These classic books are being overlooked by new cooks

April 9, 2018 by
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For many of us, learning to cook meant spending time with classic cookbooks like Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Joy of Cooking, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and others published between in the last 60+ years. All of these books share one trait: they are not lavishly illustrated. A few line drawings appear here and there to demonstrate a technique,… read more

Is this the world’s most expensive cookbook?

April 7, 2018 by
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 It is not unusual for old and rare cookbooks to fetch handsome prices. Even some new cookbooks, like the multi-volume set of Modernist Cuisine, cost several hundred dollars. However, a recently released tome about pizza may be setting a record for the most expensive new cookbook. The extremely limited edition Pizza from Scratch (available through the NYC bookstore Kitchen Arts & Letters)… read more

JBF Cookbook Award nominees announced

March 14, 2018 by
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  Today the James Beard Foundation announced the nominees for its 2018 Cookbook Awards and other food writing/media awards. It is always interesting to compare the JBF list to the IACP list to see how many books overlap between them. If a book has made both lists, it has to be one of the best of the year. In 2018,… read more

Fundraiser to save the Kitchen Witch

February 28, 2018 by
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Kitchen Witch Cook Book Shop has been serving cookbook lovers for over 18 years in New Orleans. Their shop located in the historic Bayou Road/Broad Street corridor is struggling to keep their doors open. The good news is that in the next year many high profile businesses and entertainment venues are set to open. The bad news is that with… read more

IACP Cookbook Award winners

February 25, 2018 by
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  Jenny and Jane attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual meeting in New York City. That means they were able to see the winners of the 2018 IACP Cookbook Awards  in person! The rest of us had to follow along on Twitter - and now we know the winners. We've updated our IACP 2018 community page to note… read more

Food52’s ‘The Piglet’ cookbook competition returns for 2018

February 23, 2018 by
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  Indexed website Food52 has just announced the competitors for its cookbook competition called The Piglet. Now in its ninth year, the contest pits sixteen books against one another in a bracketed tournament competition. Over the course of several weeks, each of the judges (who are top food writers, chefs, and celebrities) make dishes from two books and announce which… read more

California fire relief effort aims to replace cookbooks

February 5, 2018 by
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  Last year's wildfires in California devastated entire communities. Thousands of people lost their homes and belongings as the firestorm swept through several towns. For some people the losses were absolute, where nothing remained in the ashes of what they once called home. Cherished cookbooks were among the items people lost. I'm sure that EYB Members would be heartbroken to… read more

Two cookbook awards nominee lists announced

January 30, 2018 by
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Cookbook awards season seems to creep up earlier and earlier each year. No sooner than we finish compiling our "best of" lists here at EYB, than announcements for various awards start popping up in our news feeds. Today we learned about two organizations that have released their nominees for the 2018 cookbook awards.  The first of these is from The… read more

Best selling cookbooks of 2017

January 23, 2018 by
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Last month our friends at cookbook stores around the world gave us their picks for their favorite books of 2017. Now we asked them for their top sellers. We thought it would be interesting to compare the lists from specialist stores in the USA to that for all US sales from the publishing industry data company, Nielsen.   The unstoppable… read more

Your cookbook collection could be worth more than you think

January 11, 2018 by
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  When you think of collectible cookbooks, you probably consider volumes like a first edition of Joy of Cooking or a signed copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, both of which are highly sought after books. But these aren't the only cookbooks that are worth collecting. According to Food & Wine, many other volumes may be valuable as well.… read more

The Year in Review – 2017

December 31, 2017 by
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The sun is fading outside my window as the minutes tick away what is left of 2017.  Our friends on the other side of the world have already welcomed 2018, while we are making plans to celebrate New Years Eve. To be honest, I don't believe I've ushered in a new year since the birth of my youngest child in… read more

Best of the Best Cookbook List 2017

December 21, 2017 by
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Each year, Jane collects the "best cookbooks" lists from a wide variety of sources, ranging from television to radio to bloggers to newspapers - over 300 lists in total. After aggregating and ranking 815 books, Jane compiled the winners into EYB's "Best of the Best" cookbooks of 2017. This year Yotam Ottolenghi is back in the top cookbook spot for… read more

