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Photo: Marina Rich (Shutterstock)You probably take your tongue for granted, or at least, don’t fully grasp the complexities of how it deciphers the flavors it encounters and sends those delicious or distasteful signals to your brain.This is all the more important because things don’t always taste the same to differe...

Photo: Africa Studio (Shutterstock)If you’ve ever made gravy, or any sauce or similar food to which a thickening agent is added, you know that it acts quite differently once you take it out of a hot, simmering pot and get it on a plate. Gravy, jams, and many sauces all thicken as they cool, and it can be hard to tel...

Photo: Whitson GordonA few years ago, I finally caved to societal pressure and bought an Aeropress. It was (and is) all the rage among coffee connoisseurs, and while I definitely don’t fall into that category, I figured why not brew the best cup I could? But honestly, I kind of hated it.Look, I love the taste of cof...

Photo: Katiekk (Shutterstock)The other day, my son had to come up with some questions about space for a science class assignment. His favorite, and rightfully so, was: Why does the sun look yellow, but stars that are farther away look white? One of the best things about being a parent is seeing the world in a fresh ...

Photo: Claire LowerWhen it comes to St. Patrick’s Day beverages, you have two main choices: something green or something Irish. Both are good options, and not as limiting as they might initially appear. Guzzling tepid green beer all night is fine if you’re young and able to bounce back from a hangover within 24 hour...

Photo: Jerard FagerbergOn March 8, 2020, I stepped inside a mountainside coffee shop in Jay Peak, Vermont. That hastily made 16 oz of steamin’ gas station-quality sludge was the last stranger-made cup of coffee I’d drink for over a year.Since the onset of COVID, I have been my own barista. Every morning, I drag my l...

Most fast food chains, at this point, have gotten into the free food game—throwing certain complimentary menu items in with your order when you buy something else. Occasionally, you’ll get truly lucky and it’ll be a no-purchase-necessary situation.Read more...

It would surprise most people to know that my bologna-loving self is really good at making delicious salads. Even self-proclaimed salad haters have been wooed by my artfully arranged piles of leaves and stuff. As one might expect, I have many strategies, tips, and tricks for making special-tasting salads, and I would…Read more...

I love innovation and, for the most part, I think preciousness around certain foods does us all a disservice, but some things are indefensible, and this one, particular blonde lady must be stopped. Read more...

If you’re like me—and I know I am—then you have spent a non-zero amount of time during this pandemic feeling like your productivity is swirling down the proverbial toilet. Early in the quarantine era I decided to tackle vegetable fermenting, a thing I had long been interested in but had previously avoided out of fear…Read more...

I have a precise method for making a box of macaroni and cheese: I boil the water, cook the macaroni for a couple minutes shy of the package instructions, drain it, then return the noodles to the pot and add the butter, stirring so it melts over the mac. I then sprinkle in the cheese powder, and stir again to dissolve…Read more...

There are three types of food content on TikTok: Stuff that is genuinely useful, pure shitposts, and honest content that just isn’t good. If you watch this mashed potato hack video from elis_kitchen, it may not be immediately clear which type you are looking at. However, if you view it within the context of their…Read more...

My favorite sweet & sour sauce is the McDonald’s variety. It comes in a little plastic tub with a bright green label, and it is a perfect match for McNuggets and McFries. (If you have not tried it with the fries, I recommend that you remedy this as soon as you can.) Read more...

Vanilla is an important ingredient, a complex ingredient, an expensive ingredient. Even if you’re not a big baker, the vanilla bean and its extract can be used to bring nuance, depth, and the implication of—but not the taste of—sweetness to any food or beverage. In addition to sweets, baked and otherwise, I like to…Read more...

I don’t present as someone overly concerned with plating or presentation, but I absolutely despise splatters on the side of my soup bowl, at least until I start eating my soup. Sure, one could “wipe them away,” but that can leave a trailing smear of soup, stew, or chili, which is almost worse. Read more...

Let’s say you find yourself with a substantial number of doughnuts. Perhaps you took full advantage of one of those buy-a-dozen-get-a-dozen-free deals, or tried making them yourself and they immediately turned out perfectly, or it was more of a Homer Price scenario. Read more...

When the pandemic first hit and locked us in our homes, many of us were struck by the same bolt of inspiration (after we bought our toilet paper): We decided to bake bread. All that kneading, rising, and conjuring of the fresh bread smell in our homes was a thing we could focus on when life outside our front door felt…Read more...

Mark Bittman is most famous for the 30,000 recipes he’s developed in decades of being a food journalist and authoring 30 books focused on cooking and eating. But this month’s Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food from Sustainable to Suicidal is not another recipe book, it’s a deeply researched call to arms to…Read more...