Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

The Food Lab: For The Best Buffalo Wings, Fry, Fry Again

Great post Kenji. I plan on making your "oven fried wings" recipe for this Superbowl. Do you think based on your discovery of slow frying that it would benefit to slow cook the wings in the oven for a while,let them cool,then bake at 450 to crisp them up just prior to serving?

Guy at 11:43AM on 01/31/12

The Worst Thing I Ever Found in My Food

@crispyduck13,@NiamhAgain- Yeah,that pretty much ruined tap soda for me for a long time (no big deal,health-wise)!

Guy at 2:54PM on 01/19/12

The Worst Thing I Ever Found in My Food

When I first started dating my wife,I took her to a nice italian restaurant on the UWS of Manhattan. Her Chicken parm had a 1 inch box staple embedded in the chicken.

Quite recently,we ordered a ton of food with friends from Ali Baba (Turkish restaurant in Murray Hill,Manhattan). Two separate dishes had staples in the food. I KNOW,WTF?

I was at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ about 10 years ago.A friend and I ordered two Cokes from a tap soda vendor in the park. After our first few sips we both looked at each other in disgusted confusion. The coke had a distinct methane-y taste to it. As it turns out,the park's plumbing was under construction and they accidentally hooked up the toilet/sewage drainage pipes to the soda taps.If that doesn't top any of your stories,I don't know what will.

Guy at 2:02PM on 01/19/12

The Food Lab: The Best Guacamole (and the Science of Avocados)

Awesome post! Just curious,did you try comparing the ideal temperature to eat guacamole?

Guy at 2:24PM on 01/17/12

Video: Everything I Ate In South Korea and Japan in 1 Minute 28 Seconds

Kenji- Sweet video,I was just in Tokyo and Kyoto too,great everything!

I noticed you included a baboon around 1:03sec. Are you going to keep us in suspense about your "I ate a baboon" story? ;)

Guy at 7:36PM on 01/12/12

Vodka Cream Sauce

@jaspevacek- I don't understand why people keep using the phrase "cook it so the alcohol can burn off". This has been proven false over and over again yet almost every celebrity chef uses that false phrase/technique on their show. I have a whole list of dispelled cooking facts that continue to piss me off when viewers are misinformed.

Guy at 3:28PM on 12/07/11

Serious Eats' Halal Cart-Style Chicken and Rice with White Sauce

@Kenji

Man,you got skills! I actually didn't reveal my real secret to my white sauce which is consists of 1/3 Labne and the rest Fage (greek strained) yogurt. I didn't feel like starting a whole discussion about what Labne is. Clearly,I underestimated your knowledge of ethnic middle eastern yogurts. My bad.

Guy at 10:06AM on 12/06/11

Serious Eats' Halal Cart-Style Chicken and Rice with White Sauce

Funny,this is what I make all the time at home when friends are over. I bill the dinner as "street cart food night". This is by far my most requested dinner. Regarding the recipe though,I have pulled off the same results and flavor without going through the hassles of marinating,browning,chopping herbs,etc.I use dark meat turkey and chicken thighs. I season them with cumin,smoked paprika,turmeric,salt,pepper,lemon juice,and a little canola oil. Let it sit for about 15min,get a pan screaming hot,throw the chicken in and wait for it to turn white. As soon as the chicken stiffens up slightly as it begins to cook through,I go to work with my flat edged wooden spatula. I keep chopping the meat into the pan by slamming my spatula down about a hundred times (you know what this looks like if you've ever waited on line for one of these carts). The results are even better than the above recipe as cutting up the meat in the pan while it's cooking ends up flavoring every little bit of meat and every side of each piece of meat.

Also,I'm not a fan of poser white sauce. A true white sauce shouldn't have mayo or sugar. I thicken the yogurt with a touch of canola oil and season it well with sumac for that awesome tangy sour punch.

I'm not hating of the recipe,just letting you know I've gotten better feedback with my recipe. Great post!!!

Guy at 3:55PM on 12/05/11

Hummus

Nothing personal Joshua,but this is one flawed recipe. I don't have to even try making it to know it will be lumpy and a bit gritty. You might think that's what you're aiming for until you've had a proper hummus.In fairness to you Joshua,perhaps I'm a bit spoiled b/c I'm Israeli born and grew up making this as a kid and have perfected it since.

The critical mistakes in your recipe are the fact that you must warm up the chick peas (even if they are from a can)before you throw them into the food processor. They don't need to be piping hot,just warming them up in the microwave does the trick.

