Salt to taste. If you've ever read a recipe, you've probably seen that line. Though common, it's also a common source of confusion for home cooks. "Whose taste?" some ask. The answer, your taste, often leads to more questioning: "What is my taste?" or "What if my taster's no … [Read more...] about How to do a Comparative Tasting and Why You Should
Recipes
Spices & Herbs: A Quick Lesson
As this terrific video by Consumer Reports shows, you don't need to spend a lot of money on fancy spices. However, the key element is when spices get old. Ground herbs and spices are more exposed to air, and thus they lose their potency more quickly. Spices vs. Herbs First, its … [Read more...] about Spices & Herbs: A Quick Lesson
Recipe: Mom’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
When I was seven, I dressed up as a cowgirl and traveled the neighborhood to hand out cookies to strangers. We'd just moved to a small bit of cul de sac away from the farm we'd lived on for more than a decade. In retrospect, I don't know what possessed me to do such a thing. … [Read more...] about Recipe: Mom’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Recipe: French Onion Soup
Something mesmerizes about soupe a l’oignon gratinée. If properly done, there's the cheese - thick, oozing, bubbling and likely a bit browned and toughened around the edges. Next, the slices of baguette, perhaps acting as a raft for the cheese or a lazy guard of the hot, fragrant … [Read more...] about Recipe: French Onion Soup
Recipe: Kate McDermott’s Pumpkin Pie [video lesson]
Introduction by Kathleen Flinn, Recipe by Kate McDermott from The Art of Pie At its essence, pie dough is simple. It's flour, salt, fat and water. I chose pie maven's Kate McDermott's recipe for this site because not only because it works, yielding a soft, buttery crust, but I … [Read more...] about Recipe: Kate McDermott’s Pumpkin Pie [video lesson]
