Is chia really worth the cost?

September 6, 2013 by
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We're not sure how many people remember the rather infamous Chia Pets of the 1980's - little terracotta animals that miraculously spouted fur after a few weeks of watering. But for those of us who do remember, the explosive popularity of chia seeds as a healthy food item will always have a touch of whimsy. But there's another factor about… read more

Visual proof that most fad diets are just plain nuts

September 5, 2013 by
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In an excellent demonstration of why seeing is believing, NPR's the Salt took a visual look at fashionable diets - photographing their ingredients. And it's obvious that most of then are just plain nuts or, as they title their article, Fad Diets Will Seem Even Crazier After You've Seen This. We've reprinted two of the diet photos below along with… read more

Following raisins down the history trail

September 4, 2013 by
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We recently came across a PDF online of a 1932 SunMaid raisin cookbook - and couldn't help but be intrigued - this was even before our time! Raisins were apparently pretty exotic back then - in fact, while we think of them as merely dried grapes, in the book they're described as "Thermo-Jell'd, "  which makes each raisin into a… read more

Rainy day cookbooks

September 3, 2013 by
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I've got them.  You've got them.  Pretty much anybody with over 100 cookbooks has a couple.  That's right - those books that we set aside for a rainy day, or a day when the kids have a field trip, or when we've already finished all the knitting projects. This year seems to have brought a whole bunch of them, with… read more

The most common cooking mistakes

September 3, 2013 by
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We admit it - we love lists. But we do try to stick to lists that make us think.  So we couldn't resist this one from Cooking Light: The Most Common Cooking Mistakes. They list 57 common mistakes; here are the 10 we think are the most common (some are slightly reworded to make them more understandable), and cause the… read more

Choosing one cookbook to define each of the last 6 decades

September 2, 2013 by
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The Kitchn recently took a stab at naming the defining cookbook for each of the last 5 decades, plus the current one. Their  criteria was to choose those  cookbooks - and their signature dishes - that defined a decade and became the go-to source for dinner party menus. Here's their list with our comments and alternate suggestions - feel free to contribute… read more

Follow-up answers about chicken rinsing

September 1, 2013 by
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Last week we posted a blog on the controversy over whether or not to rinse a chicken before cooking it. We cited an NPR article discussing the question, which received a lot of interest with some additional concerns. NPR has issued a follow-up to their article and we thought it would be useful to our readers who shared those concerns… read more

24 kitchen tips that are really worth knowing

August 30, 2013 by
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Over at Serious Eats, Kenji Alt - their Chief Creative Officer who writes The Food Lab column - has posted 24 Essential Kitchen Tricks and Tips. We were once colleagues at Cook's Illustrated, and, having watched Kenji in action, it's not surprising that all of these are well-worth knowing and merit a look. Here are two that were new to… read more

The great chicken debate – to rinse or not to rinse

August 29, 2013 by
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Recently, NPR reported on a controversy regarding why rinsing a chicken ahead of cooking is inadvisable.  In Julia Child Was Wrong: Don't Wash Your Raw Chicken, Folks, they point out that not only does rinsing raw chicken not make it safer, but it's actually more dangerous: "because washing increases the chances that you'll spread the foodborne pathogens that are almost… read more

Pick a region, pick a diet, pick a subject…

August 27, 2013 by
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While attending to the (never-ending) task of culling and organizing the cookbook library today, it struck me that publishing output in a number of categories is shifting. There seem to be fewer big-ticket restaurant books this year (think Noma, Faviken, El Bulli). And for me at least, many trade reference single-subjects (the kind of book that's a glossary of 200… read more

August 2013 cookbook roundup

August 27, 2013 by
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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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Believe it or not, summer's over! as far as cookbook publishers are… read more

Cookbook giveaway – Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook

August 26, 2013 by
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   Here at EYB we're all for encouraging our members to indulge their passion for cookbooks. To that end, we've created a program to give our members a chance to win a copy of new, exciting cookbooks that have just been published. To see all the contests, just look in the right-hand category column on any blog page and click… read more

Interview with Joe Yonan

August 26, 2013 by
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Joe Yonan - a transplanted Texan -  is the Food and Travel editor of The Washington Post, where he's been since 2006 after moving from Boston.  At the Post he authors the "Cooking for One" column, which formed the basis for his first cookbook, Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One. Since then, he's found himself becoming almost entirely vegetarian.… read more

