With a few fundamental techniques, you can learn how to braise with confidence and create the slow-cooked dish of your dreams. What is Braising? According to Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking,” the traditional French term “braise” refers to “a closed pot sitting on top of, and covered by, charcoal.” Nowadays, the definition of braising has expanded, but it generally involves pan-searing meat (a form of dry-heat cooking) and subsequently simmering the meat at a gentle, low heat in liquid....

My favorite one is about 45 years old, a hand-me-down from my parents. It’s lasted all these years because my mom took good care of it, and now I do, too. So, what’s the best way to clean a wooden cutting board? How do you keep it from cracking? Wooden cutting boards do require a little maintenance, but it all pays off. Here are my tips for how to clean, maintain, and condition your wooden board so it’ll last for years!...

Enter this chamomile hot toddy. It’s a drink of whiskey, honey, and lemon mixed with chamomile tea to help you doze off in no time. How to Make a Hot Toddy Since the toddy is supposedly Irish in origin, purists insist that only Irish whiskey be used in the drink. However, as the recipe became popular outside Ireland, spreading throughout Europe and North America, so did its boozy variations. I say, use what you have in your liquor cabinet and most enjoy!...

Learning how to make this cauliflower rice recipe is a good starting point to explore the versatility of this veggie. You’ll be amazed how quickly you can transform florets into grain-like bits. From a time standpoint, cauliflower rice can be cooked and is ready faster than grains, which is a plus for those busy weeknights. Whether sautéed, stir-fried, or simply tossed raw into a salad, you’ll find yourself using cauliflower rice to bump up the flavor and nutrition of any meal....

My professed love for potatoes means I am always trying to find ways to prep them and cook them as quickly as possible. (It also means I often order good quality French fries with a great salad for dinner, but I digress…) What if there were a way to achieve crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside French fries in less than a half an hour? If I told you that it was possible to pull this off without the mess or hassle of deep frying potatoes, would you believe me?...

How to Make Swiss Meringue The biggest difference between Swiss meringue and other meringues is the way it is cooked. You start by gently warming egg whites and sugar over a warm water bath, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Undissolved sugar can result in a grainy meringue, so rub a little between your first finger and thumb to test. If it feels smooth with no grains of sugar, it’s ready....

But you don’t need gimmicky tools to peel garlic—just a knife, a cutting board, and a spirited whack. It takes only seconds. An Easy Way to Peel Garlic Start with fresh garlic. If it’s months old, the garlic cloves inside the peels can get rubbery; they won’t work with this method. Get however many cloves of garlic you need. An easy way to separate cloves of garlic from the head is to put the whole head on your cutting board or counter, put your palm on the garlic, and lay into it with your full weight....

Egg bites are just what they sound like — crustless, bite-sized, quiche-like rounds of eggs, cheese, and whatever mix-ins you want. They’re tasty, portable, and easy to eat — just like the version from Starbucks! What’s not to like? How Do You Make Instant Pot Egg Bites? I prefer to use one mold at a time, since the egg bites tend to come out more evenly cooked and more nicely shaped that way....

It’s loaded with some of my favorite flavors and textures — soft Italian bread, salty cured meats, and crunchy pickled veggies. The best part is you make one huge loaf, slice it and serve it. Dinner is done! Or lunch! Or party snacks! Why did I ever make individual sandwiches?! What Is an Italian Sandwich? Generally, an Italian sandwich has a combination of cured meats – I like salami and pepperoni, but other options include mortadella and capicola....

It’s basically a simplified strata of sorts, a casserole layering thin slices of rustic ciabatta bread with sautéed kale, mushrooms, and onions, and cheddar cheese, soaked with milk and egg, and then baked until bubbly and browned. It’s the ultimate kale lover’s comfort food. The recipe is from Jennie’s cookbook, Homemade with Love: Simple Scratch Cooking from In Jennie’s Kitchen, a beautiful book with photographs by Penny De Los Santos, heart warming prose, and tummy warming recipes for the home cook....

