Skills News

Just another brilliant TikTok idea.

The oven is headed up not only so astronauts can kick that comfort food craving, but for an actual scientific reason: to see what happens when you bake in zero gravity. Will they hold their shape? What happens to the texture?

You can buy it at select Whole Foods.

A recent tweet by an editor at America’s Test Kitchen let all of us in on an extremely important part of the dessert-salting process: when and where the salt goes.

Créme de la créme!

This is next-level Instant Pot usage ...

“Every August I freeze about 400 portions of food for my family. This year I wanted to go no-waste, so I used Mason jars," the Reddit user explained.

Genius.

If you thought bananas were only good for slicing over some cereal or added to a smoothie for a thickener, then you are wrong, my friends. So very wrong. Bananas are made for dessert, like in pudding and cream pies! As if to prove this point even further, we just heard about the Blue Java banana, which is this beautifully-hued banana which grows mostly in Asia, Australia, and Hawaii.

If you’re like me, the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is make a giant pot of coffee. Personally, I have what constitutes my first cup (of many) down to a science. Here’s my order: I put a spoon of sugar in my mug first, after brewing my grounds with a dash of salt, of course (thanks Alton). Then I pour some of that blessed, steaming brew into my cup almost all the way to the top, leaving space for the last part: the cream.

With the growing popularity of grain-free diets like the keto diet, the Paleo diet and the Bulletproof diet, bread is becoming more and more of an enemy to people’s everyday menus. I can’t exactly relate (I bought three loaves of bread at Trader Joe’s last week), but sometimes I understand the impetus to reduce the amount of sugar or carbohydrates in your diet which some breads contain a lot of.

Like many 30-somethings, I have gathered my fair share of memories of siblings, cousins, and best friends exchanging vows with their soul mates. I remember, sometimes through tears, the love and commitment two people shared on that day. Oddly, I cannot recall any instances of the mostly American tradition of two new spouses feeding cake to each other. (This is probably because I am usually asking someone what flavor the cake is and if I am allowed to break out my Tupperware at this time.

James Beard award-winning cookbook author and breakout Netflix star of Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat, is here to once again school us all on how to transform our attitudes about home cooking. This time she’s weighing in on whether or not we need to start buying artisan soy sauce.

When I think of getting trapped on a desert island, I think to myself: it can’t be that bad. Well, ignoring the obvious dangers of no access to clean water or protein, and having to deal with wild animals who would love nothing more than to treat themselves to an exotic dinner (you), there could be benefits. Right? If you find yourself on one of the more fruitful islands, perhaps off Hawaii in some yet uncharted place, you could have fresh fruits like mangoes, coconut, and pineapple.

Whether it comes frozen or on the rocks, or if you’re on the beach or celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the margarita has long been America’s go-to warm weather drink (or what you drink when you’re missing the warm weather). Tangy, sweet, a little salty — the margarita hits all the right notes. A new study confirms that Americans still call the margarita their favorite cocktail. Well almost all Americans. In Chicago, drinkers buck the trend.

There is hardly a more stressful time in a person’s life than the months leading up to his or her wedding. Who among us has not experienced even the secondhand strain of trying to create an epic party that is both memorable, romantic, and embodies a couple’s strongly-held beliefs about life and love? In perhaps that regard one might sympathize with the vegan bride who recently went viral because she decided to uninvite all the guests who eat meat to her wedding.

Valentines’s Day is synonymous with chocolates, sparkling wine, and flowers (lots and lots of flowers). In fact, as many as 198 million roses are sold on Valentine’s Day alone. But here’s the thing: In a couple of days those flowers will die, and all you’ll be left with is the ghost-like feeling of love. What if instead you went for something … edible. You know, something that lasted a little bit longer. Something like meat!

The beauty of Twitter is that anyone can ask the kind of question that really makes you think — and sometimes they even come beautifully illustrated with an animated video. Such was the case this week when user Dave posited, “If baguettes could move, how would they move?” and requested to hear reasoning.

Just remember what you learned in kindergarten: Never judge a book by its cover.

Few candies can claim such an iconic role in a holiday as the SweetHeart Conversation Hearts — you know, the slightly chalky, pastel-colored hearts that say things like “Be mine,” “Text me,” and “Love you.” The candies that come in the box with the clear window that you handed out to friends — just like your parents before you might have — won’t be around this February for Valentine’s Day.

