Quick Kitchen Q&A

About four to five days in the refrigerator in a sealed container, and it freezes well. Here's how to store it so it stays fresh, and how to tell when it's past it.

Salt doesn't make food salty, used right, it makes food taste more like itself. It's the single biggest lever you have on flavor.

A little acid, lemon or vinegar, cuts through richness and lifts flat food. When a dish tastes heavy or dull, it usually needs acid, not more salt.

Delicate herbs (parsley, basil, dill, cilantro) lose their fragrance when cooked, add them at the end. Woody herbs like rosemary and thyme can go in early.

Yes. Resting lets the juices settle back through the meat instead of running out onto the board. About five minutes for chicken, ten for a roast.

Extra-virgin olive oil is wonderful for everyday cooking and finishing, but very high heat wastes its flavor. For screaming-hot searing, reach for avocado oil.

Fresh is bright and pungent; powder is mellow and even. Use fresh for sautéing, powder for rubs, dressings and spice blends. Different tools, both useful.

Fresh lemon tastes bright and alive; bottled is flat and slightly bitter from preservatives. Whenever the lemon is the point, use fresh.

Tasting as you go. It's the one habit that separates confident cooks from frustrated ones, a recipe is a guide, but your own palate is the final judge.

Short version: not the way we were told. It's FDA-recognized as safe, and the old ‘MSG headache’ hasn't held up in careful testing, though a few people are sensitive to a lot of it. If you'd rather skip it, that's fine; just know it isn't poison.

It's a seaweed thickener in a lot of dairy-free milks, and it's FDA-permitted and generally considered safe. The alarming studies were about a degraded form that isn't added to food. If your stomach is sensitive you might skip it, but it's a preference, not a proven danger.