[Photographs: Blake Royer] It's astounding these days the number of apples you can find at a market. No longer does the Red Delicious—which I remember as the quintessential lunchroom apple—hold the only place in the supermarket aisle. Pippin, Jonagold, Golden Noble, Winesap, Pink Lady, Schmidtberger Reinette—every name makes my mouth water with anticipation. It used to be you bought a bag of Granny Smith apples when you wanted to bake, and you added enough sugar to counteract their tartness. But now which apples are the best for baking pie? Certainly, not all of them are good for that purpose. There are many great eating apples, whether tart, sweet, mild, or fragrant. But would the same apples I love to...
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There's no shame in using a boxed stuffing mix on Thanksgiving. See which brands did the best in our taste test.
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We're not big on frozen pies, but we tried six of them anyhow: Marie Callenders, Sara Lee, Mrs. Smith's, Vermont Mystic, Amy's, and Wholly Wholsome. Did any of them taste like grandma's? Eh, maybe a couple. Others definitely did not. Check out our results.
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A good brown ale is gentle, smooth, and wonderfully drinkable, pint after pint. Despite their low alcohol, these are flavorful malty beers. We tried five brown ales—check out our favorites.
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[Photographs: Maggie Hoffman] You shouldn't look at a twelve-ounce bottle of Belgian dubbel and think, "For that much money, I could practically get a six pack of my regular beer." It depends on your priorities (and your regular beer), but this week's tasting convinced me that a single goblet of Belgian dubbel is an experience well worth the expense. Besides, you'd probably spend that much on the same quantity of mediocre wine for a dinner party without thinking twice. And these beers are anything but mediocre. They're rich and deep, nuanced and a bit mysterious, with musky roasted malt and sweet raisiny flavors balanced with a touch of bitterness. They're the kind of beers you want to sip slowly,...
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We are preparing for our next taste test installment: frozen apple pie. Though we're fans of grandma's labor-intensive kind, we're curious if a great frozen one exists. Do you have a favorite brand?...
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Surely jack-o-lantern-flavored, cinnamon-perfumed beer isn't
serious beer. We tried seven pumpkin beers, and as it turns out, some were actually pretty good—especially with a bowl of chili.
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We tried 39 kinds of mustard, ranging from yellow to dijon, spicy brown to honey, and many in between. Some of them weren't even yellow. What's best on a hot dog? Pastrami sandwich? What resembled birdseed? Check out our mustard taste test results.
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We are preparing for our next taste test installment: store-bought mustards. Do you have a favorite brand? Style? We're not ruling any out—bring on the bright yellow, brown, whole-grain, Dijon-style, or whatever else you fancy....
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Does good-quality, cheapish olive oil exist? We tried nine grocery store-bought olive oils—nothing over $20 per liter, with most bottles hugging the $10 price point. They ranged from buttery and mellow to peppery and cough-inspiring. Check out the results.
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