When should a chef give credit for a recipe idea?

December 5, 2012 by
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  Eater has an intriguing article, "Inspiration and Attribution in Cooking: How and When Should Chefs Credit Their Sources." Traditionally, the guideline was that any recipe had to be credited unless the chef had made three significant alterations in the recipe. But in these internet days, when recipes fly fast and furious, are there any guidelines left? And what are… read more

Will recipes become living things?

December 4, 2012 by
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  In a short video over at Serious Eats, Kenji Alt interviews Alton Brown on the future of recipe writing. In just over a minute, Brown mentions several interesting items. Here are two that especially intrigued us: First is the question: What if a recipe could take any of three paths to completion:? "And you got to choose your path… read more

The holiday baking dilemma

December 4, 2012 by
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Ah, for the love of baking...There are those of us who love to cook, and those of us who love to bake, and those of us who like to do both, right?  I'm one of the latter. Even though bakers and cooks are supposed to have opposing personalities (to wit, meticulous and measurey vs. improvisational and spontaneous), I think many… read more

Fixing over-softened butter

December 3, 2012 by
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Here's a quick tip from America's Test Kitchen, via the Kitchn, that should come in particularly useful during this period of intense cookie baking. When a recipe calls for softened butter, and we've forgotten to leave it at room temperature, most of us go to our microwave to do a quick fix. But it's hard to calculate exactly how much to… read more

3 special books for wine lovers

December 2, 2012 by
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The New York Times recently published Highlights from the 2012 Vintage in Wine Publishing, singling out three special reference books. Any of these would be a pleasurable gift to give to wine lovers who have all the basics, but want to delve more deeply into specialized areas. Specifically, the list includes: Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties,… read more

23 unexpected, but intriguing,flavor combinations

November 30, 2012 by
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One of the hardest challenges for cooks is to go beyond cookbooks (no matter how great they are) and branch out into experimenting with creating individual recipes, maybe using unusual food combinations. And here is where true taste preferences can come in (peanut butter and pickles anyone?). But despite the obstacles, it remains a fascinating challenge. In this context, we… read more

How to purchase cookbooks to match your cooking style

November 29, 2012 by
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  As avid cookbook collectors, we're sure that everyone in the EYB community has met with one of two aggravating scenarios. First, there are the recipes that just don't tell you enough. For example, a muffin recipe calls for 2 butternut squash, pureed, but just how much pureed squash is that - after all, squash come in different sizes and… read more

Eliminating smelly fish odors

November 28, 2012 by
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We all know that we should eat a lot of fish - not a hardship since fish can be extremely tasty. But you rarely see a discussion regarding one issue with fish - the odor that remains after you cook it. Over at the Kitchn they've looked at the problem and come up with some solutions. Here are a few:… read more

Cookbook ghostwriters – the secret behind the sauce

November 27, 2012 by
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Some time ago there was quite a kerfluffle about cookbook ghostwriters (here's the blog we wrote to refresh your memory). Rachael Ray, in particular, took great umbrage. The Chicago Tribune has brought the subject up again in an article called Hidden Ingredients,  but this time they're highlighting some great chefs who aren't afraid to look for help. To begin, they… read more

Eating with your eyes: books for the coffee table

November 27, 2012 by
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On NPR yesterday evening, a reporter was speaking with an independent bookstore owner.  What was selling?  "Cookbooks," the owner replied.  Coffee table cookbooks, the kind that never see the inside of a kitchen or the dirty underside of a spatula. Back in the 1980's, my dad and a couple of friends started a publishing company, Stewart Tabori & Chang, and produced… read more

The one kitchen app that rules them all

November 26, 2012 by
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Since we ran a Black Friday gift article with ideas from Michael Ruhlman and others last week, it's only appropriate that we acknowledge Cyber Monday - the time that everyone goes online to shop. Of course, now it's perhaps even more appropriate to acknowledge that an EYB membership is the perfect cyber gift, but we also wanted to bring up… read more

Discovering potted shrimp

November 25, 2012 by
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As the weather turns chilly, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere, it's time to start curling up with murder mysteries. And part of the fun - at least in old-fashioned English mysteries - is reading about the food. Has anyone else ever had a fantasy about having tea with Miss Marple? So we thought it was fun that one… read more

The one thing I can’t abide in a cookbook

November 24, 2012 by
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Poivrade artichokes.  Veal kidneys.  Gilt-head bream.  Mastic crystals. These are a few of the ingredients I've seen as I page my way through hundreds of cookbooks on my long, slow path to holiday roundup.  And, though I try to be level-headed when judging cookbooks, each of these made me see red.  What is it about unannotated obscure ingredients that's so… read more

