160-year-old cookbook gets a brand new edition

February 25, 2025 by
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Back in 2019, we wrote about the work of Juli McLoonen and Jan Longone, the University of Michigan Special Collections Curator and Adjunct Curator, to boost interest in the oldest known cookbook authored by a black woman. Longone found a copy of A Domestic Cookbook by Malinda Russell, published in 1866, at the bottom of a collection of donated books. For years, a digital… read more

Food news antipasto

February 23, 2025 by
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We'll start off this week's edition with some relatable news (at least I was able to relate to it): an opossum ended up at an animal rescue facility after it devoured an entire Costco chocolate cake. Luckily, the critter was able to make a full recovery and return to the wild after arriving in some distress. The Nebraska wildlife center… read more

How to fix a broken emulsion

February 23, 2025 by
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Time may mend a broken heart, but it's not going to fix a broken emulsion. However, there are other ways to bring your sauce back together if it separates, as Chowhound's Nikita Ephanov explains. If it's been a while since you learned what an emulsion is in science class, here is a quick refresher: an emulsion is a mixture of two or… read more

How cookbooks can help build resilience

February 20, 2025 by
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I am an eternal optimist: no matter how bleak things look I always look for the silver lining or imagine a way the situation can turn out for the better. With all of the negative news out these days, this philosophy is becoming more difficult to maintain. Today's article from The Independent doesn't help; it provides another pessimistic forecast for… read more

What foods do you look forward to the most for each season?

February 19, 2025 by
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Since the advent of refrigeration and air transport of foods across the globe, you can pretty much get any fruit or vegetable you desire any time of the year here in the US. However, there is a vast difference between commercially grown strawberries, plucked before they are actually ripe and shipped halfway around the world, and the first berry from… read more

Why is this Australian cookbook selling for $250?

February 18, 2025 by
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Back in 2015, Australian blogger Belle Gibson rocketed to fame after claiming that she beat brain cancer not through modern medicine but rather by changing her diet. She published a cookbook, The Whole Pantry, and developed an app of the same name, promising to contribute a portion of the proceeds from both to charity. After charities claimed they had received… read more

Food news antipasto

February 16, 2025 by
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With Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appointed as the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, raw milk advocates believe there is potential for increased availability of raw milk products. Currently, regulations vary from state to state with some allowing raw milk sales and others banning the practice. The Bittman Project recently posted a lengthy piece about the pros and cons… read more

Sweet and salty contraband

February 14, 2025 by
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white bowl on a white background with red Swedish fish candy and black licorice jelly beans
Many food additives that are allowed in in other countries are banned by the EU and UK: ingredients such as brominated vegetable oil and bleached flour and additives including certain food colorings. These ingredients have been linked to a variety of health issues including cancer. Normally this isn’t something that would cause a stir, but demand for US snacks and… read more

How the ‘Shirley Temple King’ is changing restaurants

February 12, 2025 by
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When I was a young girl, my grandfather would occasionally pick me up to take me to my grandparents' farm for the weekend. On the way home we would stop at a local bar, where he would have a beer with his buddies while I nursed a Shirley Temple. At five years old, I thought that was the height of… read more

The pursuit of the perfect boiled egg

February 12, 2025 by
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In a quest for perfection, people can fall down some interesting rabbit holes. They will go to lengths that makes the average person scratch their head in puzzlement. This is true of nearly any human endeavor, and perhaps especially so for cooking. There are bakers who weigh the most minute quantities of ingredients in tenths of a gram, espresso connoisseurs… read more

Food news antipasto

February 9, 2025 by
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five glass bowls containing scoops of sorbet. Some have two or three scoops of varying shades of pink and purple.
Celebrity Chef Gordon Ramsay opened the doors earlier this week on his "most ambitious project yet" in the tallest building in the City of London. The chef has launched two restaurants, a bar and a cookery school at 22 Bishopsgate on February 3. Netflix is producing a documentary series about the project that follows Ramsay in the run up to… read more

Ketchup is a category, not a sauce

February 8, 2025 by
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a single bottle of ketchup with wire bail lid on a pure white background
When most of us think of ketchup, we envision the tomato-vinegar-sugar sauce that is often served alongside burgers and fries. However, as explained at Gastro Obscura, ketchup is actually a catch-all category rather than a single sauce. It has a long and interesting history that spans the globe and includes all manner of ingredients including fruits, vegetables, fungi. What most… read more

