CookShelfHave you ever watched professional chefs on a cooking show cooking a piece of meat in a skillet, scooping liquid from the pan in deft strokes and pouring it over the steak or chop? This technique, called butter basting,…
While I find it exciting to challenge myself by trying new recipes, sometimes I just want the old 'tried and true' dishes. Whether it's because I am tired at the end of the day, I don't feel well, or because something…
Fall has begun in earnest in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, with crisp morning temperatures, crystal clear days, and gorgeous displays of color. Along with the change of the season comes a change in foods, with…
Pancakes have been a breakfast staple for centuries. Over the years regional specialties emerged, but restaurants have tended to go for the standard buttermilk pancake topped with syrup or fruit. As Bon Appétit reports,…
In addition to cookbooks, I have other kitchen obsessions: Bundt pans, ramekins, vintage food tins - and aprons. Ever since I was given an apron for my college graduation (along with a copy of Joy of Cooking), I've been…
It seems there is no escaping politics in today's world. Even if you try to escape by retreating into the kitchen to do some cooking and baking, political issues can still creep in. Food and agriculture are playing huge…
While I have a decent-sized cookbook collection, I realize that I simply cannot have every new cookbook that catches my eye, nor can I collect every worthy classic. There is only so much shelf space and budget…
Everyone has a food that he or she just doesn't like. Many times the dislike reaches all the way back into the person's childhood. However, these preferences are not carved into stone, and you can turn from someone who…
Few things fascinate me as much as food history. It's always interesting to find out the origins of food, and usually the stories say as much about the people as they do the foodstuff themselves. Julia Moskin recently…
Alton Brown provided his fans with a bit of good news earlier this week, when he posted a status update about Good Eats to his Facebook page. In it, he announced that he's "revisiting the Good Eats library and…
There are many reasons that people downsize their homes, the most obvious being retirement or divorce. If you have a kitchen filled with gadgets and cookware (not to mention a study stuffed with cookbooks), the thought…
Food Biz People Holidays & Celebrations
Some cookbooks age much better than others. After a couple of decades, what's left of the 'unicorn food' books are going to littering vintage shops, with shoppers making snide comments about how silly people were back…
