Lila Dobbs

Top 10 Food Staples You Can Make Better and Cheaper at Home

Many simple foods are not only easy to make at home, they'll likely be cheaper, healthier, and much tastier than the store-bought varieties. From …

The Food Lab: My 11 Favorite Recipes of the Year, 2014

I spend so much time cooking and thinking about what I'm going to cook next that I don't often get to look back at what I've actually <i>done</i>. This has been a pretty big year for me recipe-wise, with some fun breakthroughs, some delicious staples that have made their way into my everyday life, and …

How to Make Queso Fresco, the World's Easiest Cheese

More<p>All About Cheese<p>Everything you need to know about eating and cooking with curds<p>Let's face it, there are some skills that are just cool to have. Being able to weld things, very cool. Ability to moonwalk? Always cool. And being able to turn everyday milk into wicked good cheese definitely belongs …

The Retox

1 Servings<p>Like the opposite of master cleanse, with a similar kick.<p>Print<p>Ingredients<p>2 ounces whiskey<p>2 ounces apple cider<p>1 ounce apple cider vinegar<p>1 teaspoon pure maple syrup<p>1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper<p>A few dashes angostura bitters<p>Orange twist (for garnish)<p>Recipe Preparation<p>Combine apple cider, …

Union Square Cafe Bar Nuts

Ingredients<p>2-1/2 cups unsalted mixed nuts (any combination of cashews, whole unpeeled almonds, peeled peanuts, pecans, hazelnuts, Brazil …

30 Homemade Candy Recipes To Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

Candy is awesome. Homemade candy is better—here are 30 recipes we love.<p><b>Is there anything better than eating handfuls of candy</b> until you teeter on the edge of sheer bliss and belly-aching agony? We say no. There's only one way to make this time-honored pastime better, and that's indulging in …

51 Ways to Cook Root Veggies

14 Quick Bread Recipes, From Scones and Muffins to Soda Bread

Getting into breadmaking is a serious endeavor—recipes are often multi-hour processes and require a bunch of measuring, kneading, and waiting for dough to rise. I love eating bread, but baking it is just a little beyond my patience. Quick breads, on the other hand, are much more approachable. Made …

The Serious Eats Cheese and Wine Pairing Cheat Sheet

More<p>All About Cheese<p>Everything you need to know about eating and cooking with curds<p>It's New Year's Eve, and your guests are about to come tumbling in. You set out bowls of salty snacks and a grand platter of cheeses. There's creamy white chèvre, a Stilton, some Brie, nutty aged Gruyère, tangy …

How to Make Old-World Mozzarella and Burrata, According to DiStefano Cheese

Meryl Rothstein gets her hands dirty learning the art of the burrata mozzarella from a master<p><i>Welcome to Out of the Kitchen, our ongoing exploration of America’s coolest food artisans. Over the next few months, we’re apprenticing with the best knife forgers, cider brewers, and spice blenders, then</i> …

Just 1 Bottle: 10 Cocktails to Make With Bourbon and a Trip to the Grocery Store

More Bourbon<p><i>10 Bourbon Terms You Should Know »<br>The Serious Eats Guide to Bourbon »<br>The 10 Best Budget Bourbons »<br>5 Lesser-Known Bourbons You Should Be Drinking »<br>10 Bourbon Cocktail Recipes We Love »</i><p>We always recommend stocking your home bar slowly. Going out to buy one of everything is likely to lead …

How to Make Your Own Speculoos Cookie Butter

When I think of Belgian cuisine, I'm left with an overwhelming impression of elegance and sophistication—Liège waffles, <i>moules-frites</i>, and blonde ale come to mind. <i>Speculoos</i>, too—those crispy, caramelized cookies made famous by the Biscoff brand.<p>So I was shocked to discover that cookie butter, a …

Peanut Milk

12 Servings<p>September 2012Print<p>Ingredients<p>1 cup unsalted, blanched peanuts<p>3 1/2 cups whole milk<p>1 1/4 cups heavy cream<p>1/4 cup (packed) dark muscovado sugar or dark brown sugar<p>1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise<p>Recipe Preparation<p>Preheat oven to 350°. Roast peanuts on a rimmed baking sheet, stirring …

Coffee Science: How to Make the Best Pourover Coffee at Home

There seem to be new coffee brewing gadgets showing up all the time, but sometimes it's hard to separate what's worthwhile from what's a waste of money. It's helpful, then, to back up and try to understand how coffee brewing works and how brewing equipment differs. Then, you can make an informed …

