Most recipes for whole-wheat pancakes call for a mix of white and whole-wheat flours, and they also call for extra flavorings like spices, vanilla, fruit juice, or fruit. Why not just whole-wheat flour? We discovered that using all whole-wheat flour actually delivers light, fluffy, and tender pancakes—not the dense cakes you’d imagine—because whole-wheat flour contains slightly less gluten-forming protein than white flour and because the bran in whole-wheat flour cuts through any gluten strands that do form. Recipes for pancakes made with white flour advise undermixing to limit gluten development and thus avoid dense, tough pancakes, but with whole-wheat flour, gluten isn’t an issue, which all but guarantees light and tender cakes. And we didn’t see the need to cover up whole wheat’s natural flavor, the perfect complement to maple syrup, with other add-ins. As long as we used a bag of fresh or properly stored (in the freezer) whole-wheat flour, it had just the buttery, nutty flavor we wanted.

Pancakes are one of the simplest dishes you can make, whether they’re for breakfast, dinner, or a snack. Mix together a handful of pantry ingredients like flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, butter, and buttermilk; cook them for a few minutes in a skillet; and violà—you’ve got a fluffy full stack! Well, not so fast. To really make the best pancakes, there are a few things you need to know besides how to dump and mix. Here are 5 things we’ve learned from developing dozens of foolproof pancake recipes in the test kitchen.

It’s often difficult to imbue pulled pork with rich, smoky flavor when cooking on a gas grill. We cut our pork butt into three pieces to increase the surface area that the smoke could cling to. After salting the pork overnight, we take it directly from the fridge to the grill: The meat’s cool temperature allows more smoke to condense onto its surface. Instead of inundating the meat with smoke at the beginning, we get the most out of the wood chips by soaking half of them in water to delay when they begin to smoke. Our foil packets are the right size and shape to sit on the grill, and they have just the right size and number of openings to allow in enough oxygen so that the chips smolder, but not so much that they catch fire. Finally, we stir together a bright and spicy vinegar sauce that highlights the pungent smoke flavors of our pulled pork.

by Lan Lam

l almost didn’t pursue a boiled corn recipe. I’d never consulted one, and as one of my colleagues asked dubiously, what was wrong with the usual method? Bring a pot of water to a boil, drop in the ears, and wait. When the kernels turn bright yellow, they’re done. I was inclined to agree with her, until I thought about how rarely I’ve produced perfectly crisp, juicy corn. Given how fleeting corn season is, I decided it was worth figuring out a method that delivers perfect results every time.