Making the case for instant coffee

November 27, 2020 by
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Until the pandemic hit, I hadn't given instant coffee a thought for years. I used instant espresso in baked goods on occasion, but the idea of actually drinking instant coffee did not cross my mind. Why would I do that when I have a world of flavorful, aromatic, high-quality coffee available at my fingertips? If my local supermarket did not… read more

Gingerbread house season is here

November 26, 2020 by
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In my post on 'charcuterie chalets' a few days ago I mentioned that I usually find a magnificent gingerbread house to share with you during the holiday season. It didn't take long for one to find its way to my news feed, and this one is a doozy. Joseph Daigle submitted his gingerbread house to a contest held in Newark,… read more

Not your grandmother’s Brussels sprouts

November 25, 2020 by
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A couple of weeks ago Jenny rhapsodized over Brussels sprouts, and the image that accompanied that article received more clicks than almost anything else we have published this year. The most popular Thanksgiving recipe "by far" on NYT Cooking's website is Mark Bittman's Roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic (pictured below). My neighbor's 12-year-old daughter requests the tiny brassicas for almost… read more

Using up the leftovers

November 24, 2020 by
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This Thanksgiving I'm cooking for a 'crowd' of only four, and both of the guests will be at their own home, where I will deliver the food for them to enjoy. Despite the fact that this is one-third as many people as our usual gathering, I seem to be incapable of reducing the size of the meal. I had pre-ordered… read more

All in the (allium) family

November 23, 2020 by
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Popping out to the grocery store to pick up a single item you needed for a recipe seems like such a luxury these days. Most of us make do with what we have, even if it means finding another dish to make instead. Thankfully there are substitutes for many ingredients, and when it comes to onions, shallots, and leeks, you… read more

Food news antipasto

November 22, 2020 by
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Weeks after vanishing abruptly, Fine Cooking's website is back up and running. The return was announced via tweet on November 19. I was able to log in to my Fine Cooking account, and the site appears to be fully functional, although I did not have any recipes saved to my Recipe Box so I do not know if that also… read more

GBBO contestant bullied online for making the finals

November 21, 2020 by
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Spoiler alert: if you haven't watched the semi-final episode of GBBO/GBBS, stop and return after you have done so. I have to admit that my favorite contestant of the series did not make it through to the finals. Hermine made an unwise decision to use untested recipes in the semi-final, and she paid the price by being eliminated. Up to… read more

Recreating lost family recipes

November 20, 2020 by
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Most family recipes handed down from generation to generation relied on a tradition of daughters learning how to cook a dish from their mothers or grandmothers. It wasn't until very recently that written recipes became the norm, and in many families writing things down just wasn't the way these cherished foods were handed down. Some people (selfishly in my opinion)… read more

What’s on food writers and chefs holiday wish lists?

November 19, 2020 by
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I gave up on making a holiday wish list years ago, as it became evident that my husband and family members all preferred to do their own thing with regard to gift buying. Nevertheless, it's interesting to see what others would put on their wish lists - especially chefs and food writers. What kinds of goodies or equipment would they… read more

Don’t have a sweet tooth? Make this instead of a gingerbread house

November 18, 2020 by
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Every holiday season I usually post an awe-inspiring gingerbread house. I'm sure that between now and year's end, I will find another to share with you. But in the meantime, there's a new miniature house trend that caught my eye. Ingenious people with too much time on their hands (that describes a lot of us right now) have been creating… read more

News from the Jacques Pépin Foundation

November 17, 2020 by
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In 2016, iconic chef Jacques Pépin, along with his daughter Claudine Pépin and son-in-law Rollie Wesen, created The Jacques Pépin Foundation. The JPF supports community kitchens that offer free life skills and culinary training to adults with high barriers to employment, including previous incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse issues, low skill and education attainment and lack of work history. A couple… read more

It’s okay to hate cooking (really)

November 16, 2020 by
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dirty dishes after dinner lie in the sink, cleaning the table in the kitchen
Whenever people hear that I collect cookbooks, they logically assume that I love to cook. That is true most days, but not always. There are times when I cannot stomach the thought of chopping a vegetable or stirring a sauce or cleaning up yet another sink full of bowls, so I fire up the oven and pop in a frozen… read more

