Making Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

Hi, Cooking Newbie readers. I’m so happy to be joining the Special Fork team with this first blog post. In each post, I will aim to teach you an invaluable technique, along with a killer recipe, so that you not only can make my recipes easily, but you can become a better cook, in general.

With this first post, I only thought it best to begin with the most basic, yet delicious technique and recipe I know: making perfect hard-boiled eggs. I literally make these once a week on my days off for a fantastic and virtually hands-free, no-mess meal, which is my favorite kind.

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A Good Date Meal

By Jess Ziman
A new video for Video Friday

A few months ago, a friend of mine told me a story of a near disastrous first date she went on. The whole date sounded dreamy – a dashing man had invited her to his home to cook her a romantic candlelit meal for two. She was all smiles and ready to be swept away by his gesture.

However, her face quickly fell when she found out what the meal was: boiled vegetables (from a frozen packet) and quinoa. His humdrum fare frankly muffled any mojo that may have been between them that night.

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Are you Ready for Some Football Food?

By Katie Barreira

Maybe I can taste football season in the quickly cooling air, because I’ve been craving game day munchies 24/7. Inspired by the legendary combo of spicy wing sauce and cooling blue cheese dressing, I threw together this prize-worthy pizza using leftover rotisserie chicken. Given the crowd’s reaction, I’m betting that it’s the champ of your next tailgate party.

If you don’t have a pizza stone, an inverted baking sheet makes a great substitute. Use the method in this recipe to get a crisp, golden crust on any pizza.

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How to Whip Cream

Clouds of fluffy whipped cream will dress up even the simplest of desserts, like a bowl of sliced summer strawberries. All you need is heavy cream, some sugar to sweeten it, and an electric mixer. If you don’t have an electric mixer, you can use a wire whisk and a strong whisking arm.

Colleen shows how easy it is to whip the cream, demonstrating the difference between softly whipped and stiffer whipped cream, and providing a few tips for prefect results. You can customize whipped cream by adding a flavor extract such as vanilla or almond, a liqueur or some citrus zest.

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No Regrets!

By Sandy Hu

Some years, summer seems to just pass me by. It’s Memorial Day, we invite a few friends and we grill something. And next it’s Labor Day and summer’s over. I’m left wondering, where did the season go?

Like New Year’s resolutions, this summer, I’m making a list of all I hope to accomplish in food. Since Wednesday was the first day of summer, I don’t think I’m too late with my checklist.

My goals are to take advantage of seasonal fruits and vegetables to make classic summer dishes, and to capture and preserve the taste of summer to savor the rest of the year. I want to do all of this effortlessly, of course, without spending hours in the kitchen.

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