A glug and a dollop…

October 6, 2014 by
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What do you think of those Brits and their chatty, poetical way with instructions?  Whenever I read a Jamie Oliver recipe, I prepare myself for an aggressive style of non-measurement - the "glug" of olive oil, the "knob" of butter.  [To me, a glug is maybe 2-3 teaspoons, a knob is maybe 1.5 tablespoons.  But it tends to vary depending… read more

The Moby Dick of food

October 6, 2014 by
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Even the most accomplished cook usually has one food item that utterly frustrates him or her. For many cooks the aggravation comes from the baking arena - pie crusts, pate a choux, and souffles are items that people frequently find difficult to successfully prepare. My vexation was something that most cooks find quite simple, but that took me over a… read more

The history behind fish and chips

October 5, 2014 by
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Fish and chips is inarguably the definitive national dish of the United Kingdom. How this dish, which features a New World ingredient, became the emblematic meal is explained in a new book by Panikos Panayi. As The Telegraph reports, the book delves deep into historical writings to find out how fish and chips became so popular.  The chips part of the… read more

In defense of dessert

October 4, 2014 by
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Restaurant dessert menus have been on the decline for some time. Perhaps we can blame the trend on people cutting back on carbs or the demonizing of sugar. Or perhaps it is a by-product of the growing practice of restaurateurs eliminating pastry chefs and relying on a limited menu of pre-made desserts as a cost-saving measure. Chef Marco Canora is… read more

Baking tips from Jane Hornby

October 3, 2014 by
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Jane Hornby has been happily writing about food for over 15 years. Several of those years were spent at BBC Good Food Magazine where in addition to editing many books in the Good Food cookbook series, she was involved with food styling, writing, and working with some of the UK's top chefs. In 2009, she branched out on her own, writing… read more

Cookbook giveaway – What to Bake & How to Bake It

October 3, 2014 by
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What to Bake & How to Bake It follows in the footsteps of Jane Hornby's last two cookbooks. Jane provided EYB with an excerpt from the cookbook that offers many great baking tips; you can read them here. We're delighted to offer three copies of What to Bake & How to Bake It to all EYB members. Enter by clicking… read more

Fusion isn’t just for food anymore

October 3, 2014 by
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When you think of alcohol, it's usually in terms of individual spirits: vodka, bourbon, tequila, or rum, for example. The latest trend in the cocktail world combines these distinctive spirits with each other, or with lower-proof drinks like wine and beer, reports Bon Appétit. While some of these new combinations sound terrible (tropical-flavored vodka + Moscato), the idea of hybridized… read more

Featured Cookbooks & Recipes

October 2, 2014 by
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Finding the best recipes amongst the millions online is not easy - but you don't have to! The team here at Eat Your Books, searches for excerpts from indexed books and magazines and every week we bring you our latest finds. Every day recipes are added from the best blogs and websites. As a member, you can also add your own… read more

Take it or leave it

October 2, 2014 by
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You're perusing the ingredient list of a recipe when you notice it calls for bay leaves. You obligingly fish a few dried and crumbling leaves out of the packet and plop them in the pot, hoping you remember to remove them before serving. But have you ever wondered if they were essential to the dish? Bay leaves are supposed to… read more

Fresh from…the vending machine?

October 1, 2014 by
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When you think of vending machines, fresh food probably doesn't come to mind. But across the U.S., that is beginning to change, as Modern Farmer reports on the trend of farm-fresh vending machines. For now it's more publicity stunt than practical application, although vendors have high hopes for the concept. In New York state, vending machines at ten rest areas… read more

Chef Jason Atherton on cooking at home

September 30, 2014 by
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Jason Atherton's pedigree is impressive: Gordon Ramsay's Maze, El Bulli, his own London restaurants, and outposts in Hong Kong and Singapore. While these establishments feature complex foods, the Michelin-starred chef has a simple philosophy when it comes to cooking at home. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Chef Atherton describes his views on seasonal food, what he considers essential… read more

Literal chef’s plates

September 29, 2014 by
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Daniel Boulud's new Washington, DC restaurant, DBGB Kitchen and Bar, represents a homecoming of sorts. Boulud worked in DC when he first arrived in the U.S. thirty years ago. When it came time to decorate his new establishment, he enlisted his chef friends for an art project. Over 100 chefs from across the U.S. to painted small plates in a manner representing famous… read more

Scriptures for the cook

September 29, 2014 by
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The third edition of The Spice and Herb Bible came last week, and I did what I always do.  I looked up "fenugreek," and sighed with satisfaction.  There were four solid pages on fenugreek, with its name in 20 different languages, its history, its uses, and a detailed rundown of the plant's anatomical parts. I look up fenugreek because it… read more

