Have food, will travel

November 14, 2022 by
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Several years ago I was tasked with making a cake for my brother's wedding. The only problem was the fact that I lived an eight-hour drive away, and I would not have time (or equipment) at my disposal at the wedding venue to make the cake there. I decided to make and freeze the cake and buttercream, and just do… read more

Food news antipasto

November 13, 2022 by
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Assorted cheeses on a rustic wooden board
Celebrity chef Guy Grossi helms Garum at the Westin Hotel Perth, and his Christmas lunches are among the most sought-after on the day. So what does he eat when he gets home? The revered chef shares some of his family traditions with The Sydney Morning Herald (registration or subscription required), saying “It’s all about the celebration and the feast.” It's… read more

Keeping it basic for the holidays

November 11, 2022 by
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Adventurous cooks who like to try new foods are often stymied during the holidays. We would appreciate adding new or unusual items to the menu, but the diehard traditionalists want everything to be exactly the same - often leading to hard feelings or at least a classic sitcom situation. Instead of fighting the traditionalists, there is a case to be… read more

Words that capture a culinary experience

November 9, 2022 by
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If you don't grow up speaking English, it can be an extremely difficult language to learn. It has appropriated words and structure from so many different languages that making sense of grammar and spelling rules often requires reciting a poem (i before e except after c, or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh - and of course… read more

In praise of garlic powder

November 7, 2022 by
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Watch a few videos of chefs and food writers and most of them will probably tell you that it's best to cook with fresh ingredients, especially when it comes to garlic. You'll see differing advice on how best to chop or mince the allium, but by and large most everyone will be saying that fresh garlic is much better than… read more

Food news antipasto

November 6, 2022 by
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We begin this week with another passing to report. Former New York Magazine Restaurant critic Gael Greene died this week at age 88. Greene revolutionized restaurant criticism. According to the NYT obit, "she put a premium on lively prose and colorful detail, throwing overboard the pompousness of the professional gourmets who dominated the profession." People noted the sensuality that came… read more

How much do you cook from your cookbooks?

November 4, 2022 by
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By and large, EYB Members own a lot of cookbooks. The numbers vary, with some people having just a handful and others thousands, but it is safe to say that if you are a member who does not like or possess multiple cookbooks, you would be an outlier. How much each of us actually cook from all of the books… read more

The foods of Día de Muertos

November 2, 2022 by
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On the heels of Halloween is the Mexican celebration Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead, celebrated November 1-2 each year. Day of the Dead celebrations can be traced to the ancient Aztecs, who felt that instead of mourning the deceased, people should celebrate their lives and welcome their spirits back to the land of the living once a year. Spanish… read more

Julie Powell, of Julie & Julia fame, dies at 49

November 1, 2022 by
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We have just learned that Julie Powell, whose blog about her quest to make all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year, died on October 26 at age 49. Powell's blog attracted the attention of NYT reporter and Food52 founder Amanda Hesser, who wrote about Powell's efforts. Powell wrote a book about her experience,… read more

Claudia Fleming’s new role is a homecoming

November 1, 2022 by
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Celebrated pastry chef Claudia Fleming wrote one of the most treasured dessert books ever, The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern. The 2001 volume was so revered that used copies were selling for hundreds of dollars before the book was reissued in 2019. The Washington Post's Daniela Galarza recently interviewed Fleming, focusing on her newly released book, Delectable: Sweet… read more

What’s your food risk tolerance?

October 31, 2022 by
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Pathogens lurk everywhere: doorknobs, countertops, shopping carts, refrigerator handles, basically every surface you touch contains bacteria, some of it harmful. Your food can harbor nasty bugs too - salmonella, campylobacter, listeria, and E. coli are frequently found in grocery items ranging from salad greens to chicken. As someone who was once hospitalized (at Christmas, no less) for food poisoning, I… read more

Food news antipasto

October 30, 2022 by
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We begin this week's review with some sad news:  venerated restaurateur and chef Joyce Molyneux passed away on October 28 at the age of 91. For decades, Molyneux helmed the Carved Angel, Dartmouth. One of the first female chefs to be awarded a Michelin star, in 1978, she never exhibited the unseemly behavior espoused by many chefs of the era,… read more

A treasured family cookbook gets a new life

October 27, 2022 by
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Top view of a vintage open cookbook surrounded by some spices and herbs like thyme, rosemary, laurel, pepper, garlic and chervil, and some kitchen utensils. The cookbook is at the center of the image and its pages are empty so you can use it as a useful copy space. Objects are on a rustic dark brown wooden table.
If your house were on fire, what would you grab on the way out the door? For some people it might be a treasured photo album, but for me it would be the handwritten cookbook my grandmother gave me when I got married because it is a tangible and irreplaceable part of my family's history. For Holocaust survivor Steven Fenves,… read more

