Which one of the 8 beef grades should you choose?

With holiday parties revving up, we thought it might be a good time to help people choose their meat carefully by looking at what beef grades really mean (at least in the U.S.). The USDA uses eight grades of beef, which are rated by tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. With the help of an article from Fooducate, here's a quick run… read more

Safely treating your pets at Thanksgiving

As a food-oriented website, we can't ignore the fact that Thanksgiving is tomorrow, at least here in the U.S. But we wanted to do something a little different, so we thought we'd focus on what foods you can, and can not, share with your pets at dinner. After all, for those of us who are blessed with animals, we want… read more

What’s on your Thanksgiving menu?

This Thanksgiving is a special one for our household - the first time we've ever really hosted (and by "hosted," I mean "invited people who don't usually see the house in its usual pigsty state").  We've got 3 serious cooks to prepare the meal for 13 or 14 guests - a good ratio - and the menu has gotten to… read more

Taking the best possible food photos

With the holidays almost here, there will be a lot of food photos. So we thought we'd compile some basic food photography tips from 3 excellent sources: First up, from Digital Photography School, are 11 Quick Food Photography Tips to Make Mouth Watering Images - here are some of the tips we especially liked: Pick the freshest ingredients Lighting is everything (natural,… read more

Cookbook giveaway – Robicelli’s: A Love Story, with Cupcakes

We're very pleased to be able to offer two free copies of Robicelli's: A Love Story with Cupcakes.  Matt and Allison Robicelli are iconic cupcake bakers (their Chicken n'Waffles flavor is legendary). They've developed a passionate following for their 250 different flavors of sophisticated cupcakes -- classically made and adult oriented - not "cutesie" or  overly sweet. The recipes in… read more

Allison Robicelli rescues cupcakes from cutesy-wootsy bakeries & ignorant critics

For those of you who may not live in the New York City area, Matt and Allison Robicelli are iconic bakers, specializing in cupcakes, whoopie pies, and other items reputedly too addictive to resist - their Chicken n'Waffles flavor is legendary. Until recently, they were exclusively wholesale bakers, with fans signing onto their website to find out which flavors were… read more

November 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: In October, publishers pushed forth a brash brigade of talkworthy… read more

Cookbook giveaway – Lantern Cookery Classics Box Set, Volume One

  Our newest cookbook giveaway is just for our Australian and New Zealand members. We're offering the Lantern Cookery Classics Box Set, Volume One, which includes individual books containing classic recipes  by six celebrated Australian chefs:   Stephanie Alexander, Matt Moran, Gary Mehigan,  Kylie Kwong,  George Calombaris,  and Maggie Beer.       To win one of the cookbook sets, just post a comment below answering the… read more

CookApp giveaway – CookShelf

For our latest cookbook giveaway, we're not exactly offering a cookbook. Rather we're offering 20 licenses for Susie Chang's cookbook app, CookShelf (the title has now changed to Cookbook Finder). We're sure you're familiar with Susie as she writes a weekly blog for EYB, but you may not know her as a highly regarded cookbook reviewer for NPR, The Boston… read more

Me and my cookbooks – November 2013

We're hearing from a lot of you that you're enjoying 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 one of EYB's own - Susie Chang. Susie… read more

The mystery of the skinny turkey

The blogosphere is full of stories about the fat turkey problem - or, more accurately, the lack of fat turkeys problem. Apparently, Butterball - the company that produces the largest number of turkeys for national sale - has announced that they've had problems getting turkeys to plump up for Thanksgiving. Therefore, the number of fresh, fat (over 16 pound) turkeys… read more

Ottolenghi & Tamimi on their most essential – and fun – ingredients

It's a pretty safe bet that every one of our members has heard of Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi - their cookbook Jerusalem is, as we described it previously, the Harry Potter of the cookbook world. So we wanted to share this NPR interview with Ottolenghi & Tamimi who, at the very least, deserve kudos for earning their fame the old-fashioned… read more

Cookbook store profile: Featuring Books for Cooks

Photo of Tim White at Books for Cooks by Lucy Miller -----------------------  Last month we began to offer a new EYB feature highlighting independent cookbook 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 make this as strong a feature as we can,… read more

Cookbook giveaway – 2-book bundle: Canal House Cooks Every Day & Pronto!

