Book Reviews
Jean Anderson spent 10 years researching the most popular recipes of the 20th century to chronicle how our culinary preferences have changed over the century. The result is the American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century...
Andy Schloss and Dave Joachim have created the new standard textbook of grilling with their Mastering the Grill: The Owner's Manual for Outdoor Cooking. I so wish I had had this book at the beginning of the summer. Though at...
Like sunshine on a cloudy day. That is my friend Jaden Hair, and that is the spirit that dances throughout her just released The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. If you are not familiar with Jaden, she is the wacky and wonderful...
Sooner or later, every dedicated cook learns that a recipe is simply a launching point for cooking, a guideline. If you really want to learn to cook well you need to understand what gives a dish balance in taste, how...
Add the turkey, season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until cooked through and slightly browned (but not tough as a shoe). Not tough as a shoe. This is what...
The ultimate ice cream book has finally arrived! And just in time for summer and the onset of the ice cream season (is there ever not a season for ice cream?) David Lebovitz, former pastry chef at Chez Panisse, hilarious...
If you have ever lived in Paris, been to Paris, thought about traveling to Paris, or just in need of a good laugh, get your hands on a copy of David Lebovitz's delightful new book, The Sweet Life in Paris...
Ever since I started this food blog a few years ago, the name "Harold McGee" kept popping up here and there among my food blogging friends. "Harold McGee said this..." "Have you checked Harold?" "According to Harold McGee..." I had...
My friend Heidi Swanson, creator of the gorgeous 101 Cookbooks food blog, has authored a new vegetarian cookbook, Super Natural Cooking, filled with advice, ideas, and recipes for cooking with natural foods. Ever find yourself in the natural foods section...
If I were only allowed only one cookbook, Joy of Cooking, by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, would be the one. First published by Irma Rombauer in 1931, Joy of Cooking is probably the most referenced cookbook in America...
My Life in France, by Julia Child, published posthumously, April 2006. When Julia Child stepped off the boat in Le Havre, France in 1948, she was 36 years old, had never been to Europe, and didn't know how to cook...
The last twenty years has seen phenomenal growth of the availability of great food from around the world in local markets and restaurants. Used to be you couldn't get, or even make, a decent taco in Boston. But all that...
Everybody approaches cooking in their own way. Some of us love recipes, and follow them to the letter, rarely veering off the printed word. Some of us apply our inventive nature to cooking, creating new dishes on the spot with...
Scan a few pages of Michael Ruhlman's new The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen and it quickly becomes apparent that Elements is no ordinary ABC guide to home cooking. In this book Ruhlman sets out...
Move over Martha. There's a new high priestess of growing your own food in town, and her name is Novella Carpenter. Who needs a palatial estate in suburban New York when you have a run-down apartment in the middle of...
Tender at the Bone is Gourmet Magazine Editor Ruth Reichl's hilarious memoir of growing up and the people who nutured her love and appreciation of food. The book starts off with many stories of her mother, The Queen of Mold...
The editors and cooks of Cooks Illustrated Magazine tested thousands of recipes in their test kitchen to come up with what they believe are the best recipes for each of 700 classic mostly American standards in their 550 page book...
Ever wonder how popcorn pops? Or why eggs which are liquid at room temperature become solid when heated? Or how baking powder works, and how it differs from baking soda? These and other questions are answered in-depth in The Epicurean...
A couple of years ago my friend Elizabeth Abbott turned me on to Time Life's cook book series from the late 70s, The Good Cook series. Elizabeth's mother Maria is a fabulous cook (see her lamb curry recipe). As I...
