The ultimate kitchen swap

Last week, 37 of the world's top chefs did something a little bit crazy: they all switched restaurants for one day. Sponsored by S. Pellegrino, the Grand Gelinaz! Shuffle featured top chefs ranging from Noma's René Redzepi to McCrady's Sean Brock, who "not only cooked in an entirely new restaurant (and in some cases an entirely new country), but...also lived in their host… read more

What inspires a pastry chef?

Do you ever look at a recipe and wonder how the chef came up with the idea for it? An article from indexed magazine Bon Appetit answers that question, at least for Brooks Headley, James Beard Award-winning chef, formerly of New York's Del Posto. Headley, whose recent cookbook received excellent reviews, spoke with BA about how - and when - he gets… read more

“Project Smoke” aims to elevate your barbecue

 Are you just getting into barbecue or do you consider yourself a seasoned pitmaster? Either way, grilling guru Steven Raichlen's new PBS series called "Project Smoke," which debuted last weekend, aims to boost your barbecue IQ. Thirteen 30-minute episodes feature "recipes, ingredients, tools, tricks and techniques that aim to lead the audience on a smoke-filled journey to new flavors."… read more

Martha Stewart Living has a new owner

Martha Stewart, who pioneered lifestyle branding in the late 1990s, has sold her empire to Sequential Brands, Inc. in a deal announced yesterday. When Stewart took her company public in 1999, it was valued at $1.8 billion USD. The recent sale indicates how much more crowded the fields of cooking and decorating have become, as the Sequential Brands deal is… read more

Kickstarter for new book about Paula Wolfert

Fans of Paula Wolfert take note: an all-star cast of authors has launched a Kickstarter for a new book about Wolfert, known as the Queen of Mediterranean cooking. As Michael Rulhman reports, the Kickstarter achieved its initial modest goal, but is now expanding to a stretch goal of $80,000. In the introductory video to the Kickstarter, Wolfert says "I live in… read more

Christina Tosi on bringing Milk Bar to the masses

Home baking has surged in popularity recently, and some of surge can be attributed to James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Christina Tosi of Momufuku Milk Bar fame. Her cookbook of the same name was a huge success, and she's followed up with a second book that is part cookbook and part memoir. She recently spoke with Emma Bazilian about Masterchef,… read more

Culinary icon Roger Vergé passes away

Legendary French chef Roger Vergé died on June 5 at age 85. Verge led the culinary movement that became known as nouvelle cuisine, where lighter and fresher fare replaced the heavy, fat- and cream-based sauces of traditional French cooking. Vergé's particular brand of nouvelle cuisine came to be called cuisine du soleil, or cuisine of the sun, which consisted of… read more

Inside Ottolenghi’s test kitchen

Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbooks are among the most popular books in the EYB Library. The recipes are vibrant, fresh, and visually stunning. If you've ever wondered what it takes to come up with these wonderful recipes, you can now satiate your curiosity, as NPR's The Salt gives you a backstage pass into the Ottolenghi test kitchen. You might think the kitchen… read more

Highlights of the 2015 Ballymaloe LitFest

For the second year running we spent a most glorious weekend at Ballymaloe (pronounced Bally-mal-loo), which hosted the third Kerrygold Cooking Literary Festival of Food & Wine (LitFest for short). The venue for the festival is split between the Ballymaloe House grounds and the nearby Ballymaloe Cookery School, which is helmed by Darina Allen and numerous members of the Allen family.… read more

A big name returns with a new cookbook

It's been over a decade since Anthony Bourdain has written a cookbook. His last was 2004's Les Halles Cookbook. But that's about to change as HarperCollins imprint Ecco has signed Bourdain for a new cookbook titled Appetites, currently slated for a release in fall 2016. The book will be coauthored with Laurie Woolever. According to the publisher, the book will distill… read more

Sarah Leah Chase breaks long hiatus to write a new cookbook

After a two-decade hiatus, Sarah Leah Chase is back with a new cookbook, New England Open-House Cookbook: 300 Recipes Inspired by the Bounty of New England, which will be released later this summer. Chase is a caterer, cooking teacher, and prolific writer who is best known for co authoring The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. Her other cookbooks, all highly… read more

Food writer Josh Ozersky dies at 47

Food writer and founding editor of Grub Street Josh Ozersky died on May 4 in Chicago. He was in the city for the James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony which took place Monday evening. Ozersky served on the awards committee for the JBF. Known for his passionate and often snarky diatribes, Ozersky was a food writer for Esquire magazine and frequent contributor… read more

