How to squeeze a lemon

It’s not unusual to hear the word geek used in the halls or around the table at Fine Cooking: It’s a term of endearment. We like the science behind cooking—the more we know about why things work the way they do, the more we have to share with you, from why a batch of whipped cream will go from light and fluffy to grainy and unusable in seconds (see page 119 for the solution to that one) to how to actually squeeze a lemon so that it won’t squirt you in the eye in the process (find the answer to that one on page 47)—the more you’ll learn.

Becoming a good cook is really just a long, delicious learning process, and that’s where this book comes in. It’s a chance for the crack cooks in our Test Kitchen to share some “Aha!” secrets they’ve learned in the process of triple-testing every recipe that runs in Fine Cooking. We’ve also included dozens of handy tips, any one of which may change the way you prepare something from this moment forward. But we didn’t stop there. We invited our contributors (who include cookbook authors and chefs) and some of the best cooking teachers we know to contribute too, along with our smart, savvy readers (recognize your advice in here?). All in all, there are more than 1,000 great tips and techniques in the pages that follow, each one culled from the collective wisdom of hundreds of amazing cooks.

This companion volume to Fine Cooking’s first book of tips, the award-winning How to Break an Egg, begins where that handy reference left off five years ago. So it’s high time for a new collection of creative shortcuts, kitchen-tested techniques, and smart substitutions. Since then, we’ve added 30 issues of Fine Cooking to our archives and created finecooking.com, a total resource for home cooks that features more than 4,000 recipes, how-to videos, and a community of passionate cooks just like you. Here’s to becoming an ever-smarter, better cook.

—Laurie Buckle
Editor, Fine Cooking