Australia’s best bakers weigh in on their favorite baking books

When you walk into a bakery and see the rows of glistening pastries or perfectly browned breads, you might not think that the master bakers who created these lovely treats might have pored over the same baking books that sit on your cookbook shelves. But everyone has to start somewhere, and for many pastry chefs, that start came in the… read more

A cookbook editor’s take on the Food & Wine move

In June we learned that Food & Wine magazine was moving the bulk of its operation to Birmingham, Alabama. Even though it came as a bit of a surprise, most people like food writer Ruth Reichl understood the reasons for the relocation and viewed it in a positive light - at least the publication wasn't shuttering like many others. James… read more

The lasting legacy of Joy of Cooking

  We have frequently posted about legacy items on the EYB blog: things like cherished hand-me-down cookbooks, recipes, and kitchen tools we have inherited from family and dear friends. In these posts, Joy of Cooking frequently comes up in conversation. It is difficult to overstate the lasting legacy of this work. Recently Charles Roberts, owner of the used bookstore WonderBook,… read more

Is black going to be the new black in 2018?

  We've already seen the Waitrose food trend predictions for 2018, and now the Trendspotter Panel of the Specialty Foods Association has weighed in with its own prognostication. If they are right, expect a lot of black-hued products in the coming year. The panel said they think plant-based foods will continue to grow in popularity, with more algae and other products… read more

Buy a gift certificate and earn a chance at free cookbooks

You rely on Eat Your Books to help you organize your recipes and find inspiration. Why not share that benefit with friends and family who love to cook? Gift certificates are available for one, two and three year memberships to EYB. And for every gift certificate you buy between now and December 31, we will enter you into a drawing… read more

Help EYB when you shop Amazon on Black Friday or Cyber Monday

  It may be difficult to believe, but we are less than a week away from Black Friday, the largest shopping day of the year. Many of you will be buying gifts - for other or for yourself - with the deals offered by major online retailers beginning next Friday and continuing to Cyber Monday. Amazon has stretched the deals… read more

November’s Eat Your Books Cookbook Club Summary

It's time for the monthly roundup of the Eat Your Books Cookbook Club, our online cooking group. November's books were Half Baked Harvest or any of Diana Henry's cookbooks or online recipes that we have indexed here at Eat Your Books. As a reminder, in December we will be cooking from Six Seasons or Salt, Fat, Acid and Heat, plus… read more

What’s the best kind of rolling pin?

  Chances are good that the type of rolling pin you use depends on what your mother or other cooking mentor had, whether it is the best option or not. There are several different styles of rolling pins on the market, and each one has its own set of benefits and drawbacks. So how can you determine what is the… read more

Cooking Channel takes a chance on a new show

  Cooking Channel is debuting a new cooking show tonight and tomorrow, and its future rests entirely on how many viewers it attracts in those two showings. Columbus, Nebraska native and food historian Jason Liebig created and hosts the program, titled Food Flashback.  According to the blurb on Cooking Channel's website, the show "takes a trip down memory lane exploring… read more

David Lebovitz on the evolution of blogs

You might call David Lebovitz the godfather of bloggers. He launched his website in 1999, years before Facebook or blogging platforms like Wordpress even existed. Since then, the former pastry chef of Chez Panisse and Zuni Cafe has garnered a devoted following. Lebovitz has just released a cookbook/memoir titled L'Appart, in which he uses his experiences in purchasing and renovating… read more

Cookbooks get another (premature) eulogy

Over the past few years, we've reported on several people who have proclaimed the death of cookbooks. As we know, not only are cookbooks not dead, they are doing a smashing business. Yet there are those who continue to proclaim that cookbooks are dead. The latest to do so is Delia Smith, who recently announced that she won't be writing… read more

Thanksgiving dinner at 400 degrees

  The Thanksgiving holiday is arguably the biggest food holiday in the United States. After all, it is the only official holiday created specifically to celebrate food, in the form of the fall harvest. It's a mere ten days away, which means that cooks across the nation are making meal plans, stocking up on ingredients, sharpening knives, and polishing silver.… read more

