The life-changing magic of…nothing

April 13, 2024 by
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Hyperbole in advertising and news reporting is almost as old as print itself, so it should not be surprising that hyperbole is common on the internet. The extent of it is breathtaking, however, as seemingly every other article or post touts "the life-changing magic" of a given technique, product, or method. Given the slant of my news feeds, most of… read more

Who wins in this kitchen appliance showdown?

April 12, 2024 by
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One of the best ways to start an argument is to make a claim that X is better than Y. It doesn't really matter what X or Y is, just stating that one is superior to another will set off passionate debate that often devolves into insults. This scenario popped into my head when I saw an article at Eater… read more

Let them eat snake

April 10, 2024 by
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We've heard a lot of buzz about how bugs might be the next big thing in environmentally-friendly protein and now we're apparently moving up the food chain to snakes. An article in Salon reports that some scientists believe snake could be a good solution for sustainable protein. These researchers claim that commercial snake farming (in particular pythons) could provide a… read more

Food news antipasto

April 7, 2024 by
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Condiments like chili crisp and chili crunch are having a moment right now. They add spiciness and texture to foods like dumplings, noodles, eggs, and even desserts. The ingredients are similar from brand to brand, with many calling their product chili crunch, but one brand wants to put an end to that. Momofuku, founded by David Chang, has issued cease-and-desist… read more

Are most cookbooks bad? One blogger thinks so

April 6, 2024 by
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I stumbled upon a post by Tim Mazurek at his blog Lottie & Doof in which he makes some bold assertions about cookbooks. Mazurek thinks that most cookbooks published today are bad, stating that "the reality is that most cookbooks are not very good and very few people actually read them or cook from them, especially industry experts." He feels… read more

‘Shake’ and ‘quake’ foods

April 5, 2024 by
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Early this morning a mild earthquake startled NYC-area residents. While this level of quake wouldn't cause a Californian to bat an eyelash, it is much less common to occur on the East Coast so it caught people's attention. Where I live has about the lowest possibility of earthquakes in the continental U.S., so if one were to strike here everyone… read more

World Central Kitchen team members killed in Gaza

April 2, 2024 by
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We've written several times about World Central Kitchen, the humanitarian aid group founded by chef José Andrés in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then, the group has been on the front lines of natural disasters, armed conflicts, and other crises. Today we learned the devastating news that seven WCK team members in Gaza were killed in a strike… read more

April Fools’ Day food company pranks

April 1, 2024 by
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I was traveling much of the day today, but I did see a few fun April Fools' Day pranks being posted to social media. It seems to me that pranks these days are very transparently jokes and not actual efforts to fool anyone, probably because it is hard to know what's real and what's fake in these strange times (AI… read more

Food news antipasto

April 1, 2024 by
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If you love cookbooks, chances are you have several written by chefs knocking about on your bookshelves. They often provide technical guidance or offer avant-garde flavor combinations and techniques. One of my favorite chef-written books is The Art of French Pastry by Jacquy Pfeiffer (ebook available for around $3 on Amazon, Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au). Over at Plate, Kate Leahy has… read more

To all the trends I loved before…and some I didn’t

March 30, 2024 by
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I am not one to jump on every kind of bandwagon but I will hop on many that involve food. From the Dalgona coffee trend (what else did we have to do in the early Covid restrictions) back to the cupcake craze of the early 00s (I'm holding on to my cupcake carriers in case they make a comeback) to… read more

The battle over bread

March 27, 2024 by
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During the pandemic, almost everyone turned into a sourdough bread baker. That phenomenon lasted only until supply chains started to catch up and people weren't idled in their homes, and I expect a fair amount of sourdough starter has since been tossed. It's a shame, really, because most inexpensive supermarket breads are ultra-processed tasteless loaves while a good loaf of… read more

To decant or not to decant, that is the question

March 26, 2024 by
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Visit any home organization website, and you will see tips on how to maximize your existing cabinets and shelves by placing your dry goods into neat and tidy clear containers, ideally of the same size and shape. Most of these containers are plastic, so you are basically taking your groceries out of one plastic container and putting them into another… read more

Food news antipasto

March 24, 2024 by
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In the market for new cookware? Head over to Food & Wine, which brings us the best cookware deals in Amazon's Spring Sale. The offerings include Lodge, Le Creuset, and other favorite brands. Once you see what you like, we ask that you navigate to Amazon's site from the links on our homepage (Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon… read more

