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March 20, 2018

Caviar 101: How to celebrate National Caviar Day

July 18 is National Caviar Day, making this a good time to learn the basics of fine fish roes. The drama and culinary delight of caviar --known as black gold for its rarity and price point --bring an Old World elegance to any meal. Here is all you need to know to bring caviar into your home, whether your budget is copper or gold. To carry the name, Champagne must come from a specific region of France. To earn its name, caviar must come from one of three sturgeon breeds (there are 27 worldwide) from the Caspian Sea. There are great sparkling wines that are not "Champagne," and there are great fish roes that are not "caviar," but provide an enjoyable facsimile. Roe is the mass of eggs contained in the ovaries of a female fish or shellfish. Sturgeon caviars share certain flavor characteristics across the breeds (varietals); a taste of the sea similar to the juice of a perfectly fresh oyster, a taste of brine, and occasionally a metallic finish. Varietal flavors differ fish by fish and tin by tin. Each fish's diet, environment, maturity and time of harvest affect the flavor and texture of the eggs. How quickly the eggs are processed, how much salt is used, and how they are cured affect the product. Iranians, for example, use brine, while Russians stir salt in directly. Properly prepared caviar should have "enough salt so the casing can be felt on (your) tongue but with a gentle press will burst and flood your mouth with the flavor of the sea," says restaurateur Nick Peyton. True Caviars are imported, and can be wild or farmed. They are named for their Sturgeon:

March 20, 2018

Ice cream (and other summery desserts) from around the world

As far as we're concerned, summer means ice cream season. But there's no reason to stay in your rocky road comfort zone. Go ahead and check out one of these unexpected flavors our contributors found on their travels—think cheddar cheese, olive oil, even frankincense.

March 20, 2018

McDonald's 10 most spectacular menu flops

The McDonald’s that we know and love, identified by those iconic Golden Arches, had humble beginnings. The restaurant first opened as McDonald’s Bar-B-Q Restaurant in San Bernardino, Calif., in 1940, serving a simple menu of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes. Over the next several years, founders Dick and Mac McDonald renovated the restaurant and highlighted their $0.15 hamburger.   In 1954, Ray Croc visited the restaurant and talked the McDonald brothers into creating a national burger chain. The first franchised McDonald’s location opened in Des Plaines, Ill., in 1955 incorporating the very first Golden Arches, designed by architect Stanley Meston. Today, McDonald’s is the largest hamburger fast-food chain in the world, and serves more than 58 million customers daily. While McDonald’s continues to have a set staple menu throughout most of their locations, the chain is continuously trying to invent both local, national and international menu items to bolster its offerings.   For instance, specialty menu items such as the Big Mac or Chicken McNuggets have been huge commercial successes across the board. But other items have been launched, and have subsequently vanished just as quickly. Items such as the Bacon Bacon McBacon, the Chicken Parmesan Sandwich, and the Home-Fried Chicken never quite caught on with American consumers. In local markets, McDonald’s has even rolled out items like the McLobster on the East Coast, poutine in Canada, and the McCrab in parts of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia In order to assemble our list of the top 10 McDonald’s flops, we took into account the cost of the (unsuccessful) advertising campaign, the lack of commercial success of an item, as well as the duration of which the particular product or promotion existed. So the least successful of the lot were ones that not only came and went quickly, but wasted plenty of the company’s money as well. McDonald’s continues to roll out new products all the time; some will make it big, others will vanish off the menu without a trace.

