One animal books
It used to be that if you wanted to find that familiar diagram of a bovine, carved up with dotted lines into "rump," "loin," "plate," "brisket", you'd find yourself heading back to the Joy of Cooking, which was the last…
Shelf Life With Susie
Book News Shelf Life With Susie
New Season Cookbooks Preview 2012
As the seasons change it's high time for a peek ahead to the cookbooks coming round the corner, including a veritable parade of big titles. These are some of ones Susie has spotted that are coming out shortly in North…
The selling of style
Something odd is going on in cookbook merchandising, and I'm trying to understand it. We're all familiar with the explosion of food websites and food blogs in the last 10 years and their inevitable transition into…
Matters of taste
Strangely enough, in just this past week I've seen two very different books on the scientific basis of taste. One looks at taste from a human-centered point of view. Barb Stuckey's a professional food developer. Taste…
One recipe cookbooks
When you bought the cookbook, you were sure it was forever. You browsed through it on the first day, turning down pages or maybe sticking post-its on the pages. Within a week you had tried a couple of the recipes and…
Health food, then and now
In the mail the other day came a book whose title struck me as odd: 500 of the Healthiest Recipes and Health Tips You'll Ever Need. I wasn't sure, for a moment, what made it so odd. But then I realized it was that…
Have airplane food, will travel
It's midwinter break, and every other year that means a trip to Arizona to see my favorite in-laws, Grandma and Grandpa B. Unfortunately, it also means a long, cramped, economy flight with only two prospects:…
Labors of love
Along with our own Jane Kelly and 248 others, I attended the Roger Smith Cookbook Conference over the weekend. It was just as I'd hoped--good company, stimulating panel discussions, excellent food. Among the panelists…
Fancy cookies for Valentines big and small.
I have to confess I'm not really that great at holiday food projects. Every year I want to make an Epiphany cake, but never do since we don't follow any ecclesiastical calendar here and I never know when to do it. I…
Just for show
When you have several hundred cookbooks (or even over a thousand, as I know some of you EYBers do!), it's hard to admit that some of your books aren't for actual cooking. But it's true, isn't it? There's at least a…
The matter of exotics
Happy Year of the Dragon, everybody! Today, there are dragons in every Chinatown and every Chinese storefront. There are even dragons in every Chinese restaurant, in the form of xiao long bao ("little dragon buns" or…
Cookbook Lovers Shelf Life With Susie
An ode to culinary bookstores
My son and I spent the last few days in San Francisco, that gastronomic paradise, because I had a couple of book readings and a companion ticket burning a hole in my pocket. What a splendid town for a pair of…