To select a knife of good quality that fits your hand well and is suitable for the intended task, you need a basic knowledge of the various parts of a knife. Blades Currently, the most frequently used material for blades is high-carbon stainless steel. Other materials, such as stainless steel […]
If your kitchen cabinets are currently storing more than one empty glass jar, you are officially missing an easy pickling opportunity. Pickled fruits and vegetables are the absolute best way to add some excitement to any recipe, cheese plate, or mid-afternoon snack attack. There are many pickling strategies, which can […]
When vegetables are fully or partially cooked by steaming, boiling, or roasting, they can be sautéed just long enough to reheat them or to complete cooking them—a technique known as finishing. Whole butter is a common choice for finishing vegetables, but other flavorful cooking fats, such as extra-virgin olive oil, […]
All-purpose flour is only one option among many, and specialty flours are more likely to be available at your local market. Let’s explore the varieties of flour that you might come across so you can choose the best replacement for you. All-purpose flour is a blend of “soft” (low-protein) and […]
If there is one cooking technique you really need to know, it’s sautéing. Sautéing is how we can most easily cook a tasty chicken breast, yummy veggies, and quick stir-fries. It’s quick, requires basic tools, and is, frankly, hard to mess up. Sautéing and the closely related technique of stir-frying […]
From trimming and peeling to slicing and dicing, many vegetables and herbs need advance preparation before they are ready to serve or to use as an ingredient in a recipe. Presenting perfectly cooked, aesthetically beautiful dishes begins with the mastery of these fabrication techniques. The best dishes begin with the […]
With the world at our fingertips, trying new recipes has never been easier. But looking far from home for a new recipe can mean unfamiliar units of measurements that can make planning, shopping, and cooking just a little more difficult. If grams and milliliters have you scrolling past great new […]
Boneless, skinless chicken breast is one of the most popular items in American homes, and no wonder. They’re easy to pick out, easy to store, and easy to cook. But whether you’re tackling new recipes, shopping a great sale, or figuring out exactly what is in your CSA box, sometimes […]
Using molds to make hard candies is very easy and requires only the desired molds suitable for use with sugar. There are different types of molds available that can be used with hard candy; metal molds, either heavy cast molds or lighter stamped molds, are the most common variety, and […]
If you have been to France, you know that the bars there bear little resemblance to American watering holes. Over there, when you go into a bar for something to drink, you’ll most likely be enjoying coffee, water, or what the French drink before dinner–an aperitif. Since aperitifs precede dinner, […]
Doubling or tripling recipes or cutting them in half successfully requires more than simple multiplication. Recipes for baked goods rely upon a number of “sensitive” ingredients, such as leaveners, flavorings, seasonings, and thickeners. These ingredients don’t scale up or down directly in proportion with other ingredients. If you are planning […]
A beautifully golden brown mushroom that’s slightly crisp on the exterior, but tender and flavorful on the interior, is not a difficult outcome to achieve. And yet, it is one of the biggest challenges for CIA students and home-cooks alike. After observing the struggles to cook mushrooms with results that […]