Deep Dive

Best of 2021: Our Most Popular Articles This Year

These articles will help you make better waffles, better tomato soup, better chai, and so much more.
Photo of Roses Downy Yellow Butter Cake on a serving plate with a slice cut out on a plate on the side surrounded by...
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou

Our goal at Epicurious isn't just to publish recipes—though we do spend a lot of our time in the kitchen. We're also here to share cooking knowledge, helping readers more deeply understand cooking techniques, ingredients, and the context of every food we eat. Some of our best articles dive into the history surrounding an essential food; others dig into the science of the meal that's on your plate. In this list, you'll find all of our most popular articles from the past year, including a feature on the surprising behavior of baking soda, one on the best path to crispy waffles, and another that reveals the ingredient you need to make blueberries taste, well, blueberrier. We hope you'll pull up a chair and catch up on any stories you missed.

  • Photo of baking soda being added to a bowl of whole peeled tomatoes with onions and salt on the side.
    Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton
    1/29

    How Baking Soda Really Works

    You probably know baking soda as the stuff that gives your cakes, cookies, and quick breads their lofty rise. But the chemistry of this common pantry ingredient means it can do much more—helping to tame acidity in tomato soup and speed up the softening process of dried beans. Epi contributor Mari Uyehara looks deeper at what that orange box can do.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Pearl Jones
    2/29

    Break Up With Your Toaster, Pan-Fry Your Bread Instead

    Slices crisped in oil add a whole new dimension to your bread-based meals—which, with toast this good, is basically every meal.

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  • 7/29

    The Epicurious Interactive Cocktail Cabinet

    Not sure what to drink tonight? Find your new signature cocktail by clicking on up to three ingredients in this interactive liquor cabinet. Have a bottle of gin and a lemon? Some whiskey and sweet vermouth? We have cocktail recipes for that and every other combination—all you have to do is click, then scroll down, to find them.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
    8/29

    When It Comes to Curd, Lemons Are Just the Beginning

    Lemon and lime are just fine—but have you tried passionfruit curd? Or grapefruit with black pepper? Here’s how to make curd from (almost) any fruit.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton
    23/29

    There’s a Lot More to Masala Chai Than Spiced Milk Tea

    Born of colonial rule and Indian resistance, masala chai is more than just spiced milk tea. Epi contributor Leena Trivedi-Grenier traces the legacy of chai—and how Indians turned a tool of oppression into an enduring tradition—then shows you how to brew a great cup.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Pearl Jones
    24/29

    What Do You Mean You’re Not Toasting Your Oats?

    It takes five minutes, but it adds ten dimensions of flavor—whether your oat cereal is hot or cold.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton
    25/29

    Toaster Ovens Do It Better

    A toaster oven cooks faster, and with more control, than its full-size counterpart—and it's the perfect size for preparing micro-batches of freshly baked treats.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    26/29

    Why Dinner Parties Need to Change

    As dinner parties returned in the era of vaccination, Epi contributor Chandra Ram stopped to consider the ways that hosting should probably change.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Liza Jernow
    27/29

    How to Make a Better Cup of Iced Chai

    A freshly made hot cup of chai is spicy and aromatic, creamy and perfectly sweet. But iced chai is almost never all of those things. Learn a better method for making this drink—and no, it's not cold-brew.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
    28/29

    Baking With Blueberries? Add a Little Coriander

    Mixing a little coriander in with your blueberry desserts or pancakes will make the blueberries taste more, well, blueberry-y. And there’s a scientific reason why.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton
    29/29

    Unlocking Nixtamal

    Nixtamalization takes something that’s of little nutritional value—maíz, which is harvested when it’s dry—and transforms it into a source of nourishment that has carried generations. It’s how we get masa: the key to tender, pliable tortillas and many, many other essential dishes. But what is the process exactly? And how did it come about? Epi contributor Andrea Aliseda tells the story in this piece, which was a part of our new collection of masa-focused articles, recipes, and videos.

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This Tiny Espresso Maker Makes Better Coffee Than Machines That Cost Three Times as Much
This Tiny Espresso Maker Makes Better Coffee Than Machines That Cost Three Times as Much
The Nanopresso isn’t just some gimmicky camping toy.

Noah Kaufman

All Best Kitchen Equipment We Tested in 2022
All Best Kitchen Equipment We Tested in 2022
After a whole year's worth of testing, this was the gear that came out on top.

The Editors of Epicurious

The Best Cookbooks of 2021
The Best Cookbooks of 2021
These books brought us back to the kitchen after months of kitchen burnout. Any of them would make excellent holiday gifts.

Emily Johnson

The Most-Saved Recipes in the Epicurious App In July
Like herby chicken kofta meatballs and grilled Peruvian chicken.
17 Types of Apples for Cooking, Baking, Lunchboxes, and More
These are the varieties you’re most likely to come across in American markets.
29 Yogurt Desserts That Are Tangy, Sweet, and Delicious
Like peach yogurt semifreddo, apple pie smoothies, golden yogurt cake, and more.
All the Recipes From Bon Appétit’s Summer Issue
We’ve got sausage with cabbage and giardiniera, tomato aguachile, and matcha-berry frozen yogurt.
41 Low-Fuss Recipes for Labor Day Weekend
Peel-and-eat shrimp, corn on the cob with basil butter, three-ingredient peach floats, and more.
29 Fresh Cilantro Recipes That Prove It’s More Than a Garnish
Cilantro-lime rice, fresh spring rolls, herb-infused margaritas, and more.
Inside a 160-year-old Japanese Rice Cracker Factory
Join Epicurious for a behind-the-scenes look at a 160-year-old rice cracker factory in Japan, where one of the country’s most popular traditional snacks, senbei, is still made by hand using time-honored techniques. Senbei are sweet, crispy rice crackers often enjoyed with green tea and have been a staple of Japanese cuisine and culture for over a thousand years. Discover the process behind crafting these ancient snacks and how this historic factory has preserved its artisanal methods across generations.
Pro Chefs Blind Taste Test Every Veggie Burger
Chefs Alexandra Shytsman, Priyanka Naik, and Lourdes Castro are used to thinking outside the box when it comes to cooking; however, today on Epicurious, we’ve asked them to give us their unfiltered, honest reviews of some prominent veggie burgers found on supermarket shelves. Which veggie burgers pack the most bang for your budget, and which should you avoid at all costs?
'Dimension 20' Cast Test Their Basic Culinary Skills
Today, the ‘Dimension 20’ cast–Brennan Lee Mulligan, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, and Ally Beardsley–go head-to-head on Epicurious, testing their basic culinary skills. From cheese sniffing to whisking cream, which cast member will be crowned winner of this culinary challenge?

Dimension 20: Cloudward, Ho! is available only on Dropout and recently aired its finale. The cast is led by Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan, and additionally stars Emily Axford, Ally Beardsley, Brian Murphy, Zac Oyama, Siobhan Thompson, and Lou Wilson.

The cast of Dimension 20: Cloudward, Ho! is nearing the end of its West Coast tour, and tickets are available for purchase to their live shows in Seattle, WA, on July 20 and Las Vegas, NV, on November 1.

Dropout presents independent, ad-free, uncensored comedy, producing and hosting several original series, such as Game Changer, Dimension 20, Very Important People, and many more. The Dropout app is available on Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Chromecast, Samsung Smart TVs, plus iOS and Android mobile devices. For more information and to browse the Dropout catalog, please visit Dropout.tv.