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The Food Lab: Going Against the Grain

Can you spot the difference between the two hanger steaks? They were both cooked to a perfect 130°F medium-rare in the same pan, they are both cut from the same piece of meat, and they both sport a beautiful brown, crackly crust. Yet one of them is more tender than Otis Redding on a good day, while the other has more in common with a rubber band.

What’s the difference? It’s all got to do with the angle at which it’s sliced.

Recipe: Fresh Ricotta in Five Minutes

Note: Want to know all about homemade ricotta?: Check it out here.

- Makes approximately 1/2 cup ricotta cheese -
Note: Ultra-Pasteurized milk may produce a lower yield with a slightly different texture than regular milk. Due to differences in microwaves, cooking times may vary. For best results, use a thermometer and check milk frequently. This recipe [...]

3 Reasons Comparative Advantage Doesn’t Apply to Agriculture

Specialization and trade has created incredible wealth and other benefits. Yet a dogmatic application of comparative advantage to agriculture has been a social and economic failure.

Recipe: Rabbit Pie with Prunes and Onions

It’s National Pie Day tomorrow, so I thought I’d share a quick favorite.

Rabbit, Prune, and Onion Pie
- serves 6-8 -

1 recipe savory pie dough, for double crust deep pie (preferably lard-based)
1whole white rabbit, skinned, 3 1/2 to 4 pounds (or one 3 1/2 to 4 pound chicken), broken down into 8 pieces
Kosher salt [...]

Recipe: The Best Chili Ever

Note: Want to know what when into developing this recipe? Read about what makes great chili.
- Serves 6 to 10 -
This recipe seems fairly long and involved, but most ingredients are pantry items (or should be!) and the recipe can be broken down over two days.
Steps 1 to 4 can all be accomplished on [...]

The Food Lab: The Best Chili Ever

It’s time for another round of The Food Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he’ll do his best to answer your queries in a future post.

Clockwise from left: three dried chiles, a finished bowl of chili, the effect of salt on beans [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

The Best Chili Ever
Two [...]

Street Foods of Karnataka

Indian food is one of the world’s great cultural traditions. As with most national cuisines, what we eat today in restaurants reflects dishes developed in royal courts over the last 300 years. Indian street foods, however, offer access to some of India’s more ancient foodways.

Recipe: Perfect French Fries, Iteration 1

A recipe for perfect french fries.

The Burger Lab: Why Double Fry French Fries?

It’s time for another round of The Burger Lab. Got a suggestion for an upcoming topic? Email Kenji here, and he’ll do his best to answer your queries in a future post.

Clockwise from top left: Perfectly cooked double-fried french fries; using calipers to measure the crust on fries prepared by different methods; a cross section [...]

Is Looking to the Past the Future of Wheat?

Modern wheat is designed for high yields, and to produce flours with consistently high protein contents. In the meantime, flavor has fallen by the wayside.

Is looking to heirloom varieties the solution? I don’t think so.