First lesson of Indian cooking: Not all brown powders are curry powder. Second lesson: Don’t confuse heat and warmth, especially in Indian cuisine, as they are wildly different concepts. Third lesson: Indian cooking is a deliciously inexact science. Embrace its freewheeling approach and all of your cooking, Indian and otherwise, will be better. And allRead more »

Any food that can make your tongue tingle has got to be worth a taste. I’m not talking a seltzer-like zippiness or even a searing chili heat. I mean literally tingling because your tongue is at once numb and buzzingly alive. That is the power of the Sichuan pepper (also called Sichuan peppercorn). But whyRead more »

It may look and sound like a weed, but lemon grass actually is one of the most important ingredients in Southeast Asian cooking. And it can transform the all-American foods you love. Lemon grass is a reed-like plant that grows as a thin, firm 2-foot stalk with a small bulb at the base. It variesRead more »

If ever there was a vegetable dogged by misunderstanding, fresh fennel is it. Because while it may taste like anise and look like a bulb, it’s neither. And don’t let the grocery workers who love to label it that way tell you otherwise. Fennel may taste like anise, and is a relative of it, butRead more »

There’s nothing wrong with showing a bit of skin. Especially if it’s steamy. Because while they may appear a rather mundane ingredient, wonton skins are an inexpensive and easy way to jazz up your cooking. And with the demands of holiday cooking barreling down upon us, anything that produces snazzy and simple company-worthy treats isRead more »

People have been eating it for thousands of years, yet still no one can tell me why it should be peeled. So I don’t peel it, and neither should you. “It” being fresh ginger, the gnarly brown root that lives among the grocer’s Asian produce. And the flavor is so much better than dried — youRead more »

Finally — a way to enjoy agave without the hangover! That’s right: Agave nectar, the current darling of the alternative sweetener world, is made from the same plant that is used to produce tequila. And it goes down so much easier (squeeze of lime and dash of salt are optional). But let’s start with someRead more »

It’s hard to not love an ingredient that loves fat. And that’s exactly what sage does — it partners up perfectly with foods rich in oils and fats. So why not give it a try? It’s nearly the holidays and time to indulge. Actually, that’s part of sage’s problem — and why it has aRead more »

Who knew coconut milk could be so confusing? It shouldn’t be. At heart, it’s a delicious liquid made from coconuts (duh!) that can effortlessly add an exotically creamy richness to so many meals. Except that grocers sell about half a dozen different products that go by the same or very similar names. And they aren’tRead more »

Pretty to look at, but what do you do with it? That about sums up how most of us feel about star anise. And that’s why it’s mostly been relegated to the backwaters of spice cabinets in the U.S. What most people don’t realize is that star anise actually is a deliciously potent spice thatRead more »