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  Induction Cooktop All About Induction Cooktops We just renovated our kitchen and decided to put in an induction stovetop rather than another gas range. The reasons included more control of cooking temperatures, easier to clean, faster water boiling at altitude, and trying something new and different.  As I learn to cook on an induction cooktop, I'll share my experiences and the pros and cons. Below are some essential topics I considered before replacing our gas stovetop. What is an Induction Cooktop? Induction stovetops, or induction cooktops, are a modern and innovative technology that has revolutionized how we cook. Unlike traditional gas or electric stovetops, induction stovetops use electromagnetic fields to heat the cookware directly instead of heating the ai...

What Is Curry the Dish? People often confuse "curry the dish" and "curry the spice." In this post, I would like to look at curry, the dish, what it is, history, hotness levels, and much more. Curry is a beloved dish with roots in the Indian subcontinent and has since become popular worldwide. It is a flavorful and fragrant dish that can be made in many different ways, depending on the region and ingredients used. From its humble beginnings as a peasant food, curry has become a culinary icon, beloved for its rich flavors and versatility. Curry History The history of curry dates back thousands of years, with the earliest known reference to the dish found in ancient Indian texts dating back to 2500 BCE. Over time, the dish evolved and spread throughout the Indian subcontinent...

It’s one of the most iconic scenes in one of the greatest movies in American history, and it has almost nothing to do with the rest of the plot. It’s mob capo Paulie Cicero, played by the late Paul Sorvino. He’s in a minimum-security prison with the rest of the wise guys. They’ve bribed the guards so they can have all the stuff they need for a proper Italian dinner, which they are about to cook themselves: Vinnie’s making the tomato sauce, his meatballs a mixture of veal, beef, pork, and too many onions; Johnny Dio’s cooking T-bones in a pan over a portable electric burner; then Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, shows up with fresh Italian loaves, prosciutto, salami, and a bottle of J&B Scotch. There’s some Bobby Darin playing, and, most imp...

Everything You Need To Know About Balsamic Vinegar We enjoy balsamic vinegar year-round as a complement to tomato, mozzarella, and basil to, topping grilled chicken breasts to add another layer of flavor. I have purchased the really expensive aged balsamic, the cheap stuff you can find in most supermarkets and many in between.  This post will describe this remarkable vinegar, give you its history, and explain the differences between extremely expensive and less expensive brands. I hope you enjoy what you learn. What is balsamic vinegar? Balsamic vinegar is a type of vinegar made from pressed grapes, typically Trebbiano and Lambrusco varieties. It is aged in wooden barrels for several years to develop its signature sweet, sour, and complex flavor profile. Balsamic vinega...

I saw a tweet recently that stuck with me. “If smoking weed makes you paranoid and anxious, that’s because you approached the joint with impure thoughts and a heavy karmic debt,” it read. You could say the same thing about Noma. Its five-hour tasting menu will not cheer you up like a basket of hot garlic bread or a Tito’s martini will. And if you walk through those greenhouse doors and wince a bit while ducking under a nine-inch cucumber ripening on the vine above your head, the next five hours of your life aren’t going to be happy unless you really like getting drunk on cloudy orange wine and creating content. Lucky for me, I like all three. You can’t manipulate an evening at Noma, the legendary Copenhagen restaurant that is set to close at the e...

Ganesh Nair knows cashews. His grandfather started a business processing cashews in Kerala in the 1930s, and it’s the largest cashew exporter in India today. Nair grew up in the family business, but he left India for graduate school in the United States, eventually working in diabetic health care in the Bay Area and in Europe. He returned to India in 2010—his father was getting older, and his brother wanted help transitioning the business from a commodity to a value-added product. Years earlier, the Nair family had developed a proprietary technique of air-roasting cashews with their natural skins on, loosely encasing the nuts with wrinkly brown skins that crackled like dried leaves. It was a novelty that added crisp texture to the buttery cashews,...

“If You Have a Lemon, Make a Lemonade”- Dale Carnegie Lemons are a citrus fruit known for their distinctive tart and acidic taste. They are a common ingredient in cooking used for their health benefits and as a natural cleaning agent. Lemons are typically small, oval-shaped fruits with bright yellow skin and a juicy, pulpy interior. Lemons are believed to have originated in Southeast Asia and were introduced to the Mediterranean region by the Arabs in the 10th century. Today, they are grown in many parts of the world, including the United States, Italy, Spain, and South Africa. One of the most notable characteristics of lemons is their high vitamin C content. One medium-sized lemon contains about 30-40% of the recommended daily vitamin C intake, making it an excellent sourc...

In 1989, Applebee’s opened their 100th restaurant. By 1998, they’d opened their 1,000th. I was born in 1992, near the start of this novelty boozy, sometimes-cold-in-the-middle, Tiffany-lamp-adorned explosion in the American restaurant scene. It was during this period that I ate a lot of chicken fingers. As a family, we tested the waters of the full casual dining spectrum—Applebee’s, Bennigan’s, Ruby Tuesday, TGI Fridays, Friendly’s, Perkins… They all had fingers. I rarely had to look at the menu to point a finger.  Sometimes crunchy, sometimes crumbly, and always served with a sugar-buzzed sauce that could almost double as dessert, chicken fingers were the lifeblood of my Pennsylvania youth. They went by many names, but they were always “fin...