The Bloomberg – the “sugariest drink in the world”

March 15, 2013 by
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Since Friday is a good day to clean up loose ends, we thought we'd finally note the death - or at least the coma - of Mayor Bloomberg's attempts to ban the sale of mega-sodas in New York City. And the most creative coda to this story  has come from a surprising source, NPR, which invented The Bloomberg - the… read more

How colors affect taste

March 14, 2013 by
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Two recent articles struck us as working together in a somewhat ironic fashion. FoodBuzz has 24 Foods That Shouldn't Celebrate St. Patrick's Day while The Guardian reports on How we taste different colours. The former is a compilation of foods that have been dyed green - and definitely never should have been.  Their photos of bacon, steak, eggs, grilled cheese, mashed potatoes,… read more

Tea services – traditional vs. modern vs. basic

March 12, 2013 by
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In the U.S., the final show of Downton Abbey was shown a few weeks ago. And it seems that an entire continent is going through withdrawal (we know those of you in Great Britain experienced this a few months ago). So just in time to provide an emergency proper English fix,  Serious Eats has published, "A Short Introduction to Afternoon… read more

Let your canned goods get old – and better

March 12, 2013 by
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A few months ago, we wrote a blog on how long food can last. In Don't throw out that food  we noted that expiry dates don't need to be religiously followed - rather it's your nose that should be. Now one of the best known food scientists, Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking,  has weighed in on the… read more

Can you eat bread that’s five-months old?

March 8, 2013 by
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In elementary school science classes, a favorite experiment was to grow mold on bread and then study the mold under a microcope. But it appears that modern-day science has put a damper on this experiment, at least for store-bought bread. In this article from Epicurious, "How Fresh is Five-Month-Old Bread?" the author recounts how a loaf of bread became lost… read more

An homage to the artichoke

March 7, 2013 by
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Artichokes are among our favorite vegetables - on our first visit to Italy, it was so exciting to discover they actually put them on pizza! But given artichokes' regionality and the challenge of eating them, many people avoid getting acquainted. So we wanted to give a shout out to this article from the L.A. Times: Let artichoke possibilities flower. You… read more

Five creative cheese tips

March 3, 2013 by
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Most of us cook with cheese, so tips on managing cheese are always appreciated. Here are five tips from Cook's Illustrated on handling cheese (check out the article for full illustrations): Fit round cheese slices on a square slice of bread by breaking the cheese slices into quarters. Grate and store cheese in one easy step - and keep your… read more

Garlic meets the microwave – quickly peeling or roasting a head of garlic

February 25, 2013 by
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Here's a quick tip from Chow for a Monday morning. Heat a head of garlic in a microwave for about 20 seconds and the cloves will slide right out of their skins  - no mess and no sticky problem. This video demonstrates. And while we're on the subject of microwaving garlic, check out the Kitchn's tip for roasting garlic in… read more

Pies in the face and James Bond

February 24, 2013 by
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This weekend we're honoring the Oscars with great food-related movie moments. Yesterday we wrote about The best food movies and movie scenes. Today we're presenting memorable food fights and a tribute to 50 years of James Bond. Food Republic recently published 10 of Our Favorite Movie Foodfights, inviting readers to "get ready to get dirty." Here's their list: Homicidal tomatoes… read more

The best food movies and movie scenes

February 23, 2013 by
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We're doing a two-part food and movie blog this weekend in honor of the Oscars. Today we're looking at two compilations - from Serious Eats  of  their favorite food movies  and Boston.com's collection of chefs's favorite movie scenes. In 12 of Our Favorite Food Movies, Serious Eats lists movies that are either about food or have great food scenes. Here's… read more

Sous vide – is it more than just boil-in-a-bag?

February 21, 2013 by
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Sous vide has been a restaurant cooking technique for many years. For anyone who is not sure what sous vide is, it's a process of cooking food in a vacuum-sealed bag.  The food is then cooked in a precise temperature-controlled water bath. There are several advantages: reliability - the same moist results every time; cooking to the exact desired temperature -… read more

The best way to store lemons

February 18, 2013 by
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America's Test Kitchen Feed recently  tackled one of the kitchen's basic questions: How to best store lemons? It's tempting (and cheaper) to buy lemons in bulk, but then how to keep them juicy? In We Prove It: The Best Way To Store Lemons, they compared the results between storing whole lemons in an unsealed container,  in a zipper-lock bag with 1/4… read more

