Food

Every week at Food52, a DIY expert spares us a trip to the grocery store and shows us how to make small batches of great foods at home.

Today, Lara Ferroni shows us how to make a smooth and creamy nacho cheese dip and pickled jalapenos in a flash.

While I never had a real fast food worker experience as a kid, I did work for several years at the local movie theater, where in addition to an inordinate amount of popcorn, we made a lot of movie theater nachos. You know the kind with the little plastic dish with the special cup for the nacho sauce. Trust me on this one, you don't want to know exactly what is in that cheese sauce, but I'll tell you that it does come in very large cans and is closer to plastic in texture before it's heated than anything you should eat. There was nothing nacho-y about the cheese itself -- that effect was created by pouring a bit of the pickling brine from the equally large cans of pickled jalapenos, after first scraping off some weird oily black st

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Yes, it's French - but don't let that intimidate you. Alex Hitz's simple, classic sauce makes anything and everything taste better.

Beurre Blanc - it's nothing short of magic. Honestly, at this point in our yearlong relationship, I feel as if I can share a closely guarded culinary secret with you: If you can make a superior sauce, people will think you cook much better than you actually do. Forget "culinary arts," "knife skills," "braising," or any of the other typical themes of beginners' cooking courses, and jump right ahead to something that requires very little acumen at all, ensures success, and provides near-instant pleasure: sauce making.

In time for grilling season, the sauce that seems just right is that most classic of all French sauces: beurre blanc. It's a reduction of shallots, white wine, and lemon juice, with cubes of cold butter whisked in to make a luxurious, fully emulsified sauce that explodes with flavor. It's really easy to do, and tastes like you've been c

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When it comes to snack time, I always have to put my thinking cap on and present snacks in different forms to entice my 4-year-old. One of the most popular presentations is serving food on sticks. Skewers and toothpicks with the pointy tips cut off are a great way to get the kids excited about a snack. This time, I decided to surprise my son by making Mickey peanut butter pinwheel skewers with appetizer picks and adhesive-backed dimensional stickers. The snack was such a hit that I will definitely be using this presentation to serve fruit and vegetable snacks.

Ingredients:
4 sandwich bread slices.
4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
4 tablespoons strawberry jelly
4 appetizer picks
4 assorted dimensional stickers

Related: Cheesy chums, hot dog racers, and 24 fun snacks they'll gobble up

Directions:

1. Decorate appetizer picks with dimensional stickers. Set aside.

2. With a rolling pin, flatten bread slices as much as you can. Cut off crusts.

3. Spread one tablespoon of p

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You don't have to go to some high-end steakhouse or shell out $200 a pound for ultramarbled Wagyu beef from Japan to get flavorful, tender beef for your next barbecue. Just keep three crucial factors in mind: the grade, the grain and the aging. A well-informed purchase and a couple of easy prep steps can make the difference between a so-so steak and one that sends your eyeballs skyward.

Step No. 1 — buy the best meat that fits your budget. To do that, you need to know a bit about how beef is graded in the U.S. The system is based mostly on the age of the animal and the amount of marbling in the meat.

"USDA prime" is the highest grade. Only about 3 percent of cattle meet the criteria, so most prime-grade meat is snatched up by fancy restaurants and specialty butchers before it makes it to supermarkets. Below that is "choice," followed by "select." Anything below these is best avoided for steaks, ribs and roasts. In Canada, the equivalent grades are called "Canada prime," AAA, and AA.

Thoug

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Nick Malgieri

Nick Malgieri, the director of baking and pastry programs at The Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, created this recipe exclusively for Epicurious. The enriched yeast dough is a snap to make and even easier to shape into decadent, delicious cinnamon rolls. Best of all, the rolls can be baked ahead and reheated for a fresh-from-the-oven breakfast treat.

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:
-2/3 cup whole milk
-2 (1/4-ounce) envelopes instant yeast (4 teaspoons total)
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 large eggs, at room temperature
-3 cups unbleached bread flour
-1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
-4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces and softened at room temperature

For the cinnamon butter:
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and softened at room temperature, plus additional butter for greasing the pan and plastic wrap
-3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
-1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
-2 teaspoons pure vanill

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