Few sandwiches have the cult following of a BLT. It’s deceptively simple—just bacon, lettuce, tomato, and bread—yet when each ingredient is at its peak, it transforms into something greater than the sum of its parts. While crispy bacon and toasted bread do their fair share of heavy lifting, the tomato […]
The blending method, sometimes called the straight method, is the most basic and straight-forward mixing method, used for mixing quick breads and simple cakes. The blending method consists of making two mixtures, one with the wet ingredients and one with the dry, then combining (or blending!) the two together. 1. […]
To an observer it must have looked like some bizarre heist movie. Here’s the scene: It was a warm night in late April. Ruined pillars from some forgotten structure loomed above the Hudson River. Flowers covered the apple trees nearby. A car approached, the headlights flashing, only to turn off […]
As a last course, a composed plate of one cheese with one or more accompaniments can be a nice alternative to a sweet dessert. And, of course, nothing makes for a perfect party more than a cheese board for grazing. A variety of approaches can be taken when creating a […]
It’s a fact that Americans love eating Chinese food. There are over 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S.; there are more Chinese restaurants than McDonald’s. You can probably name a favorite Chinese restaurant and a dish or two you love. It is also a fact that many cooks feel intimidated […]
Makes one 9-inch pie They say if you love somebody, you give them diamonds—but we think if you truly love someone, you bake them a pie. This classic apple pie is a crowd-pleaser no matter what table it lands on, and friends and family will taste the love in each […]
On normal days I meet with my students in classrooms or gardens. I’m a Professor in Applied Food Studies at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, and my students are interested in sustainability and culture as well as cooking. We recreate historical recipes like Aztec amaranth cookies, […]
For generations raised on more conventional meats, seafood, and poultry, the hearty, robust taste of venison, quail, rabbit, and other game meats provides welcome new flavor experiences that remind us, almost subliminally, of the cuisines of our ancestors. Many home cooks think of game as exotic, yet it has always […]
Knowing how to cook comes down to mastering a few simple techniques, which opens up a world of original cooking for you. You are no longer tied to having a recipe, buying the ingredients, and then cooking. You can pull together ingredients you already have on hand and use the […]
One of the most flavorful ways of cooking meat is in curries. In Asia, there are literally thousands of recipes, but the most common styles can be categorized as Thai, Malaysian, or Indian in origin. While it’s impossible to pinpoint the exact origin of each, the word “curry,” or kari […]
You might think with a name like Día de los Muertos—or Day of the Dead—the Mexican holiday would be a somber one. But you would be wrong, because when celebrating Día de los Muertos, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans throw their biggest and best parties. As they say in Mexico, they throw […]
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 […]