#recipe-testing

#recipe-testing

I was always obsessed with something. The food writer began testing cooking methods after stumbling across commenters butting heads under an article proclaiming the "best way" to cook bacon. Spotting the controversy behind an innocuous topic, Ella launched a regular "absolute best test" column for Food52, and experiments went wild.

There's nothing better than making a warm, creamy Buffalo chicken dip when I'm hosting guests. So, I tried recipes from celebrity chefs Trisha Yearwood, Pat Neely, and Claire Robinson to see which famous figure had the tastiest dip. Here's how each one stacked up. I gathered ingredients like chicken breasts, blue cheese, scallions, garlic, and onions. Ted Berg Yearwood's recipe called for more fresh ingredients than the others, which I appreciated.

Researching Slate's 25 Most Important Recipes project last year reminded me just how transformative a great cookbook can be. Works like The Silver Palate Cookbook and The Vegetarian Epicure introduced new methods, new ingredients, and new flavors to American home chefs of their eras, helping them think about cooking and eating in ways that felt revolutionary. My kitchen could sure use a revolution, I realized. So I decided to spend 2025 cooking new recipes from new cookbooks and chronicling the results.

I've spent the last decade honing this recipe with my husband Alex: interviewing pizzeria chefs, traveling to Italy to taste authentic Neapolitan pizza, and making countless pizzas in our kitchen. This master dough recipe makes the perfect chewy texture, crispy golden brown crust, and complex flavor. You don't even need special equipment: just your bare hands and a passion for pizza!

"One of the most eye-opening facts about Garten is that she and her team test each recipe up to 25 times before it is approved for publication."