ChefSteps - Cook Smarter

The best scallion pancakes are crispy, with uniform and distinct layers, and a slightly chewy but still tender interior. The key to this recipe is our method for laminating the dough. Less like ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultra-flaky-scallion-pancakes

Induction cooktops are powerful and energy efficient alternatives to electric or gas cooktops. However, unlike electric or gas cooktops, they require specific cookware to work. To that end, we’...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/best-cookware-for-induction-cooktops

Understanding how works makes it easier to use. We’ve put together a brief visual guide to help you to start cooking with this powerful machine.

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/getting-to-know-the-control-freak-home

Sometimes you want pancakes for breakfast, and nothing but a stack of will do. Other times, you want those ultra-fluffy, souffléd, jiggly Japanese-style pancakes you’ve seen on your IG feed. ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/fluffy-japanese-pancakes

Imagine a tender, paper-thin crêpe. Now imagine it with tons of flavor. And what you get is ... buttermilk crêpes! Sitting right in the middle between the blank canvas of regular sweet...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/buttermilk-crepes

A stack of beautifully browned, fluffy, and fat flapjacks is iconic. A mound of pale, dense pancakes ... not so much. The key to good pancakes isn’t just the right formula or the right techniqu...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/buttermilk-pancakes

Good schnitzel is all about the “puff.” Unlike other breaded and fried cutlets, like our updated take on , the crust on schnitzel should separate from the cutlet during cooking, which encoura...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pork-schnitzel

It’s hard to beat a well-made duck confit. Rich, fork-tender meat encased in crisp, mahogany-hued skin, it’s in the running for the bistro classic G.O.A.T. race; for our money, it might even ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-duck-confit

Everyone knows duck confit. But chicken confit? What’s that? Think of a cross between those super-tender brined and roasted chickens at your favorite members-only grocery store, but with a beau...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-chicken-confit

Pan searing is a fundamental cooking technique that is perfected with practice. Line cooks can turn out steaks, chops, crispy-skinned fish, and chicken breasts cooked to specific serving temperat...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pan-searing-guide

There are few things that are as delicious as properly pan-seared scallops. Crispy and browned on the serving side, silky, tender, and luscious within. With the right technique, you can sear scal...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pan-seared-scallops

The perfect pan-seared chicken breast is tender and juicy on the inside, with an actually crispy golden skin on top. Our method relies on a two-stage cooking process similar to how you would cook...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pan-seared-chicken-breasts

There’s nothing like a perfectly pan-seared steak: a burnished crust giving away to a rosy interior that extends from edge to edge.   The challenge pan-searing presents is all the hea...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pan-seared-steak

Flapjacks, slapjacks, hotcakes, silver dollars, crêpes, blini ... whatever you call ’em, pancakes are delicious. A pancake is a deceptively simple preparation: Mix flour with some kind of liqu...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/buttermilk-pancake-parametric

If there’s one dish that captures the spirit and finesse of Cantonese cooking, it’s whole steamed sizzling fish: a whole fish steamed with aromatics, topped with julienned green onion, anoint...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-cantonese-style-sizzling-steamed-fish

Ever since Julia Child burst onto the food scene, Americans have been in love with boeuf bourguignon—beef braised in red wine. As she notes in the inaugural episode of The French Chef,...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-beef-bourguignon

Beurre monté—a warm butter emulsion—is a secret weapon in French kitchens. It’s a cooking medium, a welcome addition to almost any dish, and a sauce in its own right. The tricky bit about ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/bulletproof-beurre-monte

Steamed lobster is a New England summer classic that more often than not turns out rubbery and tough. But there’s a much better way to cook lobster and all that’s required is precision temper...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-butter-poached-lobster

Ever wonder what happened to the crullers at ye olde local chain shoppe? Us, too! It’s not just that they don’t make ’em like they used to; at most shops, they don’t make ’em at all! W...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/crullers

Hollandaise is one of the most temperamental of all French sauces. Many cooks have tried to make hollandaise—tried and failed, cursing the heavens as they stare at a bunch of greasy instead of...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-hollandaise