Jell-O never ceases to amaze

February 14, 2013 by
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What's not to love about Jell-O? Well, awhile ago we wrote a blog about the ways people have abused Jell-O over the years (see Abusing Jell-O vs. respecting it) but this week (International Jell-O week) we wanted to join with BuzzFeed in celebrating all the ways - many unexpected - that Jell-O have contributed to our lives. Here are a… read more

Truly awful cooking results

February 13, 2013 by
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We've all had kitchen disasters, but hopefully never as bad as the ones that BuzzFeed so graphically illustrates in 37 People Who Are Worse At Cooking Than You Are. Here are a few of our favorites - check them all out for reassurance that your kitchen disasters can - and have - been surpassed: (Check out yesterday's blog, Tips for easy… read more

Tips for easy cake icing

February 12, 2013 by
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If you're an experienced cake froster (icer), this blog probably isn't for you. But for those of us who ice cakes only on special occasions (Valentine's Day, birthdays, etc.) it doesn't hurt to be reminded of some basic frosting rules that will truly make a difference. After all, our EYB members have over 600 cake cookbooks in their collections (750 of… read more

When can you claim a recipe as your own?

February 5, 2013 by
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Last month The L.A. Times published an article that delved into a thorny problem in food editing - who actually owns a recipe? When can you claim a recipe as your own? In The complicated case of the simple cookie The Times described how a rosemary apricot bar cookie had been declared the winner of a recent baking contest. Several readers wrote in… read more

Is the fish cooked?

February 4, 2013 by
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The classic time guide for cooking fish is to cook it for ten minutes for every one inch of thickness. But this really isn't a satisfactory method as it leaves too many questions open - At what oven or stove top temperature? What kind of fish? Oily or dry texture? And, as Molly Stevens at FineCooking writes: "The often-quoted theory… read more

Jello and Popcorn

February 3, 2013 by
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As we already wrote the only Superbowl blog you'll need (Margaritas and guacamole), we thought that, while we'd get in the Superbowl spirit today, we'd take an off-beat path. So we're noting two recent articles on under-praised snack foods - jello and popcorn. Buzzfeed has a wonderful photo essay on popcorn that should provide lots of inspiration, as should some… read more

Customizing garlic flavor

January 28, 2013 by
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Susie wrote an interesting blog today on the problem of having too many Italian cookbooks (see Magic number) so we thought this recent article from Serious Eats,  On Developing Garlic Flavor, might make a nice companion piece. Kenji Alt, who writes Ask The Food Lab, deals with the question of how to tame garlic's harshness. In the article he reveals some… read more

Celebrating Australia Day with some of our favorite bloggers

January 25, 2013 by
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It's Australia Day and this gives us a chance to say "hi" to some of our most avid (and friendly) EYB community members. We also thought we'd give a shout out to the work of food bloggers down under. Here are some of our favorites - all indexed here at EYB - that will give you an idea of the… read more

The anti-loneliness bowl

January 23, 2013 by
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Many new kitchen items have us scratching our heads and wondering what were they thinking? (see tipsy wine glasses among others). But we kind of see the attraction in the latest item that Gizmodo is reviewing: a smartphone dock bowl. Besides holding the smartphone in close enough proximity for you to read it  - hands free -  while eating soup or ramen… read more

The ultimate shelf life guide

January 22, 2013 by
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A few weeks ago we wrote a blog about expiry dates, Don't throw out that food, and discussed whether an expired date really meant you needed to throw out an item. Since then we've discovered a useful site called Still Tasty: Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide. Simply type in a food or beverage name, and the site will tell you how long… read more

Why you should massage your kale

January 21, 2013 by
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There is no question that this is the year (decade?) of kale. Lauded by one and all, kale is considered a super-healthy food. Per WebMD, "Kale is an amazing vegetable being recognized for its exceptional nutrient richness, health benefits, and delicious flavor.  Eating a variety of natural, unprocessed vegetables can do wonders for your health, but choosing super-nutritious kale on… read more

Can you cook a steak by dropping it from a great height?

January 18, 2013 by
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Most of us have probably seen space capsules returning to earth, amazed at the blazing heat that engulfs the capsule. So the question: Can you cook a steak by dropping it from a great height? is not that outlandish. But why would you ask such a question? Well, if you love physics or science, this is actually an interesting "real… read more

Can you eat cheese rind? Yes, but…

January 14, 2013 by
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The Food Republic recently asked a very basic question: Which Cheese Rinds Are Edible? And the answer is surprisingly simple: - as long as it isn't man-made (like wax), the rind is edible. But that does lead to a second question: Does it taste good? And that is definitely up to the taster - some will find the rind elevates the… read more
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