Chefs recall childhood dishes that inspired them

  Everyone has a dish from their childhood that they fondly remember throughout their lives. Chefs are no exception to this; the difference with them is that sometimes these nostalgic foods inspire them to create items for their menus. Bon Appetit Magazine recently asked chefs to share their stories of foods from their past that have sparked something that they… read more

Italian baking expert Carol Field dies at 76

We have sad news to report, as Italian baking expert and cookbook author Carol Field died today after suffering a stroke, just weeks after losing her husband. The San Francisco-based author was instrumental in introducing food lovers in the U.S. to now commonplace Italian specialties like focaccia, ciabatta and biscotti. She also played a key role in the revival of artisan bread… read more

Mary Berry’s bolognese controversy

  Few things are more contentious in the cooking world that fights over authenticity. People become incensed when a chef adds, substitutes, or omits ingredients in a recipe that they view as sacrosanct. Whether it's cream in carbonara or peas in guacamole, you can expect a bitter war of words on social media. Beloved BBC food host Mary Berry recently… read more

A film about pioneering chef Jeremiah Tower set to debut

  Film buffs who are food lovers, mark your calendars. There is a new film titled Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent that chronicles the life of pioneering chef Jeremiah Tower, one of the most controversial and influential figures in American gastronomy. The movie premieres this April in select cities. Tower began his career at the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley in 1972, where… read more

BBC to launch new cookery show

Many fans of The Great British Bake Off were saddened when they learned the program would move to Channel 4 from its home on the BBC. But it looks like viewers might be able to have their cake and eat it, too. The BBC has just announced a new show that could rival the beloved GBBO, because it stars one… read more

Essential tools for cooks

One of the greatest pleasures for someone who loves to cook is browsing the aisles of a well-stocked kitchen store. The vast array of gadgets, tools, and equipment can be both eye-opening and envy-inducing. One can be mesmerized by the allure of a beautiful tool and take it home with visions of the delicious food to be made using it,… read more

Chef Jeremy Lee expounds on his favorite cookbooks

There are cookbooks and then there are cookbooks. The former operate as an instructional manual, providing the outline you need to make a particular dish. The latter, on the other hand, transport you through time and space, allowing you to better understand a culture and inspiring you to create. Chef Jeremy Lee talks about the books that he places in… read more

Have vanilla, will travel

Pichet Ong has carved out a reputation as a world-class pastry chef known for combining French technique with Asian ingredients. He's written a cookbook, The Sweet Spot: Asian-Inspired Desserts, and has appeared on Top Chef. In the last several years, Ong has transitioned from holding a traditional chef position into being a jet-setting pastry consultant.  Although Ong likes to incorporate… read more

Is Prue Leith coming to the GBBO?

Rumors are swirling that restaurateur, and cookery-school founder Prue Leith may be in the running to replace Mary Berry on the new GBBO. No one has confirmed this rumor, but many people agree that she is amply qualified for the hosting spot. Leith opened her Michelin-starred restaurant, Leith's, in the late 1960s and founded Leiths School of Food and Wine… read more

Ottolenghi comes to the New York Times

  Yotam Ottolenghi is best known for his savory, vegetable-centric recipes in cookbooks like Plenty and Plenty More, for his restaurant-inspired recipes in Nopi and Ottolenghi, and for the foods of his homeland in Jerusalem. Despite this savory focus, Ottolenghi likes sweets, telling The New York Times that he rarely goes a full day without eating something sweet. In fact,… read more

The Splendid Table gets a new host

  For over 20 years, Lynne Rossetto Kasper has enchanted fans of the radio program The Splendid Table. Recently, she announced her retirement from the show at the end of this year, and a replacement has been named. Starting in March, award-winning food writer Francis Lam will take over hosting duties. While no one will be able to replicate the retiring… read more

USA tops the Bocuse d’Or

A little over a week ago the Bocuse d'Or, the most prestigious worldwide culinary competition, was held in Lyon, France. For the first time in the competition's 30-year history, a team from the United States - helmed by Chef Mathew Peters - won the event. You can read a diary that Peters kept for The Daily Beast that tracked the… read more