March 20, 2018

The coolest Frappuccino flavors you’ve never heard of

Ah, the Frappuccino. A Starbucks commodity. A word that wasn’t even on our tongues just 20 years ago. The Starbucks Frappuccino essentially ushered in the second wave of coffee in America, with sugary sweet, frothy concoctions that consumers flocked to. And to look back on the story of Frappuccinos — and the crazy flavors made across the globe — is pretty fun. It’s hard to believe there was a time when Starbucks wasn’t ruled by Frappuccinos, but as CEO Howard Schultz explains in his book Pour Your Heart Into It, he wasn’t always a believer. Schultz writes that he resisted Southern California’s granitas trend in the 1990s because he believed the sugary, frozen drinks diluted the integrity of Starbucks’ coffee. Still, three store managers in Southern California experimented with making Frappuccinos beginning in 1994, using a powdered base (that everyone hated), and eventually using freshly brewed coffee. Eventually, the beverage director handed over the new Frappuccino recipe to a team of food consultants, who came up with a Frap made with low-fat milk. Eventually, everyone, customers and Schultz alike, saw the light — or should we say, saw the drink. The name Frappuccino actually comes from the former coffee chain The Coffee Connection, which Starbucks acquired back in 1994. (In fact, the founder of The Coffee Connection made his own cold, slushy coffee for sale, but Schultz noted that Starbucks didn’t like the drink.) Despite the hurdle of introducing Frappuccinos (and blenders) to the 550 existing Starbucks stores, the Frappuccino was immediately a hit with customers. In 1996, Schultz notes in his book, the first full fiscal year the Frappuccino was sold, Starbucks sold more than $52 million worth of the drinks. It was even named one of the best products of the year by Businessweek. What’s crazy to think is just how Schultz and the Starbucks team brought the Frappuccino to existence (Schultz writes in the book, "I was wrong, and I was delighted about it"). He writes: "Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this story is that we didn’t do any heavy-duty financial analysis on Frappuccino beforehand… No corporate bureaucracy stood in the way of the Frappuccino. It was a totally entrepreneurial project, and it flourished with a Starbucks that was no longer a small company. Even when I doubted it, it went ahead." We now know who to thank for such a drink (even if they’re, well, making it harder to fit into our summer swimsuits). Today, there are 17 Frappuccino flavors on the menu — but that’s just in the U.S. While Americans love their Caramel Frappuccinos (the number one selling Frappuccino in America), Starbucks customers across the globe have very different flavors to choose from. Most use local flavors and ingredients combined with the traditional Frappuccino coffee base that’s a staple in the Starbucks drink — and we sort of wish we could get our hands on them in the U.S. Click ahead to find the world’s most popular Frappuccino flavors, the flavors you’ve never heard of.

March 20, 2018

The ultimate American fried chicken roadmap for 2013

We know, you think your mom makes the best fried chicken out there. Nostalgia and hometown bias aside, though, many of us are also very opinionated about our favorite fried chicken joints outside of our own childhood kitchens. Fried chicken is a quintessential American dish, along with hamburgers, hot dogs, apple pie, barbecue, peanut butter, and casseroles. It’s cheap, relatively easy to prepare (although some obviously do it better than others), and is a great equalizer: no matter who you are or where you’re from, you’re expected to eat it with your hands.    Fried chicken may have a particularly strong association with the Southeast, but its roots belong to many immigrant populations who settled in all corners of the country. People from West African, European, and Asian ethnicities can all take some credit for both introducing and continuing the fried chicken tradition stateside.  Last year, we brought you an extensive roadmap of the country’s best places for fried chicken. So how did we come up for additions to this year’s roadmap? We considered reader feedback while also consulting our staff and several national experts. Along with some necessary Midwest mentions (such as a couple of infamous dueling restaurants in Pittsburg, Kan.), we’ve included a unique venue that feeds its scraps to local raccoons, as well as a North Carolina church kitchen turned popular local restaurant. Flour, water, salt, chicken, and lard are just the beginning when it comes to fried chicken. These basic ingredients lay the foundation for customization — whether it’s a vinegar-based marinade, cayenne, or even maple-honey butter. The possibilities are (actually) endless. Everyone’s got their favorite, so if your preferred establishment didn’t make this year’s cut, let us know by leaving a comment. We’ve listed the best of the best here, so be sure to consult our slideshow for the next time that you stray from your mom’s recipe. 

March 20, 2018

The 8 drink inventions we could never do without

It's easy to get caught up in what's new and happening in the world of drink: what's the newest wine or varietal to sweep the nation? What's the newest craft beer to make waves? What's the cocktail we need to be dreaming about to get through the work day to happy hour? But we often forget just where our drinks come from. It's the little inventions that basically made our world of drinks explode into the endless variety of beverage options we have today. Without refrigeration we wouldn't have such access to drinks that spoil fast, like milk; without tea bags, the art of making a cup of tea may have been lost; without the straw... OK, we just really love a good straw. While we ommitted perhaps the discoveries that made our drinks possible — fermentation for wine and beer, distilling for spirits, carbonation for sodas, even filtration for drinkable water — it's the inventions that have made drinking into a convenience. Whether it's as small as a cork or as big as your refrigerator, we're taking a few steps towards the past to thank our lucky stars for the inventors who gave us well, all the drinks.

March 20, 2018

What are cronuts and how do I make them at home?

