CHOW.com Senior Editor Lessley Anderson has a simple but surprising tip that will keep your coffee powerful, even as the ice melts.

<a href="http://CHOW.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CHOW.com</a> Senior Editor Lessley Anderson has a simple but surprising tip that will keep your coffee powerful, even as the ice melts.

How to Avoid Diluted Iced Coffee

CHOW Kitchen Editorial Assistant Christine Yue Gallary shows you how to make the fancy chocolate and cheese shavings.

How to Shave Chocolate and Cheese

Blogger Adrienne Capps shares her recipe for making a house hot sauce.

How to Make Your Own Green Hot Sauce

Blogger Adrienne Capps shares her recipe for making ketchup from scratch. It involves a lot of spices, so you’ll want to follow the written recipe to make this condiment.

How to Make Your Own Ketchup

Bartender at San Francisco's Heaven's Dog and owner of Small Hand Foods, Jennifer Colliau will blow your mind with this bartender secret: You do not need to boil your simple syrup. In fact, it's preferable not to! Jennifer shows you how to make simple syrup using cold tap water in this video.

How to Make Simple Syrup Really Simple

Jennifer Colliau, bartender at San Francisco's Heaven's Dog and owner of Small Hand Foods, loves using mint in her drinks, but she warns home bartenders against using wooden muddlers with this delicate herb. Use a spoon instead, lest you end up with a drink that tastes like toothpaste. This tip will come in handy when you're making your next Mojito.

Don't Muddle Your Mint

Esperanza Pallana, who writes the urban farming blog Pluck and Feather, says that a chicken makes the transition to old hen after about three years. Old hens don't make for good fryers, but they are perfect for stewing and soups.

When to Cook an Old Hen

Esperanza Pallana, who writes the urban farming blog Pluck and Feather, explains that a good chicken coop is more than some comfy straw and a place to rest one's chicken head. Roosting, nesting, shelter, and ventilation are key.

What Makes a Good Chicken Coop?

Esperanza Pallana, who writes the urban farming blog Pluck and Feather, says that three chickens is a good place to start. Then grow your flock from there, depending on how much space you have.

What's the Ideal Size for a Flock of Chickens?

Esperanza Pallana, who writes the urban farming blog Pluck and Feather, explains that not all chickens are good for both eating and egg-laying. If you want the chicken and the eggs, your best bet is to get a "dual-purpose" breed.

Egg-Laying Chickens Versus Meat-Providing Chickens

CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community

I love this series.  They advice is really worthwhile, the presenters are well prepared and well groomed and the subject matter is addictive.

Great Progamming

Great short tips on all cooking and food and wine.  Fun, quick, and some very cool people show up to share their knowledge.

They're like salted peanuts - you have to keep watching & watching...

CHOW Tips

Harry Rosenblum, co-owner of the Brooklyn Kitchen, says that rusty cast iron is easy to fix. Simply scrub the rust off with a Brillo Pad or sandpaper, wash the pan clean and dry it, cover it in a thin coat of oil, and bake it in an oven at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. Then turn the oven off, leaving the pan inside to cool slowly. This is a great tip to keep in mind when shopping at flea markets—old cast iron can be made good as new!

How to Deal with Rusty Cast Iron

Worms aren't typically good companions in a kitchen, but as author and urban gardener Maria Finn shows, with a little preparation and some kitchen scraps, they can make great fertilizer for your plants.

Make Your Own Worm Compost

Gabrielle Feuersinger, owner of San Francisco's Cake Coquette, understands that there is a time for fondant on a cake; for example, when the weather is really hot and buttercream might melt. Or if the flavor of Play-Doh is something you are going for. She believes fondant is overused and is not nearly as good to eat as buttercream.

What Is Fondant?

Old egg cartons deserve better than immediate recycling. CHOW.com Associate Editor Roxanne Webber gives them new life as containers for growing seedlings.

Old egg cartons deserve better than immediate recycling. <a href="http://CHOW.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CHOW.com</a> Associate Editor Roxanne Webber gives them new life as containers for growing seedlings.

Use Your Egg Cartons to Grow Seedlings

CHOW Senior Editor Lessley Anderson soaks her steel-cut oats the night before, and then makes them for breakfast in just five minutes.

How to Quick-Cook Steel-Cut Oats

Toss

World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani's mad pizza-tossing skills aren't just there to impress. Throwing the dough into the air is extremely important in ensuring that you get a good crust. Looking cool is just a side benefit.

