Food news antipasto

Country music legend Loretta Lynn passed away earlier this week at age 90. While millions appreciated her impressive singing and songwriting career - where she inserted sometimes controversial feminist viewpoints into a conservative, male-dominated industry - fewer people realize that she was also a talented home cook. She wrote a cookbook in 2004 called You're Cookin' It Country: My Favorite… read more

Using up fresh herbs

We will have our first frost tonight, so after work this evening I scrambled to harvest the tender items that will not survive freezing temperatures. This included plucking some green tomatoes and bringing in a lot of herbs. Finding ways to use or preserve this abundance of things like mint, oregano, chives, and basil can be a challenge, so I… read more

Open call for James Beard Media Awards

On October 4th, the Media Awards (Book, Broadcast Media, and Journalism) announced its Open Call for Entries. Each entry requires an entry fee of $75. At any time during the entire call for entry, Media Awards entrants who state a financial need may have the fee waived. This year there are some additional categories available in Book Awards: The Writing category… read more

Comfort food history: the story of mac and cheese

If any one dish typified the term 'comfort food' it would have to be macaroni and cheese. Many of us grew up on the stuff, whether from a box or, if you were lucky, made from scratch with lots of cheesy goodness. Ours was a "blue box" family, and it is one of the first foods I was able to… read more

Food news antipasto

When Instagram debuted, the social media platform brimmed with carefully curated, dramatic, gorgeous photos. Food was no exception to this aestheticism, and scores of bloggers attracted huge audiences based on their stunning food photography. Recently, however, the 'grams look a bit different. There's a new sheriff in town when it comes to Instagram food, explains Eater's Bettina Makalintal, who observes… read more

How to eat like a king

As we were sitting around the table following an exceptionally fine meal a few weeks ago, my husband remarked that "we eat like kings" in our house. Judging by my waistline, this rings true: the breadth and quality of foods that lands on our dinner plates would probably impress the royals of ancient times. But this is 2022, and England… read more

Food news antipasto

You may have seen the warnings about reasons not to cook chicken in NyQuil cold medicine, and if you did, you probably wondered why people were doing it in the first place. As it turns out, they weren't. Eater explains why the 'sleepy chicken', which went viral, was never really a food trend. Instead, it was a 'gross out' prank,… read more

Finger food

Many foods seemingly taste better when eaten with your hands instead of with cutlery (fried chicken, pizza) and some only make sense to eat with your hands or fingers (potato chips/crisps, tacos). In Western countries, finger foods are often seen as a novelty but in many other cultures around the world, almost all foods are eaten with one's hands and… read more

Food news antipasto

The Manchester Food and Drink Festival is happening in Cathedral Gardens from September 22nd - October 2nd. Of particular note is the all day Octopus Cookbook Confidential event on September 24th featuring many cookbook authors. Please note we have updated other events on our Calendar including Rick Rodgers' classes at Kings in New Jersey and Edd Kimber's US events as… read more

Fonio’s popularity grows

The food cooperative where I frequently shop always has something new and interesting for me to try. Unlike the big chains, the small store can easily bring in a new product for patrons to sample without making a big commitment. This is where I first found fresh passionfruit in Minnesota, and the produce aisle is filled with other exotic seasonal… read more

Could you live without sliced bread?

Sliced bread has been a staple of the American diet for almost a century. However, there was a brief period of time when sliced bread was banned in the United States, as Gastro Obscura explains. It happened during World War II, when many household goods were in short supply. While rationing of food, gasoline, and rubber products seems reasonable to… read more

Food news antipasto

Most of us have never known a UK without Queen Elizabeth as its figurehead. As we process her death, some of us might want to remember her by making some of her favorite foods. Former royal chef Darren McGrady recently revealed one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite desserts, known as Chocolate Perfection Pie, if you would like to make something sweet in her… read more

Last chance to download Fine Cooking recipes

Back in 2020, we wrote about DotDash Meredith's acquisition of Fine Cooking, which was marred by the disappearance (and subsequent re-emergence) of the FC website. Earlier this year, we learned that Fine Cooking was ceasing publication, and surmised that the website would eventually be taken down. Now, that day has come, with the Fine Cooking website set to shutter for… read more

