Posted by Lucy Baker, May 5, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Trust me: you mom has a wild side. It may not be as extreme as what-happens-in-Vegas-stays-in-Vegas, but she has definitely fantasized about trading in her prim office heels for a pair of beaten-up cowboy boots, and her calming mug of herbal tea for a killer watermelon margarita.
That's just what chef and food writer Paula Disbrowe did when she left the skyscrapers of New York City for the wide open plains of rural Texas. In Cowgirl Cuisine, this week's Cook the Book selection, Paula presents a collection of big-hearted, bold recipes, from breakfasts, soups and salads, to burgers, barbecue, and seductive desserts. All the dishes are composed of healthful ingredients such as whole grains and fresh local produce, but this is not a diet cookbook. Cowgirls don't have time to count calories.
'Win Cowgirl Cuisine'
We'll be excerpting a recipe from Cowgirl Cuisine everyday this week that's perfect for preparing for your mom, so on Sunday you can surprise her with brunch in bed, or better yet, a decadent, whiskey-spiked chocolate cake. In addition, you can enter to win her one of five copies of the book. Just tell us in the comments section below: what is the most memorable meal your mother has ever prepared for you?
Posted by Lucy Baker, April 28, 2008 at 2:15 PM
This week's Cook the Book feature is Lidia's Italy by Lidia Bastianich, famed restaurateur, Public Television personality and—as of last week—Papal chef. In her latest culinary compendium, Lidia takes home cooks on a whirlwind gastronomic tour of ten different places in Italy, from northern Piemont and central Rome, to southern Puglia and the island of Sicily.
These are the regions that Lidia loves best, and the ones that have most informed her own cooking. As she writes in her introduction: "Now I ask you to come with me to some of my favorite places in Italy. I want to introduce you to my friends and to some of the very fine food artisans who are keeping the Italian culinary tradition alive. I want you to meet some of the special people who make up the heartbeat of the cities in Italy, to experience the way they enjoy life, to see how they shop, and how the cook with these traditional products."
Win 'Lidia's Italy'
The 140 recipes are homey and diverse, from traditional pasta and fish dishes (think tomato ragu and brodetto), to innovative antipastos and desserts (roast peppers stuffed with tuna and anchovy, babàs with limoncello). We'll be excerpting one every day this week as part of our ongoing Cook the Book feature. In addition, we're giving away copies to five lucky readers. To enter for a chance to win, simply tell us in the comments section below: when you're cooking to impress, what dish do you prepare?
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 16, 2008 at 1:30 PM
This week's Cook the Book is another from the great River Cottage book series. The author, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is a celebrity chef in Britain, known for such series as TV Dinners and, after he moved full-time to his country home, River Cottage, for several shows based around the sustainable-farming lifestyle he cultivates there. The River Cottage Cookbook brings elements of his previous books under one roof, and provides detailed guidance on everything from gardening to choosing and keeping livestock. In fact, it's organized into four parts—gardening, livestock, fish, and hedgerow—based on the provenance of the featured ingredients.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 5, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Those of you interested in the book biz may have read about a new venture that aims to rejigger how authors are paid, creating a system that may ultimately benefit both authors and publishers.
Authors typically get advances, or money up front from the publisher. Often times, that's all the money an author sees from a book. That's because a book has to "earn out" the advance before an author can start sharing in the royalties. So if a writer gets, say, a $60,000 advance and the sale of each book counts toward, oh, $3 of that $60,000, the book has to sell 20,000 copies before the publisher recoups the advance and starts paying out royalties. Sadly, a lot of good books don't ever hit that mark.
What's this have to do with food? Well, Michael Ruhlman connects some dots on his blog, citing a similar approach that Chicago restaurateur Nick Kokonas is taking. Kokonas, along with chef Grant Achatz, created famed restaurant Alinea, and they're crafting a book along these lines. As Ruhlman says: "The new model created by Kokonas and perhaps soon a similar one by HarperCollins is exciting because it stands to enable chefs who can finance their own projects to do exactly the kind of books they want to do—which means we’re likely to see more risk taking and more innovative books."
Posted by Melissa Hall, April 4, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Southern Foodways appears on Fridays as part of our collaboration with the Southern Foodways Alliance, an organization based in Oxford, Mississippi, that "documents and celebrates the diverse food cultures of the American South." Dig in!