The Rise and Fall of Public Housing in NYC

John Fekner, <i>Broken Promises/Falsas Promesas,</i> Charlotte Street Stencils, South Bronx, NY.<br>©1980 John Fekner Research Archive<p><i>“Tear down the old, build</i> …

Crispiest Potato Chips

6 Servings<p>Keys to great potato chips: A lower frying temp gets the moisture out; a vinegar soak ensures they're crisp.<p>October 2014Print<p>Ingredients<p>1½ pounds russet or purple potatoes<p>½ cup distilled white vinegar<p>Vegetable oil (for frying; about 8 cups)<p>Kosher salt or Nori Salt (click for recipe) or …

Book Bag: Gritty Stories From the Real Montana

Novelist Carrie La Seur recommends five books from writers unafraid to record the violence, racism, and poverty that are as much a part of the West …

Brined and Roasted Rosemary-Chile Almonds

12 Servings<p>Brining the nuts with herbs and some spice infuses them from the inside out, and the long roasting time gives them extra toasty flavor.<p>October 2014Print<p>Ingredients<p>⅓ cup kosher salt<p>8 sprigs rosemary, divided<p>8 dried chiles de árbol, divided<p>1½ pounds almonds<p>2 tablespoons plus ½ cup olive oil<p>…

Flaky Bread

Makes 10 Servings<p>An unfloured surface provides some traction, so it’s easy to roll the dough very thin.<p>March 2014Print<p>Ingredients<p>1 teaspoon kosher salt<p>3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface<p>6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more, room temperature, for brushing (about 10 )<p>Flaky sea …

There's A Japanese Gadget That Magically Turns A Single Egg Into Pudding

Instant pudding is seemingly the easiest fix when in need of a creamy dessert: Dump the powdered mixture into a bowl, whisk it with milk, refrigerate and serve. A Japanese kitchen gadget, called Okashina Tamago Mawashite Mawashite Marugoto Purin (or, Pudding Whole Turn Turn Funny Eggs), could make …

How to Make Addictive Flaky Bread—Plus Dips!

The warm, buttery, pull-apart 'flaky bread' at Brooklyn’s Glasserie is versatile and easy to throw together<p>There are certain restaurant dishes that become instant classics, even if the restaurant hasn't been around for long. The flaky bread from Glasserie in Brooklyn is one of those dishes. At the …

The Awful Reign of the Red Delicious

How the worst apple took over the United States, and continues to spread<p>At the supermarket near his home in central Virginia, Tom Burford likes to loiter by the display of Red Delicious. He waits until he spots a store manager. Then he picks up one of the glossy apples and, with a flourish, scrapes …

12 Magazine Articles That Changed My Life

I love thinking about writing.<p>Nowadays, writing usually means 600 words and 7 GIFs and at least 4 internal links, which of course is fine. That's all well and good on the Internet. But there is a special form of nonfiction feature writing you can still find if you look hard enough. Today it is …

The Science Behind Baking Your Ideal Chocolate Chip Cookie

You like soft and chewy. He likes thin and crispy. If only there were a way to bake chocolate chip cookies to please everyone.<p>There is! And, no, it's not Martha Stewart's way. It's science.<p>We've taken our cues from a few spots: a bioengineering grad student named Kendra Nyberg, who co-taught a …

Seeing the Great Depression

A new project from Yale invites viewers to explore some 175,000 images of America in the 1930s and '40s.<p>For a singular image of the Great Depression and the roughness of those years, it's hard to do much better than Dorothea Lange's 1936 photograph of Florence Owens Thompson, two of her children …

These 18 Culinary School Recipes Will Save You $40,000 in Tuition

Master these 18 classic culinary school recipes, from beef stock to roast chicken, and you'll save yourself $40,000 in tuition<p><b>Culinary school can do wonders</b> for those looking to break into the world of professional cooking—but with some programs costing upwards of $40,000, it's also <i>way</i> more …

Three Onion Dip

6 Servings<p>Onions are loaded with umami flavor, as are anchovies, mushrooms, and Worcestershire sauce. Together, they make this dip especially hard to resist.<p>September 2014Print<p>Ingredients<p>2 tablespoons plus 1 tsp. vegetable oil<p>2 medium onions, thinly sliced<p>2 anchovy fillets packed in oil, drained<p>1 …

19 School Lunch Ideas That Are Healthy (Mostly)

These new school lunch ideas, from sandwiches to snacks to hot meals, will reinvigorate your daily routine—and your kids will actually like them<p><b>It is a parent's eternal dilemma: What do I make the kids for lunch today?</b> And tomorrow? And next week? We fall into ruts, succumb to the tried-and-true, …