Four good reasons to eat chocolate

May 9, 2013 by
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Discussing chocolate is always appropriate, but never more so than approaching Mother's Day. So here's a shout out to The Daily Meal's article, Truth Behind 4 Chocolate Myths. By busting these myths, they produce even more reasons than you may already have for eating chocolate. Check out the article for the full details, here is a synopsis: "Myth #1: Chocolate… read more

All hail Hummus – the new King of the Snacks

May 8, 2013 by
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No less an authority than the Wall Street Journal has chosen to crown hummus as the new king of the snacks. In their online article, Hummus is Conquering America, they discuss how the growing demand for hummus is encouraging farmers to trade transplanting tobacco for chickpeas. Apparently the chickpea harvest has been concentrated in the Northwest, which creates a diversity of climate… read more

About those menus…

May 7, 2013 by
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You know those "suggested menus" offered by many cookbooks?  Where they tell you what goes with what, from starters to salads to mains to sides to sweets, and what wine you should serve with what?  And often they have a picture to go with it - of the whole beautiful spread, sometimes being elegantly nibbled by an octet of attractive… read more

Mark Bittman identifies “the Big Mac of desserts”

May 7, 2013 by
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Mother's Day is approaching, and what mother wouldn't want the ultimate chocolate dessert - the "Big Mac of Dessert?" Mark Bittman has bestowed this title on Jean-Georges Vongerichten's molten chocolate cake - the original lava cake that has spawned so many offspring. But Vongertichten produces over 1,000/day, so if you want to go to the master, this is the one… read more

Presenting recipes as infographics could entice new cooks

May 6, 2013 by
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It's fun to both acknowledge and applaud novel approaches to old methods, and a new cookbook coming out in October does just that. Rather than writing out the recipe, this cookbook, (Picture Cook: A Graphic Cookbook by Katie Shelly),  presents the recipes as infographics - line drawings that show the recipe being made. The idea behind this approach is explained… read more

Rick Bayless and controversy over “authentic” Mexican food

May 5, 2013 by
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It's Cinco de Mayo, which is actually almost more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. It technically celebrates a battle than occurred in the Mexican province of Puebla, but became a holiday that Mexican-Americans encouraged to signify pride in their heritage. And just as with Cinco de Mayo, the concept of what is "authentic" Mexican food, vs. Mexican-American… read more

The Food Network is losing popularity

May 3, 2013 by
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The N.Y. Post published today some news that we thought our members would find interesting. According to recent ratings, the "Food Network shed 17 percent of its audience during the 12 months through April 30.  The average primetime show on the cable channel, which features such series as "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," slipped to 1.06 million." Also interesting, by contrast… read more

The first ever cookbook rating app!

May 2, 2013 by
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You may have noticed Susie's mentions of her new cookbook rating app but I thought it deserved an entire post.  Susie must thoroughly test more new cookbooks than anyone else around - as well as her posts for EYB, she reviews cookbooks for The Boston Globe and NPR.  So it made sense that Susie used all that experience to create… read more

Beyonce and the $900 titanium straw

May 2, 2013 by
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It's well-known that touring artists often have very specific requirements for food, etc. in their touring contracts. And it's kind of fun to read them, if for nothing more than realizing what a fantasy world must be like. So when the Daily Meal published Beyonce's touring contract requirements, we paused to look them over. Essentially, as far as food goes,… read more

Why eat the hottest pepper in the world?

May 1, 2013 by
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Recently Slate posed a question that has puzzled us for a long time. In Eating Fire, they ask: "Why do people feel compelled to put the world's spiciest chili peppers in their mouths?" Indeed, in recent years, there has been a contest to develop the hottest pepper in the world. In 2012, the new  scorpion pepper edged out the ghost… read more

The cookie chosen by both Jacques Torres & Dorie Greenspan

April 30, 2013 by
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We don't usually bring attention to cooking contests - there are far too many of them - but the winner of the recent Fonseca contest caught our attention. First, the contest was rather unique - design a cookie that would go well with Port - and the judges (Jacques Torres and Dorie Greenspan) are no slouches. Then the cookie itself is really… read more

Cookbooks for Mother’s Day!

April 30, 2013 by
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Less than two weeks till Mother's Day, and we're entering the "spring bump" - next to the year-end holidays, it's the second-busiest time of year for cookbook publishing and cookbook sales. (Which is why my developer timed the launch of my cookbook-rating app, CookShelf - just out! - for now.) And that makes me think...if, like so many people, you're… read more

Is the Paleo Diet more than just nostalgia for the (very far) past?