At long last, the SFA is producing a cookbook. We've thought about it. Talked about it. And, we've heard you ask the question: "Why don't you guys do this?" We listened and it's happening.
Our cookbook team has been working since last fall to figure out how the thing will look (a fun, funky, respectful riff on community cookbooks), what recipes we'll include (nothing from previously published sources or generic web sites—only the tried and true, much loved and well-used, creased and grease stained), and how we'll acknowledge contributors (we're going old school; we mean really old school—Mrs. Emily Smith of Wilmore, Kentucky—you get the picture).
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 24, 2008 at 5:45 PM
This week's Cook the Book featured cookbook is Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express. The subtitle of the book is "130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast," and with the exception of a handful of recipes in this title, it's a pretty accurate description—with dishes that are either assembled and finished quickly or those that are assembled quickly and then finished in the oven, allowing the appliance to do most of the work while you lounge or take care of other more pressing matters.
Win 'Nigella Express'
We'll be excerpting a recipe a day this week as part of our ongoing Cook the Book feature. The first of those will be up shortly, but for now it's time to let you in on how you can enter to win a copy of this book. Simply share your favorite time-saving tip in the Comments section below.
Five (5) winners will be chosen at random from among eligible comments, and comments will be open until noon ET, Monday, March 31. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM
If there are two cuisines Arthur "The Food Maven" Schwartz knows best, they're Jewish and Italian. He's already done an Italian book, so he tackles the likes of latkes, kreplach, knishes, and kugel in Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking. If you're not lucky enough to have grown up with a bubbe fussing over you and cooking you some of the most amazing comfort food ever, then this book can help you approximate the experience yourself.
Win 'Jewish Home Cooking'
We'll be excerpting a recipe a day this week as part of our ongoing Cook the Book feature. The first of those will be up shortly, but for now it's time to let you in on how you can enter to win a copy of this book. Simply tell us what your favorite Jewish food item is in the Comments section below.
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and comments will be open until noon ET, Monday, March 24. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 3, 2008 at 1:30 PM
The featured tome in this week's Cook the Book is one I've been looking forward to trying out since we got it in the office a few weeks ago. Panini Express: 70 Delicious Recipes Hot Off the Press, by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman gave me an excuse to do something I've been thinking about for a while now—buy a panini press for the office and get to town making sandwiches for lunch. So for today and the rest of the week, we'll be excerpting one recipe from the book daily and bringing it to you as an overview of the book.
Among the 70 sandwich recipes are some familiar panini and some unexpected ones. And they range from vegetarian options to the range of meats and cheeses. Daniel Leader was one of the earliest proponents of artisanal bread-baking in the U.S. and is the owner of Bread Alone in upstate New York, so the book includes not only panini recipes but a handful of instructions for breads as well.
Win 'Panini Express'
As is always the case with our weekly Cook the Book feature, we've got five (5) copies of this book to give away to our readers. Simply name your favorite panini sandwich in the Comments section below.
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and comments will be open until noon ET, Monday, March 10. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 29, 2008 at 9:30 AM
The latest in Heidi Swanson's "Favorite Cookbooks" series on 101 Cookbooks features fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi dishing on his go-to cooking guides. Among others: Complete Techniques, Jacques Pepin; How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman; Lidia Bastianch's books; and, hey, check it out: The Young Man and the Sea, by Dave Pasternack and Serious Eats' own Ed Levine! Says Mizrahi:
I wouldn't know what to call my cooking style. Sometimes it's
hit-or-miss but mostly it's plain, plain, plain. I think the best
things are the plainest. The best thing I make is mint chocolate chip
ice cream with fresh mint that comes from my garden in the summer. I'm
also really good at fruit tarts now. I use Jacques Pepin's recipes for
doughs, which are FLAWLESS. All his recipes are FLAWLESS. I might call
my style "When a Jew Relaxes, He Can Cook Okay."
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 25, 2008 at 2:15 PM
This week's Cook the Book is one we've mentioned before on the site—Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson. If you haven't heard of Hopkinson, chances are you aren't English; in Britain, this book was voted the most useful cookbook ever by a group of chefs, food writers, and readers. We've already featured Roast Chicken's namesake Roast Chicken recipe, so this week we'll be highlighting additional dishes each day. Monday's will be along shortly, but first ...
