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Appreciate Beer
It's O.K. to be a little suspicious. After all, good beer looks, smells, and tastes a lot different than that case of "light" beer you just bought. Just be warned--as you start to like the good stuff, the realization that you've been buying weak, tasteless, cheaply produced swill for so long can be pretty painful.
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Boil an Egg
Eggs are one of nature's almost perfect foods: the only nutrient they lack is Vitamin C. Aside from the convenience of long storage (they'll keep for a month in a refrigerator), they can be prepared tens, if not hundreds, of ways. Two quick and simple ways are hard- and soft-boiling.
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Carve a Turkey
A lot of people in this world are scared to death that someday, somewhere, someone is going to ask them to carve the turkey. The stigma of being unskilled with a knife is not so easily borne.
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Choose Cooking Oil
There you are in the grocery store. You gracefully round a corner and, only because of your superior cart-driving skills, you avoid collision with a half-dozen motionless people. What are they all staring at that's so fascinating? Ahhhh, yes...this is the cooking oil section!
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Choose Wine
Don't know a Chianti from Spumanti? There's a whole bunch of wine in this world, and a lot of ground for your tastebuds to cover. This 2torial won't turn you into a card-carrying wine snob--but if you'd like to have a reasonable shot at finding a good (or perhaps an appropriate) wine, take a few minutes here to learn the basics.
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Choose a Kitchen Knife
A sharp kitchen knife is a cook's best friend! A good knife will slice cleanly and easily. A bad knife will tear the meat and make you work twice as hard as you need to. Good knives cost more than bad ones do, and sometimes it's tough to spend that extra money. But if you plan to do a lot of cooking, it's money well spent. Just ask an old chef!
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Clean Silverware
When the Queen (or your in-laws) come for a visit, what could be nicer than brightly shining silver on the table? Well, if you're like most of us, you'll be polishing it the night before they show up. Here's how to keep your silver polishing time to a minimum through proper technique and preventive measures.
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Clean a Fish
After the catching, or even the buying, there are a few steps between the lake and your plate. While not for the eternally queasy, cleaning a fish is not as messy as one might think. And don't worry about the guts. It's part of the full fishy experience, and we'll show you how.
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Convert Measurements
With international trade, CNN, and of course the Internet, the global village is becoming better acquainted with itself. Unfortunately, only a few key locations measure distance, weight, temperature, and liquids with the U.S. or Imperial system, while the rest of the world uses the metric system. This 2torial will show you how to convert just about any measurement into one you'll understand.
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Cook a Fresh Lobster
Lobster's great for a romantic, candlelit evening or for a fun get-together with family and friends. If you can boil water, you can turn your kitchen into Chez Lobster--and we'll show you how.
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Decorate Eggs
An egg is beautiful in its simplicity, yet at the same time is like a small, rounded canvas that's begging for decoration. But you don't have to be Fabergé to turn an egg into a work of art. There are dozens of ways to decorate eggs, and most of them are simpler than they look. Just use your imagination and have some fun, and you'll be delighted with the results.
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Decorate a Cake
A beautifully decorated cake can add delight to any special occasion. But obtaining the best results takes patience, skill, and a little imagination. We'll explain what you'll need to wow the hungry masses.
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Defrost a Freezer
Can't dismantle that lima bean igloo? Tired of shaving whiskers off of your ice cream sundaes? Maybe it's time to defrost the freezer. Believe it or not, initiating freezer meltdown before the stalagmites can bar your way accomplishes a couple of things: energy, freezer space, the confusing leftover lasagna with lentil soup; it even saves you time. In this 2torial, we'll show you how to do it without creating Lake Frigidaire on your kitchen floor.
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Dine in a Formal Restaurant
Navigating the ins and outs of a fine restaurant can be a bewildering affair. What to wear? Is the salad fork appropriate for foie gras? Which fork among all of that silverware is for salad? And why did the server just snicker?
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Eat Sushi
Sushi is one of Japan's most delightful foods. Though many people in the United States (and other Western countries) cringe at the thought of eating raw fish, millions throughout the globe salivate at the thought of sweet seaweed, fluffy rice, fresh vegetables and tangy spices arranged in a detailed, painstaking fashion.
