For a long time, we just assumed that "stock" and "broth" were interchangeable terms for the same thing: liquid flavored with vegetables, meat, and/or bones used as the base for soups, sauces, and other dishes. Right? Turns out that there is a slight but significant difference... More

I was lucky enough to get to play around with a jar of Zingerman's Italian Wild Cherries, which are being given as a prize in our Pie Bakeoff (have you voted yet?).

My original idea was to make a pie out of them, but with some careful practice recipe testing using the same volume of frozen (less precious and expensive!) cherries, I came up short. I tried a version using apples as a supporting filling, but it just didn't blow me away enough to risk baking away the entire $49 jar of cherries and dumbing it down with another fruit. More

I got really into using fennel pollen a few years ago when I got addicted to Mario Batali's Goat Cheese Tortelloni with Dried Orange and Fennel Pollen. The first time I made it I didn't have fennel pollen sitting around in my pantry, so I used Batali's suggested alternative: ground up fennel seeds. The pollen, I quickly found, makes a difference. And so I started using it on everything. A pinch of this stuff, makes magic happen. The food writer Peggy Knickerbocker said "If angels sprinkled a spice from their wings, this would be it." (Saveur, May/June 2000)

Here are a few tips on how to use fennel pollen in your cooking... More

Last week, we wrote about Twitter and Whole Foods. Today we'll provide a roundup of some popular food-related Twitters that the home cook may be interested in following. More

I always keep a tub of Affi’s Aubergine Dip in my refrigerator, for many of the same reasons I always keep frozen peas in the freezer: convenience, inspiration, unexpected guests and, above all, deliciousness. While the ingredients are simple (mesquite smoked eggplant, olive oil, garlic, herbs and salt) the flavor impact is rich, smoky and complex. More

One thing that helps us make delicious, healthy meals on the fly is a freezer full of portioned homemade stock of all kinds - vegetable, crab, chicken, beef, etc. More

All right, let's see a show of hands: who's too tired to cook every night of the week? Yup, that's what we thought ... us, too.

On the weekends, we like to go to the local farmer's market and load up on fresh produce, meats, cheeses, eggs, and the like. Often we'll devote one day to preparing lasagnas, casseroles, soups, and stews that we store in these wonderful Pyrex storage containers that go perfectly from the freezer to the oven to the table. More

Toasted pine nuts can be a final grace note to well-constructed salads, pastas, and cooked veggies, and I often reach for them at the last minute to add savor and crunch.

Sometimes I stop short, however, realizing that I just don't have time to toast them. Untoasted pine nuts have a raw, mealy taste that I find unpleasant; toasting releases delicious oils and aromas. But toasting tiny pine nuts takes time and supervision. I have often burned a batch while trying to multi-task. More

This versatile spread-sauce-dip combines buttery artichokes, tangy green olives and capers -- all spiked with red chili flakes and accented with refreshing mint for a sun-drenched Mediterranean vacation in December.

Dinner last night was a plain cheese American Flatbread pizza topped with Jimtown Store's Artichoke Spread, matchsticks of Fra Mani Salumi, and crumbled Bucheron as an accent cheese. Not bad for a make-do December dinner. More

Even if you’re the type of cook who would rather scramble an egg and make toast on a busy night than resort to a jarred sauce, Abuelita Villarreal’s Comida Mexicana Ranchero Red Sauce is a viable meal solution.

I pulled this jar out of the pantry the other night and whipped up some enchiladas. First I tossed together leftover Thanksgiving turkey, queso fresco and just enough sauce to moisten the mixture. Then I softened some Rancho Gordo tortillas in oil, rolled the turkey mixture up in the tortillas, topped everything with more sauce and queso fresco and baked at 400 for about 10 minutes. One jar made 8 enchiladas, enough for two meals for two. More