Con-artist cooking

August 8, 2012 by
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Janice Harper over at Huff Post Food has a really fun article for people who don't like to cook - and, frankly, even for those of us who love to cook but just may not be up to the task at the moment. In her piece, "Con-Artist Cooking - How to Fake It If You Really Can't Make It, " she… read more

Join us in these 3 uproarious food moments

August 7, 2012 by
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Thanks to the SALT, we've been given a chance to view "Three Ways Lucille Ball Ruled When She Played With Food." If you haven't ever seen the wine-crushing brawl, the chocolate wrapping assembly line or - probably one of the funniest TV moments ever - the Vitameatavegamin ad, you really should take a few moments to view them. And, if you have… read more

The portable pantry

August 6, 2012 by
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I'm away this week with my family on Lake Michigan.  As I prepared for our trip, I stumbled on a question all us cooks on vacation have to ponder:  what to pack?  I don't mean the usual stuff: swimsuit, sunscreen, a cheap novel or two.  I mean:  what to pack from the kitchen?  knowing that kitchens away from home are… read more

Tricks to successfully reheating food

August 6, 2012 by
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The Huffington Post's Kitchen Daily has a timely article by Sarah Pinneo on "The 6 Mistakes You're Making Reheating That Food." As she writes, "Leftovers can be a boon -- two homemade meals for the effort of one. Or, if improperly handled, leftovers can be sad and unappealing. Some minor adjustment to your methods will pay off, turning that foil… read more

Storing spices: Some practical ideas

August 5, 2012 by
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Regardless of the kitchen, storing spices always seems to be a challenge. It can be so frustrating to buy a new jar of some rarely used spice and then find a barely opened one tucked in some corner - or unearth a jar of some enticing spice only to find it has no flavor left. The Kitchn proposes some answers… read more

How to store: cilantro, bread, & cheese

August 3, 2012 by
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We have a theme today, courtesy of The Kitchn  - the best way to store three items that often seem to go bad before they've been eaten. Check out:   The Best Way to Store Cilantro (we find the same method works for parsley as well);     The Best Ways to Store and Reheat Bread (do not store in the… read more

Five ways to create dessert without turning on the oven

August 2, 2012 by
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Epicurious has 5 ways to create fun desserts without having to turn on the oven. Start by buying a pound cake or angel food cake and then:  Grill, toast, or broil (Huffington Post has 5 recipes here) Make shortcake Make a trifle or parfaits Make an ice cream cake Make fondue For details and complete instructions, check out "5 Easy… read more

The difference between ice cream and gelato

August 1, 2012 by
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Some of us remember when ice cream was either really good (but not great) stuff you bought at the grocery store, but was great when you bought it at an ice cream stand. Then came fancier ice creams  - bearing either artificial foreign names or home-spun Vermont humor. And, finally, came gelato. So is gelato really a new frozen dessert… read more

How to use up half-filled pantry and refrigerator items

July 31, 2012 by
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Over at The Kitchn they have a very useful blog on 21 Creative Ways to Use Up Pantry and Cooking Staples. As they write: "Do you have a few almost-empty jars in your pantry? Some half-full containers in your fridge? Curious what to do with those crumbled tortilla chips or that bowl of egg whites? What about creative ways to… read more

Jeanne Kelley

July 30, 2012 by
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Jeanne Kelley With kitchen gardens and farmstands in full production, it's a good time to consider a green meal at any time of day.  But everyone tires, at times, of a bowlful of leaves.  Thankfully, we have salad books to turn to on those days when the whole salad enterprise seems like too much of a tax on our culinary… read more

What the heck is bubble, boba, or pearl tea?

July 30, 2012 by
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In certain parts of the United States, Bubble Tea, also known as Boba or Pearl Tea, has suddenly become ubiquitous - following on its huge success in Asia. But bubble tea's popularity has happened so fast, many don't know what it is.  According to this CNN article, the boba phenomenon  began in one tea shop in Taichung,  Taiwan in the… read more

Recipe wishlists: how to handle them?

July 30, 2012 by
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OK, so I could use some advice.  As you probably know, I review cookbooks and test recipes most nights.  As I go through new cookbooks, I post-it dozens of recipes I'd like to try, just like everybody else.  And just like everybody else, I only get to a fraction of the recipes before I get distracted by something (in my… read more

Baked chicken and lazy summer pudding

July 29, 2012 by
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Having imbibed the Olympics spirt, we thought these two recipes from Nigel Slater in The Observer serves two purposes. First, they cater to our British frame-of-mind and, second, the recipes are easy enough to be able to prepare with minimal viewing time lost. Slater describes The Baked Chicken with Summer Vegetables as  follows: "I rubbed a load of chicken pieces, mostly… read more

Celebrating the Olympics

July 27, 2012 by
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We're celebrating the beginning of the Olympics with two articles from our friends at Serious Eats. Kenji Alt has concocted a "A Ring Shaped Meal for the Olympics" including recipes for Homemade Bagels, Guinness Onion Rings, Ring-Shaped Pasta with Broccoli and Tomato, Ring-Shaped Meatloaf, and Orange Blossom Bundt Cake with Peaches.     And for anyone lucky enough to be in… read more

Which food term would you like to stomp out?

