Blog Posts by Epicurious.com

When dining in a Chinese dim sum parlor, there's a right way, and there's a wrong way
by Siobhan Adcock and Genevieve Tsai, Epicurious

Clockwise from left: a table of dim sum dishes, pork buns, and deep-fried shrimp wrapped in bacon.You could say dim sum is basically a snack served with tea…but that's like saying Times Square is basically an intersection, or the Rockies are basically a pile of dirt. Visit a busy dim sum restaurant in your local Chinatown on a Saturday, and you'll discover that this "snack" is foodie theater at its most enjoyable: a parade of metal carts trailing exquisite aromas, fragrant teapots steaming and lids clanging, patrons calling for their favorites, meal tickets being rubber-stamped in exchange for dishes, and the sound of the happiest question on earth (or one of them): "No one wants that last dumpling? Seriously?"

Dim sum is also called yum cha, which means "drink tea" in Cantonese, or dian xin in Mandarin (the direct translation: "touch the heart"). The meal is sort of like tapas on wheels: a savory and sweet variety of Cantonese dumplings, buns,

Danny Abrams and Sandy Ingber present the essentials of buying, preparing, and enjoying the pearls of the sea
by Carolina Santos-Neves and Kemp Minifie, Epicurious

Oyster varieties: (1) Totten Inlet Virginica (2) Royal Miyagi (3) Pemaquid (4) Montauk Pearl (5) Martha's Vineyard (6) Kumamoto (7) Blue Point (8) Belon Welcome to Oysters 101: Everything you need to know about one of the ocean's tastiest bivalves. You can roast, bake, fry, or broil them, but slurping oysters fresh from the sea is the best way to enjoy them at their peak freshness. For expert advice, we consulted two authorities on the subject: executive chef Sandy Ingber (a.k.a. the "Bishop of Bivalves") of the Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant and Danny Abrams, owner of the Mermaid Oyster Bar, both of New York City. Abrams is the creator of the Oysterpedia app, and Ingber is coauthoring, with Roy Finamore, The Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant Cookbook: Recipes and Tales From a Classic American Restaurant, due from Stewart, Tabori & Chang this summer in celebration of the Oyster Bar's centennial. Read on to learn everything you've always wanted to know about

Artistic, edible projects for sweet, old-fashioned family fun

by Kendra Vizcaino, Epicurious

February 14 is a day for exchanging cards and eating chocolate, sure, but it's also a day for spending sweet time with loved ones. Serve up a special family Valentine's Day with our creative, kid-friendly art projects, including several that can go straight from the craft table to the dining table. Our fun family projects incorporate your favorite Valentine's Day treats into festive table decorations. For our easy DIY ideas and the how-to instructions for each, read on.

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The Ultimate Nacho Generator

by Sara Bonisteel, Epicurious

With the Super Bowl just a week away, it's the perfect time to revisit guacamole. Who better than Rick Bayless to provide advice? The Frontera Grill/Topolobampo/Xoco frontman is out with a new cookbook, Frontera: Margaritas, Guacamoles, and Snacks (W.W. Norton & Company, $25), and shared seven guacamole-making tips (plus a couple for a better margarita) last month at a demonstration in New York.

"This book is really about two master classes, and what I always like to do is to teach people how to make something that is very classic and to really learn the basics of it, so that then they can make it their own," Bayless says.

"Once you understand that guacamole isn't following a recipe but understanding a concept of how you put it together, then you can make your own perfect guacamole," he says. "The exact same thing happens when making margaritas, and I think a lot of people are in search of that perfect recipe when really what they need to do is go beyond

by Megan O. Steintrager, Epicurious

Sure, the idea of eating more to lose weight might sound like a bunch of baloney, but many experts agree that eating more in the morning can indeed help you to consume fewer calories later in the day. For starters, when you eat a wholesome breakfast with plenty of protein and fiber, you have a much better chance of staying satisfied than if you skimp in the morning, and that means you'll be lest likely to grab a sugary muffin mid-morning or go for the cheeseburger and fries at lunch. Plus, breakfast boosts your metabolism and gives you the fuel you need for exercise, so you're more likely to stick to your workout routine if you're well fed. Kathleen Zelman, RD, who I interviewed for the first in Epicurious' series of Doable Challenges: Get a Healthy Breakfast Boost, says that she and other nutritionists recommend eating up to a third of your daily calories at your first meal of the day. "So don't be afraid of breakfast," Zelman says.

See more: The

by Megan O. Steintrager, Epicurious

Poached Eggs with Roasted Tomatoes and PortabellasIf you've been following my posts on the Epi-Log recently, you know we're in the middle of the first in a monthly series of Doable Challenges, and January's goal is to improve your breakfast. I've written about how eating a bigger breakfast can actually help you lose weight and advocated adding protein to your morning meal to boost your energy. This week, I'm challenging you (and myself) to add a serving of fruit or vegetables to breakfast. The USDA recommends that adults eat two to three cups of vegetables and two cups of fruit daily, so even those of us who have a generally healthy diet can fall short. Adding produce in the morning "helps you get a jump on the nutrients that you need for the rest of the day," explains Kathleen Zelman, a registered dietician and director of nutrition at WebMD. And fruits and vegetables provide vitamins as well as fiber, which helps you stay full, improves digestion, may fight some cancers, and contributes to heart

Get to know 12 delicious varieties, from pumpkin and butternut to acorn and spaghetti--recipes included

by Esther Sung, Epicurious

The cooler months are prime time for winter squash. Pumpkins may get all the glory at Halloween, but there are many other versatile, vividly colored, flavorful, and nutrient-packed varieties to brighten up fall and winter meals. Sweeter, denser, and more firm in texture than summer squash or zucchini, winter squash take well to a wide spectrum of seasonings and can be true crowd-pleasers in warming soups, casseroles, risotto, lasagna, and even desserts.

The term winter squash is a bit of a misnomer: Harvested in the fall, these hardy vegetables will keep well through the cold winter months for which they're named. Chances are that sugar pumpkins, acorn squash, and butternut squash are the most readily available types at local supermarkets. Others, such as spaghetti, buttercup, and red kuri, are worth seeking out at farmers' markets, health food stores,

by Siobhan Adcock, Epicurious

Gourmet/Yanes,Romulo A Clementine season will draw to a close in the next month or so, but I'm holding on for dear life. From Thanksgiving through February, we probably munch and slurp our way through a crate of clementines each week in my house. Since introducing my toddler to this easy-peel, seedless, perfectly child-sized fruit, I've found that she alone will mow down up to three clementines a day.

In fact, clementines are so embarrassingly easy to eat that I admit I was surprised to discover so many clementine recipes in the Epicurious database. But there is compelling evidence that someone out there (not me) apparently possesses the self-restraint to do something other than just start gobbling up juicy segments the second the peel is off. And if you, too, are capable of great feats of self-control, you might be interested to try a few.

BOMBOLINI WITH CLEMENTINE SAUCE
Clementine Sauce is a flavorful accompaniment to ice cream, fruit, or our favorite Bomboloni.
recipe by