The math proves that bacon is the single greatest ingredient

October 18, 2013 by
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  Opinions may count a lot, but Wired, working the Food Network, has mathematically proved that bacon is the single greatest ingredient. In Math Proves Bacon is the Miracle Food, they  crunched 49,733 recipes and 906,539 comments to prove that bacon added the greatest benefit of any single ingredient. The only categories that bacon did not work its magic on… read more

Testing food-saving gadgets

October 14, 2013 by
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  Prolonging the shelf life of produce makes sense for any number of reasons - saving money, miminimizing food waste, helping the environment, limiting trips to the grocery store, providing incentives to eat more fruits and vegetables. So food gadgets that promise to keep produce fresher longer are always tempting to buy. To help decide whether to invest in these… read more

The apple mystery story gets a little less mysterious

October 13, 2013 by
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With  apple season in full flower (at least in the U.S. and Canada), we wanted to bring attention to a great story that Mother Jones ran earlier this year. But, first, we wanted to wish all our Canadian brethren a very happy Thanksgiving. The article, Why Your Supermarket Only Sells 5 Kinds of Apples, profiles a modern-day apple detective. As… read more

Taking food instagrams may make the food less satisfying

October 11, 2013 by
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The Atlantic recently reported on  research done by the Journal of Consumer Psychology on the effects of taking photos of your food before eating it: "Study: We'll Enjoy Food More If You Don't Instagram It."* As has been proven by many diet studies regarding satiaty, the flavor of food decreases the more you eat it - the first bite always… read more

Fortuitous kitchen mistakes

October 9, 2013 by
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We think most people (at least secretly) love lists - especially those that involve food. And this list from First We Feast of 15 Delicious Things That were Invented By Mistake is one of our recent favorites. The invention of chocolate chip cookies is a fairly well-known story, and beer had to be a  great mistake (it was probably a… read more

Getting the inside scoop on the Food Network

October 8, 2013 by
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There's a new book out, From Scratch: Inside the Food Network by Allen Salkin, that describes the 20 years that the Food Network has been on. The Daily Meal has produced an interesting slideshow -  20 Surprising Facts about Food Network and Its Stars - that watchers may not be aware of. Here are five that we found  especially  interesting:… read more

The amazing popularity of chicken

October 6, 2013 by
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If you asked people (meat eaters) what meat they most often eat, it wouldn't be surprising if they answered "chicken." But, even so, we were really surprised with the information in Fooducate's article "Are Chickens Taking Over the World?" They, in turn, referred to an article in Mother Jones, Has the World Reached Peak Chicken?, which included a number of charts and… read more

The chicken-less egg & Bill Gates

October 1, 2013 by
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The L.A. Times recently asked - and answered: "What happens when Bill Gates attacks world hunger? Chicken-less eggs." In the article, they describe how Gates (founder of Microsoft) is now turning his philanthropic attention to world hunger. And one of his approaches is to encourage meat substitutes, "Raising meat takes a great deal of land and water and has a… read more

Quick ways to soften butter

September 29, 2013 by
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Among the most notable pet peeves in a kitchen has to be this overlooked description in a recipe: "butter, softened" - and all you have is cold, hard butter. So here's some quick ways on how to solve this problem with minimal angst: Cut the butter into small chunks and set out at room temperature Grate the butter (especially good… read more

Reviving 12 limp vegetables

September 19, 2013 by
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The Washington Post had a very useful item yesterday, How to Bring 12 Kinds of Vegetables Back to Life. Since we're sure that everyone has experienced limp asparagus spears, flaccid green beans, and anemic salad greens, this is a handy guide. Essentially, each procedure buys you 24 hours of extra vegetable life. They specifically deal with: asparagus broccoli carrots celery chives… read more

Quick tip:The two-step process to keep brown sugar from hardening

September 17, 2013 by
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No matter how long you've been cooking, it seems that brown sugar remains one of the kitchen's most aggravating ingredients. Poorly packaged - in a box that never seals tightly - it hardens and clumps easily. The key is to never let it dry out - a condition that requires two steps. The first step is to immediately transfer the… read more

The Neanderthal approach to spiced food

September 15, 2013 by
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A recent visit to Penzey's recently was quite enlightening in showing how adding spices to foods has been kicked up to the next level - about half the store was dedicated to specialty spice blends named after geographic territories (Northwoods, Bangkok), purposes (BBQ 3000, Apple Pie), audience (Salad lovers, Forward!) and others.  Apparently, a sprinkling of plain paprika no longer… read more

Cooking Light’s taste tests produce 41 winners

September 13, 2013 by
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Every year Cooking Light gives out its Taste Test Awards, an annual guide to the best supermarket and artisanal products in a variety of categories. After eliminating foods that didn't meet nutritional standards, they chose their top 41 supermarket foods in 20 categories. The categories are quite diverse, including some obvious ones such as popcorn, ice cream sandwiches, chicken broth, canned soup,… read more

The most popular recipe on the Internet

September 12, 2013 by
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Unlike television shows or books, it's hard to gauge the popularity of things on the internet because of the sheer volume - how do you compare? But there are indications - Twitter has Followers, Facebook has Likes, and recipes have views and ratings.  And by those indications, The Washington Post has dubbed this lasagna recipe on AllRecipes.com - with over 7,000 reviews, 10,000 ratings,… read more

Are we no longer beer drinkers?

