Chowhound Editors’ Favorite Kitchen Tools for Spring 2019

Spring has officially sprung, which means it’s out with the old and in with the new. And when it comes to what’s new in your kitchen, consider Chowhound’s editorial team the experts on the latest and greatest products, appliances, and tools to hit the cooking scene. We’ve rounded up our top six favorite items (all on Amazon) to replace everything Marie Kondo inspired you to throw away. Check them out below and best of luck with spring cleaning!

Phonect SpeedBoil Electric Kettle

Price: $39.95 on Amazon (See It)

I LOVE this thing! It seems to boil even large batches of water way faster than our older stainless steel electric kettle, so everyone can have their tea or coffee in no time. You can also get a jump on boiling water for pasta or vegetables if (like me) you always forget to start the pot on the stove ahead of time. As a bonus, it has a bright blue light that’s legit pretty to watch as it’s boiling, with a sort of underwater aquarium effect. One con: It’s not a gooseneck style like we used to have, so not as good for precision pouring over coffee grounds, but it’s not a big deal. – Jen Wheeler, Associate Editor and Content Producer

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Culinary Couture Silicone Cooking Feeding Tongs

Price: $16.50 on Amazon (See It)

If there’s a set of kitchen tools I surprisingly can’t live without, it’s this bad boy. Whether it’s to mix sauce into pasta, turn meatballs in the oven, or flip a steak on the grill, tongs should be a staple in every kitchen. These also come in every color of the rainbow, so you can easily match the decor of your eating space (if it’s not already ruined by stains and splatters for not having tongs).  – Joey Skladany, Editor-at-Large

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Lodge 12-Inch Cast Iron Skillet

Price: $42.22 on Amazon (See It)

I got this as a gift over the holidays and I haven’t been cooking in anything else since. It really works for almost anything I could want to make, and it’s a beautiful piece to have in my kitchen. Bonus: It also comes with a snazzy silicone hot handle holder because cast iron gets super hot and it’s easy to burn your hand on the naked metal handle. I’ll never need another frying pan again! – Nathan Carpenter, Video Producer

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Unicorn Magnum Pepper Mill

Price: $45 on Amazon (See It)

I love this pepper mill from Unicorn Magnum. It makes grinding pepper fast and fun when you’re trying to get dinner on the table in a hurry. It’ll make you feel like you’re in a fancy restaurant getting table service instead of your small apartment! All the parts are from Italy and the U.S.A. Their milling mechanisms are from an Italian company that has been manufacturing continuously since 1894. And if you know me, you know I LOVE a company that has some deep history. They are based in Nantucket Island, Mass., which is great if you’re looking to support local businesses (which you always should). – Lauren Zaser, Social Media Strategist

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Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother

Price: $69.95 on Amazon (See It)

I am OBSESSED with the Nespresso Aeroccino Milk Frother. This handy little device makes the perfect froth for my morning coffee, and it’s small enough that I can easily store it in my (New York-sized) tiny kitchen cupboards. It can froth all different types of milk, but my personal favorite is oat milk (it makes the best froth IMO). Add a dash of Vietnamese Cinnamon (more intense/spicy than traditional Indonesian cinnamon) and you’ll be in heaven, trust me. As an added bonus, once you make about 14 lattes at home, you’ll have more than paid the upfront cost of this frother (versus paying out of pocket each morning at the coffee shop). Enjoy! – Kristin Cassidy, Director of Special Projects

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AmazonBasics Baker’s Rack

Price: $59.99 on Amazon (See It)

My recommendation is this baker’s rack/shelf. I love this (and this type of chrome shelving) because I’m used to tiny N.Y.C. kitchens and I cook all the time. This is the only way to customize and create storage, shelving, and counter space in kitchens that usually have one cabinet and maybe 15 inches of counter space. They’re easy to move around, break down, and put together, and are super durable. – Guillermo Riveros, Senior Video Producer

All featured products are curated independently by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, we may receive a commission. For more great hand-picked products, check out the Chowhound Shop.

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March Madness: Crazy Hot Dog Toppings for Your NCAA Celebrations

When it comes to March Madness food options, you can stick with a literal basketball theme, embrace a spherical shape, get inspired by pub grub, or choose to latch on the “madness” part of the moniker and dream up lots of crazy combos, which is what we chose to do for hot dog toppings. Whether you’re a dedicated fan with your pride (or money) on the line, or couldn’t care less about bets, brackets, or watching NCAA basketball, game gatherings are always a great excuse to indulge in beer-friendly fare, so it seemed like a great idea.

