Patriotic Plates

January 27, 2014 by
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Even though my mother told me not to play with my food, I think she would make an exception if I had made food as delightful as this promotion for the Sydney International Food Festival. The advertising agency designed 18 national flags using foods commonly associated with each country, and using the design of that country's national flag. I can't decide which I… read more

What to do when your garlic clove sprouts a green shoot

January 26, 2014 by
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Thanks to David Lebovitz, we have a definitive answer to one of the kitchen's little questions:  Should You Remove the Green Germ from Garlic? As he writes in his blog, conventional wisdom requires that, to avoid bitterness, you need to remove that little green sprout. But someone "told me that Marcella [Hazan] never removed the green germ (her reasoning being that… read more

If you like Ottolenghi’s books, you should learn about Persian food

January 24, 2014 by
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By spending a fair amount of time wandering the internet reading about food (I know, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it), I've become aware of some themes that may not make the "what's trending" or "hot" lists, but still seem to be surprisingly persistent. And one of those themes is Persian foods. I'm not sure why… read more

Culinary cocktails

January 22, 2014 by
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As previously noted, I will be taking over the reins for the Eat Your Books blog beginning in February. In her introduction, Lindsay mentioned that I am a cooking and baking enthusiast, and that I also dabble in cocktails. The only thing that makes me happier than pursuing one of these passions separately is combining the activities. Most of us… read more

Troubles with healthy food: Looking at kale, plus the Paleo Diet

January 20, 2014 by
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There were a couple of interesting news items recently that once again drove home the point that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. The first article, in the New York Times, Kale? Juicing? Trouble Ahead was written by Jennifer Berman. As she writes, "I was into health food before it was cool. There were only… read more

Four quick, out-of-the-ordinary tips from restaurant chefs

January 13, 2014 by
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Over at Oprah.com, they recently printed 4 Things Restaurant Chefs Wish They Could Tell You. The selection was interesting because it includes some advice not usually mentioned in similar lists. Specifically, they were: Use cheap mushrooms for most recipes, instead of  paying more for porcini or chanterelles. Stop using your knife so much: it's inefficient, and can even be damaging… read more

Tip: Rolling a Burrito or sandwich wrap so it stays intact

January 5, 2014 by
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It may not be the biggest kitchen issue, but learning to wrap a burrito so it doesn't fall apart is not only a useful bit of information, but surprisingly useful in other ways - it works for sandwich wraps, enchiladas, and other items as well. So thanks to the Kitchn for realizing that there should be a tutorial on How… read more

Bringing out the best of 7 Fall and Winter vegies

January 3, 2014 by
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Continuing our theme of healthy eating, we thought we'd bring you some advice on roasting winter vegetables, courtesy of Kenji Lopez-Alt over at Serious Eats. In his article The Food Lab: How to Roast Fall and Winter Vegetables, he does acknowledge that there is a simple approach, "Now, you can roast vegetables the easy way: just toss everything with oil,… read more

It’s time to focus on healthy snacking

January 2, 2014 by
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It's somewhat of a cliché to focus on healthy eating after the holidays, but let's face it - it's not a bad idea. So here, from the New York Times, is advice on Snacking Your Way to Better Health. And the gist of the article - eat more nuts. As Jane Brody writes: "I know what you're thinking: Aren't nuts fattening?… read more

Will these foods still rule in 2014?

December 31, 2013 by
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According to BuzzFeed, there were 13 Foods That Rose to Power in 2013. Here they are - and we'll leave you to ponder whether they will continue to rule, or other foods will come in to trump them: Cronuts Brussels Sprouts Oreos MSG Doritos Locos Taco Pumpkin Spice Ramen Burgers "Edibles" (e.g. marijuana-infused food like Nugtella) Pop-Tart Sandwiches The Horse… read more

Have the British turned from tea to coffee?

December 30, 2013 by
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The Guardian is pondering why and when the British turned their preferences from tea to coffee. According to their article No time for tea? How Britain became a nation of coffee drinkers: "Research by the Grocer shows that volume sales of shop tea are down by 6% in the past 12 months, while supermarket Nescafé sales have increased by 6.3%. Every… read more

Three cooking tips from Thomas Keller

December 29, 2013 by
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During a recent interview with world-famous chef Thomas Keller, The Splendid Table asked him how home cooks could improve their skills. He responded with three pieces of advice; here is a summary of the lengthier reply NPR printed in their article: Learn to salt properly: Among the other tips he gives about salting, we found his advice about salting technique… read more

Happy 75th Birthday to the chocolate chip cookie

December 23, 2013 by
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We're taking a moment off from holiday cheer to note a different celebration - it's the 75th birthday of the chocolate chip cookie. For those of you as interested in food history as we are, The New Yorker has a wonderful history of the cookie here. Briefly, after its origin at the Tollhouse Inn in Massachusetts, the cookie performed stalwart service… read more

