What most people know about saffron is that it is expensive. Saffron comes from the crocus flower, in once-a-year harvests, and needs to be picked carefully by hand. It takes 4,000 flowers to make up one ounce of saffron! Therefore, quality saffron can cost up to $10,000 a kilogram. The good news is that you don't need a kilogram -far from it. And not all saffron is that expensive.
People unfamiliar with saffron as a flavoring should try it in dishes that don't have a lot of other spices first. It can be sprinkled on ice cream or in drinks. Adding it to rice is a good way to familiarize yourself with saffron's unique flavor. Once you know it, you'll recognize it when it's present in Iranian dishes, no matter what other spices are there.
Eater has a guide to saffron that goes over its origins and harvest, how to most economically use it in your cooking, and how to avoid adulterated saffron. There are also links to nine recipes that use saffron.
(Image credit: Sophia Pappas)
Who doesn’t love eggs? We certainly do. Whether it's for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and regardless of how it’s prepared (poached, fried, boiled)-- it’s one of the best things you can eat.
In terms of nutrional value, eggs are packed with proteins, and vitamins, and can even help with brain development. The reason why it’s such a viable option as well as how easily it can be cooked. They can be fried, scrambled, boiled, and more.
You can add it to other dishes to make them more delicious, or you can eat them on your own. It’s an easy ingredient to reach out to at any time of the day. According to a naturopath and general family practitioner Dr. Yelena Deshko, eggs are a powerhouse food. “An average egg contains approximately seven grams of protein and a significant amount of [B vitamins], Vitamin D, and minerals such as phosphorus and selenium,\" she stated.
But of course, here’s the question: what’s the healthiest way to cook eggs? Dr. Deskhko shared that the healthiest cooking methods involve no extra oils or butter. “Cooking processes such as boiling, poaching or baking help you reap the nutritional benefits of eggs without increasing the fat and calorie content,\" she shared.
Image credit: Jakub Kapusnak
","hashtags":[],"id":17632,"mediaHtml":null,"mediaId":null,"mediaService":null,"type":"image","url":"t/his/this-is-the-healthiest-way-to-cook-eggs-5e836cfe.jpeg","width":5472,"height":3648,"size":4099979}],"slug":"this-is-the-healthiest-way-to-cook-eggs","thumbnail":"t/his/this-is-the-healthiest-way-to-cook-eggs-5e836cfe.jpeg","thumbnailWidth":5472,"thumbnailHeight":3648,"thumbnailSize":4099979,"tagline":"","title":"This Is The Healthiest Way To Cook Eggs"},{"addDate":"2023-04-03T13:45:05.000Z","author":64,"authorName":"JohnFarrier","changeDate":"2023-04-05T15:36:52.000Z","id":4680,"mediaBlocks":[{"description":"Rachel Ryle, an artist in Brooklyn, New York, works in a wide variety of media. She uses colored pencils to make illustrations of famous destination cities, creates stop motion animations, and does a lot of photography.
","hashtags":[],"id":17671,"mediaHtml":null,"mediaId":null,"mediaService":null,"type":"image","url":"h/and/hand-painted-bread-by-rachel-ryle-04171c0a.jpeg","width":1080,"height":1349,"size":424250},{"description":"Ryle is self-taught and, perhaps as a result, always experimenting with something new. Recently, that included sourdough bread loaves that she painted with food coloring. So far, her work consists of flora motifs, but think of what other creative options are also available, such as landscapes, figure studies, and—let us hope—commissioned Dungeons & Dragons character art.
","hashtags":[],"id":17672,"mediaHtml":null,"mediaId":null,"mediaService":null,"type":"image","url":"h/and/hand-painted-bread-by-rachel-ryle-7fcaaa9b.jpeg","width":1080,"height":1349,"size":329695},{"description":"That’s the apex of all truly great art.
-via Laughing Squid
","hashtags":[],"id":17673,"mediaHtml":null,"mediaId":null,"mediaService":null,"type":"image","url":"h/and/hand-painted-bread-by-rachel-ryle-0c796e1a.jpeg","width":1080,"height":1350,"size":292621}],"slug":"hand-painted-bread-by-rachel-ryle","thumbnail":"h/and/hand-painted-bread-by-rachel-ryle-04171c0a.jpeg","thumbnailWidth":1080,"thumbnailHeight":1349,"thumbnailSize":424250,"tagline":"","title":"Hand Painted Bread by Rachel Ryle"},{"addDate":"2023-04-03T06:05:35.000Z","author":58,"authorName":"sodiumnami","changeDate":null,"id":4676,"mediaBlocks":[{"description":"Let’s answer the question now: somewhat, but it’s not really relevant. In this economy, while there are many different kinds of butter for public consumption, one has to consider making a practical choice for baking– especially with how prices are rising.
According to Ashely Manila, blogger, and baker at Baker By Nature, fancy butter can be expensive and may not be a practical choice for baking, especially if you can just get a readily-available and affordable American-style butter.
However, if you’re really curious about how changing the kind of butter used in baking a cake will affect its taste or quality, All Recipes has you covered. Sara Haas decided to test different butter styles in making a Grandmother’s Pound Cake.
In her experiment to determine if one kind of butter best works with baked goods, she used American, cultured, Amish, and European kinds of butter.
After baking all of the cakes, she tested them to see how they stacked up in terms of structure, flavor, and tenderness. The results point out that the Amish, cultured, and European kinds of butter are the best for baking cakes. They provide the richness and creamy mouthfeel you’d want in a cake.
American butter is also good, but it wasn’t as interesting as the other three. However, Haas concluded that there were really no noticeable differences in the four if she wasn’t looking for them. So in short: use what you want!
Image credit: Sara Haas
","hashtags":[],"id":17618,"mediaHtml":null,"mediaId":null,"mediaService":null,"type":"image","url":"w/ill/will-the-quality-of-the-butter-change-the-taste-of-your-cake-68199135.webp","width":750,"height":563,"size":77324}],"slug":"will-the-quality-of-the-butter-change-the-taste-of-your-cake","thumbnail":"w/ill/will-the-quality-of-the-butter-change-the-taste-of-your-cake-68199135.webp","thumbnailWidth":750,"thumbnailHeight":563,"thumbnailSize":77324,"tagline":"","title":"Will The Quality Of The Butter Change The Taste Of Your Cake? "},{"addDate":"2023-04-02T18:45:20.000Z","author":63,"authorName":"MissCellania","changeDate":null,"id":4669,"mediaBlocks":[{"description":"Macaroni and cheese has been a popular dish from the moment of its invention. And why not? We don't realize how many of our simple meals and snacks consist of some form of bread and milk products: cold cereal, pizza, fettuccine Alfredo, milk and cookies, grilled cheese, ice cream sandwich, Cheetos, Doritos, yogurt and granola, and of course, macaroni and cheese, which has the extra taste of milk turned into cheese and is served hot. It's pretty cheap to make, too, at least today. There were a lot of innovations required to make it affordable for the masses. Eventually boxed macaroni and cheese became the go-to filler for family meals when you can't afford much meat, the kids won't eat the vegetables anyway, and no one has adequate time to cook after you get home from work.
Today, there's a constant divide between those who insist that proper macaroni and cheese must be made from scratch, with real cheese and béchamel sauce, and those who crave the boxes with processed cheese. Once I served my father macaroni and cheese, and he thought it was really good. Then he asked if I made it from scratch or from a box. I was embarrassed to admit it was neither- I just took it out of the freezer and put it in the oven. But however you make it (or depend on someone else to make it), you'll enjoy the extensive and joke-ridden history of macaroni and cheese.