[Illustration: Biodiversity Heritage Library]

You did it! Another week down!

We're putting up a post very much like this one every Friday afternoon, to celebrate the fact that the week is done. Down with the week after Thanksgiving! (What's the point? Honestly!!) Up with the weekend after the weekend after Thanksgiving!

We think of this series as something of a send-off for the week, giving you the option of a brief interlude for your Friday afternoon. Of course, if your workweek is just starting or if you're still in the thick of it, think of this as a pick-me-up for your personal hump day or as a nice way to kick off your weekend shifts.

We hope to provide a short mix of mostly silly, mostly food-related, mostly entertaining things to look at, listen to, and read, and we hope you'll find it amusing, and maybe, sometimes, edifying and enlightening. We also see it as an opportunity to go over some of what's new on the site, which you, dear readers, may have missed.

If you have feedback or if you run across any interesting/oddball/totally crazy stories/podcasts/images/videos during the week that you think may be appropriate for this little collection of miscellany, email us! We can't guarantee that we'll use it, but we will 100% appreciate the effort.

What's New on Serious Eats

You can, of course, browse all our content in reverse-chronological order. But here are just a few highlights:

• In light of the shopping craziness that happens in the wake of Thanksgiving, we updated Stella's recommendations for essential baking gear.
• In the same spirit, Daniel wrote about why he finds a Chinese cleaver to be an almost-perfect all-purpose kitchen knife, and Sho made a case for why every home cook should use a mandoline more frequently. Both make great gifts and are relatively cheap!
• Speaking of gifts, if you've got a serious Serious Eats stan in the fam, we partnered with The BoardSmith to offer our readers a custom-made cutting board that's absolutely gorgeous, if we do say so ourselves.
• Sasha decided to put all of our tips for how to dry-brine, well, anything, in one place.
• And Daniel took a huge bullet for you all by eating a ton of expensive Japanese wagyu beef, with the goal of a) not dying and b) offering advice about how to get the most out of some of the priciest meat in the world.
• Finally, Vonnie Williams gave us a look at how chefs in the Filipino diaspora understand the concept of authenticity. (And don't sleep on the amazing accompanying recipes for sinigang na baboy and pancit palabok, which were developed by Yana Gilbuena.)

Our Favorite Comments of the Week

From "We Designed the Ideal Cutting Board Just for You":

I bought a rock maple end grain board from the BoardSmith 12 years ago. It isn’t just a joy to use, it’s a beautiful object. I use it A LOT and all I’ve ever had to do to it is clean and oil it. There are no low spots, despite my penchant for cutting in the same spot all of the time. It’s a beast. I cooked professionally for years and used a lot of plastic boards. They aren’t even in the same universe, in any way. One note: I have the feet. I can’t imagine a circumstance where I would want to flip the board. If it’s dirty or had poultry on it, I’m cleaning it anyway. So I like the feet. No slipping. I also had a great customer experience with this company, they were responsive and kind. I was so happy to see that you all have chosen them. Well done. If I didn’t already have one, I’d be a customer.

From "Dry-Brining Is the Best Way to Brine Meat, Poultry, and More":

Please correct the phrase “dry-bringing” in the first paragraph. Thank you.

Signed, Retired Copy Editor

From a commenter (who we are frankly quite worried about) on Facebook, in response to our refeatured technique for eggless chocolate mousse:

Pure sex

A Brief Book Break

We made our way back to the last remaining acreage of the farm where my aunts were tending barbecue and roasting sweet potatoes under the black walnut and pecan trees. They were also frying bream and catfish pulled from the pond near the church where my great-grandfather is buried. Fresh green tomato slices were being fried in the kitchen, and so was chicken coated in seasoned flour mixed with cornmeal--adobo seasoning and seasoned salt, to be exact. Fresh garden cucumber slices were marinated with onion, sugar, and vinegar, while little half-wild peaches from the trees by the house became a sticky, golden cobbler. Humongous yellow and crimson watermelons got broken and distributed. I still didn't like watermelon so I gave my hunks of heart to Jacob, who ate them as fast as I could pass them. My aunt looked at me and then him; squinted and smirked and said, "This buckra--he eats his watermelon--he a Twitty; you don't eat watermelon--you ain't no Twitty!"

From The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty.

Food Numbers, News, and Hijinks

• 80: Number of homes in Queens flooded with sewage, which authorities attribute to cooking grease poured down the sink. Dispose of your cooking grease properly, people!
• $2.4 billion: Value of imports from France, which includes wine and cheese, that may be subjected to 100% tariff, in retaliation for French tax on American technology companies.
• ET as a good Italian sausage? Why the heck not. (The real question is, "Sweet or hot?" Yes, there's a right answer.)
• Remy on the MTA! (Although, technically, that's a mouse.)
• 53: Percent of material in Subway oven-roasted chicken found to be chicken DNA, according to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation study of chicken served at five fast-food restaurants, which earned it a $210 million (CAD) defamation lawsuit filed by the foot-long purveyor, which ultimately was dismissed.
• Joe Pera tells Stephen Colbert about the anxiety-reducing benefits of taking a stroll through the produce aisle at the grocery store.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may be a "hemp hero," "cannabis champion," "climate villain," and the WholeFoods Magazine's 2019 Person of the Year, but none of that has anything to do with Whole Foods Market, the grocery store giant wants you to know.

Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!

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