Cooking Techniques

Cooking with animal fat seems to be all the rage right now, which is funny because humans have been using animal fats for far longer than they’ve been using vegetable oils. Up until relatively recently in human history, a lot of dishes would have been made using fat rendered from animals. The rise...

Around 500 years ago corn (or maize) was introduced to Europe through the Columbian Exchange with Mesoamerica. It quickly took hold as a staple crop in places like Italy and Spain which were subsequently inundated with an epidemic of the vitamin-B deficiency Pellagra. Over the next 200 years...

Salt is the only rock that humans regularly consume in its raw form. Despite its ubiquitous use today, salt was once used as currency due to its rarity and difficulty in manufacturing. In fact, the word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium which was a payment of salt given to Roman soldiers...

There’s a common misconception that eating the liver from an animal is, to quote Dick Gregory, like eating the filter out of a car. If the liver is the body’s primary filtration system, it must contain all the toxins it pulls from the blood, right? Not so. All the toxic compounds that the liver...

There is always debate over the best sides for Thanksgiving dinner, but there is no doubt that turkey is the centerpiece of the holiday dinner. If you’re planning on serving a wild bird instead of a butterball this year, there are a few things to consider. Whole Bird versus Breaking it Down Nothing...

Preparing the perfect Thanksgiving turkey can be an incredibly intimidating task. In a perfect world, we’d all have access to a freshly harvested wild turkey. But for many folks, that simply is not an option. This means that most of us will once again be left to figure out exactly how to transform a...

There is a phenomenon that frequently occurs in the world of gastronomy in which food that was once considered lowly, crude, or simple is transformed into the prized fare of the rich and well-heeled. What was once referred to as "peasant" food often finds itself, many centuries later, on the tasting...

There is little that’s more satisfying than relaxing on a cold winter morning with a cup of steaming herbal tea you grew and processed yourself. While the undertaking might at first seem intimidating or complicated, there are in fact many herbs that work quite well in tea and are simple to grow in...

There are a lot of great recipes out there for jams and jellies. Traditional jams use a lot of sugar, but can easily be preserved with a water bath canning method instead of using a pressure cooker. If you’re wanting to easily preserve jam with less sugar, freezer jam recipes can be used to...

If you’re like me, this time of year you might be wondering: why did I think it was such an excellent idea to plant five times as many tomatoes as I actually need? I’m never going to complain about too many tomatoes, but sometimes the heat hits, they all ripen at once, and you need a few good tricks...

Cast iron skillets are one of the most versatile kitchen tools. The key to a well-seasoned cast iron is establishing lots of layers of seasoning that will make it smooth, shiny, and non-stick. Using oil with a high smoke point in this process, like grapeseed or safflower, is key. First, use a paper...

Bánh mì, the Vietnamese equivalent of a hoagie, sub, or grinder, is a beautiful example of what happens when two distinct culinary cultures blend. Bánh mì translates to “baked” and “wheat” or “bread.” At its core, it's a french baguette filled with Vietnamese ingredients. Crispy bread, pickled...