The other MAJOR flaw,which I'm sorry,but is just poor hummus research is that the tahini,lemon juice,and water must first be emulsified extremely well. So,you emulsify the tahini liquid mixture in a blender or food processor and only then do you add the oil and chick peas into the tahini mixture. The result is a pillowy-soft fluffy and airy hummus which knocks the socks off of even the biggest hummus aficianados. Obviously,this is just a palette for whatever flavors you want to introduce into the hummus (toasted cumin seeds,paprika,preserved lemon,etc.)..the possibilities are endless.

Just please,don't throw the kitchen sink into a food processor and expect it to be close to what hummus is suppose to taste like.

Guy at 11:42AM on 11/10/11

The Food Lab: Ceviche And The Science Of Marinades

I like to add a couple of tablespoons of white cranberry juice to my lime based marinade. I use white so the fish doesn't turn pink. It's the perfect tarty addition to the marinade.

Guy at 11:00AM on 08/01/11

The $517 Burger that's totally worth it!!!

Thanks, @neeki..I'm back in NY but will keep it on my list as several people told me to try some of your suggestions too...I heard 25 degrees is awesome too

@meatntaters, my thoughts exactly!

Guy at 8:46AM on 06/23/11

Goodbye, Dumpling

Hey Kenji,I always enjoyed reading blips about Dumpling. Sorry for your loss.

Guy at 6:46AM on 06/11/11

Cook the Book: 'The Book of New Israeli Food'

It wasn't my first experience but I did have an "Israeli Street Cart food" themed dinner one night at my house for a bunch of Israeli food virgins. I prepared a round platter for each person consisting of Shawarma style chopped Lamb and dark meat Turkey (marinated in Israeli spices),Majadara,Hummus,Micro-chopped Israeli salad,babaganoush,israeli pickles,Beef cigars,Pita,and a boureka. Besides having to roll everyone out the door,everyone was floored by the delicious food and have since requested that dinner many times.

Also,I went to school in Israel for a year and while I have had the food a million times,I never realized what I was missing till I experienced a lunch (I was there long enough to qualify for dinner too) at "Said 2000" in Or Yehuda. Relatives of mine ordered a general pu-pu platter of food on my behalf. What followed was a gastro-explosive array of grilled meats on skewers..from ground meats to grilled meats,to steaks,to kebabs,to hearts,livers,kidneys...I couldn't breathe anymore. I ate everything including the salads (the irony) and was in kebab-coma for about 24 hours. I will never forget that day!

Guy at 2:51PM on 05/31/11

Egg in Toast: What Do You Call It?

Nested Egg

Guy at 12:02PM on 03/25/11

Meet & Eat: Lidia Bastianich

Lidia,my queen. You make my jewish ass want to be Italian!

Yes,Giada...we only watch you for your daily appearance on "Everyday Cleavage"

Guy at 6:56PM on 03/15/11

Potato Gnocchi with Sage Brown-Butter Sauce

Um,peel the potatoes?

Guy at 3:50PM on 03/08/11

The Food Lab's Guide to Corned Beef and the Science of Simmering

Awesome post Kenji!

Have you determined at which point salting/brining turns the taste of the meat too salty?

Guy at 10:36AM on 03/04/11

Eggs in a Hole + Grilled Cheese = Grilled Cheese Eggsplosion!

I've been making this for years. I grew up on the "nested egg" sandwich as they call it in hebrew..just figure I'd give you guys anothe nickname for this dish....in any event..my mom made this for me growing up and being the cheesehead that I am,I have always asked her to top it with a slice of melted american chesse....it didn't take me very long to put the two slices together and create this masterpiece you just came discovered....welcome to the club...it's one of my fav b'fast meals and I hope to manipulate it into my kid's fav meals too!

Guy at 2:56PM on 02/28/11

The Food Lab: All-American Eggplant Parmesan

Since the oil absorbtion mainly occurs when removing the food..Shouldn't we begin adapting to eating fried food directly from the hot pan (korean bbq style)..with safety goggles and gloves,of course?

Guy at 1:49PM on 02/14/11

The Food Lab: A Better Way to Caramelize Onions (Plus, French Onion Dip!)

Thanks, Kenji. You continue to outdue yourself. Just an fyi though-I'm sorry you had to go through 20lbs to figure it out. Chef Jose Andres taught this method in one of his episodes of "Made In Spain". He went with yellow onions and the water trick as well. You know you're doing great work when your experiment is consistent with the results of the molecular gastronomy king himself. I've been using the water method since that episode. I just wish there was a way of doing this in the oven that didn't require stirring.

Guy at 12:48PM on 01/25/11