Archive for January 2020

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Celebs (1)

Entertainment (1)

Facts (20)

  • Seitan
    By Tracy Morin

    What Is Seitan Actually Made Of?

    Sure, we've all heard of Impossible Burgers, but one meat alternative has been kicking around for much longer, and with a lot less fuss: seitan. This "wheat meat" boasts several benefits, but what's it really made of?

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  • Tequilas and mezcals
    By Maria Scinto

    What Is The Difference Between Tequila And Mezcal?

    Lately, as craft cocktails become increasingly popular, you may be starting to see mezcal on your snootier type of bar menu. So what is mezcal, anyway? Is it just some upmarket name for tequila, or are the two actually different types of liquor?

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  • Nut milks
    By Hope Ngo

    What Is Plant Based Milk Actually Made Of?

    The next time you go to the dairy section of your local supermarket, you may want to look at the number of non-dairy or alternative milks which have taken root in spaces once reserved for cow's milk. What is actually in those plant-based milks, though?

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  • record breaking white truffles 2005
    By Hope Ngo

    Why Are Truffles So Expensive?

    They're usually served in paper-thin shavings, sitting atop a gently-flavored canvas of egg, pasta, or risotto. They may not look like much, but to chefs and gourmets around the world, truffles are the diamonds of gastronomy.

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  • conversation hearts in a turquoise bowl
    By Molly Allen

    The Untold Truth Of Sweethearts Conversation Hearts

    Sweethearts Conversation Hearts have been a part of people's lives for over 100 years — minus that one year they went on hiatus — and they have a bit of a storied past. Here's everything you don't know about Sweethearts Conversation Hearts.

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  • dragon fruit
    By Joel Stice

    Why Is Dragon Fruit So Expensive?

    If you go shopping for some dragon fruit, you'll probably notice pretty quickly that it's not the cheapest fruit in the produce section. What's up with dragon fruit's high price, and is this cool looking and mildly sweet fruit even worth it?

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  • Charles Shaw wines
    By Maria Scinto

    This Is Why Trader Joe's Two Buck Chuck Is So Cheap

    Two Buck Chuck: It's fun to say and can be fun to drink, at least if you're not a wine snob who won't touch anything under $50 a bottle. So what enables TJ's to make and sell its wines so cheaply? It seems parent company Bronco Wine has implemented a number of cost-saving measures.

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  • kirkland ipa
    By Joel Stice

    Who Actually Makes Kirkland Beer?

    Costco sells beer under the Kirkland name, and it's done so with very mixed results among Costco shoppers and beer drinkers. But who actually makes the stuff?

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  • trader joe's sign
    By Joel Stice

    Here's How Much Trader Joe's Crew Members Really Make

    Trader Joe's isn't just popular with its customers — the grocery store chain also seems to be pretty popular with the employees who work there. If you're thinking about applying for a job at your local TJ's, here's what you can expect to make.

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  • Asian protein-heavy meal
    By Hope Ngo

    The Truth About Meat Sweats

    It's a medical fact that the process of digestion burns energy, and meat is a complicated item to digest. But is digesting meat such a complicated process that it can actually make a person break into a sweat?

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  • Bagged salad at the supermarket
    By Hope Ngo

    Do You Really Need To Wash Bagged Salad?

    When you decided to pick up your next meal from the supermarket and settled on a bag of salad from the produce section, chances are you might have heard some of the horror stories about what people might have found lurking among their mixed greens. Should you wash your bagged salad?

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  • https://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/cauliflower-gnocchi
    By Hope Ngo

    The Truth About Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnocchi

    Trader Joe's cauliflower gnocchi made a splash with its debut in April 2018, and became so instantly popular that it was hard to get your hands on a single package. Why all the fuss? It's simple but it's also tasty, and it doesn't contain wheat, sugar, dairy, or eggs.

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  • marinating meat
    By Joel Stice

    What Grocery Stores Are Really Hiding With Pre-Marinated Meat

    Grocery stores realize that their shoppers are busy folks, and they attempt to simplify by selling pre-marinated packaged meat. All that's left to do is take it out of the wrapper and throw it on the grill. But is this pre-marinated meat any good, and is it worthy of serving at your dinner table?

