What to Cook This Weekend – The New York Times

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Good morning. We’re stuck on a plane with the spottiest Internet connection we’ve had since dial-up days, sitting behind some fit-kid howdy boys talking loudly about protein shakes — and it doesn’t matter the least little bit because we’re heading home for a weekend of cast iron, peanut oil, buttermilk and orange soda. Fried chicken season has begun!

Won’t you join us? Thanks to Kim Severson, we’ve got the late, great Edna Lewis’s recipe for pan-fried chicken to share. It is an excellent place to begin your voyage into the fried chicken months of spring and summer for first-time fryers and veterans alike.

But it is not the only place. Those who thrill to Nashville-style hot chicken can turn to Melissa Clark’s great recipe for the version of that dish served at Peaches HotHouse in Brooklyn. (Spicy food not for you? Try my adaptation of a John Currence recipe for cola-brined fried chicken instead.) Or you might take a run at this very simple, deeply crunchy recipe for Brooklyn Bowl fried chicken, which Pete Wells reported on back in 2011.

Taking a wider view, you could make Julia Moskin’s awesomely good recipe for Persian fried chicken. Or her recipe for Korean fried chicken. Or her recipe for Filipino fried chicken. (Julia serves on the imaginary Seventh Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, devoted to the humanitarian pursuit of the world’s best fried chicken recipes.)

You could even cook chicken outdoors, as the wise John Willoughby advises — his recipe for fried chicken for a crowd is an invaluable member of our collection of favorites.

So that’s happening. And so is some coleslaw. And macaroni and cheese. (Maybe we’ll get really serious and make our recipe for lobster mac and cheese, which pairs with fried chicken like big rims on a classic 88.) We’ll heat some honey on the stove, scatter red pepper flakes into it, then serve it on the side with most every chicken on our list save Julia’s.

And maybe we’ll make some collards too, some biscuits and a grilled potato salad with chipotle bacon vinaigrette. Banana pudding for dessert? Yes, please.

What about you? Perhaps David Tanis’s recipe for mashed fava bean crostini is more your style come the weekend lull. Or maybe you’d prefer Martha Rose Shulman’s roasted vegetable bibimbap. Look, we love a springtime Greek salad as much as the next big eater — it’s just, this weekend, we’re in the tank for the chicken that is fried.

Browse Cooking for other ideas. Please save the recipes you want to cook into your recipe boxes, and rate the recipes you do cook when you’re done eating the food. Leave notes on recipes. Post pictures of them on social media, above the hashtag #NYTCooking. And if you find yourself in a jam or a pickle (it’s Friday the 13th, after all), please reach out for help: cookingcare@nytimes.com. Operators are standing by.

Now, did you read Jim Lynch’s “Truth Like the Sun” the way I told you to a few months ago? He has a new novel out, “Before the Wind,” that we’re going to crack open as soon as we get our chicken into the marinade tonight. See what you think.

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