The Roux Is Not Complicated. It Is Just Two Ingredients in the Right Ratio. Here Is Why It Matters.
Equal parts fat and flour by weight, cooked together before any liquid is added. That is the roux. It is the foundation of a... read more >>
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Cinnamon Has Two Completely Different Varieties. One Is Toxic in Large Quantities. Most People Use the Wrong One.
The cinnamon in most kitchen cupboards is not what most people think it is. It is a different species entirely, one that contains a compound the European Union has restricted...
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Margarine Was Created as a Prize Entry for Napoleon III. He Wanted Cheap Butter for His Army. He Got Something Stranger.
In 1869 Napoleon III offered a prize for a cheap butter substitute to feed his army and his poor. A French chemist named Hippolyte... read more >>
Toasting Spices Is Not Optional. Here Is the Science Behind Why It Matters.
Most people who toast spices do it because a recipe told them to. The instruction travels without its explanation. What is happening inside the... read more >>
You Are Washing Your Pan Wrong. The Brown Bits You Scrub Away Are the Best Part.
Every professional kitchen has a name for it. Fond. It is the brown layer that clings to the pan after a good sear, and... read more >>
Canned Food Was Invented 50 Years Before the Can Opener. People Used Hammers and Chisels. Nobody Saw the Problem.
Canned food was invented to feed an army. The can opener was not invented until half a century later. For fifty years, the solution... read more >>
Pulpo a la Gallega
Galicia is Spain's rainy green northwestern corner, a land of Celtic heritage, dramatic coastline, and the finest octopus in the world pulled from the... read more >>
Olive Oil Has Been Produced for 8,000 Years. The Way It Is Sold Today Would Have Been Considered Fraud in Ancient Greece.
The ancient Greeks had laws governing olive oil quality so specific they named grades and punished adulteration as a civic crime. The bottle in... read more >>
Greek Salad (Horiatiki)
Outside Greece, what passes for Greek salad is often a pale imitation. Inside Greece, the real Horiatiki (village salad) arrives as a generous mound... read more >>
Gazpacho Andaluz
Long before smoothies and cold-pressed juices arrived to tell us vegetables could be drinks, Andalusia had gazpacho. This chilled raw tomato soup has cooled... read more >>
