The word “pepper” takes on many meanings in the kitchen. There’s black pepper, that natural—though perhaps unnecessary—foil to salt made by pulverizing …

Bite by bite, chef and writer Jenny Gao is changing the way Chinese diners think about Sichuan food, peppers, and chiles. Every …

I got hot sauce in my bag—and my pantry, my fridge, my pockets, my sock drawer, my blood. Swag. Down in the …

Stocking your kitchen with dried peppers and pepper sauces is a pretty good idea. But where to start? Most recipes, the savory …

Roaming the steeply banked hills of Kerala, a writer comes to terms with her aversion to black pepper. It certainly wasn’t the …

In Chengdu, Sichuan peppercorns are much more than just a numbingly spicy ingredient. I was born in Chengdu in the Sichuan province …

How a chef, cookbook author, and recovering medieval-history scholar became obsessed with the world of Carolina Reapers, Trinidad Scorpions, and the deadliest …

In the ’90s, 25 million Americans had bread machines. Today, they’re starting to come back. Back before at-home sous vide machines and …

In our post–Omnivore’s Dilemma era, when everyone seems to agree that fresh ingredients are categorically superior to processed ones, onion powder is …

Why is one of the simplest French dishes also one of the hardest to nail down? One recent weeknight, I cooked something …

Gingerbread, long held hostage by holiday-entertaining magazine spreads, is shedding its bulky sweater. That is, it’s perfect for warmer-weather baking.  When I’m …

The traditional method for making angel food cake is a pain in the ass. But there’s a better way. Angel food cake …

Explore the red, orange, yellow, and green world of knobby, misshapen heirloom tomatoes. They're delicious—trust us.

A one-stop ingredient to make your homemade ice cream thicker, smoother, and more flavorful. If you’ve ever labored over a batch of …

We have moved on from the pot brownie. A former Cook’s Illustrated staffer has cracked the cannabis code. That is, cooking smartly …

They might bury them in a fire pit. They might shake in some dry mustard. Moxie soda might find its way into …

Making a sourdough starter? Don’t be afraid to stray from the recipe and add a dead wasp or a leaf of roadside kale. Some months …

Trips to Hawaii are very, very expensive. But the “doughnuts” are so, so good! Our solution follows. Malasadas are often referred to …

Why have imitation meats fallen so thoroughly and unfairly out of favor with modern vegetarians? Late one evening recently, I found myself …

If your childhood lunchtime routine isn’t broken, then why should you fix it? At age seven, when I started at my new …

­­Many years of eating, cooking, and writing about food have left Scott Hocker with many stories to tell. In this occasional column …