All posts tagged: cooking

You May Not Need a Giant Chef’s Knife When a Midsize Knife Does the Trick

You May Not Need a Giant Chef’s Knife When a Midsize Knife Does the Trick

Published by skeptic

Kitchen knives are so personal. You can do almost everything you need in a kitchen with a chef’s knife, paring knife, and a bread knife. But the more time you spend in the kitchen, the more you develop preferences, and soon it becomes a bit of an n+1 thing, and there you are, pondering a cleaver. There’s a lot of space between most chef’s knives and paring knives. What’s in that space—often called petty, prep, or utility knives—is often pretty weird. Consider the knives that you never use from a set and you’ll likely think of the short, serrated knives or the petty knives with no room for your fingers between the handle and the cutting board. What if you’re a smaller person, or have smaller hands, or just think a smaller but still high-functioning all-around knife might be your jam? What if the right version of those midsize knives turned out to be really useful? To my delight, the good ones are. With equal parts luck, research, and trial and error, I found both …

The Cookware Industry Has a Major Fight Brewing Over PFAS Claims

The Cookware Industry Has a Major Fight Brewing Over PFAS Claims

Published by skeptic

The war over forever chemicals in cookware has seen celebrity chefs, major cookware makers, and state legislatures enter into battle. Now, a new front has opened over advertising claims. Cookware company Caraway is alleging that “Big Cookware” is using a lawsuit to try to “silence” the company, which rose to prominence making forever-chemical-free pans. Caraway recently launched a marketing campaign in response to a lawsuit filed in February by two large pan makers, which claims that Caraway is harming their reputation by marketing its products as free of “toxic” chemicals—despite never mentioning either company by name. The lawsuit, filed by Groupe SEB USA and Meyer in the Southern District of New York, claims that Caraway’s marketing around forever chemicals, a colloquial term for per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), is harmful to the industry as a whole. Caraway’s marketing materials, the two companies say in the suit, is not grounded in scientific fact and “has caused immense and continuing harm to consumers, to Plaintiffs, and to other cookware and bakeware companies in the marketplace.” In …

These Robots Are Making Meals for a Nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin

These Robots Are Making Meals for a Nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin

Published by skeptic

These potato-salad-slinging AI chefs aren’t taking anyone’s jobs. Not yet, anyway. They’re just here as volunteers. Project Open Hand, a nonprofit founded in 1985 by local grandmother and HIV-awareness advocate Ruth Brinker, prepares and packages meals to meet the diverse nutritional requirements of people who need them. The effort began in response to the AIDS crisis, but the nonprofit has since expanded the meals it makes for people with conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. But it takes many people to make these meals, and Project Open Hand has struggled to entice volunteers to help fill the meal kits. The organization is housed in a four-story building in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. During peak hours, the place feels like a big operation, usually bustling with people. Some of them are there in need of the free meals, some are staff and volunteers there to make the food and keep the place running. The process of putting together medically tailored meal boxes can get complicated. Different patients have different needs, so the …

The Huckberry Memorial Day Sale Is Absolutely Cooking

The Huckberry Memorial Day Sale Is Absolutely Cooking

Published by Jenni Sidey

For more scorching deals over the long weekend, head to our complete guide to the best Memorial Day clothing sales. Memorial Day weekend is close enough that you can practically smell the charcoal already, which also means the sales are in full swing. And if you’re looking for a place to upgrade your summer gear, Huckberry is once again serving serious discounts on the kind of rugged clothing, footwear, and gear it’s built its reputation on stocking. We’re talking up to 50% off past-season steals and markdowns on hundreds of in-season pieces ready for cookouts, camping trips, beach weekends, and whatever else you’ve got lined up between now and Labor Day. Check out what we’re eyeing below, then head to Huckberry before the best stuff disappears into the smoke. Our Favorite Huckberry Memorial Day Sale Deals The Bonfire-Approved Flannel Wythe Washed Flannel Workshirt See the deal The 9-Holes-Then-Beers Pant Metalwood Metalwood Pro Work Pant See the deal The Triathlon Titan Huckberry x Timex IRONMAN Flix See the deal Shop by Category AccordionItemContainerButton Shirt & Sweater …

How to Upgrade Weber and Kamado Joe Into Smart Grills

How to Upgrade Weber and Kamado Joe Into Smart Grills

Published by skeptic

Because each part attaches wirelessly, the whole package is pretty flexible. ChefsTemp advertises bundles for Primo grills, every version of Kamado Joe, Big Green Egg, Akorn, Vision, Old Country Smoker, and a Weber Smokey Mountain. If you’re willing to drill a hole or two, you could even install the ProTemp into any classic kettle. But what I had to play with was the big red egg of a Kamado Joe ceramic grill, known for building heat slowly and holding that heat for a long time. I rarely use ceramics, and so it turned out I was bad at getting the temperature right. I kept underestimating how good the Joe would be at holding heat, and so I let the temp get too high. The ProTemp helped me cook good ribs anyway. The ProTemp S1 itself basically looks like a thermometer with a digital readout. That’s because this is precisely what it is. Unscrew the original thermometer from the Kamado Joe and screw in the ProTemp. This is the only permanent installation I had to do. …