The best holiday gift of all, plus 2 additional gift guides

November 23, 2012 by
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Here in the United States, there is a tradition that the day after Thanksgiving is the best day to go shopping. On "Black Friday" (so-called because for many retailers it's when they finally go black - i.e. earn a profit - for the year) stores bring out their supposed best deals. As these things often go, matters have admittedly become… read more

Marcus Samuelsson’s 10 ways to use up Thanksgiving leftovers

November 21, 2012 by
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We're sure all our non-U.S. members are getting a little tired of our Thanksgiving blogs, but we promise this is the last one - it's hard to overlook the one holiday truly devoted to eating. And for our final blog, what is more appropriate than one dealing with how to use up Thanksgiving leftovers? There's a lot on the web… read more

Introducing the Thanksgiving Cherpumple and the Sir Plumple

November 20, 2012 by
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Now that a Turducken has become almost mainstream (we even wrote a serious blog about it), we're very pleased that Serious Eats has taken up the gauntlet of producing a new, outlandish Thanksgiving treat - and not just one, but two. The Cherpumple is described thusly:  "First there was an original Cherpumple (yes there was a forefather Cherpumple who spawned derivative… read more

What’s up with the sausages?

November 19, 2012 by
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When the whole preserving-canning thing took hold in the cookbook world a few years ago, it seemed to me that it owed its resurgence to an essentially vegetarian source culture - you know, homesteaders and beekeepers and organic CSA share-holders. So it didn't surprise me when a whole flock of books came out on raising chickens and fresh eggs came… read more

An assortment of food-related apps

November 19, 2012 by
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In their article, Six tablet apps for making the perfect Thanksgiving dinner, TechHive has some great apps for iPads and other tablets that are applicable not only for Thanksgiving but for all holidays and even everyday cooking. As they write: "These apps will help you at every step, from picking recipes and planning a menu, to cooking multiple dishes at… read more

How to insure a crunchy brownie top

November 18, 2012 by
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With the demise of the Twinkie, we thought we'd refocus on a comfort sweetie that will never go out of style or production - the homemade brownie. And the perfect brownie has to have a crunchy top - it makes the fudgy goodness underneath that much more delectable.  So while it may not be an earth-shattering issue, it's important to… read more

R.I.P. Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Devil Dogs

November 16, 2012 by
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We'll admit that we haven't eaten a Twinkie or Ding Dong in far more years than is possible, but the fact that these iconic U.S. lunch box treats will no longer be available is worthy of notice. Due to a variety of factors Hostess, the company that makes these (and other baked goods like Wonder Bread) is liquidating. And for… read more

Happy national bundt cake day!

November 15, 2012 by
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It seems that every day is a "national" day (or week or month) for some sort of food item. It's easy to ignore most of them,  but every now and then a "national day" comes along that should be celebrated. We feel that way about "national bundt cake day." Bundt cakes are awesome - they seem to feed a million… read more

The NY Times gives Guy Fieri’s restaurant the cattiest review ever

November 14, 2012 by
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We'll confess that every now and then cattiness makes for a fun read. Dorothy Parker made a whole career out of it - as in once reviewing a Katherine Hepburn performance as "running the gamut from A to B." And there was always Alice Roosevelt's pillow ("If you can't say anything good about someone, sit right here by me"). In… read more

The rise of the blog book

November 13, 2012 by
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At first, it was only Julie Powell, blogging her way to stardom as she chronicled her mastery of Julia Child's magnum opus.  David Lebovitz and Pam Anderson were out there too.   The books food bloggers used to write pretty much looked like regular cookbooks. In a few cases, the books featured little more than a bunch of recipes downloaded… read more

Two alternatives to brining a turkey – steaming or dry salting

November 13, 2012 by
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Fifteen or so years ago, brining - soaking a turkey in a salty water solution for 24 hours - was introduced as the best way to insure a moist, flavorful turkey. But brining has now come under assault. It always was a problem in that it required a large container and refrigeration - difficult for anyone who didn't have an… read more

Turducken or not to turducken?

November 11, 2012 by
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Over the past several years, Kenji Alt, the science guru at Serious Eats, has tackled the intriguing problem of how to cook the perfect turducken. In The Food Lab: How to Make the Perfect Turducken, he gives us the benefit of all that experience. For those of you who aren't aware of this Cajun dish, Kenji describes it thusly: "Ever… read more
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