Not So Much for Cooking

The cookbooks that didn’t quite make the cut. (By Kate Ramos)

Cooking with Summer Ingredients

Recipes featuring the best warm-weather ingredients.

The Basics: How to Make Lasagne

The tried-and-true recipe you’ll hang onto forever.

Italian Ice Cream Trance State

This week’s mission: fake fancy mac ’n' cheese, and real fancy gelato. (By James Norton)

The Basics: How to Make a Philly Cheesesteak

Minus the Cheez Whiz.

The Basics: How to Make Shrimp Pasta

Zesty with parsley and lemon.

Italian Chefs Won't Weep

This week’s mission: frozen Italian dinners and microbrewed sodas. (By James Norton)

Should You Put Oil in Pasta Water?

Only if you want slimy spaghetti. (By Michele Foley)

Batali, High and Low

Mario Batali’s new cookbook, “Mario Tailgates NASCAR Style,” targets a different audience altogether. (By Sara Dickerman)

Fake Accent

Some foods you think are “ethnic” actually aren’t. (By Margot Kaminski)

The Right Way to Eat Noodles

Noodle-eating etiquette according to ethnic tradition. (By Helena Echlin)

Before There Was EVOO ...

TV food personalities we miss. (By Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic)

Shelf-Stable Chicken in Kool-Aid Sauce

This week’s mission: low-cal, assemble-it-yourself convenience food and wannabe Italian dinners. (By James Norton)

Microwave Pasta Sauce Face-Off

This week’s mission: Ragú and Bertolli bagged pasta sauces go head to head. (By James Norton)

Bogus Butter Bake-Off

This week’s mission: sticks of fake butter, and protein pimped by a famous doctor. (By James Norton)