Cast iron pans are a timeless treasure—they're an essential kitchen tool that will stand the test of time, and no home kitchen is complete without one. However, they do have a reputation for being difficult to care for... with arguments both for and against regular seasoning. In 2010, a blogger named Sheryl Canter claimed that she found the best way to season a cast iron pan that would keep the cast iron from rusting... or requiring re-seasoning! And after a few hands-on test by Cook's Illust...
It should come as no surprise that, according to Details Magazine, nearly half of all people who make New Year's resolutions pledge to lose weight, eat healthier, and/or get fit. There are innumerable companies out there that are ready and willing to take advantage of this momentum: from those hocking "magic bullet" pills that will increase your energy or reduce your belly fat to the myriad shake- and juice-based diets that put you at a near-starvation calorie input—and will probably have you...
You might be familiar with the use of zucchini blossoms in cooking and maybe even know how to make herbal simple syrups. But if you really want to show off as someone who knows how to use flowering plants in food, try adding some flower water to your cooking/baking repertoire.
Simmering or poaching food is a total pain sometimes. The problems are numerous: a layer exposed to air often dries out and creates a gross skin that can ruin the texture of the sauce, the poaching liquid evaporates too quickly and causes the poached protein to burn, and so on.
Regardless of your culture or your age, eating with your hands is fun. Flouting social convention and just digging in with your fingers provides a whole other level of epicurean enjoyment. And one of the most entertaining hands-on foods is monkey bread. Food historian Tori Avey provides a comprehensive history of the origins of this pull-apart treat, including the important detail that no actual monkeys are involved in the making of monkey bread. Originally a savory culinary creation from Sou...
Here's a not-so-well-kept secret about the food industry: retailers love to take your money. And one of the ways they do that is by dividing food into smaller sizes and charging more. Have you ever noticed that a container of precut, washed broccoli costs more than a head of broccoli with the same amount of florets and stems?
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.
In my opinion, there is no candy greater or more timeless than Sour Patch Kids. They're the ultimate treat: sweet and refreshing, yet sour and tangy. These contrasting flavors are what make Sour Patch Kids perfect for the people of all ages—especially your kids. So let's make dishes that incorporate this awesome candy into your cooking rotation!
Preparing and serving seafood can be a daunting task. Fish is so delicate that one extra minute of heat can turn a juicy, flaky filet into a dried-out disaster. But that same fragility also allows us to use unconventional methods to chemically transform the fish into its cooked consistency.
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.
Hair dyers are pretty straightforward tools, but they can actually do way more than just dry your wet hair or defog your bathroom mirror. From the kitchen to the backyard, a blowdryer can help you solve common problems around the house and beyond, and here are our 10 favorite uses.
It's no secret that exercise is good for you, but you may be surprised to know that a good workout can actually boost your memory, too. They key to giving your body and your brain muscles a good workout is by adding more weight and pushing hard for an extra 20 minutes.
There are a few key ingredients that you always need on hand when baking cookies and other desserts, but when you run out, you run out. You either have to stop what you're doing and go to the grocery store, find a good substitute, or scrap the project entirely. Chances are, you'll never accept defeat, and why go to the store if there's a good substitute on hand?
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.
In my opinion, spices are the key to a successful kitchen. With a healthy array of spices and spice mixes, you have the foundation for nearly any dish that you want to make; the culinary world is your oyster. With a depleted cupboard of spices, however, nearly every recipe looks intimidating and unattainable.
Avocado is great in guacamole or as slices on a sandwich, but there's so much more you can do with this wonderful fruit (call it a vegetable, that's fine—but it's technically a fruit). While I could eat guac every single day, these are some of my favorite recipes to spice up avocados a bit, from making a guilty snack to a condiment and even dessert!
To be twentysomething is an awkward time for entertaining. As we graduate college and begin to work in “the real world,” there is a yearning to transition from keg parties into dinner soirées. However, though the desire is there, often the bank account is not. Here are some ways to do in the kitchen what twentysomethings do best: fake it until you make it. (In other words, host a fabulous dinner party for four and still be able to make rent this month!)
The peanut butter and jelly sandwich has officially left the building. When you eat this every other day in elementary school, you've sort of reached your limit. The thing is, peanut butter itself is delicious and quite versatile if used in the right way. Let's explore this kitchen cabinet staple and showcase it via the three dinner courses.
