Food news antipasto

The editors at Epicurious pulled together a list of nine cookbooks that they have been enjoying recently. The list includes new releases along with holdovers from previous months. There are baking books, vegetarian and vegan tomes, and an ode to the dinner party.

With the holidays coming up, dinner rolls might be on the menu. Even if you aren’t an experienced baker, you can successfully pull off dinner rolls if you can avoid these common mistakes, says Danielle Turner at Tasting Table. She provides advice on choosing and measuring flour, proofing, kneading, and the finishing touches that will make them look as good as they taste.

When the Great British Bake Off moved from the BBC to Channel 4, most people believe that the only star of the show that moved with it was Paul Hollywood. That’s not quite true – one of the program’s “secret stars” also made the switch to Channel 4: illustrator Tom Hovey. Although we never get to see him, his work is on every episode. Hovey is the artist who makes all of the sketches that reveal the bakers’ concepts of what they are going to make for their showstopper or signature bakes.

One last Bake Off article and you won’t hear about it again (until next week’s recap) – something I have been thinking about for a long time might become a reality: an All-Star Bake Off. It seems the show’s producers are seriously considering it, and Eater’s staff provided a rundown of previous contestants that they would like to see back in the tent (yes, Nelly was one of those).

Setting out an artistically-arranged charcuterie board filled with meats, cheeses, nuts, and other nibbles is sure to impress your guests. But they are a lot of work and these days, cost a pretty penny. Another spread that will get positive comments without breaking the bank or your back is a fruit board. Seasonal fruits, a few crumbled meringues, and a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds makes for an impressive display that’s easy to throw together.

Food and Wine brings us a story about something that we may have already believed, but now there is actual proof of it: research that shows that cooking can benefit your mental well-being. A meta analysis conducted by the National Institutes of Health found that “people who participated in cooking interventions reported having better self-esteem and quality of life, as well as a more positive emotional state after the fact.”