Licorice: love it or loathe it?

August 19, 2025 by
 |  14 Comments  |  Leave Comment
In her Substack newsletter, Dorie Greenspan just posted about licorice, which as she notes is a divisive flavor. Just like cilantro, it seems to be a love it or hate it item. For some the taste aversion stems from having licorice flavored medicine as a child, but for others it seems to be built in, although scientists have not yet… read more

Food news antipasto

August 17, 2025 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
A white book opened to see the blank inside pages, on a white background
Renowned beer historian Martyn Cornell died at the beginning of June. His friend Steve McCubbin's heartfelt obituary for Cornell was just published in The Guardian. McCubbin shares Cornell's long and storied career, and recognized his salty character. The last post Cornell made before he died illustrates this: “If I read once more that porter got its name because it was… read more

Former Food52 exec stole a fortune from the company

August 16, 2025 by
 |  5 Comments  |  Leave Comment
A former media executive for Food52 who managed production of the brand's partnership deals stole a whopping $270,000 USD from the company, according to an exposé published in The Cut. (That article is paywalled but you can read a synopsis here.) When you read heartbreaking stories of food writers losing their jobs to layoffs and entire publications shuttering due to… read more

Dianne Jacob talks cookbooks on CookShelf

August 16, 2025 by
 |  2 Comments  |  Leave Comment
The latest installment in the CookShelf Substack features award-winning writer  Dianne Jacob. (In case you missed the announcement, Katie has launched a free Substack newsletter in connection with the forthcoming CookShelf app.) Dianne coaches people on how to write a winning cookbook proposal (where there is a 1-2 percent acceptance rate) and how to improve the quality and effectiveness of their writing. … read more

Meat-free no more

August 13, 2025 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
In 2024, Daniel Humm released Eleven Madison Park - The Plant-Based Chapter, which celebrated the transformation of the former World's Best Restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, into the first plant-based kitchen to earn three Michelin stars. When the restaurant returned to service in 2021 following the lifting of restaurant restrictions due to the pandemic, Humm envisioned a totally different sort of… read more

Kewpie celebrates a century

August 13, 2025 by
 |  5 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Kewpie mayonnaise, the Japanese mayonnaise with devotees around the globe, celebrates its 100th birthday this year. Its creator, Toichiro Nakashima, was inspired to create the condiment after visiting the United States in 1915 as an intern for Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. There he was exposed to mayonnaise, which was having a moment in American cuisine. After returning to… read more

Food news antipasto

August 10, 2025 by
 |  Leave Comment
Less than a week after Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff told a reporter that he did not anticipate further layoffs in the company, 15 Eater staff members were laid off, according to Vox Media union. In a post on Bluesky, one of my favorite writers on the site, Amy McCarthy, shared that she was one of the unlucky ones. The… read more

In defense of ‘ugly’ cakes

August 9, 2025 by
 |  4 Comments  |  Leave Comment
A recent opinion piece in The Cut has rankled the baking community, especially those who have small cottage baking businesses they run out of their homes. In the article, the author disparaged trendy Instagram and TikTok cake creations that are full of piped decorations, bedazzled with glitter-coated fruits, and overall just exuberant in their presentation. Joy Saha, writing for Salon,… read more

Foraging: trendy or timeless?

August 8, 2025 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Foraging seems to be having a moment, as evidenced by the growing number of books about foraging and the fact that online foragers have built huge audiences. Is this a passing trend or is foraging becoming a standard practice? I suppose one should say a standard practice again, because for much of humankind's existence, foraging provided the vast majority of… read more

Is this really the best way to cook rice?

August 6, 2025 by
 |  19 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Cooking rice is something that intimidated me for years. I did not grow up eating rice very often and when we did have rice, it was often included in a dish and not cooked separately. So when I was a young cook timidly exploring beyond the culinary borders of my upbringing, making rice proved to be a challenge. For one… read more

Herb pairing basics

August 5, 2025 by
 |  Leave Comment
Over 13,000 recipes in the EYB Library have "herbs of your choice" as an ingredient. When you see that in the ingredient list, do you have a set of herbs in mind or do you struggle to determine what herbs would be best? If you are in the latter group, head over to Samin Nosrat's Substack, because she just posted… read more

Food news antipasto

August 3, 2025 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
Another food publication is biting the dust - at least in monthly magazine format. Fans of delicious (AUS) spotted a short note in the most recent edition that stated it would be the last print issue. Earlier this year the magazine announced changes that included a weekly delicious section added to metropolitan and regional newspapers. The publisher said that the… read more

How much would you pay for a pancake?

August 3, 2025 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Chain restaurants like Denny's, Perkins, and IHOP are known for their all-day breakfast menus and relatively low prices. They dish up bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, and other breakfast items that may not be the most elevated fare but are solidly in the "it's fine" camp. IHOP is hoping to break away from this reputation by introducing a $100 Dubai chocolate… read more

What cookbooks do some of our favorite authors love?

