Alone in the kitchen

Single-size recipes add variety and help with portion control.

If you’re eating solo, you don’t need to tempt yourself with too many cookies so a recipe for two irresistible chocolate chip cookies is perfect.

Some people find solitary pleasure in listening to podcasts, going for long walks, soaking in the bathtub. For Eric Kim, it’s cooking solo.

“It’s really time to myself, and it’s really therapeutic,” says the writer, who grew up in Alpharetta. As the author of Food52′s popular Table for One column (20182020), Kim spent many quiet hours conjuring single servings of risotto, beef bourguignon, chicken soup (from a Cornish game hen), and chocolate lava cakes, then sharing the recipes in confessional essays about life as a gay academic-turned-food writer in Manhattan.

Thanks to the warm response of readers, he ended up feeling less alone. And he found that his musings on diminutive meatloafs and five-minute peach cobblers resonated not only with solo dwellers, but also married couples with and without children, people with roommates, people in long-distance relationships, and so on.

“I don’t like exercising, so I cook for myself,” says Kim, 29, who since August has been in quarantine with his family in Atlanta, where he is putting the final touches on his first cookbook, “Korean American.” He calls the culinary memoir, due out next year from Clarkson Potter, a valentine to his Korean mother, Jean.

Soon, however, Kim will have a full-circle moment. Next month, he returns to New York to work as a cooking writer and recipe developer for The New York Times.

Once again, he’ll be alone in the kitchen, mostly. “I’m looking forward to getting back to that,” said Kim, who taught himself to cook as a New York University grad student immersed in Hemingway, Faulkner, Henry James, and Nigella Lawson.

Kim is not unique in this passion.

While the census doesn’t query Americans about their cooking habits, it does track household numbers. In 2019, an estimated 28% of Americans lived alone — a trend that has grown steadily

since 1960.

And now that we are in the middle of a somber pandemic winter, having visitors inside the home is off the table for many. Just as some singletons may feel increasingly isolated, couples and families in quarantine might find their personal space shrinking. As COVID19 transformed social norms last year, families rejoiced in the novelty of coming together for homecooked meals. Almost a year later, it’s possible that the pendulum has swung. If two’s company and three’s a crowd, maybe now one is the magic number in the kitchen.

Forget counting steps: How much me-time have you clocked this week?

“Discover the joy of cooking for yourself — no matter your household size,” said the press release tucked into America’s Test Kitchen’s “Cooking for One: Scaled Recipes, No-waste Solutions &

Time-saving Tips” ($29.99), published in September. A welcome volume with recipes for the likes of Crispy-skinned Chicken, Gingery Carrot Soup, Simplest Ground Beef Tacos, Mexican Street Corn Salad, No-bake Apple Crisp, and — ahoy! — Two Chocolate Chip Cookies, the cookbook is in tune with the zeitgeist. On the practical side, it packs a good many tricks, tips and techniques for cooks at all levels, too. It’s a companionable book to give to both the college-bound and the older person suddenly setting the table for one.

I’ve lived alone for the past 20 years, and though I enjoy entertaining, the more I cook for just me, the more I love it. In the past year, the pandemic has forced me to be more resourceful and more creative. Instead of dashing out with a shopping list, I improvise with ingredients on hand. Instead of batch cooking, which can lead to both wasting food and overindulging, I’ve lately taken a shine to the single-serving approach. Kim’s columns have been a particular inspiration.

So the next time you are feeling all alone and hungry, instead of reaching for the peanut butter or the cereal, treat yourself to a little luxury. A half-dozen oysters, a perfect filet mignon, a chocolate lava cake with a hint of clementine: It’s hard to get bored when you fill your solitary hours with such deliciousness.

ALSO INSIDE

Are you a solo cook? Try these recipes,

STYLING BY WENDELL BROCK/CHRIS HUNT FOR THE AJC Atlanta native Eric Kim’s foil-wrapped scallops, dotted with caper-raisin butter and steamed on a mound of rainbow-chard ribbons, are easy and luxurious.

QUITTNER COURTESY OF ELLA Eric Kim, who spent two years writing Food52’s popular Table for One column, will be heading to New York as a cooking writer and recipe developer for The New York Times.

THE AJC STYLING BY WENDELL BROCK/CHRIS HUNT FOR If you’re eating solo, you don’t need to tempt yourself with too many cookies so a recipe for two irresistible chocolate chip cookies is perfect.

STYLING BY WENDELL BROCK/CHRIS HUNT FOR THE AJC Atlanta native Eric Kim’s foil-wrapped scallops, dotted with caperraisin butter and steamed on a mound of rainbow-chard ribbons, are easy and luxurious.