John Besh describes the unique touches in his 10 signature dishes

November 4, 2013 by
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We have a special soft spot in our culinary hearts for New Orleans cuisine - and we've found John Besh to be a worthy successor to such illustrious forces as Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. So his essay from In First We Feast, The 10 Dishes That Made My Career, struck us as a worthy read. After all, there aren't many… read more

Martha and the bloggers

October 24, 2013 by
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There's been a lot of fuss in the food blogosphere recently which can be summed up as the story of Martha and the bloggers. It is not about a new singing group (though that is a great name) but about an interview Martha Stewart gave to Bloomberg TV in which she is quoted as saying about bloggers, ""They're not trained… read more

Paying tribute to Marcella Hazan

September 30, 2013 by
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We've been reading the tributes to Marcella Hazan that have been published since she passed away yesterday and were struck by some fascinating items about this preeminent teacher of Italian cuisine. First and foremost, she was as much a teacher as a chef - one of the most effective in preaching and spreading the gospel of authentic Italian cuisine. As… read more

Comparing Child’s, Fisher’s, and Beard’s First French Meals

September 27, 2013 by
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M.F.K. Fisher's great-nephew Luke Barr has written a book called    Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste which discusses a time when the esteemed culinarians James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones were all together in the South of France. Grub Street has excerpted some  of the book, specifically… read more

Follow-up answers about chicken rinsing

September 1, 2013 by
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Last week we posted a blog on the controversy over whether or not to rinse a chicken before cooking it. We cited an NPR article discussing the question, which received a lot of interest with some additional concerns. NPR has issued a follow-up to their article and we thought it would be useful to our readers who shared those concerns… read more

Honoring Julia Child’s birthday

August 15, 2013 by
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Today, Julia Child would have been 101 years old. So we thought we'd pause from all those weighty issues we normally discuss and take a moment to appreciate the grande dame of cooking. And what better way to do so than actually watch her at work? So if any of you have a moment, here's one of our favorite videos… read more

Words Jamie Oliver would never say

July 1, 2013 by
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Jamie Oliver recently posted on Instagram a photo of all the words he would never say. These include "moist, gush, encrusted, minge, flange, stuffed, gash, and smeared." Actually, Oliver appears to be consistently concerned about vocabulary. Last year, a server at one of his restaurants leaked a long list of words they were supposed to say to push specials. As reported… read more

Gourmet picnic & camping gear

June 27, 2013 by
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Here are some fun suggestions from restaurant owner Peter Hoffman via the Wall Street Journal. His mission was to "test gear for the ambitious campside cook." He had us at the bio lite stove that generates enough electricity to charge your phone; it also uses the heat to power a turbine that can stimulate the flame.  There are also other… read more

Cookbooks by some oldie but goodie celebrities

June 26, 2013 by
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Now this is fun - a collection of vintage cookbooks by vintage celebrities (we apologize for the U.S.-centric nature of the post; if any of our other members have some vintage celebrity cookbooks from the U.K. or elsewhere, we'd love to hear of them). BuzzFeed recently compiled a collection of cookbooks that are just so tempting to think about in so… read more

Michael Pollan’s rules for restaurant eating

June 24, 2013 by
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Michael Pollan has long been a rational, non-hectoring voice for eating wisely and sustainably. His Food Rules continue to be quoted widely (including don't eat anything your Grandmother wouldn't recognize as food; don't eat anything that won't eventually rot; shop the perimeter of the grocery store; don't buy food where you buy your gasoline, etc.) as do his many other… read more

Recent poll finds Rachael Ray to be more trustworthy than Michael Pollan

June 18, 2013 by
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In a recent Reader's Digest poll that asked 1000 readers who were the "most trustworthy," Rachael Ray ranked #31 and Michael Pollan ranked #83 - less trustworthy than Steve Harvey (#72), Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson(#54), andTim Tebow(#40). While we certainly applaud Ray's efforts to encourage home cooking, given that Pollan has really motivated the healthy food movement, this is a litttle surprising.… read more

The best reaction to Paula Deen’s new butter spreads

June 14, 2013 by
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In case you've been doing something productive, you may not have heard of Paula Deen's new butter spreads. Despite her advocacy of eating a lower fat diet , due to her diabetes, she apparently couldn't resist once again championing butter. She is justifying her advocacy by noting that the butters aren't meant to be used by the pound but are rather "finishing… read more

How Joel Robuchon earned more Michelin stars than any other chef

June 12, 2013 by
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The Telegraph recently sat down with Joël Robuchon, "the chef with more Michelin stars than any other and a temper that terrified even Gordon Ramsay" (at whom he once threw a plate). In an in-depth intervew Robuchon discussed his background and the challenges of being a high-end chef who isn't afraid to take on the establishment.  Among the highlights we… read more

