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How many times have you read that in a book or heard a TV chef say it? "It squeezes the juices out!" they cry. "It turns your lunch into a hockey puck!"they scream. Sometimes they'll try and appeal to your compassionate side. "Certainly there are some things that deserve crushing. Evil grapes. T-800 model Terminators. Rebel scum trapped in trash disposals. But what has that poor, defenseless little burger ever done to you to deserve such a fate?"

You've heard it so many times you can't help but believe it's true, right? Not so fast—some of my favorite burgers are smashed, and smashed hard. What gives?

Look, this isn't fancy drinking chocolate, liquid chocolate, or even hot chocolate. This is cocoa. Hot cocoa. It's light enough and not too sweet, making it highly drinkable even with a rich holiday breakfast. More

For creamier potatoes with a slightly less crisp crust, substitute Yukon Gold potatoes for russets. Duck fat, turkey fat, or chicken fat will give the best results, but bacon fat or olive oil will work well. More

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We've all heard it before: you can't make a good roast turkey if you stuff it. Alton Brown's said it, and as far as recommendations go, that's pretty much the final word for me. Heck, even I've said it in the past. Today we're going to figure out how. More

The red wine "suicide" is a really great way to use up a splash of this and a splash of that after a dinner party, but by no means do you have to use an assortment of wine. I've made this before using Grenache and Zinfandel, and both worked splendidly. More

This is very lightly adapted from pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini's Scharffen Berger recipe. This cake turns out deliciously chocolatey and moist, with the beets imparting a subtle, earthy undertone. As Iuzzini put it, "It doesn't taste like beets; but if... More