Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee

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Fish sauce is a staple in many Asian kitchens, especially in Southeast Asian cuisine. In Vietnam, it’s combined with lime juice, sugar, garlic, and chiles to make a table dipping sauce. In my family, we use it in place of salted shrimp or other fermented seafood for easy kimchi-making.
Fish sauce is great in stir-fried dishes, soups, marinades, salad dres...

It's not the sink, the fridge door handle, or the garbage bin.
Did you know that 20 percent of foodborne illnesses are caused by contamination in home kitchens? That means one out of every five people who get sick from food poisoning caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungus made the food at home. A recent study published by Journal of Food Protection—it was funded by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service— revealed something even more enlightening.

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The best taco holder on the market? The Prepara Multiple Taco Holder, hands down. It’s reversible, gorgeous, and sturdy enough to last through Taco Tuesdays for years to come. For a budget-friendly pick, the Cuisense Taco Holders is available in a set of six for less than $10.
Eating and making tacos are a joy and a challenge....

Sizzling meat without the fiery heat of a tabletop grill.
We all love that wonderful experience of going to a Korean BBQ joint with friends. There’s the camaraderie of sharing rounds of soju and beer while cooking seasoned meat over the fiery heat of a tabletop grill. Then going home and smelling like barbecue and garlic. This summer might not be the best time to sit around sharing food at a smokey restaurant, but don’t fret. You can still have that happy, communal experience at home with fam...

You may have seen The Biggest Little Farm, an enthralling documentary following John and Molly Chester’s Sisyphian struggle to create a sustainable organic farm on 200 barren acres of land in Ventura County. Across our country, this same mighty struggle to create fertile organic land is being orchestrated by hundreds of small farms. Our very own Gopher Glen Apple Farm achieved that coveted status 14 years ago through years of hard work and conscientious strategizing.
But like many apple orcha...

The subterranean air was thick and dank. A lightbulb hanging from the ceiling cast ominous shadows on the stone walls.
I crowded into a circle of strangers and peered into a large, teardrop-shaped clay vessel, one of many buried in the groundwater around me. Each qvevri (pronounced “KWEH-vree”) represents millennia of winemaking tradition unique to Georgia.
In the hallowed wine cave of the family-owned Ancestral Wine Cellar, outside of the picturesque town of Sighnaghi, I felt as if I were ins...

Don't judge a city by its cover, or in Seoul's case, usually a thin layer of smog. A closer examination reveals modern skyscrapers built around ancient palace grounds, crowded traditional markets that operate 24/7, and well-heeled businessmen drinking soju, Korea's traditional distilled alcohol, under tarp-covered stalls. Hidden among the honking horns and crowded subways are some of our favorite places to visit and experience in this ever-changing city.

It sounds like something out of a Hollywood film. It was December 1989, around Christmastime. Bill was working in real estate, and Barbara was a studio musician in Los Angeles. The Spencers met each other and clicked right away. They knew they wanted to create something together. The following summer, they bought some land in Paso Robles and started their first home garden a year later. That little garden grew to become Windrose Farm.
“We’re unintentional farmers,” says Barbara Spencer...

Lunar New Year was not always my favorite holiday. Growing up, my parents would wake us up in the cold winter dawn. My siblings and I would try to hide in the warmth of the blankets, but my dad would force us to get up in the still darkness. My mom would make us put on some stiff new hanbok, which was always uncomfortable, and we’d take some rickety train out into the Korean countryside to visit extended family and the family gravesite.

When I first started my writing career some 20-plus years ago, I had the fortune of staying at a women’s writers’ colony on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound. I was given my own cabin in the woods, a sanctuary away from my regularly busy life.

The colony’s resident cook kept a cookie jar full of sweet snacks to fuel our scribbles. One of my favorites was a thin sesame cookie. Back home, I figured out how to make it. My version has black sesame seeds, which adds a layer of depth and color to t...

Looking to take your latkes from ordinary potatoes to something truly amazing for Hanukkah this year? Leah Koenig, the Jewish culinary maven and cookbook author, has you covered. I recently had a lovely conversation with her via Zoom where she shared her very best latke secrets. Trust me, you're going to want to follow these simple but effective tips.
1. Don’t Be a Hero! Use Your Food Processor
For classic potato latkes, Koenig’s number one tip is to not be a hero and try to grate your potato...

Vallery Lomas knows her way around a baked good. Not only was she the winner of Season 4 of The "Great American Baking Show," she’s also the author of the newly released "Life is What You Bake It." As you might imagine, she knows a thing or two about how to make chocolate chip cookies. I was recently lucky enough to talk with the baker extraordinaire all about the iconic cookie—and trust me, you’re going to want to hear her best tips.
1. Age Your Dough in the Fridge to Develop Flavor
I know, ...

Chef Freddie Bitsoie is at the forefront of teaching about the techniques and ingredients that are indigenous to North America—and he wants to share his knowledge with you. Lucky for us, his new cookbook New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian does exactly that. “My book is really an introduction to Native cuisine,” he explains. “I believe that it's very Native American, but it's also written for people who live in a high-rise apartment building in New York City ...

A talk with Hawa Hassan on her cookbook, grandmothers, African cuisine, and being a flexible cook.
Hawa Hassan is a former model, home cook, cookbook author, and the CEO of the Somali condiment company, Basbaas.
We had barely begun talking last month when we started sharing our histories and love of food: Hawa was born in Mogadishu, Somalia and moved to Seattle at the age of seven. I was born in Korea and also moved to America at the age of seven. Although our backgrounds couldn’t be more dif...

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Perhaps you’ve run a silicone spatula or two in the course of your cooking and baking adventures—but what exactly sets them apart from other types of spatulas? One of the benefits of these silicone tools is that, unlike plastic ones, they are “chemically inert and stable,” according to Scientific Americ...