Playing Favorites – FoodWatcher

Antoni Porowski Needs You to Get This Dutch Oven

Antoni Porowski—advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, host of Netflix’s Queer Eye, cookbook author, proud dog dad, and…investor? Well, not in the financial way (though I guess that doesn’t hurt), but as in investing time and energy into his loved ones, a well-li…

Antoni Porowski—advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, host of Netflix’s Queer Eye, cookbook author, proud dog dad, and…investor? Well, not in the financial way (though I guess that doesn’t hurt), but as in investing time and energy into his loved ones, a well-lived life, and of course, his cooking.

“Leading up to the pandemic, I was so reactive,” he said. “I was on the express train busting out season after season of Queer Eye, writing cookbooks, going to events, and doing all these different things. And then suddenly everything came to a full stop and I was left with my feelings, my boyfriend, a foster dog, and therapy sessions.” He made good use of that time by putting his energy into things that always intrigued him but never had time for, like perfecting the art of soft scrambled eggs or baking through Ina Garten recipes.

Grossy Pelosi Really, Really Loves This Mandoline

Welcome to Playing Favorites, a new monthly series that puts our most beloved tools and gadgets front and center. Check in each month as our favorite cooks, authors, designers, and experts share what they reach for over and over again. From the dust-bu…

Welcome to Playing Favorites, a new monthly series that puts our most beloved tools and gadgets front and center. Check in each month as our favorite cooks, authors, designers, and experts share what they reach for over and over again. From the dust-buster that misses nothing to the blender that tackles anything and the packing cubes that make travel a cinch, it’s the one time when playing favorites is a good thing.

If you feel like you’ve only heard about Dan “Grossy” Pelosi in the last two years, technically, you wouldn’t be wrong. Pelosi became somewhat of a big deal among millennials and Gen Z-ers on Instagram during the pandemic in large part due to his Italian grandmother energy on Instagram. “I sometimes joke that I was raised in lockdown because I'm Italian-American, and we just stay home and cook all day,” says Pelosi. “We’re obsessed with grocery shopping, stocking the pantry, and wondering about what we’re gonna eat for the next meal…while we’re eating the current meal.”

How I Decluttered My Giant Stack of Notebooks, Once & for All

I began my journey to declutter the volumes of paper I’d amassed like I do most daunting tasks: with equal parts trepidation and determination. After spending months sorting through, organizing, and recycling my excessive paper belongings, I knew I never wanted to (nor could I mentally and physically) commit to such an undertaking ever again. The primary culprits? Copies of old manuscripts, drafts of books in various stages of progress, and dozens of notebooks where I’d written out the stories before I typed them.

The Internet’s Favorite Grandmother on Her 10-Year-Old Meat Thermometer

Almost half a century later, Barbara “Babs” Costello still remembers being so embarrassed about serving undercooked oven-fried chicken to her cousin at a dinner party. “I thought the chicken looked totally done,” says the social media personality, viral TikTok star, and now author of Celebrate with Babs: Holiday Recipes & Family Traditions. “We took our knives and dug in, but the pieces in the center were red, almost blood red, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, stop eating!’ I was so worried about food poisoning, it was not good. It went back in for 15-20 mins and we tried it again.”

The Essential Tool Sam Seneviratne Uses for Any (Every) Bake

It’s safe to say that Sam Seneviratne knows her way around baking equipment. After all, she’s a baker (of course), James Beard Award-nominated food writer, three-time cookbook author, food stylist, and Food52 Resident. And while she can probably bake to the same degree of success with jerry-rigged tools and creative thinking as with a whole fleet of gadgets, she’d definitely still prefer having a trusty set of spatulas on hand—especially the two from our FiveTwo Ultimate Baking Set.

The Special Candle That Makes Erin McDowell’s House Feel Like Home

Being home means two very different things to me. It’s a battle of the two sides: my hustlin’, bustlin’ work-from-home self and the part of me that really needs a relaxing place to unwind.