Which came first: the chicken or the Instagram influencer? 2019 is already off to a great start. First we were blessed with a 27-pound bucket of mac and cheese from Costco, and now this Instagram egg. On January 4, 2019, Instagram account @world_record_egg (aka “EGG GANG”) posted a picture of a plain, rather boring stock image of a brown egg.

For the past 20 days the United States federal government has been shut down. That means that Congress can’t come to an agreement with the president on how the U.S. Treasury should dispense funds for government projects and agencies — in this case, President Trump would like money to build a border wall, and he hasn’t accepted his Democratic opponents’ compromise of $1.6 billion to fund border security.

Humans have been seasoning their food as far back as six millennia ago. A piece of pottery found in Germany from 5,900 years ago contained evidence that prehistoric hunter-gatherers flavored fish and deer stews with garlic mustard seed. The difficulty of gathering that seed simply to add a dash to food proves the impetus to spice up meals is ingrained in the very fabric of humans and cooking.

"Perfect pizza, like it just came out of the oven," was the promise.

Confession: I have never washed an avocado before eating it. I have never even thought about washing an avocado before eating it. That rough, thick outer shell just seems, to the naked eye, like a perfectly suitable layer of protection against disease, a far cry from the fragile leaves of say, my romaine lettuce. I’m going to start, though, and I suspect that many other people are in my position, because as it turns out, you do need to wash avocados.

Around the holiday season, people who like to siphon that fun, carefree feeling from the spate of year-end celebrations go into overdrive. People rail against Starbucks holiday cups and over-the-top Christmas light displays. The latest controversy – care of the CDC — concerns one of America’s favorite pastimes: eating raw cookie dough. But unfortunately, this one seems pretty valid.

One of the most hotly debated techniques in all of cooking is the easiest, best way to peel a hard-boiled egg. There are a lot of tips I’ve encountered over the years, including adding baking soda to the boiling water, blowing the egg out of its shell, and making sure the eggs are cold before peeling. But then I came across a new method in a recent video on Epicurious and I had to try it out.

Here is an incomplete list of foods that you probably try to eat in moderation (to varying degrees of success): doughnuts, Hersheys Kisses, celery sticks, and tofu, probably. French fries are not one of those foods. You can’t simply order a side of fries, eat one or two, and feel satisfied; to do so would take an act of willpower beyond your wildest dreams.

Hot sauce is a very important part of our cultural landscape. I mean, what other condiment — besides maybe ketchup – can you add to almost anything? But before your shake that bottle one more time over your burger, soup, or eggs, let’s take a second to consider how it’s made. While you might think it’s as easy as mashing up some peppers and vinegar and throwing it into a jar, it’s actually a lot more sophisticated process.

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar: Every morning when I wake up, I brew a giant pot of French roast, and pour myself a cup. After adding sugar and cream, I take that first sip, and every morning it’s like the first time I’ve ever had such a drink in my life. It’s absolute perfection. It’s like vanilla, sugar, cream, and coffee beans were made to be tasted by me this morning and me alone. But then, each subsequent sip is a little less satisfying.

Look, I understand that the holidays aren’t always full of cheer. There can be a lot of pressure to deliver the perfect holiday party fare, instead of the same old boring wine and cheese spread you find yourself snacking on every year. You want to impress your judgmental relatives so that they’re all talking about the ingenious appetizers you served before Christmas dinner for years to come.

Yesterday the CDC issued a stern warning to the country: Do not, under any circumstances, eat romaine lettuce. An E.Coli outbreak may have contaminated all types of romaine. If you bought any heads or hearts of romaine, go into your kitchen right now and throw it out. Same goes for any boxed salad mixes. In fact, you better stay in there and disinfect your refrigerator. Better to play it safe.

“How long does it take to microwave a 25lb turkey?” Carlota Andrés messaged to the family WhatsApp. Her famous father, chef, and humanitarian José Andrés, responded, aghast, in a mixture of English and Spanish that encompasses a horror perhaps not able to be contained in just one language. In fact, the younger Andrés was simply enacting the same prank that other young adults around the country have been all week.

