Technique
Five knife habits that actually save time on a weeknight
We timed ourselves prepping the same dinner before and after changing five habits. The two that saved the most time had nothing to do with fancy cuts.
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Latest recipes and notes
Crisp Edge Kitchen is an independent home-cooking magazine: weeknight recipes, technique explainers and kitchen tests, written by cooks who test everything twice.
Pantry
A pantry map for 20-minute dinners
Twenty shelf-stable ingredients, sorted into bases, flavor and finish, and the six dinners they make between them. Plus how to restock without overbuying.
Vegetables
The tomato salad that taught us when to salt
Salt a sliced tomato 20 minutes ahead and it makes its own dressing. We tested four timings to find the window, then built a late-summer salad around it.
Baking
Sourdough discard crackers you'll make on purpose
A thin, crackly seeded cracker that uses a full cup of starter discard. Why a low oven matters, how thin to roll, and how to keep them crisp for weeks.
Weeknight
Sheet-pan chicken thighs with a pan sauce from the drippings
Crisp-skinned chicken thighs, onions and lemons roasted on one tray, plus a five-minute pan sauce made from what's left behind. Dinner in 50 minutes.
Kitchen tests
How salty should pasta water be? We measured four pots.
Forget 'salty as the sea.' We cooked spaghetti at four salt levels, weighed everything and found the range that seasons pasta without ruining the sauce.