• Today’s Topic: Braising
• The Goal: 20 lessons, 20 days to become a better cook at home
• Enter to win The Kitchn Cookbook: Simply share and tag photos of your Kitchn Cooking School progress on Instagram and Twitter with #kitchnschool to enter for a chance to win. We’re giving away one copy for every homework assignment during The Kitchn’s Cooking School. See rules and regulations.
• Enroll & see all the lessons so far: The Kitchn’s Cooking School

For meat that quite literally falls apart under your fork and melts in your mouth, there’s no better cooking method than braising. But meaty cuts of beef, lamb, and pork don’t get all the braising love — we can also make fantastic, flavorful braises with fish, chicken, and vegetables all by themselves.

What is a braise, exactly? How is it different from a roast or a soup? That’s the topic of today’s lesson, and by the end of it, you’ll be more than ready to try one for yourself.

READ MORE »

Spicy Sausage & Mixed Vegetable Skillet Pasta

A full freezer is only useful if it’s stocked with foods that can help you put dinner on the table quickly on a busy weeknight — unfortunately, ice cream doesn’t fit the bill. Over the years, I’ve learned through trial-and-error what to always keep in my freezer so that I can, with the help of a few pantry and fridge staples, throw a variety of dishes together quickly with little effort. Here’s a list of my top 10!

READ MORE »

It’s hard to imagine any condiment shelf without a bottle of soy sauce — this intense sauce gives instant rich flavor to stir-fries, enhances sushi, and can add a quick punch of flavor to sauces and soups.

But there are so many types of soy sauce out there it can be a bit confusing. Here’s our guide to the most common types of soy sauce and other sauces that are in the same family!

READ MORE »

• Today’s Topic: Roasting
• The Goal: 20 lessons, 20 days to become a better cook at home
• Enter to win The Kitchn Cookbook: Simply share and tag photos of your Kitchn Cooking School progress on Instagram and Twitter with #kitchnschool to enter for a chance to win. We’re giving away one copy for every homework assignment during The Kitchn’s Cooking School. See rules and regulations.
• Enroll & see all the lessons so far: The Kitchn’s Cooking School

Today, we’re switching from the stovetop to that big piece of equipment below it (or beside it): the oven. Let’s talk about roasting. Roasting gets a lot of attention around the time of Thanksgiving turkey and Easter lamb, but this is also a technique that we can bring into our everyday home cooking. Ever tried roasting green beans? Or shrimp? Roasting is the perfect way to turn just about any ingredient into something dinner-worthy, and today we’re talking about how.

READ MORE »

There is a particular emotion that comes from creating something that, up until that very moment, felt like the un-reproduceable creation of some industrial food lab. The feeling is a mixture of pride, satisfaction, and outright elation. It also feels a little like having super powers.

Make this recipe for candy corn and you can ride that emotion for days. Because by golly, you made candy corn! Sure, you can easily buy a bag of the stuff and save yourself the trouble, but that’s no way to become a superhero. Go on. Impress your friends and family. Make a batch of candy corn. Here’s our DIY recipe and step-by-step guide.

READ MORE »

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Graveyard Dirt Cake

Halloween is only five days away! Are you ready? Light a spooky Jack-o-lantern, hang some decorations, make one of these five loony food-themed costumes, and then get into the kitchen. From bug-eyed candy spiders to a graveyard dirt cake, and from a Bloody Manhattan to a spiked pumpkin pie milkshake, you’ll scare all the adults (and kids!) into the Halloween spirit with the deliciously ghoulish treats and drinks.

READ MORE »

If you’re in the mood for a simple dinner of meat and vegetables, but need to shake up your chicken breast (or pork chop) routine, pork tenderloin is your ticket. Pork tenderloin is one of the easiest, most relaxed cuts of meat to cook for dinner, and it’s one of my favorite weeknight meals. There’s no major preparation involved; just season and bang into the oven while you make a salad.

Here’s our best method for making tender, juicy pork tenderloin that tastes so good it may just earn a spot in your weekly meal rotation.

READ MORE »

Did you know you can actually freeze caramelized onions? Yup, those flavor-packed little strands of sweet cooked onions freeze beautifully, so why not make a bigger batch the next time you’re caramelizing some for a recipe, or find yourself with a big bag of onions to use up. Here’s how we do it!

READ MORE »

We’re deep into autumn right now. The move from bright to dark has begun, a yearly non-negotiable event that has a profound influence on our lives. The extent that we can shift with it will become the measure of our contentment and happiness. Often we feel a contraction from the loss of sunshine. We think something is being taken away but in fact we are being offered new, and perhaps more subtle, gifts: the harvest and hearth, the request to prepare for the coming winter and with that a focus and purpose and a more keenly felt sense of belonging.

READ MORE »

READ MORE »