Kids love slime, kids love Jell-O, kids love eating whatever they’ve just spent the last hour throwing on the floor, and now that JELL-O is producing “Edible Slime,” all three of those things have converged.

You’d be hard-pressed to find somebody who’s favorite Thanksgiving dish is ham — or even turkey, if we’re being completely honest about who actually is the star of the holiday table (sorry, turkey fans). While the main dishes are welcome additions to the smorgasbord that is the Thanksgiving lineup, the real stars of the table are the side dishes: mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and, my personal fave, stuffing.

With Halloween over, it’s time to pack up the wigs and get started on planning for the big winter holidays. Now, before the party pressure begins, is the best time to get started; it’s still all about dreaming of amazing appetizers and planning the best bites, with endless scrolling through dreidel-shaped desserts and ombre popcorn strands.

Last week, the city of High Point, North Carolina, announced that it would be stepping in to prevent its citizens from handing out those gross peanut butter kiss candies. “Alright everybody, we’re giving you a one-week notice as you prepare for trick-or-treaters to remind y’all that by order of the City of High Point Emperor of Acceptable Candy (it’s a real thing), these are banned,” the City of High Point Government wrote on Facebook.

Watching cooking competitions on television like Chopped is one thing, but actually being in a real kitchen stadium and seeing, smelling, and even tasting what the chefs are making? File that under amazing. I just attended the Barilla Pasta World Championship in Milan, Italy, and saw 18 chefs from around the world compete in the ultimate carb-cooking contest. The championship is the Olympics in pasta cooking, complete with lots of patriotic flag waving and a gold trophy for the winner.

Vanilla ice cream doesn’t have the best reputation in the frozen dessert world. For starters, it’s an insult to call something “vanilla,” as the suggestion implies that whatever you’re referring to is essentially boring AF. Now we are about to add insult to injury with some cold-hearted facts: Nearly one in five store-bought vanilla ice creams doesn’t even contain vanilla, according to U.K. consumer insight organization Which?.

I’m about to have a whole mess of fragmented spaghetti noodles for lunch, and the reason why is super dorky. No, not dorky — educational. When the Kitchn staff got wind that researchers at MIT were testing the long-held scientific theory that it is impossible to break a spaghetti noodle neatly into two halves, our hubris got the best of us. Of course it’s possible to break spaghetti into two pieces — just watch us! And we did.

“How do you get the kernels off your corn cob without getting them all over your kitchen?” … is a question you’ve likely pondered once or twice in your lifetime. It’s a messy, thankless task — but if you have any intention of enjoying corn salad, sauteéd corn, or corn chowder this summer, then someone’s got to do it.

In what has to be the most iconic scene in Meet the Parents, an eager Ben Stiller tells his girlfriend’s parents about the time that he milked a cat so that the smallest kitten in a litter could eat. “You can milk anything with nipples,” he explained. “I have nipples, Greg,” a stone-faced Robert DeNiro responded. “Could you milk me?

The next time your Paleo-eating friend tells the waitstaff that your table doesn’t need a bread basket, this is your opportunity to go full-on “WELL, ACTUALLY…” A team of archaeology and archaeobotany researchers just discovered a charred, pita-like flatbread at a research site in northeastern Jordan, and this is one history-changing collection of grains, tubers and gluten.

We all know the best place for macaroni and cheese is in one’s mouth, but how we get it there is a matter of some debate. Do you use a fork or a spoon? The nation appears to be divided. There are YouTube videos and Reddit threads devoted to the “right” way to eat macaroni and cheese, and now cult-favorite brand Annie’s has conducted a nationwide survey to figure out what utensil people prefer to use when eating one of the most delicious dishes on the planet.

Sometimes it feels like I spend a solid quarter of my life reading nutrition labels. I know I have to read those labels to know what’s in my food, but reading all the labels — for everything — means a trip to the grocery store takes at least twice as long as it would if it didn’t involve standing around the aisles googling “xylitol” while the ice cream melts.

The world is full of billion-dollar ideas I can’t believe I didn’t think of first, like Spanx, Instant Pots, and Harry Potter. Now the geniuses over at Delish have posted a video showing how to make Rolo-stuffed toasted marshmallows that is making everyone say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” and also “I need to go light something on fire so I can try this out right away.

