Getting the arrangement right

April 30, 2026 by
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I have the majority of my cookbook collection on five bookshelves all in one room. The other day I had the urge to rearrange the room (it's a spare bedroom), so everything got a deep clean and each book was taken off the shelf, dusted, and stacked on the floor, the bookshelf was wiped down, and then I put everything… read more

Kitchen shortcuts you just won’t take

April 29, 2026 by
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Ina Garten often says, "if you don't have homemade, store bought is fine." Most of the time, I agree with Ina, but there a few ingredients where I draw the line, saying store bought is not fine. The big one for me is premade pie crust: I won't buy one because it's easy for me to make from scratch and… read more

April 2026 New Cookbook Review

April 28, 2026 by
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My 2026 Cookbook Preview Post is growing every day with great titles to covet. Excited to see these additions recently: Sweet Heart: Simply Perfect Recipes to Satisfy Every Craving from the Creator of Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull; Eat (Like) the Rich - A Cookbook by Olivia Tiedemann; Family - Simple, Healthy Recipes for Everyone by Claudine Boulstridge; Kamayan: The Filipino Cookbook by… read more

Meal planning and grocery lists now in CookShelf

April 28, 2026 by
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The hardest part of cooking for me is planning the meals. It is all but impossible for me to stay organized, put together a menu, and make sure to buy all the items I need. That's IF I can remember where I put the darn grocery list. Meal planning has become so much easier for me now that there are… read more

Food news antipasto

April 26, 2026 by
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The judges on Bravo TV's Top Chef have consumed some amazing foods and some that were...not so amazing. Recently some of the judges sat down with Delish to recount the worst things they have ever eaten on the show. Tom Colicchio, Kristen Kish, and Gail Simmons all provided their least favorite foods. One involved warm, undercooked cod served to Tom… read more

More uses for your tortilla press

April 24, 2026 by
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The tortilla press is a simple piece of kitchen equipment, usually made of metal plates that are hinged together to create perfectly even, flat dough pieces to make corn or flour tortillas. At first glance it seems like an Alton Brown "unitasker", something that takes up valuable space but only has one use. That's simply not true, says Taste Cooking's… read more

April 2026 EYB Cookbook Club Summary

April 23, 2026 by
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Each month we allow posting in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club from any cookbook, magazine or blog and most months we also offer one featured cookbook. We hope that sharing our favorite recipes will help our Members discover new cookbooks and recipes to try. Also please see our May 2026 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary which is now organized by location and includes… read more

Everything’s coming up rhubarb

April 22, 2026 by
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The moment that really marks the end of winter for me is when I see the tightly curled leaves of rhubarb poking up through the brown debris of last year's plant. That moment happened last week, and it caught me off guard this year. I missed the earliest signs and only noticed when the plants were about 6 inches tall,… read more

Earn your cooking pH-D

April 22, 2026 by
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Cooking is just as much a science as an art, if not more so. Practically speaking, there is no way to cook that doesn't involve science: physical and chemical changes to food affect its flavor, color, and texture. An important chemical reaction that occurs during cooking relates to changes to the pH (acidity / alkalinity) of the food. Serious Eats'… read more

Food news antipasto

April 19, 2026 by
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Have you heard about waterfall chicken? It's a Vietnamese street food that's gone viral, with millions of people watching videos of the chicken being made. Nick DiGiovanni, MasterChef finalist and cookbook author, explains how the process works. The name of the dish is a clue: hot oil cascades over chicken pieces like a waterfall, creating an ultra-crispy treat. Cucumber tonic… read more

Cookbooks highlight underrepresented cuisines

April 19, 2026 by
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As EYB Members know, one of the joys of cookbooks is discovering something new, whether it be an ingredient, technique, or cuisine. The best cookbooks allow us to get a glimpse into a region or culture that we may never get to visit in person, gaining an understanding of it through its food. Recently Saveur profiled five such cookbooks, each… read more

Nach Waxman Prize shortlist

April 16, 2026 by
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Earlier this week, Kitchen Arts & Letters announced the shortlist for the third annual Nach Waxman Prize. The prize was created following Waxman's death to honor his dedication to food and beverage scholarship through his NYC bookstore, and "highlights a book of scholarship which invites the general public to seriously consider issues in culinary and beverage history, anthropology, sociology, linguistics,… read more

