In terms of texture, taste, and pure decadence, fried bread is better than toast. Rather than sit atop, the fat soaks in, crisping and coating every inch of your bread. I usually fry my bread in leftover bacon grease, but a new fat is brightening my morning, and that fat is schmaltz.

Most folks are well aware that hummus is an excellent sandwich spread; it’s creamy, nutty, savory, and friendly to almost every kind of diet. Those are all things I enjoy in a salad dressing, but hummus—straight from the tub—is a little too thick for drizzling on a pile of greens.

Parallel strips of golden brown goodness on chops and steaks may scream “summer cooking,” but grill marks are—in fact—quite dumb. I don’t say this because my apartment-dwelling ways have left me lacking in the grill department; I say this because Meathead Goldwyn (undisputed Grill King) told me so, and because it…

My favorite nightcap is an ounce or so of Fernet, over ice, with a pinch of salt, but that drink signals the end of a good evening, not the start (or even the middle) of one. But I want to be salty all night long—from beginning to the bitter end—so I decided to take that flavor profile and make it into a martini.

Jam is a delicious cocktail ingredient, and even the tiniest bit can color and flavor a boozy beverage for the better—even the sticky, residual bit that clings to the jar in defiance of any knife, refusing to take its place on toast. As our luck would have it, ethanol has a way of dissolving such sugary substances,…

I have nothing against ugly food. In fact, some ugly food is the most delicious. But if you’re pot lucking, dinner partying, or sharing photos, sometimes it’s nice to make things a little bit pretty (and incidentally more delicious), and the best garnishes are the ones that last weeks without going bad, have multiple…

Sometimes, through no fault of your own, you find yourself with some hours to kill in an airport. You really only have three options: read, spend money on things you don’t need (or even want), or drink. I usually partake in at least two, if not all three, but the drinking can be hard to derive joy from if the only…

Any egg, be it hard-boiled, soft-boiled, seasoned, or poached, is welcome in a bowl of ramen, but the king of the genre is ajitsuke tamago, soft-boiled eggs that have been marinated in soy sauce and other flavorful friends. They’re often referred to as “ramen eggs,” but you don’t need a bowl of noodles to enjoy…

Mentally, flying is not an issue for me. It’s the physical aspects of being hurled through the air at many miles per hour that I find upsetting. Even if you don’t experience sinus pressure or motion sickness, sitting in a loud plane can alter the way you perceive the world around you. In fact, it can change the way…

Flying is a dreary affair that is completely devoid of glamour. The seats are bad. The air is bad. The food is bad. Distracting oneself from all the bad is the only way to get through a flight, and (surprise, surprise) I like to distract myself with food.

I can drink an old fashioned no matter the weather, but sometimes it’s fun to tweak drinks to the season. A dark rum old fashioned is already a great choice, but a pineapple rum old fashioned is an even better one.

The morning after a party can be rough, particularly if you crave a decadent, savory brunch to soak up all the booze you ingested, and find yourself surrounded by nothing but leftover party snacks and ungrateful guests. But, as long a you have eggs, you can use leftover tortilla chips and queso (or potato chips and…

A true sour has a layer of frothy, fun foam. This is usually achieved by the addition of egg whites but some people are squicked out by raw egg in their drink (and some people have allergies). Aquafaba (chickpea liquid) is a popular alternative but, according to Camper English of Alcademics, burrata water is an…

I am a staunch savory breakfast eater. Though I love sugar, starting my day with it leads to all sorts of issues, and I just never crave sweets upon waking. For this reason, I’ve always avoided oatmeal, a bland gruel that’s usually doctored with butter, sugar, and other toppings fit for a cookie.

Fresh ginger adds a vaguely spicy but surprisingly soothing note to food and beverages, but getting it into a drink usually involves making a syrup or—if you want a little funk—splashing in some brine. But if it’s pure, unsweetened, fresh ginger you’re after, all you need to do is grab your microplane.

During the summer, people are always trying to get other people to eat outside, or “al fresco,” if you will. And while I’m not above enjoying some Taco Bell in the rose garden (which is what I did last night!), I do think there are some “outdoor foods” that are just as good, if not better, when prepared indoors. One…

There is a Russian restaurant here in Portland, Oregon that makes the most incredible infused vodka. It is both a very good and very bad thing. The flavors—which range from horseradish to sweet pea—are fresh and clean, and the vodka, which is served ice cold, comes in grams. These two factors, when combined, make it…

Vanilla beans are expensive. There is no getting around it. Vanilla beans are also delicious—yet another unavoidable truth. These hard facts make me reluctant to ever toss a pod, not matter how devoid of seeds it is. After I have methodically scraped every little speck of vanilla seed out of the bean, I gaze at its…

Staying home is almost always preferable to going out, particularly before noon. Going out for brunch means standing in line, drinking weak mimosas, and (depending on the establishment) being around children. But all of that can be worth it if the place has a good eggs benedict, mainly because hollandaise sauce is…

With so much focus on grilling, Independence Day desserts are often an afterthought, unless they take the form of the dreaded flag cake—the American flag bikini of the dessert world. But there are a lot of delicious, easy, non-flag-cake desserts you can make for today, or for the rest of the summer, since they are not…