There are certain ingredients that chefs regularly use to elevate their food beyond the status of what us mere mortals can create. Shallots are one. Good, real Parmesan cheese is another. And the rind of that real Parmesan cheese just so happens to be one of the culinary world's biggest kept secrets.
Homemade ice cream is so good and you can make it with just a few ingredients and no special equipment. Most cookbooks and magazine recipes expect you to have an ice cream maker at home, but you can imitate the churning effect of an ice cream maker by shaking or tossing around the ingredients inside a tightly sealed ziplock bag.
You can make a pretty strong case for pancakes being the ultimate breakfast food. They taste like a treat for a special occasion, yet they're not bad for you (presuming you don't share my whipped cream and maple syrup habits). They can be customized and accessorized, and they cook up in just a few minutes.
Summer is right around the corner, which means it's time to switch from perfect hot coffee to perfect cold coffee. A nice icy glass of cold coffee is wildly refreshing and just plain delicious. In my opinion, it's the key to enjoying any sunny day (warning: if you don't already drink cold coffee, you may find yourself drinking four or five glasses a day very quickly).
Is there anything more emblematic of Easter than marshmallow peeps? And yet, despite their popularity...does anyone actually like eating them?
Potatoes are one of cheapest, most nutritious whole foods that you can make and eat. Is it any wonder you can find budget-friendly, low-fat potatoes in every cuisine in the world?
Coffee is one of the world's most popular drinks, and its fans are also usually devoted to a certain method of brewing. Some love the Keurig, others the French press, and still others swear by cold brewing. However, one of the oldest and easiest ways to brew coffee is also one of the best. If you love coffee, you should really think about getting a Turkish ibrik (also known as a cezve).
You've probably tried just about every method of hanging your holiday decorations: nails, thumbtacks, sticky hooks, and, in desperation, even tape. Each method can leave a host of complications when removed, though, from chipping paint to visible holes.
Connoisseurs of hard liquor always face a dilemma: how do they chill their spirits without diluting the flavors? After all, if you've shelled out big bucks for a bottle of single malt, you really don't want to mess it up with an ice cube that has freezer burn. (As for refrigerating whisky, most people recommend against doing that: it can cause the whisky to "haze," or look clouded.)
Cold pizza is the holy grail of leftovers. That's a statement that elicits a slew of impassioned feelings. Either you love the idea of biting into soft crust and cold, fatty cheese, or scowl at the idea of pizza that isn't hot, crisp, and melty. Yet if we were to stand by the former sentiment, how would we argue on its behalf? Food Science Explains Why Cold Pizza Rules
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.
Only a handful of food products are impervious to spoilage—dried rice, salt, sugar—but even among those, honey is unique in that it remains edible without any preparation necessary. It's like this: if you came across honey in an Egyptian tomb, as archaeologists have, you could taste it and never guess it was thousands of years old.
Salad greens are a staple in my house and for good reason: they're cheap, nutritious, and work as a base or an accompaniment for almost all meals. However, it's all too easy to forget about them and then pull out a bag filled with sludgy dark goo or yellow, inedible leaves.
Here is a tutorial to show you how you can easily make this much loved Frozen character with Play-Doh. Using some simple techniques and clever tricks, you can make your very own Olaf.
Cooking spray is something of a gross necessity. The slimy, oddly-scented grease is perfect for keeping casserole dishes crust-free, but the oil splatter does a number on clean kitchen counters, and the lecithin ingredient can ruin nonstick cookware if not careful.
Hey, coffee drinkers—your morning cup of joe is killing your metabolism.
The point of ice in your cocktail is to make it cold, right? Yes and no.
I have a theory that chocolate chip cookies are the gateway drug to cooking. The recipe is easy, no special equipment is required, and at the end, you get warm, fresh-from-the-oven cookies that are simply irresistible. It's how I got hooked on baking and cooking, and anecdotal evidence (i.e. me asking my other kitchen-obsessed friends and a few culinary students) supports me.
It's time to trip out with your tablet. If you're not looking to drain that precious battery life with a fancy-looking live wallpaper, then apply an optical illusion that appears to be moving on your Nexus 7 (or any other Android device) instead.
The original Kit Kat was a mutton pie served at a political club in London during the 18th century, which is quite different than the chocolatey version we're familiar with today. Kit Kat bars have been around since 1911, are produced in 13 countries, and have been sold in over 200 flavors in Japan.
