Is preheating the oven necessary?

April 17, 2024 by
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oven dial
Almost every baking recipe begins with the words "Preheat the oven to NNN degrees," but is it really necessary to go through that step? Wouldn't it be more energy efficient to just put your food items in while the oven is heating? The answers to those questions depend on what you are making, says cookbook author Alice Zaslavsky. She explains… read more

It’s rhubarb season already?!

April 16, 2024 by
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My rhubarb plants are nearly ready to harvest, marking the earliest maturation since we moved to this location in late 2008. Glancing back at the posts about rhubarb's return as a harbinger of spring, the date when the post appeared has moved backward several weeks since 2014 when I started writing for the EYB blog. That year, the rhubarb post… read more

Food news antipasto

April 14, 2024 by
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Following a storm of negative social media posts, Momofuku has said that it won't enforce the trademark for 'chili crunch' or 'chile crunch'. “Over the past week, we have heard the feedback from our community and now understand that the term ‘chili crunch’ carries broader meaning for many,” the company said in a statement. Small business owners who had been… read more

The life-changing magic of…nothing

April 13, 2024 by
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Hyperbole in advertising and news reporting is almost as old as print itself, so it should not be surprising that hyperbole is common on the internet. The extent of it is breathtaking, however, as seemingly every other article or post touts "the life-changing magic" of a given technique, product, or method. Given the slant of my news feeds, most of… read more

Who wins in this kitchen appliance showdown?

April 12, 2024 by
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One of the best ways to start an argument is to make a claim that X is better than Y. It doesn't really matter what X or Y is, just stating that one is superior to another will set off passionate debate that often devolves into insults. This scenario popped into my head when I saw an article at Eater… read more

Let them eat snake

April 10, 2024 by
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We've heard a lot of buzz about how bugs might be the next big thing in environmentally-friendly protein and now we're apparently moving up the food chain to snakes. An article in Salon reports that some scientists believe snake could be a good solution for sustainable protein. These researchers claim that commercial snake farming (in particular pythons) could provide a… read more

Fortnum & Mason Food Awards shortlist announced

April 9, 2024 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. The shortlist for the 2024 award dropped earlier today, and it includes a broad variety of subjects:… read more

Food news antipasto

April 7, 2024 by
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Condiments like chili crisp and chili crunch are having a moment right now. They add spiciness and texture to foods like dumplings, noodles, eggs, and even desserts. The ingredients are similar from brand to brand, with many calling their product chili crunch, but one brand wants to put an end to that. Momofuku, founded by David Chang, has issued cease-and-desist… read more

Are most cookbooks bad? One blogger thinks so

April 6, 2024 by
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I stumbled upon a post by Tim Mazurek at his blog Lottie & Doof in which he makes some bold assertions about cookbooks. Mazurek thinks that most cookbooks published today are bad, stating that "the reality is that most cookbooks are not very good and very few people actually read them or cook from them, especially industry experts." He feels… read more

‘Shake’ and ‘quake’ foods

April 5, 2024 by
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Early this morning a mild earthquake startled NYC-area residents. While this level of quake wouldn't cause a Californian to bat an eyelash, it is much less common to occur on the East Coast so it caught people's attention. Where I live has about the lowest possibility of earthquakes in the continental U.S., so if one were to strike here everyone… read more

New Nach Waxman Award announced

April 4, 2024 by
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Kitchen Arts & Letters bookstore in NYC and the Waxman family have announced a shortlist of nominations for the inaugural Nach Waxman Prize for Food and Beverage Scholarship. You may remember that Waxman, who founded Kitchen Arts & Letters in 1983, passed away suddenly in 2021. The prize will recognize a "US-published book which invites the general public to seriously… read more

World Central Kitchen team members killed in Gaza

April 2, 2024 by
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We've written several times about World Central Kitchen, the humanitarian aid group founded by chef José Andrés in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then, the group has been on the front lines of natural disasters, armed conflicts, and other crises. Today we learned the devastating news that seven WCK team members in Gaza were killed in a strike… read more

April Fools’ Day food company pranks

April 1, 2024 by
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I was traveling much of the day today, but I did see a few fun April Fools' Day pranks being posted to social media. It seems to me that pranks these days are very transparently jokes and not actual efforts to fool anyone, probably because it is hard to know what's real and what's fake in these strange times (AI… read more

