Do you have what it takes to make the Queen’s pudding?

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning British monarch, is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this year. Numerous celebrations will take place to mark the occasion, and to coincide with the summer's festivities, the royals - in partnership with Fortnum & Mason - are asking citizens to create a special pudding in honor of the anniversary. Summer berry pudding with vanilla fromage frais… read more

Food news antipasto

Reading Jay Rayner's recent Observer column uncovered a sweet surprise: news of a free cookbook. Tucked away toward the end of the article, under News Bites, was a tidbit about The Marine Stewardship Council publishing a free online cookbook. The free tome includes recipes from famous chefs from around the world and focuses, as you might imagine coming from a… read more

Ottolenghi says he gets ‘the rowdiest crowds’ in Australia

Update to the post: Ottolenghi announced on 11 January that he had to cancel this tour. If you had tickets booked, you will be advised of new dates as they are announced. Ahead of Yotam Ottolenghi's Australian tour in support of his 2020 book Ottolenghi Flavour, the renowned chef and bestselling author sat down with The Guardian to discuss the… read more

Tips for a great ‘dry January’

Despite the fact that cities such as New York are once again allowing to-go cocktails, more and more people are choosing to forego alcohol during the month of January. Some folks combine it with New Year's healthy eating and exercising resolutions while others want to take a break from the excesses of the holiday season. If you are avoiding drinks… read more

January resolution: cook what you like

As the calendar rolls over from one year to the next, my social media fills with posts about healthy eating, which foods I must or must not consume, invitations to workout apps, and so on. Even though I do make New Year's food-related resolutions, I avoid any that have to do with "creating a new you!" The old me, while… read more

The enduring appeal of the Bundt pan

It's no secret that Jenny and I adore our Bundt pans - Jenny has written an entire cookbook dedicated to them, and I am lucky to work where they are made so can traipse over to the factory store any day I please and add to my collection. Therefore when I spied an Atlas Obscura article about how the Nordic… read more

Food news antipasto

We will start out the new year with several cooking tips in case your New Year's resolution was to learn more about or level up your cooking. First up is King Arthur Baking Company, which provides a beginner's guide to baking with miso. Tatiana Bautista explains how using miso can add more complexity and richness to your baked goods and… read more

Comfort foods for the new year

Since the world is still in various stages of angst over the Covid-19 pandemic, wildfires and other natural disasters, and in some cases political upheaval, it is no wonder people turn to comfort food to, well, provide comfort. Nigella Lawson is no exception, and she has provided us with the favorite comfort foods that she turns to again and again.… read more

New Year’s food resolutions

Looking back at the post I wrote in 2019 about New Year's food-related resolutions, I am amazed at how positive it sounded. Just a few months later the world would be turned upside down by the coronavirus and lockdowns. Because 2020 was such a messed up year, I didn't even bother with resolutions for 2021. That's a good thing, because… read more

Ring in the new year with a tasty tradition

All around the world, people celebrate the beginning of a new year with feasts that incorporate traditional foods that have many symbolic meanings. To learn more about some of these fêtes, head over to Saveur, which looks at recipes and traditions to celebrate the new year. The article starts off with a few historical tidbits, such as how grapes play… read more

Kitchen tool countdown

You can never have too much storage space in a kitchen, because the more space you have the more kitchen stuff you can buy. However, not all kitchen tools are created equal - there are many single-purpose items that aren't strictly necessary, and low-quality gadgets are often not worth the price. Quality kitchen tools will withstand the test of time,… read more

Food news antipasto

All of us at EYB hope our Members enjoyed a delicious holiday meal this weekend. If you made a large feast, you might be eyeing a lot of leftovers - there is a ham bone in my refrigerator getting ready for a long bath in broth to become a calico bean soup. Over at The Happy Foodie, you can find… read more

Cookbooks continue to be bright spot for publishers

After Amazon and other online merchants pulled the rug out from under brick-and-mortar booksellers both by selling physical books more cheaply and by introducing e-books, pundits claimed that the end of print books was nigh. It's true that the publishing industry faced some hard times, with mergers becoming the norm and some publishers folding entirely, but 2021 has proved to… read more

