Tips for easy cake icing

February 12, 2013 by
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If you're an experienced cake froster (icer), this blog probably isn't for you. But for those of us who ice cakes only on special occasions (Valentine's Day, birthdays, etc.) it doesn't hurt to be reminded of some basic frosting rules that will truly make a difference. After all, our EYB members have over 600 cake cookbooks in their collections (750 of… read more

When can you claim a recipe as your own?

February 5, 2013 by
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Last month The L.A. Times published an article that delved into a thorny problem in food editing - who actually owns a recipe? When can you claim a recipe as your own? In The complicated case of the simple cookie The Times described how a rosemary apricot bar cookie had been declared the winner of a recent baking contest. Several readers wrote in… read more

Is the fish cooked?

February 4, 2013 by
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The classic time guide for cooking fish is to cook it for ten minutes for every one inch of thickness. But this really isn't a satisfactory method as it leaves too many questions open - At what oven or stove top temperature? What kind of fish? Oily or dry texture? And, as Molly Stevens at FineCooking writes: "The often-quoted theory… read more

Jello and Popcorn

February 3, 2013 by
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As we already wrote the only Superbowl blog you'll need (Margaritas and guacamole), we thought that, while we'd get in the Superbowl spirit today, we'd take an off-beat path. So we're noting two recent articles on under-praised snack foods - jello and popcorn. Buzzfeed has a wonderful photo essay on popcorn that should provide lots of inspiration, as should some… read more

Customizing garlic flavor

January 28, 2013 by
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Susie wrote an interesting blog today on the problem of having too many Italian cookbooks (see Magic number) so we thought this recent article from Serious Eats,  On Developing Garlic Flavor, might make a nice companion piece. Kenji Alt, who writes Ask The Food Lab, deals with the question of how to tame garlic's harshness. In the article he reveals some… read more

Celebrating Australia Day with some of our favorite bloggers

January 25, 2013 by
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It's Australia Day and this gives us a chance to say "hi" to some of our most avid (and friendly) EYB community members. We also thought we'd give a shout out to the work of food bloggers down under. Here are some of our favorites - all indexed here at EYB - that will give you an idea of the… read more

The anti-loneliness bowl

January 23, 2013 by
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Many new kitchen items have us scratching our heads and wondering what were they thinking? (see tipsy wine glasses among others). But we kind of see the attraction in the latest item that Gizmodo is reviewing: a smartphone dock bowl. Besides holding the smartphone in close enough proximity for you to read it  - hands free -  while eating soup or ramen… read more

The ultimate shelf life guide

January 22, 2013 by
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A few weeks ago we wrote a blog about expiry dates, Don't throw out that food, and discussed whether an expired date really meant you needed to throw out an item. Since then we've discovered a useful site called Still Tasty: Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide. Simply type in a food or beverage name, and the site will tell you how long… read more

Why you should massage your kale

January 21, 2013 by
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There is no question that this is the year (decade?) of kale. Lauded by one and all, kale is considered a super-healthy food. Per WebMD, "Kale is an amazing vegetable being recognized for its exceptional nutrient richness, health benefits, and delicious flavor.  Eating a variety of natural, unprocessed vegetables can do wonders for your health, but choosing super-nutritious kale on… read more

Can you cook a steak by dropping it from a great height?

January 18, 2013 by
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Most of us have probably seen space capsules returning to earth, amazed at the blazing heat that engulfs the capsule. So the question: Can you cook a steak by dropping it from a great height? is not that outlandish. But why would you ask such a question? Well, if you love physics or science, this is actually an interesting "real… read more

Can you eat cheese rind? Yes, but…

January 14, 2013 by
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The Food Republic recently asked a very basic question: Which Cheese Rinds Are Edible? And the answer is surprisingly simple: - as long as it isn't man-made (like wax), the rind is edible. But that does lead to a second question: Does it taste good? And that is definitely up to the taster - some will find the rind elevates the… read more

Do the Brits have an unrequited love affair with American food?

January 11, 2013 by
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The Word of Mouth blog at The Guardian has an intriguing entry today - Why do Brits love American food? According to the author, Katy Salter, "Britain is having a passionate love affair with American grub and, embarrassingly for us, it's an unrequited romance." She traces this romance from the cupcake to the burger to barbecue, and believes much of… read more

Is it worth it to grow your own vegetables?