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  • fancy lunch salad
    By Joel Stice

    The Real Reason Your Bougie Lunch Salad Costs So Much

    For a lot of people, eating a healthy lunch is easier said than done. Traditional fast food chains don't tend to offer the healthiest meals, and opting to go the salad route has its drawbacks too -- especially when you consider the price. Why are salads sometimes so costly?

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Fast Food (1)

News (36)

Restaurants (5)

Reviews (2)

Television (4)

  • Sandi Toksvig
    By Maria Scinto

    Who Will Replace Sandi Toksvig On The Great British Bake Off?

    First there was Megxit, then, next thing you know, Sandi Toksvig was announcing her intent to bail out on the Great British Bake Off. Well, the Bake Off must go on, and that means the British press is already beginning to speculate about who the next host is going to be.

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  • Paris Hilton and chihuahua
    By Maria Scinto

    The Truth About Paris Hilton's New Cooking Show

    It seems Paris Hilton has resurfaced, rebounding from her past and shining her way into our lives again. To what does Paris the heiress owe her liberation? Would you believe it's the fact that she can evidently make a killer lasagna?

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  • Sandi Toksvig
    By Maria Scinto

    The Real Reason Sandi Toksvig Quit The Great British Bake Off

    While Meghan Markle and hubs Prince Harry may be the most high profile Brits to announce a planned career change over the past few weeks, Sandi Toksvig, beloved co-host of The Great British Bake Off for the past three years, just announced that she, too, is leaving to pursue other opportunities.

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  • Rachael Ray
    By Maria Scinto

    Here's How Much Money Rachael Ray Has Made From Being A Chef

    From her humble beginning as a cooking instructor at a local market, Rachael Ray moved into doing a cooking segment for a news show, at which point her relentless perkiness as well as her relatable (read: non-professionally trained) cooking techniques landed her that first Food Network hosting gig.

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Tips (25)

  • churros
    By DB Kelly

    30 Fried Foods You Need To Try Before You Die

    Whether you're talking about battering and frying something you'd never thought about trying before, or whipping up a whole new dish that hails from half a world away, here are the fried foods you need to try before you die.

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  • cilantro
    By Karen Fredrickson

    Can You Freeze Cilantro?

    Cilantro can be a controversial herb. It seems to stir up strong feelings as people either love it or hate it, but for many it is an essential ingredient in foods such as guacamole. So how do you prevent your cilantro from spoiling, so it's always available when you're craving some guac? Freeze it.

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  • Woman eating acai bowl
    By Maria Scinto

    The Secret Ingredient You Should Be Adding To Your Acai Bowl

    While acai bowls are undoubtedly nutritious, the commercially-prepared ones (now even available at Costco!) tend to be loaded with sugar. If you'd like to enjoy a homemade acai bowl that's as nutritious as it is delicious, there is a way to circumvent the sugar problem.

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  • Margarita
    By Maria Scinto

    The Real Reason A Margarita Has A Salted Rim

    If you ever order a margarita in a bar or restaurant, chances are you're going to be asked two questions: frozen or on the rocks? Salt or no salt? You should, unless you're on a strict low-sodium diet, always say yes when asked if you want a margarita with a salted rim.

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  • tapioca flour in a bowl
    By Hope Ngo

    Here's What You Can Substitute For Tapioca Flour

    Tapioca flour, which comes from crushed cassava root, is a versatile ingredient that has the ability to put a spring in the step of wheat-free cakes, cookies, and breads. What if your recipe calls for some tapioca flour, but you're fresh out?

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  • Trader Joe's wine
    By Maria Scinto

    The Best Trader Joe's Wine You Can Find For Under $10

    When you think of the wine selection at Trader Joe's, the first thing that probably springs to mind is the chain's infamous "Two-Buck Chuck" line (whose price is now actually four bucks). $4 is still a steal, of course, but taste testing notes on the wines ranges from "delicious" to "terrible."

