Living calendar
January
Winter
January is the cooking of after. The parties are done, and you want long braises and slow soups that scent the kitchen for hours — pot roast, short ribs, chili, a pot of soup on a Sunday. Citrus is at its peak (blood oranges starting, Meyer lemons, clementines hanging on), winter squash still holds, root vegetables run the show. On the condiment side, you work deep: star anise for broths, green cardamom for hot milk and chai, long pepper for sauces that reduce, tonka in a custard. It's also inventory month. The peppercorns you opened in January 2025 are done — grind one, and if nothing comes off it, bin it without sentiment. Finish the dark honeys (buckwheat, chestnut) that stand up to a Sunday-afternoon hot chocolate before they crystallize.
Bring out of the pantry
Signature dishes
- Pho broth and Asian soups · with Star Anise · see the pairing →
- Slow-braised short ribs · with Zanzibar Black Pepper · see the pairing →
- Spiced hot chocolate and chai · with Green Cardamom · see the pairing →
- Chocolate tart · with Tonka Beans · see the pairing →
- Pot roast and beef braises · with Kampot Black Pepper · see the pairing →
- Gingerbread (Twelfth Night, UK) · with Buckwheat Honey · see the pairing →
Culinary celebrations
- January 1 · New Year's Day (the recovery roast or soup)
- Variable (late January or early February) · Lunar New Year (star anise, five-spice, long braises)
- Mid to late January · Burns Night (Scotland — haggis, neeps and tatties)
Chef's note
January is the month to clean house. Pull every whole peppercorn jar and grind a little from each. If nothing comes off the burr — no heat, no smell — it's dead, and no braise will resurrect it. Bin it. A pepper that still gives off a faint aroma can ride out a four-hour braise where it has time to bloom. A genuinely fresh peppercorn you save for the things that show it off: eggs, a carpaccio, white meat finished at the table. The rule of January: anything open longer than twelve months has stopped earning its shelf space. Buy better, buy less, and read the labels before you stack.