How seasonal differences can affect your baking

June 12, 2020 by
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My kitchen has a large window with a southern exposure. During the winter months, I enjoy the sunlight that floods the space with light, but in July...not so much. The kitchen becomes stifling hot and humid to boot. Over the years I've discovered that with the transition from one season to the next, changes in temperature and humidity can result… read more

Spice support: capers

May 28, 2020 by
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I'm stretching the definition of spice a bit to include capers, but since they add a flavor dimension similar to adding spice, I found it appropriate. To learn more about capers I turned to an interview of David Rosengarten by Sally Swift of The Splendid Table. Rosengarten visited the famous caper-growing island of Pantelleria, Italy - a place he calls… read more

Weighing the options, is this recipe egg worthy?

March 21, 2020 by
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As we shared in our weekly roundup, many folks are looking to bake during this pandemic. In that article, we shared ideas for cultivating your own yeast, sourdough and other ideas for bread. I am fortunate and have a larder filled with flours, sugars, yeast and every baking ingredient known to man. I have been able to find eggs and… read more

Where there’s smoke…

March 9, 2020 by
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Plenty of recipe writers will tell you to make sure you don't heat an oil past its smoke point, or dire consequences will occur. This raises the dual questions of what kind of consequences and how bad are they? The answers are complex, says Becky Krystal at The Washington Post. She explains the ins and outs of smoke points in… read more

Improve your baking in ten weeks

February 17, 2020 by
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I love to bake and usually have a baking project going at any given time. To keep this habit from further expanding my waistline, I give away most of the cakes, cookies, pastries, pies and tarts that I make. My friends and coworkers gratefully receive these goodies, with many of them saying that they do not themselves bake because they… read more

Over 25 years of quick tips

February 13, 2020 by
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Cook's Illustrated Magazine has been helping people understand the whys of cooking since 1993. Ever since the publication first appeared, a column called "Quick Tips" has been showcasing readers' tips for the ultimate kitchen hacks. Daniel Souza, Editor-in-chief of Cook's Ilustrated, sat down with The Splendid Table's Sally Swift to talk about the history these reader-provided tips. In case you… read more

How to pick the perfect melting cheese

February 12, 2020 by
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While most recipes in the EYB Library that call for cheese specify a particular variety, sometimes you will come across one that tells you to use your favorite "melting cheese". You might wonder which cheese is best suited for the purpose. The varieties that immediately come to mind are mozzarella and American cheese, both considered to be a "melting" cheese… read more

First pancake problems

February 4, 2020 by
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Breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite meals, and if I'm making it then chances are good that pancakes will appear on the menu. Both decadent and comforting, pancakes make any day feel like a special occasion. I have a favorite recipe, developed over the years, that always gets rave reviews. There is just one problem: the first pancake… read more

Something fishy going on

February 3, 2020 by
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You may have read an article or two of late that discusses fish fraud - it seems that a frighteningly large percentage of the fish you see on display in supermarkets is mislabeled. This makes cooking with fish a dicey proposition, especially so if your recipe calls for a specific variety with which you are not familiar. Finding a reputable… read more

Is it really necessary to preheat the oven?

January 28, 2020 by
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Whether you are baking a cake, making a stew, or roasting vegetables, almost every recipe you find will begin with a simple instruction: preheat the oven to xxx degrees. But is this step really necessary? That's the question recently tackled by The Guardian's Kitchen Aide column. Some would argue that it is a waste of time and energy, but the… read more

Cookie Time – recipes and holiday baking tips

November 23, 2019 by
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This is the year! Mark my words. 2019 will be the year that I will make dozens of cookies for the holidays just like I did when we lived back in New York. To fulfill my prophecy, I am compiling a checklist of helpful tips and links that will help me and hopefully our members as well! To get in… read more

The ultimate Thanksgiving recipe finder

November 14, 2019 by
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About this time each year I come across several posts for a food site's new and/or improved holiday recipe finder. Each is organized a little differently, but the premise is the same: use your preferences, whether ingredient or nutrition or type of dish, and the magic of the "finder" will return the perfect recipe to you. This year is no… read more