Actually, we first spotlighted these creative options, as discussed on Chowhound’s General Topics forum, in an earlier version of this article back in 2014—but we thought they were well worth revisiting today (if only to gawk in a couple cases). Plus, we’ve added some of our own inspired recipes to round out the offerings.

Ketchup and mustard may be eternal, but for the times when they seem run-of-the-mill, give these hot dog toppings a try instead.

Banh Mi Spiral-Cut Hot Dogs

Chowhound

Inspired by the iconic Vietnamese sandwich, these spiral-cut dogs are dressed with pickled carrots, daikon, and cucumber, plus Sriracha and cilantro. Get our Banh Mi Hot Dogs recipe.

Spiral-Cut Hot Dogs with Spicy Cherry Relish

Chowhound

Sweet fruit is a classic partner to certain savory cuts of meat (think pork chops and apples), so why not hot dogs? A spicy-sweet cherry relish makes a pleasantly piquant topper, and goes great with grainy mustard too. Get our Spiral-Cut Hot Dogs with Spicy Cherry Relish recipe.

Movie Theater Nachos Spiral-Cut Hot Dogs

Chowhound

Movie-inspired snacks are too good to be reserved for the Oscars, so try topping a hot dog with gooey nacho cheese sauce and sliced jalapeños any time of the year. Crushed tortilla chips lend crunch (a trick we might have picked up from one of our Chowhound community members, as you’ll see below…) Get our Nacho Hot Dogs recipe.

Spiral-Cut Bacon Dogs with Cheese

Chowhound

Bacon makes everything better. So does cheese. Combine them both on a hot dog and you’ll be in flavor heaven. This is the real dream team (and the one we’re rooting for). Get our Spiral-Cut Bacon Cheese Hot Dog recipe.

And now, on to some of the most notable Chowhound community creations of yore!

Cheezy Chili Stix Dog

deborah24‘s “best hot dog ever” is topped with Easy Cheese (yes, the kind in a spray can), chili, and potato sticks for crunch. Honestly, this sounds extremely intriguing—and like a prime candidate for 4/20 eats too…

Bacon-Wrapped Avo Dog

pacz‘s dog is wrapped in bacon and served with avocado, sour cream, and salsa. Maybe this was what inspired our own bacon dog recipe above?

Barbecue Frito Crunch Dog

laliz suggested a grilled hot dog “swabbed with BBQ sauce” and topped with crushed Fritos. Take your pick from the plethora of regional barbecue sauce styles to make it your own. And consider using chili cheese Fritos for extra oomph.

Mexican Mayo and Jalapeño Dog

mrszondo said her Mexican family’s way of topping hot dogs is with grilled onions and jalapeños, mayonnaise, and cotija cheese. Um, yes, please.

Spicy Pickle Dog

tartiflette topped Toronto “street meat” with “hot mustard, hot peppers, green olives, sliced pickles and a few dribbles of Sriracha sauce.” That’s quite a mouthful. And not completely dissimilar to a classic Chicago dog.

Fried Egg Dog

Sometimes simple is best: wanderluster opted for a fried egg, which “improves everything.” Honestly, we can’t argue with that.

Baked Bean Dog

kcijones001‘s twist on a chili dog was to swap in baked beans and add sauerkraut and spicy mustard. We’ve definitely eaten baked beans with hot dogs plenty of times, so may as well pile them on the bun!

Kewpie Dog

JWh put Japanese mayonnaise, seaweed, and daikon radish on a hot dog. If this sounds amazing (it is), try taking inspiration from some of the topping combos at Japadog too.

Skunk Dawg

Per the blurb for this one from 2014, “jjackiex33‘s idea for a sweet-savory combo of marshmallow creme, hot fudge, and melted peanut butter comes from the now-closed Papa Jim’s Exotic Hot Dogs in Winchendon, Massachusetts.” Whether this sort of thing contributed to the closing of said establishment is a mystery, but please report back if you try this at home!

Related Video: Five Hot Dogs with Unusual Proteins

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16 Sweet and Savory Recipes for a Baller March Madness Party

Time to get crazy, people—March Madness is here! Scream at your players, cry at the lost chances, laugh at the calls, and shout at the ref. It’s all part of the game of watching college basketball (incidentally, here’s how to watch all the 2019 March Madness games). You need to balance this insanity with an array of tasty treats. You gotta keep your energy up. After all, they can’t do it without you. For the most delicious ways to get your grub and your game on at the same time, check out these March Madness food ideas.

We stuck to themed treats because they’re extra-fun, but don’t forget about the serious business of picking your bracket (and if you’re completely lost, here’s everything you need to know about the NCAA tournament). Even if you’ll never know a pick and roll from an alley-oop, you’ll immediately understand the appeal of these basketball-themed snacks.

