NY Times D.I.Y Cooking Handbook

(photo courtesy of nytimes.com)

I absolutely love this and had to do a quick post about it. It has fantastic recipes and the site is beautifully done. The graphics are so clean and simple.

I’d love to go down the list and make all of Julia Moskin’s D.I.Y recipes. Clarified butter, also known as ghee, has been on my to-do list for awhile now. Surprisingly, it’s healthier to cook with than olive oil, especially at high temperatures. Olive oil has a low smoking point and can go rancid if you use it for everyday sauteing. Seems backwards, but I can see the logic behind it. Here’s some more info from Aimee Raupp (a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and author of a great book called Chill Out and Get Healthy) on the best oils to cook with, if you’d like to read more.

Maybe this site will finally motivate me to try making my own ghee. It’s not even that difficult, so there’s really no excuse!

Even if ghee isn’t at the top of your list of things to cook, the site has a great range of other kitchen staples, like preserved lemons, kimchi, chocolate-hazelnut paste (homemade Nutella, sign me up!), horseradish beer mustard (clearly this should be a staple in my kitchen, yum), and even fresh cheese.

Check it out here (or click on either of the images in this post).