Blog Posts by YumSugar

Source: 5 Foods to Buy Frozen (and 5 to Freeze Yourself)

All but the most organized cooks have been there: the dreaded "I forgot something" rush back to the grocery store. Luckily, with a little strategizing, much of the frustration and panic can be circumvented. While we'll often hack an ingredient substitution in a pinch, some foods have no analogue. In those cases, the freezer aisle (or your home freezer) can be a real savior.

Foods to Buy Frozen:

• Fruit: Stock frozen berries, mango, and cranberries for morning smoothies, out-of-season pies, and fruit-studded pancakes. Just keep in mind that freezing fruit damages some of its structure, so employ these only in cooked or pureed applications.
• Shrimp: Due to its highly perishable nature, most commercially available shrimp is sold frozen or previously frozen. Not only is this briny nibble great to keep on hand for last-minute dinners, but also, it's often more economical to buy from the freezer case.
• Phyllo

YumSugarSource: 10 Ways to Use Every Morsel of Your Breadcrumbs

Whenever you have stale bread, rather than tossing it, toast it and give it a whirl in a food processor. Store the breadcrumbs in a resealable plastic baggie in the freezer for casseroles, breaded meats and vegetables, and pasta dishes. If you're short for ideas, these 10 recipes will help inspire you to use up your stash, before your breadcrumbs become stale!

• "Fries" Coating: Get your french fries fix by making these baked zucchini fries, which are coated in a breadcrumb mixture.
• Cake Maker: Breadcrumbs also bind fish together in these sautéed salmon cakes.
• Bean Casserole Crust: YumSugar Assistant Editor Nicole Perry and I are huge fans of the white beans, covered in breadcrumbs, from Nopa restaurant in San Francisco. We think this white bean dish, inspired by the restaurant, is a must make.
• Collard Greens Topping: This creamed collard green casserole is a great example of a traditional

Source: Snap Up Crab and Lobster With These Purchasing Guidelines

Seeking out the highest-quality ingredients one can afford is always important, but never more so than when it comes to crustacean cookery. Here are some of our best practices for getting your money's worth. First and foremost, look for a shop with high turnover of these critters. This applies whether you're looking to buy live crab and lobster, precooked lobster tails, crab claws, or even lump crab meat. While seeking out the freshest precooked meat may seem obvious, even creatures sold live are highly perishable; once they're plucked from the sea, they'll stop eating, and a starved crustacean will have less meat on its shell.


What to Keep in Mind When Buying Live Crab or Lobster

• Buy these in season, and from local waters. A cross-country journey means more time has lapsed from catch to plate, and the critter is likely less robust and less meaty. Plus, purchases made at the source will cost less than those coming

Source: Beyond Good Eats: Alton Brown Discusses His Loaded Plate

Alton Brown's Good Eats days are over, but he's nowhere near throwing in the towel. Alton claims he's on camera more days this year than ever between hosting Iron Chef America and launching a new show on the Food Network this coming Spring. But that's not all that's on Alton's plate: he's also the proud mentor of Food Network Star winner Justin Warner and is the executive producer of Justin's forthcoming show.

I chatted with Alton to discuss all the juicy details of his latest Food Network project, Justin's new show, and The Next Iron Chef: Redemption, which premieres Nov. 4.

YumSugar: What can we expect from The Next Iron Chef: Redemption?
Alton Brown: Pain, agony, anguish, and a little bit of redemption. The thing that's different this year is everyone has been there before. [They have] either come so close that they could smell whiffs of victory or they fell and were humiliated. For those that had tasted what

Source: Chefs' Secrets For Cooking, Eating, and Staying Slim

A healthy mindset while cooking on the line isn't easy; a chef's focus is on creating delicious dishes all day, yet they often don't have time to eat a balanced meal themselves. In today's fast-paced environment, how can culinary talent stay healthy - and set a good example for diners along the way?

This question was the subject of a panel at the New York City Wine & Food Festival, where chefs Art Smith and Sue Torres, and Marc Murphy, culinary personality Katie Lee, and author Allison Adato talked about staying healthy in the food industry. While the easiest food to grab on the go - french fries, anyone? - isn't often the best choice, chefs recognize the importance of eating for health. Just ask Art Smith, who lost 95 pounds after a diabetes diagnosis. "There was no way I could run restaurants," he said of his prior health condition.

Now chefs like Smith are much more mindful about the impact their cooking has on

YumSugarSource: 8 White House Recipes the Obama Family Loves

Regardless of who takes the office next year, there's no doubt the White House will be filled with plenty of delicious food. Curious to know what's being favored by the first family right now? See a few of Michelle, Sasha, Malia, and the president's tried-and-true favorites when you keep reading.

• Minted Spring Pea Salad: The first lady uses fresh peas in a minted Spring pea salad.
• Broccoli Soup : Thanks to the White House, the first family has access to plenty of healthy meals, including a simple yet satisfying puréed broccoli soup.
• Chili: The president still gets to enjoy his old favorites, though. One of them? Barack's very own fast and easy chili recipe. It even includes bacon as an ingredient!
• Cauliflower Mac and Cheese: Michelle Obama professes that this White House cauliflower mac and cheese recipe is one of Sasha's and Malia's favorites.
• No-Cream Creamed Spinach: White House chef

Source: The Great Gourd Debate: When to Use Fresh Versus Canned Pumpkin

I'm about to tell you something that may shock you: in culinary school, several of my instructors recommended using canned pumpkin over making homemade pumpkin puree. Many reasoned that no matter how much you process fresh pumpkin, it still has a bit of stringy, gritty fiber that can take away from the texture of your recipes, especially in baked goods. I'm of the belief that there's room in the world for both fresh and canned pumpkin puree. What matters is how and when you're using pumpkin. Learn when to use one over the other in recipes.

When should you use canned pumpkin?

• For sweet applications. Ice cream, cake, bread, cookies, and cheesecake take well to canned pumpkin. Its smooth and semigelatinous consistency ensures the sweet treats have an appealing texture. Plus, canned pumpkin has a pretty consistent amount of moisture per can, so your recipes don't end up too liquid-y.
• In a beverage.

Source: Experiment With 10 Modernist Techniques at Home

At last weekend's New York City Wine & Food Festival, The New York Times hosted a TimesTalk with Nathan Myhrvold, author of the groundbreaking Modernist Cuisine and a new book, Modernist Cuisine at Home ($130).

In Myhrvold's original Modernist Cuisine, his high-tech methods involve centrifuges, sous-vide baths, and other seemingly space-age kitchen equipment, but this weekend, the kitchen scientist spent a great deal of time convincing the audience that his new cookbook is indeed intended for at-home cooking, using easily-attainable kitchen tools.

His concept? Using everyday appliances in newfangled ideas, like hyper-decanting wine with an immersion blender. Whether you love the modernist concepts or are a complete skeptic, Myhrvold mentioned 10 modernist techniques that seem counterintuitive but are tried and tested to achieve perfection in the kitchen. "The laws of physics and chemistry are involved in cooking, and so