Take a cue (or a sound bite) from Eva Peron, who said “there are some oligarchs that make me want to bite them just as one crunches into a carrot or a radish.”

YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA BECAUSE … IT’S FAST … Depending on your speed in the kitchen you can make a pizza, dough and all, in 60 to 90 minutes. That’s as long as it takes to get a pizza from a good place delivered on a busy night;…

Traditionally, white pepper is used in white or pastel foods to avoid seeing little black specks. The French hate seeing those little flecks in their bisque.

If it looks inviting, tastes good, feels brittle, and sounds crunchy you’ll experience the salt with four of your five senses.

A kitchen sponge has more germs than the seat of the toilet being used by that man in the airport.

What’s wrong with sundried tomatoes, truffle oil, pomegranates, and chipotles? Nothing. All of these items are in my pantry (at home and at AndyFood); they’re staples. They’re also as ubiquitous as white men on a golf course.

Variations on the precise term for the cuisine du jour range from Scandinavian food to Nouvelle Nordic to Viking Vittles.

Spices and spice blends are the accessories of the food world.

For abundance, eye appeal, and ease of preparation I suggest a bounty of simple foods that I call a cheese platter on steroids.

. Then sort of press and knead just until the dough holds together. It should be ratty. That’s my word for uneven, wet and dry, crumbly and barely held together dough. Ratty dough means that the butter is still lumpy and the scones will be tender and flakey.

Latke trouble – or tsuris if you like to bemoan fate in Yiddish – is fairly standard. If you grate potatoes, form patties and fry you’re likely to get crisp potatoes on the outside and underdone potatoes on the inside.

Last, if you live with the cook in question, don’t buy an appliance that makes something you love and want made for you. In this case, buying me a waffle iron so I can make you waffles isn’t really a gift for me – it’s for you.

I am lucky. I have received a lot of great food and cooking gifts. I’m thankful for every gift I’ve received. Before culinary school I cooked because it made me happy. I asked for a soufflé dish in high school. I made a cheese soufflé that rose high, had a…

Two things are invariably used up after Thanksgiving; all your Tupperware and your appetite for just one more helping. You’re on your own regarding how to store the leftovers, but I have a few suggestions about how to turn your leftovers into more than the sum of their parts.

If you’re hosting Thanksgiving I can’t give you a formula to guarantee a perfect meal. I can, however, share the method to the madness of my own Thanksgiving preparations. I start by taking a moment to focus on the meaning of the holiday. The Pilgrims and Indians broke bread at…

Sweet potatoes have a number of innate qualities that make them wonderfully pie-worthy. They have an abundance of natural sugar, which, although not essential, is good for starters. When baked, the sugar in the sweet potatoes caramelizes, becoming deeper, richer, and more complex (the way caramel is richer and more complex than granulated sugar).

The one thing all pies have in common is crust. Despite the ubiquity at the bottom of every pie, a good crust is often hard to find. The problem for most people is that they do not make enough pies to become crust-proficient. The solution is a foolproof crust.

There are three good things about downsizing your eggs. First, large cost less than jumbo. Second, your recipes will come out better. Third, you’ll be getting a little less cholesterol. That means you can justify the butter in the cookie.

But facts are facts, and milk chocolate is to dark chocolate what 3.2 beer is to a boilermaker.

Philosophy or quantum physics (or some combination of the disciplines) suggests that one of an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters will eventually type a Shakespeare play. This leads me to believe that the average person can make a salad without a recipe.

Welcome to AndyTalk — where Scottsdale-based chef and cooking instructor Andy Broder will share kitchen tips, recipes and musings on food and life. This week: “sugar plumps cellulose.”   Sugar   plumps cellulose. (FYI this is a cellulose molecule)I say the words “sugar plumps cellulose” with the same rhythm as “rocks…