Some people plain don’t like beets (to the point where some plant breeders have tried to produce a beet that doesn’t taste like a beet—really), but I think most people are just afraid of ruining their shirt or simply can’t deal with the potential stainage. There are ways to cook them without mess, also. Here’s the one I’ve relied upon for thirty or so years (taught to me by Jean-Georges), plus the one it turns out I like best of all.

When a reader asked us “how do you become really good at cooking?” (or, as she also put it, “how do I develop nonna skills?”) I couldn’t resist the temptation to take a crack at the “answer.” Here’s the email, along with responses from me, Kerri, Kate, and our pal and former colleague Daniel—some of my favorite home cooks.

My definition of “real” pickles is this: the kind you put up in jars and eat in January and think of summer, the kind that in my mind a real pantry is full of. But I’m rejecting that notion, because not only is canning a hassle of the first order, but I don’t even like those kinds of pickles. What I like are vinegar-free, salty-garlicky half-sours, which is not surprising since that’s what I grew up with. They’re pickle-barrel pickles and, as it happens, they’re among the easiest things in the world to make.