First Half: Savory Slam Dunks

1. Turkey and Cheese Basketball Sliders

Hungry Happenings

These little sandwiches are all-stars, for the eaters and for the cook. The recipe calls for frozen dinner rolls, orange food coloring spray, and liquid black food coloring for the easy but impressive basketball effect—and if you’re not down with the suggested filling of blackened turkey, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, spicy spread, and melty cheese, swap in whatever sandwich stuffings you do want. Unlike in the actual game, you’re calling the shots here. Get the Turkey and Cheese Basketball Sliders recipe.

2. Basketball Court Seven Layer Dip

She Knows

Because refried beans, sour cream, and tomatoes shouldn’t just be delicious, but adorable, too—and snack stadiums are not just for the Super Bowl. Have fun playing with your food, deconstructing traditional seven-layer nachos to arrange it like a basketball court, using olives for the three-point line, sour cream for the key, and tomatoes, green onions, and cheese along the sidelines. The chips? Those stand in for the noisy crowd, of course. Get the Basketball Court Seven Layer Dip recipe.

3. Basketball Mini Cheeseburgers

Hungry Happenings

A little black food coloring and a tiny food-safe paint brush turn a round of cheddar cheese into a basketball—the perfect topping for these juicy sliders (but the same trick works for veggie or turkey burgers if you prefer). You can use a cookie or biscuit cutter to make the round cheese shape perfectly neat if your free-hand skills are rusty. Also, the bottom bun isn’t a bun at all, but a potato round. Gotta keep the surprises coming. Get the Basketball Mini Cheeseburgers recipe.

4. Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Well Plated

Juicy, round, and orange-hued—they couldn’t be more appropriate if they tried! And they taste so good and moist, you wouldn’t know they’re healthy. These buffalo meatballs are made with lean ground chicken blended with eggs and panko, then cooked in the Crock-Pot. A lot of buffalo sauce and just a bit of blue cheese for pungent creaminess does the trick. Get the Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Meatballs recipe.

5. Basketball Calzones

She Knows

Sure, you could just buy (or make) a regular round pizza and say it’s basketball-shaped (bonus points if you use black olives to add curved lines to the surface), but these are almost just as easy, thanks to refrigerated pizza crust and a cake pop pan. Stuff the dough balls with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and any other toppings you usually like, then brush them with a little orange gel food coloring for an authentic hue before you draw on a few lines with a black edible marker. Get the Basketball Calzones recipe.

6. Miso Kimchi Deviled Eggs

I Will Not Eat Oysters

Vegetarians need love too, and nothing says love like deviled eggs. To stay on-theme, choose an orange-hued filling (which you achieve by adding things like pumpkin puree or roasted red peppers to the yolk mixture), and to really sell it, use a cookie scoop to make perfect spheres to nestle back in the hard-boiled egg halves. It’s up to you if you want to add some sort of decoration for the lines on the ball, but for these spicy kimchi eggs, you could carefully arrange strips of nori on top, or even place individual black sesame seeds into the proper pattern with tweezers. We think the orange tint and delicious taste of the filling is more than enough, though! Get the Miso Kimchi Deviled Eggs recipe.

7. Basketball Mini Quesadillas

Worth Pinning

Who doesn’t like quesadillas? Use tiny tortillas for appetizer-size snacks, and pipe on a little black-tinted sour cream for those finishing-touch lines to make ’em look like basketballs. You should definitely not skip the guacamole accompaniment, but no one’s going to be disappointed if you forgo the basketball net dipping cups. It’s what’s inside that counts. Get the Basketball Mini Quesadillas recipe.

Halftime: Stay Hydrated

8. Basketball Ice

We’re Calling Shenanigans

Whether you’re drinking soda neat or spiked (or any other drink that calls for ice), there’s no better way to keep it cold than these basketball ice spheres. A couple drops of food coloring and a spherical ice mold—and freezing time, of course—is all it takes to make sure your drinks are on point. Get the Basketball Ice recipe.

Basketball Paper Cups, 20 for $17.33 on Amazon

Be delightfully extra and use these cups for the full effect.

Buy Now

Second Half: Sweet Victory

9. Slam Dunk Cookies

Cadiquik

Sugar cookies never looked so athletic. You’ll need Reese’s peanut butter cups (the white miniature variety) and Candiquik frosting to turn your sugar cookies into a slam dunk. It’ll also help to have piping tools and food coloring. These are so cute, you almost won’t want to mess them up by eating them. Almost. Get the Slam Dunk Cookies recipe.

