Stout Beaver

Restaurants use pricey high-end broilers to crank out perfectly cooked steaks. You can recreate the experience of a dry-aged and deliciously broiled steak at home for a fraction of the price with this clever and inexpensive hack from foodie extraordinaire Alton Brown. More »



Steak - Meat - Beef - Cooking - Home

You've got stuff in your pantry and fridge but you're not sure how to take it from basic staples to delicious dish. RecipeChimp can help by showing you what you can whip up with what's in your kitchen. More »



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We've covered building your own pizza oven before, from nice and cheap to really cheap. But none of these were crowned Best Pizza Food Cart by vlog Ah Nom Nom; that title belongs to San Franciscan PizzaHacker and his modified Weber Grill.

Sure, PizzaHacker's pizza is delicious because it uses choice ingredients and a sourdough recipe to die for—but the other half of the equation is FrankenWeber, his modified Weber-grill-turned-mobile-pizza-oven. If you're looking for an easy, movable outdoor solution to your DIY pizza needs, this might be the way to go:

Part of what makes this open air culinary spectacle work is the heavily modded Webber 22.5" grill that's been outfitted with fireproof blocks and a domed top comprised of refactory cement and perlite that's been molded in the original Webber top. Using chunks of wood and charcoal, the Franken-Webber quickly reaches 1000F (the ideal temperature for cooking authentic Neopolitan-style pizza).

For a closer look at the FrankenWeber and its inner workings, check out the above video on Pizzahacker by Ah Nom Nom. There's no specific how-to for building it, but it shouldn't be difficult with the above materials and the close-up view in the video. If you've been hankering for some DIY pizza action but our past options just haven't done it for you, this might just be the solution.

Microsoft's search engine Bing, ever at the ready to distinguish itself from other popular search engines, has added a feature-rich recipe search tool that makes finding recipes painless.

Visit Bing.com and type in any ingredient: ground chuck, quinoa, kidney beans, bacon, you name it and Bing will comb through recipe sites to return results. Click on the Recipes link and you'll see a list of recipes which include the item you searched for. Every recipe has a picture, description, the name of the site where the recipe was found, and some easy visual guides like the rating that recipe has been given and whether or not the recipe is high or low in fat and calories.

On the sidebar you can drill down through the results by clicking on things like Cuisine (Vegetarian, Southern, etc.), Convenience (Quick/Easy, Make-Ahead, Kid-Friendly, etc.) and even things like which course it will be served in, for what occasion you're serving it, and what tools you want to use—pressure cooker? microwave?—to help you get the most out of the devices you have in your kitchen.

Check out the video below to see it in action:

Have a favorite tool for finding recipes or maximizing the contents of your pantry and fridge? Let's hear about it in the comments.

When it comes to party appetizers, pigs in a blanket are yesterday's news. If you really want to wow your guests, we have two words for you: bacon cups.

Make sure you have lunch before you check out home project weblog Not Martha's post on how to make these knock-your-socks-off bacon cups, because you will get hungry. The author experimented with different ways to weave mini bacon baskets together and plop them on the bottom of a foil-lined muffin tin to hold their shape in the oven.

She went through loads of bacon and tried several methods before landing on the perfect way to make two different sized baskets. The larger size is perfect for holding a lettuce and tomato salad, while the smaller version is perfect for bite-size appetizers or finger food.

Making these little goodies is a bit more involved than just opening a bag of chips and dumping them in a bowl. Morgan, the post's author, cautions:

This all took three hours and my house filled with smoke, but it was worth it. Be sure to put a cookie sheet with a rim below the cooking bacon in the oven, there was a lot of dripping fat and I saw a few flames. Watch your oven carefully!

We love her idea of making tiny BLTs out of the cups. What else would make a good filling? Scrambled eggs? Diced toast? More bacon? Lets hear your ideas in the comments.

We love DIY projects here at Lifehacker. Whether we're building computers, backyard projects, or turning office supplies into artillery, we're always tinkering. Today we're taking a peek at the most popular DIY projects of 2009.

Create Your Own Sun Jar: Lifehacker Edition

Inspired by a tutorial we posted last year, we decided to make our own DIY sun jars. The trendy summer time lighting accessory retails for $30+ but we were able to make ours for around $10 each. The sun jars proved to be our most popular non-computer DIY of the entire year and readers shared their own creations with us.

The First-Timer's Guide to Building a Computer from Scratch

Building your own computer is a great way to get exactly what you want, the way you want it, without being constrained by the limits and high-prices of mass produced computers. We showed you how to build a computer from start to finish and have fun doing it.