                      For our latest cookbook giveaway, we're very pleased to be able to offer 5 free bundles of two cookbooks from the Canal House folks:  Canal House Cooks Every Day & Pronto. For those of you who may not be familiar with the Canal House collection, here's a brief history:… read more

The women of Canal House cook us lunch

In 2006  two women: Christopher Hirsheimer, the founding editor of Saveur, & Melissa Hamilton, the director of Saveur's test kitchen, began a new business: Canal House. Originally plannined as a photo and design studio for cookbooks and magazines, the two women soon turned their attention to cooking, developing an innovative plan. Rather than starting a new magazine, they inaugurated a… read more

The most expensive cookbook

Jane and I were chatting the other day and the question arose: Which is the most expensive cookbook? We weren't discussing used or historical books auctioned off or resold, but currently available books for sale on Amazon or in bookstores. The discussion was inspired by the announcement of a March publication date for Ferran Adrià's new book(s) - seven volumes… read more

And the $1,000,000 recipe winner is…

® The annual Pillsbury Bake Off® - which long ago stopped involving just baked goods - just announced its 2013 winners - awarding $1,000,000 to the winning recipe. We always think it's interesting to see what wins. This year, the winner is an appetizer, Loaded Potato Pinwheels: "Loaded Potato Pinwheels are a great, versatile appetizer," said Jann Atkins, Bake-Off Kitchens Manager.… read more

The new simple.

It's not like "simple" is new.  Cookbook authors have been touting the ease and speed of their authors presumably for as long as there have been cookbooks.  But these days, I get the sense that ease and speed are a means, more than an end. By that, I mean that "simple" has become an aesthetic. Maybe it all started with… read more

Is one type of cinnamon really better than the other? Plus 263 ways to use it

If you had to choose one spice to be associated with the holidays, it would have to be cinnamon. From pies to squash to drinks to candles, it's omnipresent. So we thought we'd highlight some recent articles that add a bit to our common knowledge, or possibly our common confusion. On Epicurious, we have True Cinnamon, which explains that there… read more

Do you judge people by what they’re eating?

In their article, Why do we judge people by the food they eat?, The Guardian provided some interesting material to think about. In particular, the idea of food profiling struck a chord. Back in the day (way back in the day) if someone ate muesli, they were immediately identified as a counter-revolutionary hippie - ditto for brown rice, soy beans, and… read more

Buy 1 EYB Gift Voucher get 1 Free!

Limited time only We think that you deserve a break this holiday season so the team here at Eat Your Books have been whipping up a little treat for you!   Buy your gift certificate before November 30th and you'll be in the drawing to win Nathan Myhrvold's fabulous new book, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine. Valued at $120, your… read more

Take 50,000 recipes and derive 25 amazing facts

Before we get to our regularly scheduled content, we wanted to announce a special holiday treat from EYB: Buy 1 EYB Gift Voucher, and Get 1 Free! Plus you'll be in the drawing to win Nathan Myhrvold's fabulous new book, The Photography of Modernist Cuisine.  Check out all the details here. _________________________________________________________________________ Whenever Wired  tackles food-related items, it's always fascinating, and… read more

For your consideration – a list of the 25 best food memoirs

Now is the time we're all compiling lists of books to request for the holidays, so I wanted to post this list from Grub Street  of The Top 25 Must-Read Food Memoirs of All Time for your consideration. No cookbooks here, and only one book per author, but still intriguing. Here's their criteria: "The list itself is comprised of picks… read more

EYB member wins world record!

You may remember a post in our new feature My and My Cookbooks where Sue Jimenez, EYB member  Manycookbooks shared details of her collection.  She mentioned that she was applying to the Guinness Book of Records for the Largest Collection of Cookbooks in the USA/Canada.  Well, she did it!  You can see the  details on the Guinness site.  Sue also posted about it … read more

Why microwaving kale, carrots, or other vegies can create sparks

We're going into the holiday season, so it's nice to have a collection of healthy, quick snacks and appetizers to go along with the more traditional ones. And kale chips definitely fit the bill. However, making kale chips in the oven can be tricky as they either never dry out or can burn - in any event, they take an… read more
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