Are cookbooks all style over substance?

August 19, 2015 by
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Today I spent several hours organizing my cookbooks, consolidating them all into the same room for the first time in years. As I gaze upon my favorite tomes, I am excited all over again to cook from them. That's why I was a bit put off by a column in The Telegraph, where Prue Leith dismisses new cookbooks, saying that… read more

Are marinades worth the effort?

August 13, 2015 by
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It's pretty common for cooks to marinate meats before putting them on the grill or in the slow cooker. But do these concoctions do what they claim - tenderizing the meat and adding loads of flavor? Russ Parsons of The LA Times says no. He thinks that for the most part, marinades are a waste of time. In fact, says Parsons, long-soaking… read more

The right way to freeze produce

August 12, 2015 by
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At this time of year, gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere are swimming in produce. Although having a plentiful harvest is a happy circumstance, it can be overwhelming. To preserve the summer's bounty, people often turn to canning or freezing their fresh-from-the-garden goodies. But if you don't do these tasks properly you risk ruining your fruits and vegetables. To save you disappointment down… read more

How useful are restaurant reviews?

August 9, 2015 by
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Before you set foot in a new restaurant you've probably researched it to death. Sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp allow you to see feedback from diners, but as we've seen many times, those reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt. So you then turn to the professionals: restaurant reviewers from newspapers or authoritative websites. But are… read more

Tiki cocktails make a comeback

August 7, 2015 by
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Despite a reputation as a too-sweet libation served in kitschy goblets at chain restaurants, tiki drinks are serious cocktails. Originating in the 1930s in California, the boozy tropical beverages took hold during the 1950s and 60s before dropping off the cocktail radar. Thanks in part to retro shows like Mad Men, tiki drinks have staged an impressive comback. Eater.com traces the… read more

Everyone finds inspiration in cookbooks

August 6, 2015 by
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Sometimes it is difficult to find inspiration for your next meal. You might stare blankly into the refrigerator or pantry, hoping something will fall off the shelf and hit you in the head--in a figurative sense, of course, but if you're desperate enough you might accept a literal bump on the noggin. You might also surf the internet or turn… read more

Short films capture the intersection of food and culture

August 4, 2015 by
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Most of the stories on the EYB blog involve the written word, whether that is cookbooks, links to other blogs, food news, or other information about food. But that just scratches the surface of the food-related information available on the web. Videos - whether instructional (like these in the EYB Library) or entertaining are available via many outlets. One source for… read more

Food blog Mad Libs

August 2, 2015 by
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We've all seen it before: a commenter on a food blog has made the recipe with a host of substitutions and changes but trashes the recipe anyway. The folks over at The Kitchn found this scenario (and several others) to be perfect fodder for a game of Mad Libs. (For the uninitiated, Mad Libs is a word game where one… read more

An accidental invention: the history of the Popsicle

July 31, 2015 by
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Popsicles define summertime for many US children. The brightly-colored, fruit-flavored frozen treats are the perfect foil to a hot, sticky summer afternoon. Popsicles are adored by children but did you know that they were also invented by one? NPR's The Salt tells the story of how an 11-year-old accidentally created the frozen treat over 100 years ago. In 1905, Frank… read more

Scientists think they’ve discovered a sixth taste

July 29, 2015 by
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For centuries, people described food in terms of four basic tastes: sour, sweet, salty, and bitter. More recently a Japanese chemist discovered a fifth taste, umami, which is triggered by glutamates. Now scientists say they have found a sixth basic taste, and they believe it could profoundly change the way we eat. This new basic taste doesn't get a fancy new name… read more

Noma popup slated for Australia

July 27, 2015 by
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The chef of the number one restaurant in the world is taking his show on the road once again again. René Redzepi is packing up everything, include his entire 60-person staff, and will open a popup version of Noma in Sydney for 10 weeks beginning in January. Redzepi notes that the weather was at least one factor in choosing the location for the popup, as… read more

Weights and measures

July 26, 2015 by
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More and more home bakers are using scales to improve their baking. Precision is important to achieving consistent results, but it can be a pain to convert volume measures into ounces or grams. A few conversion charts are tucked away on manufacturer or baking websites, but the folks at King Arthur Flour have an extraordinarily comprehensive list on their website.… read more

Attention budding cookbook authors

July 24, 2015 by
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If you are a cookbook lover, chances are you have considered writing your own cookbook. Maybe your friends suggested it or you came up with an idea for a spectacular layout while struggling to cook from a poorly designed book. But even though many of us have likely toyed with the idea, we have shrugged it off because it requires… read more

