A man on a mission to save apples

June 10, 2021 by
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Every year in early October I usually post an article about apples that highlights the various ways you can use the fruit in cooking and baking. This year apple season (for the blog, anyway) comes much earlier, because I just read a fascinating article about Tom Brown, a man on a quest to rescue 'lost' varieties of apples. Even if… read more

Don’t sweat your lack of knife skills

June 9, 2021 by
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Step into almost any restaurant kitchen and you will see chefs and cooks wielding knives in an impressive display of finesse and skill. I witnessed this firsthand years ago when I staged at a high-end restaurant in a small city. I was tasked with finely chopping parsley to be used as a sprinkled garnish (don't laugh, everyone was doing that… read more

Food news antipasto

June 6, 2021 by
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The croissant is one of France's most easily identifiable pastries. The flaky crescents are adored and emulated around the globe. Many chefs have made mashups of the butter-laden treats and other well known pastries, resulting in the Cronut and the Cruffin. The Ritz Paris' renowned pastry chef François Perret has a new way to put a spin on the beloved… read more

Pastry Arts offers free virtual summit

June 3, 2021 by
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Pastry Arts magazine is a multimedia platform that aims to inspire, educate and connect the pastry community an informational conduit spotlighting the trade and giving a voice to hardworking pastry and baking professionals. In addition to its website, Pastry Arts has an active Facebook group featuring posts from industry professionals and hobbyists alike. Last year, Pastry Arts offered a free… read more

News from Australia and New Zealand

June 1, 2021 by
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Truffle Kerfuffle - Truffle Dog Demonstration
If you’re in the west, it’s time to book your tickets for Truffle Kerfuffle (25-27 June) … and if you’re on the east coast, there’s still time to make travel plans (subject to COVID19 restrictions)! You don’t want to miss this aromatic celebration of winter’s favourite crop, fresh Australian-grown Périgord truffles! Whether you join in the fun of a truffle… read more

Tooling about in the kitchen

May 31, 2021 by
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On Sunday as I was rearranging the stash of fabric that seems to multiply in our craft room, I listened to a rebroadcast of The Splendid Table that featured various guests talking about their favorite kitchen tools. The guests included Tim Hayward, knife maker Quintin Middleton, and Ruth Ades-Laurent, daughter of the legendary Joseph Ades AKA The Gentleman Peeler, a… read more

Grill your greens

May 29, 2021 by
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As many of us kick off our summer with a long holiday weekend, we will be firing up our grills to make burgers, ribs, hot dogs, and more. Vegetables will get their turn over the coals, too. One class of vegetables that is often overlooked when grilling is greens, although you should consider adding lettuce and other greens to your… read more

The challenges of being an ethical shopper

May 27, 2021 by
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It is not surprising that online food sales skyrocketed during the pandemic. While COVID-19 restrictions changed how people shopped for food, other considerations also played into the shift. In an effort to combat food waste and know more about the origins of their foods, people subscribed to services such as meal kit providers, "ugly" produce purveyors, and boutique "farm to… read more

Potlucks and picnics

May 25, 2021 by
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With ever-increasing numbers of people becoming vaccinated and gathering restrictions loosening in many areas, people are getting together for the first time in what seems like ages. Since this coincides with the weather becoming warmer here, that means a lot of outdoor potlucks and picnics. I was just invited to a cookout in a colleague's backyard this week, and I… read more

News from Australia and New Zealand

May 25, 2021 by
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Daawat – Fundraiser for India
In Melbourne on 6 June? Feast with some of the city’s leading hospitality folk and help a great cause. Daawat – Fundraiser for India, hosted by the legendary Tony Tan and Melbourne Food and Wine Festival creative director Pat Nourse, sees leading chefs preparing a 3-course lunch on Sunday 6 June with all proceeds going to aid India as it… read more

Food news antipasto

May 23, 2021 by
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This week's news begins with information about one of our favorite cookbook authors, Diana Henry. She recently wrote about her experiences with breast cancer and an autoimmune disease, neither of which she has publicly discussed before. She spent lockdown recovering from the treatments, while still managing to make some progress in recipe testing. The good news is that scans show… read more

Gardening trend sticks around

May 21, 2021 by
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Early last spring, just after lockdown was announced and while shortages of foods and household products were rampant, I rolled up my sleeves and built five raised garden beds to grow vegetables. Although I had grown vegetable and ornamental gardens for years, the pandemic instilled a sense of urgency that I hadn't felt before. I was not alone in turning… read more

News from Australia and New Zealand

May 18, 2021 by
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Ayubi Family at Parwana (photo by Alicia Taylor)
Durkhanai Ayubi’s book, Parwana, meaning butterfly and named for her family’s Adelaide restaurant, has been short-listed for the prestigious UK Guild of Food Writers’ Awards in the International or Regional Cookbook category. Co-written with her mother Farida and sister Fatema who provide the recipes, it weaves an inspiring tale of the family’s departure from war-torn Afghanistan in the 1980s, their… read more

Food news antipasto

May 16, 2021 by
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It's not a bowl and it's not a plate, but it can be the ideal piece of dinnerware to serve everything from pasta to salad. I am referring to the latest home trend: the blate. Shallower than a bowl but with a larger lip than a regular dinner plate, the blate is cropping up at retailers and specialty shops alike,… read more

Who gets to decide which foods are disgusting?

