We Want Your Holiday Cooking Questions!

And Kenji and Stella will answer! No Images? Click here We Want Your Holiday Cooking Questions! Struggling to plan your Thanksgiving dinner? Troubleshooting a family favorite? Any holiday cooking question you might have, Kenji and Stella are here to answer on Special Sauce. But first, we need your questions! Tweet us your question with the hashtag #AskSpecialSauce, or send an email to specialsauce@seriouseats.com. Send us an email now! → Some menu ideas to get you started The Classic Thanksgiving Menu The Best Small Group Thanksgiving Menu The Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu The Fancy, Modern Thanksgiving Menu Holiday-Prep PSA: The Cuisinart Food Processor Is on Sale! Having a food processor during the holiday season will make quick work of so many tasks, from slicing potatoes for that Hasselback gratin to blitzing ingredients for a buttery pie crust.     Serious Eats 88 35th St Ste 602 Brooklyn, NY 11232 Click Preferences to control which emails you receive from Serious Eats. Clicking Unsubscribe will remove you from all Serious Eats emails…which would be sad. Preferences  |  Unsubscribe

The Difference Between Guanciale, Bacon, and Other Cured Porks

How (and how not) to use them No Images? Click here Bacon, Pancetta, and More: Cured Pork Products and How to Cook With Them Raise your hand if you have ever substituted bacon in a recipe that calls for guanciale, pancetta, or any number of other cured pork products, assuming they couldn’t really be that different. Well, we hate to break it to you: they are. While they may look very similar in the butcher’s case, they’re all cut and prepared in different ways, and have quite different flavors. To help navigate, here's our handy little guide to the different varieties of cured pork products and when to use them. Read more → Some of our favorite cured pork-centric recipes Pasta alla Gricia Boeuf Bourguignon (Beef Stew With Red Wine, Mushrooms, and Bacon) Braised Collard Greens With Ham Hocks Spaghetti With Carbonara Sauce   Serious Eats 88 35th St Ste 602 Brooklyn, NY 11232 Click Preferences to control which emails you receive from Serious Eats. Clicking Unsubscribe will remove you from all Serious Eats emails…which would be sad. Preferences  |  Unsubscribe

This Cheap Gadget Guarantees a Better Sear

Sasha swears by it No Images? Click here The Chef's Press: A Kitchen Tool That's Worth the Weight Whenever you're searing a piece of meat, crisping the skin on a duck breast or fish fillet, or making a killer grilled cheese sandwich, you want to maximize contact between the food and its cooking vessel by weighing it down. Good things happen when ingredients come in contact with the surface of a hot skillet: They cook quickly and at an even rate, and undergo flavor-boosting chemical changes, like the Maillard reaction. Sasha's favorite product designed just for this purpose is the Chef's Press. Read more → Grab one for yourself! Chef's Press The Chef's Press is available in two sizes—eight and 13 ounces—and because it's stackable, that weight can be easily doubled. And, like a fish spatula, it's vented, allowing steam to escape and keeping whatever you're cooking from getting soggy. Shop now → Recipes for your Chef's Press Tri-Tip Beef Roast With Shallot Jus Pan-Seared Duck Breast Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon Fillets Grilled Cheese Sandwiches   Serious Eats 88 35th St Ste 602 Brooklyn, NY 11232 Click Preferences to control which emails you receive from Serious Eats. Clicking Unsubscribe will remove you from all Serious Eats emails…which would be sad. Preferences  |  Unsubscribe