Cooking food in pouches can seem gimmicky, but it’s actually a great method for preparing quick and easy meals for one person or a party for ten! Cooking in pouches, known in French as en papillote, or “in paper,” is a method of steaming foods with their own juices, with […]
There are tons of stuffed pepper recipes in the world, but you don’t need a recipe to make a hearty make-ahead dinner with all the ingredients your family likes best. There are four primary components of a basic stuffed pepper: the pepper, the substance, the flavor, and the sauce. The […]
If a winemaker wants to produce a red wine that emulates a Bordeaux blend—say 50 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 45 percent Merlot, and 5 percent Cabernet Franc—what is he or she going to call it? Since it’s not 75 percent of any particular grape variety, the wine can’t be called by […]
Braising, barbecuing, and slow-roasting are all long, low cooking methods that utilize less tender, fattier cuts of meats with a lot of connective tissue. But braising stands apart in that it includes liquid in the cooking process. It is also a combination cooking method—one that uses both dry and moist […]
Bewildering arrays of cocoa and chocolate products exist and vary widely in quality and availability. The first step in properly selecting these products is to understand the makeup of each and their uses. Bittersweet/semisweet chocolate Often simply called dark chocolate, the FDA regulates that this type of chocolate must contain […]
As you become a more proficient as a baker, you are able to pay less attention to your recipe and more attention to your ingredients. Understanding the forms and functions of an ingredient gives you the information you need to experiment, and even small swaps can make a huge impact. […]
Labor Day Weekend is the unofficial last hurrah for summer, which means it should be filled with ice cream, swimming, and sunshine—not preparing meals! That’s why when we’re facing a long weekend, we like to fill the fridge with ready-to-eat meal components that can be mixed and matched for snacks, […]
If you are regularly splurging on beautiful craggy pieces of Parmigiano-Reggiano (or, it’s more local cousin Parmesan), you should enjoy every last bit. That includes the rind! As a wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano ages, it develops a natural protective layer that, over time, becomes dry and hard. That layer is full […]
Turkey burgers have a reputation as the bland, virtuous cousin of the beef hamburger. And some can be, since ground turkey doesn’t bring much to the flavor table as an ingredient. But a turkey burger doesn’t have to be a boring substitute for something you would rather eat—it can be […]
If you’re talking about white meat versus dark meat, it is probably either Thanksgiving or you are ordering fried chicken. In most other instances, chicken doesn’t demand a lot of conversation. For years, we’ve lived in a white meat society, using the boneless, skinless breast in nearly every application, from […]
If you love dessert, but aren’t much of a baker, you would be a fool not to try this one! That is, you would be a fool not to make a fool. A fool is a traditional British dessert made by folding stewed fruit into a custard base. We might […]
Buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, and crème fraîche are all dairy products that have a characteristic sour and tangy flavor due to the addition of a bacterial culture or lactic acid. After the addition of the culture, these products are heated, allowing the bacteria to convert the sugars to lactic acid, […]