Cookbook giveaway – Kitchen Pantry Cookbook: How to Make Your Own Condiments and Essentials

August 25, 2013 by
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Here at EYB we're all for encouraging our members to indulge their passion for cookbooks. To that end, we've created a program to give our members a chance to win a copy of new, exciting cookbooks that have just been published. To see all the contests, just look in the right-hand category column on any blog page and click on… read more

Author Interview: Michael Ruhlman

August 23, 2013 by
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This may be one of the few occasions where an author's book subject matter needs more introduction than the author. Michael Ruhlman's first book was the ground-breaking "The Making of a Chef" about his experience as a reporter at the Culinary Institute of America, which was followed by a similar journalistic endeavor, The Soul of a Chef. Since then, besides… read more

Cookbook giveaway – The Book of Schmaltz

August 23, 2013 by
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Here at EYB we're all for encouraging our members to indulge their passion for cookbooks. To that end, we've created a program to give our members a chance to win a copy of new, exciting cookbooks that have just been published. To see all the contests, just look in the right-hand category column on any blog page and click on… read more

Are “Double-Stuf” Oreos really double?

August 22, 2013 by
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Not being noted as a great math scholar, as a child we often asked "why is math important?" Well, here's one answer for any parent that hears that question. Are you being duped when you buy a package of "Double Stuf" oreos thinking you get twice the filling you would in a normal Oreo? If you think this isn't important,… read more

It’s official – Do not marinade food until after it’s finished grilling

August 21, 2013 by
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If we accept the New York Times as an authoritative source, their lead food article today, Flavor Is Only Skin Deep:  Welcome to the Post-Marinade Era of Grilling serves as an obtituary for the concept of marinading food to be grilled. John Willoughby and Chris Schlesinger, two experts who have written numerous cookbooks together on meat and grilling,  have bitten the… read more

What’s hot in Manhattan

August 20, 2013 by
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Actually, everything's hot in New York this week. It's in the upper 80's, and as usual the steaming sidewalks, midtown traffic, and ever-present faint smell of garbage makes it feel even hotter. Nevertheless, business is hopping at the Union Square Barnes & Noble, helped along by the farmer's market. I stop by the Cookbooks section to find out what's selling… read more

An homage to pigs

August 20, 2013 by
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After all the food fads, crazes, fashions, and just plain absurdities, it's nice every now and then to consider those things that are always steady and true. And that's why this article from the Guardian, Pigs: a very British obsession, is worthy of note.  Besides their very obvious culinary uses - it is now fashionable to boast of being able… read more

Mark Bittman’s surprisingly positive view on industrial tomatoes arouses debate

August 19, 2013 by
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In his NY Times column, The Opinionator, Mark Bittman recently wrote of a visit he took to California to scope out why industrial canned tomatoes can taste better than even the "heirloom" tomatoes he buys at the grocery store. His article, Not All Industrial Food is Evil, starts out with no pretense that he isn't skeptical: "So, fearing the worst… read more

Keeping guacamole fresh w.o. pits, plastic wrap, or more lime juice

August 18, 2013 by
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The Kitchn recently appears to have solved one of those very annoying kitchen issues - how to keep guacamole from turning grey. In The Best Way to Keep Guacamole Green, they reveal that: "All you do is cover the guacamole with a thin layer of water.  OK, you say, this sounds weird - maybe even gross. Water on the guacamole? But water… read more

Me and my cookbooks – August 2013

August 16, 2013 by
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At a time when the press relentlessly insists that no one is interested in cooking at home anymore, there is great joy in realizing that there are many others ( EYB members) who enjoy the creativity and pleasure of sharing good food. So we wanted to celebrate our members by regularly publishing vignettes about members and their cookbooks. If you'd… read more

Honoring Julia Child’s birthday

August 15, 2013 by
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Today, Julia Child would have been 101 years old. So we thought we'd pause from all those weighty issues we normally discuss and take a moment to appreciate the grande dame of cooking. And what better way to do so than actually watch her at work? So if any of you have a moment, here's one of our favorite videos… read more

Can you really bake a doughnut?

August 14, 2013 by
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It's the end of summer, really, that makes you think you might even contemplate making doughnuts.  The weather's getting just a little cooler.  Your days of leisure are coming to an end.  You think to yourself, "I might - I just might - have time for one more cooking project before the year starts up again...even if it is a sweaty… read more
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