Win 'Roast Chicken and Other Stories'
And as is always the case with our weekly Cook the Book volume, we've got five (5) copies of this book to give away to our readers. Simply tell us your chicken story in the comments section below. We leave it up to you to interpret what a "chicken story" is and what it consists of. Good luck!
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and comments will be open until noon ET, Monday, March 3. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 19, 2008 at 2:45 PM
This week's Cook the Book volume is Jamie Oliver's Cook with Jamie. I've admired Oliver's work over the years; I mean, what's not to like? Not only is he a good cook, he places education and betterment at the heart of his mission, whether it's through his Fifteen foundation and restaurant or his attempt to bring better school lunches to Britain's kids.
Cook with Jamie carries on that tradition. And even though it's Oliver's seventh book, it's the one he says he feels he should have written first, since it's a "basics" book. It's textbooklike in size and heft, with beautiful photographs and handsome type design—so much so that you'd almost feel bad about staining the pages as you cook from it.
We'll be featuring excerpted recipes adapted from Cook with Jamie over the course of the week. The first one will be along shortly. Until then ...
Win 'Cook with Jamie'
Anyway, as is always the case with our Cook the Book feature, we've got five (5) copies to give away. All you have to do to have a chance to win one is answer the following in the comments section below:
Who taught you to cook?
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and comments will be open until noon ET, Monday, February 25. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by The Serious Eats Team, February 4, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so with the next two Cook the Book selections we will concern ourselves with sweets appropriate for the occasion. The first of our cookbooks for exploration is Alice Medrich's Chocolate Holidays: Unforgettable Desserts for Every Season
. The book is geared toward people who love baking but might not have the time to devote to it, so each of its recipes has been chosen for brevity and ease of preparation.
The first of these will be along in a few minutes, but first, we'd like to let you know you can win a copy of this book. All you have to do is answer in the comments below: How do you indulge in chocolate? Hot cocoa? Chocolate cake? A rich and creamy pudding? Chocolate bars?
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and comments will be open until noon ET, Monday, February 11. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 28, 2008 at 2:30 PM
This week's Cook the Book is one we chose with the Super Bowl in mind. You see, chili, nachos, and bean dips are Super Bowl parties, and Robb Walsh's The Tex-Mex Cookbook is chockfull of great ideas for these dishes. We'll be bringing you some of these recipes this week as we lead up to the game.
Along with the recipes, though, what really makes this book is all the great historical information that Walsh packs into it. From the history of chili joints and "chili queens" to the birth of the nacho, The Tex-Mex Cookbook will give you fodder for small talk during time outs and dud commercials.
And, as always, we're giving away five (5) copies of Tex-Mex this week. All you have to do is answer in the comments: What is your favorite Super Bowl snack?
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and comments will be open until noon ET, Monday, February 4. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 21, 2008 at 1:15 PM
This week's Cook the Book again mines the healthy theme that's in keeping with the month of January (resolutions, diets, better eating) with Lorna Sass's Whole Grains: Every Day, Every Way.
With this book, Sass won the healthy-focus cookbook category in the 2007 James Beard Awards. And with good reason—Whole Grains aims to help readers put its namesake foodstuff into everyday dishes in ways that are not only good for us but that are actually healthy and delicious.
Win This Book
As is the case with our weekly Cook the Book feature, we've five (5) copies to give away. All you have to do is tell us in the comments: What whole grain do you find easiest to incorporate into your diet?
Five winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters. Comments will close at 3 p.m. ET, January 28. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 14, 2008 at 2:00 PM
This week's Cook the Book continues in a healthy vein for the month of January with The Culinary Institute of America's Techniques of Healthy Cooking. Though almost textbook-like in format and heft, it's anything but dull—what with its beautiful full-page photos and handsomely laid-out recipes, complete with nutritional information (of course) and additional metric measurements.
Besides recipes, five of which we'll be excerpting this week, Techniques of Healthy Cooking includes chapters on healthy diets and ingredients, and one on developing your own healthy recipes and menus. If you're keeping true to your resolution to lose weight or eat better, this book could serve as your primer.
