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I used to think that herb stems were scraps. The best you could do was to compost them, but more than likely, I thought, they should just end up in the trash. Herbs are great, you use their leaves, end of story. Turns out, I could not have been more wrong.

Cooking fish is one of those things that looks easy, but can go awry so quickly. I can't tell you the number of times I got myself a nice skin-on filet for dinner only to have it turn out in a way that was so much less than I desired. One of the things that always got me was the skin part.

Hard-boiled eggs are an easy snack, a good source of protien, and delicious on a salad. They're also fairly easy to make, but just like all things that are fairly easy to make, it doesn't mean they come out perfectly every time. In fact, there are some common mistakes to avoid while making hard-boiled eggs.

For years, I depended on getting my vinaigrettes from the grocery store in a bottle. There's no shame in that method—having it handy in the fridge encouraged me to eat more salads even when I wasn't feeling up to making all that much. Vinaigrette was one of those cooking mental hurdles I had to get over, like lining a pan in parchment paper when I'm making a cake. Yes, it's easy, but I found it tedious, and I often just skipped it.

Caramel is delicious. The simple combination of sugar and water, cooked until it has a golden brown color, is great by itself and also the basis for all sorts of interesting dishes. Add vinegar and you've got a gastrique, in addition to lots of other fancy sauces. Add butter and cream and you've got a caramel sauce that's a perfect ice cream topping.

David Zilber is something of a fermentation legend. Since 2016, he's run the pioneering fermentation lab at Noma, and this October, he and chef/co-owner René Redzepi published a stunningly detailed guide to fermentation, offering home cooks and curious eaters an unprecedented glimpse into the fascinating mechanics of the centuries-old technique, with recipes.