Cooking & Food Blogs

Jerk chicken has it all: sweetness, spice and come-hither appeal. [Photograph: Jennifer Olvera]

Faintly sweet, spiced, and fiery as all get-out, jerk chicken is a sultry summertime treat. To maximize its flavor, take time to marinate the meat—for at least a day and up to two.

Although I rarely seed and devein peppers, in the case of ultra-hot habeneros, it's wise. It allows their fruitiness to shine, and the dish strikes a balance between tongue-singeing and enjoyably edible. Of course, if brow-mopping is what you're going for, feel free to add another pepper into the mix.

As for the boozy, grill-charred pineapple that's served alongside, be sure to select one that's just about—but not totally—ripe. A firmer fruit will stand up to the grilling process, whereas a juicy, super-soft one won't.

When all is said and done, the basted, crusty bird and caramelized fruit are pitch-perfect companions. Served with additional jerk sauce alongside, a taste of the Caribbean is at hand.

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Hellfire Jerk Chicken With Rummy Grilled Pineapple »

About the author: Jennifer Olvera is a veteran food and travel writer and author of "Food Lovers' Guide to Chicago." Follow her on Twitter @olverajennifer.

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[Photograph: Sydney Oland]

To me, muffins are basically a way to have cake for breakfast on days other than the morning after your birthday party. The best muffins come together quickly, have some fun textures and flavors, and scratch that cake for breakfast itch.

Blueberry streusel muffins check all those boxes. They have a soft cake crumb, sweet juicy berries, and a crumbly streusel topping. Combine that with ingredients that are easy to keep on hand, and you can have these muffins on your brunch table in about a half hour.

We all love fresh, sun-kissed berries picked just that morning. But many of us live a good distance from any sort of blueberry field. So frozen blueberries are just perfect for this recipe. And if you have one of those mixed frozen berry bags in your freezer, they'll work just fine as well.

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Blueberry Streusel Muffins »

About the author: Sydney Oland lives in Somerville, Mass.  Find more information at sydneyoland.com (or read eatingnosetotail.com)

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Everyone once it a while it hits me: I need steak-frites. It’s an infrequent indulgence, but when I do have it, I like my steak with a crisp exterior, pan-seared until saignant (medium-rare), with a large pile of real frites. Most my French friends like their beef bleu, which is close to uncooked, and if you order it that way, when you cut into your steak, it’s raw in the center. (My other half will ask for bleu froid, or “cold” in the middle.) I don’t mind raw beef in carpaccio or tartare, but it’s not really my thing to attack a large block of nearly uncooked meat.

Another difference is that American beef tends to be aged and easier to cut, and I’ve learned to only buy beef from a very good butcher in Paris because the difference if phenomenal. In restaurants, sometimes you’ll be served a piece of French beef that slices nicely, and other times you’re faced with something that even the best steak knife – and sharpest incisors – might have trouble ripping into.

So I tend to be fairly choosy about where I eat beef. Many of the classic Parisian bistros have been scooped up by restaurant chains, so there’s a dwindling number of places where you can find steak-frites done right in this town. But at Aux Tonneaux des Halles, honest bistro fare is still offered, with the daily menu scribbled on the chalkboards. And if you’re looking for a traditional steak-frites, done right, this is the place to get it.

Continue Reading Aux Tonneaux des Halles...

From Drinks

[Photograph: Carrie Vasios]

If I could name my own country, I would call it the Republic of Pie. To investigate who stole my idea—and to check out their extensive sweet and savory pie selection—I headed over to this laid back space in the NoHo Arts District of Los Angeles.

As can be expected, I did a double pie meal, starting with a savory Mac & Cheese Pot Pie ($5.95). The mug of Mac comes out piping hot and well layered with gooey cheese. The noodles were pleasantly al dente, creating a textural contrast with the soft, oozing cheese. In line with the restaurant's retro-Southern aesthetic (you can finish your meal with a hunkin' slice of lemon cream or sweet potato pie), the bowl comes topped with a layer of breadcrumbs. They add a toasty flavor and, for the hungover, a welcome added carb. The cheese is just sharp and salty enough to perk up your taste buds, but if you need an extra kick, a big bottle of original Lousiana hot sauce is waiting by the forks.

Republic of Pie

11118 Magnolia Blvd, San Fernando Valley, CA 91601(map); (888) 612-3269; republicofpie.com

About the author: Carrie Vasios is the editor of Serious Eats: Sweets. She likes to peruse her large collection of cookbooks while eating jam from the jar. You can follow her on Twitter @carrievasios

I'm a cook and so therefore I like to mess with things. I've always been this way. When I was little, I would run to the bathroom as soon as I heard the phone ring because I knew my mother would be occupied for a while. I would climb up onto the counter, pull up the silver knob that closes the drain on the sink and start "cooking." In would go a little toothpaste, thinned with some mouthwash and followed by a glug of Bonnie Bell's 10-0-6 lotion or maybe a dollop of creamy eyeshadow to add some color. After mixing that up with a nail file, I would sift in some baby powder and a pinch of Epsom salts and fold. And there the fun would end because I didn't quite know what to do with my 'mixtures' once I was done mixing, lacking the convenience of an oven in the bathroom. More

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Happy weekend all. I thought today would be a good day for a favorites list. I also thought it might be time to share the earliest glimpse of what I've been working on for the past couple of months - QUITOKEETO. I'll do my best to pull a few more details together for you (and wrangle a recipe into shape) for later in the week. Until then -xo:

- Le Shack

- The Secret Life of Alan Z. Feuer

- Grains Well Spent.

