It's Friday night, you're in the kitchen, and your guests are arriving way sooner than you want them to. The soup is not thickening like it's supposed to, the salad still needs dressing, and the pine nuts for the salad are... wait, what's that smell? Crap, the pine nuts!
There's something primal about the smell of smoking food. Somewhere deep in the recesses of our souls, we remember a time when humans only ate by the fire. Or perhaps that's just something I tell myself. Either way, it's hard to smell smoke and food and not feel like you should be eating. And, as chef Edi Frauneder said in a recent Saveur article, "Grilling is convivial. There's something about this act of coming together over an open flame that just says vacation."
Independence Day is right around the corner, and that means three things: fireworks, cold beer, and great food. I always love to cook festive foods for the Fourth of July, and I don't just mean the classics, like grilled chicken and brats. I mean foods that celebrate the Stars and Stripes: foods that are red, white, and blue.
At its core, grilling is the simplest form of cooking. You create extreme heat, you put a piece of food on top of the heat, and then you sit back and watch the magic happen. Yet despite the inherent simplicity in grilling, there are a million ways to make it more complex, more unique, and, yes, even more flavorful.
In order to make your food taste good, your favorite restaurant is most likely using way more salt than you think they are (among other pro secrets). Which is why when you ask just about any professional cook what the biggest problem with most home-cooked meals are, they almost always answer that they're "undersalted" or "underseasoned." (In cooking lingo, to "season" food means to salt it.)
Salt is a miraculous substance. From the Ancient Egyptians to the Christian Bible, many cultures believe it to have mystical powers that can ward off evil, among other things.
We tend to assume that eating is mostly a physical act, but the mind has so much to do with the choices we make.
Last year, The New York Times wrote that certain restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn banned patrons from taking photos of their meals. That means no flash photography, no standing on chairs for a better angle, not even a quick pic for your Instagram followers before the first bite. Little do these restaurants know, this ban can actually make their customers' food taste worse, so to speak.
Think eating food is as easy as putting it in your mouth? It's considerably more complicated than that. Your brain plays a big role in determining what and how you eat. Understanding how your brain interprets food choices is key to managing your eating habits.
There is and always will be a staunch anti-microwave camp, but they're a fact of life. The whole point of a microwave is convenience, right? But it's not so convenient when you pull out reheated leftovers and discover that your food is only partially warm.
Smoked foods are popular all over the world, but most of us don't have smokers at home. If you want smoked salmon, brisket or Gouda, you usually have to go out and buy it. Outdoor smokers aren't usually an option for city-dwellers, and the indoor versions can be pricey.
Steaming food has a lot of advantages over other cooking methods. The gentle heat of steam allows for meats, such as chicken wings, to become more moist after cooking.
This video from Southwest Yard and Garden tells viewers why it is important to wash your hands after gardening, and when and how to do so. It also emphasizes the importance of cleaning cutting boards. You should wash your hands before eating, after using the bathroom, and while you are handling food. While handling food, if you handle any meat, you must wash your hands before touching anything else. You should wash your hands for twenty seconds, with soap and water. To demonstrate the importa...
This video on typhoon preparedness comes from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, where typhoons are common. The key to surviving a typhoon or other disaster is preparation. Stock up on enough food and supplies to last your family for about a week. Routinely check expiration dates on food, water and batteries and rotate your stock. Be sure window screens are in place and in good condition in the event the power is off for several days.
Soap is an incredible thing and this how-to shows some of its incredible qualities. You'll need a plate, some whole mile, some food coloring, some Q-tips and some dish detergent. It's an explosion of color! Some very unusual things happen when you mix a little milk, food coloring, and a drop of liquid soap. Use the experiment to amaze your friends and uncover the scientific secrets of soap.
Funnels are necessary for a bunch of different types of food prep, but that doesn't mean you have to blow your money on one at the grocery store. If you're trying to feed your family on a budget this holiday season, simply craft the funnel yourself!
Daylight savings time is here. On November 7th, everyone and everything turned back the clocks to standard time, but how well you adjust to the new time is up to you—
Orange supremes are, as the name implies, supreme versions of oranges. Usually when you nom on an orange you get the thick pith and webby membrane that sticks all the orange slices together. While we don't mind getting all the extra fluff with our orange, when it comes to food presentation it's nice to get all that off.
Halloween only happens once a year, so indulge yourself! Check out this video to learn how to make a dessert that's verifiably more a treat than a trick: a delicious, fluffy, swirled cupcake with tricolor frosting.
Pesto sauce is a staple of Italian cooking and makes any type of pasta taste fantastic. But instead of going to your neighborhood Olive Garden, make it yourself at home! Just make sure you have a food processor lying around! In this video, chef Jason Hill shows you how to make a traditional pesto sauce from the Cinque Terre region. He will show you how to harvest and toast the pine nuts and shows you how he uses his food processor to create the sauce. Bon Appetite!
