Curds and whey

February 24, 2014 by
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It's a good thing I am not lactose intolerant, because I have been on a dairy kick recently. First it was cultured butter, and now it's homemade ricotta cheese. It amazes me that something this simple can produce such fantastic results. Two of my more recent cookbook purchases have been Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses by Ricki… read more

The past is a foreign kitchen

February 23, 2014 by
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Recently The Australian held a contest to find the worst recipes. This search was inspired by food columnist John Lethlean after he discovered a recipe for lamb salad soufflé with lime jelly crystals and mayonnaise in the 1971 New Zealand Women's Weekly Cookbook. To make the soufflé, "First, you dissolve your jelly crystals, lime or lemon; then you stir in… read more

Every day is a celebration

February 22, 2014 by
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Today is National Margarita Day in the United States. This is, of course, not an official holiday, but a quick Google search turns up a plethora of similar food celebration days in the US and the UK. (My search for specific UK food holidays was hampered by the different use of the word holiday in these countries. I guess the… read more

Inconvenient truths

February 20, 2014 by
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Since I grew up in an agricultural area and spent a lot of time on my grandparent's farm, I was not surprised that a Huffington Post article on "disturbing" food facts noted that peanut butter may contain rodent hair. If you have ever seen field crops being harvested, you realize that many insects are extracted from the field along with… read more

Expose yourself to culture

February 18, 2014 by
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The Telegraph recently proclaimed that butter is "suddenly back in fashion," but for many of us butter never went out of style. Rich, creamy, and decadently delicious, butter has always been an essential ingredient in pastries, cakes and sauces, as well as being our preferred spread for bread, scones, and more. Most of the butter sold outside of continental Europe… read more

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

February 17, 2014 by
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People who love to cook frequently like to host dinner parties. It provides an opportunity to share one's cooking passion with friends in a relaxed, intimate setting. Cooking clubs have been popular for decades, with dedicated members who alternate hosting and cooking duties. The advent of the internet greatly expanded opportunities for like-minded people to get together. In the last… read more

The Piglet is here!

February 16, 2014 by
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For the past several years, Food52, inspired by The Morning News' Tournament of Books, has presided over The Piglet, a tournament of cookbooks. Sixteen notable cookbooks compete head to head in a bracket, each winner advancing to the next level, until a champion in crowned. Previous winners of the competition include A Girl and Her Pig by April Bloomfield and… read more

Use your noodle

February 5, 2014 by
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  Perhaps weather extremes have triggered comfort food cravings, or maybe it's just because pasta is delicious, but something has prompted a flood of pasta posts on news feeds everywhere. Food52, in collaboration with Mario Batali's How To Tuesdays, recently demonstrated how to make garganelli pasta. Garganelli is rustic pasta that resembles a cross between penne and tagliatelle, and appears… read more

Making time for food

February 3, 2014 by
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From salt to sausage, ice to ice cream, this fascinating food timeline traces the origins of many different foods and recipes. Some entries are surprising - the timeline states that popcorn predates olive oil by about 1,000 years. The left side of the timeline lists the approximate date of introduction or discovery of various foods, while the right side indicates the… read more

Bowled over? Here are game day alternatives

February 2, 2014 by
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  In the United States, many people are busy preparing for their Super Bowl parties, making dips, chili, snacks and even entire stadiums made out of food in anticipation of today's championship football game. Meanwhile, across either ocean, people are scratching their heads wondering why Americans (and Canadians) call this sport, which mainly uses hands and a "ball" that is… read more

Clearing up sausage confusion

January 30, 2014 by
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Unless you're a real sausage fan, it's likely that at some time you've faced a  recipe quandary - sausage types. How do you tell a bratwurst from a kielbasa? Here's a handy guide from Eatocracy  (check out the article for further details, buying suggestions from the Test Kitchen, as well as possible substitutes and uses): Frankfurter, aka Hot Dog: Beef… read more

Patriotic Plates

January 27, 2014 by
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Even though my mother told me not to play with my food, I think she would make an exception if I had made food as delightful as this promotion for the Sydney International Food Festival. The advertising agency designed 18 national flags using foods commonly associated with each country, and using the design of that country's national flag. I can't decide which I… read more

What to do when your garlic clove sprouts a green shoot

January 26, 2014 by
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Thanks to David Lebovitz, we have a definitive answer to one of the kitchen's little questions:  Should You Remove the Green Germ from Garlic? As he writes in his blog, conventional wisdom requires that, to avoid bitterness, you need to remove that little green sprout. But someone "told me that Marcella [Hazan] never removed the green germ (her reasoning being that… read more

