Is preheating the oven necessary?

April 17, 2024 by
 |  2 Comments  |  Leave Comment
oven dial
Almost every baking recipe begins with the words "Preheat the oven to NNN degrees," but is it really necessary to go through that step? Wouldn't it be more energy efficient to just put your food items in while the oven is heating? The answers to those questions depend on what you are making, says cookbook author Alice Zaslavsky. She explains… read more

It’s rhubarb season already?!

April 16, 2024 by
 |  10 Comments  |  Leave Comment
My rhubarb plants are nearly ready to harvest, marking the earliest maturation since we moved to this location in late 2008. Glancing back at the posts about rhubarb's return as a harbinger of spring, the date when the post appeared has moved backward several weeks since 2014 when I started writing for the EYB blog. That year, the rhubarb post… read more

May 2024 Great Big Cookbook Club Summary

April 16, 2024 by
 |  Leave Comment
As our members know, each month we offer several cooking options in our Eat Your Books Cookbook Club. There are other fun cookbook clubs around the interwebs and we’d like to highlight those for those members who might want to cook or bake something other than our choices.  We want to get this information out to you so you can prepare… read more

Food news antipasto

April 14, 2024 by
 |  4 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Following a storm of negative social media posts, Momofuku has said that it won't enforce the trademark for 'chili crunch' or 'chile crunch'. “Over the past week, we have heard the feedback from our community and now understand that the term ‘chili crunch’ carries broader meaning for many,” the company said in a statement. Small business owners who had been… read more

The life-changing magic of…nothing

April 13, 2024 by
 |  9 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Hyperbole in advertising and news reporting is almost as old as print itself, so it should not be surprising that hyperbole is common on the internet. The extent of it is breathtaking, however, as seemingly every other article or post touts "the life-changing magic" of a given technique, product, or method. Given the slant of my news feeds, most of… read more

Who wins in this kitchen appliance showdown?

April 12, 2024 by
 |  6 Comments  |  Leave Comment
One of the best ways to start an argument is to make a claim that X is better than Y. It doesn't really matter what X or Y is, just stating that one is superior to another will set off passionate debate that often devolves into insults. This scenario popped into my head when I saw an article at Eater… read more

Flavorama Cookbook Giveaway

April 11, 2024 by
 |  76 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Enter our US giveaway to win one of three copies of Flavorama: The Unbridled Science of Flavor and How to Get It to Work for You by Arielle Johnson. In November of last year, I shared an excerpt and a bit about this amazing book and author in this article so I will not repeat that information here. Also, the… read more

Hot Sheet – Cookbook Giveaway

April 11, 2024 by
 |  101 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Enter our US giveaway to win one of three copies of Hot Sheet: Sweet and Savory Sheet Pan Recipes for Every Day and Celebrations by Olga Massov and Sanaë Lemoine. Hot Sheet: Sweet and Savory Sheet Pan Recipes for Every Day and Celebrations by Olga Massov and Sanaë Lemoine teaches us how to transform everyday meals into extraordinary ones, with more… read more

Let them eat snake

April 10, 2024 by
 |  10 Comments  |  Leave Comment
We've heard a lot of buzz about how bugs might be the next big thing in environmentally-friendly protein and now we're apparently moving up the food chain to snakes. An article in Salon reports that some scientists believe snake could be a good solution for sustainable protein. These researchers claim that commercial snake farming (in particular pythons) could provide a… read more

Every Last Bite Cookbook Giveaway

April 10, 2024 by
 |  150 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Enter our worldwide giveaway to win one of three copies of Every Last Bite: Save Money, Time and Waste with 100 Recipes that Make the Most of Mealtimes by Rosie Sykes. Every Last Bite: Save Money, Time and Waste with 100 Recipes that Make the Most of Mealtimes by Rosie Sykes offers recipes, tips and practical advice for preparing fantastic food… read more

Fortnum & Mason Food Awards shortlist announced

April 9, 2024 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
Fortnum & Mason has long been a resource for English cookery, providing quality ingredients to generations of cooks since its founding in 1707. The company’s annual food and drink awards celebrate the best publications and broadcasts in the UK and Republic of Ireland. The shortlist for the 2024 award dropped earlier today, and it includes a broad variety of subjects:… read more

Anything’s Pastable and Pasta Giveaway

April 9, 2024 by
 |  111 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Enter our US giveaway to win one of three copies of Anything's Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People by Dan Pashman with one of those winners receiving the Sporkful collection of pasta from Sfoglini. Anything’s Pastable: 81 Inventive Pasta Recipes for Saucy People by Dan Pashman, the creator of The Sporkful and pasta shape inventor, shares innovative and delicious… read more

Second Helpings – Cookbook Giveaway

April 9, 2024 by
 |  153 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Enter our worldwide giveaway to win one of three copies of  Second Helpings: Transform Leftovers Into Delicious Dishes by Sue Quinn. The latest title from the prolific Sue Quinn is packed with ingenious ways to use up bits and bobs in the fridge, half-empty packets in the larder, past-their-best fruit and veg as well leftovers from previous meals. Sue Quinn… read more

