Perfect Gin Martini

Food52 cofounders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs were nearly stumped when asked for their example of a perfect food for this video. Then they realized that Betsy Devine and Rachel Mark's Salvatore Bklyn ricotta was flawless in every way. Amanda and Merrill were filmed in Bklyn Larder, a great New York store where you can find Salvatore ricotta cheese. Read our profile of Salvatore Bklyn, get our best ricotta recipes, and discover the differences between ricotta and cottage cheese.

In this episode of Chow-to, Guillermo visits a Greenwich Village institution for all things English, Tea and Sympathy. He meets with Nicky Perry (owner and founder) to learn her family’s easy recipe for beef shepherd’s pie (which technically in modern British English is a cottage pie). No matter what you call it, this quarantine-friendly comfort dish uses some ingredients you probably already have in your pantry, and will make you feel cozy all year round. This is an excellent way to make something delicious and inexpensive (you only need ground meat, potatoes, carrots and frozen peas!) that will last for a couple of days, making it perfect for cooking during lockdown.

In this episode of Chow-To, Guillermo visits Sarah Lee, founder of Kimbap Lab, and expert in Korean home cooking, to learn how to make Dduk Guk, a rice cake soup traditionally eaten to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Korea. This is a perfect winter soup beyond the holiday. Loaded with soft pillowy rice cakes, delicious garnishes, and a rich beef broth, this is comfort in a bowl.

In this episode of Kitchen Essentials we visit wine expert and author Victoria James at Cote in NYC, where she is the Beverage Director and Sommelier. She showed us her essential Sommelier tools, which include her tastevin, her favorite decanters, and a selection of the perfect glassware to enjoy all types of wines. Watch to learn all about Victoria's essential tools, and why she uses them every day.

Store-bought hummus is convenient but you haven't lived until you've made your own. For this episode of Chow-To, we visit chef Eden Grinshpan at her Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant DEZ in New York City to find out how to make hummus that is way better than the kind you'll find in a store. Guillermo and Eden make a traditional version, and then, to make things more interesting, they take it to the next level with Eden’s signature Beet Meze. This delicious vegan, gluten-free, protein-packed base is easier to make than most people think.

These colorful little sandwich cookies turn us all into kids in a candy store. They’re so perfect that the idea of making them is intimidating — but fear not! To learn how to make them, Guillermo met with master pâtissier Jayce Baudry, the executive pastry chef for Daniel Boulud's Épiceries. The chef taught us tricks and techniques to make the process manageable, even for an amateur baker at home.