There is something deeply satisfying about making fresh cheese at home, especially when the process is as simple as milk, lemon juice, and a little salt. With an immersion circulator, the milk heats gently in a precisely controlled water bath, making it easier to achieve the delicate curds that give homemade ricotta its soft, creamy...Read More

Before you toss those apple peels and cores into the compost bin, consider giving them one more job. Fall baking and preserving can generate an astonishing amount of fruit scraps. Apple pies, crisps, applesauce, pear desserts, preserves, and poached fruit all leave behind perfectly useful peels and cores — exactly what you need for a...Read More

If you think sous vide cooking is mainly about producing a perfectly medium-rare steak, think again. A precision-controlled water bath is one of the most versatile tools in the kitchen. It can gently cook poultry, fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, custards, and cheesecakes; incubate homemade yogurt; and handle other foods and kitchen projects where accurate...Read More

With so many pear varieties appearing at farmers markets in late summer and fall, it can be difficult to know which one to choose. Some pears are meltingly tender and best eaten fresh, while others have firmer flesh that holds beautifully during baking, poaching, or roasting. The best pear depends on both your personal taste...Read More

Discover practical ways to turn coffee grounds, eggshells, food scraps, rinse water, and even a thrift-store colander into useful resources for a healthier, more sustainable garden.Read More

Once you know the basic formula for sous vide egg bites, you hardly need a recipe. Start with eggs and something creamy, add cheese, choose a seasonal vegetable or other filling, finish with herbs or a flavorful accent—and suddenly one basic mixture can become dozens of different breakfasts. The secret is keeping the proportions balanced....Read More

If you have an immersion circulator and haven’t tried making egg bites yet, put them near the top of your list. Sous vide egg bites are one of those preparations that demonstrate exactly why controlled water-bath cooking is so useful. Eggs are delicate. A few degrees can noticeably affect their texture, and conventional high heat...Read More

One of the first questions new sous vide cooks ask is simple: What temperature should I use, and how long should I cook it? The answer is a little more interesting than it appears. With traditional cooking, we often think primarily in terms of time: roast the chicken for an hour, simmer the vegetables for...Read More

For generations, potatoes were one of the great workhorses of the kitchen: inexpensive, filling, easy to store, and endlessly adaptable. Somewhere along the way, though, the humble potato acquired a complicated reputation. It became associated with carbohydrates, blood sugar spikes, weight gain, and—perhaps most unfairly—with the nutritional baggage of French fries, chips, loaded baked potatoes,...Read More

It’s one of those kitchen instructions many of us follow without thinking: scrub the potato, grab a fork, and prick it all over before baking. We’ve been told the holes allow steam to escape—and, more dramatically, keep the potato from exploding in the oven. But is poking a baked potato really necessary? Not necessarily. While...Read More