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Amanda Hesser shares her recipe for Cucumbers in Cream from her new cookbook: "The Essential NYT Cookbook."

Read more to find out how to make Amanda Hesser's French (Flourless) Chocolate Cake from her new cookbook: "The Essential NYT Cookbook."

New York Times food columnist Amanda Hesser talks about the process of updating every one of the 1,000-plus recipes in the book The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century, the compendium of influential and delicious recipes from chefs, home cooks, and food writers. Her chapter introductions showcase the history of American cooking along with what makes each recipe special. It includes recipes for Plum Torte, David Eyre's Pancake, Pamela Sherrid's Summer Pasta, and classics from 1940's Caesar salad and 1960's flourless chocolate cake, to today's no-knead bread.

Learn how to make Amanda Hesser's Purple Plum Torte from her new cookbook: "The Essential NYT Cookbook."

Find out how to make Amanda Hesser's "David Eyre's Pancake," from her cookbook: The Essential New York Times Cookbook.

In the Pixar movie Ratatouille, the critic Anton Ego has a character changing moment when a bite of ratatouille triggers a childhood memory. New York Times Magazine Food Editor Amanda Hesser, and Dr. Marcia Pelchat, with the Monell Chemical Senses Center, join us to talk about why there is such ...