How and Why to Toss a Pizza

Domenic Chiaromonte, executive chef of Match Restaurant just outside Toronto, uses a soda charger to carbonate fruit, which he then puts on desserts and in salads to add extra zing. The fizzy fruits are also great as a garnish for sodas or cocktails.

An Alternative Use for Your Soda Charger

Andrea Nguyen, chef and author of Asian Dumplings, demonstrates three ways to fold a dumpling. She starts with the half-moon shape, segues into the pea pod, then finishes with a big hug. For more dumpling-making action, see our complete how-to on folding, as well as delicious dumpling recipes.

How to Wrap a Dumpling

Chef and author Bryant Terry (and CHOW 13 honoree) roasts tofu according to a very simple recipe. The results are delicious as is or with the addition of your favorite sauce; Bryant likes barbecue sauce, pesto, or curry.

How to Roast Tofu

Corinne Trang, author of Noodles Every Day, soaks rice noodles in cool water just until they are pliable before sautéing them in hot oil. Cellophane noodles can also get this treatment.

How to Prep Rice Noodles

Chef and author Bryant Terry (and CHOW 13 honoree) shows how easy it is to transform whole cashews or almonds into delicious milk, lactose not included! Just soak overnight, blend with some water and sweetener (he uses dates), and then strain the mixture through cheesecloth.

How to Make Nut Milk

World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani shows how to properly use a pizza peel, the wide, flat shovel that transports the pizza from countertop to oven.

How to Use a Pizza Peel

Corinne Trang, author of Noodles Every Day, shares the lowdown on how to store fish sauce. A fermented product doesn't stop fermenting once it's bottled, so be sure to refrigerate it and use it within about nine months. If it has gone dark, get rid of it.

Does Fish Sauce Go Bad?

Esperanza Pallana, who writes the urban farming blog Pluck and Feather, explains the difference between fresh eggs from your backyard chickens and eggs you'd buy at the supermarket or even the farmers' market.

How Are Fresh Eggs Different?

Chowhound fayehess, also known as Faye Delicious of Blip.tv, puts the finishing touch on a fried egg.

Chowhound fayehess, also known as Faye Delicious of <a href="http://Blip.tv" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blip.tv</a>, puts the finishing touch on a fried egg.

How to Set a Fried Egg

Amy Sherman of Cookingwithamy.com shares a quick marinating tip: Cut up that big hunk of meat into thinner slices, then toss these into a resealable plastic bag. More meat-to-marinade contact means less waiting.

Amy Sherman of <a href="http://Cookingwithamy.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cookingwithamy.com</a> shares a quick marinating tip: Cut up that big hunk of meat into thinner slices, then toss these into a resealable plastic bag. More meat-to-marinade contact means less waiting.

How to Marinate Meat Quickly

If you don't have much space for a garden, Julie Chai, associate garden editor of Sunset magazine, has the solution for you: hanging baskets. They're cheap, easy to maintain, and you can grow all sorts of things in them, from leafy greens to strawberries.

How to Make a Hanging Garden Basket

Julie Chai, associate garden editor of Sunset magazine, shows an efficient way to get the most out of your leafy greens, ensuring that they'll keep providing you with food.

How to Harvest Leafy Greens

PAPER

Anne Le, co-owner of Tamarine restaurant in Palo Alto, California (and former co-owner of Bong Su in San Francisco), shares this tip for making Vietnamese spring rolls at home: Dip your rice paper once in warm water. By the time you've placed your fillings on the paper, it will have softened to the right consistency. Once your rice paper is soft, follow Le's counsel on assembling spring rolls, keeping them fresh, and what to dip them in.

How to Use Rice Paper in Spring Rolls

When it comes to pairings, people usually think of wine. But beer pairs really well with food too, according to Sam Merritt, founder of Civilization of Beer. He provides some helpful ways to think about your pairings, including bringing complementary flavors together and matching the intensity of the food with the intensity of the beer.

How to Pair Beer with Food

The best podcast episodes about true crime. For any thrill seeking podcast listeners who just can't get enough of the captivating stories of murderers and criminals. This topic has all the best episodes from many different true crime podcasts.  Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best True Crime Podcasts

The best podcast episodes of anyone with an interesting story. With famous guests like Obama, LeBron James, Drake, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Michelle Obama, Serena Williams, to anyone who has a unique and interesting story to tell. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!