Get more out of your waffle iron

July 19, 2015 by
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You might have a waffle iron languishing in the back of your cupboard that you dig out  a few times a year to make waffles. But it doesn't have to be hidden away in between those Sunday brunches: there are gobs of recipes that make excellent use of the waffle iron. It's not that surprising if you think about it;… read more

The interesting cultural history of vanilla

July 18, 2015 by
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  When something is bland, it's often dismissed as being "plain vanilla." But as NPR Food shows us, the history behind vanilla is anything but boring. They explore the origins of vanilla bean cultivation and its traditional uses. Vanilla comes from the Totonac Indians in what's now Mexico. In addition to using them for medicine, the Totonac used the beans… read more

How does yogurt culture get made?

July 16, 2015 by
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Many EYB Members likely enjoy making homemade yogurt. Most start with commercial yogurt culture, either from store-bought yogurt or from packets of starter purchased from a cheese making supplier. But where do those companies get their culture? NPR Food has the answer.  If you're a home yogurt enthusiast, you already know that sometimes just using a bit of the previous… read more

Marshmallows move to fine dining

July 15, 2015 by
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Many people equate marshmallows with their youth and happy memories of campfires, s'mores, or crispy rice squares. That nostalgia has prompted several chefs to incorporate marshmallows into their fine dining menus, says Fortune magazine. Marshmallows can be found not only in desserts but also in vegetables, main dishes, and cocktails. Besides nostalgia, chefs find that marshmallows add texture and flavor… read more

Is that a real cookbook?

July 9, 2015 by
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Thousands of cookbooks get published every year in almost every genre imaginable. Many are downright weird--so weird, in fact, that the titles are almost unbelievable. This prompted the crew over at Eater to make up a quiz about these bizarre books. They enlisted a team of designers to create fake cookbook covers and lined them up alongside real (and quite bizarre)… read more

The decline of recipe testing

July 8, 2015 by
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In the heyday of print media, most major newspapers boasted a full test kitchen complete with a kitchen director. Prominent cookbook authors hired independent testers to make sure their recipes would work in home kitchens. But with declining revenues and tightening budgets, these resources are quickly vanishing, reports The Los Angeles Times.    While food magazines like Bon Appetit, Saveur,… read more

The imitation game

July 6, 2015 by
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Precious few classic cookbooks have earned such reverence that they can go by a single name, like a famous celebrity. If someone tells you she is making a recipe from "Mastering", there is likely only one cookbook that comes to mind: Julia Child's iconic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, many "Mastering the Art of" cookbooks have appeared over the… read more

Survey highlights changes in recipe usage

July 3, 2015 by
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Since 2012, Internet recipe site Allrecipes.com has been surveying its users to determine trends in how people use digital resources to plan, shop for, prepare, and share meals. The site recently shared highlights of its survey to the public. The trends reported probably won't surprise EYB Members. Allrecipes found that online resources outpace other forms of recipe inspiration, with nearly… read more

Give peas a chance?

July 1, 2015 by
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It's always amazing how fewer than 140 characters can stir up a giant controversy. That's what happened today when The New York Times tweeted a link to a guacamole recipe with this caption "Add green peas to your guacamole. Trust us." Reactions from chefs and others were swift and passionate.  People across the globe chimed in, with some telling the… read more

Power couples

June 29, 2015 by
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  Some food combinations just seem to go together: peanut butter and jelly, tomato soup and grilled cheese, milk and cookies. Sometimes food combinations do more than just taste good together; they can also promote nutrition, reports NPR's The Salt. The NPR team took a look at a recent study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which "concludes that adding eggs… read more

What does the world’s oldest person eat?

June 28, 2015 by
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Last week the world got a new oldest person when the previous record holder, Jeralean Talley, passed away at the age of 116. Susannah Mushatt Jones, age 113, then became the world's oldest living person. You might think that to reach these advanced ages the women ate a spartan, ultra-healthy diet, but you would be wrong. Talley lived to 116… read more

The “someday” list

June 27, 2015 by
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People who love to cook are always on the hunt for new recipes. We pore through cookbooks, read dozens of websites, follow chefs on Twitter, and make bookmarks everywhere for dishes that we'd like to try. Some of us keep these lists online, in notebooks, or in a folder filled with pages torn from various magazines. (Of course we index… read more
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