The best cookbooks of 2017 by the experts

December 19, 2017 by
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Who knows cookbooks better than the owners of specialist cookbook stores? They stock and sell thousands of cookbooks and because their stores are focused on food and drink books, they are true experts.  They read the books, cook from them and then share their knowledge with their customers.  When shopping for cookbook gifts this holiday season, think about supporting your… read more

How to choose the ‘keeper’ cookbooks

December 13, 2017 by
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  Whenever you face cookbook overload - the shelves are bulging, and there is hardly any room left for even one volume - naturally, that means you will see several new 'must have' books. How do you decide which books are worth buying and taking up that precious real estate, or which of your current collection can be passed on… read more

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

November 23, 2017 by
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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

The lasting legacy of Joy of Cooking

November 21, 2017 by
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  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

Blog ‘Great British Chefs’ is publishing a cookbook

November 12, 2017 by
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  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

600 years of cookbook history

October 29, 2017 by
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We are living in a golden age of cookbooks, one where almost everyone can find a book filled with recipes for a reasonable price. It wasn't always like this - centuries ago, only the wealthiest people had cookbooks, which were seen as a status symbol. Henry Notaker traces the history of cookbooks for seven centuries in his book A History of… read more

What do you do when you have 30,000 cookbooks?

October 21, 2017 by
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  Many EYB Members have impressive cookbook collections numbering in the hundreds and a few have thousands of cookbooks on their shelves. One man in Berlin puts us all to shame. He has collected over 30,000 cookbooks and did what anyone with that many books would do: he opened a cookbook store.   In the article, we only learn the collector's… read more

These cookbooks stand the test of time

October 12, 2017 by
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Cookbooks that sell into the hundreds of thousands are not as rare today as they once were. Fewer cookbooks were published years ago, and there were no Instagram feeds or food blogs saturated with gorgeous photographs to spark a sensation. Nevertheless, a handful of books managed to become huge hits, selling millions of copies over the years. How well have… read more

Modernist Bread aims to change the way we think about baking

October 6, 2017 by
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Dr. Nathan Myhrvold is known as one of the world's foremost authorities on modernist cooking. The former Microsoft chief technology officer studied cooking under renowned chef Anne Willan at the Ecole De La Varenne. He has con­tributed orig­i­nal research on cook­ing sous vide to online culi­nary forums, and his sous vide tech­niques have been cov­ered in magazines and on television. Myhrvold's… read more

A new book by Diana Henry is in the works

October 5, 2017 by
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Diana Henry remains one of the most beloved authors in the EYB Library. Her books reside on thousands of Member Bookshelves, and those who have participated in the "Cooking along with Diana Henry" forum rave about her approachable, exceedingly delicious recipes - and about her stellar writing ability. Her 2015 book A Bird in the Hand  and her most recent Simple:… read more

‘Fixer Upper’ cookbook on the way

October 4, 2017 by
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If you are a fan of HGTV's show 'Fixer Upper' starring Chip and Joanna Gaines, this post is for you. Many viewers were saddened to learn that the show, in which the couple applies their signature style to remodel homes and businesses, was ending after the next season (Season 5). Now fans - and cookbook lovers - have something to… read more

Chefs share their favorite books

September 26, 2017 by
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  Many chefs are avid readers, eagerly devouring cookbooks as well as other food-related books. Have you ever wondered which books rise to the tops of their reading lists? Tasting Table did, and asked several top chefs and restaurateurs to name their favorites, and the chefs responded with several book recommendations.  The responses were varied, with a few classic cookbooks like… read more

Gabriele Corcos’ Cookbook Collection

September 15, 2017 by
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Earlier this month, I shared a post on how our cookbook collections stack up sharing some friends' photos and other information. Today, Gabriele Corcos was the subject of my Friday Flashback featuring his books Extra Virgin and Super Tuscan written with his actress wife, Debi Mazar.  Below is a photo of Gabriele's office/cookbook library which he is graciously sharing with us today.   … read more
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