I think the best dishes are the kind that come with a story. The kind that make you feel loved and cared for. Preferably ones that also involve an awful lot of butter. It makes sense, then, that so many of the most popular recipes I published this year came via personal recollections and lively conversations with Salon guests. It wasn't just that food itself was so enticing. It was the reassuring tenderness of their origins.
When I talked to novelist Patricia Cornwell last winter about her latest thriller, "Autopsy," she revealed how Kay Scarpetta's famed garlic bread is based on her partner Staci's version of "the best thing you've ever tasted." And though Cornwell can't get Staci to spill what her addictive secret ingredient is, my own garlic bread deep diving led me to discover a memorable take on the classic from none other than Guy Fieri. A garlic bread that holds absolutely nothing back, butter-wise, and then gets a surprise lift from a shake of hot sauce, this was the dish that neither Salon readers nor my family could get enough of this year. I don't know if mine is as good as Staci's, but I do know I have since forgotten all other garlic breads I've ever known.