July 31, 2025 by
 |  Leave Comment
Penguin Books turns 90 this year (making them the same age as Jacques Pépin), and as the publisher hits this milestone, it is taking stock of the many foundational books under its imprint, including its cookery books. As Penguin states, its "cookery publishing has shaped trends, reflected social and cultural shifts, and highlighted the food traditions and staple ingredients of… read more

Celebrate National Cheesecake Day!

July 30, 2025 by
 |  2 Comments  |  Leave Comment
You may wonder if I only post about the food "holidays" of foods I really enjoy eating. Wonder no more, the answer is yes. That's why I am posting about National Cheesecake Day today, as it is one of my favorite desserts, in no small part because cheesecake is easy to make. More on that later, but first, let's have… read more

Hetty McKinnon is the next guest in the CookShelf Substack

July 29, 2025 by
 |  Leave Comment
Katie's recently launched Substack follows up one fantastic guest author with another amazing writer. The latest post welcomes Hetty Lui McKinnon, who shares which cookbooks are speaking to her now. In case you missed the initial announcement, Katie started a free Substack newsletter in connection with the upcoming launch of the CookShelf app. Left: Australian Cover. Right: US / International Cover.… read more

Food news antipasto

July 27, 2025 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
Goodbye grocery stores? The San Francisco Chronicle reports on how grocery shopping habits have changed store design (gift link), and how the shift in shopping may be the death knell for large, suburban supermarkets. With more people switching to online shopping, some stores have seen traffic dry up while others are turning into what might best be called shopper's warehouses.… read more

How seedless watermelons took over the grocery store

July 26, 2025 by
 |  7 Comments  |  Leave Comment
When was the last time you saw watermelons with seeds in your local grocery store? You might find some at a farmer's market, but almost every supermarket will only have seedless fruit. Since the 1990s, seedless varieties have surged in popularity, and over 90% of watermelons shipped from farms are now the seedless type. Eater's Amy McCarthy explores the reasons… read more

New CookShelf Substack, featuring Rose Levy Beranbaum as the first guest author!

July 24, 2025 by
 |  5 Comments  |  Leave Comment
In connection with the upcoming launch of the CookShelf app – which is in the final stages of beta-testing – Katie is launching a free Substack newsletter. This will complement the EYB blog, featuring cookbook recommendations from authors and recipe writers, and providing ingredient-focused roundups and cook-throughs of select cookbook recipes. We hope that this will provide another layer of… read more

How much is your cookbook collection worth?

July 23, 2025 by
 |  9 Comments  |  Leave Comment
As a rule, cookbook collectors are not in it for the money. Most of us love to cook (and/or bake), appreciate the advice and inspiration that cookbooks provide, and enjoy learning about different cultures through the lens of food and cooking. We generally do not measure the value of the book by dollars and cents, but that does not mean… read more

Costco’s ‘Holy Grail’ item

July 22, 2025 by
 |  9 Comments  |  Leave Comment
In a recent thread on the Costco Reddit forum, one Redditor asked a simple question that garnered a flurry of responses. The question was "What is your holy grail Costco item?" The most upvoted response was not the rotisserie chicken, the tequila, or even the iconic $1.50 hot dog. What people really love, it turns out, are big bags of… read more

Food news antipasto

July 20, 2025 by
 |  2 Comments  |  Leave Comment
If you are the sort of person who likes to look at a dessert menu before you even order your main course, we have two articles you might want to peruse. First up is a growing trend in dessert-only restaurants. These places offer inventive menus that often include dessert and wine pairings. Says pastry chef Will Goldfarb, “There’s this appetite… read more

Baking Nation newspaper debuts

July 19, 2025 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
We might be losing Cook's Country, but a new print publication has just launched that could ease the pain. The Kindness Company, has just released its first issue of what it bills as a "baking newspaper," titled Baking Nation. The first issue is billed as a "true collector’s piece for baking lovers everywhere!" It sounds like there are additional items… read more

Lost tool lament

July 18, 2025 by
 |  6 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Back in 2021 I wrote about my favorite kitchen tools and noted that one of them was an inexpensive loop-type melon baller. A few years earlier, I wrote about not-quite-desert-island tools and a squeeze-to-open tea infuser made the list. Both of those beloved objects bit the proverbial dust a couple of months ago. While it was easy to find a… read more

New cookbook publishing imprint from HarperCollins

July 17, 2025 by
 |  Leave Comment
Proof that cookbooks continue to outperform other publishing genres, Harper Influence, an imprint of HarperCollins, announced a new cookbook imprint earlier this week. Named Bite Books, the imprint is partnering with Studio Ramsay Global, Gordon Ramsay's television production company. This marks a further expansion of Bite, the food brand and entertainment platform that is a collaboration of Studio Ramsay Global… read more
« Older posts
Newer posts »
Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!

Categories

Archives