Good morning. A week ago, I was sitting in a black-box theater at Carriageworks in Sydney, interviewing the chef and restaurateur Kylie Kwong in front of an audience of Australian readers of The Times. It was an intimate conversation, filled with revelations about Ms. Kwong’s past and future plans, and there were a few moments when she went silent to think and the room nearly vibrated with anticipation about what she might say.

At the end of our conversation, I opened the floor to questions from the audience. Some were personal, others philosophical, and at least one went straight to the kitchen. A man asked, “How do you make duck?”

Ms. Kwong clapped her hands in delight, then delivered what I knew right then would be this Wednesday’s homily: a no-recipe recipe, a way to cook without precise instruction, a promise that deliciousness will come if only you can follow a narrative lead.

Find a duck or some duck breasts, she said, and rub the skin with salt and crushed Sichuan peppercorns, then let everything sit overnight in the fridge to dry. The next day, bring the duck to room temperature and steam it in a basket until it is well and truly cooked through — around an hour and a half for a whole duck. I think you could do it in an Instant Pot: 20 minutes.

Allow the meat to rest and cool, and then, if it’s a whole duck you’ve cooked, split it down the center and gently lift the meat away from the breast bones. Dust the meat with some more salt and Sichuan peppercorn, and then with a few tablespoons of flour. Heat a cup of oil in a wok, then shallow-fry the duck until it’s crispy.

Serve with stir-fried vegetables, rice and chile sauce. That is an outstanding thing to do. (Other no-recipe recipes: Salmon with barbecue sauce and hot peppers; savory French toast; speedy fish chowder!)

In other news: Happy Purim! I think these savory hamantaschen, from Joan Nathan, are just fantastic. I like, as well, David Tanis’s new recipe for lamb-topped flatbread with za’atar. As I do, moving away from the Fertile Crescent, Alison Roman’s new recipe for a chicken and escarole salad with anchovy croutons. That could be dinner tonight.

On the other hand, Margaux Laskey has a great article in The Times this week, about “The Best Cookbook for Kids.” That might just as easily bring you a meal this evening, even if you can’t hand off production of the food to a child. The recipes Margaux highlighted are terrific. Consider these baked white beans with sausage and sage, from “The Silver Spoon for Children,” by Amanda Grant. Also this made-in-the-pan chocolate cake (above), from “Honest Pretzels,” by Mollie Katzen, and this chocolate mug cake from “Baking Class: 50 Fun Recipes Kids Will Love to Bake!” by Deanna F. Cook.

As for the vegetable dumplings from “Around the World: Delicious Dishes From Across the Globe,” the latest in the American Girl cookbook series? Yes. I will always stand with American Girl.

There are thousands and thousands more recipes to cook this week waiting for you on NYT Cooking. (Please take out a subscription so you can access them all and feel a part of our growing community.) You can also find ideas for what to chop, sauté, steam, bake and fry on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds. And, as always, you can ask us for help if you run into trouble with a recipe or the site itself: [email protected]. We will get back to you.

Now, have you seen this collection Alana Newhouse put together for Tablet Magazine: “The 100 Most Jewish Foods”? The book is, as the blurb on its cover promises, “a highly debatable list.”

It has nothing to do with cakes and ale, but you should read Emma Marris on rats and urban life, in National Geographic.

Finally, when you’re done, check out Davy Rothbart in The California Sunday Magazine, on the enigmatic California athlete Elizabeth Swaney, whose performance in the halfpipe at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games contained no tricks at all. People are amazing. See you on Friday.

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