Alumnus Chef One-Ups (OK, Maybe Two-Ups) KFC

I can't think of any recent food that has received more press than Kentucky Fried Chicken's new Double Down sandwich. You've probably heard of it. They removed the bun and instead sandwich cheese, bacon, and special sauce between two fried or grilled chicken breasts. It either gives you chills of horror or delight. For chef J. Kenji Lopez-Alt ’02, it represented a challenge—to try to elevate the dish closer to gourmet status. As he notes, conceptually and nutritionally it's no different than a chicken cordon bleu. Check out his step by step recreation of the meal and learn how you too can have little crisp nubs of breaded goodness on your chicken and an improved special sauce. Because "trust me," Lopez-Alt writes, "you don't want your sauce to taste exactly the same as the Colonel's."

Lopez-Alt, who graduated with a degree in architecture, loves to delve into the science of cooking. He previously worked as an editor at Cook's Illustrated magazine and cohosted America's Test Kitchen. He trained in some of Boston's best restaurants, such as Clio and No. 9 Park, and now lives in the New York area, where he contributes columns to both Serious Eats and the Good Eater Collaborative blog. His book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, will hit shelves in the fall of next year.

For Serious Eats, Lopez-Alt explains the basics of kitchen science, such as What's the Point of a Vinaigrette?, offers tasty tips, like how to make a Foolproof Jucy Lucy (cheese-stuffed burger), and provides useful information, like how to Cook Your Meat in a Beer Cooler: The World's Best (and Cheapest) Sous-Vide Hack.

On the Good Eater site, you can find such gems as Lopez-Alt's quest for French-fry perfection as he strives to discover why double frying is necessary. You'll love his scientific approach as he tests different hypotheses. He uses calipers to measure fry crusts and everything.