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Strawberry Corn Flake Cake Is Part of a Complete Breakfast By: Zola Gregory Photos: Eli Lu While there is nothing morally wrong with eating cake for breakfast—I do it all the time—there’s always a small whisper in the back of my head telling me that I’ll be hungry again in half an hour. Even though a cake contains what are arguably the building blocks for an acceptable breakfast—eggs, flour, and milk—wouldn’t I be better off with a hearty omelet? Then I remember the cereal commercials of my early 2000s childhood, where a bowl of milky cereal was announced as being “part of a complete breakfast.” If a bowl of strawberries and a glass of orange juice could tur...

A few years ago, I found myself in a pinch. I had borrowed a friend’s cabin that sat along the Housatonic River in the shadow of northwest Connecticut’s Bear Mountain, an equally short distance from the New York and Massachusetts borders. I brought my dog, my laptop, a pair of hiking boots, not one but two hunting knives, a bottle of Blanton’s Single Barrell Bourbon, a can of bear spray, and the hope that I wouldn’t have to use it. Since I was there to knuckle down and finish the book I’d been working on, I only brought two things to read: a novel, and a copy of The L.L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook by publishing legends Angus Cameron and Judith Jones. My intention was to cook all three dinners I would eat at the cabin using recipes supplied by Cam...

Fly By Jing chili crisp, the breakout sensation from Jing Gao’s line of Sichuan pantry items, is currently everywhere (and it almost felt like all at once). It’s carried in practically all of the small, hyper-curated grocery stores across the country (the “shoppy shops”), but it’s also sold at big-box big boys Target and, remarkably, Costco. It’s been an impressive rise for a brand launched only in 2018 by a former marketing executive turned condiment queen. Fans of Gao’s spicy, crispy, mouth-numbing condiment often use it as a hot sauce to add flavor (and, in this case, texture) to a finished dish. But Gao first started making and jarring her take on the staple Chinese pantry item to minimize prep work for the supper club she formerly ran in Shan...

I was ten years old when I tasted pizza for the first time. My family had moved to Rome in the middle of the school year, and my brother and I were dropped into a fancy private school improbably run by Irish nuns near Piazza di Spagna in the city’s Centro Storico (historic center). It was an abrupt introduction to Italian bourgeois culture, including the Italian pizza ritual. Every morning as we filed into class, we passed the school custodian selling neatly wrapped packets of pizza rossa and pizza bianca. In the classroom, we slid our paper-packaged snack in between the radiator columns to keep them warm until our midmorning break. I’m not sure if anything has ever tasted as delicious since.  Pizza bianca was a little basic, just straight dough...

What Is Food Fraud and How to Avoid It? I had never thought of food fraud until my oldest daughter brought it up and thought I should research it. So in this post, I will look at some of the issues surrounding food fraud and what foods we should keep our eyes on. Food fraud intentionally deceives consumers by misrepresenting food products or ingredients through substitution, dilution, or mislabeling. It is a global issue that affects the entire food supply chain, from producers and manufacturers to retailers and consumers. The motivations for food fraud are typically financial gain, as fraudulent products can be sold at a higher price or with less expensive ingredients or to circumvent regulatory requirements. What Does It Look Like? Food fraud can take many form...

All About Pancetta and How to Cook with It We don't cook with or serve pancetta often, but it is a treat when we do. There are some recipes like carbonara sauce that require it, and then I will look for it at our local market. Pancetta is an Italian bacon made from pork belly that has been salt-cured and seasoned with various herbs and spices. It is a popular ingredient in Italian cuisine, known for its rich, savory flavor and versatility in cooking. How Is It Made? Traditionally, pancetta is made by rubbing a pork belly with salt, black pepper, and other spices such as juniper berries, nutmeg, or garlic. The meat is then rolled up and tied with string before being hung to dry for several weeks. The curing process gives pancetta its distinctive flavor, which is less smoky ...

Compound butters are undeniably delicious, and they’re all over the food internet. But I stick to infusing spices and aromatics into homemade ghee instead. The result? A complex fat that’s perfect for making quick pan sauces, frying pancakes, searing steaks, and preparing pretty much any dish that typically calls for butter—only shelf-stable and with a higher smoke point.  Ghee, or clarified butter, is what you get after straining the milk solids out of freshly browned butter. For centuries, South Asian cuisine has harnessed the full effect of ghee and its tantalizing nutty notes on top of dals, in pots of rice, and in countless desserts. But its 465°F smoke point (55 degrees higher than olive oil) and its buttery flavor have popularized ghee ar...