Creating an Instagram-ready cake doesn’t mean you have to be a pro with the pastry bag. In fact, you don’t even need to have a pastry bag! Arm yourself with some cereal or chocolate chips and you’ll be good to go.
Here are seven ways to make your cake look over-the-top dramatic — yet don’t require decorating genius to achieve.
Almost every food magazine has a test kitchen where they develop and refine recipes. But there’s nothing quite like America’s Test Kitchen, the powerhouse behind Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country — along with, of course, the America’s Test Kitchen cooking show on PBS, dozens of cookbooks, numerous radio shows, and an ever-growing collection of online content.
We’ve been fans of their work for more than a decade. In the nine years that we wrote our cooking blog, The Bitten Word, countless readers wrote us to recommend different America’s Test Kitchen recipes that had become their “go to” for everything from meatloaf to chocolate chip cookies.
But what’s it like to actually work in America’s Test Kitchen? To find out, we reached out to Jack Bishop, the company’s chief creative officer. Jack gave us a behind-the-scenes look at ATK, including how a recipe gets developed, what it’s like to slice open a Yeti cooler, and why caramel is the bane of the test kitchen.
Here’s a dream many of us have had: Quit that desk job, sign up for culinary school, run off to Paris (Rome is okay, too), and cook for a living alongside a ragtag team of chefs who form love interests, friendships, and rivalries around dinner service. It’s Grey’s Anatomy, but for people who prefer mise-ing to medicating.
We’ve been talking about Joanna Gaines’ new cookbook since we first heard about it back in September. As of this week, it’s finally out! But, if you haven’t picked up (or ordered) your copy yet, you’re gonna want to read this story first.
If you happen to be combing through the cheese aisle of your local Whole Foods store, then you may have noticed Royal Addition Cheddar, a limited-edition cheese made in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s newborn son.
Costco’s food court might be the perfect place, if it were not for two things. First, no one seems to be able to figure out how to stand in line at a Costco food court. And second, once you do get to the front of the line, you have to decide between the giant pizza slices and the $1.50 hot dog and soda deal. How can anyone choose? That’d be like having to pick a favorite child, or at least a favorite Kardashian.
Kitchn recently conducted a very important and difficult investigation where we tried to figure out everything that Ina Garten had in her pantry based off a photo she shared on Twitter. It was hard work, but very rewarding in the end, because we finally know what we should be buying at the grocery store (white chocolate, apparently).
After all that hard research was done, however, we were left with questions. As Kitchn editors passed the story around and marveled in its execution, we realized we still had a lot to learn from Ina. Here’s what we wish we could ask the domestic goddess about her pantry.
It’s finally, finally starting to feel like spring out there, and that means it’s almost outdoor-dining season. Or maybe we should call it Nigella Lawson season, because her new show, At My Table, features one of the most gorgeous alfresco dining setups I’ve ever seen, with a walled garden full of twinkly lights and a heavy wooden table big enough to seat 20 if they squeezed in. (OK, it’s a TV studio, but so is the White House on Scandal, and you can’t convince me Olivia Pope isn’t real.)
RX Bars are the meal replacement bar of the moment. Thanks to a streamlined ingredient list that just so happens to be compliant with a certain month-long eating program, these bars are an easy solution when you need to fill up on the go.
These high-protein, chocolatey date- and nut-based bars are sprinkled with sea salt, satisfying that craving for sweetness. And if you’re wondering what they taste like, imagine the chewy edge of a chilled brownie — they’re that decadent and now you can make them at home.
When we shared a menu from Ina Garten’s new book, Make It Ahead, we pulled a few of our favorite recipes and chatted with Ina herself about ways to put them together into a delicious and satisfying vegetarian dinner party — one that, yes, you can make ahead.
The star of the show is this roasted vegetable lasagna — always a hit! Here’s what Ina says about this dish, with a few smart tips for making it great.