Family recipes that revealed a secret

When Genie Milgrom was growing up, she never noticed that a family secret lurked in the recipes that her mother and grandmother made. Raised in a devoutly Catholic household, Milgrom never questioned the idiosyncrasies of her family's foods. They never mixed meat and dairy in the same meal, and they always cracked eggs into a separate bowl to make sure… read more

The Deep End of Flavor – Cookbook Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of The Deep End of Flavor: Recipes and Stories from New Orleans’ Premier Seafood Chef by Tenney Flynn. This is a must-have title for anyone who loves food, not just seafood. Chef Tenney Flynn is a co-owner of GW Fins, a New Orleans hot spot for the finest seafood. Flynn is a master of his… read more

Food news antipasto

We have some fun news and great tips in this week's edition. We begin with an interview with the inimitable Maggie Beer, who is one of Australia's best-known food personalities. Gourmet Traveller recently sat down with Beer to discuss a variety of topics, including gardening, opera, and her views regarding pineapple on pizza. (Don't forget that we have a complete… read more

Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Recap: Roaring 20’s Week 5

And then there were nine. To recap - cake week saw the demise of Dan, biscuit week crumbled Jamie’s dreams of baking royalty, bread week sent Amelia packing and dairy week bid adieu to Phil. (Weeks 1 and 2, Week 3, Week 4). Before I begin retelling the tale of the "first-ever" Roaring 20's week, I must confess my struggling… read more

The whey you like it

If you have ever made homemade cheese - whether fresh cheese like ricotta or a firm cheese like cheddar - you have probably been faced with the dilemma of what to do with the whey that remains after straining the curds. Zoe Williams recently confronted this issue after she took a cheesemaking course, and she found several uses for this… read more

This week at Eat Your Books

Earlier this week we published our monthly newsletter which highlighted author Diana Henry, magazine Cuisine at Home, our September new cookbook review, and much more. Check your inboxes! This week, Darcie shared posts that prepared us for Rosh Hashanah, smart appliances, why we love chef's signature dishes, and how cookbook authors obtained their deals. Darcie's weekly food news antipasto is shared every… read more

A guide to squash varieties

When I browse the farmers' market stands come fall, the number and variety of squash always amazes me. The colors, shapes, and textures are so varied and beautiful that I sometimes buy several types just so I can display them in my kitchen. Some of the time I don't even know what varieties I have, which can make it challenging… read more

Modern Mediterranean – Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our giveaway to win a copy of Modern Mediterranean: Sun-Drenched Recipes from Mallorca and Beyond by Marc Fosh. Marc Fosh, the Michelin-starred chef behind Palma de Mallorca's Restaurant Marc Fosh, takes us on a tour of the bountiful produce of the Mediterranean and shows us how to harness its flavors in new and exciting ways in Modern Mediterranean: Sun-Drenched… read more

How authors got their cookbook deals

The publishing world is a murky and Byzantine industry to outsiders (and frankly, to insiders as well). Learning the ins and outs of the business can take years, which is why it is so difficult for aspiring authors to get published. Recently Eater talked to three different cookbook authors - Molly Yeh, Von Diaz, and Priya Krishna - to ask… read more

Get ready for Rosh Hashanah

Eating apples dipped in honey is a tradition on Rosh Hashanah, but there are many more food-related customs for the Jewish New Year. Several other symbolic foods are also typically eaten to celebrate this holiday. Each of these foods — pomegranates, dates, string beans, beets, pumpkins, leeks, and fish heads — symbolizes a wish or blessing for prosperity and health in… read more

September 2019 New Cookbook Review

Strap yourself in - we are entering the three busiest months for cookbook lovers ("Cookbooktober"). I feel the gates opening wide with possibility. I will provide you with as much information as I can on September's releases and will return to update this summary as latecomers arrive. In advance, I ask your forgiveness. I rave about a great many of… read more

Do ‘smart’ appliances make us better cooks?

oven dial
It is becoming increasingly common for new kitchen appliances to be 'smart' devices: ovens that 'think', internet-connected refrigerators, and microwaves that operate with voice commands. All the gadgetry is cool in a 'we are living in the future' kind of way, but does it really help us be better cooks? Joe Ray at Wired doesn't think so. He says that… read more

