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March 20, 2018

The 8 drink inventions we could never do without

It's easy to get caught up in what's new and happening in the world of drink: what's the newest wine or varietal to sweep the nation? What's the newest craft beer to make waves? What's the cocktail we need to be dreaming about to get through the work day to happy hour? But we often forget just where our drinks come from. It's the little inventions that basically made our world of drinks explode into the endless variety of beverage options we have today. Without refrigeration we wouldn't have such access to drinks that spoil fast, like milk; without tea bags, the art of making a cup of tea may have been lost; without the straw... OK, we just really love a good straw. While we ommitted perhaps the discoveries that made our drinks possible — fermentation for wine and beer, distilling for spirits, carbonation for sodas, even filtration for drinkable water — it's the inventions that have made drinking into a convenience. Whether it's as small as a cork or as big as your refrigerator, we're taking a few steps towards the past to thank our lucky stars for the inventors who gave us well, all the drinks.

March 20, 2018

What are cronuts and how do I make them at home?

What could be better than a hybrid pastry of donut and croissant? The cronut, a "baked good heard round the mediasphere," according to Vogue magazine, is just that — flaky, buttery dough that's deep-fried to golden brown perfection, and then filled with cream and glazed. Since its debut in the spring of 2013, the cronut has launched into an international phenomenon, and with a dedicated following. With its burgeoning popularity, the donut-meets-croissant is in high demand — and has even found its way onto the black market. The mastermind behind the cronut craze is pastry chef and owner of Manhattan’s Domnique Ansel Bakery, Dominique Ansel, who invented the circular treat to blend his French upbringing with an American classic. Word on the street is that Ansel’s secrets include using croissant-like dough, which he then fries in grapeseed oil. The result is a light and flaky cronut that is finished in three ways: rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and topped with glaze. The cronut has become so popular that people can’t resist trying to replicate it, and news outlets and food and drink websites can't stop themselves from breathlessly covering new cronut developments every five minutes. ChicagoMag.com reports that a local Windy City bakery is serving a knockoff, dubbed the "dossant." While on the West Coast, a San Diego, Calif., bakery is dishing up an imitation of the crazy pastry, appropriately titled "cray-nut." The cronut is even going international, with "frissants" popping up in Vancouver, and Down Under, reports the The Sydney Morning Herald, with "zonuts." One Las Vegas bakery, succumbing to the hype, is simply calling their version "One of Those." Oh, and, there are the people who think they’re the ones who created it to begin with, like one drama-loving soap opera-actress-turned-cook in Texas. As you may have guessed, we tried replicating it, too. Although Ansel and the rest of the bakery’s team are keeping mum on the coveted recipe, we got the inside scoop from a professional pastry chef who used to work for Ansel — before he created the cronut — on how to make croissant dough at home. Her keys to cronut success include, "Keeping the dough chilled, otherwise you’ll have a buttery mess on your hands." Also, "When initially mixing the dough, resist the urge to overmix. Just mix until the dough is a consistent texture." Although the process seems laborious, she says,"This dough is easier to make at home than most [people] expect." We were up for the challenge and based our recipe on classic croissant dough. Taken from what we know about the original cronut recipe, we fried in ours in grapeseed oil and finished it by giving it a dusting of sugar, filling it with cream, and topping with glaze. While Ansel’s version takes a lengthy three days to complete, we’ve skillfully compressed it down to one — if you start early! So while cronut-craving tourists and New Yorkers are lining up, hundreds-deep, to get their hands on one, you’ll have no problem scoring the elusive pastry with our recipe at home — that we think just might rival the original.

March 20, 2018

America's best chocolate chip cookies

It’s one of America’s all-time favorite snack: the chocolate chip cookie. There’s nothing like biting into chocolaty goodness. But there are so many different variations that are made, it’s hard to choose which ones are the best: chewy or crunchy; large chocolate chunks versus small chocolate chunks; nuts or no nuts.  So this FoxNews.com reporter decided to put it to the test, and gathered some friends for a non-scientific polling of chocolate chip cookies from bakeries across the country. We were out to find what was unique about them: the chips, the dough, the flavoring? It was a tough job to taste each one, but someone had to do it. In no particular order, here’s our take on some of America’s most delicious chocolate chip cookies and where you can find them.  

March 20, 2018

The best new restaurants in the US

For some of us (you know who you are), travel is just an excuse to eat. So in our fifteenth annual Hot Tables spectacular, we've rounded up our favorite new restaurants in some of our favorite food cities, including San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, and more. The result? Eateries so good that you may never want to go home again.