Here's the inevitable food hierarchy you must know if you're a cooking looking to make the most delicious, succulent meals possible: When it comes to cooking with vetables, fresh veggies from the supermarket beats canned, and in season produce beats just about everything else.
Want to see more birds in your garden? There are three basic things you could give the birds to keep them coming back, and those are fresh water to drink and bathe in, plenty of cover for them to nest and hide in, and a variety of quality foods to eat.
Mr. O shows his audience in this video how to make oobleck, a slime-like substance which has a variety of unique properties. For this project, you will need a mixing bowl, food coloring, corn starch, a measuring cup, and water. First, color the water with food coloring to a color which is much darker than the color you would like. You will need the correct ratio of water to cornstarch, in a 1 to 2 ratio. Add some water to the bowl and add the cornstarch, then add the rest of the water. Finall...
This video describes how to bake summer savory dog biscuits. For ingredients you need 2 cups of Keen dog food, 2 cups of warm water, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup raw ground beef, 1/4 cup of grated raw zucchini, and 2 large eggs. You will bake the recipe at 350 for about 25 minutes. First, mix the dog food with the warm water to make a thick mix. Add in the other ingredients and mix until you have a nice thick batter. With your hands, pat small amounts of dough into biscuits and ...
Chris Giorni, Mr. Science with Tree Frog Treks, demonstrates how to make simulated frog skin. To make the simulated frog skin, you will need glue, water, borax laundry powder and food coloring. First, add a pinch of the powdered borax to water and dye it green using the food coloring. Next, water down the glue and place it on a plate. Add the borax solution to the plate. Mix the compound with your fingers. It will quickly form a long chain polymer or sticky frog skin. Frogs breathe through th...
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make chocolate truffles. The materials and ingredients required for this recipe are: 1 pack of double stuffed Oreo, a food processor, 2 packs of cream cheese, 1-2 packs of semi-sweet chocolate morsels and sprinkles. Begin by putting in 5-6 Oreo cookies into the food processor and grind until thoroughly mixed. Pour it into a mixing bowl and add in the cream cheese. Mix them together and refrigerate it for 1-2 hours. Make the mixture into little ball...
This two part video features how to make soda and what you need to do before making any lacto-fermented soda recipes. Watch and learn how to make your own soda and lacto fermented food.
Elie Krieger from Food Network bakes up a scrumptious chicken pot pie. Her version will give you a healthy boost because she added extra vegetables and cut down on the fat. This southern dish is sure to warm up tummies everywhere and you can customize the ingredients based on your family's tastes. For example, you may want to use turkey instead of chicken, or possibly beef. Maybe your family likes different vegetables. This particular recipe uses chicken, onions, carrots, celery and green bea...
You'll be breaking hearts this Valentine's Day, literally, you'll be "breaking hearts"… if you try this science experiment. A live heart. That disgusting thing you swear your love by. How do nerds break hearts? With liquid nitrogen!
Everyone can agree on one thing: mashed potatoes are delicious. But they can be kind of ticky to make perfectly. You can end up with gluey mashed potatoes, potatoes that don't taste quite right, or you could forget the cream. CHOW is here to help with their You're Doing It All Wrong series to help you rectify your mashed potatoes issues.
Check out this cooking tip from the Milen Show. Cooking doesn't have to be tough or stressful. Find out how to make it quick and easy! Watch this video tip for how to grate cheese the easy way!
You've got the basic recipe. Now learn all the different ways you can decorate those holiday sugar cookies like a pro.
If there ever was a day to eat green candy, St. Patrick's Day would be it. But is there something better than the banality of green candy swarming the streets on St. Patty's Day? Yes—glowing green candy, and Instructables user BrittLiv wants us to show you how it's done.
ER showed the world what goes on inside the emergency room, and in every episode, we experienced a common but very important procedure— intubation. But ER never made it seems easy; it showed just how hard it is for medical students to successfully intubate a patient due to fear and naivety. And for real-life doctors and medical practitioners, learning the art of airway management is just as difficult.
It's hard to lose weight if you're always hungry. Reduce food cravings naturally with these tips. Watch this video to learn how to curb your appetite naturally.
Learn how to use a coffee filter for more than making coffee. Discover the versatility of coffee filters by learning all the things they can do besides straining your java.
We've been so worried about volumetric scans possibly robbing celebrities and performers of their agency and right to control their image that, somewhere along the way, we forgot that scans may not always be necessary to produce passable holographic performances.
Nintendo set the internet ablaze Wednesday night with two big announcements. First, Nintendo revealed that the Switch's paid online service will begin in September (boo), but it was the other report that really got fans excited — Mario Kart is coming to your iPhone.
What's the best part of the holidays, other than gorging yourself on food until you're physically able to hibernate? Imbibing delicious, hot drinks that are spiked to the gills with liquor.
If you want to become a food Instagram star, you may want to consider having babies. Well, to be more specific, you might need Mike Chau's two adorable children, Matthew and Samantha.