May 12, 2021 by
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If you ever watched Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations, you probably saw the erstwhile chef eating foods that to most Western palates would be deemed 'disgusting', items such as warthog anus and fermented shark fin. However, to the peoples where these foods originated, they are thought of as delicacies, or at least national symbols to be proud of. This notion… read more

News from Australia and New Zealand

May 11, 2021 by
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Yoko Dining (Brisbane) - Seafood Ramen
In Brisbane, delicious magazine’s month out continues throughout May with Otto Osteria offering a $65 2-course sharing menu of char-grilled tiger prawns and a classic pasta (cacio e pepe, ravioli, or rigatoni amatriciana) plus a glass of wine, all with views over Brisbane River. If you’re after that view but with a Japanese bent, pop into Tokyo-izakaya-style Yoko Dining between… read more

Don’t try to use these food scraps

May 10, 2021 by
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Cookbooks like Cooking with Scraps by Lindsay Jean-Hard, Scraps, Wilt & Weeds by Mads Refslund and Tama Matsuoka Wong, and the forthcoming Cook More, Waste Less by Christine Tizzard all address the issue of combatting food waste by making use of things you would normally discard. These items include carrot and other vegetable tops, fruit and vegetable peels, and aquafaba, to name just… read more

Food news antipasto

May 9, 2021 by
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We start this week off with two lists. The first comes to us from Eater, which presented its inaugural Eater New Guard Awards, which honors persons in the food world who have "risen to the challenges of the current moment, prioritizing the well-being of others and making a meaningful change in their community." The second list hails from 50 Next… read more

The many facets of tofu

May 8, 2021 by
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Tofu has been a staple food in the East for centuries and had been available in the US off and on since the 1700s when Benjamin Franklin first brought it to these shores, but it never reached a wide audience here until the 1960s and 70s. Its popularity was limited, however, as it was mainly viewed as a politically conscious… read more

An online archive lets you cook your way through India

May 6, 2021 by
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Cookbooks are wonderful repositories of a culture's foodways, along with recipes handed down from generation to generation via oral tradition or passed along through recipe cards. As groups of people move in response to political or cultural issues and as tastes change, community recipes that have not been codified in cookbooks can be lost. A trio of students at Flame… read more

News from Australia and New Zealand

May 4, 2021 by
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Matt Moran with Jane and Jimmy Barnes - KItchen Tales
Season 2 of Matt Moran’s Kitchen Tales has just launched, and this week Matt catches up with Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes and wife Jane, who are releasing their own cookbook later this year. Broadcast on YouTube and IGTV, the series shows Matt cooking for friends and inspirational guests in his home kitchen. He makes each meal extra special by uncovering… read more

Eleven Madison Park goes meat free

May 3, 2021 by
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Daniel Humm's award-winning NYC restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, was shuttered for months due to COVID-19 restrictions. The chef and his staff pivoted to feeding the hungry through a partnership with a nonprofit organization. This morning Humm announced that the fine dining establishment would soon return, but with a huge change in the menu: it will no longer serve any meat… read more

Food news antipasto

May 2, 2021 by
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If you enjoy beer and history, listen up: a county in the UK is hiring someone to visit pubs for a year. The Lincolnshire County Council has recently posted a job listing for a Heritage Project Officer. The job, which pays $40,000 USD for a one-year stint, will involve "researching and recording the architectural and social history of public houses along… read more

Making the most of rhubarb season

May 1, 2021 by
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One of the first signs of spring is when I see the deeply ruffled leaves of my rhubarb plants poke their way through the remnants of last fall's leaves. The green leaves are followed by crimson red stalks of the tart vegetable (it’s not a fruit, despite its usual treatment as a dessert) and I am excited for the tarts… read more

Thanks for everything, Deborah

May 1, 2021 by
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Our longest serving staff member, Deborah, has now retired. Deborah has been with Eat Your Books as our Data Manager since before we launched in 2009. She has now retired though since she is planning a complete restoration of her antique home in western Massachusetts I don't think it is going to be a rest. At Eat Your Books Deborah… read more
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