July 26, 2012 by
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We loved a recent story on Grub Street New York  discussing annoying food terms. As they state, "The time has come to publicly shame these terrible words and constructions and eliminate them from food writing forever." They proceed to list a group of words that should be expunged and ask for more suggestions. So what are these words? Here you… read more

Heirloom tomatoes may not be all they’re cracked up to be

July 25, 2012 by
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The Boston Globe has an interesting article today about heirloom tomatoes, frankly asking if they're really worth all the hype and extra cost. There's no question that many of us have been caught in the romance and nostalgia they represent. But should we be? As Beth Teitell writes: "But I am under the power of something, and it's more powerful… read more

15 need-to-know tomato tips

July 24, 2012 by
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    For those of us in the summer months, fresh tomatoes are at their peak - making this article from The Kitchn, "15 Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Tomatoes" particularly timely. Here's their list, we hope you find something new:  The best place to store tomatoes to keep them fresh and juicy. How to store leftover tomato… read more

International Eclectic

July 23, 2012 by
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Is it me, or are we seeing a rise in unclassifiably ethnic cookbooks? It used to be that you might run across a cookbook author with an unusually well-travelled culinary past--Tessa Kiros of Falling Cloudberries, say, whose recipes are Finnish and Greek and South African, just for a start.  Books like hers are as much a story of the author's… read more

25 baked alternatives to French fries

July 23, 2012 by
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No one is going to argue that a good French fry (or chip) is a birthright around the world. But sometimes you just want something different, something healthier, something that will use up any excess vegies you may have hanging around. Buzz has accumulated a list of 25 alternatives that introduces some intriguing possibilities. Find the recipes here: Baked avocado… read more

A not-so-guilty pleasure: Community cookbooks

July 22, 2012 by
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The Salt has a nostalgia-inducing article about community cookbooks that we thought would appeal to our members - we dare say many might have a few in their cookbook collection. And while some of these cookbooks have achieved nation-wide fame - certainly the Junior League books are widely known - perhaps the best loved are those from local churches, schools, and… read more

Top food writers on Twitter

July 20, 2012 by
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There are thousands of food writers on Twitter, many of them amateurs, so Mashable has selected what they consider the top 10 professionals on Twitter.  Included are some friends of Eat Your Books:   Amanda Hesser @amandahesser of Food52 Monica Bhide @mbhide Kenji Alt @TheFoodLab (of Serious Eats) Check out the list and let us know who else you think should be included… read more

3 must-know tips about bacon plus a novel corn recipe

July 20, 2012 by
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We're in a bacon mood today, so we're offering a two-parter. From America's Test Kitchen Feed, here are 3 things everyone should know about bacon, including how to easily separate the slices (roll the package), efficiently freeze (roll cylinders of 2 -4 slices), and effectively add maple flavor when oven-baking (glaze). And from Smitten Kitchen, Deb's used her excess corn… read more

5 kitchen things I can do without

July 19, 2012 by
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A little while ago, I wrote a post venerating the 5 kitchen things I can't do without.  I thought, in the interests of candor, I'd do a counter-post showcasing just a few of the many flaws in my frustrating kitchen. For a person who writes about food professionally, I have an incredibly bad kitchen.  It's really hard to convey just how… read more

Quick tip: Feta cheese lasts forever and is a great recipe enhancer

July 19, 2012 by
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TheKitchn has a wonderful quick tip regarding Feta cheese, certainly one of the most underrated cheeses. As they write, "One cheese I always try to keep in the refrigerator is feta, and the most important reason for this is taste. Feta is a complex cheese that manages to be rich and creamy but also tangy and bright. It has much… read more

Vegetables’ dirty little secret

July 18, 2012 by
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Julia Moskin in The New York Times has an excellent article this week, "Raw Panic" on how to cope with an overwhelming quantity of vegetables. As she writes, "HERE'S a dirty little secret of summer.  What should be a beautiful and inspiring sight - your kitchen, overflowing with seasonal produce - is sometimes an intimidating tableau of anxiety. The knobbly… read more
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