This week on Fine Cooking: Basil and Lettuce 2-for-1

I have not-one-but-two articles on my Kitchen Mysteries with The Food Geek at Fine Cooking (dot) Com. Woo!

The first is my print article from issue 100, in which I discuss the the proper storage and treatment of leafy greens. The illustration by Aude Van Ryn are fantastic, incidentally.

The second is my usual weekly column discussing using basil in cooked food, from a technique standpoint as well as a pointer (familiar to longtime readers) for finding out what foods pair well with others.

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Saving Garlic from Sprouts

Let's take a look at what can happen to a fresh garlic to give it a less than perfect flavor, and what can be done to save it.

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Degrees of Boiling

This week, I explore more of the ins-and-outs of boiling, and bring back my most powerful metaphor: kittens.

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Essence of Coffee

This week, I talk about a subject near to my heart: brewing coffee in a French Press. I take a little extra meander at the end, exploring some other coffee possibilities, and reminding everyone to keep their minds open.

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Cracking the Boiled Egg Mystery

This week, it's all about the pain in the neck known as peeling a hard boiled egg. Why is it so difficult? What can be done to make it easier? Is it technique, or is it preparation? What's with the weirdos on the internet?

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Competition Pie

This week's Fine Cooking column discussed the Charlottesville PieDown and my trials and tribulations related to making pies for competition.

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Oven Calibration

This week, we explore easy and free ways to ensure that the temperature that your oven reports is accurate

Fine Cooking Thursdays: The Components of Pie Crust

This week, let's take a look at pie. I have pie on the brain right now, so I encouraged pie-related questions. Most of them had to do with crust, so I explain the parts of a pie crust and how they work together.

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Cooking eggs with sugar alone

This week's Fine Cooking (dot) com column discusses the feasibility of cooking egg yolks with nothing more than room-temperature table sugar. Crazy, you suggest? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Fine Cooking Thursdays: Soy Milk vs. Instant Pudding

An interesting question of When Industrial Chemicals Go Wrong on this week's Kitchen Mysteries. Vegetarians and the lactose-intolerant have found that instant pudding mix just doesn't play well with soy milk. I do some digging to find out why.