Category: cooking

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Instant Pot Released a ‘Star Wars’ Collection so the Force Can Be Strong with Your Next Batch of Chili

Star Wars fans! Food fans! Eating fans! It’s time to unite! Instant Pot has released a new line of multi-cookers that are Star Wars-themed just in time for the holidays.

The cookers are for sale exclusively at Williams Sonoma and feature a variety of designs. The 6-quart cookers go for $100 and you can choose from R2-D2, a Stormtrooper, and Darth Vader designs. The 3-quart BB-8 sells for $80. And then there’s the 8-quart Chewbacca Instant Pot that you can pick up for $120. These are special edition products, so you can assume that they aren’t going to last very long.

We have joined forces with Instant Pot to bring you a special edition Star Wars x Instant Pot collection. Transform…

Posted by Williams Sonoma on Tuesday, November 26, 2019

I’m not even a true Star Wars fan, and I think these are pretty awesome.

And besides looking cool, Instant Pots are AMAZING. In case you’re a stranger to these babies, you can choose from seven different functions on an Instant Pot: pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice cooking, steaming, sautéing, yogurt making, and a warming option.

If you’re really looking to nerd out, there’s also a new line of Star Wars cookware designed by Le Creuset, also available at Williams Sonoma. This line of cookware features a ton of cool pieces, including a Han Solo Carbonite Signature Roaster, Millennium Falcon and Death Star Trivets, and a Darth Vader Round Dutch Oven. WOW.

Don’t sleep on this! It sounds like these will be gone before you know it!

Also, remember that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters on December 20!

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Panera Fired an Employee for Exposing How Their Mac and Cheese Is Made

Do you like Panera’s mac and cheese? I sure am. It’s the highlight of my meal when I go.

But recently you may have seen a viral TikTok showing just how it’s cooked – or, rather, reheated. Many viewers have expressed their dismay, but the shocks don’t end there: the employee was fired for her video!

Ok, let’s put aside the employee being fired for a second (just a second, I promise). Reheating (and cooking) food in food-safe plastic bags is actually a pretty standard method. If you aren’t familiar, sous-vide (the fancy name for cooking food sealed in plastic in a water bath) is a five-star chef way of cooking. In fact, there is a whole system behind it.

“Sous-vide is a cooking technique that utilizes precise temperature control to deliver consistent, restaurant-quality results. High-end restaurants have been using sous vide cooking for years to cook food to the exact level of doneness desired, every time.”

You can buy a fancy sous-vide setup for your home, or you can give it a low tech go by following these three simple steps – once you gather the right pot and thermometer you are ready.

1. Attach your precision cooker to a pot of water and set the time and temperature according to your desired level of doneness.

2. Put your food in a sealable bag and clip it to the side of the pot.

3. Finish by searing, grilling, or broiling the food to add a crispy, golden exterior layer.

This technique distributes heat at an even temperature around the food, giving it exact “done-ness.” Forget the scorching, or overcooked noodles – it’s consistent results, every time.

The only thing that could be wrong about Panera’s technique? How about a flash broil on the top to make the cheese bubbly? Cause, come on.

Ok, back to the employee being fired.

While Panera won’t comment on “personnel matters,” the employee posted this followup video:

And frankly, I think it was a missed opportunity – instead of firing their employee, they should have played it up to the media like, “Hey, we serve sous-vide mac and cheese just like Michelin chefs!”

Because corporate America doesn’t need to keep doing shady stuff to cover up shady stuff.

Just sayin’.

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A Teacher Asked Kindergarteners to Create Cook a Book. The Recipes Are Hilarious.

Cooking takes years and years to master. This is why your average kindergartener, who’s still learning how to tie their shoes, is most likely a terrible cook. So when you ask a group of five- and six-year-olds to write a cookbook, you can guess what would result–bizarre, nonsensical, and hilarious recipes.

Jordan Adams is a Texas-based joke writer, pizza enthusiast, and Twitter user. When his nephew Ethan’s kindergarten class wrote their own cookbook, Jordan had to share it with with his Twitter followers.

Ethan’s teacher asked her students to explain how to prepare their favorite foods, and she wrote down their responses word for word. Let’s take a closer look.

Ethan’s Eggs

Photo Credit: @jordankadams97

It would be an impressive act of cooking alchemy to to turn pancakes, sugar, and Skittles into eggs. While Ethan’s ingredients might be a bit inaccurate, he does seem to understand eggs’ most important quality as a dish: they’re easy to make. Maybe not so easy that they only need two seconds to cook, but you get the idea. Solid work, Ethan.

Joe’s Tacos

Photo Credit: @jordankadams97

Joe is clearly a free-spirit in the kitchen, the sort of chef who goes by instinct, not by following a recipe to the letter. Details like cooking times and ingredients don’t need to be exact. You can even switch to an entirely different dish mid-cook, if you want to! “Brown candy” also sounds intriguing. Joe has all the makings of a future professional chef.

