What sells in summer?

May 19, 2011 by
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Every so often I have a look at the bestseller lists for cookbooks.  It keeps me honest--if the books people are buying aren't the books that I'm recommending, I should know why, even if that doesn't change my opinion about the books themselves. If you asked me what sells in summer, I'd probably say: eat-local books, grill books, ice cream… read more

“How” books

May 9, 2011 by
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In today's mailbox were two bits of nonfiction from the shadowy waysides of the cookbook industry: food memoir and food exposé.  I call them "how" books, as opposed to "how-to" books.  That's because of their subtitles, which tell you so much about the content that they almost save you the trouble of reading it. Exhibit A is Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial… read more

Looking out for number one

May 3, 2011 by
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It was just a little over a year ago, I think, that Judith Jones' little book came out--The Pleasures of Cooking For One seemed charming, quirky, contrarian in an age of conspicuous entertainment.  But like any successful species, the "Serves 1" book has survived to produce offspring, and this year brings at least two more. Joe Yonan's Serve Yourself makes liberal use of… read more

The Southern books are here

April 26, 2011 by
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Like grill books, Mexican cooking books, and beach entertaining books, Southern cookbooks are usually published in late spring.  There's a good reason--because that's when the rest of the country starts warming up enough to feel at least a little bit, once in a while, like the South. I've always found that to be a wry bit of timing, because if… read more

Camp cooking

April 19, 2011 by
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This week brought a brace of camping cookbooks, which I regarded with curiosity.  Though our family lives on 20 rustic acres, all my outdoor cooking--whether on propane burner or kettle grill--takes place no more than the requisite 10 feet away from the house.  Every dash back inside for a forgotten tool or ingredient counts as a hassle.  So how indeed,… read more

Subliminal marketing and the “Every Day”

March 28, 2011 by
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I've just been noticing that suddenly the words "Every Day" are appearing in the new cookbooks I see, well, every day.  This week it was Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's  River Cottage Every Day.  That's "Every Day" the adverbial phrase, not "everyday" the adjective.  "Everyday" the adjective has overtones of the humdrum, I suppose, even though you do see… read more

Memoirs from chefs, recipes from home cooks.

March 16, 2011 by
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I guess there's no two ways around it: chefs live more interesting lives than the rest of us.  On the whole, that's because their lives are also harder: late hours, low pay, high stress, a demanding public.  With success comes the expectation of simultaneously expanding, and reinventing yourself.  Not surprisingly, those chefs who survive have enormous character, and those who… read more

The death of the cupcake

March 4, 2011 by
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Every once in a while I open a cookbook envelope and find something so, so, so strange I just have to drop everything and tell you about it.  That happened this week, when out popped: Zombie Cupcakes! Unless you've been hiding in a cave for the last 5 years, you know that cupcakes--specifically, cupcakes that look like something other than cupcakes--are all the… read more

Spring and Summer 2011 Cookbooks: Special Preview

February 9, 2011 by
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One of the peculiarities of being a cookbook reviewer is that you're forever looking into the near future of food as the new press releases roll in.  Invariably, they offer tantalizing glimpses of seasonal foods that are several weeks or even months ahead of your garden, your kitchen, and the produce aisle of the grocery store. As with any fortune-telling… read more

Rolls redux

February 8, 2011 by
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A few weeks ago, you might recall, I was struggling with the Kaiser Roll Quandary--and, thanks to EYB, had found and got ready to test some hamburger buns from The Commonsense Kitchen. Well, what with one thing and another--and about 24 inches of snow--it took me till yesterday night to get round to trying it.  I had a meeting to go to after dinner,… read more

Primal meat

January 31, 2011 by
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It takes a certain amount of guts, if you'll excuse me, to publish a book about meat in January, when the typical cookbook features words like "lean," "slim," and "salad". But on the other hand, it *is* the dead of winter.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and it wants meat, preferably on the bone with some… read more

In praise of red fermented bean curd

January 24, 2011 by
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Did you know, EYB friends, that EYB is good not only for cataloging your gazillion recipes, but also for helping you create entirely new ones?  That's what happened to me today. I was trying to come up with a Chinese spare rib recipe--something with a roast pork bun flavor, on a spare rib, but not deep-fried the way they would… read more