Home distilling takes a step forward

April 16, 2026 by
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In the United States, home brewing of beer and wine have been popular hobbies ever since (and probably, before and during) Prohibition. However, home distilling has been illegal since 1868 when the U.S. Congress passed a law that banned the practice. The reason behind the ban was to prevent people from avoiding liquor taxes, and until now the ban has… read more

Where credit is due

April 14, 2026 by
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A few days ago, when I was making a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, my husband asked me who invented the recipe. I replied that Ruth Wakefield is credited with creating the first chocolate chip cookie, but that I was using the 'Neiman Marcus $250 cookie' recipe. We had a short discussion about the urban legend surrounding that recipe,… read more

May 2026 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary

April 13, 2026 by
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As our members know, each month we offer several cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. There are other fun cookbook clubs around world and we’d like to highlight those for those members who might want to cook or bake something other than our choices.  I will update this post as clubs make their additional choices. Something that has… read more

Food news antipasto

April 12, 2026 by
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It's hard to top a post about JELL-OMETERs, but here's what I dug up this week. We will start with a feel-good story about a fast food employee. Jaydon Cintron, a Chick-fil-A worker in Kinston, North Carolina, found $10,000 in two bank envelopes in the men's restroom. Instead of pocketing the cash, he turned it in to his human resources department,… read more

Watch it wiggle

April 11, 2026 by
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Once billed as the most popular dessert in the United States, Jell-O had lost its luster by the turn of the 21st century. Sales of the gelatin product slumped, and people shared - and mocked - images from garish and weird 1960s-era gelatin desserts. In an effort to regain fans, the makers of Jell-O have a new invention: the JELL-OMETER,… read more

Meet Ravenous, a new food website

April 9, 2026 by
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For too long, we have had to bring you stories of food magazines and websites that were laying off workers or shuttering altogether. However, today we're excited to report some good news: the debut of a new, worker-owned food culture site called Ravenous. The site was founded by respected food journalists and writers from across the US, many of whom… read more

The Cook’s Companion turns 30

April 8, 2026 by
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When chef and restaurateur Stephanie Alexander published her Cook's Companion in 1996, she could not have known that it would become Australia's kitchen bible. An A to Z guide to ingredients, from abalone to zucchini, the book includes detailed explanations of varieties and seasons, as well as selection and storage tips, alongside a glossary of techniques and tools — everything… read more

Fortnum & Mason Awards shortlist announced

April 7, 2026 by
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Fortnum & Mason has long been a resource for English cookery, providing quality ingredients to generations of cooks since its founding in 1707. The company’s annual food and drink awards celebrate the best publications and broadcasts in the UK and Republic of Ireland, and the shortlist for the Food and Drink Awards 2026 was just released. From the Fortnum &… read more

Food news antipasto

April 5, 2026 by
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Because of the Easter holiday, food news is on the light side this week, but there are a few tidbits to share. In the mashups you didn't see coming department: Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Natural Light beer, is selling a branded lawn fertilizer made from spent grains. This week, the company debuted Natural Light Lawn Brew, a "custom mix of… read more

Pizza chains are feeling the pinch

April 4, 2026 by
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Pizza is almost as iconic as hotdogs and apple pie in the American lexicon of food. From chains to local artisanal pie shops to the frozen food aisle, pizza is everywhere. Not everything is rosy in the land of pizza, however - two major chains are closing hundreds of restaurants, a large franchisee filed for bankruptcy, and this week a… read more

Sourdough science

April 2, 2026 by
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Do you still have the starter you created when everyone was making sourdough bread in the pandemic? I'm sad to report that my starter died an ignoble death at the back of our basement refrigerator. I'm a serial starter killer, but I might have to try again, because nothing you can buy can replicate the flavor of a true sourdough… read more

Give me a break: Thieves make off with tons of KitKats

April 2, 2026 by
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This story seemed appropriate for me to discover on April Fool's Day because it sounds made up. Food conglomerate Nestlé confirmed a report that thieves pilfered a truck carrying over 400,000 specially crafted KitKat candy bars. The candy bars were part of a special production to celebrate KitKat becoming the official candy bar of Formula One racing, and were molded… read more
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