Google’s top recipe searches of 2020

January 14, 2021 by
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After cooking morning, noon, and night, who among us wasn't desperate to find new recipes last year? Most readers here likely opted to use the EYB Library to search for what to cook for the next meal, but of course worldwide, Google is the top English-language search engine. Naturally they have kept track of what people searched for in 2020,… read more

Why is 350 degrees such a common oven temperature?

January 13, 2021 by
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Arguably the most common oven temperature for baked goods like cookies, cakes, and enriched breads is 350°F (~180°C). For most of us, it's the default setting on our oven's control panel. How did bakers land on this as the 'magic number' for so many items? Speaking with Vox, award-wining Pastry Chef Michael Laiskonis provides the answers. The key criteria for… read more

Sticking to a ‘dry January’ has never been easier

January 11, 2021 by
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Following the indulgence and excess that can happen during the end-of-year holiday season, people frequently cut back on both food and drink when the new year rolls around. Some take a 'dry January' pledge, opting not to drink any alcoholic beverages during the entire month. In the past this meant a rather boring drink selection, but not these days. Increasing… read more

Food new antipasto

January 10, 2021 by
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Tales of kitchen disasters never fail to entertain me, perhaps because I have had so many of them in my own kitchen. From charcoal caramel to accidentally pouring out long-simmering stock, messes and mix-ups are part of everyone's culinary journey. For your amusement, here's a small gallery of kitchen disasters to make you feel better about your own mishaps. Le… read more

The case for following the recipe exactly

January 9, 2021 by
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Normally when the calendar turns over to January I write a post about New Year's food resolutions. I think all of us have enough pressure on us this year without adding to it, so I skipped the resolution post. However, some of you might have made one anyway, like the The New York Times' Genevieve Ko did. Her resolution is… read more

Nathalie Dupree’s downsizing auction boasts many treasures

January 7, 2021 by
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Beloved Southern cookbook author Nathalie Dupree and her husband Jack Bass have retired and moved from Charleston, South Carolina to be closer to family. As part of the downsizing for their new home, they are having an estate sale, and the treasures to be found there are amazing. Nathalie not only wrote cookbooks, but was a featured culinary writer for the… read more

Pioneering chef Albert Roux has died

January 6, 2021 by
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We have sad news to report: Albert Roux, a chef who helped revolutionize fine dining in London, has died at the age of 85. Along with his brother Michel, Albert founded Britain's first Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Gavroche. That pioneering restaurant helped launch the careers of many of the UK's best known chefs, including Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White. Food… read more

The grocery shopping blues

January 4, 2021 by
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I enter the supermarket like an MI6 agent on a mission: furtive glances to identify maskless patrons, determined movements as I methodically toss items into the cart, and brisk steps to the next aisle because time is of the essence. This is not the way I shopped in January 2020. In those halcyon days, my shopping trips were leisurely and… read more

Food news antipasto

January 4, 2021 by
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With 2020 in the rearview mirror, we can take a look back at the year and find the few bright spots. For many people, those happy moments involved food. The Guardian asked its readers to tell them which new ingredient discoveries they made in 2020, and the results are fascinating, ranging from the comforting to the exotic. Croissant dough keeps… read more

Two women, 8000 cookbooks

January 2, 2021 by
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Cookbooks continue to buck the trend of faltering sales in the publishing industry. Last year, London's fastest selling nonfiction book since records began was a cookbook. For cookbook lovers, few things bring us as much joy as cracking open a new volume to explore the world within its pages, or thumbing through a well-worn copy of a favorite book. That… read more

Lucky foods for the new year

December 31, 2020 by
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Eating traditional foods that are thought to bring good luck seems more necessary than ever today as the world rings in 2021. Which foods are considered lucky varies from country to country and even from region to region. Grapes play an important role in Spain, where revelers consume 12 grapes just as the clock strikes midnight, each grape representing a… read more

Food in fiction

December 30, 2020 by
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While I enjoy little else more than cracking open a cookbook and devouring it like a novel - especially books that immerse themselves in a particular culture - it's fun to read other types of books where food is a prominent feature. Some books skillfully weave both recipes and prose, such as In Winter's Kitchen by Beth Dooley, which I… read more