January 9, 2013 by
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Some time ago we read an excellent book by William Alexander called The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost HIs Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden. The subtitle describes the book well, and the $64 refers to the cost of his perfect heirloom tomato after calculating the money he… read more

Why drinking tea was once considered to be sinful

January 2, 2013 by
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Now that the egg nog, champagne cocktails, wassail cups, and other holiday potables are being put aside for awhile, we thought it only appropriate to note that this is national hot tea month. At least it is in the United States - we imagine that in other English-speaking countries they have the intelligence to realize that every month is hot… read more

10 ways to identify a good restaurant

December 27, 2012 by
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As New Year's Eve approaches, it may strike many as a good time to try out a new restaurant - bring in the new with the new. Here's an informative list we found at the Amateur Gourmet that may help: 10 Signs You're in a Good Restaurant. We've added a few of our own comments, but also check out the article for… read more

Celebrating leftovers

December 26, 2012 by
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According to The Guardian, food's latest hot trend may be leftovers.  First, however, we need to expand the definition of leftovers. Leftovers are not just food that has been cooked and not eaten, but the food parts that are discarded before even being cooked. According to the article, there are multiple reasons why we have chosen to discard leftovers (and,… read more

These food quotes impart wisdom in just a few words

December 24, 2012 by
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The attraction of quotes is how truly wise just a few words can be. In that spirt, here are some of our favorite food quotes from a list - compiled by Buzz Feed - of the 24 Best Quotes Ever About Food: Everything you see I owe to spaghetti - Sophia Loren The most remarkable thing about my Mother is that… read more

The best time-saving tips of 2012

December 22, 2012 by
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The Kitchn is running a series of "Best of 2012" articles, and we particularly liked this one, Homemade in a Hurry: 15 Time-Serving Tips. From coring a head of lettuce in 3 seconds, to four ways to soften butter, to quickly peeling fava beans, to freezing smoothie ingredients in muffin tins, this list truly has something to help everyone.  And we'd like… read more

3 food & drink apps for your consideration

December 20, 2012 by
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Food- and drink-related apps are becoming better and better. Here are three that have been singled out in the press recently that we thought you might be interested in: The Kitchn recently published, This New Italian Cooking iPad May Be the Best We've Seen. They introduce it with "If you're looking for a clever yet easy-to-understand Italian cooking app, we… read more

The year’s most embarrassing live TV food moments

December 18, 2012 by
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We're fans of Monty Python, which we can still catch at occasional odd hours on TV, and in that tradition we thought we'd bring you this list from the Braiser of "The 11 Most Disasterous Morning Show Cooking Segments of 2012." Some of them have reached notoriety already, such as the infamous scene of Paula Deen groping Matt Lauer who… read more

Why we eat what we eat – a new blog presents a unique viewpoint

December 16, 2012 by
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In a recent Huff Post Food blog, Why I Don't Read Your Damn Food Blog, Stephanie Stiavetti details quite clearly what makes a bad food blog. What made this article particularly interesting was to compare the faults she lists (poor writing, too much advertising, bad photography, uninteresting writing) with a new food blog that we ran across recently and, frankly,… read more

Led by Bobby Flay, star chefs argue for a gender-neutral Easy Bake Oven

December 12, 2012 by
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We'd be remiss if we didn't alert our readers to the latest viral controversy, since it reflects on the way many of us may have enjoyed our first cooking experiences. Apparently, an eighth-grade girl has petitioned Hasbro to offer Easy Bake Ovens in more colors than just pink, backing up her request with a widely viewed You Tube video of… read more

Are vegetable or bean chips that much healthier than potato chips?

December 10, 2012 by
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With the holiday season, there are more parties and more snack foods. In that context, It's been fun watching the proliferation of "healthy" chips in the snack food aisle. After all, it's been drilled into us that potato chips are bad for us, so it seems to make sense that kale chips, black bean chips - indeed anything not labeled… read more

Mint confusion: spearmint vs. peppermint

December 6, 2012 by
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Peppermint is a popular holiday flavor - where would we be without candy canes? And spearmint can also be a popular candy flavor  - think gum. Most of us would  regard these two flavors as quite different, yet most recipes just call for "mint." So which type should you use? And which flavor do you get when you buy undifferentiated… read more

23 unexpected, but intriguing,flavor combinations

November 30, 2012 by
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One of the hardest challenges for cooks is to go beyond cookbooks (no matter how great they are) and branch out into experimenting with creating individual recipes, maybe using unusual food combinations. And here is where true taste preferences can come in (peanut butter and pickles anyone?). But despite the obstacles, it remains a fascinating challenge. In this context, we… read more
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