The best meals of 2023

January 3, 2024 by
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Scrolling through my favorite food sites this week I encountered many posts about the best meals the writers ate last year, or some variation on that theme. Restaurant critic Jay Rayner gathered his notes from the sundry meals he ate as part of his job and put out a list of culinary highs and lows from 2023. The entire GoodFood team at The Sydney Morning Herald did the same, noting their favorite meals of the previous year.

Editors at Eater likewise dished on the best restaurant meals they experienced across the US (and around the world) in 2023. What struck me about reading all of these lists was not that a pricey, multi-course meal would land on a list of best meals of the year, but that so many of the memorable meals included simple, unpretentious foods. A cheeseburger made the cut at GoodFood, and Rayner noted that “the experiences that really stayed with me this year were, as ever, the less glossy, unmarketed ones.”

Since I don’t eat out much, my memorable meals (and desserts) from 2023 came from my kitchen. I made the best lasagna of my life thanks in great part to making the ricotta cheese from scratch using the Whole milk ricotta recipe from Artisan Cheesemaking at Home by Mary Karlin. That simple cheese (made with only four ingredients: whole milk, heavy cream, citric acid, and salt) left me gobsmacked by its delicate flavor and lovely texture. I’ve made ricotta twice before but somehow this batch transcended those attempts. I’m almost scared to try it again, lest I dare try to fly too high and incur the wrath of the cheese gods in my attempt to repeat that deliciousness.

My other memorable success of the year also came in the dairy department, the Concord grape and rosemary sherbet (pictured above) from Hello My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree. Taking a cue from that recipe, when I made Concord grape jam using the remaining fruit from my friends’ arbor, I added a sprig of rosemary to the pot which resulted in the most amazing preserves. I felt like Christine Ferber with that batch of jam.

What meals or dishes – at home or in a restaurant – were your favorite from last year?

Category: Antipasto

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9 Comments

  • Jane  on  January 4, 2024

    I reviewed my Notes to see my greatest hits last year. Dorie Greenspan’s Honey-mustard salmon rillettes was a repeat hit and my personal favorite discovery was Kimchi grilled cheese with ham from Milk Street. On the dessert front one of my biggest successes was also one of the simplest – The Big chocolate tart by Genevieve Ko in the NYT – so pretty. Favorite new cocktail of the year was the Ellison from Modern Classic Cocktails.

  • Rinshin  on  January 4, 2024

    The Sydney Morning Herald’s fish and seafood dishes sound amazing. Need to visit Australia and taste their seafood.

  • Rinshin  on  January 4, 2024

    As to our best restaurant meals (we normally only eat out when traveling), two stood out. Both in tokyo earlier this year. One was 8 course lobster offering for $90 pp including wine pairing. Fabulous use of lobster in each course. The lobster infused pasta amazing. Another was simple western style (not Asian or Japanese) boneless chicken thigh with amazing crackling skin sliced so skin crinkles and easy to eat. I have been trying to fine tune that technique.

  • breakthroughc  on  January 4, 2024

    My most memorable meal was in the Dordogne region of France. For 26 euros my 3 course meal consisted of: Duck and fois gras terrine, then a duck lasagne (layers of duck confit with mushrooms layered with bechamel sauce, lasagne noodles and topped with melted cheese and for desserts I had walnut ice cream topped with a local walnut liqueur. Hands down one of the best meals ever eaten.

  • anya_sf  on  January 4, 2024

    Having looked through my notes, these recipes stand out for me (lots of baking projects):

    Thai chicken satay skewers, Christmas baked salmon by Nagi Maehashi
    Fettuccine with white ragù by Deb Perelman
    Baked ziti with sausage by Jennifer Segal
    Garlicky, butter-swirled pull-apart rolls by Shauna Sever
    Better-than-apple pie bars by Jessie Sheehan
    Morning buns, Cranberries and cream Danish, Cream cheese pumpkin pie bars by Sarah Kieffer
    Buttermilk biscuits, Garlic-roasted haricots verts by Ina Garten
    Amish dinner rolls by King Arthur Baking Company
    Rhubarb brown sugar pie by Joanne Chang

  • eliza  on  January 4, 2024

    Two dishes I made this year stand out, both with humble ingredients; potato and tomato gratin from Fine Cooking Annual and Pesto smashed chickpea and avocado sandwich from the blog Closet Cooking, (made with my own homemade pesto). Both of these were amazingly delicious, used veg from my garden, and were easy to make. I can’t wait to make them again!

  • FJT  on  January 8, 2024

    2023 wasn’t a culinary delight and is probably best forgotten in our household. The year was overshadowed by illness: for most of the year my husband just didn’t seem to enjoy any food at all and has only just had a diagnosis and treatment (leaving hospital today! Here’s hoping 2024 is better!

  • Rinshin  on  January 8, 2024

    One recipe stood out as guest worthy. My niece recently married a Greek fellow from Crete and wanted to have Greek style dinner to welcome him into our family and so glad I chose this as one of the offerings. He loved it. Shrimp, orzo and zucchini with ouzo and mint from Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine, May/Jun 2021 (page 25)

  • Rinshin  on  January 8, 2024

    I hope your husband makes a complete recovery FJT. I understand lack of appetite with serious illness and following treatment. The second half of 2015 and first half of 2016 was like that with me.

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