We really need to eat more vegetables. The vast majority of us are not eating as many vegetables as we should be, and most of us know it too. The obvious answer to the problem would be to cook one of the many delicious vegetable-heavy recipes out there more often. But that’s not working, and because of that we now live in a world in which broccoli coffee exists.

This weekend my toddler requested pancakes, and I was happy to oblige. Most of the time parenting feels like taking a wild guess on a multiple-choice exam I haven’t studied for and hoping to land on the right answer by luck. But pancakes I can handle. I can even make shapes. (Mickey Mouse is a shape.) One adorable, Norman Rockwell-esque nostalgic childhood memory coming right up, kid, I thought. Everything was going just fine until I tried to butter the pancake.

There's nothing this trendy kitchen appliance can't do.

Lemons are one of the most powerful and essential ingredients in the kitchen. They give a bright burst of flavor and acidity to just about everything from salads, to roast chicken. If lemons are kitchen gold, however, I am Ebenezer Scrooge. Every wasted bit of lemon means I’m more likely to not have lemons in the house when I need them, and that’s my nightmare.

At this point, it seems like almost every fast food restaurant has some kind of dollar menu — and we’re not mad about that. But when you’re shouting into a drive-thru speaker, how do you know when (and if) you are really getting the most nutritional bang for your buck?

Cauliflower flour is here to make all your low-carb, gluten-free baked goods an (easier) reality. It’s a fantastic development that will be great for Paleo and keto dieters, people who don’t eat gluten, and anyone who wants to cut down on carbs in their baking. It is, however, driving me absolutely bonkers today, because every time I say the words “cauliflower flour,” the conversation devolves into a Who’s on First-style comedy routine.

When I was growing up there weren’t a ton of options when it came to buying bacon. It was just, you know, bacon. Now when you stand in front of the bacon section at the store there are endless options to consider. Do you want less sodium? Do you want turkey bacon? What about Paleo bacon (whatever that means)? And don’t even get me started on all the different kind of seasoning options there are. So, how do you know what to spend your money on?

Valentine’s Day is next week. I felt like I had to get that information out of the way for anyone, like me, who has been sitting around thinking, Why is everyone writing so many Valentine’s Day stories right now? I still haven’t taken off all my New Year’s Eve makeup. Valentine’s Day is a million years away. But Valentine’s Day is actually next week, so you should start making plans. Personally, I don’t really like going out on Valentine’s Day.

In addition to running a store, a brand, an upcoming restaurant, and an HGTV empire, Fixer Upper’s Joanna Gaines has four kids and another on the way. That doesn’t leave a ton of time for things like julienning vegetables. So just like us regular people who do not have lucrative TV deals, Gaines relies on a weekly meal prep plan to save time in the kitchen. As a bonus, she says it even gets the kids to eat their vegetables.

Introducing babies to food is terrifically fun (and also very messy). It’s great to see babies grabbing up avocado or carrots and making adorable faces as they try new foods, but a new study indicates that most U.S. parents are introducing their babies to solid foods too early. Experts say parents should wait until six months to start introducing complementary food, which are foods other than breast milk and formula.

How do you plan on enjoying your old age? I’ve always hoped for a future that involves wine, coffee, and lots and lots of chocolate. Unfortunately, that might not be possible for many of us, because climate change is affecting the earth’s food producers, and a lot of those favorite foods could be gone in our lifetimes. In the case of chocolate in particular, scientists say chocolate as we know it is on track to be extinct as early as 2050.

It might be tempting to toss your frozen meat into the microwave to speed up the thawing process, but you should really reconsider.

The holidays provide a chance to relax a bit, spend time with loved ones, and eat a ton of good food. The world’s celebrities certainly enjoyed themselves, whether they baked cookies at home, like Blake Lively; had a whole menu brought in, like Mindy Kaling; or hopped on a plane to Paris to celebrate with oysters, like Ina Garten. Many posted photos of their celebrity Christmas celebrations so we could share in the festivities. Here are nine of our favorites celebrity Christmases.

Martha Stewart is the queen of beautifully executed entertaining. When one pictures her holiday dinners, it brings to mind visions of spiral hams and glossy golden-brown turkeys with little paper crowns on the drumsticks. One might expect cranberries, or even figgy pudding.

