Indexing a masterpiece – The Escoffier Cookbook

November 14, 2018 by
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The average cookbook contains about 175 recipes. Indexing a book with that many recipes takes some time, as Members who have volunteered to index a book well know. Some books fall well below this average and a few books exceed it by a significant number of recipes. Even the most prolific cookbook authors, however, generally do not exceed a few… read more

Getting to the bottom of pie

November 13, 2018 by
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Between a coworker picking my brain for Thanksgiving pie ideas and Jenny's wonderful post about the Sister Pie promotion, today left me with pie on my mind. Of all the components of a holiday meal, pie may be the one that strikes the most fear in the hearts of home cooks. People who will tackle a complicated, multi-component entree or… read more

Turkey brining has lost its luster

November 12, 2018 by
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Like many home cooks, for years I performed a Thanksgiving ritual every November. I would scrub out an oversized bucket, (often a pickle bucket that I pleaded for at a fast food restaurant), fill it with a brine that always took longer to make than I remembered, and plunge an ungainly turkey into it, trying not to slosh salt water… read more

Chefs share which underused ingredients you should try at home

November 11, 2018 by
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If you're like me, you have a pantry brimming with boxes and bags of unusual ingredients that you picked up on a whim at a farmers' market or specialty shop. Despite having so many unique items to use, I frequently wind up skipping over those because I am not familiar with how to use them. It would be nice to… read more

Pink gin is in – but is it any good?

November 9, 2018 by
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It's well known that millenials like all things pink: pink clothing, pink wine (rosé is all the current darling in that demographic), and all kinds of pink foods. Now another item is joining the fray in taking on a blushing hue to appeal to millenials - pink gin.  Unlike the neon vodkas and liqueurs that dominated in the early 2000s, pink… read more

Are we really cooking everything wrong?

November 8, 2018 by
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No doubt you have seen this phrase, or a variation of it, in your social media news feed: "You've been cooking [insert food name] wrong the whole time!" When I type"you've been cooking" into the Google search bar, the first five items that pop up are all about being wrong - apparently you've been cooking pasta wrong, along with potatoes,… read more

North Carolina chefs contribute to flood relief efforts

November 7, 2018 by
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When Hurricane Florence battered the Carolinas in the southeastern US, videos and news reports depicted the devastation that the storm wrought on the coastal communities directly in the path of the hurricane. Inland areas were also affected by the flooding that resulted from the record amounts of rain that poured down nonstop for days following the storm, but they did not… read more

The case for not lining your sheet pan

November 6, 2018 by
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When you pull out a sheet pan to make cookies, you probably line it with parchment or foil to keep the delicate items from sticking. So it makes sense to do the same when you are roasting meat or vegetables too, right? Perhaps not, says Anna Stockwell at Epicurious. She makes the case for not lining your sheet pan.  As… read more

M.F.K. Fisher’s ‘Consider the Oyster’ to be republished

November 5, 2018 by
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It's been 77 years since M.F.K. Fisher's second book, a collection of essays titled Consider the Oyster, was published. Now the work is getting a second life, with a second publication that features a foreword by food writer Felicity Cloake. It's an understatement to say that a lot has happened in the food world since the publication of this book. Is… read more

Celebrating a classic baking book

November 4, 2018 by
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Some cookbooks become icons that are passed down from generation to generation. One such tome is the Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book, first published in 1990 and reissued in 2011 as a collector's edition. The book has inspired countless people to attempt baking a birthday cake for their child, eventually passing the book down to their grown children who… read more

How to eliminate Thanksgiving menu planning frustrations

November 3, 2018 by
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I will be the first to admit that I am a terrible menu planner. Either I don't start the process early enough, or I amass too many possibilities and have difficulty narrowing down the list. I also forget to check whether the timing of the foods I have selected works - it's no good when you have to do last… read more

Black Friday deals without the wait

November 2, 2018 by
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Halloween is over so that means we can turn our full attention to the remainder of the holidays to celebrate until year's end. For us in the US, that means Thanksgiving in addition to the December special events. In the windup to those dates, there will be plenty of cooking, baking, and of course shopping. Most of us wait (im)patiently… read more

Alexa now talks turkey

November 1, 2018 by
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Since 1981, turkey producer Butterball has manned a call-in help line for people who have questions about cooking their Thanksgiving bird. The service, called the Turkey Talk-Line has helped countless harried cooks avoid potential turkey disasters. This year the Talk-Line is getting an upgrade as users can now use their Alexa-enabled device to ask for assistance.  For the first time, users… read more