The Kaiser roll quandary

January 17, 2011 by
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I love baking in midwinter, don't you?  The heat of the oven, the smell of yeast, the golden brown perfection of baked goods...did I mention the heat of the oven? I got a kaiser roll stamp for Christmas, and I'm trying to find a good kaiser roll recipe.  Not a big, shiny, bulky one that you might want to heap… read more

The first cookbooks of the year

January 10, 2011 by
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Well, the holiday rush of cookbooks is past and the publishers are looking ahead to spring.  This week the mail held the galleys of spring--April cookbooks in their raw, pre-edited state.  I don't test recipes from galleys or advance proofs--if there's mistakes, they might be corrected in the final copy, and I don't want to base my judgment on an… read more

The January 2nd diet

January 3, 2011 by
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Happy New Year, everybody! Mine started inauspiciously.  5 minutes to midnight found me with a throbbing Class A headache, passing up a hoarded bottle of Veuve Cliquot for some sparkling non-alcoholic cider.  It's not that I'd overdone it so much on New Year's Eve.  I think it was the preceding week of cookies and chocolate and fried foods and odd… read more

Time for a snack and a book

December 20, 2010 by
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The holiday season this year has been a compressed blur, with Thanksgiving segueing instantly into Hanukkah into Christmas. I bet you haven't had a chance to do much more than crack your cookbooks to the right page as you dash from one festive culinary ordeal to the next. Forget about browsing through new books in an armchair! But in the… read more

Armchair Adventures

October 17, 2010 by
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Lushly photographed on coated stock, ruinously priced, and as heavy as a KitchenAid mixer--you know what I'm talking about: coffee-table cookbooks.  You tell yourself this will be the last one, truly, and yet there you are again, plunking down $50 and change for a cookbook that will never see the inside of your kitchen. Why is that?  It's because they're… read more

Crust craze: Dinner’s in the oven!

September 17, 2010 by
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If there's one thing I love about the end of the summer, it's turning the oven back on again.  And if there's one thing I like about an oven, it's getting to make dinner under, inside, or on top of a crust. My son's favorite dinner is chard tart (sautéed greens in a Gruyère custard in a crust, basically).  That's followed… read more

Never mind what I eat…what do you eat???

August 6, 2010 by
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Although new food books arrive at my house every day, very rarely does one stop me in my tracks.  But that's what happened when I opened the familiar cardboard envelope and found What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.  One moment I was sorting through the mail; the next I was transported on a whirlwind, National Geographic-style tour… read more

Hostess with the mostest (…or not!)

July 25, 2010 by
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Entertaining-focused cookbooks come out twice a year--before summer and for the holidays (even if their party suggestions are not season-sensitive).  I always leaf through the summer ones with the slightly dislocated sense one has when observing a foreign culture.  Twice each summer is my limit, basically, when it comes to entertaining.  The first time is my daughter's birthday (cookies &… read more

We Scream for Ice Cream

July 5, 2010 by
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97 degrees - that's the high today, and that's here in New England.  Even the most dedicated home cook has mixed feelings about cooking in weather like this.  All I want to do is sit in a hammock with a book while someone brings me a cool drink once in a while.  Or, better yet, a dish of ice cream.… read more

Loco for local

May 11, 2010 by
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The summer cookbooks have been rolling in and holy guacamole!  It's farmer's markets and local foods, left and right.  And it's not just the cookbook authors and advocates anymore.  There's Fast, Fresh & Green by Susie Middleton.   Melissa's Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce from the famous produce company.  Eating Local by the folks at Sur La Table, Edible from the Edible… read more

Spring fever

May 8, 2010 by
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Is it my imagination, or has it been the longest, sweetest spring in recent memory? A couple of months ago, at a time when the frozen ground usually still rings like iron when struck by a futile hoe, I had lettuce seedlings sprouting in the garden beds, the kids were running in the warm grass, and the daffodils were in… read more

Lighting the fire

April 12, 2010 by
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The last snow was only a week and a half ago, and already this year's grill books are arriving. I don't blame the publicists for wanting to hasten the warm weather.  Last week, I bought my own first sack of charcoal for the season and threw the first steak on the grill.  It was beefy, juicy, smoke-kissed perfection.  But I… read more

Oven Thermometers

April 4, 2010 by
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As a cookbook reviewer, I sometimes have to measure where it would usually be perfectly fine to guess.  I don't always like having to measure 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, but I do it...I've got 5 sizes of measuring cups, a couple of instant-read thermometers, and a scale that gets regular use.  But the tool that makes me hands-down-flat craziest is… read more
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