Hacks

Good flour tortillas are a thing of beauty. Once you know the taste of fresh handmade tortillas, well let’s just say you’re missing out. Before we were making them ourselves we would drive across town to pick up the best of the best, but not any more because making them is as simple as mix, roll, heat and eat!Homemade flour tortillas come together with just a couple basic ingredients.

The brilliant quesadilla hack I didn't know I needed.

You'll just need your freezer and a food processor.

No flour? No problem.

Making your own Taco Seasoning is one of the easiest things you can do for yourself in the kitchen. No more little packets of bland, age old spices, instead, try this quick mix that’s sure to become an on-hand staple in your house from now on!

You don't even need a special pan.

Potato pancakes were a staple growing up. They’re an easy way to feed a family of 4 for just a few bucks — literally. They’re warm, comforting and great for dinner or breakfast and can even be frozen for later! They’re easy to make, as long as you know a few tricks to make them come out perfect each and every time.

Artichokes are not the most inviting of all vegetables. The spiny leaf tips prick our fingers and the downy interior choke can literally make us gag and cough if swallowed. But once you work past all that, artichoke hearts are one of the most delicious, tender, and even beautiful vegetables around! Here’s how to get them ready to cook.1 or more artichokesA bowl of waterA lemonEquipmentSharp paring knifeMelon baller or grapefruit spoon (a regular spoon will do in a pinch)1.

This was one of the most requested how tos this month: How to carve a roast chicken! This is also our first attempt at a slightly longer video; it goes quite in-depth on how to cut up a chicken.Major disclaimer: Our technical video skills are still improving! This one is getting better, but we promise future videos will be even sharper! But if you are new to carving chickens, this should give you quite a good primer on the basics (even if things do slip in and out of focus here and there).

Yesterday we talked about how to how to make bread dough and how to knead it, too! Today we’re looking at how to shape a nice, round, artisan-style loaf of bread. It’s easy — here’s how we do it. Ingredients1 batch of bread dough, after its first riseFlour EquipmentBench scraper 1. Scrape the bread dough out of its bowl and gather it into one large lump in your hand. Fold it over itself and keep pulling it taut, like an upside-down bowl.2.

Ever wonder how to use a Boston shaker, that 2-piece set of glass and metal tumblers pro bartenders seem to handle with such efficiency and ease? For an up-close, step-by-step tutorial, read on.When preparing a shaken cocktail, you have two basic types of mixing vessels to choose from: the cobbler shaker (see slideshow) and the Boston shaker set.