March 29, 2024

Web and Technology News

What we bought: The Breville Juice Fountain Plus is a surprisingly useful jet engine

My dad bought me Breville’s Juice Fountain for a very specific purpose: to recreate the horse’s neck cocktail he’d enjoyed on a snowy evening at the High West distillery saloon in Utah. The drink calls for a quarter ounce of ginger juice, and if you’ve…

It’s Cooking Week at Engadget!

If we’re honest, we’re kind of obsessed with food here at Engadget. Senior news editor Billy Steele is a backyard pitmaster and has the finsta to prove it. Editor-in-chief Dana Wollman treats her NYT Cooking recipe box the way gamers treat their backlog. Commerce writer Nicole Lee has channeled her passions into Instant Pot, sous vide and rice cooker experimentations. And my transition into an Italian grandmother is nearly complete with my preference for laboriously homemade pasta sauce over the stuff in store-bought jars. We turn to foodie YouTube and TikTok late at night; we trade recipes in Slack; and we often use this stellar Guy Fieri emoji when things are, as the kids say, chef’s kiss.

We live for food when we’re not living for tech, so many of us jumped at the opportunity to cook for work. Enter Cooking Week, our first kitchen-focused series, where we explore the intersection of cooking and tech, while also testing out some of the most popular — and wackiest — kitchen gadgets available right now. We dove into the worlds of grills, immersion blenders and, yes, air fryers, and tried out some high-tech appliances that were intimidating at first, but that we eventually mastered.

Long-time Engadget readers will know that we’ve written about kitchen gadgets before. We’ve been able to squeeze in mentions of electric kettles and pizza ovens over the years, but we see Cooking Week as our first official love letter to food on Engadget. We hope that you enjoy reading these stories as much as we enjoyed writing them (or, even better, as much as we enjoyed eating the spoils of our testing).

Check out all of the Cooking Week stories right here.

The best online resources for cooking at all skill levels

A key part of adulting is learning to feed ourselves. Some might opt for restaurants or takeout for sustenance, but that can get expensive. The best option is to learn to cook your own meals. That might sound harsh, especially if cooking doesn’t sound fun to you, but there are a plethora of resources online for cooks of all levels. Be it beginner how-tos or deep-dive YouTube videos, we hope this list of Engadget staff favorites will get you started on your path to culinary confidence. Oh, and if you’re ever confused about measurements, a tool like this recipe converter is a good reference to keep on your bookmarks tab.

Recipe sites

Serious Eats

If you self-identify as a nerd and you’re also into cooking, you probably already know about Serious Eats. The site rose to prominence several years ago under the helm of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, who often takes a decidedly scientific approach to cooking. Lopez-Alt has since transitioned to a consulting role at Serious Eats (he has his own vlog, which is well worth following as well), but the site remains strong under new leadership. It offers tips on basics like food prep and storage, as well as a slew of how-tos and step-by-step instructions for everything from breaking down a chicken to kneading your own bread.

Try this: Quick and Easy Pressure Cooker Black Beans with Chorizo

NYT Cooking

This is the only recommendation on this list that requires payment — $1.25 a week or $40 a year — but I personally think it’s worth it. The site and accompanying app (for iOS and Android) is well organized and intuitive to use, with bright and colorful photos along with an ever-changing list of curated recipe recommendations and suggestions. I especially like the search function, where you can not only enter in the ingredients you have on hand, but also filter by the sort of meal you want to make iIs it for breakfast? A snack? Or dinner?) along with any dietary restrictions. If you don’t want to cough up the subscription fee, however, NYT’s YouTube channel is a great resource as well.

Try this: Spiced chickpea stew with coconut and turmeric (YouTube)

The Kitchn

The Kitchn is a daily food magazine that’s been around since the mid-2000s, and it frequently serves up not just recipes but also fun features like a celebrity recipe showdown (check out this one that compares the pot roast recipes between Alton Brown, Ina Garten, Taste of Home and the Pioneer Woman). Of course, The Kitchn also publishes plenty of tips and tricks to help readers be a better cook. 

Try this: Maple Corn Cakes

YouTube channels

Food Wishes

“Hello, I’m Chef John, from Food Wishes dot com” is the familiar refrain that you’ll hear at the beginning of every Food Wishes video, and it never fails to warm my heart. His tone is so welcoming and cheerful that it cheers me up every time I hear it. A YouTube favorite (he has over four million subscribers), he’s also a favorite among a few Engadget staffers, and for good reason. Not only is he goofy and charming, his recipes are also almost always geared toward the novice chef, with clear and concise instructions. He also encourages viewers to experiment, use their senses, play around with food, and to think of cooking as art as much as science.

Try this: No-Knead Country Bread

Binging with Babish

Binging with Babish is a popular YouTube channel (over 9.6 million subscribers) that’s primarily focused on recreating foods from TV shows and movies. Some famous examples include the Krabby Patty from Spongebob Squarepants and ratatouille from, well, Ratatouille. But host Andrew Rea can cook “normal” foods too, and the popularity of his channel led him to host a spin-off series called “Basics with Babish” that’s geared toward the beginner.