Food news antipasto

November 15, 2020 by
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Everyone's favorite Hamptons cook recently released her latest cookbook Modern Comfort Food. But as she tells NPR in an interview, "All my books are really about comfort food." In the 8-minute discussion, the domestic doyenne also dishes great one-liners such as "I often say that you can be miserable before eating a cookie and you can be miserable after eating… read more

Celebrate National Bundt Day

November 15, 2020 by
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Today is National Bundt Day (an offically-named celebration day here in Minnesota, birthplace of the Bundt). The iconic pan was invented in the late 1950s by Nordic Ware founder H. David (Dave) Dahlquist. You can read more about the birth of the Bundt in Jenny’s post from 2018. Although cakes baked in ring shapes have been around for centuries, Bundt cakes got… read more

What single dish defines your holiday?

November 14, 2020 by
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US Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, but this year it is going to be celebrated much differently than usual. Extended family gatherings will be supplanted by more intimate dinners. Our usual crowd of 8 to 10 will only be two this year, because none of our usual dining companions is in our 'bubble'. Even though we cannot be… read more

When size matters

November 13, 2020 by
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Thanks to virtual meetings and interviews - and the Twitter account Room Rater - I have seen gobs of bookshelves this year. It's easy to see why so many people chose to have a bookshelf in their Zoom background - it makes you look smart and sophisticated, unlike the unmade bed that you would see if I turned on my… read more

The story of Staub

November 12, 2020 by
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We've written plenty about Le Creuset here at EYB, whether to announce their new must-have colors or a big sale, but there is another French cookware maker that also deserves our attention: Staub. Their products, while similar in many ways to Le Creuset, have subtle but important distinctions, as explained in an article by The Lux Cut that explores the… read more

Move over Julie & Julia, here comes Trent & Ina

November 11, 2020 by
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Cookbook lovers no doubt remember the movie Julie & Julia, an adaptation of the book Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. The smash hit revolved around a blogger who set out to cook every recipe from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. Following in these footstep, another blogger is doing something… read more

Some like it hot – and that might be good for them

November 10, 2020 by
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Do you like spicy food? The kind that makes your brows sweat and has you reaching for water? If so, you might live longer, according to new research. The new study will be presented next week at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2020. This meta-analysis of over 4,729 studies on chili peppers from five leading global health databases shows… read more

Food news antipasto

November 8, 2020 by
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I participated in the Bake a Bundt online class offered by Bake from Scratch Magazine's Brian Hart Hoffman, Williams-Sonoma, and Nordic Ware. During the class, Nordic Ware's Jennifer Dahlquist announced that in connection with Nordic Ware's 75th Anniversary - happening in 2021 - the company will be making several special, limited edition Bundt pans. They will be offered first (or… read more

Tips for sending food through the mail

November 7, 2020 by
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Since many of us are not going to be able to travel and gather together with family and friends for the upcoming holidays, we will miss the feasts that often accompany them. I have been pondering whether to send 'treat boxes' to people I would normally see during the holiday season. Since I often created cookie boxes for work, it… read more

Food trends for 2021

November 6, 2020 by
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In 2020, the world has been preoccupied with the coronavirus, US elections, bush fires, heat waves, forest fires, Brexit deals (or lack thereof), lockdowns, murder hornets, hurricanes, and other manmade and natural disasters. Some - maybe most - of us are afraid to look forward to what 2021 might bring. But the world keeps spinning and we keep cooking, so… read more

Diwali’s sweet delights

November 5, 2020 by
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Diwali, a five-day festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains across the world, celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. This year the holiday lands on November 14. Diwali celebrations frequently include fireworks, candles, and other forms of light displays. Additionally, as with many holidays around the world, food plays an important role, especially sweets.… read more

David Chang on how to save the restaurant industry

November 4, 2020 by
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David Chang is a small-business-turned-empire success story. His recent book Eat a Peach: A Memoir did not start out as a memoir. Chang had planned to write a book about business strategy, but events over the last few years - including Anthony Bourdain's suicide - compelled him to move the book in a different direction. Chang recently sat down with… read more

The history of election cake

November 3, 2020 by
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Although it might have seemed that this US election season was never going to end, voting is finally over after today. In years past, the act of voting may well have been celebrated with an election cake, an all but forgotten American tradition. Election cake dates to the 1700s, when Puritans viewed election day as one of the most important… read more
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