Blog Posts by Epicurious.com

By Carolina Santos-Neves, Epicurious.com

Chips and salsa are an essential dynamic duo, but we believe the ultimate tortilla chip should be able to stand alone. The best tortilla chip should have a good corn flavor and a slight saltiness. It must be sturdy and crunchy, not oily and dense. The perfect chip should be crispy and have a firm snap when you bite into it; it should not drape like a soft tortilla. Lastly, it should have a sensible shape, built for scooping salsa, guacamole, and dip.

Related: Taste Test: Salsa

More than 20 tortilla chip brands are available nationwide. There are white, yellow, red, multigrain, and all sorts of flavored options in a variety of shapes and sizes. We narrowed our taste test to three categories: traditional white corn, multigrain, and baked (shape did not matter in our preselection).

The 31 varieties of tortilla chips we tasted are available nationwide and included the following, listed from highest to lowest score in our taste test: Bachman

Photo by Gourmet
By Carolina Santos-Neves, Epicurious.com

Salsa-the condiment, not the music or dance style-spices up any party, tortilla chip, omelet, or taco. It's the multipurpose sauce that keeps us dipping for more.

Store-bought salsa should be chunky enough that it dresses up a tortilla chip but does not run down the sides. It should be multidimensional, with the sweet flavor of summer tomatoes, some element of onions, and a subtle kick of hot chile peppers to top it off.

Related: Taste Test: Tortilla Chips

Three essential issues confronted us before we could start dipping our chips: What style, flavor, and brands should we taste? We decided to let our readers weigh in. So we posted a poll on the Epi-Log blog and asked our readers to choose their favorite style of salsa: mild, medium, or hot. Out of the 600 people who voted, 48 percent of salsa fans said they prefer medium-a clear majority.

The next step involved narrowing down what flavor to taste. These days store-bought salsa can have corn

Photo by Jeffrey Schad and Chris GentileBy Epicurious.com

Mmmmm...burgers. They're not just for meat-lovers anymore. Sure, the classic hamburger is a nice beef patty sandwiched between two pillowy buns and perhaps enhanced with cheese, sliced tomatoes, and ketchup. But these days, the sky's the limit when it comes to what constitutes a burger: salmon burgers, crab burgers, bison burgers, lamb burgers, pork burgers, and the standard vegetarian burger option, portobello mushroom burgers. Even our highly rated black-bean burger won't have meat-lovers wondering Where's the beef? So whether you're a traditionalist or an adventure-seeker, give all our burgers a try!

See the full list of mouth-watering burgers here.

Triple Smoke Burger (pictured)

Turn up the heat on your burger with smoked paprika, chipotle chiles in adobo, and bacon. Buttery avocado adds a divine richness while the onions' astringency helps keep all the flavors in check.

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons

Photo by Laura Ferroni

By Lauren Salkeld, Epicurious.com

The Super Bowl is the biggest event in a football fan's year, so when it comes to game-day eating, drinking, and entertaining, only the very best will do. For help planning the definitive football feast, we spoke to five top chefs around the country: Robert Harrison of Mills Tavern in Providence, Rhode Island; Melissa Kelly of Rockland, Maine's Primo (also with locations in Tucson and Orlando); Dave Northrup of Rush Street in Culver City, California; David Padberg of Park Kitchen in Portland, Oregon; and Kerry Simon of Simon at Palms Place Hotel and Spa in Las Vegas. Each chef shared his or her favorite Super Bowl party recipe, as well as advice on what can be made ahead, accompaniments for their selections, and suggestions for beer and wine pairings. With these restaurant-quality dishes and exclusive chef tips, you're guaranteed to score points during this year's Super Bowl.

See the full list of recipes here.

Chicken Taquitos
Chef Dave

By Carolina Santos-Neves, Epicurious.com

Diets. No one wants to go on one but there comes a time-especially after the holidays and before bathing suit season-when the overindulging has to stop. The main stumbling blocks with diets are that they have a reputation for taking time, require tremendous discipline, cost a lot, and the notion of curbing your enthusiasms just isn't very fun. For those who cook a lot, they have to learn how to eliminate and substitute certain ingredients and dishes.

Related: Our Complete Guide to Eating Healthy and Losing Weight

At Epicurious, we spend a lot of time cooking healthy, low-calorie recipes but we recognize that even the most enthusiastic home cooks don't always have time to whip up a meal; so we took a hard look at the diet delivery world in search of tasty meals that are both reasonably priced and healthy. Believe it or not, such commercial diet plans do exist. We focused on companies that sell nationwide, offering meals that are available

Photo by CN Digital StudioBy Erika Lenkert, Epicurious.com

Nothing kills the fun of hosting a party like creating a menu that requires you to slave in the kitchen all day and then clear and restock plates throughout the night. The easiest way to an elegant affair is to offer an array of attractive, delicious, and, most importantly, simple homemade treats supplemented by store-bought finger foods. For an extra-special touch, make sure to include at least one over-the-top dish with a completely unexpected presentation. It adds a sense of drama that carries over to the entire menu.

To make the evening effortless and encourage mingling, scatter a few of the following hors d'oeuvres around the house. Reserve ready-made backups in the kitchen for when it's time to replenish, and include place cards that identify each treat, or you'll be repeating the information all night.

The Easiest Appetizers
For flavorful flair that requires no cooking, turn to Parmesan-Stuffed Dates, a bite-size and delicious salty-sweet

Photo by CN Digital StudioThese days tea is becoming more and more popular in the United States. In fact, according to the Tea Association of the USA, American consumed over 65 billion servings of tea. About 80% of it was black teas such as Earl Grey, Lipton Black, and English Breakfast blends; 19% of it consisted of various green teas; the rest were oolong, white, and other teas.

Still, these number aren't truly all that impressive on a world scale. While tea is the number one consumed drink in the world behind water, it's number five in the United States behind soda, coffee, beer, and milk. In addition, unlike the rest of the world that generally takes tea hot, Americans prefer iced tea (85% of the tea we drink is iced).

Related: The Best-Tasting Instant Hot Chocolate on the Market

Yet interest in tea is rising in the United States and consumers are looking to drink better teas. Companies like Twinings and Stash have seen increased sales in the past few years and are releasing more and more flavors of tea.

Chocolate Candy Cane CookiesYield: Makes about 18 sandwich cookies

Peppermint buttercream is sandwiched between homemade chocolate cookies; then the sandwiches are rolled in crushed candy canes.

Ingredients

For Cookies:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg

For Filling:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops (or more) red food coloring

1/2 cup crushed red-and-white-striped candy canes or hard peppermint candies (about 4 ounces)

Related: How to Make Perfect Cookies Every Time

Preparation

For cookies:
Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Beat in egg. Add dry ingredients; beat until blended. Refrigerate dough 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with