Ice cream sundaes are good, but what if you could eat the bowl? On a suggestion from his son, Michael Ruhlman, food writer and critic, figures out how to make a chocolate chip cookie ice cream bowl... and tells you how to do it too.
posted by SansPoint on Jun 18, 2009 - 62 comments

It's National Pie Day! Whether we're in search of the best pies in the United States or have long been troubled by our personal quests to turn out the perfect pie, we should all agree: quiche is not pie. [more inside]
posted by jeeves on Jan 23, 2009 - 44 comments

Ahh, the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. The classic stands as the benchmark: but are there better? Many think so: Sherry Yard, David Lebovitz, the folks at Cooking Illustrated, Martha Stewart, Hillary Clinton, beloved New York bakeries, intrepid webloggers. Alton Brown in an episode of Good Eats shows how to get them thin, puffy, or chewy. Cookbook after cookbook and competition after competition try to ferret out the best of this american icon. Web recipe sites have their own favorites. Some people swear by secret ingredients: cornstarch, pudding (which has cornstarch in it), oats, great chocolate. Two thirds of Americans prefer their chocolate chip cookies "nutless." Others find technique of greatest importance. Is there any end to this quest for one of baking's holy grails?
posted by shivohum on Feb 20, 2007 - 53 comments

How to make pizza. Jeff Varasano has finished his recipe, and his page now includes everything you need to know about making a real pizza.
posted by rxrfrx on Sep 16, 2006 - 69 comments

Baking tutorials are fun. Would you prefer a wood-fired bread baking course? This set has recipes to go along with the delicious looking pictures, and here is a virtual tour through a chocolate factory. Poetry your fancy? Here is a set of haikus soley dedicated to Spam™, and other cooking poems here. Want to make your own sausages? (NSFW, or dog lovers) How about Sushi? Make your own flowers out of vegetables. But don't forget to have fun.
posted by a. on May 28, 2006 - 9 comments

"Salt rising bread is, when at it's best, as if a delicately reared, unsweetened plain cake had had an affair with a Pont l'Eveque cheese." There's even a mystery to go along with your (cheese-flavored) bread.
posted by scrim on Nov 26, 2004 - 10 comments

Due to temporary budget shortfalls, I find myself spending my Saturdays elbow deep in breadmaking. Sourdough bread is perhaps one of the most primal forms of bread relying an an artificial ecosystem of hundreds of different bacteria and yeasts to digest grain flours and produce gas. The souring of the dough has complex effects on the flavor of the resulting bread and is necessary for low-protein flours such as rye. Free starter cultures can be obtained from the friends of Carl who continue his tradition of mailing his culture to anyone who sent a self-addressed stamped envelope. You can buy cultures from around the world, but if you want to live dangerously, you can cultivate your own by just using a mixture of flour and water relying on microbial flora growing on the flour. Sourdough in some ways puts the art of hacking back into breadmaking because it requires a deeper understanding of what is going on beyond just throwing a set of dry and wet ingredients into a bread machine.

Which could explain why I'm still lucky to get something other than a brick. But like beermaking, the DIY satisfaction makes up for many flaws in the final product. (And on final edit, I can't get away with making this post without the obligatory link to the sourdough faqs.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Jul 3, 2004 - 32 comments

Bread. History of the victual.
posted by the fire you left me on Jan 13, 2004 - 2 comments

Don't know how to cook? You might find Cooking for Losers helpful, with new tips and recipes every day. Today:

Take one flour tortilla from the fridge and warm it slightly in the microwave. Spread a bit of cream cheese on it. Spread a bit of spicy sweet mustard on it. Top with a few slices of your favorite lunchmeat - pastrami, ham, turkey; this recipe does not work well with tofu products. Roll and consume. May be cut into multiple little rolly-things if more food is desired.

Share your own carefully hoarded recipes and be a guest loser.
posted by elgoose on Feb 16, 2003 - 39 comments