For me, the smoky brilliance of a good barbecue can't be beat. The way the smoke flavor seems to permeate every part of the meat is, in my opinion, the closest thing we have to food magic. Throw a piece of meat in a smoker with some select wood choices, wait a few hours, and suddenly you have something rich, complex, and bursting with smoky flavors.
A carefully constructed frittata is one of the culinary world's perfect wonders. It's inexpensive to create, can be made with all sorts of leftovers, and is outstanding to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. However, frittatas can go downhill fast and come out spongy, tasteless, dry, and over-done.
With Passover soon upon us, many Jews are dreading a week (or eight days for Conservative and Orthodox Jews) of making matzo, the staple of their diet. Matzo is also known as "the bread of affliction," and I'm pretty sure it's because by day three or so you're convinced that matzo is the 11th plague.
The spice selection at Trader Joe's is both inexpensive and truly top-notch. According to their site, they deal with some of the highest-quality spice manufacturers in the world and, in working with them directly, they eliminate hidden costs spent on promotions, brand-building, and advertising. This allows the customer to experiment with new flavors and build up their spice rack—without the usual limiting factor of high cost. If you don't have access to a Trader's in your culinary neck of the...
It seems like everything old is new again these days where food is concerned, and that includes the recent renaissance of babka. The name of this rich, rolled yeast bread, with roots in both the Jewish and non-Semitic Eastern European communities, means "little grandmother" in Ukrainian, Russian, and Yiddish.
If you think that "pawpaw" is just an affectionate name for your grandfather or a cute way of talking about your cat's feet, you're missing out on one of the most interesting fruits out there.
Home cooks are often quite intimidated when trying to reproduce the delicious ethnic dishes they enjoy at various restaurants. Thankfully, there are definite flavor profiles and spice/seasoning/herb combos that are very specific to various regional cuisines and cultures; with a little guidance, you can create dishes that are tasty homages to the cuisines you love to eat. In this two-part article (second part here), I'll cover both categories and sub-categories of some of the most popular ethn...
The way in which cooking can be used to both illustrate science and create a beautiful bite of food is fascinating to me. And emulsions, the results of combining liquid fat and water, are a fantastic example of science in harmony with great cooking.
Sangria... the elixir of summer. When properly prepared, there are few things more refreshing and magical. If you're looking for a way to mix things up and "get out of the bottle," try one of these lovely libations before the warm weather ends: peach-mango sangria, pineapple-basil sangria, watermelon-raspberry sangria, or blueberry-plum sangria.
Baking is one of life's greatest joys. There's something truly magical about taking a half a dozen humble ingredients, mixing them until they're an odd-colored sludge, tossing them into an oven, and watching them emerge as something elegant and delicious.
The idea of a no-churn ice cream seems like the ultimate dessert hack. But, in fact, this concept has been around for at least the past 100 years in what Italians call semifreddo.
We've all been there. You can't decide what you want to eat and, even more confusingly, you want two distinctly different things, whether it's sweet and salty, Chinese and, well, cheese. Chances are when you're in this state of indecision, you also want to make this mythically satisfying meal really, really fast.
People tend to skip toasting nuts in recipes or before adding them to salads because it seems time-consuming and the margin for error is high. However, skipping this step is a big mistake. Why? Because when you skip toasting your nuts (go ahead, you can laugh, we're all doing it), you sacrifice flavor and texture. And not just a little flavor, but a lot. Alton Brown recommends wok-frying peanuts before making your own nut butter for this very reason.
Hard as it is to imagine, there are people out there who loathe garlic and onions. Some might have allergies or medical conditions like IBS, or are supertasters (i.e. people who carry a certain gene that makes them extremely sensitive to how certain foods taste). Others might just be picky eaters.
If you've ever searched for a new job online, chances are you've been completely overwhelmed by the process. Clicking through pages and pages of semi-relevant job postings, sending out hundreds of emailed résumés, and filling out applications is tiresome and dull.
What is gluten, why do some people think it is pure culinary evil, and why are there more and more products devoted to being free of this mysterious substance? Here's what one person thinks: What Is Gluten Really?
What if I told you that you could read minds? You'd most likely think I was crazy, and you'd be right. But what I really meant is that you could make people think that you could read minds, something that's not the least bit crazy.
In this Chinese cooking class on video, learn how to make a famous dish called General Tso’s chicken (a.k.a. General Joe’s, General Gau’s, General Tao’s, General Tsao’s, General Chow’s—and a number of other variations). Our expert will walk you through the recipe, with ingredients for making the dish, the batter, and the sauce, step-by-step instructions for mixing seasonings and cutting vegetables, how to batter and fry the chicken, stir fry cooking tips, and final presentation of the dish. D...
The new Google Assistant is only officially available on three platforms—newer Android phones (Pixels and those running Marshmallow and Nougat), the Google Allo app, and Google Home. However, most of the Assistant's basic functionality is also bundled into the Google app for Android and iOS, which used to go by the name Google Now, but is now referred to only as Screen Search or your Google app's Feed.