April 29, 2013 by
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Most people interested in food-related matters are certainly aware by now of the Paleo Diet - but may not really understand it. This article from Epicurious, Scrutinizing the Paleo Diet,  presents a fair analysis of the pros and cons. It's actually a review of a new book,  Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live… read more

The rebirth of 1970’s kitchen gadgets

April 28, 2013 by
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According the The Guardian, 1970s kitchen gadgets are making a comeback. And we must say, when they started listing the gadgets, we had to agree they're right. Among the ones they list are: Sodastream -  Jamie Oliver's recent tribute (along with Lorraine Pascale's), created an 85% sales increase for this gadget which allows you to easily add carbonation and flavors to… read more

Jerry Seinfeld on Coffee

April 26, 2013 by
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Apparently Jerry Seinfeld loves the Morning Edition show on National Public Radio, and just decided to call in one morning to discuss coffee. He is a relatively recent convert to coffee, having only started to drink it five years ago, but - being Seinfeld - has developed many coffee convictions. NPR obviously followed up and has just posted their conversation… read more

Is cooking school worth it?

April 25, 2013 by
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One of the most prestigious culinary schools in the U.S. - the Culinary Institute of America or CIA - recently experienced a student revolt. About 20 percent of their bachelor candidates (4-year students) walked out to protest falling academic standards and extremely high tuition rates. Several factors led to the walkout: Declining admissions standards designed, according the students, to increase… read more

April 2013 Cookbook Roundup

April 24, 2013 by
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Every month Susie Chang reviews new cookbook releases and notes trends. And she may also occasionally throw in a review of a "not-quite cookbook." We're arranging for similar roundups like Susie's for books published in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, but until we formally launch those, we'll still be noting new arrivals and providing brief descriptions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pace is… read more

An Interview with Karen Stabiner

April 24, 2013 by
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We recently chatted with Karen Stabiner. Stabiner, a renowned food journalist, just spent two years with Michael Romano to create a new cookbook, Family Table: Favorite Staff Meals from Our Restaurants to Your Home. The book  takes the reader backstage at some of New York's most famous  restaurants -- Danny Meyer's Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, Maialino and… read more

Specialty kitchen tools – which do you toss & which do you keep?

April 23, 2013 by
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Food Republic recently ran an article dealing with specialty tools, "Spring Cleaning: 5 Outdated Kitchen Tools You Should Toss Right Now." To some degree, we found the list surprising, since of the 5 tools they mention, we consider 2 of them to be remarkably useful: Egg separator: This makes sense - your fingers do the best job Garlic press: Sorry,… read more

Who’s easy now?

April 22, 2013 by
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Here's the quote that caused the trouble, from a recent story I wrote about preserved lemons: "Preserved lemons can take a month - certainly not less than two weeks. By that time, I've put aside my North African cookbooks and I'm on to an easy French or Hunan cookbook, or a book that's all about ice cream or pickles." [emphases… read more

Foolproof Hollandaise in 2 minutes

April 22, 2013 by
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Last month we published An honest to goodness foolproof way to poach an egg - which became one of our most highly viewed blogs. That blog pointed to a video from Kenji Alt at the Serious Eats Food Lab on, obviously, egg poaching. Now he has followed up with a somewhat related video how-to: The Food Lab's Foolproof Hollandaise in… read more

Mark Bittman interviews Michael Pollan

April 21, 2013 by
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In his recent New York Times column, Mark Bittman chatted with Michael Pollan about Pollan's newest book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. This isn't a cookbook - in fact, it only has four recipes - Bolognese, pork shoulder, sauerkraut, and bread - that Pollan uses to explore fundamental principles of cooking. As anyone familiar with both men would expect, the conversation… read more

R.I.P. Cupcakes

April 19, 2013 by
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We're sad to announce the demise of one of our favorie food fads - the cupcake. Three separate news sources have published obituaries.  The first is from no less an unimpeachable source than The Wall Street Journal. In Forget Gold, the Gourmet Cupcake Market Is Crashing they note that the publicly traded cupcake company "Crumbs" has gone from $13/share to $1.70.… read more

Chefs’ favorite knives

April 18, 2013 by
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The Kitchn recently pointed out this article from details.com, which asked six chefs to name their favorite knives: April Bloomfield, Marc Forgione, Jesse Schenker, Stuart Brioza, Chris Shepherd, and Stephanie Izard. The answers are an unquestioned victory for the Japanese - all of the knives are of Japanese origin - with strong and thin seeming to be the most attractive… read more

Julia Child comes to life in a new, different type of app

April 17, 2013 by
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Since many of you enjoy our occasional notices of interesting food-related apps, we wanted to alert you to one that Random House, the long time publisher for Julia Child, has  issued - it's a unique app that is far more than just a cooking app. In AppStorm's just-published review of the app Mastering the Art of French Cooking, they describe this… read more
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