Foil Pouch Sea Bass

If a fire escape is the closest you come to a backyard, it shouldn’t stop you from smoking. Former CHOW.com Senior Food Editor Jill Santopietro says that turning your wok into a smoker doesn’t take much effort. All you need is aluminum foil, a round cooling rack, and finely ground wood chips, available online or at hardware stores or some cooking supply stores. If you don’t have wood chips, you can use a 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup rice, and 1/4 cup oolong tea leaves mixed with 2 tablespoons water for more of a tea smoke. Indoor smokers take note: Open your windows and remove your smoke detector (but don’t forget to put it back when you’re done). Find plenty of smoking recipes and other tips here!

No plastic, no aluminum foil: Don't suffocate your cheese. Waxed paper will let it breathe.

Joe Yonan, author of Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One, is tired of seeing half-empty cans of beans just covered with aluminum foil and stuck in the fridge. He has a better way to save those leftover canned beans.

Add the essence of the sea to your gumbo without the fishy smell.

Foil and gloves play a role.

At her NYC chocolate shop Stick With Me Sweets, Susanna Yoon (formerly of Per Se) makes edible miniature works of art. These colorful, marbleized, portable chocolate domes are packed with the flavors and textures of some of Susanna’s favorite desserts, which include a kalamansi meringue pie, and the vero, a silver blue bonbon that houses a mix of sea salt caramel and crunchy pecan bits. In the words of the chef, handcrafted chocolate is the sweetest way to tell somebody “stick with me”.