Blog Posts by The Daily Meal

Do you do something religiously in the kitchen just because your mother told you to? Salting the pasta water to make it boil faster, storing coffee in the freezer to extend its life span, or searing a steak for juicier meat are all tips we've picked up over the years for how to be a better cook, but the truth is that some of these tips are actually just myths.

Enter Angela McKeller, award-winning recipe writer and author of Gluten-Free Made Easy as 1, 2, 3: Essentials for Living a Gluten-Free Life, whose years of experience in the kitchen have taught her what to believe and what not to believe. McKeller has some surprising facts about certain rules that we've been living by in the kitchen, and she walks us through the most common ones and spells out the truth behind them. - Anne Dolce, The Daily Meal

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McDonald's will be rolling out egg white breakfast sandwich options starting April 22McDonald's will be rolling out their Egg White Delight, a yolk-free version of their Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich, in locations nationwide starting April 22, the company has confirmed to The Daily Meal.

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The breakfast sandwich, which contains 250 calories (compared to the Egg McMuffin's 300) was tested in Atlanta and Austin markets last November.

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The egg whites are cooked free-form on the griddle with a spatula (as opposed to the more common microwaved version sold by competitors including Dunkin' Donuts), and will join a slice of white cheddar cheese and Canadian bacon on a whole-grain English muffin. Egg whites will also be made available on all the other breakfast sandwiches the company offers.

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Credit: McDonald's"We've been listening to our customers, and they want premium options," McDonald's external communications manager Tyler Litchenberger told The

Skip the McDoanld's Drive-Thru, and make your own this St. Patrick's Day

The whole world has gone green for McDonald's Shamrock Shake, available across the country until St. Patrick's Day. It's inspired a cult-like following, a Harlem Shake meme (yes, really), and dozens of copy-cat recipes. And we can see why everyone wants to try it at home. Since the Shamrock Shake launched in 1970, more than 60 million Shamrock Shakes have been sold in McDonald's nationwide.

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And surprisingly, the history of the Shamrock Shake is about more than just the green. According to McDonald's, the Philadelphia Eagle's tight end Fred Hill was looking for a way to help his 3-year old daughter get treatment for leukemia in 1974. His vision: the Ronald McDonald's House for children and families to have a "home away from home" treatment. Hill, with the support of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc and local McDonald's managers, worked up a Shamrock Shake promotion with profits going toward the cause; the first-ever Ronald's

In American consumer culture, certain brands have a longer shelf life than others. Some products, like Crystal Pepsi, are released with great fanfare and then fizzle out a few years later. Others, like Cheerios, will most likely be stocked in the first supermarkets built on Mars. But what is it about these products that make them stick around for so long? And which products that are still around should have conceivably gone the way of the dodo long ago?

When Frito-Lay came out with a line of lemonade, bigwigs thought that it would be a natural extension of the line of salty snacks. It never worked its way into anyone's hearts, though, so it was dropped.

Some brands, however, stem the tide. Even though they're not big sellers, they've remained on store shelves for one primary reason: nostalgia. - Dan Myers, The Daily Meal

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A wedding cake can come in all shapes, sizes, flavors, and fillings. Some couples opt for a classic and traditional tiered confection, while others really take the opportunity to express themselves as a couple, experimenting with flavors and décor.

From life-size to upside-down to diamond-encrusted, these cakes are anything but subtle. Their dramatic presence demands attention, so click through to see these examples of sugared perfection. - Francesca Borgognone, The Daily Meal

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Skip the mall or the airport and make these buttery baked treats at home insteadWhat's your favorite thing about going to the mall? If you're like the Cook editors at The Daily Meal, it's probably not the stores, but that sweet, baked, buttery aroma wafting through the air that can only come from one place: Auntie Anne's Pretzels.

There's no mistaking that smell, and many can agree that there's nothing better… except maybe the taste of an Auntie Anne's pretzel. These pretzels have been charming their way into Americans' hearts since 1988, when founders Anne and Jonas Beiler developed the recipe for a farmers' market they purchased in Lancaster, Pa. Today, the same recipe is used at all Auntie Anne's locations, ensuring that the unique and popular taste that made it such a hit more than 20 years ago will be in every bite of your pretzel.

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Whether in an airport, train station, or a highway rest stop, an Auntie Anne's pretzel serves as a quick bite for someone on the go, and as Melanie Auxer, VP

There are some 200,000 full-service restaurants in America, so it's no small task to determine the best ones. Can you compare a roadside burger joint with an urban fine-dining restaurant whose theme changes every few months? "Best restaurant" lists are tricky, but answering these questions is what the third annual list of The Daily Meal's 101 Best Restaurants in America sets out to do. A list of 303 nominees was narrowed to 202, then voted on by a panel of 174 judges and our staff, with each restaurant getting the chance to be selected three times on the basis of location, type of cuisine, and factors of price, level of "buzz," formality of food and atmosphere, classic status, and epic meal experience offered. - Arthur Bovino, The Daily Meal

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Quick: which fast-food sandwich do you think has more fat and calories, a McDonald's Big Mac or Wendy's Asiago Ranch Chicken Club? If you guessed the Big Mac, you'd be wrong by nearly 10 grams of fat and almost 200 calories. While it might not be super-easy to discern which fast-food items are better for you than others, there are a few common-sense giveaways. First of all, whenever something has more than one type of meat (especially if advertised as "Meat Lover's" or the like), that's a sure sign of calorie overload. Also, the more ingredients piled in, the more calories, so maybe next time you're at Chipotle you should forego the sour cream and cheese. And one beef patty will generally suffice.

We took a look at the menus of the major chains, and have assembled a roundup of the least healthy fast-food items out there. Maybe next time you'll think twice before ordering that Baconator! - Dan Myers, The Daily Meal

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