For a home cook–friendly version of this classic Japanese noodle stir-fry, we started by isolating the best possible supermarket alternatives to hard-to-find Japanese ingredients. In place of chewy yakisoba noodles, we use lo mein noodles (which also contain an alkaline ingredient that gives them some elasticity) and undercook them to enhance their chew. We also rinse them very well with cold water, which removes surface starches and makes them appropriately slick. We treat thinly sliced flank steak with baking soda to ensure that each piece is tender and juicy. Soy sauce, Worcestershire, ketchup, and rice wine vinegar make up the savory-sweet sauce—a facsimile of the traditional version made with Japanese Worcestershire sauce.

Compared with a classic chef’s knife, the santoku is typically shorter and has a thinner blade, a stubbier tip, and a straighter edge. They shine in tasks requiring more delicate or precise knife work, such as thinly slicing carrots. Compared with a chef’s knife, the thinner blade of the santoku is able to cut through the dense carrot more smoothly: The narrower the blade, the less food material has to be moved out of the way as the blade slices, while a thicker blade requires more force, as it acts more like a wedge. While supplies last. Offer ends at 11:59 p.m. PT on September 25, 2017.

Recipes for broiled pork tenderloin promise roasts with well-browned exteriors and rosy-pink, juicy centers, but the results are more likely pallid, overcooked meat or spottily browned roasts with undercooked interiors. Using a disposable aluminum pan to cook the pork reflected the radiant heat of the broiler toward the pork, enhancing browning and ensuring that the interior didn’t overcook by the time deep browning had been achieved. Since some ovens preheat faster than others and are likely to cycle off if preheated at such an intense heat for too long, we evened the playing field by preheating the oven to 325 degrees before putting in the roasts and turning on the broiler. And finally, because of the broiler’s intense heat, we found that there was a much bigger carryover cooking effect, so we pulled the roasts from the oven when they hit 125 to 130 degrees instead of our usual 140 degrees to ensure that they were a perfect medium-rare after their 10-minute rest.

Unpack a knife from the factory and the edge should be razor sharp. However, with use the edge will dull. The force of repeated cutting bends microscopic pieces of the blade to either side, making it harder to push the blade through the food, which in turn makes it feel dull to the user. A so-called sharpening steel—also called a honing steel—which is the metal rod sold with most knife sets, doesn’t really sharpen a knife, but rather hones the edge of a slightly dulled blade. Sweeping the blade along the steel realigns the edge so you don't have to sharpen as frequently.