10. Peanut Butter Cup Basketballs

Dukes and Duchesses

Orange icing turns these Reese’s peanut butter cups into edible basketballs! Granted, the colors are inverted, but they’re still cute. And so easy. All you need is icing, food coloring, and a piping tool. Your friends and family will love noshing on these treats while watching the ball onscreen. (Use them as cupcake garnishes for extra points—and if peanut butter is a no-go, try making basketball Oreos instead.) Get the Peanut Butter Cup Basketballs recipe.

11. Basketball Truffles

A Treats Affair

Chocolate peanut butter truffles take a dip in orange candy melts and get a little chocolate piping to transform into fully edible little basketballs. You could make cake pops in the same manner if you prefer baked goods. Either way, you’ll sweep the competition when you bring these to a party. (And if you can’t find candy melts or aren’t happy with the quality, try tinting white chocolate to dip these in.) Get the Basketball Truffles recipe.

12. Pick and Roll Peanut Butter Dip

Julie’s Eats and Treats

Dessert dips are easy and delicious—everything you want in a recipe, right? This one is peanut butter flavored and decorated with a simple but effective layout of orange and black Reese’s Pieces. You can dip pretty much anything you want in it, but pretzels pack a nice salty punch to complement the sweet flavors. Get our Pick and Roll Peanut Butter Dip recipe.

13. Referee Cookies

The Girl Who Ate Everything

Departing from the basketball theme for just a moment, here’s a dish that will drag people’s eyes from the game to the platter: Nutter Butters dressed up to look like referees. It may seem like a lot of work, but hey, you’re not baking anything, so you have extra time for dipping, piping, and gluing on edible googly eyes (clearly one of the greatest inventions of all time). Get the Referee Cookies recipe.

14. Basketball Cupcakes

Worth Pinning

Whether you make all the components from scratch or use store-bought shortcuts, these easy basketball cupcakes will have people posting up by the dessert table so they don’t miss their shot at nabbing one. The orange sanding sugar is a fantastic finishing touch. Get the Basketball Cupcakes recipe.

15. Basketball Pull-Apart Cake

Glue Sticks

You’ve heard of pull-apart sliders (which happen to make a great savory snack for March Madness!), but what about pull-apart cake? Really, it’s just a bunch of cupcakes frosted and decorated as one, but put this out and the speed with which people grab a serving will give new meaning to the term fast break. Get the Basketball Pull-Apart Cake recipe.

16. Basketball Ice Cream Sandwiches

Scrappy Geek

This recipe calls for making cookies from cake mix, but you can bake your basketballs from scratch if you prefer—and make them smaller for sandwich cookies if you want (hell, you could get really fancy and make orange basketball macarons). Whichever way you go, once your orange-tinted cookies are done, stick two together with ice cream or the frosting of your choice, and you’ll have everyone smiling, no matter which team wins! Get the Basketball Ice Cream Sandwiches recipe.

All featured products are curated independently by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, we may receive a commission. For more great hand-picked products, check out the Chowhound Shop.

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What Makes a Wine “Dry?”

If you are any self-proclaimed lover of wine, it is likely that you have used the term “dry” to describe what you are looking for to a bartender, sommelier, or wine merchant. Somehow this term has become a default descriptor that is less about the wine you seek and more about wanting to indicate that you have refined taste. You’re no longer a teenage party-goer who likes cheap wine because it goes down easy and tastes like Kool Aid. You have a palate now, and wouldn’t want to be pegged as a know-nothing rube who prefers a wine that isn’t dry.

But what do we actually mean when we say a wine is dry? Wine is a liquid. By that definition it is necessarily wet. Doesn’t a racy Sancerre make you salivate? That doesn’t seem very dry. Won’t a robust, juicy Malbec quench your thirst when you drink it alongside a burger? How is something like that considered dry? Time to discover what actually makes a wine dry, and with that, some additional wine descriptors to employ to help you hone in on key characteristics of wine you really like.

Sweet and Sour

Shutterstock

In my experience, a majority of the time when people use the word “dry,” they use it to mean “not sweet,” which definitionally, is correct. Fermentation is the process that converts sugar to alcohol, and the grape juice that goes into the vat is indeed sweet to begin. But here’s the thing: a majority of table wine is fermented to total dryness, meaning that there is little to no residual sugar left in your bottle at the end. By that metric, most wine is dry. Like, completely dry. Unless you’re on the dessert wine page, when you ask for something “dry” from a list of wines, you’ve only ruled out a very small fraction of the available selections when it comes to sugar content.

