The First Meal

The first meal that you cook in a new apartment is very, very important. We all remember what happened last time, don't we? I attempted to inaugurate our Park Slope apartment three years ago with Edna Lewis's fried chicken (fried in butter and lard) and didn't get the fat hot enough. The result? Gooey, gloppy, undercooked chicken and a cursed apartment that gave us bad heat over three harsh winters. (OK, I exaggerate: I liked that apartment. But the heat did suck).

For the...