If you’ve texted, DMed, or spoken aloud the words “birth control” to your friends sometime in the last few years, you’ve probably seen ads proclaiming that there’s an app for that. Several companies promise that tracking your menstrual cycle with their app and their algorithm will help you prevent pregnancy—no…

Summer is rapidly approaching, and with it, grilling season. While steak enthusiasts are eager to bend your ear about home dry-aging experiments or that massive tomahawk they splurged on, it’s medium-rare to hear someone rave about chuck steak. Talk about a missed opportunity: Chuck is an incredibly flavorful,…

With measles, mumps, and other previously eradicated diseases making a comeback, it’s more important than ever to make sure your vaccinations are up to date—especially if you’re an adult. Herd immunity protects the most vulnerable among us; a lapsed pertussis vaccine may not pose much of a threat to you, but it could…

The first truly warm spring day of the year should be spent basking in the nearest sunny spot with an ice-cold beverage in hand. But if the ice that comes out of your freezer has a funky flavor, it can really dampen the mood.

Roasted vegetable season is very nearly behind us, so it makes sense that I’ve only just figured out the perfect way to oil a sheet pan—and, of course, it involves a bench scraper.

I am fully aware of how this sounds, but I only eat homemade mayo. It’s partially a budget thing and partially out of convenience—even in large quantities, mayo is incredibly cheap and easy to make—but more than anything else, it’s about flavor. Homemade mayo will always taste fresher and just plain better than…

Far too many home cooks have a mental block about homemade bread. This is a huge bummer: bread is among the most satisfying and rewarding things you can learn to make, but complex recipes and unnecessary gate-keeping scare off all but the most stubborn of newbie bakers.

Nobody likes waiting on hold to talk to customer support, but for some reason, waiting for an email reply can be even more frustrating. Angrily smashing that “reply” button before you get a response might feel satisfying in the moment, but it actually decreases your chances of a timely resolution.

At least once a year, desperate for the tiniest glimmer of spring, I buy the first crop of supermarket tomatoes that look even vaguely ripe. They are never anything but a total letdown, which means I end up regretting my purchase—and resenting those subpar tomatoes for suckering me in.

Earlier this week, Epicurious site director David Tamarkin excitedly tweeted that they were in need of a “sharp, cooking-obsessed editorial assistant.” Within 48 hours, the posting had been mercilessly roasted by Media Twitter, and the New York State Department of Labor was even forced to intervene. What happened?

By now, I could chop an onion in my sleep: slice it in half, trim off the stem and root, peel, and slice away. In all my years of onion prep, it never occurred to me to shake things up, but skipping just one of those steps—removing the root—has changed my heavily onion-based repertoire for the better.

Today is a big day for Brexit negotiations. Members of Parliament are debating the “No Deal” exit, a plan that would have the UK leave the EU on March 29th with no formal organization or coordination whatsoever between the two entities. Should this happen, it would almost certainly cause economic chaos in not only the…

Most people identify as either a chocolate dessert person or a fruit dessert person. I’m firmly in the second category, but more specifically, I’m a Lemon Dessert Person: give me a dessert lemony enough to pucker my lips and contort my face, or give me nothing at all.

Cleaning pet hair off any surface is always a chore, but fabrics are very much the worst. Tempting as it may be, giving up and tossing a hair-coated blanket in with the rest of the wash will only transfer that hair to the rest of the load—and send the rest straight down your pipes. There’s a better way: Just throw…

Of all the common consequences of aging, none is more frightening than memory loss. Even if you’ve never helplessly watched a loved one succumb to Alzheimer’s—which I promise is worse than it sounds—it’s natural to wonder if something similar could happen to you.

Breakfast sandwiches are a deeply personal affair. The classic combination of meat, cheese, egg, and bread is infinitely variable, with everything from one’s preferred egg doneness to regional processed meat delicacies contributing to each person’s ideal version. Personal preferences aside, most people would probably…

Garbage disposals are designed to take a lot of abuse, but nowhere near what some people put them through. As magical as they seem, these powerful machines do have their limits—and if used improperly, you can do just as much damage to your plumbing with a disposal as you can without one.

I love my KitchenAid fiercely, but I’d be lying if I said it’s because I can’t live without it. It’s a family heirloom, handed down from my great-grandmother to my mom to me; according to the model number, it turns 50 this year. I’ve moved it across the continent twice—from upstate New York to Oregon and back to…

Everyone knows that the traditional hand washing procedure: get your hands nice and wet under running water, add some soap, and scrub away. Unfortunately, if your hands are coated with a thick layer of grease, the usual method might not cut it—but reversing it sure will.

For some reason, lots of people believe that the ability to solve crossword puzzles is a talent doled out at birth to a select few. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Crosswords aren’t an immutable test of your vocabulary or intelligence—they’re a learnable skill that anyone can develop.