Cookthink

I'm almost always hungry first thing in the morning. But today, after a good long run yesterday, I was ravenous. What to eat? Before I even got out of bed, a dish I had heard about recently, quinoa pancakes, popped into my mind...

You want to add some flavor to a cut of meat. Why use a spice paste over a marinade? First of all, you need time to marinate, time you may not have unless you've planned things in advance...

Yesterday afternoon I was looking forward to grilling two beautiful Niman Ranch pork tenderloins for a dinner party. But when it was time to fire up the grill, the sky cracked open and it started to pour...

Reading Francis Mallmann's new book Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way (written with Peter Kaminsky), I'm reminded that for all the things that cooking is about, at heart it's about fire -- cooking's "mother tongue" as Mallmann calls it...

what you should know Are they right, those boosters, when they say that mustard is the world's oldest condiment? Maybe they are. Its storied history as a spice, a medicine and a metaphor has made mustard important to people from Nanur to Napa...

what you should know A fixture in both curry and chili powder blends (as well as in Indian masalas), cumin's smoky warmth has made it a key ingredient in spice mixtures and pastes across the globe....

what you should know Are we less inclined to warm up to foods we're not sure how to pronounce? That's the only reason we can think of to explain why quinoa ("KEEN-wah") has yet to take off in the U.S...

Domenica Marchetti is a food writer, recipe developer and cooking teacher who specializes in seasonal Italian home cooking and the author of The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy. Visit her website at www.domenicacooks.com. You can find more of her recipes here...

Amanda McClements is a Washington, D.C.-based freelance food writer and the blogger behind Metrocurean. Sweet or salty?...

Serve this colorful vegetable soup with warm whole-wheat pitas, or chunks of crusty whole-grain bread. Read more about this recipe on the Cookthink blog.

Whether you're firing up the grill, having a picnic or just planning to kick back and spend the day drinking, Cookthink wishes those lucky enough to take the holiday a happy Memorial Day!

Long before commercial production of Herbes de Provence began in the 1970s, this versatile aromatic mix was popular with Provençal grandmothers, who crushed it between their fingers before using it to add complex herbal flavor to roast chicken, marinated meats, soups and vegetable dishes...

The first question we ask in our weekly Cookthink Questionnaire is "Sweet or salty?" And while there are certain unequivocal adherents to one or the other camp, the answer we most hear is "both," usually followed by "at the same time."...

I am always looking for ways to make use of what some may consider scraps. So when the blue-eyed boy at the farmers market asks if I want the greens cut off my leeks or spring onions, I always wince at the thought that those flavorful green bits will come to naught...

Nancie McDermott is a food writer and cooking teacher specializing in the cuisines of Southeast Asia. Find out more about Nancie at her website or her brand-new blog. You can find some of Nancie's recipes online at Cookthink.com. Sweet or salty?...

Before I got married, I purchased a thick notebook and drove 30 miles every Saturday morning to my Aunt Helen's house in Flint, Michigan, where I would sit at her kitchen table and copy down her recipes and cooking secrets. Cooking for a man was Aunt Helen's specialty...

Doesn't this recipe sound good? It is. If you'd like some ideas about what to eat with it, click on the "goes with..." tab to the left. For the lowdown on ingredients, techniques and tools, click on "related tips."

Embarrassingly simple to make, this classic cocktail from the turn of the 19th century was the first in a long line of Rickeys, dry cocktails usually made without any sweeteners: All you need is gin, a fresh lime, cold club soda -- and a powerful thirst...

Hair of the Dog is Cookthink's Monday morning cocktail column by Rob Chirico, the author of the Field Guide to Cocktails. Read more about Rob here...

Black pudding is the polite term for a charcuterie otherwise known as blood sausage or boudin noir, a dark-colored European and Russian sausage made primarily from pig's blood and fat bound up inside a pig's intestine, that is believed to have been invented by the ancient Greeks...

The Sunday Dinners project is a collaboration between Andrew Schloss and Cookthink....

If you're so broke or apprehensive about the economy that even Friday night Happy Hour feels like a forbidden indulgence, why not bring it home? You've been good all week...

This side dish was created as a palate-cleansing twist on the classic garnish for Buffalo Chicken Wings, but you can serve it alongside any grilled or barbecued meat. This recipe is part of Andrew Schloss's Sunday Dinners.

An ordinary baked potato tastes like something special with the addition of fresh basil butter melting over its fluffy insides. This recipe is part of Andrew Schloss's Sunday Dinners.

Why do we use the phrase that something is "as American as apple pie" when apple pie itself was invented before America was even founded...

Rillettes is the name of a silky French spread made out of pork, rabbit, goose, duck or poultry that is confit, or cooked in its own fat, or additional lard. It is served cold, smeared on toast or fresh baguette slices, and often accompanied by the little French pickles known as cornichons...

Freshly harvested English peas are a sweet and delicate treat. But that sweetness does not last; the longer peas sit after being picked, the starchier they become. If you are buying peas from a farmers’ market or grocery store, check to see when they were harvested...

You can easily make this Italian pasta and pea soup vegetarian by omitting the pancetta and using vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.

Domenica Marchetti is a food writer, recipe developer and cooking teacher who specializes in seasonal Italian home cooking and the author of The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy. Visit her website at www.domenicacooks.com. You can find more of her recipes here...

Emily Franklin's most recent book is Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes. Learn more about Emily at her website. You can find some of Emily's recipes here. Sweet or salty?...

