How To: Stop Arguing About How to Make the Best Snickerdoodles: We Have the Answer
If I were to write a snickerdoodle FAQ list, the top question would undoubtedly be "Do I really need to use cream of tartar in my snickerdoodle cookies?"
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How To: 10 Jammin' Tricks to Making the Best Fruit Preserves Ever
The sweet aroma of cooked fruit filling your kitchen is one of the trademark scents of summer. Yet attaining the perfect consistency for homemade jam can be difficult to master. Often it ends up a watery mess or over-solidifies into thick mystery goo that is destined for the trash, not topping your toast.
How To: Sweet & Salty Popcorn Milkshakes Are a No-Freeze Marvel
Sometimes, you come across a recipe or a food hack and think, "That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard of; who would make that?" That was my initial reaction when I read Food52's piece about popcorn milkshakes.
News: 10 Sneaky Substitutions That Will Have You Eating Healthier
When you're trying to cut some calories or just eat more veggies, it's important to enjoy what you're eating. If all you're doing is telling yourself "no" and focusing on what you can't eat, you are pretty much destined to fail at your diet.
How To: You Don't Need a Recipe to Make Delicious Granola
There are literally hundreds of granola recipes floating around the internet—but I can tell you right now that they're all completely unnecessary. You don't need a recipe to make granola; I've been making granola for years and have never once used one!
How To: Impress Your Drinking Buddies with These 10 Pro Cocktail Hacks
Once again, you've found yourself inviting comrades, companions, and compatriots over for beverages on a Friday evening whim... but alas, your alcohol cabinet is looking rather meager, and your skills are lacking. No worries—just utilize these 10 tricks and spice up your at-home mixology game. Your friends will be none the wiser (and swear that you are a cocktail-concocting genius).
How To: 10 Herbs You Can Buy Once & Regrow Forever
Fresh herbs are a surefire way to enhance a dish, but buying them at the store each time you need them is costly. Luckily, growing your own herbs is a lot easier than it seems: You can even using cuttings from the herbs you already buy to start your own little herb garden.
News: This Tropical Fruit Is Actually as American as Apple Pie
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.
How To: Eat More Sprinkles with These 12 Fairy Bread Creations
If you've spent any time at all recently on social media, then you've probably seen pictures of fairy bread. This magical creation comes to us courtesy of Australia, so we have yet another thing to thank those clever folks Down Under for... along with shrimp on the barbie, Vegemite (the Aussie cousin of Marmite), and Hugh Jackman.
How To: Make Amazing Sauces & Dressings with This Ultimate Guide to Emulsion
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.
News: 4 Amazing Grains That'll Liven Up Your Gluten-Free Cooking
Great news: you don't have to give up grains if you're avoiding gluten.
How To: The Only 'Recipe' You'll Ever Need for Roasting Veggies
I've never had a problem with veggies—we've always been the best of friends—but I do have a lot of other people in my life that have been less than enamored with this basic food group in the past. Some cite the bitter flavor associated with veggies like Brussels sprouts, while others dislike the various consistencies that come with boiling or steaming vegetables such as broccoli or eggplant.
How To: If Cooking Stresses You Out, Mise en Place Can Help
My daughter moved into her first apartment last year, a huge rite of passage in any young person's life. With a mother and two grandmothers who are good cooks (to say the least, in the case of the latter), it's not surprising that she turned to us for some advice about how to improve her own skills in the kitchen. Without question, the single best piece of advice we have given her is to employ mise en place each and every time she prepares a meal.
Good Veggies Gone Bad: When to Throw Out Those Onions, Mushrooms, & Greens in Your Fridge
Most of us lead busy, work-filled lives, often clocking in a 9-to-5 five days a week. And when that clock signifies the hour to leave, the last thing on anyone's mind is: "Time to go to the grocery store to pick up more fresh produce!" (Well, to be fair... maybe more people are psyched about this, but I know with certainty that I am not one of them.)
No-Boil vs. Traditional Pasta: Should You Make the Switch?
