Funeral potatoes are usually made with sour cream, condensed cream of chicken soup from a can, frozen shredded potatoes, and a cornflake or breadcrumb topping. This makes a delicious casserole, certainly, but I wanted to try making a version from scratch using homemade ingredients. Where Do Funeral Potatoes Come From? Funeral potatoes are often associated with Southern and Mormon cultures, specifically the Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Relief Society (a women-led organization founded in 1842 and dedicated to serving those in need)....

As kids we would have pit spitting contests to see how far we could make them fly. Do kids even do this any more? They’ve already bred the seeds out of watermelons, I sure hope they don’t breed the pits out of cherries. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t mind working for my food, pits, seeds and all. To make cherry ice cream, you do have to pit some cherries....

When slowly simmered in olive oil, chicken becomes meltingly tender, stays moist, and keeps in the refrigerator for at least one month (as long as it is submerged in the oil). When you’re ready for dinner, pull it out and sear or roast it until the skin is crispy. Serve it with your favorite sides, top it on a salad, or shred it for tacos or burritos. What Is Confit?...

This chicken cutlet recipe, with a caper shallot sauce, is just that, flavorful, filling, and won’t weigh you down. You can make it all in one pot, takes about 30 minutes, and it’s gluten-free too. The idea for it came from my friend Peg, who is simply brilliant in the kitchen. It’s sort of like a chicken piccata, but without the breading or lemon, and it is served with fresh arugula, thinly sliced fennel, and shaved Parmesan....

Traditionally a Middle Eastern meat-based food sold in shops, it’s not uncommon nowadays to find eclectic spins on the original, such as vegan “cauliflower shawarma” and “chicken shawarma hummus bowls” or “shawarma poutine.” All About Chicken Shawarma Chicken shawarma’s ingredients, method, and style vary from region to region. Usually, the chicken marinates in spices and an acidic ingredient, such as lemon juice or yogurt. The chicken can marinate for as little as one hour, up to overnight....

Candied orange peels are truly the OG thrifty, food waste-reducing, yet classy treat. You might associate them with a depression-era grandma, or a British show you watch on PBS, but DIY low-waste foods are as valuable now as ever. Preserving fruits and their peels in honey is an ancient technique, made easier with granulated sugar. Save Orange Peels As You Go One of the best things about making candied orange peels is that you can eat oranges all week, remove the peels in quadrants (more about that later), and save the peels in a zip-top bag....

My go-to method for preparing sweet potatoes is to chop them up, toss them in oil and spices—such as garlic powder, paprika, cumin, or chili powder—and roast on high heat. Though they turn out delicious every time, sometimes I want to switch it up. Enter this recipe for Chorizo-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. A New Sweet Potato Recipe for Dinner With this recipe, whole sweet potatoes get baked and then stuffed with a chorizo mixture for an update on the classic bacon-and-cheese stuffed baked potato, if you will....

How To Make Meatloaf Taste Amazing My dad’s trick to meatloaf? He mixes Italian pork sausage (half sweet, half spicy) in with ground beef. The original recipe came from an old issue of Gourmet (April 1994) and my father has been changing it over the years to his taste (including using Italian sausage instead of plain ground pork). It’s no ordinary meatloaf. Homemade Meatloaf Is Worth the Time It takes a little extra prep time to make the “sofritto” base of minced carrots, onions, celery, and garlic, but it is so so worth it!...

This cranberry tangerine shrub recipe beats the pants off of water or plain old juice when it comes to a holiday beverage, and, for the guests who are looking for cocktails, this easily mixes up with spirits too! This Shrub Is for Drinking Let’s tackle the name first: no, this “shrub” has nothing to do with those found on your front lawn. A shrub is a hundreds of years old term that actually encompasses a number of techniques to make and enjoy a vinegar-based beverage....

You madly dash to turn on the broiler and then realize that the soup, sauce, or whatever will be cold by the time the garlic bread is done. A wave of disappointment overtakes you as you realize what you will be missing. But it would be so much better with garlic bread! The following quickie garlic bread is made for situations such as these. As long as you have a toaster, some olive oil, and a clove of garlic, you’re good....

If you are like me, the thought of making Hollandaise conjures up visions of toque clad chefs with big bowls and even bigger whisks swearing because the beautiful sauce they have spent the last several minutes vigorously whisking has separated on them, “Merde!” I have been desperately afraid of making this sauce since forever. (Not afraid of eating it mind you, I’ve never met an eggs Benedict I didn’t like....

These days, I make vanilla pudding at home on the stovetop. It takes less than 30 minutes—though it needs to chill for about 2 hours—and the results are wildly tastier than the pre-packaged puddings I ate all those years ago. Plus, the recipe calls for pantry staples that I usually have! Make this pudding on a Sunday and you’ll have a sweet treat to enjoy all week long. What’s in this Easy Vanilla Pudding?...

Best Add-Ins for Steak Salad I tend to spiff mine up a bit with whatever we might have on hand— avocados, goat cheese, red bell peppers, tomatoes, pomegranate seeds, depending on what’s in season. Best Greens for Steak Salad Arugula is a particularly good complement to steak, though the pepperiness of the arugula can at times be a little too much if not mixed in with some other salad greens. You can also use, or mix in, chopped fresh romaine lettuce, baby spinach, baby gem, or iceberg lettuce....

This is one of my favorite salads. It’s pretty to look at, crunchy and has a sweet-sour-bitter thing going on that I really enjoy. Radicchio, which looks like a little head of red cabbage, and Belgian endive, which is a pale white-yellow thing that looks like a spear point, are both chicories, which means they are ever-so-slightly bitter. The fennel, shaved thin, balances that with its anise sweetness. A mustard-based vinaigrette rounds the whole thing out....

When the short ribs are close to falling off the bone, carrots, daikon, and dried shiitake mushrooms are added. Garnish it with scallions and sesame oil. The brothy sauce reduces to a perfect consistency for spooning over rice, a must-have accompaniment for this dish. Galbi jjim is a dish reserved for special occasions. When you consider the cost of the short ribs, it’s certainly not a dish most people can often indulge in....

The vines have already grown up the bamboo trellis that lines the side yard fence, and have reached up and over the fence, meaning my neighbor may get as many beans from my plants as I do. How To Choose Green Beans I never know how the beans are going to cook up, even if they are from my own garden. The most important thing to look for when choosing beans at the market is that they snap when you bend them, versus bending like a rubber band....