Cookware everywhere you turn

  Scrolling through my social media feeds today, I admit I felt a bit overwhelmed with the volume of cookware-related tweets. Michael Symon was announcing his new line of branded pots and pans, Food52 was featuring a glass-lidded cast-iron brasier, and then I spied another post from Bon Appetit announcing Le Creuset's new tri-ply stainless steel cookware line.  Those are just… read more

JBF Cookbook Award nominees announced

  Today the James Beard Foundation announced the nominees for its 2018 Cookbook Awards and other food writing/media awards. It is always interesting to compare the JBF list to the IACP list to see how many books overlap between them. If a book has made both lists, it has to be one of the best of the year. In 2018,… read more

Celebrate Pi(e) Day

March 14 (3.14 if you use the month-first convention found in the US) is the perfect day for bakers to celebrate both pi (the mathematical constant) and pie (the tasty food with endless variants both savory and sweet) because of the natural synergy between the two. Bakers use pi when scaling pie and cake recipes to determine the proper pan… read more

David Chang announces new multimedia company

Fresh off the success of his Netflix series "Ugly Delicious," restaurateur and chef David Chang has announced the creation of a new multimedia company called Majordomo Media. In a statement, Chang called the company a place to create content revolving around "food and culture in a way nobody has really ever tried" before.  Chang formed the new company along  with… read more

Ruth Rogers and Nigella Lawson keynote speakers at Cherry Bombe’s Jubilee

  Cherry Bombe Magazine is hosting its sixth Jubilee conference next month. The keynote speakers at the conference are two culinary icons: Nigella Lawson and Ruth Rogers. "The two women are such a powerhouse duo, in terms of one representing the working chef and the other the home cook," says Cherry Bombe  co-founder Kerry Diamond.   The conference will be held April 14… read more

The man behind the Meyer lemon

  When citrus season hits the US, one item you will find at supermarkets in most major cities (and even plenty of smaller ones) is the Meyer lemon. Sweeter than the common Eureka lemon, the Meyer lemon also contains a much thinner skin and a flowery aroma. The fruit is nearly synonymous with California, where the bulk of the US… read more

Fascinating list of the “100 most Jewish” foods

  It's always a gamble to make a list of the "best" or "most popular" or even "most representative" foods for a particular country, culture, or group. Undoubtedly someone will feel that you included a food that didn't belong, that you overlooked an essential item, or find another to quibble about. Lucky for us, this didn't stop Tablet Magazine, which… read more

How to use the other side of your chef’s knife

  We're all familiar with how to use the business-end of our chef's knives. But did you know that the back of the blade, also known as the spine, is also very useful? Joe Sevier at Epicurious does, and he tells us six ways to use the other side of a chef's knife. The blunt side of your knife is… read more

Dorie Greenspan’s ‘must read’ cookbooks

  Other than Julia Child, probably no one has translated French cooking and baking better than Dorie Greenspan. Her cookbooks have legions of fans worldwide. This fall, she will be releasing Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook. We can't wait to dive into the latest from Dorie, but until October, we'll have to make do with her list of 'must… read more

Toss the toothpick with smart bakeware

  Anyone who has baked a cake has probably used a toothpick or cake tester to determine when the cake was ready. Doing so requires you to hover over the oven, checking the cake every few minutes until it's finally done. One company wants to make this hovering a thing of the past, by creating smart cookware that aims to take… read more

Argan oil is the new darling of chefs

One of the biggest beauty trends of the last several years has been argan oil-infused products. Now the Middle Eastern oil is finding its way into the culinary world. Chefs like Michael Solomonov have embraced the nutty oil, produced mainly in Morocco.  The historic method of retrieving the nuts - by pulling them out of goat droppings - has been… read more

Paula Wolfert receives the 2018 JBF Lifetime Achievement Award

Yesterday the James Beard Foundation announced the recipient of its 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award. This year the honor goes to Paula Wolfert, who has won numerous awards including three  Julia Child Awards, five James Beard Cookbook Awards, The M.F.K. Fisher Award, and The Tastemaker Award. She's also been a finalist for the British Andre Simon Award.  Wolfert's many bestselling cookbooks include The Cooking of the Eastern… read more