We here at Food Hacks are all about saving you, our wonderful readers, time and trouble in the kitchen. So when I saw that Barilla had come out with their Pronto line of "One Pan, No Boil, No Drain" pasta, I had to give it a try. While no-boil lasagna noodles have been around for a while and allow the pasta to essentially cook en casserole, this relatively new addition to the pasta scene includes elbow, penne, spaghetti, and rotini varieties that allow for usage in a greater variety of pasta ...
How To: 10 Absolutely Ingenious Ways to Open Wine Without a Corkscrew
Unless you like boxed wine, your wine bottles are going to either be sealed with a cork or a screw cap, the latter of which should not be frowned upon, especially if it's white wine. However, most wineries still prefer corks over screw caps, and that means you'll need a corkscrew.
How To: Cook a Perfectly Roasted Chicken
Upon reading the title for this article, I bet you secretly thought to yourself, "Yeah, I've got the perfect way to 'make' roast chicken: I go to the store, and I buy one!" Well, there's no question that there are some really tasty, convenient rotisserie chickens out there, already made and ready for eating or using in recipes.
How To: No-Stress Thanksgiving Desserts That Don't Require an Oven
Oven space is scarce on that fated fourth Thursday of November. Even if you can find a spare space for pumpkin pie on the bottom shelf, you risk turkey drippings overflowing from above and ruining your beautiful dessert — not to mention a burnt crust from different temperature requirements. The bottom line is: oven real estate is valuable, and it's tough to multitask cooking for Thanksgiving when every dish requires baking or roasting.
How To: 10 Food Hacks for Making Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies Every Time
Everyone and his mother (and grandmother) has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that he swears is the absolute best recipe, guaranteed to produce a chocolate chip cookie so good it will make you weep with joy. The problem with that is that everyone—relatives included—has a different idea of exactly what constitutes a perfect chocolate chip cookie.
How To: Why You Should Be Drinking Coffee Instead of Water Before a Workout
Nothing gets me functioning in the morning better than strong coffee. And if I'm going to start my day with a dreaded workout, that steaming cup of caffeine is the exact motivation I need to get going. Although coffee might not seem like the best beverage to drink before hitting the gym, it actually has a few hidden benefits over water that may surprise you.
Cooking with Booze: Brunch Edition
Ah, the joys of bottomless brunch. Paying a flat rate for endless mimosas while having a long gossip over eggs Benedict is exactly how many of us love to spend our Saturdays. However, in practice, this isn't the sophisticated affair we all like to imagine. After refill number four we sway in our chair, doze off into our porridge, and end up tipping 50% because math is too hard. In short, not a very successful brunch.
Next-Level Baking: 4 Essentials Every Home Cook Should Master
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.
How To: 7 Tips for Making the Best Burgers Ever
Summer's coming, and that means burger season. Okay, never mind... every season is burger season. Burgers are universally loved; they're the one meal you can find at numerous fast food shacks and haute cuisine spots.
How To: Make Restaurant-Grade Sushi Rice
Contrary to popular belief, sushi is not the raw fish that one gets at Japanese restaurants, but the rice that comes with it. It's hard to tell whether this popular misconception led to or came about because of the primary flavors that we think of in sushi are the fish. We often say a sushi restaurant has great fish, but almost never that it has great rice.
How To: Easy DIY Gourmet Chocolate Bars
We've showed you how to make Butterfingers and Kit Kats, as well as custom-shaped chocolates, but have you ever thought about making your own gourmet chocolate bars?
Skip Home-Brewed Beer: Sake Is Easier to Make & Just as Good
Each flavor of sake, the national spirit of Japan, comes with its own fans, not unlike whiskey aficionados here in the States. While sake is often called "rice wine," it is more akin to a malted beverage like beer.
How To: The Know-It-All's Guide to Caramelization
Look on any bistro or pub menu in America and you'll likely find the term caramelized onions as an option for your burger. The word "caramel" may conjure up images of candy, which is somewhat correct.
How To: Make No-Churn Ice Cream
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.
How To: Keep Your Burger Juicy & Your Bun Dry
There's nothing worse than biting excitedly into your indulgent restaurant-style burger only to find a soggy mess of a bun on your plate. The conundrum of keeping a patty moist but bun dry has perplexed home cooks and chefs alike, and even top burger joints are guilty of soggy-bun syndrome.
