Robert McCune, Recipe Tester

A list of all the recipes Robert McCune has tested.

A carved wooden bowl filled with barbecue potato chips.

Barbecue Potato Chips

A cheater’s version of homemade barbecue potato chips that will have you hooked for life. Taste ’em and get back to us.

Two eggnogs in glasses with a gingerbread star on the lip and a rim of cinnamon.

Easy Eggnog

Ever since trying this eggnog, we can’t make it through the holiday season without it. All the richness. None of the cloying sweetness or regret-it-the-next-day heaviness.

Apple spiced bourbon toddies on a tray in front of an outdoor fire, one being poured from a thermos in a gloved hand.

Apple Spiced Bourbon Toddies

Infinitely more complex than the toddy of yore, this little number owes its lure to apple-y cider spiked with a hint of star anise and quite an indecent glug of bourbon.

A coupe glass filled with a revolver cocktail, garnished with orange peel.

The Revolver Cocktail

“A terrific, deeply flavored cocktail.” “A blessing after a rough day at work.” That’s what folks are saying about this cocktail.

Close up of a pile of zucchini slaw with carrots, squash, and bell peppers, sprinkled with parsley. 2 forks in the background.

Zucchini Slaw Two Ways

Never give zucchini away again with these equally tempting yet uniquely different slaws. You get to choose—rich and creamy or tart and sweet.

A chile-spiked margarita on a linen cocktail napkin with a lime wedge on the side and a whole green chile in the drink.

Chile-Spiked Margarita

If you’ve ever sought an excuse to start making your own margaritas, this is it. Salted, warming, and lip-puckering limey. Fresh!

Beer from a Budweiser bottle being poured into a glass of mean shandy.

Mean Shandy

What, pray tell, is a mean shandy, you ask? Think of a regular shandy with a spirited streak. There you have it.

A plastic container filled with vanilla bean ice cream with a metal ice cream scoop resting in it.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Sometimes it’s nice to just let your spoon sink into something that tastes pure as the driven snow. Indulgently rich, sigh-inducingly creamy, vanilla-enhanced snow.

Two small bowls of lemon ice, with a wooden popsicle stick resting on top of one.

Lemon Ice

We love ice cream, but sometimes it’s too darn hot and humid for anything sweet and sticky. Enter the lemon ice, a bracingly crisp and tart refresher. The best part—no ice cream maker required!

Two copper glasses filled with mint julep with straws sticking out from them and mint leaves scattered around.

Mint Julep

We’re thinking about petitioning for the word “julep” to officially function as a verb as well as a noun. Julep us!

Four glasses of michelada on a wooden board with a lime wedge in between them.

Michelada

The customary morning-after equivalent of a Bloody Mary in Mexico—except this is lighter, less tomato-y, and all around lovelier.

A yellow bowl filled with strawberry ice cream.

Strawberry Ice Cream

The tempered sweetness of this spectacular strawberry ice cream relies on in-season strawberries rather than obscene amounts of sugar for flavor.

A green bowl filled with sautéed bacon, mushrooms, and lentils with a whole piece of bacon on top.

Sautéed Bacon, Mushrooms, and Lentils

It may seem criminal to bathe the walloping nutrition of lentils and mushrooms in anything but wholesomeness, but there’s something to be said for quality of life. Hello, bacon!

A wooden bowl filled with lemon Israeli couscous with a serving spoon inside and some lemon halves in the background.

Lemon Israeli Couscous

These pearl-like couscous are cooked in chicken stock for extra flavor and tossed with peas, mint, parsley, and lemon zest. A simple, yet elegant, side dish.

A glass of homemade ginger ale with ice and a lime wedge, and a gar of ginger syrup in the background.

Homemade Ginger Ale

Full of natural ingredients that pack a wallop of intense, true-to-life ginger flavor, this brilliant hack for making real ginger ale will make you a convert.

A white oval casserole filled with asparagus, egg and cheese strata--bread, Fontina cheese, eggs, prosciutto, and asparagus

Asparagus, Egg, and Cheese Strata

Given that its overnight rest INSISTS you make this simple strata ahead of time, it sorta screams for a lazy Sunday or Christmas morning, don’t you think?

A large measuring cup of slow cooker chicken stock on a wooden table with a ladle on the side.

Slow Cooker Chicken Stock

Making stock from scratch was never difficult. And it just became even easier thanks to this simple yet perfect slow cooker approach.