New food words added to the dictionary

Every year, Merriam-Webster adds new words and definitions to its official dictionary, and 2022 is no exception. The dictionary publisher recently added over 370 words and phrases, and of course several food terms were included in the list. Most of these words will be familiar to EYB Members, who probably have larger-than-average food vocabularies, but I will admit that I… read more

Food news antipasto

Edd Kimber, the first winner of the long running Great British Bake Off (which as Jenny noted on Friday returns September 13), recently released another fantastic cookbook, Small Batch Bakes. The book was inspired by the time Kimber and his partner spent in lockdown, when there wasn't a crowd to bake for. Kimber shares this information and more in an… read more

Tomato products may be in short supply next year

Another day, another dismal food forecast, this time involving California tomatoes. Growers in the state, which produces the bulk of the tomato crop used for processing in the US, are facing year four of a prolonged drought. Yields are down again, with farmers unable to plant as much land and the plants themselves producing less due to the water shortage.… read more

Is the Scoville scale antiquated?

red, yellow, and green peppers with char marks from being roasted, sitting on a white plate which rests on a blue table
Peter Piper may have picked a peck of pickled peppers, but he never weighed in on how hot they are. Different varieties pack varying levels of heat, and it can fluctuate between one pepper and another of the same type (shishito peppers often come with a warning on the label explaining that about 1 in 10 might be much hotter… read more

Science proves you eat with your eyes first

 A well-known adage among chefs and food lovers is, “You eat with your eyes first.” This truism has scientific backing, the most recent of which is a brain study conducted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, scientists discovered that food images appear to trigger a specific set of neurons. This is similar to earlier findings that certain areas of the brain are associated… read more

Is it PSL season already?

In much the same way as the holiday shopping season keeps getting enlarged - at some stores, Christmas decorations go up before the Halloween candy is sold out - food seasons seem to be expanding as well. What I call “pumpkin spice creep” contributes to the flavor appearing ever earlier in the year (as well as being added to an… read more

Food news antipasto

If you tried to mail order any Bob's Red Mill products in the last couple of weeks, you already know that the company has ceased its online ordering operation. According to a spokesperson, “Due to our excellent distribution network and the wide availability of Bob’s Red Mill products in stores and online, Bob’s Red Mill will no longer sell our… read more

The big chill

Conventional wisdom posits that there are some foods meant to be eaten hot, some foods that should be served chilled, and other foods that are best at room temperature. However, it can pay to throw out the rulebook and mix it up a little, for example chilling foods that you might not think would benefit from a stay in the… read more

An ode to ‘the recipe’

Recipes are the raison d'etre of Eat Your Books; the entire website revolves around the subject. We have indexed over 2.3 million recipes, from the simple to the wildly extravagant, recipes that have appeared in cookbooks and websites and magazines the world over. Through the years in which I have been writing for EYB, I have read thousands and thousands… read more

Food news antipasto

This is cause for celebration - Le Creuset is having another Factory to Table Sale, with discounts of up to 40% off. The sale features everything from Dutch ovens to grill pans to tagines to nonstick skillets to dinnerware and more. Even better: they are offering free shipping on all orders, with no minimum purchase required. Be sure to check… read more

Must-have appliances according to kitchen experts

The number of kitchen appliances available to consumers these days is staggering. From Instant Pots to air fryers to steam ovens to convertible refrigerators, appliances large and small can fulfill your cooking needs as well as your kitchen fantasies. Opinions vary on which appliances are the most useful, so Australian Gourmet Traveller recently polled several experts - chefs, kitchen stylists… read more

Sometimes it’s the little things

Maybe it began when I received a miniature whisk ornament as a holiday gift one year, or perhaps it started even with the Matchbox cars I played with as a child, but whatever the impetus, I've long had a fascination for all things Lilliputian. The comments on our recent post that featured the teensy-weensy measuring spoons reminded me that not… read more
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