Basics Posts
Homemade Sandwich Bread
Making your own bread is also really easy to do. It takes a few hours to make bread from start to finish, but most of that is for the actual rising and baking. There’s very little real hands-on time. This recipe makes two one-pound (i.e. standard size) loaves of bread.
Basic Cooking: Perfect Mashed Potatoes
I could eat bowls of buttery mashed potatoes for dinner—which is probably why I don’t make them too often. (Hello, carb coma!) There are a zillion recipes out there for making mashed potatoes. Here’s how I make mine. They’re simple and creamy—and just a wee bit tangy from the addition of a little sour cream. [...]
Basic Homemade Chicken Stock
There are a lot of methods for making chicken stock. Some folks make it in the slow cooker. Some folks make it in the oven. This is one of the ways that I make mine on top of the stove. It’s a good, basic method and yields a richly flavored, golden chicken stock that’s a [...]
Make Your Own Deli-Style Roast Beef
Forget the deli. Make your own roast beef at home. It’s simple and typically way more economical than hitting the deli counter every week—plus, you can personalize your roast beast with whatever flavors you like. All you need is a piece of meat, a few spices, and a really sharp knife. Deli-Style Homemade Roast Beef: [...]
Basic Cooking: How to Make Espresso on the Stove
Now, I know that I’m treading on hallowed ground for some, discussing how to make espresso. Like beer and good wine, espresso is one of those things that folks are very particular about. (Espresso afficionados out there, please be kind!) I’m not an expert barista—or a super fussy coffee person—by a long shot. I’m just [...]
Basic Cooking: The Secret to Perfectly Cooked Hard-Boiled Eggs
Hard-boiled eggs? How about *hardly* boiled eggs? Now that’s more accurate. (And that’s also the secret to perfectly cooking them.) I make hard-boiled eggs the way my mother does. And she uses the same basic method that Julia Child did—minus the egg pricker. Every time I do this, the eggs are marvelous. The whites are [...]
Basic Cooking: How to Test a Cake for Doneness with a Toothpick
Years ago now, I used to hang around a little cafe that a friend of mine owned. One day, she charged me with keeping an eye on a couple of cakes that were in the oven. Easy as pie (err, cake), right? The batter was made. I just had to yank them out when they [...]
Rib of the Week: Guinness-Braised Short Ribs (Plus a Quick Primer on Braising)
We woke up to more snow this weekend. It put me in serious cooking mode, so The Angry Chef dug out the car and intrepidly made his way to McKinnon’s, our local butcher shop. He came home with a couple of bags, including a package of gorgeous beef short ribs. I quickly set about preparing [...]
Basic Cooking: How to Make Simple Syrup
We’re kicking off our Basic Cooking series with a toast! (The makings of a toast, to be more precise.) Simple syrup is gloriously useful stuff. It’s one of the building blocks of many cocktails—from classic to contemporary—and, really, it couldn’t get any simpler to make. Also known as “sugar syrup,” “simple sugar syrup,” and “bar [...]
How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits
These are super easy to make. If you have a food processor or mixer, you can throw them together in less than 10 minutes. If you don’t, it will take just a wee bit longer to cut the butter and flour together with a pastry cutter or a couple of forks. I made these this [...]
