At some point you’ve probably seen a video of someone opening a wine bottle with a shoe. Tap tap tap and the cork pops up, ready to be pulled out by hand. But is it really so easy? NPR recently gave the technique a try and found it really difficult — what’s the deal? I had to try this party trick for myself to find out if it’s worth attempting should I ever find myself with a bottle of wine to open and no corkscrew.
These brisk spring days can be really confusing for a cook. On the one hand, we’re psyched for salads and iced coffee, but then there are days, like a few Wednesdays ago, when it’s pouring rain and you’re freezing. Enter my Coq au Vin (chicken stewed in wine).
On that chilly day, I happened to have enough ingredients to pass for a classic Coq au Vin — chicken thighs, dried porcini mushrooms, a red onion, pancetta, and red wine. What I didn’t have was time.
Who: Mary Ting Hyatt
What: Bagelsaurus, a twice-a-week micro bagel-bakery currently selling out of sandwich shop Cutty’s in Brookline
Where: Boston, Massachusetts
Ask Mary Ting Hyatt what makes a good bagel, and she’ll give you a very specific answer: “A shiny, crisp, crackly crust that has great chew, but not necessarily dense.” And she should know — for over a year she tested and tweaked what would become the signature bagel recipe of her mini bagel bakery, Bagelsaurus, which sells (or rather, sells out of) around 500 bagels every Friday and Saturday.
I admit I hadn’t had a good bagel in Boston until I tasted Mary’s bagels, so I was thrilled when she agreed to let me observe her bagel-making process one week. What makes her bagels so good? In short, high-gluten flour, a sourdough starter, and an overnight cold fermentation. Here’s a look at her process:
You can’t go wrong with scones for Mother’s Day. And you almost have no excuse not to make something home-baked, especially when you can consider these mixed berry scones laced with delicate jasmine come together in just twenty minutes with the help of a food processor.
For your mother, who’d like nothing better on a Saturday morning than to whip up a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls; who lives for family gatherings and round-the-clock cooking marathons at holidays; and who still loves to get in the kitchen despite making literally thousands of meals for her family over the years — this is the gift guide for her. From the ultimate stand mixer upgrade kit to exquisite extracts for her baking adventures, these 15 gifts are one small way to say thank you to your favorite cook and caretaker.
When we renovated our kitchen a little over a year ago, we chose to put in honed marble countertops. One the one hand, I just couldn’t imagine anything else in the kitchen. On the other hand, we were nervous; was it the right decision? Would they be a practical choice for a high-traffic kitchen? What about staining and etching?
Read on to find out what I think about my marble countertops, a year after moving in.
There was a time in my life before Monte Cristo waffles, and a time after. Before, the Monte Cristo sandwich and the waffle existed as two separate, much-loved brunch entities. One satisfied certain pre-noon desires for savory, the other for syrup-drenched sweet. After, they were one.
One glorious stack of crispy golden waffles stuffed with the ham and cheese of a Monte Cristo, then dusted with powdered sugar and topped with spoonfuls of raspberry sauce. Oh, yes. There is no going back.
Ever since Gina shared her love (and a few tips) for the breakfast salad, we’ve been thinking of ways we can turn our favorite salads into breakfast-y things. A cold bowl of greens is transformed into a morning feast when topped with an egg or leftovers from the night before. Is it strange? Maybe. But for those days when you are feeling sluggish and a bowl of oatmeal seems well, boring, I can’t think of a better way to feel nourished and excited than by a big bowl of greens first thing in the morning.
Every good cook should have a no-fail brunch recipe up their sleeves, and I personally consider the “French toast” casserole to be the holy grail of weekend entertaining. Just in time for a Mother’s Day debut, this decadent combination of Bonne Maman Four Fruit Preserves and buttery croissants — baked up in a gorgeous Le Creuset skillet — is the newest recipe to take top honors at my breakfast table.
How do you take a soft, tender dinner roll and make it even more delicious? You dip it in butter. Yes, you read that right. Parker House Rolls are what regular dinner rolls want to be when they grow up.
These rolls are heavenly. They are decadent. When you want something truly special for your table, Parker House Rolls are the answer. Here’s how to make them, step-by-step.