The bucatini shortage of 2020

December 28, 2020 by
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Among the items that were in short supply this year, pasta ranked near the top of the list. In March, I was shocked to see a huge swath of completely bare shelves where once sat myriad boxes of Barilla, Colavita, Rummo, and bevy of store brands. The only items that remained were a couple of sad whole wheat pasta products… read more

Food news antipasto

December 27, 2020 by
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Have a refrigerator full of Christmas leftovers? Find ideas for how to use them with Yotam Ottolenghi's Boxing Day (and beyond) recipes that make use of turkey, Christmas pudding, cranberry sauce, and more. If that isn't enough inspiration, try Tim Dowling's 17 ways with leftover turkey or Diana Henry's ideas for leftover ham, turkey, stuffing, and sprouts. This week's news… read more

Best selling foods of 2020

December 25, 2020 by
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Grocery stores had their busiest year ever in 2020 and it had a lot of drama: toilet paper hoarding, yeast and flour flying off the shelves, delays in producing and shipping, putting up plexiglass partitions in the checkout lanes, and more. Grocery store workers were on the front lines of this pandemic, and our hats are off to them as… read more

The food trends of 2020 that helped us cope

December 24, 2020 by
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Even those of us who love to be in the kitchen were pushed to our limits this year, churning out meal after meal. When we felt drained of creativity, we turned to cookbooks and the internet to find inspiration to make it through another day of cooking. Some of us turned to baking as a respite, and it's probably fair… read more

Crafting a smaller holiday dinner

December 23, 2020 by
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Like so many others, my husband and I are going to be alone for the holidays for the first time in many years. Even though we rarely travelled to celebrate with family, we always invited other 'orphan' friends to our home or would go to the neighbors for Christmas Eve or Christmas - and in some years, to celebrate the… read more

Counting down the top foods of 2020

December 21, 2020 by
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We have made dozens of new recipes and made several favorites on repeat in our house this year. While finding delicious new meals is exciting, sometimes nothing beats the comfort of tried-and-true items when inspiration and energy runs down. I've been going through my cookbooks to flag favorite recipes on my EYB bookshelf so I can easily find them but… read more

Food news antipasto

December 20, 2020 by
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Reading raw numbers of infections and deaths does little to illustrate the personal toll the coronavirus is taking on individuals. One story that puts names to the numbers in a visceral way involves food, which makes the impact even greater for a food lover like me. The Charleston Post-Courier published a story about a handful of coronavirus victims that includes… read more

More gingerbread house eye candy

December 19, 2020 by
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I just can't resist posting one last item about gingerbread houses. This one comes from an annual contest hosted by The Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina (incidentally, one of my all-time favorite cities in the US). This year the contest was virtual, like so many others, but that did not limit the creativity or excellence of the… read more

London chefs share their Christmas dinner secrets

December 17, 2020 by
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You might have your holiday meal plan down pat, but I will confess that I haven't even started putting together a menu. That is not only because there will be just two of us, I am a champion procrastinator. I have begun the process of deciding what to make, but could use a little help. That is why I was… read more

Why you should set your desserts on fire

December 16, 2020 by
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Let's face it, 2020 has been a calamity for almost everyone across the globe. I recently saw a commemorative candle that sums up what a lot of people feel about the year: a dumpster fire. Since the world is literally and figuratively on fire this year, why not keep the flames going through your cooking? Kidding aside, adding fire to… read more

Chefs predict food trends for 2021

December 14, 2020 by
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With 2020 almost in the rearview mirror (thank goodness), it's time to look forward to what we can expect in the coming year. For many of us, 2021 will still be a slog as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on our healthcare systems and economy, especially service establishments like restaurants, but with vaccines beginning to be distributed, there is… read more

Food news antipasto

December 13, 2020 by
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a wooden bowl filled with lemons sits next to two whole and two halves of lemons on a wooden surface
We'll begin this week's survey of what's happening in food and cookbooks with a free baking class. Art of the Pie's Kate McDermott is offering a free dough making demonstration as a thank you to everyone who has supported her over the years. The Zoom session will be held on Thursday December 31st, 2020 at 8AM Pacific Time (US). The… read more

A trifling matter

December 12, 2020 by
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While Jenny focused on Yule logs this week, I had my sights set in a different direction. Watching the GBBO holiday special featuring the cast of Derry Girls, trifles were top of mind for me, and a post from Australian Gourmet Traveller featuring 22 different trifle recipes for Christmas further nudged me in that direction. Trifle has a long and… read more
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