From fungi to foie gras, the weird ingredient cocktail game across the nation is growing by leaps and bounds. We had our hesitations about trying some of them out, and especially about attempting to make any ourselves, so we did a bit more research and realized the flavor profiles aren't as unfathomable as one may think.
The cool tang and citrusy taste of a margarita in the summer is refreshing, to say the least. But when making margaritas at home, many of us opt for the ease of store-bought mix when it's actually really simple to make it instead.
We're maniacs for mustard: we put it on our sausages, our salmon, our turkey club sandwiches... you name the dish, we find an excuse to spread mustard on it. So it's not surprising that it's a common item on our grocery list.
Mashed potatoes are a reliably tasty side dish, but they can definitely get a little boring sometimes. So if you're looking for that extra 'oomph' that goes beyond the classic butter and salt seasoning, try infusing your next batch with the flavor of baked potato skins.
Rich, creamy chocolate cups stuffed with smooth, salty-sweet peanut butter in a bite-sized package—yep, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are an amazing fix for your sweet tooth at best, and a guilty pleasure at worst. It's easy enough to buy them on a whim at the local grocery store, but it's even easier than you might think to make them right at home.
Hands down, chips and dip are the best entertainment foods to ever exist. This fact can be confirmed in an instant by any grocery shopper strolling down the chip isle on Super Bowl Sunday or New Year's Eve. However, you may want to hold off on buying those standard salsas or dips at the store—especially if you own a food processor.
Stock is a crucial ingredient for so many recipes: soups, gravies, and risottos depend on stock; quinoa and rice are both more flavorful when cooked with it, too. So, chances are that broth is a staple on your weekly shopping list.
I was fortunate enough to be visiting one of my college classmates in Columbus, GA last spring and saw two large bags of onions in his kitchen... but not like the ones you get at the grocery store. Two standing 50 lb. bags!
Tahini: it sounds like the name of a high-end fashion designer... or perhaps a variation on a two-piece swimsuit. But this "weird ingredient" is actually a delicious and nutritious paste made from toasted sesame seeds and oil.
Any other person can make plain pancakes... but only the most awesome of cooks can make stuffed pancakes. Luckily, this isn't a tough technique—in fact, it's so easy that you'll find yourself getting bored of the run-of-the-mill pancakes and dreaming of all the things you can stuff pancakes with, instead.
I love eating fish at restaurants—the flesh is flaky and tender; the scent, fresh and sweet. Cooking fish at home is a completely different story, though. Even when I do cook successful fish dishes, it often leaves this (for lack of a better description) fishy smell that permeates everything it touches. Monday's salmon becomes Wednesday's odor. It's enough to deter me from cooking fish, period.
I think we've all had that childhood (or adult) desire to have ice cream for dinner. But veggies for dessert? It's something I had nightmares about as a kid.
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.
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.
While honey is one of the most popular ingredients on kitchen shelves the world over, honeybee pollen is still a relatively rare find in most households. It's not hard to guess why: eating pollen just sounds weird... it would probably sell a lot better if it had a more appetizing name, like honey. Furthermore, it looks unlike any other common ingredient, and the smell can be off-putting to some. But it's good, it's healthy, and it's altogether pretty awesome!
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.
We never have a wealth of cheese leftovers in my house since we love the stuff so much, but I'm always happy after a cocktail party if we do, because I know I can turn it quickly and easily into fromage fort. To create this incredible French spread, all you need to add to your cheese scraps is a clove of garlic and some white wine.
Like many others, I like a good cocktail every now and then, and I've always been impressed when my cocktail enthusiast friends would come up with a new drink or even just remember how to concoct a Clover Club (FYI, it's made with gin, raspberry syrup, lemon, and egg white). There's a secret bartenders and craft cocktail aficionados know, though: It's all about math, the simplest and most intoxicating math. Pythagoras would be so proud.
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
There are several reasons why restaurant food tastes so good. One is that the cooks know how to make reductions, which involves cooking down large amounts of liquid until it becomes a pool of thick, glossy sauce. While this technique isn't hard to learn, it can be time-consuming.
Tequila is a hard liquor that's often been misunderstood. Produced from the agave plant, this aged spirit has complex flavors that bloom the longer it's aged and can rival the finest scotch.
The Sazerac is the oldest cocktail we know of and is in fact that first contail ever made. Invented in the mid 1800s, a Sazerac requires you to light up a sugar cube for show.
This video shows how to make a peach cobbler that is lower in fat and sugar. She uses frozen peaches but you can use canned peaches if you prefer. For the crust she uses Phyllo dough, which is sheets of dough that comes in a package.
Gwyneth Paltrow joins Chef Lee Gross in the kitchen for a mouth-watering Vietnamese salad, a healthy, quick Vietnamese salad that has a great crunch and lots of refreshing flavors. This video recipe was made for Paltrow's website: GOOP.
Mr. Paul Righetti teaches us a Santa Maria BBQ tritip lesson. The beauty of Santa Maria Style barbecue is that it delivers big flavors while being relatively easy to prepare. You can even take some flavorful shortcuts with Santa Maria Style Barbecue products by Susie Q,s Brand and Cowboy Flavor, among others. So fire up the grill and let'€™s get started!