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Fry an Egg
Let someone else debate whether the chicken or the egg came first. When it comes to breakfast foods, the answer is clear: the egg reigns supreme. Once you've mastered the simple but precise art of frying eggs, you'll be on your way to breakfast nirvana.
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Hold a Wine Tasting
A glass of wine, perhaps, to ravish the palate and gladden the heart? How about trying a dozen wines in an evening? Whether you're an expert wine lover or you don't know a Semillon from a Chardonnay, this 2torial will prepare you to host (or attend) your first wine tasting.
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Light a Charcoal Grill
Barbecuing is a hot subject--probably no two people will ever agree on the "right" way to get it done. But before you can reap the rewards of a meal that's hot off the grill, you need to know how to light the coals.
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Make Chai
Tired of coffee and bored with dishwater-flavored herbal tea? Indian chai has pleased the taste buds of the sub-continent for centuries and is now making a splash in the United States. Don't let its trendiness fool you, though: chai is a nice change of pace from coffee or herbal tea. And easy to make, as this 2torial demonstrates.
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Make Foamed Milk on Your Stovetop
You've wowed your dinner guests with your pesto lasagna and warm spinach salad, and you're about to blow their minds with homemade strawberry pie. What would be better than topping off the accompanying freshly-brewed coffee with a frothy dollop of "steamed" milk?
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Make Origami
Origami (pronounced or-i-GA-me) is the Japanese art of paper folding. Learn it and you'll be able to make all kinds of paper decorations - figures of birds that you can display on a shelf, hang on a mobile, or tuck into a birthday card, for example, as a small gift.
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Make Pizza Dough
In this day and age of premade everything, it's nice once in a while to create something completely from scratch; making pizza dough is a fun place to start. This 2torial will yield enough dough to make two medium or four individual-size pizzas.
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Make Rice
Tired of the same old pasta? Tired of boil-in-a-bag? Tired of burned pots and soggy, sticky concoctions that resemble tapioca pudding more than a fluffy side dish? The straightforward, no-nonsense guidelines of this 2torial will relieve all of these woes.
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Make Sushi
For sushi as high art, treat yourself to a restaurant meal with an expert chef. For your own enjoyment, make it yourself! Basic sushi techniques are easy and fun, and the great-looking results are delicious.
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Make a Great Pot of Coffee
Often the simplest things are the most elusive. But the key to a great pot of coffee is no mystery; it merely depends on first-rate ingredients, good equipment, and proper technique. So stop standing in line at Starbucks and use this 2torial to make a true brew.
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Make a Perfect Pot of Tea
In many parts of the world, tea is an inextricable part of history and culture; in others, serious tea drinking is just taking hold. And while the methods and serving of certain varieties differ, consider this 2torial your basic primer to tea technology.
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Make a Roux
Did you miss Basic Gravy 101? For starters, a roux (pronounced "roo") isn't a sauce, it's a thickener--the base of a sauce, gravy or stew. It's made by cooking equal amounts of flour and a fat (your choice of butter, vegetable oil or meat fats). And it's not only the base of sauces, it can also serve as the binding ingredient, the "glue" of many recipes. So take this introduction to the use of roux as the tip of the iceberg.
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Make a Sourdough Starter
When sourdough starter is added to a bread dough, the result is (no surprise) sourdough bread. This 2torial teaches you one method of making sourdough starter from scratch.
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Make a Toast
Joyous occasions call for kind words--and what better way to share them than with a toast? Just a few words or thoughts, spoken from the heart, can spread a feeling of cheer throughout the room--regardless of its size.
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Marinate Meat
What makes signature dishes like Indian tandoori or Texas barbecue to unique? As much as anything, it's what you do to the meat before you cook it. In other words, it's the marinade.
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Mull Wine or Cider
Drinking warm, spiced wine or cider during the winter months has warmed bodies and lifted spirits for centuries. We'll walk you through the steps for mulling wine or cider the modern way--on a stovetop or in a microwave.
