Chef's Notes Plus

What I’m Cooking: Lemon Baked Pasta with Broccoli Rabe

I haven’t always embraced my Italian-American identity. That’s not to say I’m not proudly Italian-American, or that I’m somehow ashamed of my Italian ancestry. It was more the Jersey Shore Italian-American stereotype that sort of haunted me, even before MTV entered the conversation. On campus at The Culinary Institute of […]

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All About Tofu

Tofu, also called bean curd, is made by coagulating (or curdling) soy milk before pressing it into semi-firm blocks. The process, similar to that of cheesemaking, results in tofu of various textures, ranging from scoopable to sliceable, all useful in different kitchen applications, both sweet and savory. Tofu is very […]

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Make Creamy Salad Dressings without a Recipe

As salad dressings go, oil and vinegar—their cute couple name is Vinaigrette—are sort of the popular kids. Everyone likes them, they get along with anyone/salad, and here’s where this metaphor falls apart: you don’t need a recipe. But sometimes a salad and/or your brain are just begging for a creamy […]

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New Video: Perfect Fried Eggs

Sometimes the classic, tried-and-true way just doesn’t work for you. For me, I was always hung up on the perfect fried egg. Sunny-side-up, runny yolk with a little bit of texture, crisp underneath, and set–not runny–whites. I knew the tricks. After all, I did learn from the best at the […]

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Heirloom Recipes from the CIA

You can cook a lot of food in more than 70 years, and here at The Culinary Institute of America, we’ve created some tasty dishes, if we do say so ourselves. Whether they were imagined right here on our campus or inspired by some of our favorite old-world classics, there […]

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Wine 101: Chardonnay

Great food and wine go hand in hand, but when the-things-to-know-about-wine are seemingly infinite, it can be difficult (and intimidating!) to choose a wine. In this series, we’ll explore the fundamentals of wine, from grape varietals to tasting, so that you can tackle a wine list with confidence. Up first […]

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Handy Conversion References

When you work in food and recipes every day, converting cups to tablespoons and ounces to grams becomes sort of second nature. But if like most people, your brain space is occupied with… well, more important things, here are a few handy reference charts for when you need them. We’ve […]

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New Video: Making Quick Pickles

July is Oh No All my Cucumbers Grew at the Same Time What Do I Do with Them month, and there is only one answer to that: Pickles! In this video, DISH editor Laura shows you exactly how easy it is to make refrigerator pickles and talks you through some […]

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All About Vanilla

When you’re making a simple dessert, like vanilla ice cream or crème brûlée, you have very few ingredients to distract from the flavors of the raw ingredients. For that reason, the best outcomes will come from the best ingredients. We know a lot these days about sourcing high quality milk […]

Chef's Notes Plus

Grill Anything (Yes, Even Pasta!)

By the end of this summer, I will be able to write a book on how to cook exclusively outside. As I’ve mentioned, probably too often, I live in Texas, where it is currently HOT. My house is small, but tragically under-cooled in the summer, so when I turn on […]