Matthew Spina

4 days ago | yahoo.com | Matthew Spina

At this point in history, most home cooks are now familiar with an abundance of cooking oil options, but you may not realize that the world of butter types is quite diverse, too, and clarified and cultured butter are two of the most unique options. Unlike recipes that might specifically call for olive oil or peanut oil, most involving butter just say "butter," maybe with the small caveat of it being unsalted. But anyone who has tried good Irish butter knows that not all butter is created the same.

6 days ago | yahoo.com | Matthew Spina

The humble taco offers an endless array of options for fillings, but if you're grabbing some from your local stand, you've probably got your eye on the three big classics of carne asada, barbacoa, and al pastor. As tacos have moved out of Mexico and gradually taken over not just America, but a lot of the world, the list of different types of tacos have expanded and expanded to the point where you can find them filled with jackfruit or Korean barbecue.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Matthew Spina

If you find yourself in some local pizza shops in a few cities across the U.S., you will likely spot tomato pie on the menu and wonder just how different it is from a tomato sauce pizza. The tomato pie is a Northeast specialty, particularly found around Philadelphia and nearby areas. You may also find it in Upstate New York, New Jersey, or even New Haven, Connecticut, as well as other cities that were hotspots of Italian immigration in the 20th century.

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Matthew Spina

Understanding the difference between fudge frosting and chocolate buttercream might seem trivial to you, but if you want to produce the perfect cake, it pays to get it right. We accept that there is an amazing amount of diversity in baking ingredients, like different flours or chocolates, that deserve exploring and explaining, but frostings don't get the same attention. After all, you're just pouring liquid sugar over something, how much thought does that require?

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Matthew Spina

There are so many different labels for chicken products that it can be hard to tell what's real and what's just marketing, but dig into the difference between popcorn chicken and chicken nuggets, and you'll find some of those distinctions are actually worthwhile. Boneless wings? Made-up nonsense that's just shaped to be the size of a wing. Yet, chicken tenders and chicken strips are actually different things, despite the fact that they look almost identical.