CookShelfIf you make a dish where chocolate is the star, chances are good that the recipe will call for coffee in some form. It's known as a way to deepen chocolate flavor in cakes, cookies, and confections, and roughly 10% of…
Cinnamon is one of the most recognized and widely used spices in the world, flavoring everything from drinks to meats to breads and desserts. There are two major kinds of spices labeled as cinnamon, but Ceylon cinnamon…
Roux is a foundational underpinning of both French and Creole cuisines. It serves as the backbone of the French mother sauces: hollandaise, sauce tomate, béchamel, espagnole, and velouté. Similarly, roux is…
The refrigerator is probably in the top 10 of inventions that have postively affected humankind. Being able to keep items cool dramatically slows down spoilage, allowing people to keep a wider variety of food (and…
Separating the yolks from the whites to make custards, meringues, or other dishes that use only one part of the egg is a kitchen task that can easily become annoying. Breaking the yolk before you get the whites into a…
True or false: to make pasta you need to have a large kettle of boiling water, about 6 quarts per pound of pasta. For decades most people would have said "true", but people are turning to a newer way of cooking pasta…
The tortilla press is a simple piece of kitchen equipment, usually made of metal plates that are hinged together to create perfectly even, flat dough pieces to make corn or flour tortillas. At first glance it seems like…
Do you still have the starter you created when everyone was making sourdough bread in the pandemic? I'm sad to report that my starter died an ignoble death at the back of our basement refrigerator. I'm a serial starter…
NYC chef Daniel Boulud has a storied history with nineteen restaurants, including Michelin stars. The chef recently spoke with Food & Wine about how to season like a French chef to get the perfect amount of salt in a…
"If your spice is more than six months old, you should replace it with new" is common advice, but it is not practical for most people. Throwing out spices is an expensive proposition, and with food prices in an…
Even if you don't bake often, you probably have a pie pan that gets dragged out for special occasions like the holidays. A majority of people have a glass or ceramic pan because those are the most common options, but as…
Cupcakes are finding their way back from being abandoned after the early 21st century cupcake craze sparked by bakeries such as Magnolia Bakery in New York City. What's not to love? They are individually portioned…
