Action Bronson’s main advice for aspiring home chefs is also a plug for his F—ck, That’s Delicious cookbook (“You will never, ever, ever have an issue thinking of what to eat again or, you know, pleasuring your wife. It's all in there”), but he says the real key is to master the fundamentals. After you tackle those basic knife skills and searing techniques, Bronson says you can cook anything. From his home in Brooklyn, where he’s been self-isolating due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Bronson has been cooking a lot. Some dishes are fancier than others, but all of them are made with love and (presumably) were fucking delicious.

As both a musician and a food personality, Action Bronson is part of two industries that have been especially hurt by COVID-19. Like many musicians, Bronson had to cancel tours, which he describes as “crippling” for an artist. Still, the rapper has a new album on the horizon, an LP called Only for Dolphins due out later this year.

“It's done. It's a masterpiece. It's gorgeous,” Bronson teases. “Nothing but riveting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat lyrical execution. You'll be able to communicate with marsupials, all different types of animals, species. Alien-like structures. You could speak to babies.”

Sadly, Bronson can’t share his meals as easily as he’ll be able to share the new record. For many, food is hard to come by during this pandemic, to say nothing of the service industry’s mass closures. “I miss going to all my favorite restaurants,” Bronson says. “I miss going to every single place. I hate that I can't just walk in and get something whenever I want. I hate that other people can't.”

“There's gotta be somehow, some way that the government steps in and takes care of it,” he continues. “Because a lot of motherfuckers love going to these places. All these famous politicians: I see them up in these restaurants and, you know, they're living nice right now. They need to take care of everybody—all those workers.”

The long-term effects of the pandemic on the food industry are still a frightening unknown, but for now Bronson’s finding plenty of solace in his own kitchen. Here are five of the things Bronson’s cooked lately that have made him happy (and, for the most part, healthy).

Childhood Meals

Every day, I strive to do something from my childhood that makes me feel good. Just recently—about 10 minutes ago—I had tennis-racket pasta with broccoli florets and some beautiful olive oil, garlic, and some crushed chilies all mixed together. That's just the taste of my childhood right there. My mother made that for me lots of times. It’s the go-to dish when you don't have much in the pantry, you know, maybe you have some frozen broccoli. I always have olive oil. Sicilian, Chilean, from all different ranges of the world.

It’s the way that it’s made [that makes it so comforting]. It's pasta with garlic and olive oil. I slice the garlic up, let it fry up with the chilies and olive oil—and I turn it off. I let the olive oil soak up into the garlic so it becomes soft. And then you boil the pasta in very salted water. Towards the end, you throw the broccoli florets in there, drain—leave a little bit of the water—throw it into the thing, and stir it up with some salt. That's the fucking dish right there. That's beauty.

I've been making lots of breads. I see everyone's been on the sourdough kick, but I've been on the focaccia kick. Just making big, fluffy, gorgeous, delicious focaccia. That stuff makes me happy. Baking, in general, makes me happy. It brings me back to when I was a kid. All of this shit is trying to invoke some sort of nostalgia and a good feeling in life.

Olive Oil

I have an olive oil preference. Last year, I happened to have done three olive oil collaborations with a beautiful company called Grove and Vine. My friend Nicholas Coleman is the number-one oleologist in the country. He is the top guy in America for olive oil, and he happens to live right here in Queens and be a good friend of mine. Right now I have this beautiful, beautiful Biancolilla from Sicily right now. Earlier on in the year, we did an Arbequina from Chile. Before that we did something from South Africa, which was a mix of Frantoia and Koroneiki. But this stuff right here, this is the freshest olive oil right now, ’cause the harvest coming up.