The ability to make a meal for yourself used to be one of those life skills you had to learn or otherwise you would starve, but the rise of convenience foods, takeout, and other aspects of modern living have made it entirely possible to be a grown person and not know what to do in the kitchen.
The first written account of "stock" as a culinary staple goes back to 1653, when La Varenne's Cookery described boiling mushroom stems and table scraps with other ingredients (such as herbs and basic vegetables) in water to use for sauces. But really, the concept of stock has probably been around for as long as people have been using water to boil food.
Sometimes it's hard to remember that lasagna, pizza, cannoli, and other dishes are actually Italian in origin; they're so much a part of the American culinary landscape at this point. Wherever they come from, Americans of all kinds love to eat 'em. This guy was released from a North Korean prison, and after two years, the first thing he wanted to eat was fast-food pizza.
Fall is my favorite time of year, yet I cringe every time it begins. Why? Because it seems like every business is in a frenzy to start the Christmas shopping season the day after Halloween ends. For those of us who are fans of pumpkins, that's a buzzkill.
The world of spices can be bewildering. They promise to make your food more flavorful if you know how to make the most of them. Unless you know a couple of essential tricks, however, it just seems like you're adding bits of colored powder to your food.
Go to a chain supermarket, and chances are you'll see one type of garlic—maybe two or three if you're lucky. However, there's a mouthwatering slew of Allium sativum out there, far beyond those papery white bulbs most of us encounter at the nearest Stop 'n' Shop.
For the novice cook, fungi can be weird because, well, they're fungi. However, if you've been afraid to get acquainted with mushrooms, you've been missing out. Vegetarians love mushrooms and with good reason.
Foodies and big-time chefs like Thomas Keller go crazy for fleur de sel. This finishing salt appears in fancy eateries and cookbooks the world over, and in the early 2000s, it was not uncommon to see diners in a high-end restaurant sprinkle a pinch of fleur de sel on their plates from their own personal stash.
There are two types of people in this world: those who recognize Wordle grids of yellow, green, and gray/black blocks and those who do not. No matter which category you fall in, there's a Wordle-inspired game that's perfect for you.
When you encounter a mysterious laundry care symbol or alarming vehicle indicator light, you might just ignore it rather than ask somebody, search online, or open a user manual for the answer. If you have an iPhone, there's an easier way to decipher the meanings behind perplexing symbols and signs—and it only takes a few seconds.
and learn the proper techniques and presentation involved when performing a Gemini count magic card trick. This is a great addition to your sleight of hand repertoire. Made by Richard Scorpio. Do a Gemini count card trick.
Learn to do a small packet double lift card trick. With this video tutorial, you'll better your skills as a magician, and learn the proper techniques and presentation involved when performing a small double lift magic card trick. This is a great addition to your sleight of hand repertoire. Made by Richard Scorpio. Do a small packet double lift card trick.
Luxirare is a site of mystery; the genius behind the intricate and painstakingly photographed projects remains somewhat anonymous, despite her culinary mastery, fashion pieces and e-shop being featured in the likes of Vogue, Lucky Mag, ABC, NBC, and the New York Times. Insanely stylish and original, Luxirare has been blogged about all over the web.
Adding basic sauces to your repertoire is a great way for you to be able to improvise and liven up a dish. Chef Mark shows you how to make Hollandaise and then add to that recipe to create Bernaise. Make Hollandaise and Bearnaise sauce.
Jumps are an important part of any cheerleader's repertoire. The most popular jump in cheerleading is the one and only toe touch. See how to do the toe touch jump in this video. Do a toe touch jump in cheerleading.
Wanna show your team spirit and get the crowd to their feet? Try a jump! Jumps are an important part of any cheerleader's repertoire so learn how to do a front hurdler jump today. Do a front hurdler jump in cheerleading.
Carol Klein demonstrates how to plant culinary herbs in a window box, with tips on what to plant, drainage, and companion plants to keep garden pests at bay.
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has figured out a way to make an omelette inside the eggshell through a tiny, punctured hole.
Learn to do a block pushoff and double lift card trick. With this video tutorial, you'll better your skills as a magician, and learn the proper techniques and presentation involved when performing a block pushoff and double lift magic card trick. This is a great addition to your sleight of hand repertoire. Made by Richard Scorpio. Do a block pushoff and double lift card trick.
Celebrated cocktail writer, poet and killer drink mixer A.J. Rathbun blends up an incredible chocolate cream liqueur from his book Luscious Liqueurs. Aromatic and delicious vanilla and coconut extract, a rum and cream base, not to mention a generous amount of good-quality chocolate syrup, make for an amazing liqueur you'll want to introduce to your cocktail repertoire. So dazzle your friends, give as a gift, or keep it all for yourself! Make chocolate cream liqueur.
Nevermind that rock candy is delicious, the prospect of growing it like a scientist (much like the amazing magic garden) surpasses all culinary delight.
