Just cook. That is the message of the moment, the act to embrace. Just cook dinner. It is a habit as easy to form as a bad one, and more beneficial by far.
做饭吧。它是当下的潮流，是受欢迎的行为。做晚餐吧。这个好习惯跟坏习惯一样容易养成，而且到目前为止人们发现它益处多多。
Of course, home cooking can be stressful, particularly during the week. Never mind the time spent at the stove. There is also the time spent planning, and the time spent shopping: invisible labor, more taxing than it seems. And then someone has soccer practice. Or the traffic is heavy. Someone needs to work late. Time famine grasps us all.
当然，在家做饭会让人觉得有压力，特别是在工作日。先别提花在炉灶边的时间。计划和购买食材都需要花时间：这些无形的劳动实际上更费力。再加上交通拥堵。有人要去练踢足球，有人要加班。所有的人都没时间。

We are here to help. This issue of Dining is dedicated to the core promise of a new website and iPad app that The New York Times introduced last week called Cooking. Built on a foundation of more than 16,000 old and new recipes in the Times archives, the site and app are designed for cooks of all talents, from beginning to expert. The mission: to make each one of us a better cook.
我们是来帮助你的。《纽约时报》上周推出了一个名为“烹饪”(Cooking)的新网站和iPad应用程序。这一期的《美食》(Dining)是为了实现“烹饪”的核心承诺。“烹饪”以《纽约时报》档案库里的1.6万多个新老食谱为基础，面向各种水平的厨师，不管是新手还是行家。我们的目标是让每个人都更会做饭。
So just cook and see what happens. Gather family or friends to your table and serve them hot food. Maybe it helps the children do better in school. (Studies suggest it.) Maybe it strengthens relationships. (Likewise.) Demonstrably (as you will see!) it is more pleasant than a microwaved stew or takeout curry or a pizza delivered from miles away. Cheaper, too.
你只管去做，看看会发生什么。把家人和朋友聚集到你的餐桌前，给他们奉上热腾腾的食物。也许它能帮助孩子们在学校表现得更好（有研究可以证明这一点）。也许它能增进感情（也有研究可以证明）。很明显（你会看到的！），它比用微波炉做的砂锅菜、外卖咖喱饭或从几英里外送来的披萨更令人愉快。而且也更便宜。
Here is one way to get started: Imagine a chicken smothered in gravy, cooked on the stove top, served with white rice and steamed green beans with a pat of butter. It is as pleasant a meal as a September night can offer, and simple to prepare.
你可以这样开始：想像一只鸡淹没在肉汁里，放在炉子上烹制，然后和白米饭、蒸扁豆、一小块黄油一起上桌。它能带给你一个美妙的九月之夜，而且易于烹制。
The shopping is a breeze. Go to the market for a chicken of moderate size. Get an organic one because it will taste better. Ask the butcher to take out the backbone if you’re nervous about doing that yourself. This isn’t a time for more courage than is called for in the preparation of a midweek meal. (A bird with its backbone removed has been “spatchcocked,” and you can lay it out flat in a pan. If you want to know how to do that yourself, there is a short instructional video and other tips on cooking techniques at nytimes.com/video/cooking-techniques.
购买食材也很容易。去市场买一只中等大小的鸡。请买有机的，因为味道会更好。如果你不敢去骨，那就让肉贩帮你做这件事。你不需要拿出比烹制一顿普通周中晚餐更多的勇气来做这道菜（去除骨头的鸡可以洗净即煮，可以把它摊在平底锅上。如果你想知道自己如何去除骨头，可以在nytimes.com/video/cooking-techniques找到一个简短的指导视频和其他烹饪技巧小贴士）。
Buy some unsalted butter and, if you don’t have any, a small amount of flour. You probably have salt and pepper. Maybe there is some chicken stock in your freezer or refrigerator. If not, pick up some at the store, the low-sodium kind, better in all ways than its over-salty cousin in a can or cube. You need little else.