What could be better than a hybrid pastry of donut and croissant? The cronut, a "baked good heard round the mediasphere," according to Vogue magazine, is just that — flaky, buttery dough that's deep-fried to golden brown perfection, and then filled with cream and glazed. Since its debut in the spring of 2013, the cronut has launched into an international phenomenon, and with a dedicated following. With its burgeoning popularity, the donut-meets-croissant is in high demand — and has even found its way onto the black market. The mastermind behind the cronut craze is pastry chef and owner of Manhattan’s Domnique Ansel Bakery, Dominique Ansel, who invented the circular treat to blend his French upbringing with an American classic. Word on the street is that Ansel’s secrets include using croissant-like dough, which he then fries in grapeseed oil. The result is a light and flaky cronut that is finished in three ways: rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and topped with glaze. The cronut has become so popular that people can’t resist trying to replicate it, and news outlets and food and drink websites can't stop themselves from breathlessly covering new cronut developments every five minutes. ChicagoMag.com reports that a local Windy City bakery is serving a knockoff, dubbed the "dossant." While on the West Coast, a San Diego, Calif., bakery is dishing up an imitation of the crazy pastry, appropriately titled "cray-nut." The cronut is even going international, with "frissants" popping up in Vancouver, and Down Under, reports the The Sydney Morning Herald, with "zonuts." One Las Vegas bakery, succumbing to the hype, is simply calling their version "One of Those." Oh, and, there are the people who think they’re the ones who created it to begin with, like one drama-loving soap opera-actress-turned-cook in Texas. As you may have guessed, we tried replicating it, too. Although Ansel and the rest of the bakery’s team are keeping mum on the coveted recipe, we got the inside scoop from a professional pastry chef who used to work for Ansel — before he created the cronut — on how to make croissant dough at home. Her keys to cronut success include, "Keeping the dough chilled, otherwise you’ll have a buttery mess on your hands." Also, "When initially mixing the dough, resist the urge to overmix. Just mix until the dough is a consistent texture." Although the process seems laborious, she says,"This dough is easier to make at home than most [people] expect." We were up for the challenge and based our recipe on classic croissant dough. Taken from what we know about the original cronut recipe, we fried in ours in grapeseed oil and finished it by giving it a dusting of sugar, filling it with cream, and topping with glaze. While Ansel’s version takes a lengthy three days to complete, we’ve skillfully compressed it down to one — if you start early! So while cronut-craving tourists and New Yorkers are lining up, hundreds-deep, to get their hands on one, you’ll have no problem scoring the elusive pastry with our recipe at home — that we think just might rival the original.

