Ready, set, grow!

May 19, 2024 by
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As gardening season ramps up for much of the Northern Hemisphere, hopeful gardeners gingerly plant all manner of fruits and vegetables in anticipation of a bumper crop of tomatoes, beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, and more. Earlier today I put in the majority of transplants and will be adding seeds tomorrow. One thing I love about gardening is it allows me… read more

What are your favorite festival foods?

May 17, 2024 by
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Although next weekend is the official kickoff for summer here in US, festivals, fairs, car shows, swap meets, concerts, and other mainly outdoor gatherings are already taking place. One thing all of these events have in common is that someone will be selling food from a concession stand or food truck. The usual fare where I live includes tacos (street… read more

Beware of Big Butter?

May 15, 2024 by
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It seems fitting that a couple of days after I post about the increased demand for cottage cheese, I spied another article about how the dairy industry is using social media partnerships to drive up their sales. It seems that people are not just rediscovering the joys of cottage cheese, they are being paid to promote cheese, butter, and other… read more

Food news antipasto

May 13, 2024 by
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Fans of the FX series The Bear were delighted to learn that Season 3 of the show would be airing beginning on June 27. In addition, the smash hit has been renewed for a fourth season, which will begin filming soon. The network stated that this season will follow Carmy, Richie, and Sydney as "they do what it takes to… read more

Kitchen perils demand a first aid kit

May 10, 2024 by
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Most chefs have scars that tell of kitchen mishaps: burns, cuts, and abrasions are a job hazard. Home cooks face these same perils and most of us also have physical reminders of injuries that occurred at the cutting board, cooktop, or oven. When I was in college, I worked at a pizza place and for the longest time I had… read more

Food news antipasto

May 6, 2024 by
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Are you brand loyal or do you seek out bargains with off-brand items? If the latter, you might want to check out Walmart's latest foray into upscale store-label products. The brand is named Bettergoods and is targeted at younger shoppers who want chef-quality items at affordable prices. Walmart hopes to roll out 300 items by autumn including "frozen foods, dairy… read more

How important is the recipe’s photo?

May 2, 2024 by
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These days it's rare to find a cookbook that isn't filled with dozens (if not hundreds) of gorgeous, perfectly-styled photographs that accompany the recipes. Not only do these photos make one's mouth water, they also provide valuable context for the recipe. I've frequently used an accompanying photo to clear up confusion on how a dish is to be assembled or… read more

How well do you know eggs?

May 1, 2024 by
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carton of eggs
Eggs are a staple food in nearly every cuisine, nearly indispensable in both cooking and baking. Although chicken eggs are the most commonly eaten kind today, throughout human history eggs from other birds were more popular. Plus our ancestors were eating eggs over 300,000 years ago! I learned these facts and more in Great British Chefs' comprehensive guide to eggs.… read more

Food news antipasto

April 28, 2024 by
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Are you Team Hydrox or Team Oreo? If you are the former, here is some news from Leaf Brands, maker of the chocolate sandwich cookie: it is planning an antitrust lawsuit against Mondelēz, the parent company of Oreo. Leaf Brands accuses the Oreo manufacturer of intimidating retailers and telling workers in stores to "hide, misplace or move Hydrox to less… read more

How to use beer in the kitchen

April 27, 2024 by
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Have you ever hosted a gathering and found yourself with leftover cans or bottles of beer that you don't plan on drinking? Instead of letting in languish in your refrigerator (it doesn't keep forever), Food & Wine's Merlyn Miller offers a bevy of ideas on how you can use it in your cooking and baking. The first suggestion is to… read more

Essential cookbooks

April 24, 2024 by
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What makes a cookbook essential? Is it one that covers broad swaths of territory, like Joy of Cooking, or one that keenly focuses on a smaller subject like Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables? Maybe it's a cookbook that changes the way an entire country cooks, like Mastering the Art of French Cooking did. Perhaps this whole line of… read more

Food news antipasto

April 21, 2024 by
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A group of people who are squatting in an unoccupied London building formerly occupied by a Gordon Ramsey restaurant have announced that they will remain in place despite a court order telling them to leave. The squatters, who identified themselves as the Anarchist Association London Branch, locked themselves in the York & Albany hotel and gastropub, situated just outside Regent's… read more

Rayner’s take on the latest food craze

April 19, 2024 by
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Last month I wrote about the latest TikTok food craze, the crookie, which a lot of you (understandably) didn't think looked very appetizing. The Guardian's food critic, Jay Rayner, gives us his take on this craze and the others that preceded it, noting that this type of super-hyped food has a long history. In the 17th century, fresh garden peas… read more

Why I love Top Chef 21 seasons later

April 18, 2024 by
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I have always enjoyed Top Chef since it first aired. I find I learn something new each episode and enjoy the camaraderie amongst the chefs. This season, as Darcie reported last year, Kristin Kish replaced Padma Lakshmi as the host and I am loving her in that role. She has been in the same shoes as the chefs and I… read more

Is preheating the oven necessary?