Food news antipasto

April 1, 2024 by
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If you love cookbooks, chances are you have several written by chefs knocking about on your bookshelves. They often provide technical guidance or offer avant-garde flavor combinations and techniques. One of my favorite chef-written books is The Art of French Pastry by Jacquy Pfeiffer (ebook available for around $3 on Amazon, Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au). Over at Plate, Kate Leahy has… read more

To all the trends I loved before…and some I didn’t

March 30, 2024 by
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I am not one to jump on every kind of bandwagon but I will hop on many that involve food. From the Dalgona coffee trend (what else did we have to do in the early Covid restrictions) back to the cupcake craze of the early 00s (I'm holding on to my cupcake carriers in case they make a comeback) to… read more

The battle over bread

March 27, 2024 by
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During the pandemic, almost everyone turned into a sourdough bread baker. That phenomenon lasted only until supply chains started to catch up and people weren't idled in their homes, and I expect a fair amount of sourdough starter has since been tossed. It's a shame, really, because most inexpensive supermarket breads are ultra-processed tasteless loaves while a good loaf of… read more

To decant or not to decant, that is the question

March 26, 2024 by
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Visit any home organization website, and you will see tips on how to maximize your existing cabinets and shelves by placing your dry goods into neat and tidy clear containers, ideally of the same size and shape. Most of these containers are plastic, so you are basically taking your groceries out of one plastic container and putting them into another… read more

Food news antipasto

March 24, 2024 by
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In the market for new cookware? Head over to Food & Wine, which brings us the best cookware deals in Amazon's Spring Sale. The offerings include Lodge, Le Creuset, and other favorite brands. Once you see what you like, we ask that you navigate to Amazon's site from the links on our homepage (Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon… read more

“Crookies” are the newest croissant mashup

March 23, 2024 by
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Dominique Ansel's Cronut may have been the first viral croissant hybrid, but it certainly wasn't the last. Since then pastry chefs have created many twists on the standard croissant, and the latest NYC (by way of Paris) craze is a combination of cookies and croissants called the "crookie". The crookie sprang to life in Paris at Boulangerie Louvard, where baker… read more

Cookbook clubs go mainstream

March 22, 2024 by
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The rest of the world seems to be catching up to us in that Good Morning America just posted a story about cookbook clubs (the in-person kind, not the virtual ones). Many of our Members have participated in these clubs for years, with the club members all bringing different parts of a meal or specific recipes to create an amazing… read more

Is GBBO sizing up possible Prue Leith replacements?

March 20, 2024 by
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Prue Leith has been the co-host of The Great British Bake Off ever since Mary Berry left following the show's move from BBC to Channel 4. She has been there not only for the regular series, but also for the specialty shows like the holiday themed programs and the Stand Up To Cancer episodes. Last week Leith said she wouldn't… read more

The top cookbooks out this spring according to Epicurious

March 19, 2024 by
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Although Jenny does yeoman's work in keeping us abreast of all the new releases every month, we still like to check in with other food sites about what they are excited by in the world of cookbooks. Sometimes they focus on different books or bring a fresh perspective that might benefit our Members. This time around we're turning to Epicurious,… read more

Food news antipasto

March 18, 2024 by
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June Hersh, blogger behind Eat Well Do Good, tipped us to a new ebook called Cooking for a Cause that benefits the largest food rescue organization in Israel, Leket, which feeds displaced Israelis regardless of religion or ethnicity. The book features some of the most prominent names in Jewish and Israeli food including Michael Solomonov, Jake Cohen, Adeena Sussman, Eitan… read more

Are you set for St. Patrick’s Day?

March 16, 2024 by
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St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, and people all around the world will be "Irish for a day" as they celebrate with traditional Irish food and a lot of green-hued items. If you haven't landed on what you will be making for the occasion, the EYB St. Patrick’s Day Pinterest board has a lot to offer. You will find everything from a simple… read more

Is surge pricing coming to a restaurant near you?

March 14, 2024 by
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Surge pricing is part of Uber and Lyft's business model, airlines have used it for decades, and other companies are now embracing it - including restaurants. The concept is simple - charge more for items during peak demand times and less during slow times. Fast food chain Wendy's recently walked back a statement from its CEO regarding dynamic pricing after… read more
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