Entries tagged with 'tips'
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So, yeah. Tomorrow's the Fourth of July. We thought some quick burger-grilling tips might be in order for those of you with the day off and some time to grill. The Meat: It's the most important part of the burger. Sure, some of your guests may top theirs with all manner of nonsense that may overpower the flavor of the beef, but you want to start with a good base. Chuck that's freshly ground from a butcher you trust (or that's ground at home) is a good place to start. If you're feeling up to it, you can experiment with mixtures that use different cuts, but you can't go wrong with chuck—it has the requisite fat content for a...
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This week's San Francisco Chronicle offered up a dozen brightly colored pieces on summer picnicking, which you can find here, tied up in a bow. From a speed tour of Sonoma's picnic-friendly wineries and the nearby Jimtown Store to a leisurely loll in Mission Dolores Park with an excursion for the delightful ice-cream concoctions of Bi-Rite Creamery (where the line frequently extends out the door, down the block, and half way to the park). If you don't live in San Francisco or aren't interested in a new picnic venue, you'll still find a nice list of picnic recipes—with options from fattoush with grilled lamb to three kinds of potato salad. In San Francisco, this long weekend will likely present the...
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Do you find yourself continually stumped on what restaurant to try? Add a special occasion and the pressure only goes up. There's nothing like a little personalized concierge service from someone who knows the local restaurant scene backwards and forwards. If you're in San Francisco, Marcia "Rhymes with Garcia" Gagliardi is offering diners a pretty sweet deal through her well-read Tablehopper newsletter. Previously a "friends-only" service, Tip Please offers Gagliardi's expertise for the measly cost of an email. If you ask me, that's a bargain for even a whiff of the kind of inside dope that Gagliardi collects as one of San Francisco's most energetic restaurant reviewers. You fill out a short web form, which asks all the salient facts...
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File this one under the third "G" -- Unclutterer, a slick new blog that offers advice on staying organized, just posted a straightforward howto about creating a personal cooking notebook, using Post-Its, sheet protectors, and a three-ring binder. It's the site's latest post on reducing kitchen clutter, and while most Serious Eaters might be hard pressed to go on the drastic cookbook diet they suggested in a previous column, I can whole-heartedly endorse the wonders of sheet protectors to extend the life of printed recipes beyond one sauce-drenched session. They're also great for adding pages to the aforementioned three-ring binder without having to rummage through your desk drawers for that ultimate unitasker, the hole-punch. My only amendment to Unclutterer's...
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ReadyMade Blog highlights the best tips from a Chow thread on how to deal with cramped kitchens. Everyone in my family tends to packratting—my mom has Christian Dior clothes from the 60s in perfect condition that no longer fit still stored away—so my favorite idea is the one that recommends tagging items with tape, removing the tape when you use something, and then tossing out the stuff that's still taped six months later....
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Friend of Serious Eats Matt Haughey, who happens to be Grand Poobah of the community weblog MetaFilter, bought a new grill for his backyard recently and asked his loyal followers for tips on learning how to use it. There are lots of recommendations of books to buy in the thread, many of which don't just have chapters on grilling but are all about it, but the best thing is that people are also sharing both their favorite recipes and their best tips. Here's a bit from my favorite response, from Mr Gunn: One method taught to many people when they're just starting out is to hold your hand out flat, palm down, fingers and thumb parallel. Feel the firmness...
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Xanthe Clay of the Telegraph goes to Paris to learn how to make the perfect soufflé: "Depending on who you listen to, a soufflé is the riskiest dish of all to cook, or something so easy an eight-year-old could throw one together. The truth, as ever, lies somewhere in between. Soufflés are simple, but they do require an under-standing of the engineering of the dish to be a success." Clay includes five recipes, instructions on how to properly prepare the egg whites, tips on picking the right dishes as well as a short list of good things to add to either savoury or sweet soufflé bases....
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All of Fodor's 5 Ways to Save When Dining Out in NYC are great, but the best to me is tip #1, Lunch Like Royalty: "If you have your heart set on eating in some of the city's fancy schmancy dining establishments, make lunch the day's best meal. By ordering off a heralded restaurant's prix-fixe lunch menu you'll appreciate the spot's distinct flavor as well as the cheaper tab."...
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