Depending on the recipe, you can add a fat such as butter, cream, sour cream, cheese, or oil to counteract too much heat. Sweetener also helps, including sugar, honey or maple syrup. Obviously, it wouldn’t make sense to add cheese to a spicy Thai Beef Stir Fry, so use your best judgement. (Faith keeps a […]
Tips
Homemade Choco-Drizzled Popcorn
I adore making flavored popcorn of all kinds, using truffle salt, freshly grated cheese, bacon salt, curry powder, or an inexpensive Mexican spice blend called Tajin, made from dried lime zest and salt. But if you’re a chocolate-lover, I hope you’ll try my favorite way to make what I call Choco-Drizzled Popcorn. All you need […]
The No-Mess Meatloaf Technique
For less mess, you can mix all your meatloaf ingredients inside a gallon-size plastic baggie. Simply toss in the ground meat and whatever you’d like to add, including ketchup, chili, cheese, spices, onions, and breadcrumbs, and work the bag with your hands until the contents are integrated. The meat mixture can even be made into […]
Spices Don’t Have to Cost a Fortune
Recipe creators often know what spices will taste great together, but they forget that we home cooks have to buy them all. A single dish can cost a fortune, and the spices go stale in the drawer after six months. While I love the variety in big supermarkets, their spices, even in small jars, are […]
Make Orange Fennel Salad Dressing
Use a coarse microplane grater to shave vegetables (like carrots, asparagus, zucchini, and beets) into your vinaigrette. You can create an orange fennel dressing by adding grated fennel and orange zest to a simple vinaigrette. — Paul Kahan, Food Network Magazine
Instant Blanching
Why Wait for a Pot to Boil? If a recipe asks you to blanch something in hot water, you don’t have to stand around waiting for a pot of water to boil. My Aunt Rose taught me to blanch vegetables quickly by adding cold water to a tea kettle until it is half full. As soon […]