Leftover Halloween candy recipes

October 31, 2018 by
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Over 500 kids trick-or-treated through my neighborhood this evening, so my stash of leftover Halloween candy is mightly slim this year. If you have any remaining from tonight's festivities, or if your kid has too much to eat by him- or herself, you might be wondering what you're going to do with it all. Midnight snacking aside, there are ways… read more

How to use your leftover Halloween pumpkin

October 30, 2018 by
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Many people carve pumpkins as decorations for Halloween. Some of us even roast the seeds that we excavate from the interiors, but how many actually use the flesh of the pumpkin once the holiday has passed? Yes, you can eat jack o'lantern pumpkin says the Guardian, which gives us several ideas for ways to make use of the parts of… read more

New cookbook store to open in Brooklyn

October 29, 2018 by
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We've got another exciting cookbook store announcement to share with you, especially if you live in or near New York City. A small cookbook store called Cooking, Cocktails, and Culture is set to open soon in 212 Degraw Street in Cobble Hill (south Brooklyn), according to GrubStreet. The store is owned by rare bookseller Elizabeth Young.  Young believes there is a… read more

Ina Garten’s role in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement

October 28, 2018 by
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Ina Garten has a nickname for her favorite roast chicken recipe, calling it "engagement chicken". She says it earned that appellation "because whenever you make it somebody asks you to marry them." To be sure, there isn't a proposal every time someone makes the recipe, but it did play a part in at least one famous engagement. After Prince Harry popped the question… read more

Spice Support: paprika

October 27, 2018 by
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It's been a little while, but I'm back with another edition of Spice Support. Today we are exploring paprika, which according to the in-house spice expert at Pereg Gourmet Spices, is the fourth most consumed spice in the world. It is a key ingredient in a number of cuisines, from Mexican rices to classic Hungarian goulash to Italian sausages. Paprika… read more

One appliance is getting all the cookbook love this season

October 26, 2018 by
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A few days ago we wrote about how Indian cooks are embracing the Instant Pot. They are far from the only group that has latched on to the convenient appliance, and cookbook publishers are taking note. As Jenny points out in our October New Cookbook Review, and as Bonnie Benwick writes in The Washington Post, this fall nearly twenty books… read more

Dorcas Reilly, inventor of the green bean casserole, has died at age 92

October 25, 2018 by
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Whether you love it or hate it, there's no denying that green bean casserole is a staple at Thanksgiving dinners in the US. If you were curious as to how the dish was invented, wonder no more. We not only know when it was invented, but who created it in the first place. Her name was Dorcas Reilly, and she… read more

Omnivore Books celebrates ten years

October 24, 2018 by
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In the last couple of years, we have brought you plenty of bad news about cookbook stores closing down or facing a precarious financial situation. That's why we are excited to share some good news: San Francisco's Omnivore Books is celebrating its tenth anniversary! Eater interviewed owner Celia Sack on how her store has not only survived, but has thrived… read more

How to fix a stuck Bundt cake

October 23, 2018 by
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With all of the gorgeous Bundt pan designs available now, it's never been easier to create a stunning cake without a ton of work. Usually if you grease and flour your pan according to the instructions, the cake will slide right out and all you have left to do is slice and serve. Sometimes, however, despite your best efforts the… read more

The cranberry sauce debate: canned or homemade?

October 22, 2018 by
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I grew up eating cranberry sauce once a year, and it was always of the canned variety. The sauce was pushed out of its cozy can into a narrow serving bowl, its rings used as a marker with which to slice the jiggly substance. As far as I can recall, only about two slices were ever removed from the bowl,… read more

Peter Meehan joins the Los Angeles Times

October 21, 2018 by
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When restaurant critic Jonathan Gold passed away unexpectedly in July, he left a huge void at his company, The Los Angeles Times. While no one can really replace him, the Times is moving forward with new hires to help plug the hole. We recently learned that one of these recruits is Peter Meehan, co-founder of the late Lucky Peach Magazine,… read more

Are you ready to ‘Cook Like a Pro’?

October 20, 2018 by
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Ina Garten has been a go-to resource for cooking advice and recipes for nearly 20 years, ever since the publication of her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa. A string of wildly successful books and a television series followed in short order. Tomorrow marks the debut of the third series of her latest show, 'Cook Like a Pro.'  While her first… read more
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