Black Pepper Was Once Used as Currency. What That Tells You About How to Use It.
For most of recorded history, black pepper was not a condiment. It was a currency precious enough to pay ransoms with and powerful enough... read more >>
Features
Food Stories, Techniques, History and Culture
Our Features section goes deeper than the recipe. It covers the stories behind ingredients, the techniques professionals use and home cooks can learn, the foundations that make cooking make sense, and the cultural forces that shaped what we eat. Written for curious people who want to understand food, not just prepare it.
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Food Stories ★ Kitchen Secrets ★ Foundations of Cooking ★ The Fast Food Revolution ★ Herbs & Spices
Coffee Was Banned in Three Continents at Different Points in History. The Reasons Were Always Political.
Mecca in 1511, London in 1675, Prussia in 1777. Each time, a different authority decided coffee had to be stopped. Each time, the official... read more >>
The Potato Changed the Course of European History. Without It the Industrial Revolution Probably Does Not Happen.
A rough-skinned tuber from the Andes that Europeans spent two centuries refusing to eat ended up doubling populations, feeding armies, and supplying the factories... read more >>
Professional Kitchens Never Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Cooking. Here Is What They Use Instead.
The expensive bottle on your counter is the right call for dressings and finishing. For everything that goes in a hot pan, professional kitchens... read more >>
The Pretzel Was Invented by a Monk as a Reward for Children Who Learned Their Prayers. The Shape Is the Hands.
The pretzel shape is not decoration. It is a pair of arms: a child's arms crossed in prayer, pressed into dough by a monk... read more >>
The Spice Trade Killed More People Than Most Wars. Nutmeg Was the Reason the Dutch Massacred an Entire Island.
Nutmeg grew in only one place on earth. In 1621, the Dutch East India Company decided to own that place completely. What happened to... read more >>
How You Cut Garlic Changes What It Tastes Like. Four Cuts, Four Flavours.
Take one clove of garlic, cut it four ways, and you get four genuinely different ingredients. Professional kitchens know this. The chemistry behind it... read more >>
Mise en Place Is Not Organisation. It Is a Philosophy That Changes How You Experience Cooking.
In a professional kitchen, mise en place is the standard every cook is judged by before the first order arrives. At home, most cooks... read more >>
Tarragon Is the Most Underrated Herb in Western Cooking. Jean Louis Makes His Case.
Tarragon built bearnaise and defines poulet a l'estragon. Outside France, most cooks have never properly tasted it. Jean Louis explains what they are missing... read more >>
Pizza Was Peasant Food Eaten With the Hands in the Street. The Version the World Loves Was Invented for a Queen.
The pizza everyone orders was named for a queen in 1889. But the combination of tomato, mozzarella and basil already existed in Naples before... read more >>