Spice support: curry leaves

October 26, 2019 by
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The first time I encountered curry leaves as an ingredient in a recipe, I wondered how they were different than the curry powder that I purchased at a spice store. I assumed that curry leaves must be one of the components of curry powder, but I later discovered that they had nothing to do with the spice blend as I… read more

The difference between shallots and onions

October 19, 2019 by
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At first glance, a shallot seems like a slimmer, smaller version of its cousin the onion, but they have different flavor profiles and are not equal substitutes for another. As Palisa Anderson writes in The Guardian, each of these wonderful members of the allium family has uses that will best highlight its unique characteristics. While shallots resemble onions in outward… read more

Learn the difference between seltzer, club soda, and sparkling mineral water

October 16, 2019 by
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What is fizzy, non-alcoholic, and can be found in any manner of drinks and foods? If you answered any of the three items listed above, you are correct. Despite their similarities, each of them has its own best use, and Eater is here to explain the differences between them. The most basic of the three is seltzer, which is nothing… read more

Break free from black pepper

October 4, 2019 by
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I've always been a big fan of black pepper - it's warmth and earthiness are comforting to me. Perhaps I like it so much because almost everything I ate as a kid was liberally sprinkled with this spice. Strange as I might find it, there are plenty of people who don't like pepper or are allergic to it. So what's… read more

The whey you like it

September 28, 2019 by
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If you have ever made homemade cheese - whether fresh cheese like ricotta or a firm cheese like cheddar - you have probably been faced with the dilemma of what to do with the whey that remains after straining the curds. Zoe Williams recently confronted this issue after she took a cheesemaking course, and she found several uses for this… read more

A guide to squash varieties

September 27, 2019 by
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When I browse the farmers' market stands come fall, the number and variety of squash always amazes me. The colors, shapes, and textures are so varied and beautiful that I sometimes buy several types just so I can display them in my kitchen. Some of the time I don't even know what varieties I have, which can make it challenging… read more

Why you always need to scrape your bowl

September 19, 2019 by
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For my birthday I gave myself the gift of a new stand mixer, and my mom purchased a flexible-edge beater to go along with it (thanks, Mom!). I figured that the beater's rubber edge would completely eliminate the annoying and sometimes cumbersome step of scraping the mixing bowl while making doughs and batters. I was wrong. The first cake I… read more

How to convert pan sizes in baking

September 10, 2019 by
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It's inevitable: after searching for just the right recipe, you come to the instructions and find out that it calls for a 9-inch square tin and all you have is an 8-inch pan. Do you a) do the math to change the recipe, b) press your luck and use the smaller pan, or c) scroll down to the next recipe?… read more

The thrill of discovery

September 10, 2019 by
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Last week I wrote about how I failed my fresh produce. You may have wondered what ever became of those two sad, tired ears of corn. The notion of making elotes had swirled around in my head, but these cobs were too far gone for that to happen. My next thought was soup. For ages, cooks have been throwing past-their-prime… read more

The difference between cornmeal, grits, and polenta

September 4, 2019 by
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Cornmeal, grits, polenta: although I have and use all three of these corn products in my pantry, I must confess that I was not aware of the subtle differences between them. That is, until today, when I found an article on Eater that explains their distinctive traits. First things first: these are all very similar products that are made from… read more

These tools are real multi-taskers

August 9, 2019 by
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I've got a kitchen full of tools and equipment that were specially designed for cooking. From mixers to spatulas to cake decorating tips, these tools belonged in the kitchen from the moment they were conceived. But some of the most useful kitchen items that I have came from other rooms in the house and even from the garage. The Washington… read more

Is it okay to use salted butter in baking?

August 2, 2019 by
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I read a Twitter thread the other day in which the writer unleashed a tirade of complaints about recipe requirements, including a rant against unsalted butter, which he called "trash." It is obvious that he prefers baking with salted butter, but most bakers disagree. But does using salted butter in place of unsalted really make a difference? The answer is...maybe. … read more

Pop goes the…sorghum?

August 1, 2019 by
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Even with my good-sized cookbook collection and the entire EYB online recipe database at my fingertips, occasionally I run out of inspiration for the somewhat embarrassing number of grains that reside in my pantry. This is especially true for some of the more obscure items - there are not many options for purple barley, for instance. That's why I immediately… read more
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