Peel an orange, without the gouging, by unrolling it

December 20, 2013 by
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Oranges are in season now - and a nice alternative to holiday cookies for snacking. And thanks to Jewel Pie we have a way to peel them without having to gouge the skin with your fingernail - just roll them out as a strip.  Full explanation and photos can be found at an Easy way to eat mandarin oranges (without… read more

Mastering pomegranates

December 16, 2013 by
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One way to add holiday color (and great flavor) to a dish is to sprinkle some pomegranate seeds (actually, technically, they're "arils" not seeds) on top, especially along with some minced parsley or mint. (Try it on cauliflower - it's positively beautiful.) Of course that may be easier said than done, given that you need to have the pomegranate seeds… read more

Jazzing up slice-and-bake cookies without icing

December 10, 2013 by
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If you have a favorite plain, refrigerator-style cookie - or bought a package of slice-and-bake cookie dough - and want to jazz the cookies up without resorting to frosting or icing, Lynne Kasper in NPR's The Splendid Table has some excellent ideas in How to make store-bought slice-and-bake cookies more gourmet: "There are two approaches: the before-baking list and the… read more

Should breakfast be a time for innovation?

December 9, 2013 by
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The Guardian just asked an interesting question: "Breakfast: too early for culinary innovation?" Apparently in Britain an organization is running a contest asking for the best breakfast recipe, and one of the categories is for the most innovative breakfast. Of course, this leads to the first problem - defining innovation. Apparently it's being defined in the contest as "Something a… read more

Sorting out Mandarin oranges – tangerines, clementines, satsumas, etc.

December 5, 2013 by
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Just noticed that the satsumas have arrived in the store, which triggers an annual question - What is the difference among Tangerines, Clementines, Mandarins, Tangelos, Mineolas, Satsumas. etc.? So, if any of you are also curious, here's a brief primer: The master category that these fruits fall into is Mandarin oranges or "Mandarins." Compared to oranges in general, Mandarins tend to be… read more

A fun way to count down to the holidays

December 1, 2013 by
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Happy December 1 everyone! Thanks to The Guardian, we've found a fun version of an advent calendar to start the count down to Christmas. They've collected both recipes and gift suggestions from a variety of top chefs, including Heston Blumenthal, Raymond Blanc, Anissa Helou, Fergus Henderson, Tom Kerridge, Thomasina Miers, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Simon Hopkinson, Cerys Matthews, Nathan Outlaw, Fiona Beckett, Simon… read more

Which one of the 8 beef grades should you choose?

November 29, 2013 by
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With holiday parties revving up, we thought it might be a good time to help people choose their meat carefully by looking at what beef grades really mean (at least in the U.S.). The USDA uses eight grades of beef, which are rated by tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. With the help of an article from Fooducate, here's a quick run… read more

Taking the best possible food photos

November 26, 2013 by
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With the holidays almost here, there will be a lot of food photos. So we thought we'd compile some basic food photography tips from 3 excellent sources: First up, from Digital Photography School, are 11 Quick Food Photography Tips to Make Mouth Watering Images - here are some of the tips we especially liked: Pick the freshest ingredients Lighting is everything (natural,… read more

The mystery of the skinny turkey

November 20, 2013 by
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The blogosphere is full of stories about the fat turkey problem - or, more accurately, the lack of fat turkeys problem. Apparently, Butterball - the company that produces the largest number of turkeys for national sale - has announced that they've had problems getting turkeys to plump up for Thanksgiving. Therefore, the number of fresh, fat (over 16 pound) turkeys… read more

Is one type of cinnamon really better than the other? Plus 263 ways to use it

November 13, 2013 by
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If you had to choose one spice to be associated with the holidays, it would have to be cinnamon. From pies to squash to drinks to candles, it's omnipresent. So we thought we'd highlight some recent articles that add a bit to our common knowledge, or possibly our common confusion. On Epicurious, we have True Cinnamon, which explains that there… read more

Do you judge people by what they’re eating?

November 12, 2013 by
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In their article, Why do we judge people by the food they eat?, The Guardian provided some interesting material to think about. In particular, the idea of food profiling struck a chord. Back in the day (way back in the day) if someone ate muesli, they were immediately identified as a counter-revolutionary hippie - ditto for brown rice, soy beans, and… read more

The Thanksgivvukah face-off: Food 52 vs. Serious Eats

October 28, 2013 by
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  Two of our favorite online food sites are potentially entering into quite a culinary joust. To create recipes for the unique holiday of Thanksgivvukah (see our blog description if you're in the dark about this holiday), Food52 has challenged Serious Eats  to come up with the ultimate Thanksgivvukah recipe. The Food 52 campaign: In asking their members to help, Food… read more
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