The endangered French café

Of all the food-related images conjured in the pages of novels or the screens of cinema, one of the most enduring vignettes is that of a small French café. This venue serves as a meeting place for lovers, a spot for self-truths to be realized, or the clandestine location for the handoff of classified information. In real-life France, cafés serve… read more

September 2019 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

This has been a busy month in our cookbook club! We have an incredible community here at Eat Your Books that has flowed into our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club and Sweet Eat Your Books Cookbook Club, places where we share our successes and fails in cooking and baking from specific cookbook titles. This month we’ve been cooking from the following titles: Main… read more

Food news antipasto

It's easy to find chefs who will wax poetic about the best meal they've ever eaten. They will go on about the perfect ingredients, skillful presentation, or exemplary service and atmosphere. What is not often discussed is their worst food experience. Several of Australia's best chefs recently dished on that concept, telling Gourmet Traveller about the worst food they have… read more

Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Recap: Dairy Week 4

The ten bakers arrived at the tent for the first-ever dairy week. Cake week saw the demise of Dan, biscuit week crumbled Jamie’s dreams of baking royalty and bread week sent Amelia packing. (Weeks 1 and 2 and Week 3). How will the bakers tolerate a weekend of lactose bakes? Let's find out. Signature bake: Cake containing a cultured dairy… read more

Why we love chef’s signature dishes

The restaurant business is a tough segment to navigate successfully. There is always a high level of competition, which is why many chefs create a dish that they hope stands out from the pack - things such as Dominique Ansel's Cronut are the result of this pressure, combined with a chef's own impulse to create. Once diners experience a dish,… read more

The Forest Feast Mediterranean Cookbook Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of Erin Gleeson's The Forest Feast Mediterranean: Simple Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by My Travels. The Forest Feast titles are works of art filled with illustrations by Erin and gorgeous photography. The author's latest shares dishes taken from her travels to Spain, Italy, France and Portugal and are simple, vegetarian and beautiful. Only Erin can take a… read more

In praise of the can

When you leaf through most cookbooks today, you will find anecdotes about finding joy at the farmers' market or praising local, grass-fed beef. What you do not find as often are essays extolling the virtues of canned goods, although they do have a lot more to offer than emergency rations, at least according to Melissa Clark. She has just penned… read more

This week at Eat Your Books!

We've been hard at work indexing cookbooks, writing reviews, posting giveaways and sharing the latest culinary news. Until the new year dawns, our days will be filled with cookbooks and we wouldn't have it any other way. This week, Darcie wrote about Anthony Bourdain's possessions going up on the auction block, the ingredients used by Ottolenghi the most, why we… read more

Why you always need to scrape your bowl

For my birthday I gave myself the gift of a new stand mixer, and my mom purchased a flexible-edge beater to go along with it (thanks, Mom!). I figured that the beater's rubber edge would completely eliminate the annoying and sometimes cumbersome step of scraping the mixing bowl while making doughs and batters. I was wrong. The first cake I… read more

When Pies Fly – Cookbook and OXO Giveaway

Enter to win one of three prize packages that include a copy of When Pies Fly: Portable Pastries from Empanadas to Strudels, Hand Pies to Knishes by Cathy Barrow along with a set of OXO pastry products. Cathy is now the author of three titles Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry: Recipes and Techniques for Year-Round Preserving, Pie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet… read more

The ingredients Ottolenghi uses the most

Yotam Ottolenghi is one of the most, if not the most, loved authors by EYB Members. He wrote four of the top ten most popular books in the Library (Plenty, Jerusalem, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, Plenty More). Plenty sits in the number one spot, followed by Jerusalem, both of them beating Julia Child's beloved tome Mastering the Art of French Cooking… read more

The Pasta Friday Cookbook – Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of The Pasta Friday Cookbook: Let's Eat Together by Allison Arevalo For many of us, weekends allow us more time to join with friends and family to share great food and conversation. Often, I turn to pasta for bigger gatherings. Pasta is economical, a crowd-pleaser (especially now with gluten-free pasta options readily available) and fairly… read more

The ‘kitchen hack’ is not a new concept

I have to admit that I am a sucker for any post that comes through my social media describing a kitchen hack. Only a few of them ever end up in my personal arsenal, the rest being either more work than the original method or merely ineffective. Still, the allure of a time- or gadget-saving process always grabs my attention.… read more
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