Valentine’s Day treats

Every Valentine's Day, I get a box of chocolates from my sweetie, and I make him a special treat. It's nothing fancy, in fact, it is quite the opposite. Since I love to cook and bake, we eat a variety of foods from cuisines around the world. While my partner enjoys this bounty, there are some foods that he recalls… read more

This week: The best wings and game-day snacks, giveaways, EYBD previews and more.

The Super Bowl is this Sunday in the United States. While football fans are tuning in for the football showdown, there are even more of us that are excited for the anticipated commercials (Super Bowl commercials in the US are a big deal) and the feast that is spread out to snack upon during field goals, touchdowns, flag throwing, and… read more

2020 Art of Eating Prize long list announced

The Art of Eating magazine first appeared in 1986 in the form of an eight-page black-and-white newsletter written by Edward Behr. After three decades in print, it transformed into a digital-only, advertising-free magazine with subscribers and contributors around the world. The magazine is about the best food and wine – what it is, how it is produced, and where to find it… read more

Changes for The Piglet cookbook competition

After ten years of running The Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, Food52's sometimes controversial cookbook competition, the site announced yesterday that they were making changes to the contest's format. In past years, the contest has pitted cookbooks head-to-head in a bracket style competition (think of college basketball's NCAA Sweet Sixteen competition). The photo below represents half of the competitors of last… read more

Sour – Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our giveaway (open to US/UK/AU/NZ) to win a copy of Sour: More Than Mere Taste: The Magical Element That Transforms Your Cooking by Mark Diacono. Mark Diacono is the author of several titles including the award-winning A Year at Otter Farm: Inspiring Recipes Through the Seasons and A Taste of the Unexpected: How to Grow and Cook with Remarkable… read more

Is it really necessary to preheat the oven?

Whether you are baking a cake, making a stew, or roasting vegetables, almost every recipe you find will begin with a simple instruction: preheat the oven to xxx degrees. But is this step really necessary? That's the question recently tackled by The Guardian's Kitchen Aide column. Some would argue that it is a waste of time and energy, but the… read more

More cookbooks, but less cooking

It is always fun to stumble upon a good interview about cookbooks, and today I hit the jackpot. It's a conversation between food historian Kyle Cherek and radio host Bonnie North, and it covers everything from the first cookbook published in the U.S. to the latest trends of celebrity chef books. Cookbooks serve as cultural markers of the times, says… read more

Gennaro’s Pasta Perfecto!: The Essential Collection of Fresh and Dried Pasta Dishes

Enter our US/UK giveaway to win a copy of Gennaro's Pasta Perfecto!: The Essential Collection of Fresh and Dried Pasta Dishes by Gennaro Contaldo Gennaro Contaldo is an Italian chef and restaurateur, known for his association with his British protégé, Jamie Oliver, and his partnership with fellow Italian chef Antonio Carluccio and their BBC Two television series Two Greedy Italians.… read more

Food news antipasto

When you think of noodles, your line of thought might head straight to Italy, but you would be overlooking an even older noodle culture. Asian cuisine has featured noodles for centuries, and they can be made from more than just wheat and rice. Serious Eats has put together a comprehensive guide for choosing, storing, and cooking various types of Asian… read more

The meaning behind lunar New Year’s foods

Today marks the beginning of a very special time for the Chinese and several other cultures, as it is the beginning of the lunar new year. This holiday, celebrated by 20% of the world's population, is honored differently in various countries, but food features prominently in all celebrations. Each of the foods traditionally eaten during this holiday has a meaning… read more

Picky eaters are born, not bred

J J Goode has co-written several books in the EYB Library, including Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand (with Andy Ricker) and A Girl and Her Greens: Hearty Meals from the Garden (with April Bloomfield). Since he was a consummate food lover, Goode had visions of raising children who shared his broad… read more

This week at EYB – The best pie crust recipe, new EYBD previews, giveaways and more.

