It’s September 2014, and Food52 just celebrated its fifth birthday. Food blogs—like Joy The Baker, Brooklyn Supper, and 101 Cookbooks—are thriving. Vice’s Munchies—a YouTube series highlighting the lifestyles and personalities of beloved chefs—is so popular it’s about to become its own website.
Meanwhile, season two of Rewrapped—hosted by NSYNC’s Joey Fatone—just premiered on the Food Network. Earlier this year we watched super-chef Bobby Flay show how he “got (and stays) in great shape” in his new web series, Bobby Flay Fit. (It’s unclear whether this project inspired The Dean of Lean, a Cooking Channel series where Bobby Deen (Paula’s son) visits “families and [creates] healthy makeovers of their traditional meals.”)
Musically, we’re loving Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” (but 1989 won’t release for another month), Pharell is Happy, and Meghan Trainor is—decidedly—all about that bass. On television, the only thing Americans watch more than The Big Bang Theory is Sunday Night Football.
The Apple Watch was announced earlier this month. So was the iPhone 6. Headphones are corded. Facebook is becoming weird. There are 200 million people on Instagram, and Food52 is one of them.
That was nine years ago. And, as we established in our previous recipe rewind (which highlighted the 2010’s most popular recipes), food—and the world around it—looks very different today. By revisiting our site’s top recipes way back when, we gain a better perspective on the dishes we love to cook now.
10. Sam's Favorite Chocolate Cake With Cherry Jam
The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity: Semi-sweet chocolate combines with sour cherry jam and fresh whipped cream to create a cake that’s moist and subtly sweet.
9. Absurdly Addictive Asparagus
For her absurd asparagus, recipe developer KayKay employs a simple but foolproof strategy: “Take a garden fresh ingredient like asparagus and pair it with pancetta [to] get Snap, Crackle, Crisp all in one bite.”
8. Classic Ratatouille From Alice Waters
“Classic,” “Ratatouille,” and “Alice Waters,” all say the same thing: simple ingredients elevated to their highest potential. Serve with crusty bread and your favorite glass of white for the perfect, easy night.
7. Genius Cauliflower Soup From Paul Bertolli
This three-ingredient soup has racked up nearly 400 positive reviews. Sharon’s says it all: “Whooo boy. This is 100% a keeper.”
6. The Best Pan-Roasted Potatoes
“The dish is absurdly simple in terms of ingredients, but it’s the contrasting play of colors and textures that make it worthy of a community pick,” writes our editors. “One bite through a wedge leaves a delightful confusion on your palate, simultaneously chip-like in crunchiness and mashed potato-like in fluffiness, all in one bite.”
5. Dad's Favorite Seafood Stew
This fish stew recipe comes from a family that spent over 80 years in the seafood industry, and it shows. Shrimp, scallops, and saltwater fish filets (like snapper or cod) combine with tomatoes, garlic, and white wine to create a stew that carries scampi’s universally appealing flavors.
4. One-Pot Kale & Quinoa Pilaf
Also one of 2010’s most popular recipes, the convenience and quality of this pilaf give it staying power among our community. Serve this with grilled fish, chicken thighs, or griddled tofu.
3. Marcella Hazan's Tomato Sauce With Onion & Butter
Our editors deemed this “the purist's tomato sauce. And as a result, it goes well with just about everything. It's an ideal bed for spicy meatballs, a perfect partner for al dente strands of spaghetti with flecks of Parmesan strewn on top, and—perhaps our favorite use—a welcoming landing pad for heels of crusty bread.”
2. Crockpot Brown Sugar & Balsamic–Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Some of this recipe’s popularity—which we measure by pageviews—can be attributed to controversy: Initially, we struggled to accurately identify and credit the original recipe developer. However, based on the comments from 2014, many people do enjoy the tenderloin’s sweet, acidic glaze.
1. Magical, Marvelous, Memorable Cookies
These cookies—which feature pretzels, chocolate chips, pecans, granola—are fantastic. But the comment section is even better. Here, see for yourself:
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