If you like Ottolenghi’s books, you should learn about Persian food

January 24, 2014 by
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By spending a fair amount of time wandering the internet reading about food (I know, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it), I've become aware of some themes that may not make the "what's trending" or "hot" lists, but still seem to be surprisingly persistent. And one of those themes is Persian foods. I'm not sure why… read more

Culinary cocktails

January 22, 2014 by
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As previously noted, I will be taking over the reins for the Eat Your Books blog beginning in February. In her introduction, Lindsay mentioned that I am a cooking and baking enthusiast, and that I also dabble in cocktails. The only thing that makes me happier than pursuing one of these passions separately is combining the activities. Most of us… read more

Troubles with healthy food: Looking at kale, plus the Paleo Diet

January 20, 2014 by
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There were a couple of interesting news items recently that once again drove home the point that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. The first article, in the New York Times, Kale? Juicing? Trouble Ahead was written by Jennifer Berman. As she writes, "I was into health food before it was cool. There were only… read more

Four quick, out-of-the-ordinary tips from restaurant chefs

January 13, 2014 by
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Over at Oprah.com, they recently printed 4 Things Restaurant Chefs Wish They Could Tell You. The selection was interesting because it includes some advice not usually mentioned in similar lists. Specifically, they were: Use cheap mushrooms for most recipes, instead of  paying more for porcini or chanterelles. Stop using your knife so much: it's inefficient, and can even be damaging… read more

Tip: Rolling a Burrito or sandwich wrap so it stays intact

January 5, 2014 by
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It may not be the biggest kitchen issue, but learning to wrap a burrito so it doesn't fall apart is not only a useful bit of information, but surprisingly useful in other ways - it works for sandwich wraps, enchiladas, and other items as well. So thanks to the Kitchn for realizing that there should be a tutorial on How… read more

Bringing out the best of 7 Fall and Winter vegies

January 3, 2014 by
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Continuing our theme of healthy eating, we thought we'd bring you some advice on roasting winter vegetables, courtesy of Kenji Lopez-Alt over at Serious Eats. In his article The Food Lab: How to Roast Fall and Winter Vegetables, he does acknowledge that there is a simple approach, "Now, you can roast vegetables the easy way: just toss everything with oil,… read more

It’s time to focus on healthy snacking

January 2, 2014 by
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It's somewhat of a cliché to focus on healthy eating after the holidays, but let's face it - it's not a bad idea. So here, from the New York Times, is advice on Snacking Your Way to Better Health. And the gist of the article - eat more nuts. As Jane Brody writes: "I know what you're thinking: Aren't nuts fattening?… read more

Will these foods still rule in 2014?

December 31, 2013 by
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According to BuzzFeed, there were 13 Foods That Rose to Power in 2013. Here they are - and we'll leave you to ponder whether they will continue to rule, or other foods will come in to trump them: Cronuts Brussels Sprouts Oreos MSG Doritos Locos Taco Pumpkin Spice Ramen Burgers "Edibles" (e.g. marijuana-infused food like Nugtella) Pop-Tart Sandwiches The Horse… read more

Have the British turned from tea to coffee?

December 30, 2013 by
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The Guardian is pondering why and when the British turned their preferences from tea to coffee. According to their article No time for tea? How Britain became a nation of coffee drinkers: "Research by the Grocer shows that volume sales of shop tea are down by 6% in the past 12 months, while supermarket Nescafé sales have increased by 6.3%. Every… read more

Three cooking tips from Thomas Keller

December 29, 2013 by
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During a recent interview with world-famous chef Thomas Keller, The Splendid Table asked him how home cooks could improve their skills. He responded with three pieces of advice; here is a summary of the lengthier reply NPR printed in their article: Learn to salt properly: Among the other tips he gives about salting, we found his advice about salting technique… read more

Happy 75th Birthday to the chocolate chip cookie

December 23, 2013 by
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We're taking a moment off from holiday cheer to note a different celebration - it's the 75th birthday of the chocolate chip cookie. For those of you as interested in food history as we are, The New Yorker has a wonderful history of the cookie here. Briefly, after its origin at the Tollhouse Inn in Massachusetts, the cookie performed stalwart service… read more

Peel an orange, without the gouging, by unrolling it

December 20, 2013 by
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Oranges are in season now - and a nice alternative to holiday cookies for snacking. And thanks to Jewel Pie we have a way to peel them without having to gouge the skin with your fingernail - just roll them out as a strip.  Full explanation and photos can be found at an Easy way to eat mandarin oranges (without… read more
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