Turn a Sharpie into a Liquid Fueled Rocket

What's standing between you and some office mayhem? Certainly not a lack of Sharpie markers and keyboard dusting spray. Combine the two with this fun DIY project and you've got one of the most awesome pieces of office-machinery we've ever featured.

Properly Erase Your Physical Media

You need to be properly erasing your physical media: all the time, every time. Our guide will show you how to get the job done and done right whether you use software to scrub your disks or you send them to the great data mine in the sky with a 21-gun salute.

Turn an Old Laptop into a Wall-Mounted Computer

Why settle for a digital picture frame when, in the same wall space, you could mount an entirely functional computer/slideshow player/TV tuner? One Lifehacker reader turned an old laptop into a super-charged digital frame.

$8 DIY Aluminum Laptop Stand

We've always been keen on DIY laptop stands, but reader Aaron Kravitz—inspired by an attractive $50 stand—went above and beyond, creating one of the most attractive DIY laptop stands we've featured to date.

Build an IKEA NAS On the Cheap

If the Hive Five on best home server software got you excited about setting up a home server but you're not keen on another unsightly PC in your home, check out this DIY IKEA NAS.

Build a DIY Portable Air Conditioner

We've shown you how to make an air conditioner (even for as low as $30), but what if you wanted something you can put in your car and take with you? While it's no substitute for a fully-charged and factory-fresh AC system, it'll keep you cool.

Turn a Bookshelf into a Secret Passage

Who hasn't dreamed of having a mystery-story-style secret passageway? While a trick bookshelf is pretty awesome in itself, this secret passage hides a home office with clever style. One industrious Lifehacker reader and his girlfriend had grown tired of seeing their office from their living space, so they hid it behind a wall of books.

Wire Your House with Ethernet Cable

You've ripped a movie on your laptop, and now want it on that fancy new home theater PC next to your TV. If you've got the time, wiring your house with Cat-5e cable could make transfer times a distant memory.

Rain Gutters as Cable Management Tools

We're all about creative cable management here at Lifehacker, so we were instantly drawn to reader Seandavid010's rain-gutter cable management setup. He was awesome enough to send detailed photos and step by step instructions to help other readers recreate his setup.

Build Your Own DTV Antenna

The lights went out on analog television this year and we were there with a guide to help you build a great DIY antenna for boosting your reception and getting that crisp digital picture you crave.

DIY Laptop Rack Hack Turns Your Monitor into an iMac

Lifehacker reader Matt Lumpkin saw our monitor stand from door stoppers post and thought we might like his laptop rack hack as another space-saving desktop solution for laptop-lovers. He was right.

Build Your Own Pizza Oven

Suppose you were inspired by the cheap DIY home pizza oven—but weren't so sure your home insurance would cover oven modifications. It's time to build a safer, more eye-pleasing oven, and we've got a thorough guide.

Crack a Master Combination Padlock Redux

Two years ago we highlighted how to crack a Master combination padlock for those of you who may have lost the combination to your bulletproof lock; now designer Mark Campos has turned the tried-and-true instructions into an easier-to-follow visual guide.

DIY Invisible Floating Bookshelves

We've covered the invisible floating bookshelf once or twice before, but if you liked the idea but weren't keen on ruining a book in the process, weblog May December Home's got you covered.

DIY Inverted Bookshelf

Instead of storing your books upright on top of the shelf, the inverted bookshelf holds all of your books in place using elastic webbing so you can hang them below the shelf—all the while allowing you to still take them out and put them back on as needed.

Build an Under-the-Cabinet Kitchen PC from an Old Laptop

Inspired by our guide to giving an old laptop new life with cheap or free projects, Lifehacker reader Brian turned his aging Dell laptop into an incredible under-the-cabinet kitchen PC.

Turn Storage Containers into Self Watering Tomato Planters

If you'd like to have delicious home-grown tomatoes but lack a garden to grow them in, you'll definitely want to check out this ingenious and inexpensive self-watering system.

Deter Thieves by Uglifying Your Camera

A few years ago, blogger Jimmie Rodgers's camera was stolen while volunteering in an impoverished Brazilian community, so he did what any sane person would do: He bought a new camera and made it ugly. With his uglified camera, Rodgers was able to snap pictures freely during the rest of his trip without worrying too much that his ostensibly crappy camera would end up stolen.

DIY TV or Monitor Stand from Door Stoppers

Nothing adds space to a desk or home theater setup like a simple monitor or TV stand, and weblog IKEA Hacker details how to build your own stand on-the-cheap with a few inexpensive items from IKEA.

