Mike S., Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Mike S. has tested.

Two copper glasses filled with mint julep with straws sticking out from them and mint leaves scattered around.

Mint Julep

We’re thinking about petitioning for the word “julep” to officially function as a verb as well as a noun. Julep us!

Spiced cider with a cinnamon stick and orange zest, in a stemless wine glass.

Spiced Cider

This spiced cider, made with a blend of apple cider, bourbon, and warming spices is the perfect drink for a cold winter night.

A cedar plank with 3 eggs Florentine, one with spinach, one with tomato, one with ham.

Eggs Florentine

Eggs Florentine, Benedict, and Arnold. Sorta sounds more like a network of Revolutionary War spies than a brunch menu, yes?

Three glasses of sweet tea cocktail on a wooden table.

Sweet Tea Cocktail

Sweet tea. Whiskey. Lemon juice. That’s all it takes to make a sassy summertime cocktail you’ll want to sip all afternoon long.

A whole sweet cherry pie with a lattice crust on a baking sheet on a wood table.

Sweet Cherry Pie

We’re not going to do a song and dance to try to entice you to bake this cherry pie. We don’t need to. Just look at it. A stunner, right? And wait’ll you taste it. Here’s how to make it.

A shallow white dish filled with coffee creme brulee, with a spoon resting inside.

Coffee Crème Brûlée

“I’ve actually had friends lift their gratin dish and lick it clean—right at the table!” says David Lebovitz. We’ll have one of those. Actually, we’ll have two.

Pieces of batter-fried chicken piled on a white platter.

Batter-Fried Chicken

Proof that it doesn’t take buttermilk or an insufferably long overnight brine to make insanely tender, crazily crisp, gosh darn perfect fried chicken.

A single compost cookie from Christina Tosi.

Compost Cookies®

The curious name of these insanely can’t-stop-eating-these sweet and salty cookies hints at how you toss in whatever this and that you have on hand to create awesomeness.

A tall glass of frozen margarita with a salt rim and lime wheel beside a bowl of chips and guacamole

Frozen Margarita

There are those people who feel a frozen margarita is a lesser margarita. We are not those people.

A parchment-lined square pan of buttermilk cornbread cut into squares, with one square missing.

Buttermilk Cornbread

“Heavenly.” “The best cornbread we’ve ever had.” “Like eating cake.” “Stop me before I make another!” That’s what folks are saying about this unconventional cornbread.

Three glasses of ultimate margarita with lime wedges.

Ultimate Margarita

A simple, clean break from tradition, this margarita eschews cloying Cointreau in lieu of a splash of sweet agave.

An overhead view of a down Easter cocktail, topped with a strip of orange zest.

Down Easter Cocktail

Merriam-Webster defines “down easter” as “one born or living down east.” We take it to mean this lovely apple cider-y cocktail.

Several pieces of Texas fried catfish, a bowl of tartar sauce, and lemon wedges on a metal tray lined with parchment.

Texas Fried Catfish

Make no mistake, there are umpteen approaches to frying catfish. None is necessarily right or wrong. But this one is superlative.