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Posts By Emily Ho

How To Select the Best Produce: Vegetables
Home Hacks

2010_02_09-vegetables.jpg2010HomeHackspostBadge.jpgLike selecting the best fruit, being able to choose the freshest and tastiest vegetables is a combination of seasonal knowledge, asking farmers and shop owners for advice, and using your senses. This guide has the last part covered. Get ready to use your eyes, noses, and hands!

How to Peel Celery Root
Home Hacks

2009_01_22-celeryroot1.jpg2010HomeHackspostBadge.jpgWe're always interested in learning How To Peel Things, and when Kitchn reader Niamh recently asked about celery root, we were inspired to try a few different techniques. Knobby and often hairy, celery root (also known as celeriac) may seem daunting to peel but it's actually quite simple. Here's the best technique we found.

How To Select the Best Produce: Fruit
Home Hacks

2010HomeHackspostBadge.jpgThere's nothing like a perfectly luscious strawberry, crisp apple, or juicy watermelon. Besides shopping for fruits at their peak season, it helps to know how to spot – and smell and feel – the very best at your local farmers' market or grocery store. Here's how…

Tip: Remove Rust with a Potato!

2010_02_05-potato.jpgIn our discussion of cast iron cleaning, we mentioned that you can rub rust away using a raw potato. This tip is so unusual, yet handy (and non-toxic!), that we thought it deserved its own spotlight. And the potato trick isn't limited to cast iron – you can use it to remove rust from baking pans, knives, and other household tools.

McCall's Meat and Fish Company
Store Profile

2010_02_04-mccalls.jpgAt McCall's Meat and Fish Company, the highly-anticipated new butcher shop in Los Feliz, the selection is modest but exceptionally well-sourced and curated. Run by two professional chefs, it combines gourmet sensibilities and passion with the attentive service and intimacy of an old-school neighborhood butcher.

How To Clean a Cast Iron Skillet
Home Hacks

2010HomeHackspostBadge.jpgInstructions for cast iron skillet cleaning often include a lot of don'ts: don't use soap, don't use steel wool, don't put it in the dishwasher. It's almost enough to scare one off from cast iron completely! However, with a few simple techniques, you'll be able to keep your skillet clean, rust-free, and well-seasoned. (And, worst-case scenario, you can always re-season it.)

How To Season a Cast Iron Skillet
Home Hacks

2010HomeHackspostBadge.jpgProperly maintained, a cast iron skillet can last a lifetime. We've covered the science and method of cast iron seasoning before, but we thought we'd revisit this essential technique for anyone who's new to cast iron or simply needs a refresher.

How To Choose and Use Lemongrass
Home Hacks

2010HomeHackspostBadge.jpgLemongrass is a fragrant herb used in curries, meats, tofu, and other dishes where a zesty, lemony flavor is desired. If you've never bought or cooked with it before, the thick, grassy stalks may be a bit daunting. But it's really quite simple. Here is our guide to buying and preparing lemongrass, whether your recipe requires sliced, minced, or bruised.

Recipe: Vegetarian Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup)

There are few better comfort foods than Vietnamese phở. When I'm on the verge of a cold or in need of a culinary pick-me-up, I sit down to a restorative bowl of aromatic broth, slippery rice noodles, and fresh, customizable garnishes.

The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia
Book Review 2010

2010_01_28-elia.jpgSome of the best cookbooks, in our opinion, are ones that inspire beyond their specific recipes. They offer readers a fresh look at familiar ingredients as well as new ones, teach new ways of approaching cooking, and encourage improvisation. Maria Elia's The Modern Vegetarian is one of these.

Greenpeace's Supermarket Seafood Scorecard
Plus Good News from Target

2010_01_27-seafood.jpgWhere do you buy your seafood? According to a Greenpeace report, consumers buy half their seafood at supermarkets. The organization has ranked 20 major grocery stores based on the sustainability of their seafood sourcing and selling, and commends retailers like Wegmans, Ahold, Whole Foods, and Target for increasing their "green" seafood practices. Target, which is currently number four on the list, continues to march forward and just yesterday announced that it will stop selling farm-raised salmon.

From the Spice Cupboard: Vietnamese Cassia-Cinnamon

2010_01_26-cassia.jpgCompared to the curled quills of most cinnamon and cassia varieties, the rough, flat bark of Vietnamese cassia-cinnamon might seem inelegant, but the flavor is something quite remarkable. Sweet, spicy, and robust, it's the cinnamon we reach for most often when cooking anything from baked goods to phở.

Hot off the Griddle: Scones with Cardamom and Honey
Recipe Reviews

2010_01_25-scones2.jpgHaggis will be on the menu for many celebrating Scottish poet Robert Burns today, but we'll be forgoing the offal (blasphemy, we know) for another Scottish favorite: girdle cakes. These stove top scones are quick, charming, and best eaten just out of the pan with a dab of butter and honey.

Recipe: Roasted Almonds with Paprika and Orange

2010_01_22-almonds.jpgIn our continuing experiments with adding citrus to, well, just about everything, an orange found its way into our roasted almonds … and it worked!

Recipe: Kale Salad with Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon

2010_01_21-kalesalad.jpgEveryone knows that kale is hearty and nutritious, but have you ever thought of it as lively? Refreshing? Composed of wonderfully textured black kale ribbons, juicy blood orange, and fragrant Meyer lemon, this bright winter salad will energize your palate.