Sebastian’s Pancakes

Photo Credit: @jordankadams97

$7o pancakes made entirely out of salt? This kid should open up his own restaurant and become the Salt Bae of breakfast food. At the very least he needs his own Food Network show. Also, nice work reminding everyone to clear the table after eating, Sebastian. Clean-up is part of cooking, too.

Ariana’s Macaroni

Photo Credit: @jordankadams97

Creative! Macaroni and cheese that includes apples and strawberries sounds like the result a crazy Top Chef challenge that required chefs to combine four random ingredients. Could be delicious, could be disgusting! Then Ariana takes things one step further by including ingredients that are inedible. Top Chef should definitely make the contestants cook something with doll parts. Also, I now realize that every recipe should include a trip to the swimming pool. Thank you, Ariana.

As you can imagine, the kindergarten cookbook went massively viral, racking up over 70,000 retweets, 170,000 likes, and hundreds of responses.

Some folks actually wanted to try the recipes.

While some teachers wanted to try writing a cookbook with their classes.

But most of all, people wanted more.

Maybe one day we’ll all be able to read The Kindergarten Cookbook, but until then, these four recipes will have to do.

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This Is How to Crack an Egg Perfectly Every Time

If you’re someone who panics when it comes time to crack that egg into a skillet or a pancake batter or a batch of cookies, afraid of getting shell into food that you or someone else is about to dig into, well, keep reading!

It turns out that it all comes down to the method of cracking, and that only about a quarter of American cooks are doing it the right way – on a flat countertop instead of the edge of a bowl or pan.

So, the flat countertop method is the way to go if you want to avoid bits of shell, according to America’s Test Kitchen, Real Simple, and Reader’s Digest…but why?

Three reasons:

  1. The sharp edge of the bowl or pan actually pushes the shell inside the egg, increasing the risk that small pieces of shell will get inside the egg’s liquid.
  2. Cracking the egg directly on or over the bowl or pan increases the chance that broken shell will fall directly into your mixing bowl/pan.
  3. Cracking the shell on a sharp edge actually breaks through the shell’s thin inner membrane, destroying the safety net that catches broken pieces of shell. Cracking on a flat surface keeps the membrane intact, adhering to the loose pieces of shell.

Which is not to say that plenty of people – even professional chefs – have long gotten along cracking on the edge of a bowl.

But if you’re not confident, or if you find yourself or your guests frequently picking shell out of your food, well, you might want to switch it up.

Give it a try!

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Here’s an Easier Way to Use Your Cheese Grater

Two things are certain when it comes to grating cheese for recipes and the like: First, freshly grated cheese tastes and melts way better than the pre-shredded stuff you buy in the bag, and second, I absolutely hate grating cheese. It makes my wrist hurt, I often scrape my knuckles, and it takes forever (relatively).

But wait…

There’s a better way!

If you’ve got a standard, four-sided cheese grater, there’s a good chance you haven’t been using it to its full potential. According to Menu World, instead of holding it vertically in one hand, you should lay it down on a table or counter and grate your cheese from side-to-side instead of up-and-down.

The action prevents the grater from moving around while you hold it, is easier on your arms, and, since you’re putting pressure downward, should help the process go a bit quicker. It also allows the cheese to collect inside the grater instead of on the counter or straight into a bowl.

An extra tip? For easier grating, coat the grater with cooking spray ahead of time, especially if you’re attempting to grate a soft or sticky cheese.

Oh, and here’s one more – you can use an old toothbrush to help get all of those annoying little holes cleaned out afterward, saving your knuckles and your sponges during that process, as well.

It seems like such a simple thing! It’s kind of a wonder that many of us have never thought of it before now – but if you’re feeling silly, don’t worry, because you’re definitely not alone!

People everywhere have been taken aback, including me – and I gotta say, I can’t wait until it’s time to grate some more cheese!

I’m sure it won’t be long. Because, you know.

Cheese.

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10 Cooking Hacks That Are as Useful as They Are Unusual

I’m a huge cooking enthusiast, so naturally, I’m always on the lookout for awesome new tips to up my game in the kitchen. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of cooking hacks – some great, some terrible. This list from BuzzFeed is definitely full of some of the best ones!

1. Roast your white chocolate.

If you’re into baking, try roasting your white chocolate on a sheet pan in the oven. It turns golden and nutty.

2. Use your slow cooker as a sous vide machine.

Sous vide cooking has been all the rage amongst foodies for pretty much ever. If you’re handy and have a bit of time on your hands, you can hack your slow cooker to behave like a sous vide machine to save money on equipment.

3. Cure your egg yolks.

Photo Credit: Bon Appetit

If you want to seriously impress your next brunch guests, bury some egg yolks in a mixture of salt and sugar for a few days and then put them into the oven to dry out. The yolks become cured and firm, and you can grate them on top of other dishes.

4. Make your own cheese sauce.

Cheese sauce solves all problems. You can make your own at home with just water, cheese, and sodium citrate (a type of salt that you can buy online). Easy-peasy.

5. Cook your pasta in red wine.

Pasta and red wine go together perfectly, and apparently, you can cook them together too. Cook pasta in red wine rather than water to add flavor and color.

