Good & Sweet: Quick Bites & Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our worldwide giveaway to win one of two copies of Good & Sweet: A New Way to Bake with Naturally Sweet Ingredients by Brian Levy. Good & Sweet: A New Way to Bake with Naturally Sweet Ingredients by Brian Levy was just published this week. I have been waiting impatiently for its release. The wait was worth it. Whether or… read more

IACP 2022 Cookbook Award Nominees

cropped images of six cookbook covers: Zoe Bakes Cakes by Zoe Francois, Ripe Figs by Yasmin Khan, Pasta by Missy Robbins, Black Smoke by Adrian Miller, Flavors of the Sun by Christine Sahadi Whelan, and Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich
Each year when I see the lists of nominees for the various cookbook awards I am always impressed that authors are able to keep innovating and achieving great heights in writing, research, and recipe development. The nominees for the 2022 IACP Cookbook and Media Awards prove that there remain deep reservoirs of culinary knowledge, cultural heritage, and cooking, baking, and… read more

What’s the best cookbook holder?

An open cookbook rests in a bamboo holder on a butcher block countertop. A red KitchenAid stand mixer is in the background.
For those of us who use our cookbooks day in and day out, protecting them from ruin while still being able to easily reference them is an ongoing challenge. While a splatter or two can add character to a beloved book, a major spill can be disastrous, so many cooks turn to cookbook holders and protectors instead of just plopping… read more

Lock your doors: it’s zucchini season

The warnings are dire: double-check to make sure all of your doors are locked, from your cars to your garage to your house. These precautions are not due to an increase in the crime rate, but rather because your neighbors are getting desperate to find homes for all of the zucchini (courgettes) that are now ripening in their garden. I… read more

NEW FEATURE: ‘No Recipes’ books

We have had the Indexing status 'No Recipes' for some time but until now you could not use that as a filter. You now can! 'No Recipes' is one of the selections under the Only Show filters on the right (or under the Menu on a phone) when you are in Library Books or My Bookshelf Books. 'No Recipes' books… read more

July 2022 New Cookbook Review

July is a quiet month, normally, and even quieter during this time of COVID issues. Again, dozens of books have been pushed back, some even into 2023. I spoke to my friend, Amy Thielen this week - her new book Company: Recipes Menus Advice has been moved again to April, 2023. Paper shortages, shipping issues and the usual delays. It… read more

The Lodge at Black Pearl Cookbook – Worldwide Giveaway

Enter our worldwide giveaway to win one of two copies of The Lodge at Black Pearl Cookbook by Vicky Mullaney. Black Pearl Farms consists of 870 acres of land in Dorchester County, Maryland with over five miles of waterfront and a couple hundred acres of flooded cropland. Each year they brush 32 blinds on the water or in flooded impoundments.… read more

Food news antipasto

Our first news comes to us via Food Tank, where writer Jonathan Ribich brings us the story of the award-winning documentary called The Kitchenistas. This film "follows the lives of women leading a movement in Southern California to reconnect their community to healthy, traditional foods." Women who participate in the bilingual culinary program called Cooking for Salud at Olivewood Gardens in National City,… read more

July 2022 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

Each month we offer at least four cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. This month we have been cooking from: Cookbook: Milk Street: The World in a Skillet by Christopher Kimball or any of Kimball’s Milk Street titlesBaking: Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe by Joanne Chang and Christie MathesonOnline: Any Christopher Kimball online recipe or Joanne Chang For past EYB Cookbook Club summaries, #EYBCookbookClub will… read more

Diana Kennedy, champion of Mexican cuisine, has died age 99

We have just learned that Diana Kennedy, who reigns as one of the top authors in the EYB Library, holding two of the top ten spots for Mexican cookbooks, has died at the age of 99. Born in England, Kennedy moved to Mexico in the 1950s with her husband Paul. Once there, she began to chronicle Mexican cooking and plant life.… read more

The Bear is this season’s must-watch food show

Forget reality television, drama is where it's at right now with respect to food programming. At least according to Helen Rosner and my food-loving friends who live in Chicago, who highly recommend The Bear, which is streaming on FX and Hulu. The Bear is a fictionalized account of a top-tier chef who leave's the "world's best" restaurant in NYC to… read more

This week: Looking before we leap; EYBD cookbook previews; recipes and more

I had another topic planned for this week's roundup but after coming across a video I have flipped the script. Amanda Rettke author of Homestead Recipes (April 2020) and Surprise-Inside Cakes (March 2014) and the voice behind the popular blog I am Baker and other spin-offs, posted a tearful video which I viewed on Wednesday. In late June, Amanda shared… read more