Mario Batali: Why a successful food blog is like a restaurant menu

June 5, 2013 by
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Atlantic Magazine recently reported on an interesting discussion among Mario Batali (no introduction needed), Deb Perelman (Smitten Kitchen blog), and one of their editors about the digital side of the culinary world. The entire article, How a Restaurant Menu is Like a Website, is well worth reading as the two chefs make several interesting points. Here are three that struck us as… read more

Delia Smith – “Britain has lost its way when it comes to home cooking”

May 31, 2013 by
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Delia Smith certainly needs no introduction in the U.K.  and probably not to most of our U.S. members. But for those who may not know her, she is the U.K.'s  best-selling cookbook author and one of their best-known television personalities. So we thought it was provocative that, in a recent interview in the Express, she has turned quite negative on… read more

Mark Bittman explains why, despite his new book, he’s not a vegan

May 23, 2013 by
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Recently Mark Bittman published a new cookbook, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health...for Good. Many people focused on the "Vegan" part of the title and not the "Before 6:00." Essentially Bittman is publishing an eating plan where he eats Vegan for all his meals but one - dinner. So the obvious question is: Why not… read more

Rick Bayless and controversy over “authentic” Mexican food

May 5, 2013 by
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It's Cinco de Mayo, which is actually almost more of an American holiday than a Mexican one. It technically celebrates a battle than occurred in the Mexican province of Puebla, but became a holiday that Mexican-Americans encouraged to signify pride in their heritage. And just as with Cinco de Mayo, the concept of what is "authentic" Mexican food, vs. Mexican-American… read more

Beyonce and the $900 titanium straw

May 2, 2013 by
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It's well-known that touring artists often have very specific requirements for food, etc. in their touring contracts. And it's kind of fun to read them, if for nothing more than realizing what a fantasy world must be like. So when the Daily Meal published Beyonce's touring contract requirements, we paused to look them over. Essentially, as far as food goes,… read more

Jerry Seinfeld on Coffee

April 26, 2013 by
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Apparently Jerry Seinfeld loves the Morning Edition show on National Public Radio, and just decided to call in one morning to discuss coffee. He is a relatively recent convert to coffee, having only started to drink it five years ago, but - being Seinfeld - has developed many coffee convictions. NPR obviously followed up and has just posted their conversation… read more

Mark Bittman interviews Michael Pollan

April 21, 2013 by
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In his recent New York Times column, Mark Bittman chatted with Michael Pollan about Pollan's newest book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. This isn't a cookbook - in fact, it only has four recipes - Bolognese, pork shoulder, sauerkraut, and bread - that Pollan uses to explore fundamental principles of cooking. As anyone familiar with both men would expect, the conversation… read more

Julia Child comes to life in a new, different type of app

April 17, 2013 by
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Since many of you enjoy our occasional notices of interesting food-related apps, we wanted to alert you to one that Random House, the long time publisher for Julia Child, has  issued - it's a unique app that is far more than just a cooking app. In AppStorm's just-published review of the app Mastering the Art of French Cooking, they describe this… read more

Food as comfort and solace

April 17, 2013 by
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It felt strange to be driving in to Boston yesterday, the day after the terrible bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line.  It was a gorgeous spring day, traffic was light but there was an edgy feeling, not helped by the large numbers of heavily armed police, security and army around the city. But having lived in London during the… read more

IACP 2013 Cookbook Award winners

April 10, 2013 by
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Fiona (left) and Jane (right) were honored to present the Eat Your Books General Cookbook Award last night to Maricel Presilla for her important work, Gran Cocina Latina.  The Awards were tremendous fun and you can see the complete list of winners here. HIghlights of the night were: Meeting Charles Phan of the wonderful Slanted Door restaurant (where we had… read more

Do TV chefs have to be sexy to succeed?

March 26, 2013 by
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Both the Guardian in the U.K. and the Braiser in the U.S. have recently weighed in on the question: Do TV chefs have to be sex symbols to be successful? It's a good question - and may explain why the most talented chefs are disappearing from TV while the more photogenic ones hang on (when was the last time you… read more

Two tirades against food television

March 20, 2013 by
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Every time that the Food Channel eliminates cooking shows in favor of a contest or non-cooking related channel, there are rumbles from the media. But two recent rants caught our attention as particularly well-written, including both insightfulness and thoroughness. Both are well worth the time to read; here are just a few of the highlights. Andy Greenwald in Grantland titles… read more
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