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Lettuce wraps are the perfect low-carb vehicle for chicken

Lettuce wraps are the perfect low-carb vehicle for delicious fillings. We wanted a light but flavor-packed filling and knew an Asian-inspired flavor profile was the way to go. Chicken lettuce wraps are most often made with ground or chopped chicken thighs. To lighten up our wraps, we turned to a combo of nutty, fiber-rich brown rice and store-bought lean ground chicken. Easy to make, we seasoned the chicken filling with minced jalapeno, fish sauce, and lime zest and juice. The bold flavors and simple ingredient list made this dish an easy weeknight dinner. Be sure to use ground ...

When it comes to pot roast, keeping it simple is the best

When it comes to pot roast, keeping it simple is sometimes best. We started with a chuck-eye roast, a well-marbled cut that is great for braising. Splitting the roast in two allowed us to trim excess fat and cut down on cooking time. A stovetop sear created a nicely caramelized exterior; transferring the covered Dutch oven to the oven promoted even cooking and prevented scorching over the long cooking time. Adding carrots, potatoes, and parsnips to the pot partway through braising ensured that the vegetables didn't overcook and become mushy. We added wine to the sauce after braising ...

Can’t get a whole pig? You can still make a yummy porchetta

Traditionally, Italian porchetta is a whole pig that is spit-roasted to produce fall-apart tender, rich pieces of slow-cooked pork, aromatic with garlic, fennel seeds, rosemary, and thyme. It's served with pieces of crisp skin on a crusty roll. Seeing as most people don't have a rotisserie in their kitchen, or access to whole pigs, porchetta is a tricky recipe to adapt for cooking at home. After testing a few different cuts, we settled on pork butt, which is cut from the upper portion of the shoulder and has a good amount of fat to keep the meat moist and flavorful without making it ...

Pretty holiday cookies that don’t taste like cardboard

Making holiday cookies_the rolled, cutout, and glazed butter-cookie variety_is everyone's favorite December activity. Unfortunately, these cookies either look good but taste like cardboard or have buttery, rich flavor but lack visual appeal. We wanted a simple recipe that would produce cookies sturdy enough to decorate yet tender enough to be worth eating. Superfine sugar helped to achieve a delicate texture, and using the reverse-creaming method_beating the butter into the flour-sugar mixture_prevented the formation of air pockets and produced flat cookies that were easy to ...

Great glazed chicken is possible, thanks to beer can

Most glazed roast chicken recipes offer some variation on these instructions: Roast a chicken as you would normally, painting on a sweet glaze 15 to 30 minutes before the bird is done. It sounds simple, but following these recipes actually turns up a host of troubles, as the problems inherent in roasting chicken (dry breast meat, flabby skin, big deposits of fat under the skin) are compounded by the problems of a glaze (won't stick to the meat, burns in patches, introduces moisture to already flabby skin). Yet we know that great glazed chicken is possible. We set out to develop a ...

For a classic rendition of chicken soup, use thighs

This classic rendition of chicken soup starts the old- fashioned way, by making a from-scratch broth. But instead of using a whole chicken we turned to meaty chicken thighs, which kept things easier; they also added intense, meaty flavor to the broth. To cut down on greasiness, we removed the skin after browning and before letting the thighs simmer along with the chopped and sauteed onion and bay leaves. Since most people prefer white meat in their chicken soup, we simply poached two boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the simmering broth, removing them when tender to add to the soup ...