Sweet and Spicy To me, Kansas City barbecue sauces are thick, tomato-based sauces that are just as sweet as they are spicy. Endless variations are possible, but the sweet-thick-tomatoey elements need to be there for KC BBQ. This is a sort of apple-y version, with sweetness from both brown sugar and apple juice as well as an acid kick from cider vinegar. I add a little smoky chipotle powder, too, just because I like it; chipotle is not generally used in traditional KC barbecue....

1. Don’t Be a Hero! Use Your Food Processor For classic potato latkes, Koenig’s number one tip is to not be a hero and try to grate your potatoes by hand. “If you only have a standard box grater, you can absolutely make great potato latkes that way. But it takes a long time to grate the number of potatoes and onions that you need. And there’s always the risk of nicking your knuckle in the process,” Koenig explains....

This recipe is based on the same muffin recipe on which I based our lemon ginger muffins. The balance of flour, leavening, eggs and yogurt results in a light and fluffy muffin. The important things to remember with making these lemon poppyseed muffins is to make sure your baking powder is no older than 6 months (it may not work if older), and to not over-mix the batter. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 cup confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)...

And then there is orange. I can’t remember a Thanksgiving without a vibrant dish of garnet yams (a.k.a. sweet potatoes). Usually we just mash them up with some brown sugar and spices. But a few years ago, we tried out this recipe from Bon Appetit and loved it! We’ve since adjusted the recipe a bit, removing the flour from the topping and replacing it with ground pecans for our gluten-intolerant family members....

How to Make Masa for Tamales Back when I learned how to make tamales from my grandmother and mom, they scoffed when I asked for exact measurements. They measured the ingredients al tanteo, meaning “a calculated guess” in Spanish. They measured the masa harina, baking powder, and salt with a favorite soup spoon, a coffee cup, the palm of their hands, or pinch with their fingers. This masa recipe yields a basic tamale dough—one that I meticulously wrote down as I watched them....

But I’m still a sucker for the homemade version. On chilly winter nights, I love a sheet pan pizza piled high with toppings, like this meat lovers’ version. Easy Sheet Pan Pizza The sheet pan is a low maintenance way to make great pizza. The crust gets crispy and you don’t have to bother with special pizza stones. It also makes a BIG pizza, so you’ll probably have leftovers....

When I first made it, I thought the mint flavor would hit me hard in the face. But in fact, combined here with parsley, it has a subtle freshness that makes it versatile. Tiny bits of chopped almonds give it texture, too. How to Keep Pesto Bright Green Another alluring quality to this pesto is its bright green color. To keep it bright for a few days, blanch the mint and parsley briefly in boiling water, and then shock them in an ice water bath....

It comes together quickly thanks to the quick-cooking instant polenta—no need to stand over the stove stirring it for 30 minutes. Most brands of instant polenta cook in under 5 minutes and they’re still as rich and creamy. The polenta is seasoned with butter, Parmesan cheese, and a little parsley. It’s topped with sautéed white button and cremini mushrooms, garlic, and onions in a light herby sauce punched up with a dash of red wine vinegar....

But sometimes, the recipe development goes awry and the dish just fails. Yes, so bad it would ruin my rep as the kitchen superstar. In those moments, I whip out my never-fail-save-my-dinner-party dish. Of course, I hide all evidence of the earlier recipe disaster in the trash. So, what’s that dish? Well, honestly it’s not even MY recipe, it’s part of a recipe from Heidi’s 101 Cookbooks blog called Otsu....

In fact, if we are friends, and you have an occasion coming, expect a bottle. My love runs that deep. Why Bar Keepers Friend is the Best Friend I met Bar Keepers Friend when I was 18, and working at Nectar’s in Burlington, Vermont. It was love at first use. After a grueling shift slinging beer and shaking margaritas, a co-worker introduced me to the miracle cleanser that is now a staple in my cleaning regime....