This week's cook

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

A Depression-era cake that stays damp for four days. The mayonnaise is the eggs and the oil, and you will never taste it.

Crockpot Beef and Broccoli

Chuck steak braised until it gives, in a glossy soy and ginger sauce, with broccoli added at the very end so it stays green.

Buttermilk-brined thighs in a craggy seasoned crust, crisp all over in 25 minutes without a pot of hot oil.

All recipes

Four hours unattended, then five minutes under the broiler for the crust a slow cooker cannot give you.

Thick wedges roasted until the edges char and the core turns sweet, under a cold garlic yoghurt.

Parboiled first so the grill only has to char them. Twelve minutes over the coals, not forty.

Sausage, spinach and a cream broth built over four hours. The gnocchi go in for the last thirty minutes.

Creamy, mushroomy and thick with grain. The wild rice cooks separately because it takes three times as long as anything else.

A full plate timed so everything arrives hot. The biscuits go in the oven first and the eggs are cooked last.