How To: You Don't Need a Stone Oven to Make Kickass Pizzas
Making pizza at home is fun and easy—until you get your creation into the oven. Then all of a sudden, your crust gets soggy and your toppings ooze off into one big mess.
Making pizza at home is fun and easy—until you get your creation into the oven. Then all of a sudden, your crust gets soggy and your toppings ooze off into one big mess.
With the weather warming up and the days getting longer, fruit salads are starting to appear at backyard BBQs, beach picnics, and pretty much everywhere else. Often these sweet side dishes are unremarkable, with each colorful bowl blending into the next. Luckily, there are easy ways to spice up your fruit salads so that everyone will still be talking about them next summer.
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.
Eggs bring life to almost any dish. Toast with avocado? Put an egg on it. The same old salad you eat for lunch everyday? Put an egg on it. Stir fry leftovers? Put an egg on it.
You may have caught our prior list of excellent egg hacks. Well, we've rounded up 10 more awesome tips and tricks to perfect your egg game. Check 'em out below.
Knives are among the most important utensils in any kitchen; it's hard to even conceive of cooking a decent meal without them. However, many different foods can be prepped without a knife, and some are actually better off without one. If you don't believe me, then check out these 10 creative methods for chopping, peeling, mincing, and slicing knifeless.
Many "quick and easy" donut recipes involve a donut pan and an oven, but those are basically just mini cakes shaped like donuts. Chances are, if you're in the mood for a donut, you aren't looking for a cake "donut" recipe—you want the real thing—a donut shop donut, fresh out of the fryer and topped with sugar or glazed to perfection.
One of the common complaints about dry pasta is that it lacks depth of flavor. This is why, once cooked, it often pairs best with bold and complexly flavored sauces.
When it comes to proper tomato storage, conventional kitchen wisdom (and Alton Brown) state that tomatoes are best stored at room temperature—not in the refrigerator. Supposedly, refrigerated tomatoes develop a mealy texture and lose their flavor if they are exposed to cooler temperatures over time.
If you've ever found yourself staring at intricately woven pastries at your local bakery and wondered how they do it, you'd be surprised to know it's not all that difficult. Those pastries with differing shapes and lovely lattice work may scream endless preparation and meticulous attention to detail, but they're actually quite easy to make at home.
The produce section is full of fruits, both familiar and quite strange. Depending on the season, you may see giant, bright-green bananas on display next to the normal bananas that you know and love. No, those aren't super-unripened bananas—they're plantains, and they are definitely a different fruit altogether. However, once you get to know them a little better, you'll find that they're much more fun to cook with.
Personally, I think everyone should have the freedom to sit down and enjoy a delicious breakfast each morning... but that isn't always attainable, especially because of the prep work and cook time that tasty meals often require.
To me, the term muffin tin is a lot like Voldemort—it should never be uttered. Not for being evil, however... instead, it's because it's inaccurate.
If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would definitely be potatoes. In fact, when I recently saw The Martian, I didn't feel that badly for Matt Damon. I mean, sure... he was stranded on a hostile planet, millions of miles from home. But he got to eat potatoes all the time! Pretty fair trade, if you ask me.
I love making everything from scratch, but some things are just easier to buy. So there are times when you have to find a creative way to split the difference. For me, the easiest dish to buy without compromising on flavor is cornbread mix.
When you're young, utensils tend to be optional—and eating with your hands is optimal. One of the best examples of finger food for kids that has pervaded today's nostalgia-driven culture is tater tots.
Everyone starts their mornings differently, but one common thread amongst the masses tends to be the consumption of coffee, albeit in many different forms—instant, pre-ground, K-Cups, Nespresso, and so on. And I'm sure that we all have our own preferred methods, as well.
Fall is a time of change. The leaves change color, the weather changes from warm to cool, and we change our clocks to fall back an hour. This last change means that many of us will get home from work in pitch-black darkness; for me, the early onset of night makes me less interested in cooking dinner and more interested in getting in my sweats, throwing leftovers in the microwave, and binge-watching The Affair.
A classic French omelet is supposed to be completely cooked through with no brown edges. This is a delicate balance to strike, though. I always find that the moment I flip an omelet, it completely falls apart—unless it's so well-done it's rubbery, of course.
A perfectly ripe avocado half is a lovely snack, and a creamy bowl of homemade guacamole can make a meal. But the following ten ideas take green-eating up a notch by stuffing avocado halves with your favorite salads and ingredients, turning them into a snack or side dish fit for a king.
Common knowledge is a funny thing: it represents a majority's opinion on a particular subject and somehow makes that opinion fact. If that 'fact' goes unopposed and unchallenged, then it is passed on and preserved from one generation to the next—regardless of whether it is true or not.