Autumn pantry essentials

October 25, 2022 by
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Although autumn has been playing coy in many locations (it was in the upper 70s here two days ago, 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal), cooler temperatures will be here soon for many of our Members. With the change in the season, thoughts turn to warming spices and holiday traditions. BBC's Good food is here to help us make sure our… read more

Food news antipasto

October 23, 2022 by
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Fans of Anthony Bourdain might be excited to read the unauthorized biography titled Down and Out in Paradise. Author Charles Leerhsen could have dived into the many facets of Bourdain's work but instead focuses on the drama and the book, according to the late chef's friends and family, gets many facts and details wrong. In a review in The Guardian,… read more

Are more grocery store woes on the way?

October 20, 2022 by
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I am beginning to feel a bit like Debbie Downer when I post stories like these, but I also believe they contain information that is pertinent to our Members. Yesterday Jenny clued me in to another report saying that shoppers can expect shortages and even higher prices in grocery stores just as the holiday cooking and baking season begins. This… read more

The 40 rules all GBBO contestants must follow

October 19, 2022 by
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I admit that I am a GBBO junkie - I follow contestants on Instagram, watch the program religiously, and often bake recipes published when the shows air. So when I saw a link that talked about the 40 rules that all GBBO contestants must follow, I clicked on it almost reflexively. Most of them are obvious, but some were enlightening.… read more

Revisiting an online vintage cookbook archive

October 18, 2022 by
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Over six years ago, I wrote about the Cookbook and Home Economics Collection at the Internet Archive and its impressive section of cookery books. Previously the catalog drew from works housed by the Young Research Library Department of Special Collections at UCLA, the Bancroft Library at The University of California, Berkeley, and the Prelinger Library. Today the archive has additional sources including libraries around… read more

Food news antipasto

October 16, 2022 by
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If it feels like your grocery budget is on a never-ending upward climb, you are far from alone. Inflation on food products is near or has passed double digits year over year in many places, and people are looking for ways to save on their food bill. The Washington Post recently wrote about five ways to save when grocery shopping,… read more

Observer Food Monthly 2022 Award winners

October 14, 2022 by
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Cookbook cover image for Nistisima by Georgina Hayden
At a gala event on October 13, Observer Food Monthly magazine announced the winners of its 2022 awards. The bulk of the honors were given to restaurants and bars, but cookbooks and food writers were also fêted at the event. Awards of interest to our Members include: The Observer Food Monthly icon award - Delia SmithBest new cookbook - Nistisima: The Secret… read more

Butter boards spawn new trends

October 13, 2022 by
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Overhead shot of a portion of a wooden serving board with handle topped with bowls of olives and cheese, plus melon balls, nectarine slices, folded salami and proscuitto slices, toasted baguette slices, and basil leaves for garnish. Bamboo skewers are off to the left side of the board, which rests on a marble surface. A small pitcher of sauce is on the right.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the TikTok trend of butter boards. As often happens with viral trends, this has produced plenty of copycats. Apparently concept of smearing a tasty dip onto a serving platter and surrounding it with vegetables appeals to a broad audience, because now there are not only butter boards, but hummus boards, Nutella boards and… read more

An ode to baking books

October 12, 2022 by
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Cookbook covers for Gateau by Aleksandra Crapanzano and The Italian Baker by Carol Field
Ever since I was a young girl, baking has been an important part of my life - I inherited the baking gene from my mother, who abhors cooking but will gladly whip up a batch of cookies, cream puffs, or bars at the drop of a hat. So it's no surprise that in my modest (compared to many of our… read more

Deviled eggs go upscale

October 10, 2022 by
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One of the biggest restaurant food trends this year involves an ever-popular potluck and party staple, the humble deviled egg. Of course restaurants aren't going to serve just a plain deviled egg, as good as it may be. They are adding all kinds of bling and flair to zhush them up, as Epicurious explains. Chefs aren't just playing around with… read more

Food news antipasto

October 9, 2022 by
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Country music legend Loretta Lynn passed away earlier this week at age 90. While millions appreciated her impressive singing and songwriting career - where she inserted sometimes controversial feminist viewpoints into a conservative, male-dominated industry - fewer people realize that she was also a talented home cook. She wrote a cookbook in 2004 called You're Cookin' It Country: My Favorite… read more

Using up fresh herbs

October 6, 2022 by
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We will have our first frost tonight, so after work this evening I scrambled to harvest the tender items that will not survive freezing temperatures. This included plucking some green tomatoes and bringing in a lot of herbs. Finding ways to use or preserve this abundance of things like mint, oregano, chives, and basil can be a challenge, so I… read more
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