You’d think it was a trick question, right up there with “When did the war of 1812 start?” but it’s not: How many ingredients are there in Chinese Five Spice? I’ve got a jar of the stuff in my spice rack with six ingredients:

Fennel Seed Anise Seed Ginger Licorice Root Cinnamon Cloves

It turns out that there are several different formulas, [...]

When we make brownies, casseroles, or lasagna, I always want the corner pieces—I love the crispy texture of the caramelized edges. Problem is, there are only four corners. That need never be a problem again, thanks to the Baker’s Edge pan. The unique shape gives your baked goods eight corners, but more to the point, [...]

After I wrote the first draft of Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner, I invited some friends over for a test run, to see how well the instructions and timetable worked, and what needed to be modified. It went well, but I still learned a great deal and was able to make many improvements to the [...]

When I wrote about water freezing and boiling myths at Interesting Thing of the Day, I had in mind the stories I’d heard about hot water freezing faster than cold water, cold water boiling faster than hot water, and so on. I think I did enough experiments to get to the bottom of what’s going [...]

I’m fond of silicone baking products, which are highly heat-resistant and yet have excellent flexibility. You can get everything from oven mitts to cookie sheet liners to baking molds made out of the stuff. But a relatively new product really intrigues me. The Food Loop looks something like a large plastic cable tie, but it’s made [...]

It’s the first day of autumn, which in the United States means just one thing: the Halloween shopping season! Normally I don’t like thinking about holidays too far in advance, but all summer long I’ve had my mind on another holiday: Thanksgiving. I spent much of the summer writing, testing, and revising my latest book, [...]

I’d like to sing the praises of my coffee machine for a moment. I know: it’s just a machine. And yet, as gadgets go, I’ve become extraordinarily attached to it. I’d sooner go without a microwave oven, my Henckels knives, or my All-Clad pans than my coffee machine. I like it that much. The one I [...]

A couple of months ago, I started running into my dentist pretty frequently while walking around and shopping in my San Francisco neighborhood. He told me he’d recently opened a new office, which conveniently is only a few blocks from my home. Shortly thereafter, I ran into him again at, of all places, a restaurant [...]

In the process of working on Take Control of Thanksgiving Dinner, I mentioned the items you’ll have to remove from the inside of your fresh or frozen turkey: the neck and the giblets (heart, gizzard, and liver). These parts aren’t usually eaten, but they can be used to make an excellent gravy. I wanted to [...]

Morgen and I have been (mostly) on the South Beach Diet for a couple of months, and for those who know anything about it, it involves eating a lot of eggs. As a result, I’ve been thinking more than usual about different ways of cooking them, just to have some variety.

Still, I was a bit [...]

As far back as I can remember, green beans were high on my “yuck” list. Yucky green beans took either of two forms. First was boiled: even if they started out fresh (canned and frozen were more usual), by the time they hit the table they’d had all the life boiled out of them and [...]

If you will indulge me for a moment, gentle reader, I’d like to spend a few paragraphs doing something relatively silly and perhaps even futile: reviewing a product that has already been redesigned and replaced. There’s a method to my madness, though, and I trust you will find some of my remarks about the Kenmore [...]