How can you tell if chicken has gone bad?
I hope you’re sitting down for the shock of this news: My husband and I had another food-related quarrel. He was about…
Burning Questions
Burning Questions is The Takeout's column that satiates your food and drink curiosities.
Does bottled water go bad?
Maybe I’m still scarred from watching Bird Box, but lately I’ve been pondering the shelf lives of non-perishable food…
How often should you clean your water bottle?
I own at least 10 reusable water bottles, but I can never find one when I need one. They wind up in various backpacks,…
Can poppy seeds really make me fail a drug test?
Every few months, I stumble across an account from someone who claims to have failed a drug test due to a poppy seed…
The best ways to get stinky food smells off your hands
This is a subject near and dear our hearts right now, as we just wrapped up Garlic Week, in which we made garlic bread, …
How is hardneck garlic different?
Welcome to The Takeout’s Garlic Week, our Valentine to the world’s loveliest stink.
When should I throw away a dented can of food?
I make it a point not to take personal finance cues from Adam Sandler movies, so I’ve never attempted the stunt from Big…
Is it safe to eat snow?
My middle-school-aged daughter is a straight-A student, a gifted artist, confident, intelligent, basically the person…
Do canned foods ever expire?
Who among us has not rooted through the back of their pantry in search of baking soda, only to instead discover a can…
What’s the best way to clean a sieve?
In the kitchen, some things are harder to clean than other things. The garlic press. The cheese grater. The lemon…
Which condiments need to be refrigerated?
One of the toughest parts of Marie Kondo-ing my kitchen was finding all the expiration dates and safety warnings on a…
Does mixing different alcohols increase your risk of a hangover?
There’s hardly a better description of the guilty misery of a hangover than William Hickey’s, written in 1768: “My…
When is cheese… not cheese?
Welcome to Cheese Week, The Takeout’s weeklong praise of cheeses.
Should you eat the brie rind?
Welcome to Cheese Week, The Takeout’s weeklong praise of cheeses.
What does it mean for cookware to be microwave safe?
The world is full of unanswerable questions. Where resides the soul? Can a person really ever know another? What is deat…
What’s the difference between a crisp, cobbler, crumble, buckle, galette, and pandowdy?
As holiday baking reaches its peak, you’ll catch me with any excuse to avoid making pie. I’ve made only a few…
Who is the “Joe” behind the Sloppy Joe?
Welcome to American Sandwiches Week, a celebration of the mighty sandwich through the lens of Americana.
Why do people bob for apples?
In all honesty, my experience with bobbing for apples is based on the Peanuts’ It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Ha…
What exactly is edible gold? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Once the provenance of European chocolatiers and elite Japanese sushi chefs, you’ll now find edible gold atop…
What is red velvet cake, really?
The combination of vivid red and pristine white icing is certainly striking inside a bakery case, but I’ve never been…