Although pasta is a remarkably simple dish, I find it to be one of the most aesthetically appealing foods. The noodles—especially thicker iterations, like linguine and fettuccine—are graceful and luxurious. Add in some sauce coating the noodles, and a sprinkle of Parmesan or a drizzle of olive oil, and pasta single-handedly reminds us of a basic tenet of cooking: sometimes keeping it simple is the perfect way to go.
In my opinion, vodka gets a lot of undeserved flak. It seems like most people have a bad experience in college with a plastic bottle of vodka and never go back. I can't blame them; it took me a few years after graduating college to start to enjoy vodka again—but now I adore it.
Fourth of July usually means barbecues, patriotism, and getting piss drunk. Okay, well not really, but a little inebriation is usually on the menu, and nothing says America more than serving patriotic drinks at your party. Here are our 10 favorites.
The other day I was doing the math on roughly how many eggs I eat each year. I estimated about 500. That's a lot of eggs. And, subsequently, that's a lot of eggshells to throw in the trash.
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.
Other than salt, there's no ingredient that's as big a kitchen staple as olive oil. And just like salt, there are a million little known uses for it.
In my family, if a food could be made instead of bought, it was made. It wasn't until I went to college and started eating dorm food that I tasted the store-bought versions of many kitchen staples. I quickly learned that there is an enormous quality difference between homemade dressing and the kind that comes in a bottle at the supermarket.
We're all familiar with the sinking feeling that happens when you cruise through a recipe, only to arrive at an instruction that calls for a tool you don't have. Some of the best food hacks (and my personal favorites) exist to combat that problem. Why spend money on a kitchen tool—or worse, avoid a recipe altogether—when you could find a new way to achieve the same result?
I have a thing for citrus in any form. If I can't get a hold of oranges or clementines, I've been known to slice up lemons and limes and eat them straight with a little bit of salt—terrible for the tooth enamel, but amazing for the tongue.
Every year, when summer rolls around, I get excited because it's grilling season. And every year, when summer comes to a close, I get sad because grilling season is ending.
When I was in college, I invited a girl over for a date. It was a glorious spring day, and I thought it would be the perfect time to fire up the unused barbecue that had been sitting on my patio all school year. I prepped all the food, chilled all the beer, and then I realized I had no way of lighting the coals for the barbecue.
As glorious as a good drink (or five) can be, the aftermath of alcohol on the body is one of life's least enjoyable features. A few hours of fun can come at the expense of a day or two of feeling dead to the world, with an upset stomach, an aching body, and a headache that makes it feel as though your friends used your head for a piñata.
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.
Eating flowers is a time-honored culinary tradition, from nibbling on nasturtiums to grazing on candied violets. And why not? They look beautiful and lend a unique floral flavors to salads, desserts, and anything in between.
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." We've all seen the quote, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, on numerous shirts, glasses, and bar signs. It's a good, if overused slogan. It makes one clear, indisputable point: beer is great, and life is better with it.
The fridge is the heart of the kitchen; take it away, and the whole operation falls apart. Yet, despite this, the fridge is also one of the most overlooked appliances in any kitchen. Most people organize their drawers and shelves for maximum efficiency, while many others buy islands simply to make their culinary playground more space efficient. Heck, I know some people who have passed up on otherwise great apartments because the counter space simply wasn't large enough.
Sriracha has quickly become one of the country's most universally loved condiments. The addictive and affordable chili sauce seemingly goes on anything, and with anything, and never seems to get old. To wit: when I studied abroad, all of our food was boring, pre-packaged Sysco shipments; for three months, I smothered every breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Sriracha. And after all of that, I still eat it almost religiously.
Confession: I love bagels. I love to make them, but above all, I love to eat them. In college I ran a mini-bagel business from my kitchen, and on bagel-making day, it wasn't uncommon for me to eat the circular goodies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yet even with my obsession I can't always eat bagels fast enough to keep them from going stale. That's why I started learning ways to use bagels even when they're a day or three past their prime. As it turns out, there are a million and one thin...
Perhaps the best part about Easter is the fact that, even after the day is over, there's usually still a lot of candy left. Jelly beans, gummy bears, Cadbury eggs, peanut butter cups, marshmallow peeps — there's no end to the sugary goodness in your awesome Easter basket. Yet as much as I love stuffing my face with brightly colored candies, it's easy to get sick of them halfway through the basket.
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.
Greasy fast food. Snacks. Candy. Empty stomachs. What do these all have in common? They're all things that people commonly have for lunch during the week, because it beats the hassle of having to plan, make, and pack lunches before their workday.
