Food — How-To Videos, Articles, & Inspiration « Food

How To: Dry basil and tarragon without them turning brown

Drying herbs using this method works well for herbs like basil, mint and tarragon. Herbs that don't have the fleshy body like sage Drying herbs like tarragon can be a bit trickier than fleshy herbs like sage. Tarragon is said to be great for your blood pressure and is a wonderful addition to things like soups and stews. Its also adds wonderful freshness to an early morning omelet. After a rough chop and time to dry, these herbs will hold their color and flavor until you are ready to use them....

How To: Make a dog out of fondant for cake decorating

In this how to video learn the basics on how to make a dog out of fondant icing. This technique for cake decorating is great for beginners. To finish off your sweet fondant puppy, paint a little white spot in the eye, it makes a difference to the look, so don't you forget to do it.

How To: Brighten Up Your Party with These Cool Glow-in-the-Dark Cocktails

If you want to start the party out right, you have to impress the crowd with your awesome bartending skills. While lighting cocktails on fire is a nice way to warm up the crowd, it's been done by thousands of bartenders across the globe. Plus, if you're not careful, you could end up like this guy:

How To: Make Your Own Red Bull Energy Drink at Home—Minus All of the Chemicals

Most people need their morning pick-me-up to get the day started right. There's a Starbucks on every corner and caffeine "shots" are sold in convenience stores everywhere. Even Mountain Dew is getting in on the action with its new KickStart "breakfast" drink (whatever that means). With a whopping 5% real fruit juice!

How To: Cook crispy rice noodles

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make crispy rice noodles. Begin with a 6-8 oz package of vermicelli rice noodles and soak them in water for 20 minutes. Then drain the noodles into a colander and let the dry. Now add 2-3 cups of peanut oil into a wok and heat it on high temperature. Then add in a handful of the rice noodles and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Now remove the crispy noodles and place them on a paper towel to remove some of the oil. This video will benefit those viewers...

How To: Use fondant imprint mats to transfer designs to your fondant cake

Fondant imprint mats are like the rubber stamps of the cake decorating world. Stenciled with various shapes and motifs, fondant imprint mats are used to transfer designs onto a cake, taking the guesswork out of creating symmetrical hearts and other doodles.

How To: Prepare Moringa Tea

Moringa oleifera is one of the most rich sources of nutrients and vitamins that our body needs. It is rich in calcium, potassium, beta-carotene, Vitamin C, and iron. Moringa can be prepared as a vegetable or included in soups, but mostly just the leaves and fruits are used. Others prefer to drink it as tea.

HowTo: Eat a Human

Every once in a while, we highlight a questionable Faux-To on WonderHowTo. For example, tested false by Mythbusters and others, the tennis ball car break-in method appears to be completely debunk (even though Russell Crow pulls it off in his latest film, "The Next Three Days").

How To: Make crunchy tempura flakes for sushi

Vraymond02 shows how to make crunchy tempura flakes. Start by peeping a pan that will be used for draining. Mix your wet ingredients together, then put flour, water, and egg whites together to form your batter. Strain your batter, then heat your oil on high heat. Pour your batter slowly into the oil; drain when you're done. It should be crispy when done. If it's poured too fast or too much is poured at once it will bake a big dough ball that won't be right. Break the pieces up, wait 5-10 minu...

How To: Smooth out the lumps in your gravy when cooking

Don't give up when your gravy clumps! There are four simple tricks you can use to smooth out lumpy gravy - use a wire whisk to break up large lumps, use a wire strainer to strain out the lumps, mix in a flour and water mixture, or run it through a blender.

How To: Open a can using a Swiss Army Knife

This is a video demonstrating how to open a can with a Swiss Army Knife can opener. To begin, place the can on a flat surface. Open the can opener on the Swiss Army Knife. Make sure that the hook of the can opener is on the outer ring of the can and that the cutting part is on the inside. Use the blade to puncture a hole in the can, pulling up on the handle and pushing the blade along the can. Move the can in a counter clockwise motion cutting along the way. Use the tip of the can opener to p...