Butter is one of the most versatile ingredients in the world: its variety of uses range from brightening a morning piece of toast to finishing a beautiful rib-eye steak with decadent flair.
Sushirrito offers burrito-sized sushi rolls that are on the cusp of becoming the trendiest handheld snack to hit the foodie world. According to its website, Peter Yen created the Sushirrito brand, trademarked it in 2008, and opened his first restaurant in 2011 in the Bay Area with Ty Mahler, executive chef.
Convenience in the kitchen can be a very, very good thing. As fun as it can be to spend hours toiling over Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon, there's a reason that we have canned soup, microwave dinners, bouillon cubes, and, of course, boxed mixes.
Let me start by saying something controversial: I despise the gluten-free fad. I think gluten is delicious (I go through at least two loaves of bread a week, with a healthy dose of pretzels and pasta in there as well), and I think many of the health myths surrounding gluten are either fabricated or hyperbolic.
Granola bars are the perfect snack to have around: they're tasty, not messy, have nutritional value, are filling, and don't go stale quickly.
The grill isn't just a place for burgers, dogs, and corn anymore. Fresh fruit has made its way into barbecue territory, with results so good, you'll think twice about settling for fruit salad. While some fruits are common enough on the grill (like pineapple), these six are more off the beaten trail: peaches, watermelon, strawberries, mango, and pears.
Summer cookouts and barbecues come with a lot of delicious foods, but to me, there's nothing better than dishes heaped with avocados. From guacamole to simply eating an avocado right out of its skin, I devour this fruit constantly—but it's one that can be tricky to find perfectly ripe.
I have a thing for black foods, whether it's mysterious, lovely black garlic (the secret to its color: fermentation) or adding charcoal powder with its reputed health benefits to cookies, cakes, and breads.
It's already that time of year again—LG has unveiled its latest high-end smartphone, dubbed the G4. In past iterations, LG released its flagship devices in the fall. But slowly over the course of the past 2 years, the release schedule has been bumped up to be more in line with HTC and Samsung's springtime releases, and further away from the sales-sucking iPhone event each fall.
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).
Easter may have come and gone, but my love of hard-boiled eggs sure hasn't. Yet as much as I love hard-boiled eggs, I hate making them; I have to work in small batches to have consistent results, and they're always a little overdone, crumbly, and sometimes even green.
Beef: it's what for dinner. And if you really like the taste of it, it can be what you season the rest of your dinner with, too.
These cake eggs are a gorgeous treat that also makes a delicious April Fool's Day prank. Getting a fairly humdrum breakfast of boiled eggs and fruit and discovering that it's cake instead is an eggcellent surprise, isn't it? If you want to make these for Easter instead, then they're an Instagram-worthy dessert to grace your brunch spread. This might be the only dessert that is appropriate for both April Fool's Day and Easter.
You only need eggs and bananas to make these tasty pancakes that fit almost every hyphenated category: dairy-free, Paleo-friendly, grain-free, gluten-free, low-carb, and high-protein. It sounds too good be true, but these pancakes are easier to make than traditional pancakes and don't have any of that troublesome white flour. I've also included a three-ingredient recipe below for a slightly thicker pancake recipe.
Tater tots have a bad rap as a soggy cafeteria staple, but bake them at home and they crisp up nicely in the oven. Drain any unwanted oil from them on paper towels and they become perfectly crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Using breadcrumbs in the kitchen is the perfect way to add crisp and crunch to the usual salad, entrée, or dessert. As chef and media personality Mario Batali once said, "There's almost nothing I wouldn't put homemade breadcrumbs on."
One of the most mind-blowing meals I ever ate occurred when I was 12 years old. The main course and sides were good, if unmemorable, but my jaw dropped during dessert when my friend's mother whipped out a blowtorch—as in a bona fide welding torch from the hardware store—to finish off the crème brûlée.
I first became acquainted with this dish when I worked across the street from a Chinese restaurant. After that I ordered it every time! Now that I don't work by there anymore I don't get to eat it but I sure do still crave it! So I researched and tried a couple recipes and this was my favorite. Hopefully this version lives up to your expectations.
Cooking rice, pasta, and other grains in water is so boring. There is a much better way to guarantee they will have your mouth chewing something seriously tasty: cook them in something that isn't water. Alternative liquids such as stock, milk, juice, or even tea will give bland dishes a fresh new flavor boost. If you're not sure how your dishes might taste, never fear: we tested them out. Before getting started, be sure to read this article first so that you know why it's important to rinse y...