“New” vs. “All in One Place” cookbooks

October 16, 2012 by
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Fall cookbooks have been streaming in over the threshold, and over the weekend I got the call for cookbook roundup.  So, this morning I sat on the kitchen floor, where stacks of books have been piling up, and started sorting. There are three big piles: (1) "Give away," (2) "Keep but not under consideration for roundup," and (3) "Roundup candidates".… read more

Now readily accessible: 3 much-loved recipe and food collections

October 16, 2012 by
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Great cookbooks don't age (isn't that one excuse many of us use to justify our large cookbook collections?). And at EYB we're proud not only of making our members' cookbooks more readily accessible, but helping cooks resurrect great food writing and recipes from the past. We have three great examples to talk about today. First, we've now indexed the entire… read more

The Rachael Ray garbage bowl

October 15, 2012 by
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Adam Roberts over at The Amateur Gourmet reminded us recently of one of the best tips we ever learned in culinary school - the garbage bowl. He calls it the Rachael Ray garbage bowl, as he first learned the tip from her cooking show (and she apparently sells one through Target). As he describes it, "Simply take a large bowl… read more

Quick tip: Easily peel garlic – no sticky skin!

October 14, 2012 by
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Tired of having thin garlic skin stick to your fingers when you're peeling garlic? It's easy to prevent - in fact, there are two methods: (i) just put the garlic cloves in the microwave for a few seconds or (ii) blanch them in boiling water. And once you have all that lovely garlic peeled, try one of our favorite recipes:… read more

What’s the most important invention in the history of food?

October 11, 2012 by
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The Guardian  recently reported that the Fellows of the Royal Society posted its list of the 20 most important food inventions. The list is below, but as equally as much fun are the comments that the Guardian received disagreeing with the list. You can see them here.  Refrigeration Pasteurization/sterilization Canning The oven Irrigation Threshing machine/Combine harvester Baking Selective breeding/Strains Grinding/Milling… read more

Caramelizing onions in just 15 minutes

October 10, 2012 by
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Kenji Alt over at Serious Eats writes an always-intriguing science food blog - and we pay special attention when he has cooking tips. His latest is how to caramelize onions in just 15 minutes - without adding either sugar or baking soda. We encourage you to watch the video, which demonstrates that the keys are good stirring and temperature regulation.… read more

Why were we so confused about authentic Chinese food?

October 9, 2012 by
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David Chan on the Menuism blog has an illuminating article on how American Chinese food came to be - and why it took us so long to appreciate diverse and authentic Chinese food. It turns out to be a combination of geographical and political factors. Chinese immigration began with the California gold rush and virtually all the travelers came from… read more

Money is no object! (and neither is time.)

October 9, 2012 by
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Ah, the restaurants of the 1%.  I haven't been inside one since the 1% were more like the 20%, over a decade ago.  And though I wasn't part of the 20% even then, I could once in a while visit their culinary haunts. The kind of personalized, luxe experience now enjoyed by patrons of the world's most rarified eateries may… read more

New Features on EYB

October 8, 2012 by
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At EYB we're always tweaking things to make members' experiences more enjoyable. We've just released a new version that includes a few changes: Improved pagination - search results are now shown in pages - a feature that many members have requested. Increase speed when displaying search results. To achieve this we have removed 'search as you type'. You now have… read more

Cook any whole grain in the same no-fuss way

October 8, 2012 by
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The Kitchn has some good advice for anyone looking to add more whole grains to their meals, but concerned about how tricky they are to cook. It's easily understood for anyone who knows how to cook pasta: "Basically, I use the same method for cooking whole grains that I use for cooking pasta: I simmer the grains in a good… read more

New Cookbooks

October 8, 2012 by
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Our favorite time of year!  More cookbooks come out at this time of this year than any other, as publishers launch their new releases in time for the holiday season.  So to help you start your wish list, here's our selection of the best of what's new in the next couple of months. Make sure your loved ones are well… read more

New Blogs Indexed

October 7, 2012 by
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We have added seven great new blogs this month - add the entire blog or individual recipes to your Bookshelf.    A blog completely devoted to chocolate - what a great theme for a blog to help satisfy the cravings of us chocoholics. Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog thought so and all 269 recipes on her blog use some form of chocolate. Her… read more

Harvard’s food lectures are both tasty and good for you

October 7, 2012 by
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Every year, Harvard brings together top chefs, professors, and researchers and explores the world of food. The inspiration came from a course "Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter." The lectures have  proven to be immensely popular and, as such, Harvard is live-streaming the courses as well as archiving them on You Tube and iTunes.… read more