How To: Air dry flowers made from buttercream frosting to use as cake decorations

If you need to make lots of frosting flowers (such as for decorating a wedding cake), you can make many of the flowers ahead of time and then let them air dry before putting them on your cake. This video shows you how to make hydrangeas, gardenias, roses and Gerber daisies out of buttercream frosting.

How To: Make pichi-pichi (Filipino dessert)

Ingredients 2 cups grated cassava

How To: Cook your green beans so they keep their color

In this tutorial, we learn how to cook your green beans so they keep their color. The secret ingredient you can add to your boiling water while cooking your green beans is ice! This will help the green and yellow colors from appearing in your green beans! It will keep the color a beautiful green and not mix in any other colors. To start, put enough water to cover the green beans in a saute pan and then heat it up, put in the green beans and as you cook them add in ice cubes. When finished, ad...

How To: Use letter cutters on fondant or gumpaste

Cutting out letters from modeling paste or gumpaste can be very awkward. This how to video shows you how to use letter cutters on fondant with some ease. So watch, learn, and start decorating.

How To: Turn your fresh tomatoes into crushed

Ian Knauer, food editor from Gourmet Magazine, is going to show you how to turn fresh tomatoes into crushed tomatoes in no time. First, you must take a fresh tomato and just slice it in half, now grab a 4 sided grater and start grating the tomato using the large holes. You should do this over a bowl because that's where all your crushed tomato is going to end up. You must grate the tomato (the skin should begin to peel) until your left with just the peel of the tomato left in your hand, which...

How To: Make a fondant pig

This is a very easy and quick sugarcraft tutorial using fondant (sugarpaste) which you can follow easily. Decorate your cake with a little pig: Take one ball and shape it nicely by rolling it between your two palms; this is for the head. Watch this video to learn more.

How To: Make Indian butter milk from curd

Sanjay Thumma teaches the secret of making north and south Indian buttermilk from curd. For the south Indian type finely chop down some green chilies, curry leaves, coriander and a crushed piece of ginger. Use some roasted cumin and roll it down to powder it as shown. Blend a cup of curd with 2 cups of water and add a pinch of salt to it. Finally add all other ingredients to the buttermilk to complete it in south Indian style. Now for the north Indian style add some cumin powder and chaat mas...

How To: Use a Swiss Army knife cork screw to open wine

This video demonstrates how to use the cork screw attachment on your Swiss Army Knife. The Swiss Army Knife is an important tool to have while backpacking in Europe. It has a variety of uses including opening wine bottles. Begin by putting the cork screw into the cork. Find the middle of the cork and push the tip into the center. Twist the cork into the center. Because cheap bottles of wine often have corks that have deteriorated, it is important to place the cork screw in the center of the c...

How To: Prepare a gourmet beef stroganoff

This video tells us the method to prepare a gourmet beef stroganoff. Take 3/4lb sirloin steak tip. Cover it with 1 teaspoon of soya sauce. Cover it and put in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes. Take 1/2 teaspoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. After this, heat 1/2 teaspoon of salad oil and let it smoke at medium high. Brown both sides of the meat. Take out the meat when the internal temperature registers 125 10 130 degrees fahrenheit. Add 1/2 lb mushrooms...

How To: Turn coarse sooji (semolina) into fine sooji

There are thousands of different types of sooji, also known as semolina, to work with when cooking, but who has enough pantry space to keep all these varieties in stock at once? The trick to always having the sooji you need is to purchase a coarse variety and then grind it down to the consistency you want for the recipe.

How To: Cook eggs over a campfire without a frying pan

Nothing's better than frying up some eggs over the morning fire when you're camping. The smell of the outdoors, the heat of the fire, the bubbling of the eggs as they sit in that hot pan. But wait, what if you don't have a pan? If you don't have one, or you'd like to save the space in your camping bags, then try this out…

How To: Make perfect rice in a cast iron skillet

In this video, we learn how to make the perfect rice in an cast iron skillet. First, place 1 cup of basmati rice into the skillet with 1 and 1/2 cup of water. Now, add in 1 tsp of butter and 1/2 tsp of salt into the skillet and turn it on high heat, and let it come to a simmer. Once it starts to simmer, stir it and turn the heat to low, then cover it. Let it sit for 20 minutes, and don't uncover it while you're waiting. When the 20 minutes is up, remove the lid for three seconds, then place t...