- 204 Sunrise Lane.

- Rhubarb Beer Jam

- Happenstance. Running into Jesse in NY.

- Act Three. Mimis in the Middle.

- Whoops

- When Michelle Obama Came to Lunch

- Reading: this / Next up: this

- For the floors. And the ceilings.

- Jeffrey's Broken Bike

- Dream get-away.

- Subway tile & Sherwin Williams

- The Alphabet Book a few of you were curious about in this post.

- For the next road trip.

- Pakoras & Chutney

- Enjoying this monthly newsletter / sign-up at page bottom (via Kristina G)

- Elissa + Tamar

- Daniel Patterson's Poached Scrambled Eggs

- Perfect cocktail ice.

Lead photo: Detail of a stunning green tile wall I came across in Marrakesh.

Continue reading Favorites List (5.19.12)...

Good morning, and Happy Saturday! We had a bang-up week here on The Kitchn with Reader Request Week. So many great ideas generated by you. Here are the week's most popular posts, from 10 ways to cook chicken tonight to a homemade version of Wendy's Frosty.

15. Banana For an Egg: Vegan Substitutions for 8 Common Baking Ingredients
14. Fried Rice to BBQ Chicken Pizza: 10 Recipes to Make Take-Out Foods at Home
13. How To Make Popovers
12. 7 Light Meals That Aren't Just Lettuce
11. When I Went Gluten-Free: The Funniest Food Tumblr Yet
10. Protein Pick Me Up: 10 Ways to Get a Midday Boost

More

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We're making some upgrades behind the scenes today. Beginning this morning at 9:30 a.m. ET, all community features will be disabled (commenting, favoriting, and new submissions to Talk and Photograzing). We expect the upgrade to take approximately 3 hours and as soon as it is complete, community features will be restored. Thanks for your patience!

Loaves and Rolls, First Batch
Loaves and Rolls, Second Batch
Flat Breads, Sweet Breads, and More

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© Wild Yeast, 2012. | Permalink | No comment

When I was a kid, Home Ec was a required course in junior high, and we all had to learn how to make English muffin pizzas in a toaster oven. Did you make English muffin pizzas? Or bagel pizzas? This is the same thing, but made with a flour tortilla, or "wrap" as they are called in some parts. Easy peasy. A cast iron skillet works best for the stove top, as it has a more even distribution of heat and holds the heat well. Once the tortilla is bubbly, sprinkle on the cheese first, and then spread with sauce. This way the thin tortilla bottom is more likely to stay crisp. In this recipe we are using the most basic of ingredients—shredded mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil. But you could easily use other favorite pizza toppings, such as caramelized onions or basil pesto. Just use a light touch. The tortilla is thin and can be easily weighted down.

Do you like making tortilla pizzas? If so, please tell us about your favorite version in the comments.

Continue reading "Skillet Tortilla Pizza" »

VIEW SLIDESHOW: This Week at Serious Eats World Headquarters

[Photographs: Robyn Lee, unless otherwise noted]

This week Ed came back from a trip to Havana, Yuba and Hambone had some serious playtime, we made stuff with Oreos, we dressed up oatmeal in sweet and savory ways, and more.

Happy weekend! What's cooking in your kitchen this weekend? We hope you found some great inspiration from Reader Request Week. Anything you saw you're dying to try? I'm really loving these spring soup recipes and can't wait to hit the farmer's market tomorrow morning. What's cooking, and what are you looking forward to doing in the kitchen this weekend? More

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It was Reader Request Week on The Kitchn, and our readers asked for some fabulous recipes! We have jammy, puffy, golden homemade popovers, as well as some great vegetarian dishes like brown rice salad with walnuts and cherries, eggless "egg salad", and garlicky, eggy Filipino fried rice. There were treats too, like a knockoff copycat version of Wendy's chocolate frosty, and a lemony rum punch that's easily adaptable for kids. More

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Our neighbor Chloe is a godsend. Not only did she plant the Meyer lemon tree near our door, but when we go away on vacation, Chloe watches our cat, Lolita. If the list ended there, Chloe would still be a hero in my book. But then the other day, I received the following e-mail: “Hi Adam, do you have time to step outside to the garden? Chloe.”

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Years later, we are still fans of Julia Child's pegboard full of pots and pans: it's practical for small spaces, and keeps your cooking tools at an arm's reach. For those of you who are thinking of building your own, check out these great examples...

• Pegboard Inspiration
  Apartment Therapy

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