Blog Posts by Epicurious.com

In these videos, The Culinary Institute of America's Chef Shirley Cheng shows us how to make authentic Japanese tuna maki or sushi rolls (the word "maki" means "roll" or "to roll"). Rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and kombu (dried kelp); top-quality tuna; and cucumber are wrapped up with thin sheets of seaweed called nori.

Note: "Sushi" does not mean raw fish, as is sometimes assumed, but actually refers to the vinegared rice that is used in maki and other types of sushi, including nigiri (finger-shaped sushi). Cheng demonstrates the basic techniques for seasoning the rice, creating well-formed rolls using a bamboo mat, and slicing perfect bite-sized rounds-with these skills, you can make maki with any filling, including raw and cooked seafood, vegetables, egg, and tofu.

Watch Shirley Cheng make Japanese tuna maki rolls here.

Recipe

Tuna Maki

Epicurious | December 2008

by Chef Shirley Cheng, The Culinary Institute of America

These 12 products-including measurers, plates, scales, and cards-will help you stay in charge of how much you eat It seems that everything these days is super-sized, from our homes and our cars to the food we eat. "Portion sizes have subtly and steadily increased over the past 30 years and are now

Delicious recipes and tips for one-pot casseroles, gratins, soups, and stews

When the wind is howling outside and you're chilled to the bone, reach for a homey casserole, gratin, soup, or stew to warm you up. One big advantage to making our favorite no-fuss one-pot recipes: Clean-up won't be such a chore, so you'll be able to spend more time with friends and family.

Recipes

Great Gratins

Penne and Vegetable Gratin

Crab Meat Gratin

Swiss Chard Gratin

Macaroni and Cheese with Prosciutto and Taleggio

Cozy Casseroles

Sausage and Egg Casserole with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Cod, Potato, and Fennel Casserole

Bean Burrito Casserole

Vegetable Casserole with Tofu Topping

Sumptuous Stews

Seafood Stew with Fennel and Thyme

Colombian Chicken, Corn, and Potato Stew

White Bean, Butternut Squash, Kale and Olive Stew

Veal Stew with Green Olives and Potatoes

Satisfying Soups

Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup and Roasted Tomato

We all know that the healthiest snacks are unprocessed or minimally processed foods like fruit and veggies, nuts, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains. But sometimes you just have to splurge on something salty, crunchy, gooey, or sweet-or all four of those things at once (pass the kettle corn!). Epicurious editors worked their way through several grocery-cart loads of diet and reduced-calorie versions of popular snacks and came up with the ten tasty treats gathered here. Each one will satisfy your snack-attack without blowing your diet plan.

Breakfast, Snack, or Granola Bar:

Special K Cereal Bars

Per serving (one bar, .8oz./22g): 90 calories, 1.5g fat (1g saturated), 0mg cholesterol, 17g carbohydrate

Frankly, we weren't bowled over by any of the cereal or granola bars we tasted (most were "too sweet or stale, or just plain gross," in the words of one editor), but these were the best by far: a good grab-and-go option that's crunchy and nicely sweet without being

In our recent diet poll, Epicurious editors asked readers to tell us which is the best diet choice: low-carb, low-sugar, low-fat, or low-calorie. The overwhelming answer? Low-calorie, with 41.1 percent of the votes.

They're smart cookies, according to many nutrition and healthy-eating experts. "All diets are about calories, no matter what they're called-they all reduce calories, otherwise you wouldn't lose weight, " says Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University (the department she chaired from 1988-2003) and author of Food Politics, Safe Food, and the James Beard Award-winning What to Eat.

"A reduced-calorie diet is the only effective diet for weight loss," agrees Monica Reinagel, chief nutritionist for our sister site NutritionData.com and author of The Inflammation Free Diet Plan. "You can eat a low-carb diet, a low-fat diet, or a low-sugar diet, but the only way you're going to lose

Start your day warm with these delicious recipes and tips

Need an excuse to rise and shine? Instead of cowering under the covers, warm up winter mornings with an indulgent feast for yourself or family and friends. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Recipe Tips:

Staying Warm

A single layer of pancakes on an ungreased cookie sheet will stay warm and fresh in a 250°F oven for 10 minutes.

Keeping Dry

Wrap a paper towel around a plated frittata to soak up excess liquid. (Remove it before serving.)

Nuke It

Transfer maple syrup to a microwave-safe container and heat it to make pouring easier.

Setting Up

Set the table for breakfast the night before to save time in the morning.

Recipes

Bed & Breakfast Fare

A sumptuous spread to shake away sleepiness

Tangerine Mimosa

Smoked-Salmon and Cream Cheese Frittata

Sweet and Spicy Bacon

Breakfast Crepes

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

Kids' Picks

Sweet treats to

New Year's Eve, a holiday notorious for producing high expectations, is fast approaching, and as usual, much of the world is pondering how to make it special. Rather than leaving the evening to chance, joining the masses of horn-blowers, or falling asleep in front of the TV before the traditional ball-drop, the best way to guarantee you'll ring in the new year in grand style is to throw your own fête. If that sounds like too much work amid the holiday hullabaloo, think again.

It's not how much money or time you spend that makes the evening memorable. The secrets to success are a straightforward organizational strategy, simple yet glamorous food and cocktail recipes, and a few clever decor tricks. Add a dash of lightheartedness, some creativity, and a group of good friends, and you'll design an affair to remember and still have enough time and energy to be the life of your own party.

There's no sense in throwing a party if you're too exhausted to enjoy it. Make party prep

Oops, you did it again? We know how you feel. The day after our companywide holiday party, somebody stuck a box of Dunkin' Donuts Munchkins in the office kitchen with a note reading "Perfect for Hangovers." Doughnuts do cover several of the food groups-fat, sugar, and carbs-deemed crucial to hangover recovery, according to our informal poll of Epicurious editors and contributors, as well as our booziest friends. Other cures center around salt, liquid, protein, caffeine, eggs, organ meats, more alcohol, and specially formulated combos of all of the above. Read on for our favorite remedies-one of them is bound to get the cotton wool out of your head.

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese-On a biscuit, roll, or English muffin, this cholesterol bomb is an all-time favorite for curing hangovers (while likely causing myriad other health problems).

Bagel and Cream Cheese-This one covers your carb, fat, and protein groups. "My sister claims that the idea of eating something greasy and carb-heavy like