Lemon meringue pie, with its tender-crisp crust, tangy-rich filling, and light-as-air meringue, is the perfect mid-winter baking project. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to make the classic pie — and we’ve made it even easier with our simple three-step process.
The minute we moved into our new house, which came complete with a coveted basement refrigerator, I took a cue from what I saw at the bars and threw a couple of pint glasses in the freezer. It became a habit to grab a frozen glass as we pulled a bottle from the fridge for drinking on the back porch. But as I learned more about beer serving and tasting over the past few years, I wondered if I might be doing something wrong by keeping my glasses icy cold. Was I revealing myself as an amateur?
Around the World in 30 Soups: This month we’re collaborating with chefs, cookbook authors, and our own Kitchn crew to share a globetrotting adventure in soups from countries and cuisines around the world. Today’s stop: Italy.
When I was growing up, if my mom was in a pinch to get dinner on the table fast, pappa al pomodoro — or Tuscan bread soup with plenty of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and basil — was her go-to. We always had stale bread to use up, which gives the soup both extra body and a soft, almost silky texture. It’s a tasty and hearty lunch that also makes a good weeknight meal.
—Giada De Laurentiis, television host, restauranteur, and author of Giada’s Italy: My Recipes for La Dolce Vita
Aside from using it to get dinner on the table on busy nights, I always lean on my slow cooker when I need to keep food or drinks warm for a crowd — it’s an invaluable tool at parties and potlucks. But sometimes I wish I had another slow cooker handy to keep a second dish warm, especially come Super Bowl time when I have multiple dips and apps laid out.
I came across a totally ingenious hack on Delish (by way of Reynolds Kitchens) for making a DIY slow cooker divider out of a couple kitchen items. I was intrigued and curious — and pretty skeptical. Could a DIY slow cooker divider really hold up and make it easier to keep more than one thing warm? Here’s what happened when I tried it out.
I have just one bit of advice for you when serving this warm, cheesy dip at your next potluck, and I learned this from experience: Think very carefully about where you’ll place it. Once it hits the table, wherever that may be, the crowd will swarm to the skillet. That’s just what happens when you channel all the best parts of crowd-pleasing jalapeño poppers into an indulgent rich and creamy dip with just the right amount of heat and a buttery, crunchy Ritz cracker topping.
Like a breath of fresh air, Anthropologie’s spring 2019 look-book dropped this week. The style guide mixes new and existing pieces into three categories: the minimalist and exciting “An Organic Approach,” the laid-back, maximalist “Layered (Im)perfection,” and the functional-yet-stylish “City Centered.” All three collections incorporate kitchen and dining pieces that start at under $5. You can browse all new arrivals here, and see some of our favorites from the spring collection below.
Remember that story from a few weeks back about the woman who got banned from a Texas Walmart for drinking wine out of a Pringles can in the store’s parking lot? Apparently she had been there since the early hours of the morning riding around in an electric cart and sipping wine. At the time most people championed the woman as the people’s hero (though I hope she’s okay and getting help if she needs it). A fan group for the anonymous woman formed, and in 2019, we collectively decided that we would embody her spirit by doing more things that bring us joy (without committing any crimes, hopefully). Now, you actually can get one step closer to living like our lady of the Walmart cart: An artist has actually made Pringles-themed tumblers for wine.
Around the World in 30 Soups: This month we’re collaborating with chefs, cookbook authors, and our own Kitchn crew to share a globetrotting adventure in soups from countries and cuisines around the world. Today’s stop: Vietnam.
As much as I love to simmer a stockpot of beef pho for hours, it’s incredibly liberating to make a pretty good version for four people in 1 1/2 hours. Intense cooking in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot makes that possible. The approach is similar to that for the chicken version, but here, it’s all high pressure.
The boneless meat gets a lot more tender than when cooked in a stockpot, which makes this beef a little harder to thinly slice (chill or freeze it, if you have time). Any leftover cooked beef can be used for fresh pho noodle rolls, pho fried rice, or rice paper salad rolls.
—Andrea Nguyen, author of The Pho Cookbook: Easy to Adventurous Recipes for Vietnam’s Favorite Soup and Noodles
On what is easily the coldest day so far this winter, I met with IKEA to talk about … summer. Because, why not? The weather will warm up again eventually (or so I’m told) and IKEA waits for no squall: The stores will start to roll out the summer collection (and other new items) in February. Yes, as in the next few weeks!
I got a sneak peek and these are the new items I’m most excited about. Take a look and pick your favorite in the comments at the end of this post!
It’s been a groundbreaking month for sandwich cookies of all sizes. This week brought the release of Oreo’s much-awaited, sounds-like-something-made-up-in-a-school-lunchroom, massive Most Stuf cookies that have four times the stuffing of a regular Oreo (as a filling-lover, I think that sounds like the perfect Oreo, especially if I removed one of the cookies). But while Oreos are getting bigger, our friends down at Trader Joe’s seem to have stuck to their New Year’s resolutions because they’re releasing a slimmed-down version of Joe-Joe’s.