How To: Remove seeds from canned tomatoes

CHOW member Eric Higgins uses whole canned tomatoes to cook. As their seeds spoil the food by giving a bitter taste, he gives us step-by-step instructions to remove them using a salad spinner.

How To: Make miniature sugarpaste bumble bees and ladybugs

The trouble with decorating cupcakes vs. cakes is that cupcakes offer a much more limited amount of space on which to pour on decor. But perhaps this just means you have to miniaturize everything.

How To: Tenderize skirt steak

This video demonstrates how to tenderize the skirt steak. For this, the first thing to do is to place the skirt steak on the cutting board. Now with the help of the point side of the meat mallet, start hitting the steak to tenderize it. Once you have thoroughly hit the meat with the mallet for a few minutes, you can stop. What happens here is when you hit the meat with the meat mallet it causes the meat fibers to break up and this makes it more tender. This is the simple process involved in t...

How To: Roast a pig Hawaiian style

This video shows how to throw a Hawaiian pig roast. Remember, the most important part is to drink while you prep the pig and build the fire. Just do not burn yourself or undercook it. The longer you leave it in the ground, the better it is.

How To: Wash, cut, open, and eat a pomegranate

Eating a pomegranate for the first time can be a daunting task. This great tutorial by RawKristen demonstrates, step by step, how to wash the fruit, cut it open and which parts to eat. Both nutritious and delicious, the pomegranate is an excellent addition to your diet that you shouldn't pass by during your next visit to the grocery store. This tutorial covers helpful knife handling techniques and tips, advice on how to choose a ripe fruit and how to get the most out of what is inside.

How To: Make frittatas from leftovers with Giada De Laurentiis

Frittatas are a delicious and healthy meal. They include almost all of your food groups and are packed with fiber. The basic concept behind frittatas are that you can throw whatever leftovers you have into a bowl with eggs and create a unique version every day! In this recipe, Giada De Laurentiis from the Food Network shows you how to make a lighter version with egg whites so that you can avoid some of those calories and cholesterol. Enjoy!

How To: Make instant noodles on the stove

To make instant noodles you would need a pot, a pair of chopsticks, scissors, napkin and most importantly the right instant noodles that you want. Start by opening the noodle bag using the scissors. Empty the contents by removing the packets of flavoring first. Toss the noodles into the pot and add some water. Place the pot on top of the stove and heat it up to a boiling degree. Once the water would boil, mix in the flavoring for an added taste. Use the chopsticks to stir the contents well un...

News: The TurBaconEpic (a Bird in a Bird in a Bird in a Bird in a Bird in a Pig)

Happy Thanksgiving from WonderHowTo. (I think I'm going to hurl.) 20 pounds of pig (17,304 calories; 679 grams of fat)

How To: Cut and serve a dragon fruit (also known as pitahaya)

Interested in cutting up a dragon fruit? With the proper technique, it's easier than you'd think. So easy, in fact, that this free video cooking lesson can present a complete overview of the process in about two minutes. For more information, including the full recipe, and to get cutting up your own pitahayas, watch this video guide.

How To: Cook sweet potatoes in the oven or on the grill

The sweet potato is a healthy, versatile ingredient that you can use in many ways. In this video, you'll learn a variety of ways you can cook sweet potatoes, from baking to grilling. You'll also get some great suggestions on topping the sweet potatoes for added flavor.

How To: Make a Bicycle Ice Cream Maker

All you need is salt, ice, milk, sugar, and a bicycle to make ice cream in 10 minutes. The ice cream maker is mounted onto your bike. As you pedal, it churns the ice cream. After ten minutes, delicious ice cream is created from your pedal power. Pedal-powered deliciousness!

How To: Make a Valentine Sushi Roll

In this video, we're instructed in the art of a Valentine sushi roll, a perfect little gift that's easy to prepare, and sweet even in non-Valentine's Day circumstances.

How To: Master cool hibachi cooking tricks

If you think that all the videos out there on how to cook on a hibachi are way too fast, then this is the video to watch. This how to video is for beginners. It is a simple video with a few hibachi cooking tricks for any novice to start learning and add their owns.