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Japanese Beef Fondue
This recipe is based on a Japanese dish called shabu-shabu, but I left out the kombu (dried kelp) and the tofu, then poked it here and pinched it there, so I can’t pretend that my version is even remotely authentic. But both recipes are built around poached beef. I’d almost…
Burgers: How can I keep burgers from plumping in the center?
Whenever I demonstrate one of my burger recipes, someone asks if there is a way to keep burgers from plumping in the center and becoming smaller in diameter as they cook. My favorite trick to solve this problem is to create an indentation in the center when I shape the…
Buttermilk: What is buttermilk?
Rachel e-mailed the Kitchen Shrink to ask, “What is in buttermilk?” She said she had purchased some for a recipe and was surprised to find that, despite its name, buttermilk is low in fat. These days, most buttermilk is pasteurized low-fat milk to which lactic acid bacteria have been added…
“Fried” Catfish BLTs
The Husband tends to scorn the BLT as an “air sandwich.” Of course, it’s delicious—how can it not be as long as bacon is involved—but it’s hardly what you’d call filling. That’s why I’ve bulked up the traditional BLT with some “fried” fish. I’ve also tricked up the standard-issue mayo…
Pasta Pizza
I first learned about “pasta pizza” from Leslie Glover, one of Gourmet’s test cooks, who developed it for “In Short Order.” It is ridiculously simple and so tasty. Anytime you make angel hair pasta, just cook double the amount you need. The leftover pasta, recast as the star of this…
Two Melon, Prosciutto, and Feta Salad
This dish, from Sara’s Secrets for Weeknight Meals, is perfect for those warm summer nights when you don’t even want to switch on the stove. Melon and prosciutto is such a refreshing summertime appetizer that I wondered if there was a way to make it entrée-hearty without ruining its essential…
Melons: How can I select a good melon in the market?
In the middle of the summer a lot of e-mails arrive in my Kitchen Shrink inbox asking the same question, “is there a secret to finding a melon that is sweet and flavorful.” While that’s not so easy in the winter when melons come from far away as it is now that they are coming…
Carrot “Fettuccine” with Spicy Shrimp
This recipe from Sara Moulton Cooks at Home is the happy result of an unhappy incident. My friend and fellow chef Sandy Gluck was trying out for a job at a very fancy cutting-edge restaurant in New York City in the early eighties. One of the many reasons she decided…
Olives: Substituting Ripe Olives
Jerry e-mailed the Kitchen Shrink that he couldn’t find the Kalamata olives called for in a recipe he wanted to try and wondered if you can substitute canned California ripe olives for Kalamata olives in a recipe? Canned California ripe olives and oil-cured European ripe olives are really very different…
Sara's Secrets is now airing on the Cooking Channel
My old Food Network Show, “Sara’s Secrets,” is now airing on the new Cooking Channel which launched several months ago. “Sara’s Secrets” is on every morning, Monday through Friday at 7AM. The Cooking Channel (managed by the same folks that own Food Network) will replace the Fine Living Channel. So…