White chocolate is a white confection that is used extensively in candy and dessert making. It contains cocoa butter, the fat portion of the chocolate bean, but not the cacao nibs. The fat from the cacao is mixed with other ingredients to create a smooth, white confection with a texture very similar to chocolate but … Read more
Arborio rice is not the best rice for risotto. The best rice for risotto is actually Carnaroli rice. I’ll bet that is surprising since chefs have been selling us on the virtues of arborio for years. Another contender for great risotto is Vialone Nano. Before I explain why carnaroli is better, though, let’s talk about … Read more
Given the current craze with gluten-free diets, the first thing to know about glutinous rice is that it has nothing to do with gluten. If you actually do have Celiac, you can safely consume it, as it contains no gluten. In fact, no rice contains gluten. The word glutinous refers to the rice being sticky … Read more
What is the best rice for Thai curry? It definitely matters! While we often treat rice as a background player, in Thai cuisine, it is the foundation of the meal. In fact, the importance of rice is baked into the language itself: the Thai word for “to eat” is kin, which is combined with kow … Read more
We’ve all been there: you open a can of bamboo shoots for a stir-fry, use exactly three tablespoons, and then stare at the rest of the can wondering if it’s destined to become a science experiment in the back of your fridge. While bamboo shoots are a staple of Asian cuisine with a 2,500-year history, … Read more
Candlenuts (Aleurites moluccana) are a relative of Macadamia nuts and resemble them in appearance and texture. Primarily used in Southeast Asian cooking, they have a hard, furrowed shell, and the nuts are yellow, waxy, and brittle, much like the Macadamia. They are so named because they used to be used to make candles. The name is … Read more