Get paid to eat state fair foods

If there's one thing that most Americans can agree on, it's that eating food on a stick is wonderful. From Pronto Pups (corn dogs) to fudgesicles to fried pickles, we love our state fair foods, most of which have been configured to fit on sticks to make it easier to carry them around the vast fairgrounds found in county seats… read more

World’s 50 Best Restaurants announced

Last year we had to wait until October to learn the results, but the 2022 World's 50 Best Restaurants were announced on 18 July. As usual, European restaurants had the strongest showing, but more South American, Asian, and African venues have popped up. A fair number of chefs on the top 50 (as well as entries 51-100) list have written… read more

This price hike is a really big dill

The patch of dill in my garden has overtaken the small area where I let it go to seed last year, staking out territory meant for the winter squash that is now competing for space with the leggy, feathery-leaved plants. This complaint about an overabundance of an herb is probably irksome to many of our Australian readers who are facing… read more

Food news antipasto

As Europe braces for its worst-ever heatwave, BBC Good Food is providing recipes along with tips and tricks for dealing with the hot weather. You will find ideas for no-cook meals, foods to make that are perfect for outdoor eating, advice from a nutritionist on how to adjust your diet to deal with the heat, and other tips. Orange-cardamom ice… read more

Happy Belly – Quick Bites & Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our US/CA giveaway to win one of two signed copies of Happy Belly: The Cake Book by Aaron McInnis. I remember watching Aaron on the Spring Baking Championship (Season 4) and vividly recall how the judges raved about his Brown sugar cream cheese pastry cream. (In fact, Duff said he was going to steal that recipe - and he… read more

Berber&Q: On Vegetables: Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our US/CA giveaway to win one of three copies of Berber&Q: On Vegetables: 100 Recipes for Grilling, Roasting, Smoking, Pickling and Slow-cooking Veg by Josh Katz. Berber&Q: On Vegetables: 100 Recipes for Grilling, Roasting, Smoking, Pickling and Slow-cooking Veg (the follow up to 2018's Berber&Q) by Josh Katz shares countless options to cook every type of veg, from a quick… read more

Finding the right cookbook fit

I have been wearing the same athletic shoes for nearly 30 years - not the exact same pair of course, but the same brand and style. After trying different brands and types, I discovered that these worked best for me, providing the support and comfort I needed. The same can be said for cookbooks - not every cookbook or author… read more

New blog index: Green Kitchen Stories

We have today added a new blog index, Green Kitchen Stories by David Frankiel & Luise Vindahl. Their recipes are for healthy and simple vegetarian food with natural ingredients, whole grains, good fats, fruit and vegetables. David and Luise live in Stockholm with their adorable family. In addition to the wonderful recipes, gorgeously photographed by David, there are posts about… read more

This week: Pastry obsession; fall/autumn preview (baking titles); EYBD Previews; giveaways and more

This week I prepared Part I of the fall/autumn cookbook preview: baking titles and will have Part II ready in the next few weeks. All the baking and pastry cookbooks have me super excited to find some time to get back to baking. I have been a fan of Ukrainian pastry chef Dinara Kasko for some time. She studied to… read more

France encounters a mustard shortage

While the French celebrated Bastille Day today, many of the festivities were missing a beloved ingredient. France is in the midst of a Dijon mustard shortage, depriving the country of "the condiment that gives edge to a steak frites, life to a grilled sausage, depth to a vinaigrette and richness to mayonnaise." Dijon-style mustard  from  The Art of Preserving (Williams-Sonoma) by Rick Field and Lisa Atwood and Rebecca… read more

Lanka Food: Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our US/UK/AU/NZ giveaway to win one of three copies of Lanka Food: Serendipity & Spice by O Tama Carey. Lanka Food: Serendipity & Spice by O Tama Carey is a comprehensive guide to Sri Lankan cooking from the acclaimed chef and restaurateur. With essays that further contextualize the cuisine, this cookbook is a guide for people wanting a deeper understanding… read more

August 2022 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary

As our members know, each month we offer several cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. There are other fun cookbook clubs around the interwebs and we’d like to highlight those for those members who might want to cook or bake something other than our choices.  We want to get this information out to you so you can prepare… read more

Fall/Autumn 2022 Cookbook Preview: Part I: The Baking Titles

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are in the midst of summer but fall/autumn is fast approaching. This year we have an exorbitant amount of tempting releases - many of which have been moved from either last year or from earlier this year. (Let's hope they don't get further delayed because of COVID issues.) In this preview - Part I… read more
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