Discovering sumac

September 28, 2014 by
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Some ingredients go from obscure to rock star seemingly overnight, and one recent example is sumac. Sumac's meteoric rise can be attributed in large part to authors emphasizing Middle Eastern flavors like Yotam Ottolenghi and Louisa Shafia, but the spice is now popping up everywhere. Indexed blog The Kitchn tells us why we should have sumac in our spice cabinet,… read more

Of baking and bartering

September 27, 2014 by
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Baking bread can be cathartic. So it was for Malin Elmlid, who started making her own sourdough in 2007 as an escape from her day job. She quickly became enamored with breadmaking and pursued the hobby passionately, honing her skills along the way. Fast forward a couple of years and one of her loaves ended up with a friend of… read more

Featured Cookbooks & Recipes

September 26, 2014 by
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Do you find other people's comments on recipes helpful? Have you written your own recipe Notes? It's a great way to remind yourself how a dish turned out and share your experience with the EYB community. On each Recipe Details page you'll find a Notes tab. Adding online recipes to your EYB Bookshelf is a really great way to expand… read more

Celebrate Oktoberfest

September 26, 2014 by
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We're in the midst of Oktoberfest celebrations, which recently began in Munich. While people think of it mainly as a beer festival, Oktoberfest originated as a celebration for the wedding of Prince Ludwig to Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. Today it's celebrated across the world with delicious German foods like sausages, Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), pretzels, and sauerkraut. It's a special food holiday for me since I hail from a town that celebrates… read more

Goodbye, free bread basket

September 25, 2014 by
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The familiar restaurant scenario where the waiter brings you a basket of bread to nibble while you are perusing the menu is fading into oblivion (at least in the U.S.), according to this Yahoo! Food article. The recent lawsuit by shareholders of Darden (parent company of the Olive Garden restaurant chain) brings this trend to light. Investors objected to the unlimited free… read more

September 2014 Cookbook Roundup

September 24, 2014 by
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Every month Susie Chang reviews new cookbook releases and notes trends in the United States. And she may also occasionally throw in a review of a "not-quite cookbook." And for our non-U.S. members, Jane and Fiona provide similar reviews for new Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand releases. US Hold on tight!  Fall cookbooks are coming in profusion. September seems… read more

Cooking together for extra pleasure

September 23, 2014 by
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If you enjoyed the book Julie and Julia, or if you just like exploring the recipes of a particular author, be sure to check out our latest addition to the EYB Forum. It's called "Cooking together with an author" and follows the success of a topic titled "Cooking together with Diana Henry." Members can now add their favorite author (or blog!) and… read more

Kitchen re-thinks

September 22, 2014 by
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I had a dinner party this weekend.  There were 10 of us (plus my teenage son), and we had a blast.  I barely cooked at all - just some dessert, a pork roast, and some grissini - because everybody brought something.  The best part was that several of us were cooking at once, and there was room.  My kitchen's on… read more

Me & My Cookbooks – Yotam Ottolenghi

September 22, 2014 by
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It would be an understatment to say that Yotam Ottolenghi is a popular cookbook author. His vegetarian cookbook Plenty  graces more EYB member Bookshelves than any other single book in the EYB Library. And there is great excitement amongst EYB members at his newest book Plenty More, published this month in the UK and Australia and in October in the USA.… read more

Cookbook store profile – Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks

September 21, 2014 by
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In the late 1990s, Barbara-Jo McIntosh envisioned an epicurean's delight, where food lovers and cooks of all abilities would find inspiration. She opened Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997.  Author of the bestselling Tin Fish Gourmet, Barbara-Jo served on the prestigious James Beard Foundation Awards cookbook selection committee for six years.  In 2003, Vancouver Magazine honoured… read more

Complete Diana Henry recipe index

September 20, 2014 by
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Attention Diana Henry fans - we're excited to announce that we've just completed indexing all of her recipes, 2,851 in total! This includes all of Diana's cookbooks from Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons to A Change of Appetite, every recipe in her Sunday Telegraph columns, every magazine recipe, and recipes found on her website. The Sunday Telegraph recipes are indexed as… read more

Featured Cookbooks & Recipes

September 19, 2014 by
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At Eat Your Books we want to bring you the best recipes - our dedicated team searches out and finds online recipes excerpted from newly indexed cookbooks and magazines. New recipes from the best blogs are indexed daily and members index their favorite online recipes using the Bookmarklet all the time. Below you'll find this week's recommendations from the EYB team.… read more
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