Christmas dessert ideas

Haven't decided on what to make for your holiday dessert table? We recently updated our Christmas Sweets & Treats Pinterest Board, which is filled with hundreds of vibrant, adorable, and delicious recipes perfect for celebrations large and small. Here's a small sample of the wonderful recipes you will find: Red and white checkerboard cookies from Food Network Magazine Cherry and… read more

Best cooking hacks of 2021

I must admit that I'm a sucker for cooking hacks, and if they seem remotely plausible I am game to give them a whirl. They do not always live up to their hype, but I find enough new shortcuts and improved methods to keep me willing to try more. BuzzFeed's Hannah Loewentheil also enjoys experimenting with kitchen hacks, and she shares… read more

Best recipes of 2021, part deux

Earlier in the month I posted about several 'best of 2021' or 'most popular' recipe lists from various websites and magazines. Since then I have spied a few more countdowns to share with you, because you can never have too many delicious recipes (or too many excellent cookbooks)! In the earlier article, Epicurious weighed in with their 103 best soups… read more

Food news antipasto

A Texas woman's viral obituary recently made people chuckle, but it was a Washington Post article about the number of obituaries that mention casseroles caught my attention this week. In the past two years, the number of obituaries that referenced casseroles climbed by 43 percent (no doubt another measure of the pandemic's toll). More important than the numbers is the… read more

Who is changing Christmas dinner?

The traditional Christmas dinner in the UK seems to be evolving, at least according to the latest polls and Tesco Christmas Report. Young people - especially those in Generation Z - are changing what they eat for the holiday meal. Some classic dishes are all but disappearing on Christmas tables, while new items are being added. Classic pigs in blankets from… read more

How to give a cookbook

During the holidays, some of us cookbook lovers evangelize our hobby by giving cookbooks as gifts. Unlike similarly-priced tchotchke that litter stores this time of year, cookbooks are practical, beautiful, and eminently useful. Choosing the right book to suit the person is an art, and 'cookbook-obsessive' Max Brearley is here to explain the finer points of how to match gift… read more

Philadelphia bookstore features a growing culinary section

We love hearing about cookbook stores, and today we learned about a bookstore, Molly's Books & Records, that features a large and growing selection of used cookbooks, making it the best source for cookbooks in the Philadelphia area according to Abigail Weil of Eater. Third-generation bookseller Molly Russakoff, inspired by the store's location in the Italian Market, decided to expand… read more

Food news antipasto

How much do you love gnocchi - enough to steal an entire truck full of the pasta? In Australia last week, some thieves stole a delivery truck from Brisbane's Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers while its precious cargo was being unloaded. The unknown perpetrators made off with 340 kilograms (750 pounds) of gnocchi - enough to make over 2,000 servings. The truck… read more

Which comes first: the equipment or the recipe?

Usually when I discover a new-to-me recipe it comes from a cookbook, magazine, or website and only after reading the recipe do I search for any equipment I need to make it. Today, however, the process worked in reverse. Browsing through a cooking store/tourist trap beside the interstate that serves as a leg-stretch point during the seven hour drive back… read more

Most Googled recipes of 2021

Although we try to make sure everyone knows that the best place to find great recipes is by searching the EYB Library, people still use Google to search for things to cook. Since Google keeps statistics on everything, we can find out what people were looking for this year. They even break down the searches by country, so we can… read more

Whip it good

When a problem comes along / You must whip itBefore the cream sits out too long / You must whip itWhen something's going wrong / You must whip itDevo - Whip It (1980) The lyrics from the post-punk band Devo always make me think of the cook's conundrum about the best way to whip cream to keep it from weeping.… read more

Food news antipasto

Having GBBO withdrawals? Head over to The Guardian to read an interview with Jürgen Krauss, who was eliminated in the semi-finals. He has made peace with not making it through to the end, and he offers insight into what happens in the tent. In particular, I was interested in his take on hosts Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding, who he… read more
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