All The Equipment You Need To Start Baking Bread

All The Equipment You Need To Start Baking Bread

Published by Sam Flores

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication. Remember when bread making was splashed all over the internet in 2020? Well, if you’re anything like me, not everyone caught the bread bug during lockdown. Shockingly, there are still lots of people who don’t know how to make a loaf like it’s their second language. But, call it the appeal of an analogue life, a seismic shift happened in my life recently that means I have a sudden craving to knead and wait hours for dough to rise. Maybe it’s the fact I’m sick of being addicted to scrolling on my phone, or even a natural extension of my recent penchant for doing puzzles (aren’t baking measurements like one big puzzle?). Whatever it …

The 5 Best Outdoor Griddles and Flat Top Grills (2026)

The 5 Best Outdoor Griddles and Flat Top Grills (2026)

Published by skeptic

A big outdoor griddle can change what summer feels like. And the best flat-top grills can make dinner feel like an event to be proud of. What’s a more satisfying sound than the slap of a spatula onto the chopped onions and rib eye meant for a perfect cheesesteak? The blister of corn tortillas cooked in the grease left by hard-seared carne asada? The smash of a burger at a backyard barbecue? The blessed evenness of pancakes cooked on a well-seasoned griddle plate? All you need is a great griddle to set you up for success. An outdoor gas griddle is an essential backyard counterpart to the satisfying direct heat of a high-performing charcoal or wood-fired grill—adding all the versatility of your favorite diner to your sunny-day toolkit. I’ve spent months cooking dozens of smashburgers, bacon strips, tacos, and pancakes to find the best outdoor griddle for each kind of backyard cook. Now, I find myself using the griddle more than a classic grill. My top-rated Traeger Flatrock ($1,000) offers the most even and reliable …

InstaFarm Automated Indoor Microgreens Garden Review: Easy Being Green

InstaFarm Automated Indoor Microgreens Garden Review: Easy Being Green

Published by skeptic

InstaFarm’s patented 4-by-4-inch compostable trays come pre-filled with about a half-inch of soil (“sourced from Amish Country in Pennsylvania,” according to InstaFarm) and organic, non-GMO seeds, with the nutritional info for the final-product microgreens listed on top. They come in over a dozen varieties of nine-packs for $23, including individual cultivars, smoothie- and salad-specific blends, and even plain trays for growing your own greens or garden starts. It is worth noting that the trays are easily saturated paperboard designed for one-time use. For comparison, Vego’s hydroponic microgreens planter, which I used last year, is just $60 for two units, while Gardyn’s is $100. Neither produces a volume of greens anywhere close to the InstaFarm, but again, $500 can buy a lot of store-bought microgreens. InstaFarm has an app, but it doesn’t add much to the experience, other than the ability to activate night mode (which then turns off the light for up to 10 hours). More helpful is the button on the top of the unit that comes with a sticker describing how many presses …

Stop Guessing Which Cooking Oil to Use. Experts Explain When to Use Each Type

Stop Guessing Which Cooking Oil to Use. Experts Explain When to Use Each Type

Published by skeptic

If you’re simply guessing which oil to use for whatever’s on tonight’s menu, you might be sabotaging your own meal. And worse, you could be wasting expensive olive or walnut oil only to watch it burn up in the air fryer or under the broiler’s fierce heat. Not all oils are created equal. That expensive variety you drizzle over a salad may not be built for searing, and it’s affecting your recipe’s final taste, along with your monthly food budget.  High-heat cooking methods such as frying or searing are best done with neutral oils that feature a higher smoke point — canola, avocado or grapeseed, to name a few. Olive oil and lower smoke point oils shine in dressings, slow cooking and sautes, where the rich flavor can stand out without burning and enhance the protein or vegetables.  For baking, some oils also lend moisture, while others add nutrition or depth when left uncooked. To get the skinny on cooking oils, I asked culinary experts to share tips and advice on when to use each oil so …

Smeg Forte Stand Mixer Review: Big Power, Mixed Results

Smeg Forte Stand Mixer Review: Big Power, Mixed Results

Published by skeptic

The Forte, which comes in up to seven colors depending on where you buy it, has a Direct Drive motor that offers 10 speeds to switch between, along with a smooth-start setting. With this setting, the attachments are meant to gain momentum to reach the speed you’ve selected rather than jumping into hyperdrive. While I wasn’t expecting the setting to begin at a snail’s pace, I found it more of a half-speed start than a smooth ramp-up. The Forte’s speed settings can be adjusted via a chrome knob on the top of the mixer rather than on the side. I found this was just for looks, not convenience. With tilt-head mixers, you commonly see the top of the mixer bouncing around with thicker batters—the Forte was not exempt from this. Smeg’s team actually let me know it was supposed to do this, and this motion better mimicked “hand-kneading” for doughs. This seemed a bit gimmicky to me, as most tilt-head stand mixers move while kneading. However, with the revamped bread hook attachment, the Forte consistently …