The humble ramekin is a kitchen workhorse

In a world brimming with an endless variety of kitchen gadgets baking pans, one of the items I turn to the most is a small ramekin. It performs many different tasks and it's a rare day when I don't use one at some point in my cooking or baking. I'm not alone in my love for these useful ceramic cups… read more

Food bucket lists

People often make "bucket lists" of things they really want to do before they die. For some it's a vacation destination they want to visit, for others it's a personal challenge like running a marathon. While I don't have a bucket list, if I did it would probably revolve around food, and by extension, cookbooks. For example, I recently read… read more

Exquisite holiday creations

Nearly every year for the past decade, I've made a bûche de Noël for a holiday dinner. I try to vary the design - some years it's been a white chocolate paper birch log, other years a more traditional dark chocolate. Meringue mushrooms, pistachio crumb moss, cake crumb sawdust, and other trompe l’oeil items have made an appearance. This year I think… read more

Food news antipasto

Living in the northern United States makes one keenly aware of the changing of the seasons. Today was cold and blustery and sunset came way too early. Observer Food understands this, because today they posted about the best food and drink to have when it's dark outside: think hot chocolate, mulled wine, and soul-warming soup. Rainbow rippled meringues from BBC… read more

The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 9 – Patisserie – Semi-Finals Recap

It is the semi-finals and the theme is patisserie. Signature: 2 different batches of 12 financiers A financier is a small French almond cake, flavored with beurre noisette, usually baked in a small mold. Light and moist with a crisp, eggshell-like exterior, the traditional financier also contains egg whites, flour, and powdered sugar. The molds are usually small rectangular loaves… read more

When the feast is over

The feast is over and our bellies are full, and perhaps we ate a little too much but oh it was so tasty. However, in a couple of days we’ll be as weary of Thanksgiving food as our non-US members are of hearing about our feast day. Very soon we’ll be standing and staring into the refrigerator wondering what to… read more

Turkeys rule, cranberries drool?

We are two days away from the biggest food holiday in the US. People will gather around tables across the nation to eat a huge Thanksgiving feast, and the majority of those tables will contain turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing/dressing. According to an Associated Press poll, more people say that turkey is their favorite dish (32%) than any of the… read more

13,000 Books Indexed!

Earlier this month we shared that Eat Your Books reached a milestone with 2,500,000 indexed recipes and now we are pleased to announce that over 13,000 books have been indexed. Our Library has a great mix of new releases, classic cookbooks and even Member Indexed non-English titles! In addition to these titles, we have connected the EYB database to ckbk’s library… read more

Food news antipasto

We start off this week's recap with some good news - Saveur just announced that it will be returning to print in 2024, just in time for the magazine's 30th anniversary. They are starting off slow, with only two issues planned for next year. In the announcement, editor Kat Craddock said that Saveur is "committed to offering you an affordable… read more

The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 8 – Party Theme – Recap

It is quarterfinals week in the baking tent. This week's theme was party food! Signature Bake: 12 sausage rolls in two hours. The bakers presented great flavor combinations with their interpretation of the classic sausage roll. Matty's sausage, apple, sage and onion rolls with a hint of chili flakes warranted a Paul Hollywood handshake. Dan's dim sum inspired rolls left… read more

How to brine turkey and make gravy from a flavor scientist

Here in the US, most cooks are planning their Thanksgiving day meals and to help a bit with that task, we have an excerpt from a book that will be released in March of 2024. Flavorama: The Unbridled Science of Flavor and How to Get It to Work for You by Arielle Johnson delivers recipes designed to easily finesse flavor… read more

Spice support: pink peppercorns

You might have been introduced to them from the tri-color peppercorn mixes that often come with the purchase of a pepper grinder: pink peppercorns. These diminutive, brightly colored orbs are more than just an colorful garnish to be sprinkled over a dish, as Serious Eats explains in its primer on pink peppercorns. First things first - pink peppercorns are not… read more

