken slaw (I recommend buying pre-shredded cabbage or a coleslaw or broccoli slaw mix, and adding some shelled edamame).
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