Repurpose Your Analog Television

You don't need to run out and buy a new TV because of the DTV switchover. If you did anyways, Make Magazine has put together quite a guide to giving old TVs new life.

Use Ping-Pong Balls to Create Diffused Party Lights

If you need some cheap and novel ambient lighting for your next party, you're only a box of ping-pong balls and a string of lights away from solving your lighting worries.

Build a Custom-Made BoxeeBox

DeviceGuru blogger Rick Lehrbaum, inspired by the cheaper set-top boxes, made his own higher-powered "BoxeeBox" for the free, open-source media center. He posted all the parts, the how-to details, and lots of pictures.

Build a Sturdy Cardboard Laptop Stand

You already shelled out your hard earned cash for a swanky laptop, why drop more cash on an overpriced laptop stand? Cardboard alone can do the trick, as detailed in this step-by-step tutorial.

Install Snow Leopard on Your Hackintosh PC, No Hacking Required

Earlier this year we put together a wildly popular guide to building a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish, and then followed it up with an even easier guide to install Snow Leopard on your Hackintosh PC, no hacking required. Computers + DIY is all sorts of geeky fun waiting to happen.

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Which Is Your Favorite Lifehacker DIY Project of 2009?(polls)

Have a favorite DIY from 2009 that wasn't highlighted here? Sound off in the comments with a link to your favorite project. Want to see more popular DIY guides courtesy of the ghost of Lifehacker past? Check out our huge DIY guide roundup from 2008.

It's hard to justify a trip to the coffee shop in cold weather just to grab fancy-pants java or snacks. Take some time in your kitchen, though, and the bounty of your favorite caffeine dispensary can be had at home for cheap.

Consider this a shorter, winter-oriented cousin to our Lifehacker Cookbook, which was written in warmer times (at least for one editor in the northeast). As with that entry, the links here are curated from previous posts and trusted sources. But this selection is geared toward the type of stuff you'd find in the warmly-lit confines of a coffee-shop food counter.

No two tastes are the same, of course, and we're sure some of you have treats from your own shops well worth trying. Got a recipe like that to share? Throw it to us in the comments, and we'll add the best to the post. We would've gone for sandwiches, paninis, and wraps, for example, but that seemed like too vast a field to try cherry-picking.

Espresso drinks

• DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte [Kitchn/Apartment Therapy]
• Starbucks-style coffee drinks [CoffeeFair]
• Roll your own Frappuccinos [The Kurths]

Cakes and breads

• Sunday morning apple coffee cake [Food52 Editor's Pick]
• Cinnamon roll coffee cake [Cuisine at Home via Porter House]
• Traditional cinnamon coffee cake [America's Test Kitchen/Cooks']
• Better than Starbucks' lemon pound cake [Dozen Flours]
• Banana Walnut Bread [(Direct PDF link) via Starbucks.com]

Cookies, scones, and muffins

• Truly great scones (traditional) [Chubby Hubby]
• Outrageous Oatmeal Cookie [(Direct PDF link) via Starbucks.com]
• Sneakerdoodles (snickerdoodles) [Instructables]
• Pumpkin cream cheese muffins (like Starbucks) [RecipeZaar]
• Jalapeno cheddar scones [Smitten Kitchen]
• Maple Syrup Scones (organic/healthy) [101 Cookbooks]

Breakfast fare

• Easy homemade granola [Amateur Gourmet]
• Alton Brown's granola recipe [Food Network]
• Overnight steel-cut oatmeal [The Bitten Word]
• Breakfast burrito ideas
• Simple croissants [Croissants for Breakfast]
• Karen Bonarth and Roger Gural's croissants (extensive, but authentic) [Serious Eats]

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Top photo by avlxyz; lemon pound cake by Dozen Flours; scones by Chubby Hubby; granola by Amateur Gourmet.

Website Rouxbe breaks down high-quality instructional cooking videos into separate steps, teaching the basic skills you need to be a great cook.

The website claims to "focus on the food" instead of fancy-pants recipes from famous chefs (a la the previously linked Cookstr), and while recipes can be submitted by users, they have to be voted up by the community before they're turned into premium videos. There's also a cooking school section with tips ranging from skinning hazelnuts to butterflying a chicken. What makes these videos impressive is the broken-down, step-by-step nature, letting you skip back and re-watch the detail you need to watch again instead of dragging a slider bar around (which can be difficult with chicken-greased fingers).

Watching most of the videos requires a free membership (which gives you a 30-day pass to everything), but you can check out a couple of the videos without signing up. For completely free cooking videos on a wider range of topics, check out the previously mentioned FoodTube.