Hot Food Hacks Posts
Weird Ingredient Wednesday: The Mushroom That Tastes Like Candy
Mushrooms are glorious: they're nutritional powerhouses, add meaty savor to just about any dish, and are cheap and plentiful (mostly). But just when you thought you knew best how to use edible fungi (in gravies, as portobello burgers, stewed and served over pasta, just to name a few uses), you learn something new: there's a mushroom out there that tastes like maple syrup. Yep, maple syrup.
Food Tool Friday: Why Pros Use Carbon Steel Knives
A good, sharp knife is a cook's best friend, which is why there's so much passionate debate about what kind you should get. Most enthusiastic home cooks opt for a stainless steel knife, but it turns out there's a different option that the pros favor, and that's carbon steel.
How To: 3 Tasty Tricks to Get Better Flavors from Inexpensive Wine
Holidays are a time for good food and good drink, but more often than not, we substitute good drink for, well, cheap drink. However, cheap wine doesn't have to be bad.
How To: Why Opened Wine Doesn't Last Long (& How to Change That)
Bad news, guys. The shelf life for liquor leftovers does not apply to your two-buck chuck. While an opened bottle of your favorite whiskey will stay respectable for ages thanks to its high ABV (which makes it inhospitable to outside elements), an opened bottle of merlot will sour quickly. However, it turns out that red and white wines have different life spans once they're opened—for reasons which we'll cover below.
How To: A Coffee-Only Breakfast Can Make You Fatter, but It Doesn't Have To
Hey, coffee drinkers—your morning cup of joe is killing your metabolism.
How To: The Secret to Neutralizing Nasty Paint Fumes & Odors (Hint: It's in Your Kitchen)
A new coat of paint is an easy, cheap way to make your home look instantly better, but dealing with paint fumes for days afterward isn't so fun, especially if you have kids or pets.
How To: Clone Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos at Home
Doritos Locos Tacos were the brilliant concoction of a man named Todd Mills who never worked for Taco Bell, and never made any money from his creation. He originally pitched the idea to Frito-Lay, and when they said no, he took matters into his own hands by creating a Facebook page.
How To: Make Crappy Cheap Vodka Taste Like the Good Stuff
Let's be honest, most of us buy the bottom-shelf vodka either because we're broke or because we're going to disguise the gag-inducing taste of it with juice or something fizzy. If you're cooking or baking with vodka (ice-cold vodka works wonders in pie crust), what's the point of buying Belvedere?
How To: Caramelize Onions in Half the Time
Caramelized onions are one of those ingredients you can add that immediately makes any dish feel a little fancier. They have that delicious savory-sweet combination, they're great in almost anything, and they're surprisingly easy to pull off at home. So why don't more people make them?
Food Chemistry: The "Ingredients" in Organic, All-Natural, Fruits & Eggs Are Not What You'd Expect
If you look at the label on your favorite processed snack, there's a good chance you have no idea what half the ingredients are. It's nothing new, but with natural and organic foods becoming huge trends, we're hyper-aware of all the "chemicals" we eat.
How To: The Cleanest & Easiest Way to Eat a Mandarin Orange Without Peeling
Like a lot of other fruits, mandarin oranges are delicious but annoying to peel. There are tons of tricks for peeling fruits and vegetables faster, but what if you don't want to peel them at all?
DIY Rehydration Drinks: How to Make Your Own Electrolyte-Enhanced Water for Cheap
While it's easy to make fun of water with "electrolytes," there's actually some science behind it. Despite the name, electrolyte-enhanced water isn't all that high-tech, it mostly means that it's been infused with vitamins and minerals such as potassium and sodium, which are very helpful in preventing dehydration. Unfortunately, electrolyte water isn't especially cheap, and compared to the tap, it's downright expensive. Luckily, there's a few recipes out there that can help you mix your own e...
How To: 40 Damn Cool Things You Can Do with Eggs
All day I dream of eggs: scrambled, poached, over easy, hard-boiled, fried, baked, raw... Okay, the last one is a joke (unless you're Gaston, which means that you eat five dozen of them and you're roughly the size of a barge). But eggs are freaking good in just about any cooking prep, and more often than not are the foundation of your favorite baked goods.