While we admit the Wobble isn't the most sophisticated name for a dance, in practice its actually very sexy and infinitely bootylicious. If you've ever seen a Beyonce music video - or really any R&B/hip hop video with girls in booty shorts and low-cut tank tops - then you've witnessed the glory of the Wobble. Part Hustle and part gyrating, this dance will not only make you look like a goddess, but will also help sculpt your midsection and lower body into tightened perfection.
In this video, we learn how to make a double chocolate malt shop cupcakes. First, make the batter by mixing together malt powder with chocolate chips, sugar, and the rest of the ingredients. These flavors work well together and will make a classic cupcake! Cook these in the oven until the cupcakes are fully cooked all the way through. When these have cooled, test each of the cupcakes to make sure they are baked through. Next, you will mix together your cherry butter cream frosting and place i...
Porphyra umbilical. Most know it as laver, a type of edible seaweed found along the Wales coastline, and also other areas in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Porphyra umbilical is best known for the Welsh delicacy of laverbread.
There's nothing better to cool those hot summer days that a deliciously fruit Italian ice. Italian ice is one of the best desserts to beat the heat, right alongside frozen yogurt and ice cream! And you probably didn't realize how easy Italian ice is to make at home. Robin Benzle of Chow Time will show you how with her lemon-cranberry version. There's only four ingredients: lemons, cranberries, water and sugar.
Funk music is about the pocket and about the groove. As a guitar player, your job is to try to fit in the best that you can with the rest of the rhythm section, which means not stepping on other peoples toes. But when it's your time to shine, being able to use a little melody in your funk rhythms can go a long way! In this amazing video, Dave Hill, a teacher at Musician's Institute, goes into detail on how to not only play the three note triads of the chords you're playing over but also all t...
We can promise you that your party guests will do a double take when they see these cupcakes shaped like delicious deli sandwiches. We almost couldn't believe our eyes when we first saw them ourselves; these cupcakes are decorated down to the very last sesame seed to resemble ham and cheese deli sandwiches.
Noodles are the basis for many a Chinese dish, including the Americanized chow mien (or "cooked noodles" in Chinese), noodles in broth, noodles with wonton soup, noodles with air. After all, with a light, airy consistency they're the perfect complement for savory dishes like kung pao chicken and beef and broccoli with soy sauce.
Eating healthy does not mean crunching on cardboard 24/7, even if that's what your kids think. While it's always easy to reach for a neat package of Cheetos and toss that into your kid's lunchbox for school, doing so means you're giving them a hefy serving of artificial coloring (some of which has been linked to cancer), artificial flavoring, and high fructose corn syrup.
Is there anything better on a hot summer's day than an ice cream sundae? In this tutorial, learn how to perk up your dessert with some delicious, homemade peanut butter sauce. This mix of sweet and savory is the perfect topper for any flavor of ice cream and can be enjoyed all year long.
If you've ever wanted to make an even slightly fantasy-flavored film, you've probably wanted to make one of your characters fly. Unless you're working with a bird or some really crazy rigging, you're going to need to make this special effect happen in After Effects, or whatever compositing software you use. This video will show you how to create a flying effect with a sonic boom on takeoff in After Effects, and following it's instructions will help you learn a lot about how to use After Effec...
In this video, Titli shows us how to make a muffin mix to be used with all sorts of muffins. The ingredients are: 2 c flour, 1 c sugar, 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c butter, 2 eggs, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla essence. You can use whatever type of mix-in you want (chocolate chips, blueberries, etc). To make them you will first blend the butter, sugar, eggs and salt together until they are creamy. Then add in your sifted flour and baking powder then whisk until combined. Next, whis...
This tutorial by the Floral Design Institute demonstrates how to create a hand-tied Calla bridal bouquet. The key to creating this bouquet is to make sure your flowers are properly prepared. The flowers should be fully hydrated (in water for at least two hours). Take each flower and mold each stem to to reflect the natural curve of the flower. Lay them side by side so they are lined up in a parallel fashion. Give even pressure on the stem to prevent bends or kinks. Some stems may be straight ...
Ribs are awesome, and there is no one better at grilling them up than the BBQ Pit Boys. In this tutorial, learn how to make Southern style BBQ pork ribs. Also known as country style ribs, this cut of the pork loin from near the shoulder is actually a pork chop. It's very easy to do and is ready to serve in about an hour. These ribs are meaty, tender and full of flavor. Enjoy!
As important as what goes into a Mai Tai is what doesn't — notably, Mai Tai mix, flavored rum, grenadine and/or crushed ice. To make a proper Mai Tai, use 3/4 of an ounce of fresh lime juice, 1/4 of an ounce of rock candy syrup, a 1/4 of an ounce of orgeat, 1/2 an ounce of orange curacao and 2 ounces of a premium aged rum.
Homemade vanilla extract is tastier and less expensive than many commercial brands, and it makes a great gift!