Try this: Chickpeas

Food52

The Food52 website can be considered a one-stop shop for cooking enthusiasts, as there’s an online store along with recipes and a community board. But the real highlight for me is its YouTube channel, which features excellent shows such as Sweet Heat by Rick Martinez (the former Bon Appetit editor showcases recipes with both a sweet and spicy element), Big Little Recipes (focuses on recipes with a short ingredient list) and Genius Recipes, which, well, shows “genius” recipes created by notable chefs.

Try this: How to Make the Easiest Beefy Mac Rice Cakes

Dessert Person

Have a sweet tooth? Then look no further than Claire Saffitz’s YouTube channel, where she bakes up everything from apple pies to oatmeal pecan cookies. Her personality is a combination of cranky and lovable, which I adore, but more importantly, her recipes are excellent. She gives very detailed instructions and the results are almost always delicious. She makes a lot of savory baked goods as well, such as sourdough bread and quiche.

Try this: The Best Oatmeal Cookies

Maangchi

Maagchi has been referred to by The New York Times as the Julia Child of Korean cooking, and the description couldn’t be more apt. Not only does she have a friendly and bubbly personality, she does a wonderful job of demystifying Korean cooking and making it approachable to beginners and advanced cooks alike. From Korean classics like kimchi jjigae and bibimbap to sweet treats like Korean doughnuts, she makes it all seem within reach. 

Try this: Korean Street Toast (Gilgeori-Toast)

Dietary concerns or special diets

101 Cookbooks

For a site that is entirely dedicated to vegetarian cuisine, I highly recommend 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson, which has been an online favorite for decades. I’m a huge fan of her simple, straightforward recipes that are able to turn a carnivore like me into a lover of plant-based meals (a personal favorite is this cauliflower soup).

Try this: Chickpea and Rice soup with Garlic Chile Oil

Nom Nom Paleo

You don’t need to be on the paleo diet to fall in love with Nom Nom Paleo, a mini-empire that consists of a food blog, two award-winning cookbooks, and a podcast, among other things. The New York Times has referred to Michelle Tam, the creator of the site, as the Martha Stewart of Paleo, because of how accessible she makes it seem. After perusing her site and trying her recipes, you’ll no longer think of the paleo diet as restrictive; instead you might find yourself eating more than ever. Tam has also tailored some of her recipes to fit Whole30 or keto diets as well.

Try this: Garbage Stir-Fry with Curried Cabbage

Clean and Delicious

If you’re not strictly vegetarian or paleo, but you still want a healthy diet, check out the Clean and Delicious food blog by Dani Spies. A wellness and weight loss coach, Spies believes in a balanced diet and “clean eating,” but without foregoing the foods you love. For example, there’s a recipe for lemon bars on her site, but it’s made with whole wheat flour and doesn’t have dairy or refined sugar. All of the recipes on her site reflect this philosophy; they’re either gluten-free, paleo, vegan or vegetarian and they are also often low-carb, keto, dairy-free or nut-free. I also like her Instagram and YouTube channel, where she also shares tips on mindful eating and healthy living.

Try this: Healthy Banana Bread Muffins (YouTube)

Staff recommendations

There are simply way too many food sites on the internet to list them all, but here are a few more that were recommended by our staff that you might find useful.

Chinese Cooking Demystified

This is one of the best YouTube channels for learning all the ins and outs of authentic Chinese cooking from people who actually live in China. It’s very detailed, well-produced and offers great advice on recreating these dishes in a Western kitchen. I also love that it teaches technique in addition to just recipes. To this day, I still come back to this video on how to stir-fry any vegetable.

Minimalist Baker

The blog Minimalist Baker features recipes that use 10 ingredients or less and only take about 30 minutes to make. Weekend Editor Igor Bonifacic is a big fan as well, mostly due to the site’s wealth of vegetarian recipes, like this curried cauliflower lentil soup.

Budget Bytes

Budget Bytes is a great resource for those watching their wallets, as each recipe gives you a breakdown of estimated costs for each ingredient. Commerce Editor Valentina Palladino said that the site is also really good for beginners.

Rainbow Plant Life

If you’re looking for vegan recipes, Rainbow Plant Life has a ton of them. Palladino loves the cashew cream recipe and appreciates that the site’s founder, Nisha, has a trove of vegan-friendly Instant Pot recipes to try as well.

Pick Up Limes

Another staple for accessible vegan recipes is Pick Up Limes. Palladino says that the Healthiest Ever Granola recipe is one of her favorites, and she likes that the Pick Up Limes website makes it easy to filter recipes by type of ingredients, preparation time, allergens and more.

Richard Bertinet’s White Bread Masterclass

Richard Bertinet’s video on white bread comes highly recommended for its sheer simplicity. It proves that all you need to make bread is bread flour, yeast and salt. Senior Reporter Dan Cooper says the video is also a sure-fire way of calming him down when stressed.