Around the world in a cake

  What's the go-to baked item to celebrate life's big events like birthdays, graduations, and weddings? Cake, of course! For centuries, cakes have provided the backdrop to celebrations of every sort around the world. According to the Food Timeline, the root of the word 'cake' can be traced  to the 13th century, although it took until the mid-17th century for… read more

Mary Berry’s back with a new show

  Mary Berry, the beloved former host of The Great British Bake Off, is returning to television this year with a new BBC One show called  Classic Mary Berry. The program will follow Berry as she travels throughout the British countryside. After she visits home and farms to learn about different foods from various guests, she will return to her… read more

IACP Cookbook of the Year award rescinded

No sooner had the IACP Cookbook Awards been announced than controversy began swirling around Six Seasons, which won the General Category and was named Cookbook of the Year. As it turns out, Martha Holmberg - who shares writing credits for the book alongside chef Joshua McFadden - is the CEO of the IACP. Soon after the announcement was made, people… read more

Prince inspired cookbook being published

The late musician Prince is still mourned by millions of fans worldwide. His untimely death in 2016 sent shock waves through the music community, followed by an outpouring of musical tributes from his collaborators and other artists who he inspired. Now a new tribute to his Purple Highness is in the works: a cookbook titled Little Red Velvette. The collection of… read more

IACP Cookbook Award winners

  Jenny and Jane attended the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual meeting in New York City. That means they were able to see the winners of the 2018 IACP Cookbook Awards  in person! The rest of us had to follow along on Twitter - and now we know the winners. We've updated our IACP 2018 community page to note… read more

What’s it like to audition for Masterchef?

  If you have ever watched any competitive reality television cooking show like Masterchef or The Next Food Network Star, at some point you probably think "how did they come up with these people?" or "I know I could do better than that!" Since the competitiors for these programs are chosen from people from all walks of life, in theory… read more

Food52’s ‘The Piglet’ cookbook competition returns for 2018

  Indexed website Food52 has just announced the competitors for its cookbook competition called The Piglet. Now in its ninth year, the contest pits sixteen books against one another in a bracketed tournament competition. Over the course of several weeks, each of the judges (who are top food writers, chefs, and celebrities) make dishes from two books and announce which… read more

Chef Jose Andrés named JBF 2018 Humanitarian of the Year

In conjunction with its Restaurant and Chef Awards, the James Beard Foundation also recognizes a food industry person for his or her good works. This year, that person is renowned chef José Andrés, winner of multiple James Beard Awards, owner of ThinkFoodGroup, and founder of the relief organization World Central Kitchen. The JBF announced yesterday that the Spanish-born Andrés was the… read more

Oh, sugar

  When I was growing up, there were only two types of sugar in our house: white and brown. It was only after I started cooking for myself and became interested in cuisines different that what I was familiar with that I discovered there are many plants that can produce sugar beyond sugar cane and sugar beets. Knowing what to… read more

Where do you draw the line for DIY food projects?

  I like to think I'm an adventurous cook and baker. When I see a homemade version of something that is usually purchased, I'm generally intrigued. DIY sauerkraut? Fermented in my attic. Pancetta? Cured, rolled, and dried hanging from the rafter so my cats couldn't reach it. Croissants? See above for my attempt - not half bad, although I don't… read more

Medieval cookbooks were surprisingly sophisticated

  When you think of old cookbooks, you might imagine tomes from the late 1700s or early 1800s, but they existed hundreds of years before that. Most of them were written by nobles or kings seeking to burnish their reputations, but that doesn't mean they weren't good. And they weren't just European, either - some of the best cookbooks of… read more

New app will allow you to text a cookbook author

Have you ever read a recipe in a cookbook and wished you could ask the author to explain what he or she meant in the instructions? Soon, you may be able to do just that with an app that is being released alongside Hsiao-Ching Chou's new cookbook, Chinese Soul Food.  Chou is serving as a beta tester for the new service… read more

Some classic cookbooks are getting a reprint

A small selection of classic but out-of-print cookbooks are getting a second chance, thanks to the website Cookstr and Picador, a subsidiary of publishing giant Macmillan. In 2014 Macmillan purchased Cookstr, which was created by Will Schwalbe, who stayed on after the acquisition to lead this and other projects. Starting in May, the first three reissued cookbooks will be released. … read more
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