Food

Just salt it: The 'Judy Bird' is simply superior

After more than 20 years of writing Thanksgiving turkey recipes, I thought I had seen it all. And then came the “Judy Bird.” Inspired by the chicken-cooking technique of my friend Judy Rodgers, chef and owner at San Francisco’s Zuni Cafe, it couldn’t be simpler: You just salt the turkey a few days in advance, give it a brisk massage every so often to redistribute the salt, and then roast it.

Save on Thanksgiving by balancing ease, flavor, cost

The sour economy has done wonders for improving home cooking skills, prompting many of us to cook from scratch to save a little scratch. But for a big holiday meal such as Thanksgiving, doing it yourself isn’t always the most practical or cost-effective way to go. For one thing, says cookbook author Barbara Kafka, there is only so much oven and stovetop space in most kitchens, which makes it difficult to prepare the whole meal without creating a traffic jam.

On the low-fat menu: Healthy Thanksgiving dishes

Serving a healthy Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t have to mean giving up that pumpkin pie or those buttery sweet potatoes. But it does involve making some trade-offs. The trick is knowing when the indulgence is worth it.

Paella party! The Spanish classic is all about the rice

At its most basic, paella is a rice dish cooked in a broad shallow pan and includes olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, broth and a few more ingredients. Its soul, though, depends on perfectly cooked rice.

On the low-fat menu: A great, low-fat dessert — Apple bread pudding

Do your eyes deceive you? A ramekin — an individual, ovenproof serving cup made of porcelain or ceramic — is a simple way to keep portion sizes in check.

Heat up your autumn with chili

Chilly days call for warm recipes with added spice

Fall unofficially kicks off chili season — a time when a big pot of chili is the perfect meal to warm bellies on a chilly night or during football tailgates. Many types of chili have a laundry list of ingredients, but usually require little effort to throw together. All you need to do is sauté a few ingredients, add some heat and toss everything else in the pot, then let the chili simmer. The longer it simmers, the more the flavors develop. And it’s usually even better the next day.

On the Low-Fat Menu: Have a healthier cake — and eat it, too

A slice of cake is always a pleasure, but it doesn’t have to be a guilty one. When baking cakes, there are a few things you can do to give most recipes a healthy makeover. This Pumpkin-Cranberry Spice Cake, for instance, is an indulgent but healthy treat that uses tricks easily applied to other recipes.

Top chefs, cookbooks land on Epicurious.com

Hundreds of recipes from the world’s top chefs and cookbook authors will soon be available on the food site epicurious.com. A partnership between the Conde Nast-owned Web site and publishing giant Random House will bring more than 100 recipes from chefs including Lidia Bastianich, Jacques Pepin, Joan Nathan, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Joel Robouchon to the Web starting this week.

On the low-fat menu: Don’t fear the cost of these healthier Halloween treats

The cost of store-bought Halloween party treats can be more terrifying than the ghouls crowding your doorstep. And if you want a real fright, take a glance at all the sugar and artificial coloring listed on the nutrition labels. These mini jack-o’-lantern pizzas, made with smoky Canadian bacon and cheddar cheese, cost less than 60 cents each to make and will be a hit with adults and kids. Plus, they’re made with wholesome ingredients to balance out all the Halloween sweet treats.

Two takes on creepy Halloween cupcakes

If you’re looking for easy, no-recipe-needed Halloween treats, these creeped-out cupcakes are an eerily good choice. In one, a traditional frosted cupcake falls victim to a bat attack. In the other, they take a slimy, almost radioactive, turn. Both ideas are from Matthew Mead’s “Monster Book of Halloween,” which is jammed with numerous ghastly treats and decorations.

Three U.S. agencies to study problems with Lasik eye surgery

Three federal agencies — the Food and Drug Administration, the Defense Department and the National Eye Institute — announced earlier this month that they are launching a three-year effort to gauge how many, and which, patients suffer troubling symptoms after undergoing the vision correction procedure called Lasik. At the same time, the FDA issued letters reminding 17 walk-in surgical centers performing Lasik surgery of their obligation to report poor outcomes and patients’ surgery-related medical complaints. The letters were issued after the FDA conducted a spate of inspections of Lasik facilities and found many had no system for collecting and transmitting to the FDA data on patients’ reports of post-surgical “adverse events.” More inspections are to come, the FDA said.

Feast for Life: Food is lifeline of Dia de los Muertos holiday

A mug of warm “champurrado,” a soul-satisfying chocolate drink thickened with masa. Tamales like cornhusk offerings, wrapped gifts for the hungry guests. Sugar-dusted loaves of “pan de muerto,” the bread decorated with “bones” formed of dough. A plate of turkey smothered in a spicy black mole, as dense and dark and mysterious as the coming night. On the altars and dinner tables, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, on Nov. 1, is about celebrating the spirits of the dead, not running from them. Unlike Halloween, these ghosts don’t haunt so much as visit, returning to a daylight world of incense and bread, chocolate and marigolds.

Simply sublime: Soups for autumn

Fall is a fickle season — too toasty for lentils, too cool for gazpacho. So we’re celebrating the season with some sublime fall soups, potages that showcase autumn’s harvest and work equally well no matter what the temperature. And we’re dipping into several of the hottest cookbooks for inspiration.

Should we get in step with those who say barefoot is best?

It’s time for an intimate discussion of a certain part of the human anatomy that doesn’t get much coverage in a family newspaper. Feet.

Artists hail courage of cancer patients by decorating masks

WASHINGTON — During her treatment for vocal cord cancer last year, Cookie Kerxton had 28 radiation treatments, in which a beam was aimed at her throat for 10 minutes at a time while a mask covered her face and part of her neck. Afterward, she asked a medical technician what other patients did with their masks when they finished therapy. “He said some leave them here, some people take them, some throw them in front of the car and run over them,” Kerxton says.