6. Roast your pasta before you cook it.

Photo Credit: Food 52

Whaaa?! Yes. Roasting makes the pasta nuttier and browner and adds a unique flavor. You must roast the pasta while it’s still dry for this to work.

7. Make vegan meringue with chickpea water.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

An episode of The Great British Bake-Off will confirm that this trick does, in fact, work. It’s also known as “aquafaba.” The liquid from a can of chickpeas can be whipped into meringue in place of egg whites.

8. Make instant potato chips in the microwave.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Ever too lazy to buy a bag of potato chips, but really need to eat some potato chips right that moment? If you have some potatoes on hand you can make potato chips in the microwave in a couple minutes.

Game-changer.

9. Use mayonnaise as a non-stick layer.

Coat your meat or fish with mayonnaise before you put it onto the grill, and it will prevent the food from sticking and help it cook more evenly.

10. “Ripen” your cookie dough first.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The secret to the perfect cookies is… letting the dough sit for several days before baking it. This reportedly improves the texture.

Yum!

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You should never wash raw chicken…

You should never wash raw chicken. Doing do increases your risk of food poisoning from campylobacter bacteria by splashing water contaminated with the bacteria onto hands, work surfaces, clothing, and cooking equipment.

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15 Professional but Totally Unnecessary Things Chefs Do During Meal Prep

With the increase in popularity of shows on the Food Network (shoutout to the Pioneer Woman), meal kits, and recipe blogs on the internet, it’s easier than ever to feel like a professional chef at home.

However, sometimes those outlets make us think we need to be too fancy. Thankfully, these 13+ chefs are here to tell you the steps/processes that you can go ahead and skip.

#15. Beautiful grill marks

“Giving the meat a quarter turn a few minutes before it’s done on the grill. It gives the meat beautiful cross hatched grill marks but does nothing for the quality of the meat.”

#14. Frenching

“Frenching. You usually see it on fancy cuts of meat like tomahawk steaks or racks of lamb. It improves the look of the cut, is pretty easy to do and most people have come to expect it when ordering more expensive cuts of meat. This step is unnecessary to me though because the part that is trimmed off is super tender and fatty and delicious, so if I have the option, I request an unfrenched cut.”

#13. Sounds more sophisticated

“Truffle oil. I feel the vast majority of the time it’s added only so that the dish sounds more sophisticated.”

#12. A little fire

“Flambé is bullshit. It’s literally just setting the alcohol on fire that has already boiled off from the dish and doesn’t burn hot enough at the surface to create any Maillard reaction products. I do it to entertain my three year old. He loves it.”

#11. Tiny stems

“Tiny stems in fresh parsley, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, basil etc.

Seperating that last 2-5 mm from the leaf to the stalk is not important and generally speaking, it’s both tender and packed with flavor. But, but, muh atention too detales…”

#10. Zero nutritional value

“Adding edible gold to any food. It does not affect the taste and has zero nutritional value, as it will just pass through your digestive system without being absorbed. Well, at least you will literally be shitting gold after eating it.”

#9. Choking hazards

“Leaving the tails on shrimp for ornament. In stir fries, curries, etc., now I have to get in there and remove something it was actually easier to just take off with the rest of the shell.

Why leave these choking hazards in an otherwise entirely edible meal to be discreetly stashed at the side of a plate or in a napkin?”

#8. Sure, it’s pretty, but…

“Garnishing with fucking micro greens that you have to clean and fucking pick the seeds out of. It takes forever and most people just take them off anyway. Sure, it’s pretty, but spending 45 minutes of my prep time going through a box of them really sucks.”

#7. Peeling

“Peeling carrots and potatoes. Give them a good wash and they’re fine. Hell, potato skins improve mashed potatoes, imo.”

#6. Baker’s napalm

“Traditional French desserts like croquembouche and gateau st honore only exist to make me feel like a failure.

Cream puffs have no business being in a conical shape held up by baker’s napalm.”

#5. No one wants to try and cut into that mess

“the food tower… it may look nice, bit no one wants to try and cut into that mess.”

#4. Suddenly you’re fancy

“Parsley. Put it on anything, and suddenly you’re fancy.”

#3. Plate appeal

“Plating.

High-end restaurants take great pains to make sure meals are plated well and look appealing from a purely aesthetic standpoint.

When cooking at home, I generally don’t put as much effort into the “plate appeal”.”

#2. A few

“Here are a few

Vanilla beans. I LOVE them and they are so complex and beautiful. It’s professional to bring them out in dishes, but really not necessary. Vanilla extract, though not as good. Will work just fine. Especially when a vial of 3 beans costs $10.
Those paper things that go on the bone stumps of a cooked turkey. So useless I won’t even google their name.
Blowing smoke into your cloche dome. Revealing your plated food as smoke bellows out from it and revealing the dish is cool as hell and professional. Though it technically adds flavour, you likely also used the smoke gun earlier in the cooking process to add flavour that it is not needed again.”

#1. Miniature bowls (looking at you, Ree Drummond)

“Putting all the ingredients in miniature bowls.”

Here’s to your next delicious meal at home!

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