Good morning. Cook a recipe once and you’ll play a cover song. Boil it four or five times, though, and you’ll be playing a new arrangement, even if it’s relatively faithful to the original.
That has been the case for me with Rick Martinez’s recipe for Tajín grilled chicken (above). I first made it the way Rick intended and loved it as a filling for sandwiches, with grilled scallions, cilantro, and pickled jalapeños. But the second time I turned the honey back by about half and doubled the Tajín. The third time I added more heat with an extra chipotle and used the sauce to marinate the chicken for about an hour before grilling. And now that’s my jam. That’s how I make it like Miley Cyrus singing Hole’sdoll parts†
I hope you do the same. After all, that’s why we’re here: to provide thorough instructions to follow, as well as the encouragement and confidence you need to make food that’s all your own.
Cook Rick’s chicken yourself and see where you end up. I know I will continue to do this until at least Labor Day.
Now, it has nothing to do with wild salmon or farmed shrimp, but please read this remarkable Times investigation into the deep roots of Haiti’s woes, dating back to the reparations France forced the nation to pay after it expelled its slavers. . It is breathtaking in its grief and science.
I’m very late with it, but the stakes are low and the scenery beautiful in”North Woods Act”, on Hulu.
In Granta, Amy Key’s”A bleed of blueI felt sad, but I’m glad I read it.
Finally, the unmissable Jon Pareles brought me to this collaboration between Trinidadian singer Calypso Rose, the Garifuna Collective and Carlos Santana,”Watina† Listen to that while you grill chicken, and I’ll be back Friday.