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  • Panini
    By Maria Scinto

    The Secret To Making A Panini Without A Panini Press

    Don't you need some special equipment for to make a panini, like a panini press? No worries. Even if you have no panini press — nor the funds and/or counter space to add one to your kitchen collection — you can still make the perfect panini as long as you have a pair of cast-iron skillets.

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  • Poached eggs
    By Maria Scinto

    The Biggest Mistake You're Making With Poached Eggs

    Poached eggs are such a simple dish, and yet, when cooked right, they can be sheer perfection. The problem with poached eggs, though, is that while the cooking process itself is not overly complex, it's still surprisingly easy to screw up.

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  • cutting cake
    By Joel Stice

    You've Been Cutting Cake Wrong Your Whole Life

    Cutting a delicious slice of cake seems simple enough, right? Well, perhaps you thought that you were eating cupcakes properly all along, too (hint: you're probably not). There's almost always a better way to do something, and slicing up a cake for your party guests is no different

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  • Raw chicken breasts
    By Maria Scinto

    Here's How To Tell If Chicken Has Gone Bad

    There are a few ways to tell if your chicken has gone bad, and thankfully you've got everything you need to do so, as you can use your eyes, your nose, and your fingers to test out whether your chicken's a keeper or needs to be tossed.

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  • Macarons made with aquafaba
    By Hope Ngo

    What Is Aquafaba Actually Made Of?

    Thanks to aquafaba, you may not need to walk away from dishes that might have otherwise needed an egg white (or more), like mayonnaise and meringues... and yes, even macarons and macaroons.

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  • Powdered sugar on cookies
    By Maria Scinto

    How To Make Powdered Sugar From Granulated Sugar

    Powdered sugar is the ingredient of many names — it also goes under the aliases confectioner's sugar and icing sugar. No matter what you call it, we're all familiar with the stuff. It's sugar, only, you know, powdery. But is it interchangeable with regular, i.e. granulated, sugar? Not really.

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  • mound of cauliflower
    By Hope Ngo

    The Best Way To Freeze Cauliflower

    Your cauliflower is on the verge of becoming a shadow of its glorious self. Instead of resigning yourself to turning the cauliflower into soup to hide its sins, or worse, tossing it, you might consider freezing the vegetable and give it a chance to shine another day.

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  • Flour
    By Maria Scinto

    Here's What You Can Substitute For Self-Rising Flour

    Most baking recipes, unless you're deliberately trying to adhere to a gluten-free diet, tend to call for one of two different types of flour — either all-purpose or self-rising. So are these basically the same thing? If not, how different are they? Can you just swap one for the other, or what?

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  • sifting flour for baking a cake
    By Maria Scinto

    Here's What You Can Substitute For Cake Flour

    The basic white flour most of us use for our everyday baking needs is called all-purpose flour, and its name pretty much says it all. Every once in a while, though, you might come across a recipe that calls for cake flour — what, exactly is this, and how is it different from all-purpose flour?

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  • Dishwasher
    By Maria Scinto

    The Trick To Cleaning Your Dishwasher With Vinegar

    So the dishwasher cleans your dishes, or at least, that is what it should be doing, as long as you don't make the mistake of doing all the work yourself before you load it. In the course of all this cleaning, doesn't the dishwasher itself get a little dirty? And if so, who washes the dishwasher?

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  • Sticks of butter
    By Maria Scinto

    How To Soften Butter Fast

    When it comes to baking, there's nothing like real butter — cookies, especially, just don't taste the same without it. While butter lasts longest when it's kept in the refrigerator, fridge butter is hard butter and this can pose a problem for the impatient cook.

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  • Hash browns
    By Maria Scinto

    The Secret To Making Perfectly Crispy Hash Browns Every Time

    Well-cooked hash browns are a thing of beauty and a joy forever... or at least until they start to get all soggy and mushy and gross. If you want to make sure your hash browns have just the right amount of light golden crunchy crust, there is one secret you've got to know before you get cooking

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  • plastic ziplock bag
    By Joel Stice

    Is It Really Safe To Reuse Ziploc Bags?

    As great as the Ziploc bag is, most of us are probably guilty of discarding these bags into the trash bin without much thought. After all, when a box of 40 can be purchased for only a few dollars, what's the point in holding onto them?

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Videos (1)