J. Kenji López-Alt

Fried shallots are one of those pantry items that quietly improve almost everything they touch. They add sweetness, aroma, and crunch, and they’re versatile enough to use on everything from noodles and salads to burgers and eggs (or even ice cream). When I was cooking in restaurants, any time I fres

I’ll cut to the chase: using scales and grams for baking recipes is more accurate, it’s faster, and it means less cleanup. At home, I use an 11-pound baking scale from OXO that is no longer in production, but their new model has all the same functions. I also use a small coffee scale from Hario for

At its best, roast chicken is the epitome of comfort food: Juicy meat, crackly skin, aromas that fill the kitchen, and flavor to match. Yet, achieving this ideal can be elusive, often resulting in disappointingly dry breast meat or flabby, flavorless skin. As simple as a roast chicken is, it’s one o

Miso soup, one of the world's simplest soups made with nothing but dashi stock, miso paste, and garnishes, is comfort food to me, especially when it has bits of silken tofu, seaweed, and scallions floating in it. It's a meal I ate countless times at my grandmother's table, and one I still crave whet

If you are to believe those old Ginsu knife commercials, cutting a tomato is the ultimate test of the sharpness of a knife. If you are to believe those old Ginsu knife commercials, cutting a tomato is the ultimate test of the sharpness of a knife. This is not completely inaccurate. A really ripe bee

The very first article I was ever paid to write for a print publication was called “The Problem with Thick Cut Steaks.” It appeared in the June/July 2007 issue of Cook’s Illustrated and it included a recipe called “Thick Cut Pan-Seared Steaks.” I spent two months, cooked several hundred steaks, cond

An updated version of my 2010 recipe, now even crispier and juicier. The original recipe for oven-fried buffalo wings is fifteen years old. Fifteen! A lot has changed in the last fifteen years. I’m writing this article on an iPad, the first generation of which came out that year! There’s been a new

This is an updated version of the recipe I published in my first book, The Food Lab. I’ve updated the technique to ensure that the eggs don’t stick to the strainer, as well as the temperature and specific instructions for the size of the pan and how much water to use. The Secrets to Success: Use fre

This recipe is an updated version of this one that I published on Serious Eats in 2013. I've updated the temperature of the butter (it does not need to be measured as suggested in earlier versions of the recipe), and some of the language about how to incorporate it to make the recipe more foolproof.

What’s the culinary task you’ve repeated more than anything else? Depending on what you you like to cook, it may be dicing an onion, or perhaps squeezing a lemon. Maybe it’s breaking down a chicken or bringing dough together. Personally, I’ve tested and written more about eggs than any subject I can