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April 2020
March 2020
Why do certain foods taste good together?
In 1992, while running his award-winning restaurant Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal was trying to find an ingredient that tasted good with caviar. He looked…
Why food sticks to stainless steel pans and how to stop it
Stainless steel pans are one of the most common choices for general purpose pans in professional kitchens and by home cooks. The main reason? They’re…
The perfect time to salt burgers
Salt should be added early to many meats, but not to burgers. Instead, you shouldn’t add salt to burgers until just before they go on the grill or in…
Rules to Cook By
Hey, Thanks for reading! Today I'm doing something a bit different and linking a longer article that I recently wrote titled Rules to Cook By. It goes…
February 2020
Do you need to use day-old rice for fried rice?
Or is there a better method?
The only thing that matters for perfect poached eggs
Last edition we discussed what vinegar does to poached eggs and whether or not you should use it. But that’s not the most important factor in how your…
Why do we add vinegar to poached eggs?
Last night I was poaching some eggs (after all, breakfast is the best dinner), and I was reminded to add vinegar before releasing the eggs into the…
How is the meat at Chinese restaurants so tender?
You know when you’re at a Chinese restaurant and the meat you’re eating literally falls apart in your mouth. There’s barely any chew but the texture is…
What is umami?
Our sensation of taste can been divided into five basic “components”: sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness, and savoriness (aka umami). The first…
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