The Kitchn Archive: 2012

It’s a party nightmare: guests have arrived, the food is in the oven, and all of a sudden the smoke detector starts going off. Besides assigning a guest the task of frantically flapping a towel in front of the smoke alarm, what else can you do? Try this easy tip to keep your cooking alarm free.It’s happened in every apartment I’ve lived in.

Aging Potential is a wine word often used when discussing higher end wines that one might hope to cellar to either enjoy at a later stage or to resell for investment purposes. The aging potential of a wine means the length of time that a wine will hold up in the bottle and be enjoyable to drink, and the aging potential of any wine is directly related to its quality.

For Thanksgiving and other holiday gatherings, cranberry ice cubes are a simple yet eye-catching touch. Use them to add a pop of color to water, sodas, cocktails, or punches (like these fall sangrias). To make cranberry ice cubes: Bring filtered water to a boil and let it cool. (You can use regular tap water but the ice will be cloudy rather than clear.) Place cranberries in an ice cube tray, fill each compartment halfway with water, and place in the freezer.

Did you notice that all three of our previous Expert Essentials posts mentioned working with dried herbs and spices? That’s because spices are an absolutely foundational ingredient for every cook the world over, whether you’re working in a shiny new kitchen high on the hill or on a simple wood fire and packed-dirt floor. Today’s expert, John Beaver, knows a thing or two about herbs and spices. Read on for his tips and recommendations!

Easy drinking, a word used to describe certain wines. What makes a wine easy drinking? Is it a compliment or not? Are there challenging or difficult drinking wines?Firstly, in my opinion, the term ‘easy-drinking wine’ is a totally subjective ‘wine geek‘ term and open to much interpretation.The term tends to be used by wine geeks to describe wines that they believe have very broad appeal, especially to novice and marginal wine drinkers.

I grew up with a health nut mom who served raisins to trick-or-treaters and insisted carob tasted as good as chocolate, so when she raved about an alternative sweetener called sucanat, I was a bit wary. Then I tasted her molasses spice cookies – one version made with refined white sugar and the other with sucanat. Sucanat won me over, and I’ve kept some in my own pantry ever since.

As Cambria can attestActive dry yeast and instant (or rapid-rise) yeast are the two most common yeasts available to us as home bakers. The two yeasts can be used interchangeably in recipes, but active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in water before using while instant yeast can be mixed right into the dough.Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer baking with active dry yeast.

Q: I recently made my first tarte au citron using this recipe from The Guardian. It came out great, but the lemon curd filling wasn’t thick enough to properly hold its shape after cutting. To take this recipe from being utterly delicious to perfect I need your help. How can I thicken it?Sent by LenaEditor: Lemon curd won’t cut quite as smoothly as, say, a firmly-set custard or Jello, but it shouldn’t puddle out onto the plate after you remove a slice.

Q: Whenever I make chicken soup or need to put chicken of any kind into a soup, the broth gets scummy or has floaties in it from the chicken — help! I just want to make a beautiful clear soup with chicken in it!Sent by BethanyEditor: Bethany, this is a really normal effect when cooking chicken (or any kind of meat). Any foam can be skimmed off the top with a skimmer, or you can strain the broth through a cheesecloth if you want it super clear.

When cooked properly, tough cuts of meat like beef shank and pork shoulder transform into fork-tender meat swimming in a rich braising sauce. How does this magic happen — and how long does it take to get there? America’s Test Kitchen ran some tests that make it clear why tough meat tastes best when its braising liquid is full of gelatin.

Lees aging is a wine word used to describe a stage in a wine’s maturation phase. Do you know what it means? Lees are the dead yeast cells and other particles remaining in a wine after fermentation. They settle as sediment or creamy mud at the bottom of the fermenting container.The container could be a tank, a wooden barrel or even a bottle, as in the case of Champagne and bottle fermented sparkling wines.

Q: I made a delicious corned beef dinner in my crock pot to hold me through the hurricane, and now have a very nice rich, meaty broth left over. It seems so wasteful to throw this out. Do you have any ideas for making it into another meal?Sent by LouisaEditor: Louisa, I would simmer some root vegetables, cooked beans or chicken thighs in the liquid and serve it over polenta or rice to soak up all the yummy juices.Readers, any ideas for transforming leftover braising liquid into another meal?

I’ve talked before about how soup is my go-to dinner party food in the fall and winter, but I recently read a piece on mean chili: spicy, exciting, innovative chili with unexpected flavors. It got me thinking that it may just be time to switch up my usual routine and get on the chili bandwagon. Here are 10 flavor boosters to get you really excited about chili.

It’s a zombie invasion! Oh wait, no…just a ham bone. Phew. While this may not be the prettiest of ingredients, it is an inexpensive way to round out a pot of soup and add an enormous boost of rich flavor while you’re at it. Skip the zombies, keep the meat. Ham bones are just the thing for a cozy winter meal.An average ham bone will weigh a few pounds and run you $4 or less. I most often see them smoked, like ham hocks or turkey legs, but you’ll sometimes find them fresh.