Cooking

The oldest hamburger chain is White Castle, founded by a short-order cook and an insurance executive in 1921 in Wichita, Kan. It served steam-fried hamburgers cooked on a bed of chopped onions for a nickel.
The “Big Mac” was introduced in 1968. It was more expensive than a regular hamburger. Its price was 49 cents.
Even with all the fast-food chains serving hamburgers today, most of us still prefer grilling our own burgers. The fresh grilled taste just can’t be beat. When making a hamburger, the goal is to maximize flavor and juiciness.

The simple trinity of ordinary vegetables, commonly called mirepoix, forms the foundation of a myriad of dishes. You’ve probably made it a thousand times without even knowing it. It’s one of the essentials of classical French cooking, but equally important in all cooking.

Gas grills are still the most popular type for grilling, but today’s units are multi-tasking appliances. In addition to the burners, many now include infrared searing “zones,” charcoal pans to convert to charcoal grilling and built-in smoker boxes with dedicated burners for smoke cooking.
Charcoal grills are still quite popular because of the “true” charcoal flavor obtained when grilling. Today’s electric grills seem to burn hotter than their predecessors, now reaching temperatures high enough to actually sear a steak.

Easter was originally called Pascha after the Hebrew word for Passover, a Jewish festival that happens at this time of year.
The date for Easter is determined by the lunar calendar. For most of us, the first Easter food to come to mind is probably colored hard-boiled eggs.
It seems the practice of hiding eggs, and the Easter Bunny, came from the Germans. Popularized by a German children’s book published in the 1600s, a bunny laid colored eggs in the garden for children to find.