There are wines that are made in an intentionally sweet manner, mainly dessert wines, and also those that are made to have a little bit of residual sugar, sometimes called “off-dry.” This often applies to grapes that thrive in cold climates and have extremely high acidity such as Riesling or Chenin Blanc. Some sugar is left behind during fermentation to balance what would otherwise be a borderline-astringent wine. But the key word here is balanced. If all you know of Riesling is cheap, syrupy versions, get thee to a wine merchant, get thyself a bottle of quality German Mosel Riesling, and let thy mind be blown by its bracing, sweet-vs-tart tension.

Scratch and Sniff

Pixabay

If, when you say “dry,” you mean “that scratchy thing that happens on your tongue” when you drink certain red wines, now we’re talking tannins. Tannins are compounds in the skins of grapes that actually bond with your saliva, leaving you the impression of a dryer mouth. If you’ve ever drank oversteeped tea and were left feeling like your mouth was wearing a sweater, this is the same effect. Highly tannic wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, Nebbiolo, Montepulciano, and Syrah. Note that only red wines contain tannins—white wines are processed without contact with their skins. (Unless we’re talking orange wine, but that’s a topic for another day.) This drying, tannic quality makes these wines excellent pairings for rich foods like red meat, truffles, and dense cheese, because they help cut through the richness and create balance. If this is something you dig, try replacing the word “dry” with “tannic” when describing your taste to a wine professional.

Fruit Character

Shutterstock

Another factor in understanding the perception of dryness is to evaluate the fruit character or fruit flavors in a given wine. Wine grapes grow in a relatively narrow band of latitude both above and below the equator where conditions are just right to allow for moderate heat and a long ripening process. But even within that narrow band, there is a wide range of climate variation and soil type, and not all wines express themselves equally where the quality of fruit is concerned. Take, for example, a taut, austere Sauvignon Blanc from Sancerre in France, and a plush, tropical one from New Zealand. Same grape, completely different wine.

Hotter climates, especially in the New World (i.e., not Europe) can be perceived as “fruity” because of the ripeness level the grapes are able to achieve before fermentation. (They also end up a little higher in alcohol accordingly.) But fruity isn’t necessarily the opposite of dry, because fruity wines can be entirely without residual sugar. Argentinian Malbec, California Zinfandel, and Chilean Merlot are all big-bodied, dry red wines that nonetheless have a certain juiciness to them. If you’re not a fan, call for a wine that has good “structure.” Structure aptly describes a precise balance between tannin, acidity, and alcohol where fruit takes a back seat. If you dig the juice, ask for “fruit-forward.” (And then maybe make yourself some summer sangria with any one of these.)

A Barrel of Buttered Popcorn

Finally, whether or not a wine interacts with oak during the winemaking process can add a distinct roundness to it. Most red wines see time in oak, though their robust flavors and tannins tend to overshadow the impact of the barrel. White wines that often see oak, however, such as Chardonnay, can explode with rich, creamy, buttery flavors, almost to the point of buttered popcorn or suntan lotion. Again, this quality doesn’t make a wine not “dry,” this is just a particularly rich flavor profile that certain wines have. Alternately, wines that are aged in stainless steel or cement have a cleaner, linear mouthfeel, but this isn’t dryness, just not-oak-ness. Oaky Chardonnays are awesome with buttery seafood dishes, like lobsters and crabs. “Rich” is a good word to use if you like the creamy whites, and “linear” or “mineral” for their opposites.

Now that you have a better understanding of what “dry” wine is, and a handful of new adjectives to consider, the best way to put this to application is get to drinking. Wine study is the best.

Wine Folly: The Essential Guide to Wine, $15.99 on Amazon

Packed with information and encouragement, this book gives readers pragmatic answers to all their wine questions.

Read It

Some great ideas: Try one new wine every month, or try a custom wine subscription service.

Related Video: How to Swirl Your Wine Like a Pro

All featured products are curated independently by our editors. When you buy something through our retail links, we may receive a commission. For more great hand-picked products, check out the Chowhound Shop.

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Rank Your Favorite Flavored Waters

Among topics of socially acceptable dinner conversation, flavored water can spark some of the most heated debates. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably participated in at least one of these debates before. You might have a team-Pamplemousse-LaCroix friend who thinks Key Lime LaCroix tastes like hand soap. Maybe you’re a die-hard San Pellegrino fan who just can’t with coconut. To qualify for this very important poll, beverages must be zero calories and have no added sugar.

So, in the name of saving your friendships, relationships and first dates from this day forth, we’ve given you all the opportunity to vote for the best flavored waters in all the land. In two weeks, we’ll collect the data and present the top 50 most popular flavors for posterity. Click the up and down arrows by each item to let your voice by heard.

Then, share it with your most hydrated friends.

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Creamy Orecchiette With Spring Onions, Fennel, and Bacon

Get Recipe!

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