Renowned Chicago chef Homaro Cantu found dead

Innovative chef Homaro Cantu was found dead Tuesday afternoon on Chicago's Northwest Side, according to authorities. Police are investigating the death as apparent suicide by the 38-year-old chef and part owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant Moto.  Cantu was know for his avant-garde cuisine that feature edible menus and carbonated fruit, but he had ambtions that extended beyond being a renowned… read more

Thinking outside the schnitzel

When you think of German food, sausages, schnitzel, and sauerkraut probably leap to mind. Husband-and-wife team Jeremy and Jessican Nolen, authors of New German Cooking, want to change that perception. Owners of Philadelphia restaurant Brauhaus Schmitz, the Nolens recently spoke with Lynn Rosetta Casper of The Splendid Table on how they are challenging the stereotypes of German cuisine. When discussing… read more

Ramsay-Oliver feud reignites

Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay's long-running feud had been quiet for a few years, but recent remarks by both men have brought the tensions back to the surface. According to The Telegraph, Oliver recently commented that "Gordon will do anything to try and take the p*** out of me because he is deeply jealous and can't quite work out why… read more

Keeping Julia Child’s legacy alive

It's almost impossible to overstate the influence that Julia Child has had on cooking in the United States. Going against the tide of convenience food, she tirelessly promoted cooking at home and inspired countless people to get into the kitchen and make wonderful food. Therefore it was exciting to read the news that the foundation Child established in the 1990s… read more

How does a famous chef cook at home?

You might imagine that a top chef's kitchen features loads of equipment and a pantry stocked with exotic ingredients. That's not the case, at least for Daniel Boulud. The storied chef recently spoke with Yahoo! Food about what's always in his kitchen, and how he cooks at home. He starts by listing the ingredients that he always has on hand: "Sea… read more

Little known facts about the Nutella empire

You may have heard that Michele Ferrero, the man at the head of the family behind Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, died on Valentine's Day. Reporting on Ferrero's passing, The Telegraph provides 14 facts that you may not know about Ferrero and the Nutella empire he leaves behind. We first learn that the company has always been family owned. It was… read more

‘White Heat’ turns 25

Anyone who's been paying attention to in the last few decades knows about the fiery Marco Pierre White. He came into the limelight over 25 years ago, when he became the youngest person at the time to win first two, and then three, Michelin stars. His cookbook White Heat was a game-changer, and it's now set to be released as… read more

A stellar year for women in food

In 2013, TIME Magazine published an article titled The Gods of Food, which attracted notice for its glaring omission of women. Time took some heat for the article and 2014 began with low expectations for the treatment of women in the food industry. However, The Braiser reports that despite the dismal outlook, the year proved great for women as they dominated the James Beard… read more

Gil Marks, Jewish food historian, dies at 62

                  Gil Marks, a culinary historian who wrote about Jewish food and culture, has died at the age of 62. Marks authored several books on Jewish food and in 2005 won a James Beard Award for his book Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes From Jewish Communities Around the World.… read more

Chef Sean Brock brings history to Heritage

Chef Sean Brock's recently released cookbook, Heritage, is sure to be on many "best of" lists for 2014. What began as a book about cooking in the Lowcountry (Brock's two restaurants are located in Charleston, South Carolina) transformed into a self-described documentary with "personal anecdotes and reflections on the significance of seed-saving, home-gardening and keeping culinary traditions alive." The James-Beard… read more

Tom Colicchio on refrigeration

As part of its 85 Years/85 Ideas series, Bloomberg Businessweek enlisted chef Tom Colicchio of Craft restaurant and Top Chef fame to expound on the concept of refrigeration. Refrigeration technology isn't even a century old, but it has completely transformed the way we think about food, say Colicchio. Certain food courses were invented partially because there was no commercial refrigeration.… read more

Redzepi bounces back after a rough year

For three years, René Redzepi's Noma topped the rankings of the world's best restaurants. But 2013 was "an avalanche of disaster," according to Redzepi. Sixty Noma diners contracted norovirus from tainted mussels, Noma lost its number one spot to Spain's El Celler de Can Roca, and the restaurant's investment structure was changed. But instead of being discouraged by these challenges,… read more

Gabrielle Hamilton bucks the cookbook trend

Gabrielle Hamilton is celebrating the 15th anniversary of her NYC restaurant Prune. Coinciding with this milestone is a cookbook named after the eatery. Prune goes against the trend of lavishly photographed, semi-autobiographical chef cookbooks aimed at home cooks, as The Washington Post notes in its discussion of Hamilton and the book. When Hamilton began working on the cookbook, she attempted… read more
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