Video: . Here there are some DIY gift ideas perfect for the Christmas season. They are really easy to personalize depending on what your likes are.
A turkey baster is one of those single-use kitchen items that most people only need once or twice a year (although you can use it for a few other things). You never seem to miss having one until the holidays roll around when it's time to cook your Thanksgiving turkey. But do you really need a baster to end up with a moist, delicious bird? The short answer is no.
If you've got a birthday party to plan for a young budding scientist coming up, a little nitrogen should do the trick. In this project, I'll show you 10 "super cool" tricks with liquid nitrogen that you could try, but probably shouldn't!
Approximately 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year. That’s more than 1,200 bags per U.S. resident and more than 54 times the number of people who live on the planet. That's why here in Santa Monica, thanks to a city-wide plastic bag ban, you won't find a plastic bag at any of the major retail stores.
If you grew up dying eggs for Easter, you've no doubt used or at least seen those boxed kits that turn your eggs neon colors. Admittedly, they're easy—just plop a dye tablet into some water, dunk the eggs, and wait for them to dry.
RFID chips are everywhere. They're in passports, credit cards, and tons of items you've bought in the last 5 years or so. Big retailers like Walmart started using tracking products with RFID as early as 2004, and today, they're used in everything from mobile payments to hospital record systems. Chances are, unless you're a hermit (in which case you wouldn't be reading this anyway), there's an RFID tag within a few feet of you. Photo by sridgway
Here is how you can build a frame for your MEGA SOLAR SCORCHER in under an hour, and for less than $8!! This is effectively a 4 foot magnifying lens that concentrates insane amounts of heat from the sun. What would you do with all this free solar power? My design for this custom "Scorcher Frame" is easy to use, and incredibly cheap to make, as you can see in this step-by-step video.
Summer is here, and temperatures are rising. Instead of shelling out for an expensive new air conditioning unit, why not build one yourself with a few bucks worth of old computer parts?
For those of us with small children, bath time can be very fun. Kids usually love splashing about and playing with their toys in the water! One thing they don't love however, is getting water in their eyes or on their face.
Watch this instructional video to make a mini glass mobile. You will need pliers, pieces of wire, some wire rings, and a fishing loop to attach the different pieces. The earlier processes involved melting wire to pieces of glass, but here we witness the fun part of making a mobile. With a small hand made S hook, the mobile can hang in any doorway or window frame.
There's no shortage of ice cream recipes out there, but one ice cream shop in London has found a unique recipe to sell to its customers, and of course it's controversial—breast milk ice cream.
If you want to see what it really looks like to make rice crispy treats with regular people and people in the kitchen just like you probably have then this video will do just that. RKTs are easy to make but can be a little tricky if you don’t know where you keep the pans.
In this tutorial, we learn how to make sonora hot dogs. You will need: tomatillos, chicken broth, refried beans, queso, dried cilantro, hot dogs, lemon juice, bacon, tomato, garlic, jalapeno, mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise. First, place the cilantro and jalapeno and place into blender with lime juice. Next add in your chopped onion and chopped tomatillos and start to blend while adding in the garlic and chicken broth. Next heat up a large pan with lard, and once it has melted add the sauce ...
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.
Other than sticking your crayon drawings onto your refrigerator door, magnets have a variety of unexpected and sometimes surprisingly practical uses, ranging from keeping your chip bags sealed to creating weird patterns on your nail beds using magnetic nail polish.
You want to create a delicious and flavorful meal for your guests but you don’t want to ruin everyone’s diets with a bunch of unhealthy calories. Grilled salmon is not only moist and flavorful but is extremely good for you.
Here's a great traditional feast with a glazed ham, cheesy scalloped potatoes and beans. This ham meal is super easy to prepare. Watch this how to video to learn how to make a glazed ham that the entire family will love.
Why buy butter cookies at he store, bake your own fancy cookies for your party. This how to cooking videos shows you how to prepare the dough for the delicious butter cookie recipe below. These cookies are great as an afternoon snack or for dessert.
How would you like to make your own lip balm/chapstick? It's easy to do with a few simple products. One way to do it includes beeswax, coconut oil, olive oil, raw honey, peppermint oil (for scent), and mineral powders (for colors). The tubes to put the lip balm in are available online if you want to use those instead of another container.
Learn to make some delicious homemade bread that's shaped like a flower. This Sri Lankan recipe for bread is easy to make and will be a family favorite for years to come. Watch for a simple slideshow of the recipe in action, and follow the directions below.
