Independence Day is almost upon us, and what better way to show America you love her than by learning how to properly grill a hot dog.

Homebrew snackie cakes! But where do you buy bags of polysorbate 80 these days? In one of the grander experiments in Web 2.0 (or maybe Web 1.8) post-consumer recycling, CNET's eatable megasite Chow has pretty much launched. The "portal" (cringe) is made up of two main components stitched together by the power of CNET's deep pockets. First, there's defunct foodmag Chow, which closed down in 2005 as a print magazine; now it's back in online-only form, complete with editor-in-chief Jane Goldman once more at the helm. The other piece of the newly giant robot is Chowhound, the old-school food-forum digs of legendary restaurant critic Jim Leff. How's it all hang together, you ask?