How To: Get Tender, Juicy Meat with This Common Kitchen Staple
Tender is the name of the game when it comes to cooking damn delicious meat, but achieving that succulent texture isn't always easy.
How To: Skip the Fondant—Make Picture-Perfect Cakes with Paper Towels Instead
Fondant looks pretty, but man, it sure does taste weird. Don't Miss:
Beetroot Ketchup: The Next Big Fry Fad
Step aside, Heinz: there's a new ketchup in town. Beetroot ketchup is the rising star of condiments. It's a vibrant, earthy, and sweet topping for summer BBQ burgers and grilled hot dogs, as well as a pretty un-beet-able dip for French fries. There's no corn syrup, it's paleo-friendly, and the beets give it a bright, bold flavor like no other sauce you have ever tasted.
How To: 6 Wonderfully Weird Sorbet Flavors You Have to Try
Ah, the sensation of that first bite of sorbet in the heat of summertime: icy, refreshing, decadent in flavor and texture. We love sorbet almost as much as we love ice cream, and making it at home is actually pretty simple. Most recipes call for just water, sugar, and a base fruit of some sort (like strawberries or watermelon).
How To: Cut 500 Calories Each Day with These Diet & Exercise Tips
It's a well-known fact (supported by myriad sources, including Fitness Magazine) that in order to lose a pound, you need to cut and/or burn 3,500 calories... which, divided by the number of days in the week, equals 500 calories a day.
Good Veggies Gone Bad: When to Throw Out Those Onions, Mushrooms, & Greens in Your Fridge
Most of us lead busy, work-filled lives, often clocking in a 9-to-5 five days a week. And when that clock signifies the hour to leave, the last thing on anyone's mind is: "Time to go to the grocery store to pick up more fresh produce!" (Well, to be fair... maybe more people are psyched about this, but I know with certainty that I am not one of them.)
How To: Trick Beef Lovers into Eating Your Turkey Burgers
I recently had a small gathering of friends over for a quick cookout consisting of mostly burgers on the grill. One of my friends informed me beforehand that she didn't eat red meat, but that she would be perfectly okay with eating a turkey burger.
How To: Boil Pasta in Half the Time
The standard way to make pasta requires a lot of water, and it takes a long time for that big pot of water to actually start boiling. For these reasons, as well as my hatred for washing large pots, I don't cook pasta at home very often—at least not the traditional way.
How To: Morning Coffee Not Strong Enough? Do This Instead
Like a strong-tasting cup of joe, but want more caffeine out of it? Start double brewing your coffee. To paraphrase a big fan of the double brew process on Reddit, it'll make you feel like you can throw an orange at 60 percent the speed of light. It's that strong. Really.
How To: The Trick to Making Perfect Oven-Baked Eggs Every Time
Easter may have come and gone, but my love of hard-boiled eggs sure hasn't. Yet as much as I love hard-boiled eggs, I hate making them; I have to work in small batches to have consistent results, and they're always a little overdone, crumbly, and sometimes even green.
Dishwasher Cooking: Delicious Recipes You Can Make While Cleaning Your Dishes
This sounds a little crazy, and it is—in a good way. Cooking food in the dishwasher while it cleans your dishes multitasks your appliance and saves time and energy. And who doesn't want to spend less time over a hot stove? How Dishwasher Cooking Works
How To: Skip the Green Beer & Indulge in These 8 Desserts for St. Patrick's Day
Soda bread, corned beef and cabbage, and colcannon are all great dishes to serve up on St. Patrick's Day, but desserts really let your inner leprechaun come out to play. Not only can you have fun incorporating all kinds of tasty Irish liquors into baked goods, you get to dye things green.
How To: Deconstructed Sushi for All the Flavor & None of the Labor
If you're a sushi lover but not an expert sushi maker, you can still enjoy the flavors of sushi rolls at home with these deconstructed sushi dishes.
News: Use Blood for Pancakes, Sausages, Desserts & More
Cooking with animal blood is as old as civilization itself. I promise that your ancient ancestors, no matter where you're from, didn't have the luxury of throwing away any part of the animal, including the very lifeblood that used to run through it. Animal blood, along with everything but the skin, would invariably end up in the stew.
