Every Wednesday, Bon Appétit executive editor Sonia Chopra shares what’s going on at BA—the stories she’s loved reading, the recipes she’s been making, and more. If you sign up for our newsletter, you’ll get her letter before everyone else.
Recently I’ve been craving waffles. This isn’t normal for me—I much prefer savory foods first thing in the morning—and I think it stemmed from a convo I had with coworkers about our all-time favorite hotel breakfasts. Honestly, there’s not much I love more than an international hotel’s breakfast buffet. Some standouts for me include Paris, where I had the best yogurt of my life; Singapore, where our hotel had a congee bar and all kinds of noodles; Dubai, where the sheer variety was so staggering I couldn’t pick a favorite dish; and Amritsar, where piping hot parathas were made to order and stuffed with our choice of spiced filling. But the image stuck in my mind after that Slack chat is a perfect plate of waffles, which I can picture so clearly that it almost feels like a stock image rather than an actual dish.
Here’s what I’m picturing: Two thick quarters of waffle stacked and sprinkled with sugar, crisp on the outside and soft within, topped with a melting pat of butter, garnished with a few berries, and served with a tiny pitcher of maple syrup. Chances are you’ve ordered this exact plate at a brunch spot, right? It’s iconic. It’s everywhere. But I can’t remember the last time I ordered any kind of waffle—outside of, obviously, late-night Waffle House excursions—and once I realized that, I haven’t been able to get them out of my head.
So—surprise!—I decided that I have to make some. I’ve been doing research in the archives of BA and Epicurious, starting with Epi associate editor Joe Sevier’s deep dive into making crispy waffles and this great waffle maker review. On Bon Appétit, we’ve got all kinds of waffle recipes, from sweet whole wheat oat waffles, corn waffles with strawberry syrup, and chocolate-buckwheat waffles to savory loaded baked potato tot waffles and (!) Tex-Mex breakfast waffle nachos. In the October issue, we’ve got a great recipe from chef Woldy Reyes for bibingka waffles made with rice flour that I’m really looking forward to trying. If you have a favorite recipe, I’d love to hear it: I’m sonia@bonappetit.com.
Here are a few other things I’m loving:
- I grew up eating jaffles (we simply called them square sandwiches) so I’m loving this jaffle maker recommendation from associate editor Ali Francis
- Paola Briseño-Gonzáles’s recipe for this toasted pumpkin seed and tomato dip
- More recipes: Meherwan Irani’s all-purpose coconut curry, Simone Tong’s cold noodles with Sichuan peppercorn dressing, Rachel Gurjar’s air fryer sesame-coconut chicken tenders, Christian Reynoso’s Sonoran-style potato, cheese, and tomato soup
- This great interview with author Emily Itami about her lovely book Fault Lines
- A food lover’s guide to cooking with Parkinson’s
- On YouTube: André Mack tries 16 boxed wines
- And on the podcast: Why would anyone open a restaurant?