EYB survey: Read our results

In a recent survey we asked you to tell us what you thought of Eat Your Books and how you used it - we were delighted with the number that responded. It's your feedback and support that will help us continue to improve the site. We wanted to share with you some of the responses. How you heard about EYB:… read more

October 2013 Cookbook Roundup

Every month Susie Chang reviews new cookbook releases and notes trends in the United States. And she may also occasionally throw in a review of a "not-quite cookbook."    And for our non-U.S. members, Jane and Fiona provide similar reviews for new U.K., Australia, and New Zealand releases. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- United States: The fall onslaught continues, with publishers releasing one would-be hit… read more

The Thanksgivvukah face-off: Food 52 vs. Serious Eats

  Two of our favorite online food sites are potentially entering into quite a culinary joust. To create recipes for the unique holiday of Thanksgivvukah (see our blog description if you're in the dark about this holiday), Food52 has challenged Serious Eats  to come up with the ultimate Thanksgivvukah recipe. The Food 52 campaign: In asking their members to help, Food… read more

Me and my cookbooks – October 2013

We're hearing from a lot of you that you've enjoyed meeting some of our EYB members through our Me and my Cookbooks Monthly feature. We'd love to introduce as many as we can -  If you'd like to be featured, just email us at info@eatyourbooks.com. Our featured EYB member this month is Sandra Thorman (EYB member sandyt1408). Sandra is from Australia,… read more

What’s a winter cookbook?

The summer cookbook has always been a pretty identifiable creature: cocktails, grilling, entertaining, the odd picnic or camping book.  But although you could argue that people enjoy cooking more in cold weather, I've never been specifically sure what a winter cookbook should look like.  There are, of course, dozens of slow cooker cookbooks, but a lot of them seem -… read more

Unearthing Halloween Inspiration

With Halloween coming on Thursday, we thought we'd help out anyone looking for different ideas. We have over 150 pins on our Halloween Pinterest board   -  unique recipes all gathered in one convenient location. And there aren't just sweets -  savory ideas are included as well  (including the Pumpkin cheese ball, with over 50 repins) and an especially strong selection… read more

New publishing trend: Cookbooks with impossible recipes to execute

  The Telegraph recently issued a bit of a diatribe against Heston Blumethal's new book, Historic Heston. In the article, Heston Blumenthal's new book: These faux cookbooks leave me simmering, they write, "The book itself is beautifully designed, bound, slip-cased and illustrated. As must be evident, you can't really use it to cook from at home. Not only is the domestic… read more

Martha and the bloggers

There's been a lot of fuss in the food blogosphere recently which can be summed up as the story of Martha and the bloggers. It is not about a new singing group (though that is a great name) but about an interview Martha Stewart gave to Bloomberg TV in which she is quoted as saying about bloggers, ""They're not trained… read more

Chip flavors have now truly jumped the shark

As something of a purist when it comes to chips, it's been a little difficult looking down the snack aisle in the grocery store and seeing bag after bag of weirder and weirder flavors (chicken and waffle chips? ) But now it appears that even those flavors have become too dull and common. According to The Daily Meal, Pringles now… read more

Cookbook giveway – The French Kitchen Cookbook by Patricia Wells

  We're very pleased to be able to offer 10 free copies of a new cookbook by one of the legends of the culinary field, Patricia Wells. Her new book,  French Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Lessons From Paris and Provence, has its basis in her famous cooking school in Provence.  We had a chance to discuss her passion for food… read more

Sharing Patricia Wells’ passions

Patricia Wells certainly needs little introduction. She's not only famous for her 13 cookbooks, food writing, and restaurant critiques but also for her lengendary cooking school in Provence. Her latest book, The French Kitchen Cookbook: Recipes and Lessons from Paris and Provence is a collection of her favorite recipes and lessons from her cooking classes in Paris and Provence. (We're delighted to be… read more

Jewish cookbooks on the rise

The Jewish new year is well underway, and the calendar is heading into the frantic stretch before Thanksgiving and an early Hannukah.  And it happens that cookbooks paying tribute to one of this country's most beloved inherited cuisines are appearing in abundance this year.  I lay no personal claim to this legacy, despite having grown up with good access to… read more

Which cookbooks to keep when you’re moving or pruning

There's a good read from the Guardian's Australia FoodBlog on what makes for a great cookbook. In Cooking up a classic: What's the recipe for a timeless cookery book? Sarah Bejamin writes that "Authority, style and innovation are the main ingredients characterising the cookbooks that have stood the test of time." The article highlights some classic Australian authors that would be… read more

