Gin it up this summer

June 4, 2014 by
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Just as some foods are good matches for a particular season--hearty stews in winter, cool salads in summer--some liquors also feel right at certain times of the year. Warm weather calls for light, refreshing drinks, and gin fits the bill, as demonstrated in a recent Telegraph article highlighting unique gin cocktails perfect for summer sipping. The pretty City in Bloom, pictured above,… read more

Get the most out of your farmers’ market

May 31, 2014 by
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Some locales enjoy year-round farmers' markets, but even in those fortunate places, spring makes the market come alive. This flourish can lead to feeling overwhelmed by the copious amounts of fresh produce at the market, so Russ Parsons of the LA Times offers some good advice on how to get the most out of your visit. The first piece of… read more

Why do we read cookbooks?

May 30, 2014 by
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When recipes are available on the internet with just a few clicks and we're all rushing about trying to accomplish a never-ending list of tasks, why do so many of us still enjoy sitting down with a cookbook and leafing through its pages? Cynthia D. Bertelsen attempts to answer this question. EYB Members can probably relate to this quote from… read more

Rhubarb ready

May 29, 2014 by
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Spring farmer's markets in the north can be sparsely-endowed affairs, especially after a brutal winter like the previous one. A reliable staple that can always be found at the market, however, is rhubarb. The bright red stalks and gigantic green leaves usher in a season of pies, crisps and other treats from this tart vegetable that is mostly treated like… read more

Behind the scenes from an Ottolenghi photo shoot

May 27, 2014 by
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Ottolenghi fans are eagerly anticipating the release of his next cookbook, Plenty More, a technique-focused book set to hit bookstores in September (UK) and October (US). For those who can't wait that long, The Happy Foodie takes us behind the scenes of the photo shoot  for the book. Not only do we get to see a few raw photos and a video… read more

Gluten sensitivity may be a carb sensitivity instead

May 26, 2014 by
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Gluten-free diets are all the rage, with many people reporting improvements in their health after ditching wheat and other gluten-containing foods like barley and rye. Many people assumed, and doctors believed, they had a sensitivity to gluten not unlike those who suffer from celiac disease. But new research indicates that gluten may not be the bad guy for everyone. NPR's… read more

When is the best time to add salt?

May 15, 2014 by
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Watch almost any cooking show or chef's demonstration and you are likely to hear an admonition to season in stages - that is, you should use salt throughout the cooking process instead of just adding salt at the end. Kenji López-Alt of Serious Eats decided to put this theory to the test, cooking a complex recipe in two different ways. He… read more

Pay for your food with a photo

May 13, 2014 by
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Yes, it's true. A pop-up restaurant in London is offering diners a free meal in exchange for them posting a photo to Instagram, according to The London Evening Standard. Naturally, there's a catch: the menu items are "new chargrilled chicken and fish products from the Birds Eye inspirations range." Approximately ten percent of Britons admit to photographing their food at… read more

Where the wild things are

May 11, 2014 by
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Foraging for food is as old as mankind. It was the primary source of sustenance for ages, and a few small societies today still forage for most of their food. By and large, however, foraging is a lost art, but it does resurface now and then. Foraging became popular in the 1960s, with books like Euell Gibbons' Stalking the Wild… read more

Substitute spirits

May 8, 2014 by
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We've always been told that "top-shelf" (i.e. expensive) liquors are the only way to go for mixing the best cocktails. But price isn't the only measure of quality, and there are bargains to be found in the liquor aisle. Carey Jones of Serious Eats asked several top U.S. bartenders about their favorite bargain brands. Dan Bronson of Crescent & Vine in… read more

Hidden kitchens

May 6, 2014 by
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The Kitchen Sisters are back on NPR's The Salt with a new installment of their Hidden Kitchens series. The series travels the world, exploring little known kitchen rituals and traditions that illustrate how communities come together, from modern-day Sicily to medieval England and from the Australian Outback to California. The Kitchen Sisters are Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, Peabody Award-winning producers who… read more

Vegetables make a foray into dessert

May 5, 2014 by
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First salads made inroads into breakfast; now vegetables take aim at dessert. This trend stretches far beyond carrot cake, pumpkin pie, or the occasional hot pepper in a custard: according to Huffpost Taste, chefs are increasingly making desserts using savory vegetables like beets and mushrooms. Some of the choices are logical extensions of familiar flavor profiles. Fennel's licorice flavors shine… read more

Are big flavors ruining the American palate?

