Students’ food stories create a unique cookbook

March 25, 2017 by
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  As we saw yesterday with Jenny's post about how she became a cookbook collector, when someone shares her love of food and cookbooks it resonates with others. Recently, a charter school in Washington, DC used this concept in a project to help students improve their writing skills, and in the process created a cookbook filled with memories.   The… read more

Building a better bagel

March 24, 2017 by
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  Yeast breads intimidate many otherwise competent home cooks. There are so many variables that can affect how the bread turns out: humidity, ambient temperature, proofing times, kneading issues, and more. This is especially true when it comes to bagels, which have a stiff dough unlike any other. Despite these issues, you can make great bagels at home, promises Stella… read more

The Making of a Cookbook Collector

March 24, 2017 by
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Hi, I'm Jenny and I was a cookbook lover before cookbooks were cool - doesn't that remind you of a song? When I first started The Cookbook Junkies over a decade ago - it was slow going. Comments such as "why do we need cookbooks when recipes are online?" "you don't need them, they just take up space" were tossed around… read more

What defines a pie?

March 22, 2017 by
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  Just a few days ago, Mary Berry riled some food lovers by adding unconventional ingredients to her ragu bolognese. She's stirred the controversy pot yet again, this time with her take on pie. In this instance, people took exception to calling her potato, leek, and cheese pie a pie because it didn't have a bottom crust. Angry tweets quickly… read more

Signs of the times

March 21, 2017 by
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The 1980s are mostly remembered as a time of excess. After climbing out of a global recession, the latter half of the 80s seemed flush with financial tycoons, Ferraris, big shoulder pads, and a lot of gold and glass. Food, too, changed during this period. Australian Gourmet Traveller looks back on the 80s with seven dishes that defined the decade. … read more

What should you use when a recipe calls for soda water?

March 20, 2017 by
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  Many cocktail recipes call for a splash of soda water. Most people will use their preferred brand of club soda or non-sweetened sparkling water. But are these substances interchangeable? And what's the difference between them, seltzer, and tonic? Over at Epicurious, Matt Duckor explains that these effervescent products are similar but that there are some notable differences between them. … read more

Vintage cookbooks dispensed medical advice

March 19, 2017 by
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  In modern times, if you are sick you generally head to the doctor. But in the 1800s, doctors weren't always available, so people had to rely on other sources for their medical advice. As it happens, they often turned to cookbooks, according to Atlas Obscura.  As you might expect, some of the remedies are dubious at best. The Prudent Housewife,… read more

RIP Lucky Peach?

March 15, 2017 by
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Lucky Peach, the brainchild of Momofuku chef David Chang and food writer Peter Meehan, burst onto the culinary scene six years ago with bold writing and a unique design. It pushed well beyond the boundaries of most food magazines with its graphic-novel inspired layouts and deep dives into subjects like ramen noodles. Eater reports that the magazine may be folding,… read more

The changing face of food writing

March 4, 2017 by
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  Since the age of Apicius, the art of writing about food has waxed and waned in popularity. It's probably never been more fashionable than it is now, says writer Bryan Curtis. He notes that in this era of food bloggers, celebrity chefs, and Instagram, a problem has emerged: everyone wants to read about food but it's getting more difficult… read more

Essential tools for cooks

March 1, 2017 by
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One of the greatest pleasures for someone who loves to cook is browsing the aisles of a well-stocked kitchen store. The vast array of gadgets, tools, and equipment can be both eye-opening and envy-inducing. One can be mesmerized by the allure of a beautiful tool and take it home with visions of the delicious food to be made using it,… read more

Timing is everything

February 27, 2017 by
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  There are few things more frustrating to a cook than having a dish not cooking in the amount of time specified in the recipe. It can throw off your entire meal if you're waiting another 20 minutes for those potatoes to get crisp. When a food doesn't meet the timing in the recipe, it may not be the recipe's… read more

Vintage menus show how much differently we eat now

February 25, 2017 by
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  While it might seem like humans have been eating the same kinds of foods for hundreds of years, a quick scan of an online menu archive located at the New York Public Library will dispell such notions. Seeing the items that have waxed and waned in popularity at dining establishments around the world is eye-opening. The archive contains over 1,332,495… read more

The rich history of butter

February 24, 2017 by
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Butter forms the foundation of most pastries, cookies, and cakes, and it is indispensible in many savory dishes as well. A recently published book about the ubiquitous dairy product dives into its 10,000 year history, tracing its rise from accidental discovery by herders to revered culinary catalyst. Butter: A Rich History by award-winning food writer and chef Elaine Khosrova serves up… read more

