Category Archives: Cooking

Here you’ll find everything about cooking that isn’t actually a recipe. Tips, techniques, gripes, whatever.

Food for Thought: Indian Instant Pot Cookbook

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

[6/23. See important UPDATE at the end of this post. Please read before you cook from this book!] Our extended family includes a two-career couple with two small children and, as you might expect, they are very strapped for time. They … Continue reading →

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Why we love haiga rice

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

Haiga rice is the equivalent of high-extraction wheat flour: it has the husk (bran) removed while retaining the germ. As a result, it is more nutritious and also (in our opinion) tastier. We’ve started using it as our go-to when … Continue reading →

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Our pickled tripe experiment, Part 3 (conclusion)

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

The July 4 plan to drive to Ephrata, PA for more of the magnificent King’s Meats pickled tripe fell through, leaving us with no option but to make it in our own kitchen. Here’s how the final chapter in our … Continue reading →

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In pursuit of perfect pickled tripe

Posted on June 11, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

Our recent freezer shaming brought urgency to a long-delayed project: creating a pickled tripe in aspic to match the manna experienced in Pennsylvania’s Amish country in the summer of 2017. We had visited the Green Dragon Friday market in Ephrata, … Continue reading →

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How to win your crawfish boil

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

Live crawfish season runs from roughly March through June, putting the Memorial Day weekend at its epicenter. This makes the holiday an ideal time for a crawfish boil in which the mudbugs are cooked in a salty, peppery broth along … Continue reading →

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Freezer hoarding

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

My blogger friend Daniel B revealed something remarkable: he has 40 chicken carcasses in his freezer. Talk about freezer hoarding! These are supermarket rotisserie chickens which have been mostly plucked clean of their meat but with some scraps and connective … Continue reading →

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How to cook a perfect steak

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

To cook a perfect steak, start with a well-seasoned cast iron skillet. I have decided I prefer this method because the delicious juices accumulate in the pan rather than dripping into the fire. You can use anything that doesn’t require … Continue reading →

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Diamond Crystal or Morton’s, which Kosher salt is better?

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

Most every recipe on Burnt My Fingers specifies (unless we forget) Kosher salt. That’s because we mistrust the tiny crystals of table salt that make it easy to oversalt your food, plus you might pick up iodized salt by mistake … Continue reading →

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My other cookbook is a Kindle

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

Some chef friends had an online discussion about how they like to read recipes. Almost everybody said they preferred physical cookbooks because they like to look at the pictures and see how the food is plated. Number of people who … Continue reading →

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The surprising truth about kouign amann

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Burnt My Fingers

I hungered for a sugary, buttery kouign amann (pronounced QUEEN followed by “almond” in which the “d” is silent) before I knew such a thing existed. I had recently moved to Saratoga Springs, NY and discovered the excellent croissants at … Continue reading →

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