November 2023 New Cookbook Review

Here we are in November and nearing the end of 2023. This year has flown by. Last month, I published the preliminary 2024 Cookbook Preview and don’t forget that you can create a wishlist and share it with your loved ones. Our December 2023 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary and November 2023 EYB Cookbook Club Summary can be found at the links provided. In May we announced… read more

November 2023 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

Each month we offer at least four cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. This month we cooked from: Cookbook: Veg-table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored, Vegetable-Centered Meals or The Flavor Equation: The Science of Great Cooking Explained: More Than 100 Essential Recipes or Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food by Nik SharmaOnline: Any Nik Sharma online recipesBaking: Scandinavian from Scratch by Nichole Accettola or The Great Scandinavian Baking… read more

Celebrating ‘grape’ discoveries

When a friend offers you a laundry basket full of ripe Concord grapes, what do you do? If you are me, you say "thank you" and proceed to the open EYB Library tab on your computer to find recipes that use them. I knew I wanted to make grape preserves and already knew where to look for that recipe, but… read more

Sweet potato 101

A blue-green bowl holds cooked, diced orange fleshed sweet potatoes dotted with tiny black black seeds and bits of scallion
We are headed to the time of year in the US when more sweet potatoes are served than perhaps the rest of the year combined. Families that never eat the tubers at any other time will trot out sweet potato casseroles and sides during the holidays. This serves as a great opportunity to brush up on the different varieties available… read more

Bread and Roses Prize Package Giveaway

Enter our US giveaway to win one of three prize packages which include a copy of Bread and Roses: 100+ Grain Forward Recipes Featuring Global Ingredients and Botanicals by Rose Wilde and a Hedley and Bennett apron; a five pound bag of of Whole Grain from Barton Spring Mill and a bottle of Graza Olive Oil. (Style of apron and… read more

Food news antipasto

It is amazing how 2023 has flown by, and now it's that time of year to make our lists and check them twice. If you have been nice, you might want to check out the kitchen equipment year in review for 2023 at Epicurious. The editors have compiled their list of "Kitchen MVPs" which are those products that they found… read more

What are your favorite make-ahead recipes?

After three years of not hosting, my spouse and I are back in the hot seat and will have a group of about eight people at our house for Thanksgiving dinner. I have been tinkering with the menu for a few days and have decided to make as many items ahead as I can because my work schedule is hectic… read more

December 2023 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

The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 7 – Desserts – Recap

We are down to six bakers already! This week was all about desserts and I again I was not thrilled with this week at all - to me the signature and technical challenges were too similar and nothing stood out as a wow to me. Signature: Eight crème caramel in 2 hours and 45 minutes. We have 360 online recipes… read more

Say hello in Brooklyn

I'm attending a panel on 'The Future of Cookbooks' on Saturday at the Cherry Bombe Cooks & Books event at the ACE Hotel in Brooklyn, New York. If any EYB member is planning to attend, please do say hello. I will be loitering in the hotel lobby in the afternoon (the panel doesn't start until 4:30pm). You can recognize me… read more

2,500,000 recipes indexed

When we launched Eat Your Books in 2009 I couldn't have imagined we would grow the site into what it is today. We launched with 550 cookbooks indexed (about 92,000 recipes) and in the years since we have added almost 6,000 magazine issues and the indexed books total is almost at 13,000. Plus of course 470,000 online recipes. Whew! This… read more

The German Baking Book Cookbook Giveaway

Enter our worldwide giveaway to win one of four copies of The German Baking Book: Cakes, Tarts, Breads, and More from the Black Forest and Beyond by Jürgen Krauss. From Jürgen Krauss, a semi-finalist in 2021's Great British Bake Off, comes a celebration of German home baking. Make classic German pastries, from apple strudel and stolen to show stopping celebration… read more

Recipes to celebrate Diwali

Diwali, a five-day festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains across the world, celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, is worshipped on this holiday, which this year falls on November 12. Diwali celebrations frequently include fireworks, candles, and other forms of light displays. As with many holidays around… read more
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