September 9, 2013 by
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In August, The Atlantic ran two indepth articles exploring beer-drinking - and the (sad?) possibility that, at least in the U.S., we're no longer choosing beer as our preferred beverage. In the first article, Why Are American Drinkers Turning Against Beer?  they produce some sobering statistics: " "Just 20 years ago, it was America's most popular alcoholic beverage by far.… read more

Is chia really worth the cost?

September 6, 2013 by
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We're not sure how many people remember the rather infamous Chia Pets of the 1980's - little terracotta animals that miraculously spouted fur after a few weeks of watering. But for those of us who do remember, the explosive popularity of chia seeds as a healthy food item will always have a touch of whimsy. But there's another factor about… read more

Visual proof that most fad diets are just plain nuts

September 5, 2013 by
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In an excellent demonstration of why seeing is believing, NPR's the Salt took a visual look at fashionable diets - photographing their ingredients. And it's obvious that most of then are just plain nuts or, as they title their article, Fad Diets Will Seem Even Crazier After You've Seen This. We've reprinted two of the diet photos below along with… read more

Following raisins down the history trail

September 4, 2013 by
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We recently came across a PDF online of a 1932 SunMaid raisin cookbook - and couldn't help but be intrigued - this was even before our time! Raisins were apparently pretty exotic back then - in fact, while we think of them as merely dried grapes, in the book they're described as "Thermo-Jell'd, "  which makes each raisin into a… read more

The most common cooking mistakes

September 3, 2013 by
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We admit it - we love lists. But we do try to stick to lists that make us think.  So we couldn't resist this one from Cooking Light: The Most Common Cooking Mistakes. They list 57 common mistakes; here are the 10 we think are the most common (some are slightly reworded to make them more understandable), and cause the… read more

24 kitchen tips that are really worth knowing

August 30, 2013 by
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Over at Serious Eats, Kenji Alt - their Chief Creative Officer who writes The Food Lab column - has posted 24 Essential Kitchen Tricks and Tips. We were once colleagues at Cook's Illustrated, and, having watched Kenji in action, it's not surprising that all of these are well-worth knowing and merit a look. Here are two that were new to… read more

The great chicken debate – to rinse or not to rinse

August 29, 2013 by
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Recently, NPR reported on a controversy regarding why rinsing a chicken ahead of cooking is inadvisable.  In Julia Child Was Wrong: Don't Wash Your Raw Chicken, Folks, they point out that not only does rinsing raw chicken not make it safer, but it's actually more dangerous: "because washing increases the chances that you'll spread the foodborne pathogens that are almost… read more

Are “Double-Stuf” Oreos really double?

August 22, 2013 by
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Not being noted as a great math scholar, as a child we often asked "why is math important?" Well, here's one answer for any parent that hears that question. Are you being duped when you buy a package of "Double Stuf" oreos thinking you get twice the filling you would in a normal Oreo? If you think this isn't important,… read more

It’s official – Do not marinade food until after it’s finished grilling

August 21, 2013 by
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If we accept the New York Times as an authoritative source, their lead food article today, Flavor Is Only Skin Deep:  Welcome to the Post-Marinade Era of Grilling serves as an obtituary for the concept of marinading food to be grilled. John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger, two experts who have written numerous cookbooks together on meat and grilling,  have bitten the… read more

An homage to pigs

August 20, 2013 by
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After all the food fads, crazes, fashions, and just plain absurdities, it's nice every now and then to consider those things that are always steady and true. And that's why this article from the Guardian, Pigs: a very British obsession, is worthy of note.  Besides their very obvious culinary uses - it is now fashionable to boast of being able… read more

Keeping guacamole fresh w.o. pits, plastic wrap, or more lime juice

August 18, 2013 by
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The Kitchn recently appears to have solved one of those very annoying kitchen issues - how to keep guacamole from turning grey. In The Best Way to Keep Guacamole Green, they reveal that: "All you do is cover the guacamole with a thin layer of water.  OK, you say, this sounds weird - maybe even gross. Water on the guacamole? But water… read more
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