A wok is a Chinese pan with a rounded bottom and deep, slanting sides that's made of rolled or stainless steel, cast iron or aluminum and comes in a variety of sizes. Woks are the preferred cooking vessel for making a stir-fry...

A Bûche de Noël is a traditional French Christmas dessert shaped after a yule log for which it is named...

If it's Sleazy Sex on the Beach you're after, add an ounce of Grand Marnier. Read more about this recipe on the Cookthink blog. This recipe comes from Rob Chirico's Hair of the Dog. For more of Rob's great cocktails, buy his Field Guide to Cocktails.

Hair of the Dog is Cookthink's Monday morning cocktail column by Rob Chirico, the author of the Field Guide to Cocktails. Read more about Rob here. On a recent night behind the bar, four customers came in and three immediately ordered drinks...

A Bengali whole five-spice mixture made from equal parts mustard seed, cumin seed, fennel seed, fenugreek and nigella seed, panch phoron is used to season fish (as well as vegetables, lentils and chicken). The spices are fried in oil or ghee until they pop to release their flavor and aroma...

The Sunday Dinners project is a collaboration between Andrew Schloss and Cookthink....

For mothers who love to cook, staying out of the kitchen on Mother's Day is out of the question...

The term tagine (or tajine) refers to a North African stew that is slow-cooked in a theatrical-looking pot of the same name. Typical Moroccan tagines contain meat and/or vegetables combined with dried fruits and nuts...

Should you wish to make a larger amount, it's a better idea to make multiple batches. Adding more eggs and milk, for example, will increase cooking time.

The late James Beard -- often hailed as the "father of American gastronomy" and the man Julia Child called "the quintessential American cook" had something to say about the art of culinary improvisation: "I’m going to break one of the rules of the trade here...

Stevia is a sugar substitute. Made from South and Central American herbs and shrubs, whose leaves have up to 45 times more sweetness than table sugar, stevia has been used for centuries to sweeten yerba mate...

Cornichons are adorable little French pickles made from miniature gherkin cucumbers...

Photo: Smoked Salmon And Fennel With Green Sauce On Toast (Cookthink) A tartine (tar-TEEN) is a fun-to-say French word that means bread that is spread with something -- whether it's a baguette smeared with butter and dipped in morning coffee, a round of goat cheese melted on a slice of country...

Congratulations to Jennifer McLagan, whose Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes, won the James Beard media award for cookbook of the year. You can find recipes from that book -- including homemade country-style butter and duck confit -- on Cookthink.com.

Jeanne Kelley is a food writer, recipe developer and food stylist based in Los Angeles and the author of Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden. You can find some of her recipes here. Find out more about Jeanne on her website, Jeanne Kelley Kitchen. Sweet or salty...

Rennet is a natural milk-coagulating enzyme that is vital to the cheesemaking process. Extracted from the stomach chambers of lambs and calves, rennet helps cheese to divide into curds and whey during production...

Hair of the Dog is Cookthink's Monday morning cocktail column by Rob Chirico, the author of the Field Guide to Cocktails. Read more about Rob here...

Feel free to substitute spirits, liqueurs and garnishes of your choosing. This is one drink where you literally call the shots. This recipe comes from Rob Chirico's Hair of the Dog. For more of Rob's great cocktails, buy his Field Guide to Cocktails.

Spelt is an ancient cereal grain that is native to southern Europe. A European staple from the Bronze Age to medieval times, the easily digestible grain with a mild, nutty flavor has made a health food comeback as a wheat substitute for the allergic or otherwise averse...

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Wheat germ is the tiny heart of the wheat kernel (or wheat berry) and is often a byproduct of processed wheat. Packed with vitamins, minerals and protein, nutty-tasting, oily wheat germ can be bought plain or toasted and sprinkled onto cereals and yogurt or into baked goods for extra nutrition...

The Baked Alaska is a beguiling dessert made of ice cream enveloped in a hot meringue and liqueur-soaked Genoese sponge cake. It was invented by an American and perfected in Paris (possibly thanks to a Chinese chef)...

A salpicon is a French term that refers to a mixture of finely diced ingredients bound with a sauce. A savory salcipon made with meat, poultry, eggs, offal, vegetables or fish, for example, may be used to fill a vol-au-vent or a meat pie, or to make croquettes...

For longer than any of us have been alive, cooks have been finding uses for leftover bread. If you find yourself in this predicament, here are 10 delicious ways to salvage bread before it goes to waste. 1. First, the obvious: Make breadcrumbs....

With news that the world may or may not be on the verge of a swine flu pandemic, Bloomberg is reporting that the World Health Organization is dropping the colloquial term for the H1N1 virus, due in part to objections from the pork industry...

Domenica Marchetti is a food writer, recipe developer and cooking teacher who specializes in seasonal Italian home cooking and the author of The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy. Visit her website at www.domenicacooks.com. You can find more of her recipes here...

If you want to lighten this soup a bit, you can omit the sautéed apples and bacon and instead garnish the soup with chopped scallions and crushed peanuts. Read more about this recipe on the Cookthink blog

To mark Obama's 100 days in office, we're making this bold, complex and nutritious One Hundred Almond Curry with chicken from Niloufer Ichaporia King's My Bombay Kitchen.

Béatrice Peltre is the Boston-based French blogger, photographer and food stylist behind La Tartine Gourmande. Sweet or salty?...

This morning in Paris, I was waiting in line at the police station next to Notre Dame to get my visa renewed as I do every year with the foreign-born Parisian masses requesting permission to stay...