Sep 30, 2009 -
We know that eating less meat is a good thing — it reduces your carbon footprint, lowers your grocery bill, and makes sense for your heart. But does it taste good? Vegetarian diets are often associated with a bland menu of tofu, sprouts, and brown rice day after day.
- 10 Comments
Jul 18, 2009 -
The latest book from Food & Wine, Quick from Scratch Chicken Cookbook ($25), might be dedicated entirely to chicken, but it is by no means boring. We all know that chicken is a wonderful lean protein, but cooking a boneless, skinless breast can become awfully dull. This cookbook is the antidote to monotonous chicken.
- 1 Comment
Oct 29, 2009 -
Whether it's custard that won't set or brittle fleur de sel caramels, we've all had failed cooking attempts. But when disaster strikes while closely following a recipe, it poses the question: Whose recipes can be trusted? And whose cannot?
- 21 Comments
Sep 12, 2008 -
Lately I've been feeling a little depressed about Summer coming to an end. I need something to get me excited for Fall, and have decided on a cookbook.
Not just any old cookbook; I want one that features Fall's most fabulous flavors, and I asked you to help me find it.
- 3 Comments
Aug 15, 2008 -
From recipe card filing systems to customized innovations like the tastebook, there are many ways to organize recipes. Still, if you own more than a dozen cookbooks, keep some of your family's recipes on record, and have limited kitchen space, maintaining an organized cooking library can be tough.
I've always struggled to arrange my kitchen paperwork — treasured family recipes, cookbooks, personal creations, recipes I've come across online, and appliance instruction manuals — all in one place.
- 19 Comments
May 07, 2007 -
A month or two ago, Yvette Garfield told me about a new cookbook she was (sorry for the pun, but wait for it...) "cooking up." It is a series of ethnic cookbooks aimed towards children called Handstand Kids.
Fast forward to last week and a copy of Handstand Kids Italian Cookbook was waiting on my desk.
- 6 Comments
Apr 27, 2009 -
Studies on health and the health of the environment continue pointing to the fact that eating less meat is beneficial. It is from the perspective that you can reduce both your carbon footprint and your long term health by cutting back on your carnivorous ways that the authors of Almost Meatless ($22.50) penned their new cookbook. A collaboration between a former vegan, Joy Manning, and a committed meat eater, Tara Mataraza Desmond, this cookbook is full of recipes that include meat, fish, and poultry in the ingredient list.
- 14 Comments
May 10, 2007 -
One of my favorite websites is 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson. So, when I found out that Heidi's cookbook, Super Natural Cooking was finally published, I had to get my hands on a copy. I had no idea that it would become one of my most favorite cookbooks - I have even taken to reading it before bedtime - especially since it's one that's "good for me."
- 6 Comments
Mar 07, 2007 -
I was lucky enough to get sent an advanced, not-for-sale copy of Cat Cora's new cookbook, Cooking From The Hip. Cat Cora is the executive chef at Bon Appetit magazine and Food Network's only female Iron Chef. She believes in "cooking from the hip" (a phrase that I still don't fully understand, I keep picturing her in a kitchen doing Shakira style hip motions while she cooks...) which is her term for creating dishes from fresh ingredients and pantry staples.
- 8 Comments
May 23, 2009 -
One recent Summer afternoon at Sam's Chowder House, I enjoyed some of the best New England clam chowder I'd ever had. Ever since, then, I've had lingering thoughts of making an inspired version at home, which was further encouraged when I came across a copy of The Summer Shack Cookbook, in which I earmarked a promising recipe for fresh-from-scratch, authentic New England clam chowder.
The recipe calls for quahogs, the unofficial chowder clam of New England, but since those aren't widely available on the West Coast, I substituted them with Manila clams.
- 4 Comments