March 20, 2018

America’s top chain burgers

When you’re thinking inside the bun, when you deserve a break today, need to have it your way at a place where the fire’s ready, where you’re the boss and it’s your way, right away, what you want is what you get, and they love to see you smile, it’s a good time for the great taste. That’s right, face it, you need a fast-food hamburger. Maybe it’s one that takes two hands to hold. Perhaps it’s two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun. One thing is clear — if it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face. Whether it’s the best food for fast times, or you’re just loving it, there’s a time and a place for fast-food burgers, and at that moment, you don’t want to be wondering where’s the beef — you want one of America’s top 10 chain burgers. So what are they? Burger slogans aside, if you’re a burger snob in the mood for fast food, you likely won’t be screeching to the side of the road for any of the burgers served by the chains they represent unless it’s the only thing open. All the menu reinventions, commercials, and image rebranding by  McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and Carl’s Jr., doesn’t hide the fact that their burgers just aren’t very good. And it’s not as though good fast-food burgers can’t be made without prices being jacked to ridiculous heights. Sure, it may cost a bit more to make a better burger, but how much? And it’s not as though you’re going to expect a chain of Minetta Tavern quickie-marts serving $26 Black Label Burgers basted with clarified butter at rest-stops along the highway. A Double-Double at In-N-Out is what, $3.20? A double cheeseburger is $2.80 at McDonald’s? How many people would pay $0.40 more for an In-N-Out burger than one from McDonald’s? That’s one reason that recent years have seen the rise of burger chains like Five Guys, Umami, Smashburger, and Shake Shack that are doing better, higher-quality burgers. So surveying the fast-food playing field, which spots serve the bestburger? In the same way the best burgers are the burgers that established your essential burger knowledge, the criteria for your mind’s burger framework, your favorite fast-food burger may be regionally dictated. Maybe it’s In-N-Out because you grew up out West. Maybe it’s Whataburger because you grew up in Texas. These days, chains are spreading out and becoming increasingly less regional. That sets up potential fast-food showdowns where customers can evaluate their favorites against those they’d traditionally have had to travel to try. A national fast-food burger pecking order has never been closer to being established by Americans who don’t have to leave home, or go farther than nearby states to be the judge of who makes a better burger. Establishing this pecking order, a list of America’s Top 10 Chain Burgers was done as part of The Daily Meal’s 2013 report to establish a list of the 40 Best Burgers in America. Because of America’s great love for this simple sandwich, and the expertise that has been developed in making them truly great, it was a huge task to narrow America’s most iconic food, the hamburger, to a select group. We searched for burgers in both small towns and big cities, examined local and national best-of lists both in print and online, and reached out to a group of some of America’s foremost burger experts to collect a list of national and local favorites, icons and ideals that were voted on by an expert panel to come up with a list truly that represents a pantheon of burger heroes. To give even the smallest burger joint its fair shake, chains with 15 or more locations weren’t included in that list, but in their own for The Daily Meal’s esteemed panelists to vote on. Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, and the other cookie-cutter spots along the highway — while nice things can be said about their onion rings, Frostys, french fries and Blizzards — were not considered for this category. For the chains that were considered, the quintessential, or signature burger from each was evaluated. The results were interesting. It’s likely that people from the West Coast will be outraged by the burger that edged theirs out for top billing. They can take consolation in the fact that it was a close call; voting was neck and neck, with the winner edging out the second placeburger by less than 5 percentage points. It’s a result that could be mirrored in the minds of the general population out West after the planned 2014 expansion of one burger chain on this list. Whataburger, Umami Burger, Five Guys — they’re all there, joined by the relative upstart of the crew, Iron Chef Bobby Flay’s Bobby’s Burger Palace. The truth is that wherever these burgers ended up on this list, you can trust that they’re a step above the rest, fast-food burgers worth eating.

March 20, 2018

7 tips for hosting a lemonade stand

During the summer, kids’ activities often consist of hanging out with friends, going to camp, taking family vacations, and basically living in the pool until their fingers are pruney. But why not make this summer an opportunity for your little ones to get a little proactive when it comes to getting crafty in the kitchen or even learning how to make a few dollars on their own. Yes, we’re talking about a lemonade stand. Tried, true, and classic, a lemonade stand — granted with a solid and beloved lemonade recipe — is basically foolproof. On a scorching, hot day, the citrus refresher is great for passersby who need a little relief. Plus, no one is going to turn down an adorable kid selling it, either. Sharing her tips for a successful summer stand is Wayfair’s Catie Parrish, who is touching on everything from the right tools to the perfect herbs.

March 20, 2018

How to make a great rack of ribs

If there’s one thing that we definitely don’t mind licking our fingers for, it’s ribs. Juicy, succulent, and downright messy, ribs are one of the few dishes in life that we’re happy to pull apart with our bare hands and bite into right off the bone.   So what makes a rack of ribs so good? Sure, there are marinades you can use and special rubs to try, but no matter what flavor combination you’d like your ribs to have, there’s a set of standard rules to apply when making ribs that can take them from being just a good rack of ribs, to a great one — and we’ll show you how. Erin Coopey, chef and author of The Kitchen Pantry Cookbook, never starts cooking her ribs without tending to the silver skin, and she has some pretty firm beliefs about how to avoid a charred, bitter crust, too. If you were to ask barbecue master Melissa Cookston, co-owner of Memphis BBQ Company and a judge on Destination America’s BBQ Pitmasters, she’d tell you to never make ribs without smoking them, and our friend Clint Cantwell of Grilling.com has some pretty sound advice about how to sauce ribs, too. There are a bunch of guidelines for making ribs that are simple in nature but when applied, make a world of difference, so don’t miss out on reading them before you get your ribs out. And once you have the method complete, we’ve got some recipes for you to try. There’s Coopey’s "never fail" baby back rib recipe, which uses a handful of spices and the low-and-slow method to cook a rack, and there are Canal House’s ribs, that are doused in a hoisin sauce that is so good, it’s hoi-sinful. There’s even one that brings us back to our college years, created by the liquor connoisseurs at Jägermeister, who enlist their rich, syrupy liquor to create a rib sauce that has true depth of flavor. These helpful tips and recipes will take your rack of ribs from being just a good one to a finger-licking great one. Oh, and, don’t forget the wet naps.