December means many a holiday special on the telly. On Monday, December 6, Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations Holiday Special is airing on the Travel Channel. This year he's joined by Michael Ruhlman and Marky Ramone. In this tidbit preview they're gathered around the table, discussing what they want from Santa ("to take the Millennium Falcon for a spin!"). The episode will also feature Mario Batali, David Chang, Pat LaFrieda, Duff Goldman and apparently a sock puppet named Mr. Socks. More

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Apple sauce is big with those in highchairs, nursing homes, and latke eaters. With Hanukkah starting at sundown on Wednesday, we decided to have an apple sauce tasting—it was either that or sour cream. Though we prefer the from-scratch kind, sometimes you just don't have the time or stovetop space to boil apples and deal with peels, especially when there are potato pancakes to worry about! We were curious, are there any good store-bought jarred ones out there? How do they compare in terms of sweetness, tartness, and chunkiness? We tried 11 brands—find out which placed in the top five. More

We all know the drill. The holidays are serious diet killers in so many ways. Let's count them. Pie. Gravy. Sweet Potatoes. Mashed Potatoes. Stuffing. Ham. Cookies. Egg Nog. Potato Latkes. Brisket. That's ten, so I consider this list to be the diet equivalent of the ten Passover Plagues. These are the ten plagues of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Chanukkah. And if you've been reading Serious Eats you know that down at World HQ we've been taste-testing up a storm, which definitely does not help. In fact, taste tests can be the eleventh holiday food plague More

Not all of us have tubs of homemade stock hanging out in the freezer. So when your stuffing or sauce recipes call for stock this year, and you have plenty of other pans to dirty, it's alright to grab the canned or boxed kind. Surely Mark Bittman is somewhere shaking his fist right now. The New York Times recipe columnist pointed out in this piece from January of 2009 that the homemade version—just a half-hour of simmering a carrot, celery stalk, half an onion, and some chicken scraps in water—would be ten times better than any canned stock. But, we won't judge if you use one of these. The contenders: College Inn Chicken Broth, Emeril's Chicken Stock, Swanson's Chicken Broth, Swanson's Chicken Cooking Stock, Herb-ox Instant Chicken Bouillon and Seasoning, Glace de Poulet Gold, and Kitchen Basics Natural Chicken Stock. Find out who won. More

Of all the Thanksgiving taste-tests we've had recently at headquarters, the gravy one didn't exactly make our tummies grumble for joy.* Bowls of brownish to brownish-gray gloop all lined up. Shudder. Though many of us wouldn't even think to use the packaged stuff on Thanksgiving, especially when the bird naturally acts as a gravy faucet, sometimes it's nice to have around as an emergency back-up. And we were curious, do any of them taste homemade? We tried the following nationally available brands: Franco-American, Campbells, Heinz (regular and fat-free), Trader Joe's, and Williams-Sonoma. More

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There are so many beautiful aspects to Day of the Dead, but for me this holiday means one thing: Pan de Muerto, a special bread available during autumn weeks surrounding El Día de Muertos. Growing up on Mexico's Pacific coast, I didn't see much pan de muerto. In fact, I wasn't exposed to many traditional Mexican breads other than bolillo, birotes and conchas. My first taste of pan de muerto didn't come until much later when, as a university exchange student in Mexico City, my host family, teachers and friends fed me the stuff until I was nearly muerto myself from overeating. I quickly fell in love with the seasonal treat. More

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This video is for you unlucky souls who never got to carve a real pumpkin as a kid (hello jack-o-lantern face stickers!), but are now too old to admit to their friends that they don't really know how it's done. Watch this video in the privacy of your own home, then head out to that pumpkin carving party with confidence! More

If you're going to eat a marshmallow creme and peanut butter sandwich at least once a year, today's the day: It's National Fluffernutter Day! Break out those jars of Fluff and peanut butter and go to town. Get in the mood by watching this Fluffernutter commercial. More

When we wanted to find some seriously delicious recipes for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year that begins tonight at sunset, we immediately reached out to Joan Nathan and Arthur "The Food Maven" Schwartz. Both Joan and Arthur have been our go-to sources for Jewish holiday cooking; their brisket and honey cake recipes continue to elicit oohs and ahhs from family members. Shanah Tovah! More

Each day this week we're rounding up our favorite no-to-minimal-labor recipes for your Labor Day festivities this weekend. So far we've shared appetizers, salads, and grilling recipes. Today it's time to glug it all down with something refreshing! Both boozy and virgin options included. More