Daniel Meyer, Author at The Bittman Project

Homemade Noodles in Five Minutes

I accidentally made too much dumpling dough, so I rolled out the extra, sliced it into ragged strips with a pizza cutter, and boiled them. I gave some to my kid and ate the rest with soy sauce, sesame oil, and black vinegar. They were strangely great.

By Daniel Meyer Published April 9, 2025

Lazy Noodles

Warm and comforting, beautifully chewy, strangely great. Homemade noodles in five minutes!

By Daniel Meyer Published March 28, 2025

Japanese Egg Crepe “Noodles”

Japanese egg crepe “noodles” fall somewhere on the spectrum between obvious kitchen hack and total revelation. They’re basically super-thin omelets cooked in a nonstick skillet, rolled up, and cut into strips. Those strips are your noodles. Ta-da!

By Daniel Meyer Published December 7, 2023

Feeding Ukrainian Refugees in Spain

It’s not what you’d think

By Daniel Meyer Published August 25, 2022

Lazy Noodles Are Strangely Great

All photos: Daniel Meyer

By Daniel Meyer Published July 29, 2022

Don't Salt Your Pasta Water!

An unorthodox way to cook spaghetti with clam sauce

By Daniel Meyer Published April 14, 2022

Spaghetti with Clam Sauce

Your approach to cooking the clams here will depend a bit on your risk tolerance and generally how much faith you have that things in your life will somehow always turn out okay. The clams I used the other night looked particularly sandy, so I steamed them open separately; this allows you to save all of those beautiful juices while leaving the brackish muck behind, and guarantees that none of that grit will wind up in your sauce. If your clams feel clean and/or you’ve managed to overcome your debilitating fear of sandy sauce, go ahead and cook them right in the pan along with the garlic and anchovies. — Daniel Meyer

By Daniel Meyer Published April 14, 2022

Chicken Piccata Potpie

This is basically a “normal” chicken potpie with the piccata essentials (garlic, lemon, capers, and parsley) stirred into the filling mixture. For some reason, I decided that it was of the utmost importance to cook the chicken as if you’re making real piccata (aka cutlets dredged in flour and sautéed in butter and olive oil) before chopping it up and mixing it in with everything else. That’s not entirely necessary—you could just start by sautéing the vegetables, then fold in boneless chunks of roasted or poached chicken along with the peas—but it does improve the flavor, and I stand by my decision.

By Daniel Meyer Published March 14, 2022

I Found Solace in a Vat of Bubbling Oil

All photos: Daniel Meyer

By Daniel Meyer Published January 25, 2022

Fried Chicken with Lemongrass-Fish-Sauce Caramel

There was a giant container of extra fish sauce caramel staring back at me from my fridge. It keeps for weeks, so was no real rush, but this somehow felt urgent. Chicken. Fried chicken! Yes!! Of course!!! Because here’s the thing about this caramel: once you’ve had it on something, you’re going to want it on everything.

By Daniel Meyer Published January 25, 2022

Fried Squid with Lemongrass-Fish-Sauce Caramel and Crispy Kale

Honestly, crunchy squid and this habit-forming caramel are really all you need here, but there’s some optional lily-gilding if you’re up for it. The original version of this dish included crispy kale chips tossed in with the squid at the very end, for no other reason than the fact that there was some wilting kale in the fridge that needed to go away. The kale is a nice and unexpected touch, and a good way to weave a vegetable right into the main dish, but it’s by no means a requirement.

By Daniel Meyer Published January 25, 2022

Lemongrass-Fish Sauce Caramel

In Vietnam, a dark caramel sauce (Nước Màu), often made just with sugar and water, is ubiquitous in savory cooking; the fish sauce here ratchets up the flavor, as does a heaping pile of lemongrass, shallots, garlic, ginger, black pepper, and chile flakes.

By Daniel Meyer Published January 25, 2022