Cookbook giveaway – Joy of Kosher

Jamie Geller has created an entire media microcosm around cooking fast and delicious Kosher food. She's authored the Quick & Kosher Cookbook series (including Quick & Kosher: Recipes from the Bride Who Knew Nothing)  and is co- founder of the Kosher Media Network, which recently launched the Joy of Kosher with Jamie Geller Magazine and companion website JoyofKosher.com, a social network… read more

The math proves that bacon is the single greatest ingredient

  Opinions may count a lot, but Wired, working the Food Network, has mathematically proved that bacon is the single greatest ingredient. In Math Proves Bacon is the Miracle Food, they  crunched 49,733 recipes and 906,539 comments to prove that bacon added the greatest benefit of any single ingredient. The only categories that bacon did not work its magic on… read more

New EYB feature: Discovering independent cookbook stores

It's a pretty safe bet that every one of our members would love to spend time exploring bookstores that specialize in cookbooks. And so we've decided to offer a new EYB feature highlighting those  stores. Now you can discover (or get reacquainted with) a store near your home - or plan a new target destination when you travel. And to… read more

Quick question: Does slamming an oven door cause a cake to fall?

ATK's Feed posed a good question recently, especially timely as we head into baking season: "Does Slamming an Oven Door Cause Cakes to Collapse?" And the answer? In a word, no.  According to them, "The sturdy muffins emerged unharmed, as did the yellow cake. Even the notoriously fragile angel food cake and the soufflé survived the vigorous slamming. Why? A properly… read more

Pastry! pastry! pastry!

It started a couple of weeks ago, when the third book on French pastry in two weeks arrived in the mail.  What's up with that?  I wondered.  Was it a conspiracy?  Some kind of vast plot by the butter export lobby?  There was Pastry by legendary Richard Bertinet, and The Art of French Pastry by Jacquy Pfeiffer and baking veteran… read more

Famous chefs recommend cookbooks to improve your life

Self-help books seem to always dominate non-fiction best seller lists, so it's rather intriguing to find this collection from BuzzFeedFood of 19 Cookbooks That Will Improve Your Life. There is one caveat, though - you'll need to cook all the way through them (remember Julie and Julia?). But even if that's too daunting, this list of cookbooks recommended by well-known… read more

Testing food-saving gadgets

  Prolonging the shelf life of produce makes sense for any number of reasons - saving money, miminimizing food waste, helping the environment, limiting trips to the grocery store, providing incentives to eat more fruits and vegetables. So food gadgets that promise to keep produce fresher longer are always tempting to buy. To help decide whether to invest in these… read more

The apple mystery story gets a little less mysterious

With  apple season in full flower (at least in the U.S. and Canada), we wanted to bring attention to a great story that Mother Jones ran earlier this year. But, first, we wanted to wish all our Canadian brethren a very happy Thanksgiving. The article, Why Your Supermarket Only Sells 5 Kinds of Apples, profiles a modern-day apple detective. As… read more

Taking food instagrams may make the food less satisfying

The Atlantic recently reported on  research done by the Journal of Consumer Psychology on the effects of taking photos of your food before eating it: "Study: We'll Enjoy Food More If You Don't Instagram It."* As has been proven by many diet studies regarding satiaty, the flavor of food decreases the more you eat it - the first bite always… read more

Do eggs really need to be at room temperature?

We were making muffins recently and noticed that the eggs were supposed to be at room temperature when, of course, we hadn't taken them out. So this posting from America's Test Kitchen, "Do Cold Eggs Ruin Baked Goods?" seemed especially timely. The answer, with a few exceptions, is not really, especially when it comes to taste. The exceptions were pound, angel… read more

Fortuitous kitchen mistakes

We think most people (at least secretly) love lists - especially those that involve food. And this list from First We Feast of 15 Delicious Things That were Invented By Mistake is one of our recent favorites. The invention of chocolate chip cookies is a fairly well-known story, and beer had to be a  great mistake (it was probably a… read more

Getting the inside scoop on the Food Network

There's a new book out, From Scratch: Inside the Food Network by Allen Salkin, that describes the 20 years that the Food Network has been on. The Daily Meal has produced an interesting slideshow -  20 Surprising Facts about Food Network and Its Stars - that watchers may not be aware of. Here are five that we found  especially  interesting:… read more
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