From Scratch

Stores these days are full of snacks and candy packaged in little 100-calorie portions. But what about 100 calories of real food? How much of a potato or yogurt is that? It’s one thing to say ‘this much’ or ‘that much’, it’s another to see it and, having seen it, probably easier to remember.
So let’s look. The […]

Even though I drink hot coffee year-round, hot chocolate is, for me, a seasonal drink and it’s one of the joys of winter. I’ve made it for years with Mexican chocolate but with dark chocolate so easy to find these days — and heart-healthy — I decided to create a new version that would be […]

There’s always something to learn. I did not know pure maple syrup can be kept in the freezer.
I learned that tip from Good Housekeeping online, which has a wonderful three-page, printable chart of the best ways to store food and for how long. There are separate pages for dry goods, condiments and perishables.
I’ve long followed […]

Decorating cutout cookies can be as simple as sprinkling sugar on them before they head into the oven or as involved as designs far more elaborate than I’ve done here. When going beyond a minimal approach, we need royal icing, the familiar cement for making gingerbread houses.
But it doesn’t have to be a tooth-chipping mortar. We control […]

If cake batters and cookie doughs could talk they might say, “I’m not bad. I’m just mixed that way.”
The purpose of creaming is to create air bubbles…
Creaming is a basic, essential technique that countless people get wrong. Many cakes and cookies, especially cutout cookies, begin with this step. It’s no time for shortcuts or impatience. […]

You know the dilemma: you need a gift for someone who likes to cook or bake. Perhaps the cook in your life is like me and has been outfitting a kitchen for years, someone you think has everything. And maybe you don’t cook or bake at all and are at a loss.
Here are some ideas. They […]

No, I’m not crazy. I haven’t rinsed raw poultry in a couple years, since reading about a then-proposed change in Federal food safety guidelines to recommend against it because of the great risk of cross-contamination by doing so. Here’s the government’s current official stance:
Washing raw poultry, beef, pork, lamb, or veal before cooking it is […]

All-purpose flour, quick-mixing flour, cornstarch. All can be used to thicken gravy and for most of my life I assumed they were interchangable and simply a matter of preference. As it turns out, your choice of thickening agent depends on when you add it to the gravy and whether it will be reheated.
…your choice of […]

I love chili and even when I was a rookie in the kitchen I made it without a recipe, concocting it according to my mood and what was on hand. You probably make chili that way too, and this is not a recipe. It’s about a technique I adopted a few years ago.
I’d always added […]

I still remember reading something in an old cookbook when I got serious about pie crusts. It advised people making pie crust by hand to work quickly. Good advice, since overworking the dough’s not wise. Then I was startled by the explanation that if you’re nervous and your palms are warm, the dough will get too […]

Who doesn’t enjoy a change? I am so happy to have found a good recipe for a crisp that doesn’t have the usual oatmeal in the topping. And oh my, the filling has a dab of cream cheese.
Back in August, on a really hot day, I saw Southern Pear Crisp on my cyberpal jolynna’s blog, Turkey […]

I’ve never paid much attention to the price of those pre-fab pie crusts because I don’t use them — I don’t think they’re good, but that’s not the focus here – but the price jumped out at me last night from an in-your-face sale display: $2.49, which is $1 less than the store’s regular price. That’s […]

We’re truly a global community online, finding recipes at sites everywhere, but we don’t all speak the same language. This little chart’s been handy for me and I hope you’ll find it useful too.
250 deg F      120 Deg C      Very Slow Oven
275 deg F      140 deg C      Gas mark 1
300 Deg F      150 Deg C     Gas mark […]

Perhaps I don’t pay enough attention to commercials, but I was aware of a store brand of microwave steamer bags long before I knew about the national brands. It was about a year ago and I thought they were so clever, but I didn’t remember to buy any till recently.
The concept is the same as […]

For many, Labor Day weekend will bring a final flurry of outdoor cooking and often, that means steaks. When I think of the finest Prime beef I’ve ever bought at retail only one name comes to mind: Lobel’s. It’s on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and this will describe it for you:

Jackie O bought her meat there
So […]