A nicely seared pork chop, with a deeply browned crust and a rosy and juicy interior with a minimal temperature gradient, is a deceptively simple preparation. Unlike , pork loin chops are lean, w...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-pan-seared-pork-chops

These savory mushroom turnovers might just be the best pastry snacks, since they sound delicious at any time of day, from breakfast through to midnight snack—with midmornings, afternoons, and c...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/mushroom-turnovers

Think of the best you’ve ever had. Got it? Now imagine the best ever. Great. Now dial up the cinnamon flavor, make it more buttery, add in pecans and a heavy dose of caramel, and picture it c...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/cinnamon-babka

Layers of plush and buttery yeasted bread and slightly bitter dark chocolate, sweetened with syrup, twisted up and baked in a Bundt pan ... that’s right, it’s our take on chocolate babka! Bab...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-chocolate-babka

There are countless ways to break down poultry, depending on the culinary tradition you’re working in and/or the way you plan to use the various parts. For example, breaking down a bird requir...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/10-piece-country-cut-chicken-break-down

Italian beef? Yes, chef! Ever since The Bear came out, everyone’s been running around calling each other chef, and everyone and their cousin have been asking us to put out an ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-italian-beef

When you order an Italian beef sandwich, you can get it hot, sweet, or both. Getting it hot means you want it with , the pickled mixed vegetables condiment used in so many iconic Chicago foods, i...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/roasted-sweet-pepper-giardiniera

If you’re going to make a proper , you need the right roll. A roll that’s soft and squishy with a tight, even crumb that can stand up easily to a generous splash of gravy or a full dip. A rol...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/italian-sandwich-rolls

We’ve been hard at work producing a series of recipes for the ultimate versions of standard muffin flavors: , , , , . Each one treats muffins like the little cakes they are, and we spared no ef...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/master-muffin-recipe

Who wants ? Maybe the better question is: Who doesn’t want chocolate cake for breakfast? With a super-tender crumb, cocoa powder and dark chocolate chunks in the batter, and a chocolat...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/double-chocolate-muffins

Banana-nut muffins are S-tier muffins. They're one of the tried-and-true flavor combos that most anyone would welcome at breakfast, so good that even when the muffin itself is kind of dry or blan...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-banana-nut-muffin

Break out your , folks, because it’s time to fry some cornballs! Hush puppies are basically fried cornbread nuggets. Packed with cubes of smoky tasso ham, cheddar, and sliced scallions, these n...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/cheddar-tasso-ham-hush-puppies-with-apple-honey

Dirty rice is an iconic Creole dish of seasoned rice mixed with chopped up, cooked down offal, often chicken livers and giblets. The “dirty” in the name refers to the speckled brown coloring ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/dirty-fried-rice

Christmas pudding is a classic holiday dessert with medieval roots that serves as a great introduction to the wild world of British cuisine. It’s a pudding but not a . It’s a dessert, packed ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/christmas-pudding

Porchetta—a whole boned out pig, seasoned, and roasted until the skin is crisp and the meat is meltingly tender and juicy—is almost impossible to get right at home. We say almost impossible b...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-porchetta

Chicken Kyiv is a classic, if dated, dish consisting of pounded chicken cutlets wrapped around cold compound butter packed with garlic and herbs, breaded, and deep fried—essentially a chicken c...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-chicken-kiev

Clarified butter is a staple of kitchens all over the world, prized for its rich flavor and relatively high smoke point. Unlike whole butter, clarified butter is cooked until the fat, milk solids...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/clarified-butter-ghee

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that caramelizing onions takes way longer than any recipe would have you believe. Until now. The issue most cooks have with following instructions for cara...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/precision-caramelized-onions

Pâté en croûte is the pinnacle of charcuterie. Endlessly variable and brutally difficult to prepare well, it’s a test of a cook’s ingenuity, skill, and creativity. Few preparations involve...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pate-en-croute

Real-deal porchetta is a beautiful thing: A whole, boned-out pig, seasoned with fennel and garlic, roasted until the skin is crispy and glassy and the meat is meltingly tender and juicy. Chop it ...

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-roast-porchetta