As vehicles for fresh herbs and aromatics like garlic and citrus zest, compound butters can brighten up simply cooked fish, meat, and vegetables, even baked potatoes. Mixed, rolled into logs, and wrapped in plastic film or waxed paper, herb butters keep well in the freezer. That makes it easy to have a variety on hand to slice as needed. READ MORE
Escarole is a leafy green in the chicory family that you can cook or eat raw in salads. To serve it hot, escondido123 says on Chowhound, sauté the leaves with garlic, braise them in chicken stock, or add them to a simple soup of chicken stock and noodles, topped with grated Parmesan. READ MORE
Mujadarah, a Middle Eastern dish of spiced lentils and rice mixed with caramelized onions, is a humble combination that inspires deep devotion from Chowhounds. For scubadoo97, it's "simple soul food, cheap and satisfying"; prunefeet says it's "so much more than the sum of its parts." READ MORE
Bottled horseradish loses its kick too fast for kseiverd, so she's resorted to buying fresh horseradish. But she admits on Chowhound that gnarly looking horseradish root is something of a mystery. How do you use it?
It's not so mysterious, rasputina says. Just grate whatever you need for cooking or garnishing right before using (the microplane grater, beloved by Chowhounds, is perfect for this job). And it is definitely important to grate, not chop or mince, your peeled horseradish root, ferret explains, since grating releases the heat. READ MORE
Seasonal mushrooms like chanterelles (pictured) used to be rare, but they're pretty common these days at farmers' markets and fancy food shops. Even so, some Chowhounds still go mushroom-hunting in the woods (not something for the inexperienced, fldhkybnva warns), and even cultivate their own, via mushroom kits. READ MORE
Curry leaves are an herb native to South Asia, unrelated to the ground spice mix called curry powder. They're an essential component of South Indian cooking, adding a subtle aroma to simple dishes and complexity to highly spiced ones, Rasam explains on Chowhound. Once cooked, curry leaves are edible, though most people simply push them aside on the plate. READ MORE
"Why did we ever scorn such wonderfulness?" Sarah asks on Chowhound—she's talking about the retro dip made from packaged onion soup mix and cream cheese or sour cream. A lot of us get all fancy and make a dip with real caramelized onions and goat cheese, but the processed original is still a guilty pleasure for some Chowhounds. And while changing tastes have denied a younger generation the pleasure of even trying onion soup dip, pikawicca notes that when they do try it, they usually inhale the stuff. READ MORE
The difference between a great roast chicken and merely a decent one is the skin. It's a sad bird that doesn't end up with a crisp, deep brown exterior, but how do you get it that way? Chowhounds know a few tricks.
The key to crispiness is making sure the skin is dry when it hits the oven, alanbarnes says. For best results, salt the bird several hours before roasting, then let it air-dry, uncovered, in the fridge, mtomto explains. Try mixing a bit of baking powder into the salt before rubbing on the uncooked skin, sbp says—the baking powder's a drying agent, producing really crispy skin (don't worry, there's no lingering chemical aftertaste). If you forget to salt and dry, parking the chicken in front of an electric fan will get its skin nice and dry in about an hour. READ MORE