How To: Why Opened Wine Doesn't Last Long (& How to Change That)
Bad news, guys. The shelf life for liquor leftovers does not apply to your two-buck chuck. While an opened bottle of your favorite whiskey will stay respectable for ages thanks to its high ABV (which makes it inhospitable to outside elements), an opened bottle of merlot will sour quickly. However, it turns out that red and white wines have different life spans once they're opened—for reasons which we'll cover below.
How To: When You Can't Sleep, Eat This
Being able to sleep deeply and fully is one of the foundations for real health. When you go without it, you feel subhuman and incapable of dealing with the world—just ask a student who's had to pull an all-nighter or the parents of a newborn. In fact, many studies have shown that lack of sleep or irregular sleep is linked to acne, weight gain, and depression.
How To: Turn a Tortilla into a French Crêpe
Making a good crêpe takes practice and commitment. The batter is rich—most recipes incorporate melted butter, whole milk, and several eggs—and the cooking of the crêpe requires good technique. You have to learn to deposit and swirl just the right amount of batter to get the thinnest possible crêpe, and then learn how to loosen the entire circle and flip it over without tearing or snagging.
How To: Make This Spicy Korean Pork Stew with Only 3 Ingredients (And Almost No Effort)
You either love kimchi or you hate it, but for those of us who love it, its salty, briny, spicy crunch is the stuff of life. Honestly, if you're not eating it regularly, you should start, since it's being studied for an amazing list of health benefits, including anti-cancer, anti-aging, and antioxidant properties; obesity and high cholesterol prevention; and promotion of immunity and skin health. The beauty of kimchi is manifold:
How To: Water, Lemon Juice, Vinegar, or Nothing: Should You Even Bother Rinsing Chicken?
There's an ongoing debate about whether or not it's safe or even desirable to rinse meat before you cook it. Many fall into the anti-rinsing camp, saying that it's not effective at dislodging bacteria, especially on poultry, as we've discussed before. Meanwhile, some argue that rinsing certain meats, like bacon, could be beneficial since it possibly prevents it from shrinking.
Sleep Hacks: 10 Ways to Take Back Control Over Your Sleeping Habits
Climbing into bed and shutting your eyes each night is heavenly—but waking up the next morning isn't. We all hate dragging ourselves out of the comfort of sleep and into the groggy, exhausting work day. Yet starting your day doesn't have to be awful if you know how to hack your sleep cycles and get the most out of your shut-eye.
Ingredients 101: Heirloom vs. Hybrid Tomatoes… Ready, Fight!
If you've been to a farmer's market during tomato season, chances are you know that heirloom tomatoes are pricier (and funnier-looking) than their hybrid counterparts.
Hydration Hacks: The Scientific Benefits to the Various Ways We Drink Water
We all know that it's important to drink water regularly throughout the day. After all, it has so many benefits, including flushing toxins out of the body and maintaining kidney health and good bowel movements. Turns out that's only part of the story. While being properly hydrated is key to maintaining overall health, it's also a big component of maintaining and even increasing cognitive ability. Plus, drinking enough water regularly can help you lose weight, if you know when to drink it and ...
How To: Why Life Is More Fun When You Eat Bacon & Cook with Bacon Fat
I grew up in a household where bacon was considered its own necessary food group. My mom saved the bacon fat in a jar and reused it in other dishes, which my friends considered vile, unless they were also from immigrant families or the American South, where saving bacon fat has never gone out of style.
How To: 7 Life-Changing Hacks for How You Eat Potato Chips & Other Bagged Snacks
Americans consume over 1.2 billion pounds of potato chips each year, making it one of the most popular snack foods in the United States.
How To: The Best Investigatory Projects in Science: 16 Fun & Easy Ideas to Kickstart Your Project
Most of us have conducted an investigatory science project without even knowing it, or at least without knowing that's what it was called. Most science experiments performed, from elementary to high school students and all the way up to professional scientists, are investigatory projects.