News: Why You Need to Cook on a Himalayan Salt Block
Salt is a miraculous substance. From the Ancient Egyptians to the Christian Bible, many cultures believe it to have mystical powers that can ward off evil, among other things.
How To: Clean Up Liquid Spills More Easily with Flour
Spills happen in the kitchen, and while every good cook knows to clean as you go, not every cook has an endless supply of cleaning materials. Besides, one spill can exhaust your entire stockpile of sponges, paper towels, and rags in a matter of minutes. Particularly egregious mishaps can make everything they touch feel sticky and gross.
Ingredients 101: Buying, Grinding, & Tempering Spices
The world of spices can be bewildering. They promise to make your food more flavorful if you know how to make the most of them. Unless you know a couple of essential tricks, however, it just seems like you're adding bits of colored powder to your food.
How To: 12 Brilliant Kitchen Hacks Made Possible with Aluminum Foil
Aluminum foil is one of those things that every cook, experienced or just starting out, has in their kitchen. And while we may think we know how useful this handy material can be, there are hundreds of ways we could be utilizing tinfoil to make our lives a whole lot easier.
Nature's Secret Code: How to Pick Perfectly Ripe Fruit Every Time
Biting into a perfectly ripened piece of fruit is enough to convince you to give up baked goods and plant your own garden. The combination of flavor, juice, and sweetness in a ripe mango, apple, plum, or berry is the stuff of life itself.
How To: Cook Frozen Steak & Fish Without Defrosting Them First
Can you cook a steak or salmon filet that's straight out of the freezer and get good results? Ordinarily, I would say no. Usually your steak ends up a sad grey mass fit only for the family dog and the fish is burned on the outside with an icy, undercooked center.
How To: Pancakes, Mashed Potatoes & Bread—Rice Cooker Hacks for Lazy Cooks
We've told you how a rice cooker can work as a DIY sous vide machine and make amazing risotto the lazy way, but did you know that it can also make pancakes, bread, mashed potatoes, and poached fruit?
Keep Champagne Bubbly (Hint: A Spoon Doesn't Work)
One booze hack that's been making the rounds for years is that inserting a spoon by the handle in a champagne bottle's neck will preserve its carbonation. This is one of those tips that I wish were true. Champagne is a great thing to have around on a special occasion, and it seems a shame to pour any leftovers down the drain once its lost its fizz. While there's lots of anecdotal evidence surrounding this trick, Harold McGee and Stanford University chemist Richard Zare debunked this myth as d...
No More PAM: How to Make Cheaper & Healthier Cooking Spray at Home
Cooking spray is super convenient to have around, but it can be expensive compared to regular old oil, and sometimes comes with some nasty sounding additives like dimethylpolysiloxane and dimethyl silicone.
How To: 20 Delicious Reasons Why You Need a Waffle Maker in Your Kitchen
If I had to guess, I'd say your waffle maker is probably collecting dust on the highest shelf in your kitchen, or deep in some cabinet you haven't opened in years. And that's assuming you even have a waffle maker.
How To: 10 Simple Kitchen Hacks That Can Remove & Prevent Lingering Food Smells on Your Hands
Food can smell great before, during, and after cooking. A pot of stew simmering away on the stove will tantalize you all afternoon, and there's nothing better than the smell of fresh-baked cookies lingering in the house for hours.
How To: How I Made Cat Poop Coffee (Kopi Luwak)—The Best Cup of Crap Ever
I am a man who enjoys a good cup of crap. Not just any crap, but the kind that makes the Seattle coffee-snob inside of me feel all warm and happy as if the sun were out (which of course it isn't.) It's the kind of crap that has traveled through the intestinal tracts of a nocturnal marsupial, cutely called a Civet. It's the kind of fermented brew that everyone should lay their lips on at least once.
How To: Tenderize Tough Cuts of Meat in a Hurry—Without a Mallet
Sometimes, figuring out what to cook for dinner takes longer than actually cooking it. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten excited about a recipe, then realized that it requires marinating for twelve hours. When it's already 6 p.m., that just isn't going to work.