Danilo Alfaro

Writer, editor, proofreader

Portland, OR

Professional writer with more than 25 years' experience 8+ years writing about food and cooking

Danilo Alfaro

Writer, editor, proofreader

Portland, OR

Professional writer with more than 25 years' experience 8+ years writing about food and cooking

The Real People's Guide to Sharpening a Knife
I can't speak for everyone, but I certainly feel like I've evolved since the first time I wrote about knife sharpening, way back in 2008, shortly after the dawn of time. In those days I was young and idealistic, full of vinegar and that other thing. A little bird even landed on my typewriter when I wrote it, so I knew it had to be true.
About.com Culinary Arts
Everyone Should Know How to Bake a Cake
"Would you like to come in for coffee and cake?" It's just ten simple words, but, repeated often enough, they have the power to make the world a happier place. That's why baking a cake is something everyone should know how to do. If someone you care about ever has a birthday, that's reason enough right there.
About.com Culinary Arts
How to Know If Your Ground Beef Has Gone Bad
Ground beef goes bad really quickly. The reason for that is that grinding it exposes vastly more surface area of the meat to oxygen, as compared with a steak. And oxygen is one of the primary sources of sustenance for the tiny bacteria that cause food poisoning. Not only that, but the structure of the ground meat basically forms a multitude of little air pockets all throughout the meat.
About.com Culinary Arts
Chicken Gizzards: The Meat Your Grocer Isn't Telling You About
There's always someone who likes weird foods. The one who plucks the eye out of a whole roasted fish and devours it. The one who enters a fugue state while feasting on black pudding or chicken feet or tripe. Maybe that person is you. I'm that person when it comes to chicken gizzards. I haven't said anything about it up to now because part of me was hoping to keep all the gizzards for myself.
About.com Culinary Arts
Avocados: How to Buy, Ripen and Store Them
For a period of time in my childhood, I lived in a house that had an avocado tree growing in the front yard. Human nature being what it is, you can start to take something for granted when it grows on a tree in your front yard. But not avocados. Even at the age of 7 or 8, I was fully aware of how fortunate I was.
About.com Culinary Arts
Do You REALLY Have to Refrigerate Butter?
Not only is this question one of the ones I get most frequently, I'm pretty sure it's the very first question a reader ever sent me, not long after this site went live back in early 2008. "MUST one refrigerate one's butter, causing it to harden into an unyielding yellow brick, wholly unspreadable, good only for ripping one's toast or pancakes or muffins to shreds?
About.com Culinary Arts
Get Your Pans Hot Before You Start Cooking
Believe it or not, one of the most common mistakes home cooks make is trying to cook their food before the pan is hot enough. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to avoid, because all you have to do is absolutely nothing for the additional minutes your pan needs to reach the proper temperature. Next time you're at a restaurant where you can see the line cooks from the bar or dining room, check out their pans.
About.com Culinary Arts
Celery Salt: Stodgy Spice or Sublime Seasoning?
There's a hot dog place in my neighborhood that makes Chicago-style dogs, which feature mustard, onions, neon green relish, peppers, a pickle spear, slices of fresh tomato and a dash of celery salt. Celery salt, if you're not familiar, is a spice blend consisting of two things: salt and ground celery seed.
About.com Culinary Arts
Fresh, Homemade Salsa: A How-To
Years ago I did a semester abroad in Mexico, and one of the first things I did upon arriving in Oaxaca was to buy a 10-pound mortar and pestle made of solid basalt. This stunning act of shortsightedness meant that I would spend the next four months hauling a melon-sized chunk of volcanic rock around in my luggage.
About.com Culinary Arts
How to Cook a Steak Without Poisoning Someone
I was at a party, and the conversation somehow got onto the topic of cooking steaks. Someone said that the reason she didn't cook steaks was because she was afraid of giving someone food poisoning. "Listen," I said. "You're more likely to poison someone with a salad than with a steak." After further assurances, I could see she was relieved.
About.com Culinary Arts
How to Make The Most Amazing Burgers
And now I'm going to tell you the secret to making amazing hamburgers. Actually, there's not just a single secret, there's about four of them, and they're not really secret what with me publishing them on the internet and all. But that's fine. Let everyone in the world enjoy perfect hamburgers is my feeling.
About.com Culinary Arts
How to Cook a Ribeye Steak
The question of how to cook a ribeye steak reminds me of the old joke about how to get to Carnegie Hall: Easier said than done, right? Well, it really is that simple, and I'm going to tell you exactly how to do it. My favorite technique for cooking a boneless ribeye steak is on a cast iron skillet using the 4-3-2 method:
About.com Culinary Arts

About

Danilo Alfaro

⦁ More than 25 years of experience in copywriting, advertising, media relations, and employee communications across a variety of staff, contract, and freelance positions.

⦁ Extensive experience writing press releases, annual reports, white papers, executive speeches, and ad copy (print, radio & TV), as well as managing strategic messaging and crisis communications

⦁ Particular expertise in the financial services, healthcare, U.S. Hispanics, and food & beverage categories

Bilingual: English-Spanish