May 1, 2014 by
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Sriracha, once an obscure ingredient, now makes the headlines when there is a potential shortage in the U.S. Advertisements for food frequently use words like bolder, spicier and tangier. Food and Wine's Kate Krader wonders if this trend toward big flavors means more delicate foods will fall by the wayside. Krader, whose colleagues call her neverending quest for bigger and… read more

Great meals in literature

April 30, 2014 by
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Many readers have been entertained by detailed descriptions of great meals in books. For those who are passionate about cooking, the meals sometimes stay with us longer than the rest of the book. We paint pictures in our minds of the spreads, whether they are sparse as in Oliver Twist, or a lavish spectacle as in The Great Gatsby. Writer… read more

What’s your sign?

April 27, 2014 by
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While the pickup line of "what's your sign?" has fallen out of fashion (at least, we hope it has), horoscopes still enjoy some popularity. Now Saveur has matched each astrological sign to its perfect cocktail complement. The drink for Gemini, pictured above, is called La Puella y el Puer. Bartender/astrologer Patricia Clark Hippolyte created the cocktail "specifically for Gemini drinkers:… read more

The top food and drink books ever written

April 26, 2014 by
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With all of the amazing books about food and drink that have been published, it can be difficult to pick favorites. However, the writers at The Telegraph have selected their  top ten food and drink books of all time. This list is not for cookbooks per se, but rather books that have had a profound influence. The first book on the list is Fast Food… read more

Coconut and spring

April 19, 2014 by
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News feeds have recently been buzzing with coconut desserts for both Easter and Passover, but the reason for coconut's popularity during these springtime religious holidays remains an enigma. There certainly isn't a grand historical tradition--coconuts weren't everyday ingredients in Biblical times. So why have coconut desserts - especially coconut cakes and macaroons - become so popular during these holidays? Perhaps… read more

The power of positive thinking

April 18, 2014 by
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It happens to all of us. We read the nutrition label on a tub of ice cream and silently think, "This is really fattening. I shouldn't eat it." The siren song of the mint chocolate chip is irresistable, however, so we succumb. But before you eat the next scoop, you may want to think about it in a more positive way, as this… read more

The sultry language of online food reviews

April 17, 2014 by
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Anyone who has read online restaurant reviews has probably noticed that the language used to describe the food can be downright sensual. Words like "orgasmic" and "seductive" appear frequently. A new study co-authored by Stanford linguistics professor Dan Jurafsky confirmed this tendency and offered insight on what other words used in online reviews say about us. The study analyzed 900,000… read more

Bringing home take out

April 16, 2014 by
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Even though EYB members love cooking at home, we occasionally (or perhaps more than occasionally) crave take out. Frequently that means Chinese food, and in particular, the kind of crispy, sweet, and spicy dishes typified by General Tso's chicken. But sometimes we don't want take out because we don't want to go out (is spring ever coming to the upper… read more

How cookbooks rate in the States

April 12, 2014 by
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Amazon.com has just released an interactive infographic called "Great American Eats" that shows which cookbooks originating in each region of the U.S. are most popular. The map is curated by Mari Malcolm, Amazon Books' food editor. She explains her inspiration to the LA Times: "I've long been intrigued by the regional trends in cookbooks, so I decided it would be… read more

Dash to the store no more?

April 9, 2014 by
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Amazon recently unveiled a new device being offered to select Amazon Fresh customers. The small wand is called Amazon Dash, and its aim is to simplify grocery shopping. The Dash coordinates with your Amazon Fresh account and operates by voice command or by scanning bar codes, adding items to your online grocery list. While Amazon Fresh currently operates in only three… read more

Not your mother’s TV dinner

April 4, 2014 by
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Game of Thrones returns for a new season on April 17, so it's time to answer the burning question, "What would Khaleesi serve?" Food52 has the answer wtih a bevy of recipes to celebrate the return of the series, with each dish based on a quote from one of the George R.R. Martin books that underpin the show. Meanwhile, fans… read more

World’s fastest apple peeler?

April 2, 2014 by
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The internet abounds with "tips and tricks" to make cooking tasks easier. We've seen using water bottles to separate eggs, "spanking" pomegranates, and a slew of other time-saving methods. Some of the tips are questionable, but this one looks promising, if potientially a bit dangerous. Using a simple cordless drill and a standard "Y" peeler, Chef Jasper van Ramshorst peels apples… read more

When it’s good to get fooled

April 1, 2014 by
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Today is April Fool's Day, when pranksters delight in tricking the unsuspecting. Of course, the public is wary and it is ever more difficult to carry off a great prank (at least without blowback). And with today's headlines, sometimes it is difficult to determine whether a story is a hoax or is just a weird bit of news. (There's a new Vegemite… read more
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