CookShelfI have always enjoyed Top Chef since it first aired. I find I learn something new each episode and enjoy the camaraderie amongst the chefs. This season, as Darcie reported last year, Kristin Kish replaced Padma Lakshmi…
Almost every baking recipe begins with the words "Preheat the oven to NNN degrees," but is it really necessary to go through that step? Wouldn't it be more energy efficient to just put your food items in while the oven…
My rhubarb plants are nearly ready to harvest, marking the earliest maturation since we moved to this location in late 2008. Glancing back at the posts about rhubarb's return as a harbinger of spring, the date when the…
Following a storm of negative social media posts, Momofuku has said that it won't enforce the trademark for 'chili crunch' or 'chile crunch'. “Over the past week, we have heard the feedback from our community and now…
Hyperbole in advertising and news reporting is almost as old as print itself, so it should not be surprising that hyperbole is common on the internet. The extent of it is breathtaking, however, as seemingly every other…
One of the best ways to start an argument is to make a claim that X is better than Y. It doesn't really matter what X or Y is, just stating that one is superior to another will set off passionate debate that often…
We've heard a lot of buzz about how bugs might be the next big thing in environmentally-friendly protein and now we're apparently moving up the food chain to snakes. An article in Salon reports that some scientists…
Condiments like chili crisp and chili crunch are having a moment right now. They add spiciness and texture to foods like dumplings, noodles, eggs, and even desserts. The ingredients are similar from brand to brand, with…
I stumbled upon a post by Tim Mazurek at his blog Lottie & Doof in which he makes some bold assertions about cookbooks. Mazurek thinks that most cookbooks published today are bad, stating that "the reality is that most…
Early this morning a mild earthquake startled NYC-area residents. While this level of quake wouldn't cause a Californian to bat an eyelash, it is much less common to occur on the East Coast so it caught people's…
We've written several times about World Central Kitchen, the humanitarian aid group founded by chef José Andrés in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then, the group has been on the front lines of natural…
I was traveling much of the day today, but I did see a few fun April Fools' Day pranks being posted to social media. It seems to me that pranks these days are very transparently jokes and not actual efforts to fool…