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Open a Coconut
Coconuts are seemingly designed to be as difficult as possible to open. Many of us have given up trying to crack that tough, brown husk in an elegant manner, and instead just beat the darn thing with a hammer until it shatters. This 2torial shows the smarter, no-shells-in-the-soup approach.
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Open and Serve Wine and Champagne
Now that you've gone and spent a few bucks on a nice bottle of wine, wouldn't it be nice to be able to open it up with a casual flair? Don't you want to know what a decanter is? Here are some simple, casual guidelines that will help convince your new in-laws that you've been doing this all your life.
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Pick a Melon
Can't tell a cantelope from a cannonball or a honeydew from a honeydon't? No worries, this 2torial will advise you on the delightful art of melon selection. Just follow your nose and and bring along your tastebuds!
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Poach an Egg
Since no flavors are added during cooking, the poached egg arrives unclothed and innocent, with no oil used and no other ingredients mixed in. The simplicity of the poached egg is its greatest asset--but as any breakfast chef can tell you, that simplicity usually requires some skill. This 2torial shows you how to poach perfectly every time.
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Prepare Garlic
Whether it's in Italian pasta, Thai stirfry, or Indian curry, garlic has joyful and unmistakable presence in your food. Here are some simple instructions which should help any amateur chefs overcome their fear of garlic (vampires not included).
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Remove Fishy Smells
Something fishy this way comes...and yikes! It sure does stink. That's the thing about fish, though. You can sometimes smell it before you even see it, and it's difficult to enjoy your meal when your home smells like the cargo hold of a fish trawler.
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Roast a Turkey
So you're hosting a holiday meal, and you want to roast a turkey. But how do you even prepare one? We'll walk you through the simple steps toward making your turkey dinner a success.
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Separate Eggs
One of these days when you least expect it, a recipe is going to call for egg whites only, or egg yolks only. Don't panic! As this 2torial shows, separating eggs is easier than you think (especially if you don't mind getting your hands messy!).
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Serve a Formal Tea
Tired of the same old dinner parties? Have a tea party instead. They're a wonderful way to celebrate any occasion, whether it's an upcoming wedding, a birthday, or just a gathering of friends.
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Set a Table
Here are some basic guidelines and rules of etiquette for setting tables, from intimate get-togethers to banquets for a crowd. Some forethought and organization will allow you and your guests to spend the dinner hour enjoying food and conversation rather than navigating the flatware.
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Sharpen a Knife
Staying sharp is definitely not a dull subject--and a skill well worth honing. This 2torial will help you get to the point and get on the cutting edge in no time.
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Shuck Oysters
Not many foods embody the word succulent more than a bed of fresh oysters. But unless you're a professional shucker in a port town known for its oysters, you may not know the tricks for opening these rocky delicacies. This 2torial shows the basic technique for conquering this tight-lipped shellfish.
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Slice and Dice Onions
Unfortunately, onion preparation causes grief for many a budding chef, even to the point of omitting onions from their cooking. To avert this culinary tragedy, this 2torial shows the efficient ways of slicing and dicing, so you spend your time eating and not crying.
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Speak Wine
Want to use your mouth for something more than slurping down the vino? Why not talk about wine as well as drink it? Conversing about the noble grape has a reputation for snobbery, but winespeak can also be informative and entertaining. This 2torial will get you started with a proper (not pretentious) vineyard vocabulary.
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Steam Vegetables
Among the options available to a chef, steaming is perhaps the most excellent way to cook vegetables. This gentle cooking method seals in nutrients and flavor by using the steam from a pot of boiling water.
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Use Chopsticks
Would you eat a sandwich with a spoon? Or use a fork to eat ice cream? Certain foods require the appropriate utensil. And although some of us were raised using chopsticks, they can pose an awkward challenge for the rest of us. But it doesn't take years of practice to learn to eat with chopsticks, as this 2torial shows.
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Learn2 2torials are helpful guides that show you, step-by-step, how to accomplish a certain task, learn a new skill, or increase your knowledge on a topic you may already be familiar with to some degree. 2torials are written by professional editors.
Learnlets are short, helpful answers to a variety of commonly-asked questions that you, yourself, may be asking.