A ban on pineapple pizza? Not quite

February 21, 2017 by
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  Opinions on what does not belong on a pizza can be quite strong. Last week, Iceland's President, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, landed in hot water after expressing a disdain for pineapple on pizza in an Q&A session with school children. He said if he could, he would ban the topping. Naturally, there was a social media frenzy following the comment.  There… read more

A cooking club celebrates its 20th anniversary

February 20, 2017 by
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  When you find a great group of friends, the relationships can last a lifetime. The only thing better than finding lifelong friends is finding them through food. That's what happened to a group of women in Montreal, Canada, who formed a cooking club in the mid-1990s. They were coworkers at a company, and even though most of them no… read more

Use your thermometer for more than meat

February 19, 2017 by
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  Most cooks have a meat thermometer and many of us are equipped with an instant-read version like the Thermapen. It's essential for taking the temperature of steaks, chicken, and other meats to ensure food safety and avoid overcooking. You shouldn't limit your temperature taking to meat, however, says Bonnie Berwick of The Washington Post.  Just like meats, most baked… read more

Freda DeKnight, a ‘Titan of African-American Cuisine’

February 18, 2017 by
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As the recent movie 'Hidden Figures' demonstrates, African-American women have contributed greatly to the United States' success without getting much recognition for it and despite being unfairly treated. This is the case with American cookery, too.  NPR's The Salt reminds us of another 'hidden figure', this one in the culinary sphere: Freda DeKnight. Born in 1909, DeKnight spent much of her… read more

Take your cheese platter to the next level

February 12, 2017 by
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  If you entertain even a little bit, you have probably assembled a cheese plate or two. However, you might not have put together a cheese board quite like those from award-winning cheesemonger Lilith Spencer. I've never seen any platters as jaw-droppingly gorgeous as the ones posted in a recent article on the Saveur website about Spencer's work. Spencer recently took home… read more

The history of a decadent chocolate dessert

February 11, 2017 by
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When we were discussing minimal ingredient recipes on the blog last month, we listed a few that were sublime despite having only a handful of ingredients. Recently The Kitchn took a deep dive into another fantastic recipe with only three ingredients: Rose Levy Beranbaum's Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Tort. The article goes into great detail, with Beranbaum explaining the history and… read more

Making the most of your ingredients

February 5, 2017 by
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One of the best parts of Eat Your Books is the ability to fully utilize the ingredients you have on hand. This is especially useful when you are between shopping runs and have limited items available. Just type in the names of the ingredients and you'll easily find recipes to use them - many times in ways that you wouldn't… read more

Mediterranean Cooking

February 5, 2017 by
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One cuisine that has never lost popularity is the Mediterranean diet. I hesitate to use the four letter word diet because of its negative connotation with denial and hunger. The word diet when used here will describe what we fuel our bodies with versus what we deny ourselves to be able to zip up our jeans. The Mediterranean diet revolves… read more

The intersection of food and politics

January 30, 2017 by
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  In order to find interesting food news to share with EYB Members, I spend considerable time on social media (tough job, I know). I follow hundreds of food writers, publications, chefs, and bloggers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. As I am sure that Members in the US can verify, our feeds as of late are peppered with political posts… read more

Food serves as a bridge to cultures

January 28, 2017 by
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  Food has served as a bridge between cultures dating back to ancient times. Emissaries carrying gifts always brought some type of food from their homeland like fruits, vegetables or baked goods that were novel to the country they were visiting. The gifts served more than one purpose: beyond a mere gesture of goodwill, the foods provided insight into the… read more

Are James Beard’s six essential herbs right for today’s cooks?

January 24, 2017 by
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In 1974, James Beard published his iconic Beard on Food. In that tome, he listed the six herbs that he couldn't cook without (actually seven because he felt parsley was so universal that it didn't need to be named). The Beard Foundation recently excerpted the list and Beard's explanation of his selections. The must-have herbs were basil, bay leaf, rosemary, savory,… read more

Recipe hoarders

January 22, 2017 by
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  Have you ever had a dish that you wanted to recreate, so you asked for the recipe - only to be denied by the person who made the dish? It might be understandable for a chef to keep a recipe trademarked, but what about your neighbor or family member? Is it fair to keep recipes a secret? Over at… read more
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