Half Baked Harvest

Editor-in-Chief Dana Wollman and Senior News Editor Billy Steele frequently trade Slack messages with dinner recommendations. (What’s for dinner? Ask a coworker, of course.) The answer from either person is often a Half Baked Harvest link. The site is home to a vast library of free recipes that, in our experience, tend to work as advertised. We’re fans of her nightly Instagram Story cooking demos as well, not to mention her tacos.

Joy the Baker

Wollman says she discovered Joy by accident through her warm, self-effacing Insta Stories, only to discover she has an equally clever blog offering a mix of sweet and savory baking recipes.

Arden brings BBQ indoors thanks to ‘smoke elimination’ technology

As the weather warms up, it’s time for aspiring pit masters to dust off their aprons and meat probes before heading outside for some low-and-slow cooking. Pellet grills have become a popular choice for backyard cooks as they offer the flavor of food cooked over wood with a much more convenient fuel source. However, you still have to go outside to use one, and unless you have a screened-in porch or shelter of some kind, cooking in the rain is no fun. And if you live in an apartment, chances are you can’t have a grill in the first place. FirstBuild, a product innovation lab backed by GE Appliances, has built Arden: an indoor smoker that burns wood pellets and “eliminates” the smoke so it’s safe to use in your kitchen.

Like an outdoor pellet grill, the Arden has a hopper for the fuel and burns it to produce smoke to flavor foods. The difference here is this countertop unit has a separate heating element that helps to regulate the temperature so it’s not solely relying on burning pellets to cook. FirstBuild says the Arden circulates smoke around the chamber before a “game-changing smoke-elimination technology” uses “a catalyst” to get rid of it. The company explains that the small appliance doesn’t have a filter you need to clean or replace, it just expels carbon dioxide and water vapor out of the back. Details are scarce on exactly what happens during that process, but it’s clear the thing doesn’t emit any smoke during a cook.

FirstBuild is using smoke elimination tech here that was built for the Monogram Smart Hearth Oven. That appliance is an in-wall electric unit that’s designed to mimic the performance of wood-fired brick ovens used in restaurants for pizza, baking and roasting. The company says the idea for a smoker was first implemented in an old GE fridge that had been converted to a BBQ cooker. In order to bring the device indoors to escape the weather, FirstBuild team outfitted it with the smoke trapping tech from the Hearth Oven. 

The company says the smoker generated a ton of interest from its community so it asked if people would buy one and how big it needed to be. The first answer was a resounding “yes,” and the second was that it needed to fit on the counter like other kitchen appliances. Unlike the old refrigerator, the Arden is a moveable unit, so you can stash it somewhere else when its not in use — unless you really want to dedicate counter space to showing it off. Despite easy moving, it’s still quite a large thing to have out all of the time.

The Arden is about the size of a mini fridge with enough capacity for two racks of ribs, a small brisket or “an average-sized” pork butt. The device can also accommodate a whole chicken standing up on a rack or beer can. Three removable shelves allow you to fit things as needed, but based on FirstBuild’s videos, you’ll need to cut racks of ribs in half to make them fit. Cook times remain the same as outdoor smokers, so you’re looking at three to five hours for ribs and up to 12 hours for a pork butt, for example. The Arden cooks at temperatures between 185-300 degrees Fahrenheit and it allows you to use a meat probe to monitor internal temp. It can also hold foods at a certain temperature once they’re done cooking in case you can’t get to them immediately. 

Since the Arden has separate heat sources for the pellets and the main heat setting, FirstBuild says the device offers more accurate overall temperature. The company says this smoker also uses a lot less pellets since they smolder for flavor instead of burning to heat an entire grill. While barbecuers seem to be impressed by the smoker flavor the Arden prototypes impart, Mad Scientist BBQ’s Jeremy Yoder noted that it’s not as “complex” in the overall profile. 

According to Yoder, the smoke flavor is more on the surface, so while you can certainly taste it, it hasn’t penetrated the meat like hardwood coals or a full-size pellet grill can manage (BBQ nerds will also notice the lack of a well-defined smoke ring). Yoder did confirm that the results on pork ribs are a massive improvement over what you can get faking it in a regular oven, and they were even better than what he’d had in some restaurants. There is a smoke level adjustment on the Arden control panel, so presumably you could dial that up to fit your desired taste profile. Speaking of smoke, it’s unclear if the smoker stops smoldering pellets temporarily if you open the door during the cooking process. 

Like it has in the past, FirstBuild is taking the crowdfunding approach for initial pre-orders. If you snag one via Indiegogo, the earliest devotees can secure it for $599. After that, you’ll get a $400 discount off the expected MSRP when the Arden goes on sale ($699 vs. $1,099). Prices will go up during the course of the campaign, so opting in sooner will save you some cash. The only downside to ordering early is backers will have to wait until summer 2023 to get one. However, the product lab crowdfunded the initial launch of the Opal Nugget Ice Maker in 2015 — raising over $2.5 million — so it has a history of delivering the goods. GE now offers a range of Opal machines, so it will be interesting to see what happens if the Arden hits or surpasses that mark.