Sugarcane – Cookbook Giveaway

April 8, 2024 by
 |  130 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Enter our worldwide giveaway to win one of three copies of Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes from My Filipino American Kitchen by Arlyn Osborne. Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes from My Filipino American Kitchen by Arlyn Osborne is a vibrant collection of recipes that offer extraordinary flavor combinations that are as striking to behold as they are delicious to eat. Drawing on her mixed-race upbringing… read more

Food news antipasto

April 7, 2024 by
 |  One Comment  |  Leave Comment
Condiments like chili crisp and chili crunch are having a moment right now. They add spiciness and texture to foods like dumplings, noodles, eggs, and even desserts. The ingredients are similar from brand to brand, with many calling their product chili crunch, but one brand wants to put an end to that. Momofuku, founded by David Chang, has issued cease-and-desist… read more

Are most cookbooks bad? One blogger thinks so

April 6, 2024 by
 |  15 Comments  |  Leave Comment
I stumbled upon a post by Tim Mazurek at his blog Lottie & Doof in which he makes some bold assertions about cookbooks. Mazurek thinks that most cookbooks published today are bad, stating that "the reality is that most cookbooks are not very good and very few people actually read them or cook from them, especially industry experts." He feels… read more

‘Shake’ and ‘quake’ foods

April 5, 2024 by
 |  3 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Early this morning a mild earthquake startled NYC-area residents. While this level of quake wouldn't cause a Californian to bat an eyelash, it is much less common to occur on the East Coast so it caught people's attention. Where I live has about the lowest possibility of earthquakes in the continental U.S., so if one were to strike here everyone… read more

2024 JBF Restaurant/Chef nominees, Humanitarian of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award announced, EYBD Previews, and more

April 5, 2024 by
 |  Leave Comment
On April 3rd, James Beard announced the 2024 Restaurant and Chef Award nominees and the honorees of the Leadership Awards, Humanitarian of the Year Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award. Please see the James Beard link to see the nominees for each region. Humanitarian of the Year Award goes to The LEE Initiative, an organization that promotes diversity, equity, and empowerment… read more

New Nach Waxman Award announced

April 4, 2024 by
 |  Leave Comment
Kitchen Arts & Letters bookstore in NYC and the Waxman family have announced a shortlist of nominations for the inaugural Nach Waxman Prize for Food and Beverage Scholarship. You may remember that Waxman, who founded Kitchen Arts & Letters in 1983, passed away suddenly in 2021. The prize will recognize a "US-published book which invites the general public to seriously… read more

World Central Kitchen team members killed in Gaza

April 2, 2024 by
 |  7 Comments  |  Leave Comment
We've written several times about World Central Kitchen, the humanitarian aid group founded by chef José Andrés in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then, the group has been on the front lines of natural disasters, armed conflicts, and other crises. Today we learned the devastating news that seven WCK team members in Gaza were killed in a strike… read more

April Fools’ Day food company pranks

April 1, 2024 by
 |  Leave Comment
I was traveling much of the day today, but I did see a few fun April Fools' Day pranks being posted to social media. It seems to me that pranks these days are very transparently jokes and not actual efforts to fool anyone, probably because it is hard to know what's real and what's fake in these strange times (AI… read more

A few words about amazing baking cookbooks

April 1, 2024 by
 |  2 Comments  |  Leave Comment
Every month, I try to deliver to our Members a comprehensive listing of all new cookbook releases but sometimes I miss a few - either as they are self-published or published in another region where I am unable to search adequately. Today, I want to tell you about a few cookbooks that I love that were not covered in those… read more

Food news antipasto

April 1, 2024 by
 |  5 Comments  |  Leave Comment
If you love cookbooks, chances are you have several written by chefs knocking about on your bookshelves. They often provide technical guidance or offer avant-garde flavor combinations and techniques. One of my favorite chef-written books is The Art of French Pastry by Jacquy Pfeiffer (ebook available for around $3 on Amazon, Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au). Over at Plate, Kate Leahy has… read more

To all the trends I loved before…and some I didn’t

March 30, 2024 by
 |  9 Comments  |  Leave Comment
I am not one to jump on every kind of bandwagon but I will hop on many that involve food. From the Dalgona coffee trend (what else did we have to do in the early Covid restrictions) back to the cupcake craze of the early 00s (I'm holding on to my cupcake carriers in case they make a comeback) to… read more

The battle over bread

March 27, 2024 by
 |  6 Comments  |  Leave Comment
During the pandemic, almost everyone turned into a sourdough bread baker. That phenomenon lasted only until supply chains started to catch up and people weren't idled in their homes, and I expect a fair amount of sourdough starter has since been tossed. It's a shame, really, because most inexpensive supermarket breads are ultra-processed tasteless loaves while a good loaf of… read more
« Older posts
Newer posts »
Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!

Categories

Archives