I have good news for anyone with good taste in books and who loves a great adventure. Limited-edition Lord of the Rings wine is now available to purchase and it actually sounds like it might be tasty. The first thing you must know about these Lord of the Rings wine offerings is that there were only 6,000 bottles of each made.

Move over, Cronut. Nigella Lawson may have just created the hottest new hybrid food. On the most recent episode of At My Table, Nigella Lawson introduced a new Christmas cookie she’s calling the “Merookie” because it’s a combination of a meringue and a cookie. “At this time of year, I like to have something sweet in a tin,” she explained as she started demonstrating the recipe for her chewy, chocolatey meringue cookies.

If you’ve ever come to my house for dinner, then I’ve probably made you “brinner.” Breakfast for dinner is one of my favorite things to make for a crowd, and it just got a little bit easier with the help of a trusty sheet pan. Seriously though, is there anything those magical things can’t do?

Given that it’s the holidays, I recently went down a flour-filled rabbit hole on Instagram for #panettone. There are currently over 220,000 photos under the hashtag. I’ve seen a box of panettone around family holiday gatherings, but I never really knew what went into making it until recently. I didn’t fully understand the amount of artistry that is needed to craft the perfect loaf. Well, this tasty bread is making a comeback in a big way, and it’s easy to see why.

When I was a little girl, I thought there was nothing cooler than one of those cakes with a doll stuck in the middle of it, so it looked like the doll was wearing a big dress made out of red velvet and buttercream frosting. If the doll could be made to look like a Disney Princess, that was even better. Now a culinary genius named Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin has taken the doll-in-a-ball-gown cake concept and made it even cooler, because hers are made entirely out of pie.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, so that probably means you’re prepping ingredients right now. You might be brining your turkey or making sure it’s on its way to being defrosted. Maybe you’re baking all your pies tonight so you don’t have to worry about that precious oven time tomorrow. Your home is about to smell amazing. As you might imagine, prepping for Thanksgiving looks a little different when you’re hanging out in outer space.

Starbucks has been treating us to a ton of special holiday drinks this year. It seems like just yesterday they gave us the Toasted White Chocolate Mocha and Chestnut Praline Chai Latte. It isn’t even the end of November yet, and they just surprised us with another new holiday drink for 2017: It’s called the Juniper Latte, and it sounds like a grown-up twist on the seasonal holiday favorites we all know and love.

Roasting potatoes doesn’t seem like something that would require a degree from culinary school. Usually it’s a simple process of cleaning the spuds, dicing them, tossing them with oil and herbs, and then roasting them until they reach crispy perfection, right? Right. That’s what I thought too until I saw Jamie Oliver make his version, and I won’t lie — I learned more than a few tricks! Want to see how he makes the most magical roast potatoes?

With Thanksgiving only a week away, you should already be prepping for the year’s biggest meal. Yes, that means picking up your broiler bird and making some side dishes ahead, but it’s also a prime time to start formulating your dinner-eating game plan. Will you opt for extra mashed potatoes and skip out on green bean casserole? Or take half servings of everything to pace yourself for the next round?

Yes, yes I know. We’ve talked at length about garlic hacks. We all love the taste and despise the prep work. We’ve talked before about how to peel garlic with the help of the microwave, a cocktail shaker (bonus cardio workout), or a few bowls. In addition, we’ve also chatted about peeling individual cloves with your bare hands (hulk smash) and with the side of your knife (old school — no hacks involved).

Young trick-or-treaters tend to have all the fun during Halloween, but it turns out there are plenty of free treats for adults, too. There are many restaurants and chains — including Chipotle, Krispy Kreme, and IHOP — that are getting into the holiday sprit by giving away free (or very discounted) food right now. A couple of the freebies require you to dress up in a costume, but hey! You’re probably doing that anyway.

Just when we thought the world had hit its pumpkin spice peak, a baffling new fall treat has sent the internet into a frenzy. Enter: clear pumpkin pie, a madcap creation from the chefs at Alinea in Chicago. What looks like gelatin poured into a pie crust is actually pumpkin pie that has been distilled into a totally transparent jello-like confection. Allegedly it tastes like real pumpkin and not pumpkin spice or pumpkin-flavored gelatin.