March 20, 2018

Top 10 barbecue grills

Back in the good old days, Dad would wheel the grill out of the garage, fill it with charcoal, douse the briquette with lighter fluid and start a glorious fire to cook our Fourth of July meal. While many grill masters today still extol the virtues of charcoal, others enjoy the convenience of gas grills, while a few have become wood pellet converts. If you are not familiar with wood pellet grills, or if you are in the market for a new backyard cooking device, check out our list of the top 10 barbecue grills.

March 20, 2018

7 tips for hosting a lemonade stand

During the summer, kids’ activities often consist of hanging out with friends, going to camp, taking family vacations, and basically living in the pool until their fingers are pruney. But why not make this summer an opportunity for your little ones to get a little proactive when it comes to getting crafty in the kitchen or even learning how to make a few dollars on their own. Yes, we’re talking about a lemonade stand. Tried, true, and classic, a lemonade stand — granted with a solid and beloved lemonade recipe — is basically foolproof. On a scorching, hot day, the citrus refresher is great for passersby who need a little relief. Plus, no one is going to turn down an adorable kid selling it, either. Sharing her tips for a successful summer stand is Wayfair’s Catie Parrish, who is touching on everything from the right tools to the perfect herbs.

March 20, 2018

How to make a great rack of ribs

If there’s one thing that we definitely don’t mind licking our fingers for, it’s ribs. Juicy, succulent, and downright messy, ribs are one of the few dishes in life that we’re happy to pull apart with our bare hands and bite into right off the bone.   So what makes a rack of ribs so good? Sure, there are marinades you can use and special rubs to try, but no matter what flavor combination you’d like your ribs to have, there’s a set of standard rules to apply when making ribs that can take them from being just a good rack of ribs, to a great one — and we’ll show you how. Erin Coopey, chef and author of The Kitchen Pantry Cookbook, never starts cooking her ribs without tending to the silver skin, and she has some pretty firm beliefs about how to avoid a charred, bitter crust, too. If you were to ask barbecue master Melissa Cookston, co-owner of Memphis BBQ Company and a judge on Destination America’s BBQ Pitmasters, she’d tell you to never make ribs without smoking them, and our friend Clint Cantwell of Grilling.com has some pretty sound advice about how to sauce ribs, too. There are a bunch of guidelines for making ribs that are simple in nature but when applied, make a world of difference, so don’t miss out on reading them before you get your ribs out. And once you have the method complete, we’ve got some recipes for you to try. There’s Coopey’s "never fail" baby back rib recipe, which uses a handful of spices and the low-and-slow method to cook a rack, and there are Canal House’s ribs, that are doused in a hoisin sauce that is so good, it’s hoi-sinful. There’s even one that brings us back to our college years, created by the liquor connoisseurs at Jägermeister, who enlist their rich, syrupy liquor to create a rib sauce that has true depth of flavor. These helpful tips and recipes will take your rack of ribs from being just a good one to a finger-licking great one. Oh, and, don’t forget the wet naps.

March 20, 2018

This year's most outrageous culinary inventions so far

Every year, dozens of new inventions emerge that aim to make our lives a little easier in the kitchen or at a restaurant. Here are some that we’ve noticed so far this year, from the potentially revolutionary to the completely absurd.

March 20, 2018

Top 10 barbecue products of 2013

A poor workman blames his tools, but a grillmaster appreciates his...or hers! It's time to dust off the barbecue and spend a few dollars on products that will help you make better steaks, burgers, dogs, veggies, kabobs and even pizza on the grill. We've compiled a list of the Top 10 Barbecue Products that are effective despite their low prices, which start at just six bucks.

March 20, 2018

Best Twinkies recipes

So, after a long road, Twinkies are soon to be back on the shelves.  While we all know these sugar-packed snacks aren’t the healthiest, America’s fascination with the cream-filled snack is enduring (who can forget the rotting Twinkie that sold on eBay?). And Twinkies also make us think of embattled Paul Deen, who just lost her high-profile gig at the Food Network, as well as some big profile advertisers.  One of her signature recipes, when she was the beloved the Queen of Butter and before the public found out about her diabetes diagnosis and alleged racists comments, is still a tried-and-true favorite. So in honor of these auspicious events, we bring you the best of recipes made with Twinkies: