Brinner is always a winner

Somehow I missed the fact that breakfast for dinner has been going by the name "brinner" since about 2014, when an article by Kathleen Purvis about the trend was picked up by a slew of regional newspapers across the US. The thought was that brinner would overtake brunch in popularity, both at homes and in restaurants. I do not believe… read more

Was this the ultimate Le Creuset deal?

After writing about the Le Creuset factory to table sale, Jane forwarded me a tweet about a deal being offered by Costco that would allow someone to jumpstart their collection and become a super collector overnight. The wholesale club was offering a whopping 157-piece set of Le Creuset that comes with an eye-popping price tag: $4,499.99 USD. While I wondered… read more

Food news antipasto

A new Australian product aims to put the real taste of chicken into plant-based meats. Called Tastilux, it's a creation of Nourish Ingredients, and is an animal-free fat that "mimics the mouthfeel of animal fat" but is made from a type of Australian fungus. Adding it to plant-based "meats" can make them taste, well, meatier. The product isn't available to… read more

Apple season is upon us

We are just at peak apple season, and every roadside stand and farmers market is brimming with bushel baskets of local apples. If you are lucky, there could be upward of a dozen varieties for you to choose from, with a range of characteristics. Some are perfect for eating out of hand, others are great for making cider or applesauce,… read more

Ditch the cling wrap with these lids

How many recipes ask you to cover an item with clingwrap/plastic wrap while it is proofing, marinating, cooling, or in some other waiting stage? Too many to count, right? If you hate wrestling with finicky wrap that seems to stick to everything except the edges of the container it's supposed to seal, Serious Eat's Andrew Janjigian has the answer, and… read more

Food news antipasto

As we become immersed in the new season of the Great British Bake Off, it's tempting to do armchair quarterbacking on strategies or ideas the contestants have chosen. It is easy to opine from the comfort of our living room, but a former contestant on the US version of the show reminds us that baking in that iconic tent is… read more

The thrill of the score

As I talked to shoppers at the Le Creuset Factory to Table sale, a common refrain popped up: LC did not fit into their budget unless they could purchase it a steep discount. While I saw some carts filled to the brim with boxes, others contained only one or two small items because those bargain hunters didn't find the prices… read more

Embracing the change

Tonight we turned off the water going to the outdoor faucet, a yearly ritual that is repeated in reverse come springtime. That means it is officially autumn. I'm generally a spring/summer person because I abhor being cold, but it is during autumn that my cooking senses really come alive. Baking in the summer, as we have witnessed on the Great… read more

Food news antipasto

This week we learned the sad news that chef Michael Chiarello has died at age 61 following a severe allergic reaction that led to anaphylactic shock. The chef hosted shows on PBS, Food Network, Fine Living, and Cooking Channel. He also appeared on Top Chef Masters and was a judge for Top Chef. The partners in his restaurant group said… read more

Do you really need a roasting pan?

Few home kitchens in the US are without a large deep roasting pan. Most of them are made from aluminum, although enameled steel and stainless steel pans are also common. Usually they are tucked away in the back of a cabinet for most of the year, pulled out to hold the Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham. Serious Eats has long… read more

Break out the good china: what you serve your food on matters

When I start thinking about what to make for lunch or dinner, only rarely do I consider the dinnerware on which we will be eating the food. Our everyday plates are Fiesta Tableware in six different colors that we mix and match with abandon. Pairing a color with a particular food isn't something I contemplate unless I'm really into getting… read more

Food news antipasto

Restaurant aficionados often turn up their noses at chain restaurants, and there are many reasons why a food lover might not like them: they can be noisy, the food is often bland, and the overall dining experience will never knock your socks off. But as Grace Dent explains, sometimes a chain restaurant is just the place to go, especially if… read more

Coming soon to a recipe near you: shrinkflation

A recent article in The Guardian explained how Galaxy chocolate bars are now 10% smaller but priced the same as before, a strategy pundits have dubbed "shrinkflation" because in the end the result is the same as raising prices: less purchasing power for the consumer. The article reminded me of an issue that came up with a recipe I was… read more

Thinking inside the box

As I cracked open a box of organic, low-sodium broth earlier today I recalled Michael Ruhlman saying that one should never use canned or boxed chicken broth, that homemade was the only way to go, and that even water would be better than commercial broth. Despite his admonition, I glugged the box straight into the sausage and potato soup with… read more

September 2023 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

Each month we offer at least four cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. This month we cooked: Cookbook: Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling or Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico by Bricia Lopez and Javier CabralOnline: Any online recipes from Bricia Lopez and Javier CabralBaking: 100 Morning Treats by Sarah Kieffer or any online recipes… read more

Food news antipasto

Gordon Ramsay plans to open 14 restaurants in Thailand after signing a deal with Tanachira Group, the lifestyle company behind jewelry brand Pandora. It is part of an international expansion push for the chef’s group, which runs 37 UK restaurants and 35 additional eateries worldwide. Granola for fellow "granolas" from Food52 If you describe someone as being very "granola", most people… read more

Inside the Le Creuset Factory to Table sale

As promised, I am reporting on the Le Creuset Factory to Table (FTT) sale held in Minneapolis this weekend. The event sold out so fast that I was unable to get the coveted VIP tickets for Thursday evening that included an opportunity to buy a 'mystery box' of items for $50. I was relegated to a regular admittance ticket that… read more

Olive oil prices surge to all time highs amid drought

Prepare yourself for sticker shock when buying your next bottle of extra virgin olive oil. Due to drastically reduced yields, olive oil supplies are rapidly being depleted, leading to dramatic price hikes. Spain, the world's largest olive oil producer, saw record high temperatures (the third hottest summer on record) coupled with an intense drought. In turn, this diminished the olive… read more

Food news antipasto

Food critic Jay Rayner had the honor of interviewing Madhur Jaffrey for the September issues of Observer Food Monthly. On the eve of the 40th anniversary edition of her book Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery, the 90-year-old author talks about how she became "an accidental cook" due to acute homesickness when she was in London studying drama. An acclaimed actress, Jaffrey started… read more

Tracing a recipe’s path

In the small North Dakota farming community where I grew up, most residents belong to a group known as "Germans from Russia" (GFR), which describes a "a unique group of Germans who lived in Russia after the 1760s and began their immigration onto the Great Plains in the 1870s" according to The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. My ancestors fit this description,… read more

Sometimes you have to stray to remember how good you have it

Because I was having issues with my internet service today I needed to test response times and decided to use some recipe search engines to gauge how well the ISP's fix was working (yes, I know I could do an Oookla speed test but where's the fun in that?). After navigating several websites, I was reminded of just how good… read more

Food news antipasto

Even though I love to cook and bake, sometimes nothing will satisfy a craving like junk food: cheese puffs with an orange coating that resembles no real cheese but is so good I'll lick it off my fingers , a too-sweet cake with a best-by date that is months into the future, or cookies with an ingredient list of things… read more

Le Creuset supercollectors – and Gen Z loves LC too

Jenny and I have written about our fondness for Le Creuset and its ever expanding range of gorgeous colors, designs, and shapes. Both of us have collected many pieces over the years, and while Jenny's collection puts mine to shame, both of us look like rank amateurs when compared to the Le Creuset "supercollectors" profiled in a recent article in… read more

TikTok food trends can have real economic impact

Whether you love or hate trending TikTok food videos, they are more than just something entertaining to watch. In the aggregate, they can actually drive food producers to change their production, says Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes. This is especially true of "center of the plate" proteins (which usually means meat), but it can affect other products as well. But with every… read more

GBBO gets the message

After a few years of poorly conceived country-based theme weeks, the producers of the Great British Bake Off have finally seen the light. They have eliminated these types of themes and are returning to the basics that made the program an international success. The show's producer, Kieran Smith, acknowledged the missteps in an interview with The Guardian. “We didn’t want… read more
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