​To mark the release of our top new cookbooks from the spring roundup—titles we’ve been cooking and baking from for months—I hosted a potluck party in the Test Kitchen. I assigned staff to select a book from the list, prepare any recipe they liked, and join for lunch. It’s a pretty good Monday, in my opinion! Emma stands by for the morning train, edamame dip in hand. Photo by Emma Laperruque. Nina secures a seat for her salad on the subway en route to 1WTC. Photo by Nina Moskowitz. As usual, my colleagues arrived ready, carrying their dishes via various subways to the World Trade Center. Noah Kaufman, the senior commerce editor, even brought homemade pizza dough from New Jersey. After unpacking containers, dressing salads, reheating biscuits, and plating everything, they arranged 15 delightfully mismatched dishes on the Test Kitchen pass. What was enjoyed?  

​A portable coffee maker that fits in your backpack or suitcase might seem like something only an obsessive would own (my colleague and fellow coffee enthusiast Chris Morocco even calls his own travel coffee setup “extra”). After all, it’s simple to brew a pot of coffee in the morning and pour it into a vacuum-sealed mug designed for astronauts. Voilà, portable coffee! The best portable coffee makers. A timeless essential: Aeropress → Read more. Handheld espresso made easy: Wacaco Nanopresso → Read more. Impressionante macchina portatile per il caffè espresso: Wacaco Picopresso → Leggi di più. Best basic coffee cup: Wacaco Pipamoka → Read more. If you enjoy your coffee both hot and cold: Oxo Rapid Brewer → Read more.  

​Spring has sprung, and with that, a new cookbook drop featuring oh-so-many baking titles. There’s More Than Sweet, an ode to seasoned desserts; Cake From Lucie, a collection of bakes with a side of whimsy; and Morning Baker, which will convince you to order specialty ingredients (like barley malt syrup) to your cart. The list also includes the 50th anniversary edition of The Taste of Country Cooking, a book that pays homage to the food icon, Edna Lewis, plus much more. Read on for our standout titles of the season (organized by release date), hand-chosen and cooked from by our staff.. Hello, Home Cooking by Ham El-Waylly. This is one of my favorite reads so far this year. In Hello, Home Cooking, Ham El-Waylly, a dear friend of mine, shares his Egyptian-Bolivian heritage, his years working in Michelin-starred restaurants, and his own trials and triumphs in cooking at home. It is deeply personal and wholly unserious at the same time. I made the Cinnamon Pita Crunch and it blew everyone’s hair back in the Test Kitchen. Twice-baked squares of pita, glazed with a buttery caramel and cinnamon sugar, were excellent drenched in cold milk. Kinda Shish Tawook Spread (burnished chicken pitas with garlic toum and pickles) was bountiful and straightforward, especially if you forgo making your own pita (I forwent). This cookbook isn’t here to sell you the easiest or quickest version of anything, though it does contain such recipes. It’s the journal of a confident chef who celebrates the joy that can be found in cooking, the memories food can create and unlock, and the thrill of breaking rules. —Shilpa Uskokovic, senior Test Kitchen editor. Hello, Home Cooking: Do-Able Dishes for Every Day. $35 $33 (6% off). Amazon. $35 $33 (6% off). Bookshop. Soomaaliya by Ifrah F. Ahmed. You may pick up Soomaaliya in hopes of indulging in the many delectable offerings from the Somali diaspora, and yes, that will happen. But you are in for so much more. The book is rich with narrative, offering an exploration of Somali culture through the lens of writer and chef Ifrah F. Ahmed. Ahmed learned Somali cooking from her mother, Xaawo Cabdulle Ducaale, who instilled the importance of their traditions as they migrated to Seattle. She writes, “Despite being the breadwinner and working two jobs, [she] began a campaign to immerse us in our culture. For me, that meant weekly cooking lessons.” It’s a beautiful reminder that we are cumulative forces of those that came before us. The recipes are bountiful, including weekend projects (like Cambaabur, spiced sourdough pancakes) and dishes to feed a crowd (like Kalamuudo, pasta with goat ragù). Some of my favorites include Bajiye, savory black-eyed pea fritters; Baasto Lisaanyo, Somali lasagna with cumin and cilantro in the sauce; and Bariis Isku Karis, one-pot goat and rice, Ahmed’s childhood favorite. —Inés Anguiano, associate Test Kitchen manager. Soomaaliya: Food, Memory, and Migration. $39. Amazon. $37. Bookshop. Oha  

​Welcome to Deep Dish, your weekly roundup of the latest in food and entertainment news. Previously, we discussed the continuing Noma meltdown. Hilary Duff, known from Lizzie McGuire, has appeared in my feeds twice over the past month. First, for her involvement in mom group drama, now entered into the public record via The Cut by fellow early 2000s phenom Ashley Tisdale. More recently, she’s been on a press junket for her upcoming album, revealing in a recent interview that she thinks McDonald’s gets a tastier version of Diet Coke than other fast food chains. My fellow writer Sam Stone provides context… This week, Blank Street is launching larger stores, Chipotle features a remarkably smart chatbot on its site, and more… Hilary Duff Admits She’s a Diet Coke Truther. The ex-Disney Channel star is on her first press tour in years to promote her new album *Luck…or Something*, and she’s grabbing headlines. Or, at the very least, stan accounts are posting about her. One tasty nugget to emerge from her numerous appearances: Duff is something of a Diet Coke conspiracy theorist. “Do you know why a Diet Coke from McDonald’s hits different than a different Diet Coke?” she asked Mythical Kitchen’s Last Meals host Josh Scherer, posing her question—for some reason—like a sphinx guarding a tomb.  

​If your home is an alcohol-free zone like mine, you might have thought penne alla vodka was off the menu for good. I absolutely loved it until I discovered this blush-colored, subtly sweet sauce that captures all the identical flavors minus the alcohol. This yields enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta. If you’re cooking for fewer people or want to save some for starting another meal later, move half of the pureed sauce to a storage container and refrigerate it for 3-4 days, or freeze it for up to one month. This makes for a wonderful date-night dish, as it’s a touch more sophisticated than your standard red sauce.