Cookbook clubs go mainstream

March 22, 2024 by
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The rest of the world seems to be catching up to us in that Good Morning America just posted a story about cookbook clubs (the in-person kind, not the virtual ones). Many of our Members have participated in these clubs for years, with the club members all bringing different parts of a meal or specific recipes to create an amazing… read more

Recording of the EYB and ckbk Q & A now available

March 21, 2024 by
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Yesterday, we had a great time during our first livestream Q & A with ckbk. As a reminder, last May we announced that we have connected the EYB database to ckbk’s library of digital cookbooks. ckbk is a cookbook subscription site where you can access the full content of more than 830 great cookbooks, the majority of which are indexed here on EYB (and more will… read more

Food news antipasto

March 18, 2024 by
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June Hersh, blogger behind Eat Well Do Good, tipped us to a new ebook called Cooking for a Cause that benefits the largest food rescue organization in Israel, Leket, which feeds displaced Israelis regardless of religion or ethnicity. The book features some of the most prominent names in Jewish and Israeli food including Michael Solomonov, Jake Cohen, Adeena Sussman, Eitan… read more

Is surge pricing coming to a restaurant near you?

March 14, 2024 by
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Surge pricing is part of Uber and Lyft's business model, airlines have used it for decades, and other companies are now embracing it - including restaurants. The concept is simple - charge more for items during peak demand times and less during slow times. Fast food chain Wendy's recently walked back a statement from its CEO regarding dynamic pricing after… read more

Food news antipasto

March 11, 2024 by
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Did Daylight Savings Time catch any of our US residents (Arizona & Hawaii excepted) off guard as much as it did me? I need that extra hour back, if only to spend more time browsing the available items in the Les Dames d'Escoffier (LDEI) annual auction sale. The items range from extravagant trips to a hand made tagine to a… read more

Mother’s Day recipes

March 9, 2024 by
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Tomorrow is Mother's Day in the UK, (it’s May 12 in the US, Australia, and New Zealand). A great way to honor the special women in your life is to make a special treat for them on this special occasion. Whether that means a full meal or a treat like pie or cake that you can deliver, your mom –… read more

The great pickle controversy

March 7, 2024 by
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Somehow I missed this article when it was first published last fall, but Food & Wine posted about how pickle manufacturers in the US are omitting the word 'pickle' on their jar labels. All of the big names like Vlasic, Mt. Olive, and B&G have named their products things like 'Hamburg chips' or 'Kosher Dill Spears' - anything other than… read more

Give ’em an inch…

March 5, 2024 by
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Have you ever encountered measurements in a recipe that just don't add up? I am not talking about volume or weights (although they can be problematic as well), but rather about size - thickness, diameter, length or width, etc. Sometimes I think recipe writers (or cookbook editors) are not very good at math. This has happened to me a lot… read more

Food news antipasto

March 3, 2024 by
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File this under everything old is new again: deviled eggs are the latest trendy menu item for restaurants. Of course, chefs are all putting their own spin on the classic, but the basic recipe still provides the underpinning. A few factors are driving the surge including affordability and customer interest in retro dishes. Bistro Freddie’s head chef, Anna Sorgaard says… read more

How long do you keep looking for the ‘best’ recipe?

March 3, 2024 by
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Go to almost any food website and you are sure to encounter several "best" recipes, whether for hummus, macaroni and cheese, burgers, lasagna (like this recent Eater article), you name it, there's a "best" version out there. The folks at Cook's Illustrated made an entire series of books filled with the "best" recipes of their kind, whether it be soups… read more

Writing about food is all about the spin

February 29, 2024 by
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Last night I placed seasoned and very lightly breaded chicken drumsticks in the oven to bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes along with a side dish of loaded mashed potatoes (think cheesy mashed). At 45 minutes, I went to check them and they looked great - I flipped them over and turned off the heat to the oven -… read more

Customers decry wonky Wonka experience

February 28, 2024 by
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The easy access to AI image generators have made it almost absurdly easy to get lifelike renditions of scenes that have not and will not ever exist. I've seen dreamy "libraries" and even entire "houses" rendered by AI tools like Midjourney and others that were - at first glance - convincingly real. All you need is a prompt and the… read more
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