April 17, 2024 by
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oven dial
Almost every baking recipe begins with the words "Preheat the oven to NNN degrees," but is it really necessary to go through that step? Wouldn't it be more energy efficient to just put your food items in while the oven is heating? The answers to those questions depend on what you are making, says cookbook author Alice Zaslavsky. She explains… read more

It’s rhubarb season already?!

April 16, 2024 by
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My rhubarb plants are nearly ready to harvest, marking the earliest maturation since we moved to this location in late 2008. Glancing back at the posts about rhubarb's return as a harbinger of spring, the date when the post appeared has moved backward several weeks since 2014 when I started writing for the EYB blog. That year, the rhubarb post… read more

Food news antipasto

April 14, 2024 by
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Following a storm of negative social media posts, Momofuku has said that it won't enforce the trademark for 'chili crunch' or 'chile crunch'. “Over the past week, we have heard the feedback from our community and now understand that the term ‘chili crunch’ carries broader meaning for many,” the company said in a statement. Small business owners who had been… read more

The life-changing magic of…nothing

April 13, 2024 by
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Hyperbole in advertising and news reporting is almost as old as print itself, so it should not be surprising that hyperbole is common on the internet. The extent of it is breathtaking, however, as seemingly every other article or post touts "the life-changing magic" of a given technique, product, or method. Given the slant of my news feeds, most of… read more

Who wins in this kitchen appliance showdown?

April 12, 2024 by
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One of the best ways to start an argument is to make a claim that X is better than Y. It doesn't really matter what X or Y is, just stating that one is superior to another will set off passionate debate that often devolves into insults. This scenario popped into my head when I saw an article at Eater… read more

Let them eat snake

April 10, 2024 by
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We've heard a lot of buzz about how bugs might be the next big thing in environmentally-friendly protein and now we're apparently moving up the food chain to snakes. An article in Salon reports that some scientists believe snake could be a good solution for sustainable protein. These researchers claim that commercial snake farming (in particular pythons) could provide a… read more

Food news antipasto

April 7, 2024 by
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Condiments like chili crisp and chili crunch are having a moment right now. They add spiciness and texture to foods like dumplings, noodles, eggs, and even desserts. The ingredients are similar from brand to brand, with many calling their product chili crunch, but one brand wants to put an end to that. Momofuku, founded by David Chang, has issued cease-and-desist… read more

Are most cookbooks bad? One blogger thinks so

April 6, 2024 by
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I stumbled upon a post by Tim Mazurek at his blog Lottie & Doof in which he makes some bold assertions about cookbooks. Mazurek thinks that most cookbooks published today are bad, stating that "the reality is that most cookbooks are not very good and very few people actually read them or cook from them, especially industry experts." He feels… read more

‘Shake’ and ‘quake’ foods

April 5, 2024 by
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Early this morning a mild earthquake startled NYC-area residents. While this level of quake wouldn't cause a Californian to bat an eyelash, it is much less common to occur on the East Coast so it caught people's attention. Where I live has about the lowest possibility of earthquakes in the continental U.S., so if one were to strike here everyone… read more

World Central Kitchen team members killed in Gaza

April 2, 2024 by
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We've written several times about World Central Kitchen, the humanitarian aid group founded by chef José Andrés in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then, the group has been on the front lines of natural disasters, armed conflicts, and other crises. Today we learned the devastating news that seven WCK team members in Gaza were killed in a strike… read more

April Fools’ Day food company pranks

April 1, 2024 by
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I was traveling much of the day today, but I did see a few fun April Fools' Day pranks being posted to social media. It seems to me that pranks these days are very transparently jokes and not actual efforts to fool anyone, probably because it is hard to know what's real and what's fake in these strange times (AI… read more
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