Q: I was given two pounds of ground vension, and while I’ve had venison before and like it, I have no idea what to do with it! I’d like to make some healthy recipes that aren’t boring, where venison isn’t just a substitute for ground beef. I want to highlight the venison since it’s something I’ve never really cooked with before.
This cookbook has the honor of being The First. The first cookbook I fell in love with, the first cookbook I bought with my own money (and at a time in my life when a $35 cookbook constituted a major purchase!), and the first cookbook that brought me success in the kitchen. It would not be stretching it to say that this book is at the root of my food writing career — had those gingersnaps not been so very perfect or that first strawberry-rhubarb pie not been such a smash hit in those first tenuous days of falling in love with food, who knows where I might have ended up?
Sarah Becker describes her style as “animal and mineral meets sensual and cozy.” Her 500-square-foot San Francisco studio apartment is filled with treasures and curiosities, but I was particularly drawn to the four floating shelves in her kitchen — a beautifully arranged collection of Sarah’s handmade ceramics and favorite pieces.
Though it’s one of my favorite big-party dishes, a slow-roasted pork butt is also an ingenious way to get food on the table all week long, or parsed out over a month or two. A typical five or six pound boneless pork butt will yield a nice pile of cooked meat. Once you have your mountain of shredded pork, the possibilities are almost limitless.
Whoever said French toast had to be sweet? This savory version — spiked with Parmesan, mustard powder, garlic, and hot sauce — is perfect for a Saturday brunch, Sunday lunch, or even a quick weeknight dinner. I’m thinking breakfast (and “B for D”) just got a whole lot tastier!
Some cooking tips are so potentially mind-blowing, they cross language barriers. Such is the case with a video from China we shared a couple years ago, which showed a woman using an empty plastic water bottle to separate an egg cleanly and quickly. No English translation needed. This trick looked awesome.
But does it actually work? In my continued quest to put the web’s most intriguing tips to the test, I had to try out this trick for myself.
We’re major fans of anything that makes life better in the kitchen, be it a smart organizing trick or, as is the case here, a few genius cooking tips that are both surprising and awesome. Did you know you can regrow scallions on your windowsill? Or that you can make ice cream with only one ingredient? Do you know the one tip for perfect bacon, or the best way to keep guacamole from turning brown? We’ve got it all here for you, friends, but beware: these cooking tips may just change your life forever.
In one fell swoop, these burritos have changed the way we do lunch in my house. When we decide we’re in the mood for burritos, we prep everything on the weekend — roasting the veggies, cooking the rice, even shredding the cheese — and then it’s Burrito Bonanza all week long, baby! All that prep might sound like a lot, but it takes 30 minutes, tops. Your future self is going to be very happy.
We get a two-fer deal with this one: not only is it possible to get a squeaky-clean microwave without using harsh chemicals in a spot where we also heat our food, but this is also hands down the easiest way to clean a microwave. That’s right. If you’ve been avoiding cleaning your microwave, this trick is going to make you very happy.
Who cooks and eats here: Meg van der Kruik of Beard & Bonnet, a vegetarian and gluten-free food blog, her husband Todd, and her children Eliza and Kash.
Where: Long Beach, CA
Rent or Own? Rent
I’m always smitten by a living space that fully represents the personalities of its inhabitants. You know the kind. It’s more than just a space — there is life to it, a story. Meg’s house is definitely one of these places. (Within about five minutes of being there, I casually asked Meg if she wouldn’t mind coming over and helping me redesign my entire house. She chuckled, but I meant it.) Nestled around the corner of the main living space is her kitchen, which Meg admits is the most used room in the entire house. Let’s take a look, shall we?
