For centuries, Asian countries have concentrated the sap of palm trees to make a sweetener for culinary and medicinal purposes. The sugar is drawn from two types of palm, the palmyra and the familiar coconut palm.
Read more →
French fries have been the downfall of countless dieters. Intellectually it's easy to identify them as a concentrated source of dietary fat and calories, and they're an obvious food to avoid whether you're looking for weight loss or maximum health. Unfortunately, they're also a formidably pleasurable food.
Read more →
Hams include some of the most legendary of all cured meats, from French Bayonne hams to Italian prosciutto, from Chinese Yunnan hams to the Smithfields of the American South. Whether wet-cured or dry, smoked or unsmoked, the rich flavor of a good ham always comes through.
Read more →
When everything works as planned, fresh-baked muffins are a moist, tender and flavorful breakfast pastry. However, despite muffins' simplicity, things can go wrong in several ways. Inaccurate measurements, stale baking powder and overmixing all can cause their texture to suffer.
Read more →
Countertop electric roasters provide a convenient and energy-efficient alternative to the full-sized oven in your kitchen. They're especially useful during large get-togethers, when there are multiple demands on your main oven.
Read more →
Steaks and chops are easy to find almost anywhere, but some less-common cuts can be a challenge. Unless you know a farmer or meat-cutter, you'll almost always have to special-order beef cheeks.
Read more →
Poached eggs are among the simplest and most delicate of all egg preparations. Nothing could be simpler, in theory: Crack an egg, slide it into gently simmering water and wait as it coagulates. In practice, the egg might dissipate into the water, leaving the yolk surrounded by a spongy veil of watery whites.
Read more →
Razor fish, often referred to as razor clams, belong to a family of shellfish found in most of the world's coastal regions. Their shells are more fragile than those of most other shellfish, so they have to be harvested by hand rather than with the big dredges used for most other clams.
Read more →
Carrots are among the kitchen's most versatile ingredients. Their firm texture and sweet flavor work well in any cuisine, and they can be eaten raw or cooked with equal pleasure. In their natural unpeeled state, they'll keep for months in a cool cellar with moderate humidity.
Read more →
In its natural state, beef brisket is one of the toughest pieces of the steer. It's a flat, leathery cut made of unusually long and stringy muscle fibers. However, when it's cooked long and slow at a low temperature, brisket is utterly transformed.
Read more →
Cornbread is not an especially difficult item to make, but like most other baked goods it does take time and organization. For those who don't always have the time, boxed cornbread mix can be a convenient timesaver.
Read more →
Fried chicken is a comfort food staple, especially in the South. When it's properly prepared, the outside is crispy and golden, and the inside is moist and juicy. Occasionally, the golden appearance can be marred by trickles of blood or other red juices from inside the meat.
Read more →
Some treasured family recipes prepare a quantity of cake or cookies that made perfect sense in the age of large families. For modern households of two or three, however, heating your oven and preparing massive quantities of baked goods can be overkill.
Read more →
Measuring the torque exerted by muscles is fundamental to many aspects of rehabilitation, industrial design, ergonomics and peak athletic performance.
Read more →
Most Americans grow up thinking of milk as a healthy and wholesome beverage, one that's central to a balanced diet. In recent decades, some have challenged that view, but milk's high protein level and richness in vitamins and minerals are not arguable.
Read more →
There are many milk-like substances made from nuts and other foods, each with different characteristics. One of the most versatile is coconut milk, a staple in the cuisine of most tropical countries around the world. Like true milk it separates into thinner "milk" and thicker "cream,"
Read more →
The striped pangasius, also known as "iridescent shark," is a variety of catfish native to Southeast Asia's Mekong River. Like the American channel catfish, it is well suited to aquaculture and widely grown for both the domestic and export markets. It can't be marketed in the U.S.
Read more →
A properly baked or roasted chicken is a highly satisfying dish for the cook. It will have a beautifully crisp, golden skin, savory aroma and tender, moist flesh. The trick is to cook the chicken so that it's done all the way through without allowing any portion of the bird to become overcooked.
Read more →
Savoy cabbages are immediately recognizable on the shelves of your supermarket. They're shaped into a tight, round head, like conventional green or red cabbages, but the leaves have the distinctively wrinkled appearance of Napa cabbage leaves.
Read more →
Doughnuts are not the healthiest of snacks, by any measure. They start with a rich, sweet, dough, then they're deep-fried, and finally they're tossed in sugar, filled with jam or topped with a sugary glaze.
Read more →