Blog ‘Great British Chefs’ is publishing a cookbook

  Indexed blog Great British Chefs has only been around for a few years, but it has made a big impact. Now the popular website is putting together cookbook featuring recipes from the blog as well as new recipes. There is one catch - it is only available via Kickstarter, and the campaign ends in just 21 days.  The website… read more

Food writer Molly O’Neill starts a GoFundMe to help with her medical bills

Cookbook author and food writer Molly O'Neill's books reside on hundreds of EYB Members' bookshelves. Molly's work includes writing a food column for the New York Times, writing several cookbooks, including the best-selling New York Cookbook and A Well-Seasoned Appetite. In addition, she hosted the PBS series Great Food and is the editor of the critically-acclaimed "American Food Writing". Twice nominated… read more

An A-Z culinary dictionary

  Even experienced cooks often run across culinary terms that are unfamiliar to them, whether a type of food, an uncommon spice mixture, or a technique that they haven't seen before. While a quick Google search usually clears up any confusion, it's nice to have a handy reference that contains many definitions in one place. Australian Gourmet Traveller is here… read more

Imagine new ‘pastabilities’

  There are hundreds of different pasta shapes, each with its own special attributes that make it the perfect companion to a particular style of sauce. Barilla, the world's largest pasta company, isn't content to limit itself to this large world of pasta. For the past few years, the company has been experimenting with intricate 3D pasta shapes. Barilla hosts… read more

Beloved Italian cookery writer Antonio Carluccio has died

We have sad news to report today, as the much-loved and respected Antonio Carluccio has died at the age of 80. Known as a master of Italian food, Carluccio cooked, ate, and championed the cuisine for over 50 years. Born on the Amalfi Coast in the South and raised in the wooded North-West, Carluccio moved to London in 1957. In… read more

Dessert anthropology

I just discovered my dream job, and baker and cookbook author Valerie Gordon has it: dessert anthropologist. Gordon's enviable position involves researching and recreating popular items from bakeries, stores, and other places that are no longer in business, where the recipes for iconic dishes have been lost to time. When I was majoring in anthropology years ago, I never imagined… read more

2018’s food trends according to Waitrose

  Each fall, Waitrose publishes an annual report on food and drink. In it, they predict what the next year's big trends will be. Often, they are right on the mark - last year, they correctly predicted trends like gourmet meal kits and botanical cocktails. Last week, Waitrose published their report for 2018, providing us with clues as to what… read more

Spice support: galangal

Some spices so much resemble another spice that the more common of the two is usually substituted for the lesser known one. Such is the case for galangal, a tropical plant in the ginger family. There are two main types of galangal used in Southeast Asian, and to a lesser extent, Chinese cooking: greater galangal and lesser galangal. There is… read more

The meaning behind food memoirs

If cookbook lovers aren't devouring the latest offering from Yotam Ottolenghi, Ina Garten, or their favorite blogger, they are probably reading another food-related book such as a food memoir. That genre has exploded in recent years, with bloggers, chefs, and other food writers sharing their stories. Although some critics complain that the books are too similar, Ruby Tandoh thinks that… read more

Meals that changed the world

Yesterday we posted about six people who changed an entire country's (and perhaps even beyond its borders) cuisine. In addition to people, meals themselves have shaped the course of world affairs for centuries. Whether in the form of celebratory banquets or intimate dinners, this "dining diplomacy" helped negotiators get the upper hand when it came to treaties, drawing borders, and… read more

How six ex-pats changed the way Americans eat

Prior to the middle of the 20th century, the American food scene was stagnant. A post-war boom led to increased availability of canned and processed foods, and less and less food was made at home, from scratch. That trend began to reverse when the likes of Julia Child and Richard Olney brought French influences back with them from extended stays… read more

Use this food-serving calculator to make just the right amount this Thanksgiving

  Planning a big holiday meal, like the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday for those of us in the US, can be stressful. First, you have to choose which dishes to make, running the risk of angering family members if you stray too far from tradition. Then you have to determine how much of everything to prepare. The biggest concern is running… read more

Even top chefs use shortcuts

  When you think of what the world's top chefs make at home, you likely picture them gently simmering bones and vegetables to make homemade stock, or folding and rolling puff pastry from scratch. As it turns out, even chefs use shortcuts. Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge surprised many people last week when he admitted to using stock cubes instead of… read more
Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!