Anthony Bourdain recommended sticking to simple, crowd-pleasing appetizers like frozen pigs in blankets for stress-free hosting, emphasizing the importance of preparation, making lists, and choosing familiar dishes to ensure success.
The article offers practical strategies for eating well on a budget in 2026, emphasizing meal planning, understanding grocery store rhythms, repurposing ingredients, building a pantry gradually, and staying flexible with meal choices to enjoy nourishing, flavorful food without overspending.
The article reviews over 100 frozen dinners tested in 2025, highlighting the top five favorites that combine quality, flavor, and convenience, including chicken bites, noodles, chicken tikka masala, bean and cheese burritos, and a five-cheese pizza, which are recommended for regular freezer stock.
A Homes Editor visits Chef Clare Smyth's Michelin-starred kitchen and learns that controlled, low heat searing, high-quality hybrid cookware, and meticulous preparation are key to professional-level cooking, inspiring better practices at home.
This article presents a 12-minute method to make a perfect baked potato using a microwave and air fryer, offering a faster alternative to traditional oven baking, ideal for holiday cooking.
Brandt Ranj shares his love for the OXO 11 lb Stainless Steel Food Scale, highlighting its adjustable pull-out display, durability, and usefulness for precise baking measurements, especially for recipes requiring exact ingredient ratios. He appreciates its long-term reliability and ease of use, though suggests improvements like a rechargeable, replaceable battery for even better functionality.
The article emphasizes the comforting and grounding qualities of root vegetables in autumn, highlighting their nutritional benefits, simple cooking methods like roasting, and their role in creating satisfying, steady energy meals that align with seasonal rhythms and promote a sense of home and mindfulness.
Chef Roy Choi shares three culinary tricks—prepping vegetables in advance, making homemade sauces, and using MSG—to encourage eating more veggies and enhance flavor in healthy meals, along with recipes for three flavorful sauces.
Using Italian 00 flour for pizza dough results in a lighter, crisper crust ideal for Neapolitan-style pizza, but requires adjustments in water content and handling. Blending 00 flour with whole grain and semolina can enhance flavor and texture, offering a creative approach to pizza making. Alternatives like bread or all-purpose flour can be used with recipe modifications.
Originally Published 3 months ago — by Hacker News
The article discusses how Betty Crocker and other boxed mixes have changed in size over time, causing frustration for those who value traditional recipes and nostalgia. It highlights the importance of standardizing and understanding ingredients, adjusting recipes for modern ingredients, and the cultural significance of using processed foods like cake mixes. The debate also touches on the chemistry of baking, the value of from-scratch cooking versus convenience, and the emotional connection to recipes passed down through generations.
Most Italian chefs prefer homemade marinara but recognize that high-quality jarred sauces like Rao’s Homemade Marinara, with simple ingredients and no added sugar, are a convenient and tasty alternative for busy nights, especially when enhanced with fresh garlic and herbs.
Allrecipes has announced its 2025 Golden Cart Grocery Awards, highlighting 54 top products from over 1,000 new launches, with trends including protein, global flavors, and time-saving solutions, and featuring top picks like gluten-free pretzels, protein bars, algae oil, pasta sauce, and gourmet sea salt.
Scientists from Cornell University have discovered that using a sharp knife and cutting onions slowly significantly reduces tear-inducing chemicals released during chopping, offering a simple, effective method for tear-free onion preparation that benefits both home cooks and professional kitchens.
A TikTok user from Germany claims to have learned from an Italian grandmother a bizarre cooking hack using cucumber water instead of oil to fry eggs, which has sparked debate and skepticism online, with many attributing the success to non-stick pans rather than the cucumber itself. The video has gone viral, but experts and viewers note that traditional oil is healthier and more effective for cooking, emphasizing that the hack is more of a novelty than a health benefit.
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay shares his tips for making perfect scrambled eggs, emphasizing starting with a cold pan, using butter and crème fraîche for creaminess, and stirring constantly over medium-low heat. He advises against adding salt before cooking to avoid graininess, suggesting instead to season with black pepper initially and salt after cooking. Flay's method results in soft, silky eggs, ideal for a luxurious breakfast or brunch.