It was another long, strange year on Planet Earth, but luckily, amidst the madness of the human race, it was full of fine food, drink, books, music, and much more. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites as a parting gift to all of you. Happy cooking, and happy New Year, y’all.

With cooler temperatures comes a primal desire to fire up our kitchens, and this time of year, few recipes warm the bones and help us weather the coming days of winter quite like confit. Almost any food can be confit’ed—our favorite is duck—and yet the technique remains intimidating for many home cooks. Read on to level the playing field and find a new way to use your cast iron.

We delve into the most important attribute of cast-iron cookware.

Imagine this: You’re stuck in the middle of the desert with a broken-down vehicle and nothing to eat but one damn egg. Which would be easier, frying it on the hot glass of your car windshield or the rugged asphalt on which you stand? Simply put, smoothness impacts your cooking, your seasoning, your cleaning. It matters, indeed.

He might now live in the Lonestar State, but John Tesar will always be a New Yorker at heart. With an ever-so-slight accent, the 65-year-old Manhattan-born chef suffers no fools—he’s a firebrand, an iconoclast, the self-destructive Jimmy Sears in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, and once dubbed the “most hated chef in Dallas,” all with an undeniably expert eye for a damn good steakhouse. So much so that he just received his first Michelin star. One bite of his dry-aged strip and you’ll understand why.

Jean-Paul Bourgeois’ cooking is the best of both worlds. One minute, the classically trained chef is sharing a recipe for cacio e pepe from his days with Danny Meyer’s revered Union Square Hospitality Group in New York, and the next, he’s showing off his downhome Louisiana roots—from crawfish etouffee to wild-game gumbo—as seen on his popular Duck Camp Dinners series from MeatEater. Consider his culinary wisdom as universal, too.

Like many chefs across the country following the COVID-19 pandemic, Spike Gjerde is in the midst of a reinvention. There was a moment when he thought he might throw in the toque for good, as his A Rake’s Progress became a casualty at The Line Hotel in Washington, D.C., and his flagship Woodberry Kitchen pivoted with the times. But now all of that has changed, as he readies to open “a magical little jewel box” with Woodberry Tavern.

This is a complex recipe. But John Tesar doesn’t take shortcuts. His Texas restaurants pride themselves on prized pieces of protein, as showcased in this Vietnamese-inspired celebration of local seafood. Save it for next year’s Feast of the Seven Fishes—or consider it the courageous start of 2023.

Come fall, the peppers reach their peak before the first frost and the squash finally arrives, savory and sweet. Get the best of both with this Sichuan-inspired stir-fry from Woodberry Tavern's Spike Gjerde.