买点不加盐的黄油。如果没有面粉的话，就买一点。你很可能有盐和胡椒。你冰箱的冷冻室或冷藏室里可能有鸡肉高汤。如果没有的话，在商店里买点高汤，低钠的那种，它从各方面都比罐装或块状的过咸的鸡汤要好。其他东西基本上不需要买了。
The recipe is a classic, in a collection we’re calling Times Classics, and it comes from Craig Claiborne, a child of Mississippi who started as food editor of The Times in 1957 and did as much as anyone to help bring home cooking into the spotlight. The dish “belongs in the ‘comfort’ category,” he wrote in 1983, “a food that gives solace to the spirit when you dine on it.”
这个食谱非常经典，选自我们所称的“纽时经典”(Times Classics)系列菜谱，出自克雷格·克莱本(Craig Claiborne)之手。他出生于密西西比州，从1957年开始担任《纽约时报》的美食编辑，为公众关注家庭烹饪做出了极大的努力。1983年他写道，这道菜“是‘慰藉’型的，是那种食用时能带来精神安慰的食物”。
Doesn’t that sound good? You could give your smothered chicken some European flair with mushrooms and small onions in the gravy, as Claiborne did in his experiments with Pierre Franey, then his kitchen co-pilot. Or you could send yourself south to the Creole tastes of the Delta, with a blend of tomatoes, chopped celery, onion and green peppers added to the sauce. They wrote recipes for both.
是不是听起来很棒？你可以在肉汁中加入蘑菇和小洋葱，让这道焖鸡带一点欧洲风味，克莱本和他当时的副手皮埃尔·弗雷尼(Pierre Franey)曾这样尝试过。或者可以在酱汁中加入番茄、碎芹菜、洋葱和青椒，让它带有南方三角洲的克里奥尔风味。这两种菜谱他们都写过。
Sometimes the easiest way is the best.
有时最简单的做法是最好的。
First, select a pan in which to cook. Claiborne believed a cast-iron skillet to be essential to the dish’s success, probably in part for nostalgic reasons and absolutely because cast iron conducts heat so evenly and well. But any heavy-bottomed pan large enough to hold the chicken will do. Set it over medium heat, and add a couple of tablespoons of butter. As it melts and starts to foam, salt and pepper the chicken. Then add it to the pan, skin side down, and turn the heat to low.
首先，选个平底锅烹制。克莱本认为铸铁长柄平底煎锅对这道菜的成功至关重要，选这种锅可能是因为怀旧，但绝对是因为铸铁传热快而均匀。不过其实所有能放下整只鸡的大深底锅都可以。把锅放在中火上加热，加入几汤匙黄油。等黄油融化开始起泡时，给鸡肉撒上盐和胡椒。然后把鸡放到锅里，带皮的一面朝下，调成小火。
Now, a technique straight out of Claiborne’s mother’s playbook: Put an inverted plate on top of the chicken and weight it down with a full can of tomatoes or beans, a foil-wrapped brick or a small dumbbell — something heavy enough to press the skin of the chicken into the heated surface.
下面，我要介绍克莱本妈妈的一个诀窍：在鸡肉上反着放一个盘子，在上面放一整罐番茄或豆子、用箔纸包起来的砖块、一个小哑铃，或者任何能把鸡皮压向加热的锅面的重物。
Cooking is patience. Cooking is trust. The low heat of the stove combined with the butter and the rendering fat of the chicken will slowly turn the skin golden brown and crisp, so that it releases easily from the pan. At which point you will turn the chicken over, carefully, and cook it some more. (Use the downtime to make rice and prepare your green beans.) Then, the smothering. When the chicken has cooked through, take it out of the pan and pour off all but a couple of tablespoons of the fat in the pan, and make a quick gravy.
烹饪需要耐心，需要信任。炉子的低温与黄油以及鸡肉本身的脂肪相结合，会慢慢把鸡皮变得金黄酥脆，这样你就能轻松地把它从平底锅里取出来（用这段时间做米饭和扁豆）。然后是焖制。鸡肉熟透之后，从锅中取出，把锅里的肥油倒掉一些，只留几汤匙，用它快速做个肉汁。
There is no need to panic at that command. Simply sprinkle a few tablespoons of flour into the hot fat and stir it around with a whisk for a few minutes, allowing the raw taste of the flour to diminish. Then hit the resulting roux with a cup or so of chicken stock, whisking until it thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.