Retailers limit egg purchases to combat hoarding

February 7, 2025 by
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carton of eggs
Well, it seems that we learned nothing during the Covid-19 pandemic, as hoarding has again reared its ugly, selfish head. Trader Joe's and Costco recently imposed limits on how many cartons of eggs that shoppers can buy at one time. This action came after viral videos showed people piling huge quantities of eggs into their carts. It wasn't clear if… read more

Finding a culinary ride-or-die

February 5, 2025 by
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My spouse and I have been together for nearly three decades. When we first got together, neither of us could cook well. I was just starting to become interested in making meals from scratch after growing up on a diet of mainly boxed and canned foods, and my spouse mainly went along for the ride. Since then I have been… read more

Is this the perfect way to make cacio e pepe?

February 4, 2025 by
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Cacio e pepe can be a tricky dish to master. Do it right, and you are rewarded with a silky sauce for your pasta. Do it wrong, and you end up with clumps of rubbery cheese swimming in oil instead. There are many recipes that claim to be foolproof, but even those are prone to failure. However, scientists recently set… read more

Food news antipasto

February 3, 2025 by
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strawberries in a colander
The Bocuse d'Or culinary competition was held last week, and this year France claimed the title, followed by Denmark and Sweden. The French team was led by 28-year-old Paul Marcon, whose father Regis won the prestigious competition in 1995. The UK team finished in fifth place while the US team ranked seventh in the competition, which is held every other… read more

Tips on making your freezer work for you

February 1, 2025 by
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The freezer may be the most undersung appliance. They have become so ubiquitous that it is difficult to imagine not having one, but they only became available just a few generations ago for most people. While most of us use the freezer as a place to chuck ready made items like frozen pizza or to make and store ice cubes,… read more

How did iconic pasta shapes get created?

January 31, 2025 by
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Until fairly recently, I took pasta shapes for granted. I never thought about when, why, or how different shapes came about, to me they just always were. That is silly, of course, because everything has an origin story, regardless of whether it has been lost to history. The good news is that for many iconic shapes, their origin stories are… read more

Traditional foods to celebrate the Lunar New Year

January 29, 2025 by
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Today marks the beginning of a very special time for the Chinese and several other cultures, as it is the beginning of the lunar new year. This holiday, celebrated by 20% of the world’s population, is honored differently in various countries, but food features prominently in all celebrations. For the Chinese new year, 2025 ushers in the Year of the… read more

A deep dive into everything mango

January 28, 2025 by
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Several days ago I posted the photo below on social media, saying that while medieval European peasants may have had more free time than modern people, they didn't have access to fresh mangoes in the dead of winter so I'll call it equal. Growing up in the middle of North America (very near the geological center, in fact), I suffered… read more

Food news antipasto

January 26, 2025 by
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The Super Bowl is coming up in a couple of weeks, and fans are preparing their A-game for snacks. There is a new product coming out that might be making an appearance at select Super Bowl parties, as General Mills announced a unique mashup between Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and Totinos Pizza Rolls. This puzzling snack (is it made for… read more

And the winner is: 7-Eleven?

January 25, 2025 by
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The internet-based market research firm YouGov recently held a popularity contest for the most popular grocery store in the US. The company holding the top spot is 7-Eleven, which came as a surprise to me because I don't think of 7-Eleven as a grocery store per se. However, after I thought about it a little more, I believe this makes… read more

It’s not too late to celebrate National Pie Day

January 23, 2025 by
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Today is National Pie Day and although the day is touted as a ‘national’ event in the US, people from around the world have joined in the celebration of all things pie. Apparently, there are two National Pie Days - December 1 and January 23 - plus the unofficial day of March 14 (pi). I'm someone who believes that pie >… read more

James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Semifinalists

January 22, 2025 by
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Today the James Beard Foundation announced the semifinalists for its 2025 Restaurant and Chef Awards. This list includes categories in national awards such as Best New Restaurant, Outstanding Baker, Outstanding Chef, Outstanding Pastry Chef, Outstanding Restaurateur, and Rising Star Chef of the Year, plus regional categories for chefs. 2025 marks a milestone for the Foundation: the 35th anniversary of the James Beard… read more

Charles Phan has died at age 62

January 21, 2025 by
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Today we learned the unfortunate news that Charles Phan, renowned chef and author of Vietnamese Home Cooking and The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food, has passed away at the age of 62. Reports emerged over the weekend indicating that the talented chef had been admitted to the hospital. His family has since confirmed that he suffered cardiac arrest. Phan was… read more
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