National Pie Day is a celebration of pies that occurs annually in the United States on January 23. Being reminded of this had me pondering all things pie. If there is one thing that most pie lovers can agree upon it is that the crust is just as important, if not more crucial, to the success of a great pie.… read more

Taste of Home feature on our own Jane

In the new Feb/Mar issue of Taste of Home magazine the "Why I Cook" feature is on our own co-founder, Jane. She explains how her cookbook collection started, why she loves to cook and bake, and what British foods she brings back from trips back to the UK. You can read the full article here. We have been busy working… read more

Celebrate National Pie Day

Well, I missed it - again. Today was National Pie Day, celebrated in several countries, and I forgot about it. That is because I believe the logical choice for the day is March 14, a dual pi(e) celebration. (Nerds unite!) I once wrote a persuasive argument that pie is better than cake, and I think that it still holds true… read more

Keeping it Simple – Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our giveaway (open to US/UK/AU/NZ) to win a copy of Keeping It Simple: Easy Weeknight One-Pot Recipes by Yasmin Fahr who will be in Boston for a few events next month. Keeping It Simple by Yasmin Fahr is inspired by the author's column at Serious Eats where the focus is on fast, flavor-filled one-pot recipes. The dishes here are… read more

The breath of the wok

Wok cooking aficionados extol the virtues of the versatile cookware with a fervor matched only by perhaps the most dedicated cast iron enthusiasts. The wok's unique shape holds the key to how it can perform so well on different types of food. It's more than just the slope of the sides, however, as a recent San Francisco Chronicle article explains.… read more

The best selling cookbooks of 2019

Last month our friends at cookbook stores around the world gave us their picks for their favorite books of 2019 which we then included in our Best of the Best of 2019. Now we asked them for their top sellers. In past years we have compared the lists from specialist stores in the USA to that for all US sales… read more

January 2020 – New Cookbook Review

Here we are in a new decade! I am busy updating our post looking forward to cookbooks in 2020 and working on judging cookbooks again this year for James Beard. I kept thinking after the holidays that things would slow down a bit but I was wrong! I'm not complaining, it is cookbooks after all! This month offers a small selection of… read more

Which country has the best food?

In a world that lives for lists, it is inevitable that the question of which country has the best food will be asked. It's certain to be a point of national pride for some, and there are arguments to be made for any number of countries to be at the top. The question was recently posed at the rating site… read more

EYB Cookbook Club January 2020 Summary

We have a helpful 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 Selection:  Nothing Fancy  by Alison Roman and share any repeats from 2019… read more

Where ‘a la mode’ originated

French terminology has fallen by the wayside in all but a handful of restaurants in the US, with the exception of one term: à la mode, meaning served with ice cream. While it is ubiquitous now, the term used to mean something else entirely and was part of a broader 'a la' trend, as Gastro Obscura explains. A term that… read more

Proclamation Goods Cookware – Giveaway

Are you familiar with those Facebook sponsored ads that everyone complains about? I don't mind them so much. I ignore most of them but often take a look at those related to cookware and cooking. It was one of those particular ads that brought my attention to Proclamation Goods Cookware. The first thing that struck me was the design. The… read more

Food news antipasto

In this age of viral videos and other social media posts, a recipe can take on a life of its own. Sometimes it happens with stunning speed but other times it can build more slowly, like a snowball rolling down a shallow hill. That's what happened with a soup recipe that Helen Rosner published in 2016. It has only recently… read more

In-depth cooking projects for that extra day off

In the US, Monday is a national holiday celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For many of us that means a three-day weekend, and with most of the US facing blustery weather, it also creates the perfect atmosphere for an in-depth or complicated cooking or baking project. For those who are undecided about how they… read more

This week at Eat Your Books: The best chocolate chip cookie recipe, EYBD previews, cookbook giveaways and more!

The search for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe is a journey with no end. Even a mediocre homemade chocolate chip cookie is better than no cookie at all. So the less than perfect experiments in our quest will be met with anticipation (at least in my house). The best cookie recipe is subjective as some love thin and crispy… read more
Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!