Discovering potted shrimp

November 25, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
As the weather turns chilly, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, it's time to start curling up with murder mysteries. And part of the fun - at least in old-fashioned English mysteries - is reading about the food. Has anyone else ever had a fantasy about having tea with Miss Marple? So we thought it was fun that one… read more

The best holiday gift of all, plus 2 additional gift guides

November 23, 2012 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
Here in the United States, there is a tradition that the day after Thanksgiving is the best day to go shopping. On "Black Friday" (so-called because for many retailers it's when they finally go black - i.e. earn a profit - for the year) stores bring out their supposed best deals. As these things often go, matters have admittedly become… read more

Marcus Samuelsson’s 10 ways to use up Thanksgiving leftovers

November 21, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
We're sure all our non-U.S. members are getting a little tired of our Thanksgiving blogs, but we promise this is the last one - it's hard to overlook the one holiday truly devoted to eating. And for our final blog, what is more appropriate than one dealing with how to use up Thanksgiving leftovers? There's a lot on the web… read more

Introducing the Thanksgiving Cherpumple and the Sir Plumple

November 20, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Now that a Turducken has become almost mainstream (we even wrote a serious blog about it), we're very pleased that Serious Eats has taken up the gauntlet of producing a new, outlandish Thanksgiving treat - and not just one, but two. The Cherpumple is described thusly:  "First there was an original Cherpumple (yes there was a forefather Cherpumple who spawned derivative… read more

An assortment of food-related apps

November 19, 2012 by
 |  2 Comments  |  Leave Comment
In their article, Six tablet apps for making the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, TechHive has some great apps for iPads and other tablets that are applicable not only for Thanksgiving but for all holidays and even everyday cooking. As they write: "These apps will help you at every step, from picking recipes and planning a menu, to cooking multiple dishes at… read more

How to insure a crunchy brownie top

November 18, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
With the demise of the Twinkie, we thought we'd refocus on a comfort sweetie that will never go out of style or production - the homemade brownie. And the perfect brownie has to have a crunchy top - it makes the fudgy goodness underneath that much more delectable.  So while it may not be an earth-shattering issue, it's important to… read more

R.I.P. Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Devil Dogs

November 16, 2012 by
 |  4 Comments  |  Leave Comment
We'll admit that we haven't eaten a Twinkie or Ding Dong in far more years than is possible, but the fact that these iconic U.S. lunch box treats will no longer be available is worthy of notice. Due to a variety of factors Hostess, the company that makes these (and other baked goods like Wonder Bread) is liquidating. And for… read more

Happy national bundt cake day!

November 15, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
It seems that every day is a "national" day (or week or month) for some sort of food item. It's easy to ignore most of them,  but every now and then a "national day" comes along that should be celebrated. We feel that way about "national bundt cake day." Bundt cakes are awesome - they seem to feed a million… read more

The NY Times gives Guy Fieri’s restaurant the cattiest review ever

November 14, 2012 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
We'll confess that every now and then cattiness makes for a fun read. Dorothy Parker made a whole career out of it - as in once reviewing a Katherine Hepburn performance as "running the gamut from A to B." And there was always Alice Roosevelt's pillow ("If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me"). In… read more

Two alternatives to brining a turkey – steaming or dry salting

November 13, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Fifteen or so years ago, brining - soaking a turkey in a salty water solution for 24 hours - was introduced as the best way to insure a moist, flavorful turkey. But brining has now come under assault. It always was a problem in that it required a large container and refrigeration - difficult for anyone who didn't have an… read more

Turducken or not to turducken?

November 11, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Over the past several years, Kenji Alt, the science guru at Serious Eats, has tackled the intriguing problem of how to cook the perfect turducken. In The Food Lab: How to Make the Perfect Turducken, he gives us the benefit of all that experience. For those of you who aren't aware of this Cajun dish, Kenji describes it thusly: "Ever… read more

Surprising many, California defeated the GMO label requirement

November 9, 2012 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Before we move on to really serious matters - like does a turkey really need to be brined? - we did want to note one U.S. election result that impacts the world of food. In California, Proposition 37 was defeated fairly soundly. For those who were not aware of it, Prop. 37 required that any food that had been genetically… read more

The silliest food network recipes

November 8, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Looking for a quick laugh? Over at BuzzFeed Food, they've collected The Most Hilarious Food Network Recipes of All Time. And we have to say, these are pretty priceless. Here are a few classic  examples: Robin Miller's Orange-Ginger Salad: The total ingredients are 2 cups preshredded carrots and 3 tablespoons store-bought ginger dressing; instructions are mix well to combine.  And… read more