Ruby Tandoh takes on the clean eating phenomenon

It seems that every food website you see has a feature or two on 'clean eating'. Bloggers who promote the tenets of the movement (few or no carbs- especially sugar, few processed foods, and a focus on vegetables) have become nearly overnight sensations. GBBO contestant and bestselling cookbook author Ruby Tandoh recently contributed an opinion piece to The Guardian in which she… read more

Famous chefs criticize competition cooking shows

  For many years, chef competition programs like Bravo TV's 'Top Chef' and the Food Network's 'Chopped' have been highly popular with food lovers. Some food media experts credit this show and others like it for reinvigorating interest in home cooking. But a few people don't think that the program is doing cooking any favors. Culinary icons Alice Waters and… read more

Dan Barber to bring experimental food waste restaurant to London

Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farms in New York didn't always plan to be a chef. Originally, he wanted to be a novelist, enrolling in English Literature at Tufts University in Massachusetts. He turned to food service in an attempt to earn money for college, working in Los Angeles' fabled La Brea Bakery. Food soon became his main passion,… read more

The rags to riches story of Marie-Antoine Carême

Exactly 184 years ago today, the world lost its first celebrity chef, Marie-Antoine Carême. The story of how Carême rose from impoverished beginnings in France to become the foremost culinary authority of his time is chronicled in an article from NPR's The Salt.  It's difficult to overstate Carême's influence on Western culinary traditions. He brought to life the "mother sauces"… read more

Julia Child’s kitchen design advice

  As you may know, the kitchen that Julia Child used in her Massachusetts home (and which was featured in some of her shows) can be found in the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Visitors can view all corners of Julia's kitchen through viewposts set into the doorways that existed in the house. If you have seen… read more

Christopher Kimball responds to the ATK lawsuit

  Last month we reported on the lawsuit filed by America's Test Kitchen against Christopher Kimball where ATK alleged that Kimball  "literally and conceptually  ripped off America's Test Kitchen." Kimball recently filed his response to the lawsuit, and it paints a very different picture of what happened. The article lists the highlights of Kimball's response, which was filed just a few… read more

The Pioneer Woman launches her own magazine

  Fans of Ree Drummond, who rose to fame due to the popularity of her blog The Pioneer Woman, will be delighted to learn that she will be launching her own magazine next year, with a tentative launch date of June 2017. According to the publisher, "The Pioneer Woman  magazine will feature a strong emphasis on food, showcasing Drummond's accessible style for… read more

Catching up with Diana Kennedy

Diana Kennedy reigns as one of the top authors in the EYB Library, holding two of the top ten spots in the Mexican genre. NPR's The Salt recently interviewed Kennedy, who is as feisty as ever at age 93.  Born in England, Kennedy moved to Mexico in the 1950s. Once there, she began to chronicle Mexican cooking and plant life.… read more

Noted reviewer AA Gill dies at 62

We are saddened to report that award-winning writer, television host, and restaurant critic AA Gill has died at the age of 62, just a few weeks after he revealed that he was seriously ill with cancer. Gill was a longtime writer for the Sunday Times.  In a column last November, Gill revealed that he had the "full English" of cancers. He had… read more

Alton Brown announces internet cooking show

Fans of Alton Brown have mourned his departure from the Food Network, but now they have something to cheer them up. In a live chat on Facebook on Saturday, Brown delighted his audience by revealing that he will be soon starting a new internet cooking show. The new program will allegedly be called "A Cooking Show", and it will be… read more

America’s Test Kitchen sues Christopher Kimball

If the EYB Forum and Facebook posts are any indication, plenty of our members recently received the charter issue of Milk Street, Christopher Kimball's new publication. The magazine may have seemed familiar to Cook's Illustrated in its approach to recipe development: create the best version of a dish by listing, and subsequently eliminating, the problems that often arise in other… read more

Cooking by vibration

In 1958, at the age of 19, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor left the US for Paris in search of a career in the theater. What began as a simple search for black-eyed peas in France ended up being far from simple, and led Smart-Grosvenor down the path of writing about food and cooking as a way of expressing one's culture.  Known as an… read more

An interview with Beatrice Ojakangas

Before Beatrice Ojakangas, there was no cookbook for Finnish cuisine. Today her first book, The Finnish Cookbook, is in its 38th printing. The Minnesota author has published several cookbooks since that 1964 volume, including The Great Scandinavian Baking Book, a Member favorite that has been inducted into the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame. Ojakangas has just released a memoir entitled Homemade:… read more
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