Quick food tips plus Affogato

October 5, 2012 by
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Gourmet Live has compiled ten top food tips from Twitter. Surprisingly, Twitter is a good place to find food tips. As Gourmet points out, "at 140 characters, the information has to be straight to the point and concise." And this list even includes one of the shortest recipes known - Affogato. Here are our five favorites, check out the complete… read more

An apple variety flow chart resolves apple confusion

October 4, 2012 by
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It's apple season, at least here in the northern hemisphere, and we continue to be amazed by how many apple varieties show up in the stores. And confusion reigns - which should you choose for eating, baking, making apple sauce, carving, making cider etc. etc. Slate has come to our rescue with this incredibly helpful chart developed by Andrew Mikolajski - just… read more

The best containers for storing food in the freezer

October 3, 2012 by
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The easiest way to store food in the freezer is often to grab a freezer storage bag. But those bags have two drawbacks - they're expensive and it's easy to reach for one and discover an empty box. The Kitchn has some alternatives that are either reusable and/or less expensive. However, if you do want to use a freezer bag,… read more

A Mideast revolution in cookbooks

October 2, 2012 by
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 I've said it before and I'll say it again--the most exciting subject area in cookbook publishing these days is the Middle East (followed perhaps by Southeast Asia).  It seems like every week brings a gorgeous new book full of chickpeas and sesame and pomegranates and dates.  Right now it seems to be all about the Fertile Crescent.  Yotam Ottolenghi wowed… read more

Is this the ultimate comfort dish?

October 2, 2012 by
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All of us have food passions that, just maybe, we don't confess to - or, in fact, actually hide. One of our shameful secrets is tuna casserole. It's just so comforting - a dish that just wraps itself around you and gives you a hug. It's not hard to understand why. Egg noodles are a comfort by themselves and reaching… read more

Cleaning broken glass out of a dishwasher

October 1, 2012 by
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Ever had a glass break in a dishwasher? Thanks to Real Simple  (via the Kitchn), here's an easy way to solve the problem - use a potato. "Start by grabbing a flashlight and turning off the lights in your kitchen. Shine the flashlight in the bottom of the dishwasher. Any pieces of glass will catch the light so you can… read more

What dark beer is preferable when called for in a recipe?

September 29, 2012 by
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On Friday, we discussed gingerbread made with ale, and that got us thinking: Does it make sense to use a dark beer like porter (e.g. Dark Russian) or stout (e.g. Guinness) in this recipe? And, if so, what is the difference? So it seemed like true serendipity that over at Serious Eats we found an article called "Beer Mythbusting: The… read more

Beatrix Potter’s recipe for gingerbread

September 28, 2012 by
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The kitchn has a whimsical article about the sale today of Beatrix Potter's personal recipe book. Just recently found, it has recipes for for sponge cake, roast turkey, curry, and gingerbread (no rabbit, however). The book is expected to sell for £200-£400. The publicists are allowing sites to reprint Potters's gingerbread recipe. We found the list of ingredients particularly fascinating, both for… read more

Porkolypse could be a tragedy of epic proportions

September 27, 2012 by
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Huff Post Food is reporting that, according to the U.K. National Pig Association, a global bacon shortage is unavoidable next year.  As the NPA website states: "New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant rate, and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world. Pig farmers have been plunged into loss by… read more

The ugliest vegetable in the world

September 26, 2012 by
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Having received a celeriac (aka "celery root" or "knob celery") recently from a farm delivery, the obvious question arose: What in the heck to do with it? We know that our members are a curious, knowledgeable group, so two thoughts came to mind: 1) Look up celeriac recipes in both our cookbooks and online  - both easy enough to do… read more

Michael Ruhlman mulls over whether food writing is important

September 25, 2012 by
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Over at the HuffPost, Michael Ruhlman has a very thoughtful essay carrying on a discussion that should strike a chord with all our members. He simply asks "Is Food Writing Important?" We'll leave it to you to read his insightful comments, but couldn't help but reproduce the following - a mantra I believe we all can stand behind: "I dream… read more

Grains…taken as a whole

September 25, 2012 by
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Remember how it used to be with whole grains?  You'd go to a natural-foods store asking for farro or spelt, and the assistant manager would say, "how do you spell that again?"  And then, if you were lucky, you'd score some of last year's wheatberries, which you would forget to label. and then they'd sit on the shelf until the… read more
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