不必为这个指令感到慌张。在热的肥油上撒几汤匙面粉，搅拌几分钟，去除面粉的生味。然后在面糊中加入一杯左右的鸡汤，搅拌至变稠。加入盐和胡椒调味。
Return the chicken to the pan with the gravy and allow it to cook yet a little while longer, until it is ridiculously tender, almost coming off the bones. Then remove to a cutting board, hack into pieces and place on a platter. Spoon some of the gravy over the top and serve the rest on the side, with the rice and vegetables.
把鸡肉放回带有肉汁的锅中，焖的时间稍微长一点，直至鸡肉变得很嫩，几乎要从骨头上掉下来。然后移到案板上，切成片，放到大浅盘上。在上面浇一些肉汁，把剩下的肉汁和米饭、蔬菜放在旁边。
This is weekday cooking to remember and, we hope, the start of a glorious journey toward the delicious.
这是值得纪念的工作日烹饪，我们希望它能帮你开启美妙的美食之旅。
RECIPE
菜谱：
INGREDIENTS
配料：
1 chicken, about 3 1/2 pounds, spatchcocked (split down the backbone, breast left intact and unsplit)
1只鸡，约3.5磅，去除脊骨，鸡胸保持完整
Kosher salt, to taste
粗盐，调味用
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
现磨胡椒，调味用
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2汤匙不加盐的黄油
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2汤匙通用面粉
1 ½ cups chicken broth, ideally homemade
1.5杯鸡汤，最好是自制的
PREPARATION
制作过程：
1. Craig Claiborne believed a cast-iron skillet to be essential for the authentic preparation of this dish. Sprinkle the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Select a skillet large enough to hold the chicken comfortably when it is opened up, as for broiling. Fold wings under to secure them.
1. 在鸡肉两面撒上盐和胡椒。选一个能轻松放下整只鸡的大长柄平底锅。把鸡翅折叠在下面。
2. Melt the butter in the pan and add the chicken, skin side down. Cover chicken with a plate that will fit comfortably inside the skillet. Place a heavy can, stone or brick on top of the plate to weigh it down. Cook over low heat, checking the chicken skin, until it is nicely browned, about 25 minutes.
2. 让黄油在锅里融化，加入鸡肉，鸡皮朝下。用一个大小合适的盘子反着盖住鸡肉。在盘子上放一个沉重的罐子、石头或砖块，以增加向下的压力。用小火加热，查看鸡皮，直至它变成好看的金黄色，约需25分钟。
3. Remove weight and plate. Turn chicken so skin side is up. Replace plate and weight and continue cooking for about 15 minutes more.
3. 去除重物和盘子。把鸡肉翻过来，让鸡皮朝上。重新放上盘子和重物，再煎约15分钟。
4. Remove chicken and pour off fat from the skillet, leaving about 2 tablespoons in the pan. Add the flour to the fat, stirring with a wire whisk over medium heat. Gradually add the chicken broth and, when thickened, return chicken to the skillet, skin side up. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover with the plate and weight and continue cooking over low heat about 20 to 30 minutes longer or until the meat is exceptionally tender. Spoon the sauce over it.
4. 把鸡肉移走，倒掉煎锅里的一部分肥油，在锅里留约两汤匙。在肥油中加入面粉，用搅打器搅拌，用中火加热。慢慢加入鸡汤搅拌，变稠后把鸡肉放回锅中，鸡皮朝上。加入盐和胡椒调味。盖上盘子和重物，继续用小火加热20至30分钟，直至鸡肉变得很嫩。用勺子舀酱汁浇在上面。
5. Cut chicken into serving pieces, and serve with the sauce and fluffy rice on the side.
5. 把鸡肉切成片上桌，在旁边放上剩下的酱汁和蓬松的米饭。