The Smitten Kitchen publishes a cookbook

November 7, 2012 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
One of our favorite food blogs is the Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman. Of all our indexed blogs, the Smitten Kitchen is at the top of the our blog list, with 1,146 of our members following her. Her popularity is obviously due to the quality of her recipes and photos, but it should also be noted that her kitchen is a… read more

Three no-cost ways to protect cookbooks & tablets from splatters

November 6, 2012 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
We're heading into some intensive cooking weeks, so an item from America's Test Kitchen with ideas on how to prevent cookbooks and recipe cards from getting splattered struck us as particularly useful.  And they use no-cost items you probably already own - clear pot lids, ziplock bags, and clear protector sheets. You can see them demonstrated here.  And while these ideas don't… read more

Are apple cider, apple juice, & hard apple cider interchangeable?

November 5, 2012 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
In colonial times, in both the United States and Canada, if you asked for a glass of cider - far more popular and safer than water - you'd get a beverage with somewhere around the alcoholic content of beer (2% to 8% ABV).  But alcoholic cider, now called "hard cider," gradually lost its popularity, finally killed off - at least… read more

Peanut butter & pickles anyone?

November 4, 2012 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
Over at The New York Times Dwight Garnier has a fun blog item, Peanut Butter Takes On an Unlikely Best Friend. In it, he confesses to a love of peanut butter and pickle sandwiches (and he's obviously not pregnant). As he writes, "I've been happily eating these distinctive little sandwiches for years. The vinegary snap of chilled pickle cuts, like a… read more

What to substitute for fresh lemon juice

November 2, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
The Kitchn has an excellent blog item today, Help! Is There a Good Substitute for Fresh Lemon Juice. We're pretty sure our savvy members realize that fresh lemon juice is always the best choice but, let's face it, we've all run out of lemons or couldn't find them at one time or another. So this blog, which not only includes the… read more

Pizza! The best breakfast pizza plus how to stretch pizza dough

November 1, 2012 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
Where would we be without pizza? Without question, life would be emptier. But just because we eat so much of it (according to Yahoo, the annual per capita pizza consumption in the USA is 23 pounds) that doesn't mean we know everything we need to know. So we're devoting today's blog to two vital pizza questions: How to stretch pizza dough… read more

Cooking Light’s Best 25 Recipes

October 31, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Cooking Light is celebrating its 25th anniversary by publishing, both in print and online,  its best 25 recipes. As they say, "25 years, 25 dishes. We're going back in time to count down our best of the best, from 2011 to 1987." The collection, gathered by its recipe archivists, has some interesting features. We noticed that five include chicken (including… read more

Making groceries last longer

October 30, 2012 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
First, we want to send all our members who were affected by Hurricane Sandy our very best wishes; we hope you're safe and recovery will be swift.  And since survival is on our mind, we thought it appropriate to share this article from BuzzFeed Food, 27 Ways to Make Your Groceries Last as Long as Possible.  The article is full… read more

Potato ghosts on the march

October 29, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Over at Gourmet Live they're getting in the Halloween spirit and we were happy to see these little potato ghosts come front and center. They first appeared in the 90's and due to both how  easy they were to make and incredible cuteness factor, they were an instant hit. In The Story behind the Potato Ghosts Kemp Minifie describes their origin… read more

The proper way to eat a cupcake

October 28, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Cupcakes have been an intensely popular food item for several years now, so it is not surprising that one of the key questions tormenting the food world has been how to avoid that dreaded modern problem - the frosted nose. It used to be that frosting was spread thinly over cupcakes, but the modern cupcake comes with a high swirl… read more

Perfect 2-ingredient sandwiches

October 26, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Sandwiches are certainly the ultimate in convenience food. Indeed, the very story of their invention - the Earl of Sandwich wanting to have a convenient way to eat his bread and meat so he wouldn't have to leave the gaming table - testifies to their ease of preparation. Given this background, these 2-ingredient sandwich ideas from Saveur struck us as… read more

Quick tip: Turn white sugar into brown sugar

October 25, 2012 by
 |  Leave Comment
Recipes calling for brown sugar are surprisingly ubiquitous. Cookie season is fast approaching in the Northern hemisphere (of course, for many of us, it's always here),  and so many great cookie recipes seem to call for brown sugar. Or, for our readers Down Under who are now beginning to feast on fresh fruits, what's a better topping than brown sugar?… read more
« Older posts
Newer posts »
Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!

Categories

Archives