Good Bread Good Meat Good God Let's Eat : The New York Times Recipes

Meredith Heuer for The New York Times

FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016

SAM SIFTON

Good morning. It's an exciting day here at Cooking. Later today, we'll be introducing an exciting new feature of the site and apps called Sousbot, the world's first digital assistant chef. Use Sousbot to cut vegetables and trim meats, to stir risottos and watch carefully over caramels. Use Sousbot to wash pots and shop for hard-to-find ingredients unavailable anywhere online. Sousbot can provide smart instruction for those seeking vegetarian alternatives to beef in brisket dishes. Sousbot can fix pies.
Just kidding! It's April Fool's. Perhaps you need a recipe? Rozanne Gold came through with a bunch for us back in 1994, includingchicken in a watermelon and cake in a shoe box ("box is reusable"); a terrifying cherry cola, chocolate, mayonnaise and sauerkraut cake; and a scary confection called Corsetiere's Despair.
Make one of those tonight and send us a picture? If you do, we'll figure out some way to get it into a future edition of this newsletter.
Now, what are you actually going to cook this weekend? Mark Bittman has a great old recipe for pork ribs that you can braise then grill, or braise then broil – a terrific meal for this shoulder season between temporal spring and the actual article when all you want to do is walk around barefoot for the next three months. Wherever you cook, though, serve the ribs with Nigella Lawson's recipe for a light potato salad (above) and a big pile of pickleback slaw.
And for dessert? You ever try Kim Severson's recipe for coconut cream pie?
(Another grilling idea: Last weekend, we brined some cheap chicken wings for a few hours, then smoked them for 30 minutes before roasting them in a hot oven until they were crisp and golden. Then we served them with barbecue sauce. It sounds fussy, all that brining and smoking before you even cook the damn things. But hoo boy, is it worth it.)
Or how about Martha Rose Shulman's recipe for grilled halloumi and vegetables, which truthfully you could pull off indoors with your oven and a hot pan? Or, heading into another larder altogether, you could try Florence Fabricant's recipe for mushroom soup gratinée.
We may grab some frozen blueberries and make Nancy Harmon Jenkins's recipe for blueberry muffins for Sunday morning. Or we may make an egg casserole. Or some French toast amandine.
That and a nap, you'll be in great shape in late afternoon to assemble my recipe for turkey meatloaf, a homage to Nora Ephron. Eat that, then watch the documentary her son Jacob Bernstein made about her, "Everything Is Copy," on HBO. That's a nice night.
You can turn to Cooking for other ideas. Save those you're interested in cooking to your recipe boxes (and I'll stop reminding you to do so every day!). Then rate them when you're done cooking and put notes on them if you have any emendations to offer. And if a problem arises, please ask us for help: cookingcare@nytimes.com. We're standing by. Have a great weekend.