Author name: Noah Tanen

The Juiciest Pork Chops Start With This Fridge Staple

The secret to the juiciest, most flavorful pork chop is sitting right in your fridge—right there, at the bottom of a pickle jar you’ve nearly kicked.

Why can’t we apply the ingenuity of a jam jar cocktail or a peanut butter jar salad dressing to eleva…

My Secret to Perfectly Cooked Dried Beans Every Time

The perfect bean doneness can be elusive, often feeling deceptively challenging to achieve. Putting a pot of beans on to simmer can feel like an act of faith, and it sometimes seems like you’ll never reach that ideal creamy, tender bite. But then—final…

The Perfect Temperature for Venison? Medium Rare

This feels like the right time to tell you that I’m on a journey to learn how to cook venison. Not the farmed stuff—all respect to New Zealand, but that is a totally different thing. I’m talking about true wild, hunted venison.
For now, I’ll have to sk…

All The Midwest Thin-Crust Pizza Styles, Ranked

Welcome to Off the Eaten Path, a series where our Test Kitchen creator Noah Tanen dives deep into regional recipes. Next up? Midwest thin-crust pizza.

If you’re a Chicago deep-dish enthusiast, move along, this article is not for you. Ok, now that that…

Scrapple Is the Breakfast Meat of Super Bowl Champions

Welcome to Off the Eaten Path, a series where our Test Kitchen creator Noah Tanen dives deep into regional recipes. Next up? Scrapple.

Scrapple, for the uninitiated, is a dish true to its name. At diners and breakfast tables across Philadelphia, the…

This Winter, Gruel Is So Back

I’m calling it: Gruel is coming back in a big way. You could chalk it up to a collective nostalgia, the rising cost of ingredients, or the popularity of all things whole and high quality grains. There’s even a stone mill and whole grain bakery slotted …

The Perfect Party Drink is Only Two Ingredients

First things first: For the uninitiated, a kalimotxo is equal parts red wine and cola served over ice, often with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. It’s a Spanish drink, a classic from the Basque Country but enjoyed all over. It’s also a party drink: l…

We Can’t Believe It Either: Malört is Trending

This just in: Malört, the bitter wormwood liqueur long popular across greater Chicagoland, is going national. The Windy City’s greatest secret is out, and you’re now just as likely to find this bartender’s handshake in a Bushwick cocktail bar as you ar…

Welcome to the Magic of Making Your Own Mustard

Real talk: There’s nothing wrong with buying your favorite brand of whole grain dijon or that electric yellow squeeze bottle, but making your own mustard is surprisingly simple—and even a little fun. I go through the condiment at what some would consid…

We’re Calling It: This Will Be the Cocktail of 2025

2021 had the Espresso Martini. 2022, the Negroni Sbagliato. And now that 2025 is officially here, we can’t help but take our best guess at what food and drink trends are about to explode. If there’s one cocktail poised to soar in popularity this year,…