Win This Book
As is the case with our weekly Cook the Book feature, we've five (5) copies to give away. All you have to do is tell us in the comments: What's your go-to healthy meal?
Five winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters. Comments will close at 3 p.m. ET, January 21. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 7, 2008 at 5:30 PM
This week's Cook the Book is an enabler for those of you who have made resolutions about eating healthy this year. It's Mollie Katzen's The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without, which came out somewhat recently—in October of last year.
Katzen is renown for having made vegetarian cooking mainstream through her work at The Moosewood Café in Ithaca, New York, and via The Moosewood Cookbook, which was inducted into the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame last year.
Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without is at once whimsical and serious. The whimsical, courtesy of sketches by Katzen and a typeface that looks handwritten.* And the serious, courtesy of Katzen's vegetable side dish recipes, of which there are just about 100—the first of which will be along shortly. Until then, amuse yourself with this ...
Win a Copy of This Book
We've got 5 copies of Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without to give away this week. To win a copy of this book, simply tell us here in the comments on this entry: What vegetable dish can't you live without?
Winners will be chosen at random from among the comments, and comments will close at 3 p.m. ET, Monday, January 14. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
* Normally I scoff at kitschy script typefaces, but this one makes the book feel like you're reading a book chockfull of downhome DIY goodness.
Posted by Ed Levine, December 31, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Like just about everyone else, the folks at Serious Eats world headquarters invariably end up eating way too much during the holidays. So like lemmings we all end up in the same place in the new year, watching our weight and wanting to take off a few pounds (or more).
That's why we were thrilled when we received a copy of The Food You Crave, by the Food Network's Ellie Krieger, in the mail. Unlike many other healthy, light cookbooks, Krieger's book actually has lots of dishes that sound great and normal. You don't find too many healthy cookbooks with recipes for a meatball and pepper hero. So we figured a great way to start the new year's Cook the Book columns is with The Food You Crave.
We have five copies of the timely book to give away. Just comment on this post telling us what healthy food you crave. You have until next Monday, January 7, at 3 p.m. ET to enter. Standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 24, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Last week's Cook the Book was The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics. This week, we're highlighting its companion book, The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics. The New Classics expands upon the original book, offering a range of tried and true recipes from the more recent years of Martha's 16-year run.
As always, we'll be giving away five (5) copies of the book. All you have to do is tell us, in the comments here, if you've ever cooked from a Martha recipe and, if so, what.
Five winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and the comments will remain open until Monday, December 31 at noon. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Jenn Smith, December 17, 2007 at 3:30 PM
After reflecting on the vast universe of cookbooks out there for just a few minutes, my head began to hurt. How do you whittle down even the basics to a manageable list when there are three versions of The Joy of Cooking alone to consider?
So instead of a general gift guide, I'm listing the some of the best cookbooks of 2007 with an eye toward what from this year's crop would make a jolly, useful, tasty present.
Prices don't include shipping unless otherwise noted.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 17, 2007 at 1:45 PM
This week's Cook the Book is The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The Original Classics. Having worked at Martha Stewart Living magazine for a number of years in my pre–Serious Eats days, I know firsthand the amount of exacting work that went into creating, testing, and editing these recipes, many of which are from Living magazine's articles throughout the years. They've been the source of a number of delicious meals and treats I've made for myself and others over the years. I might also add that the recipes here are not only a pleasure to cook from but reside in a book that features some wonderful art direction—with elegant typefaces and beautiful and helpful photos. As always, we'll be highlighting some choice recipes from this cookbook this week.
And, as always, we'll be giving away five (5) copies of the book. All you have to do is tell us, in the comments here, if you've ever cooked from a Martha recipe and, if so, what.
Five winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters, and the comments will remain open until Monday, December 24 at noon. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 10, 2007 at 2:15 PM
This week's Cook the Book has a title that almost guarantees it success with a certain large and very vocal subsection of the population: The Bacon Cookbook. See? You're already interested.
It's by James Villas and features 150 recipes inspired by bacon dishes from around the world. We've picked our five favorites from the book and will be featuring them all these week.
Win This Book
Monday's recipe will be up in a bit, but first we'd like to give you a chance to win one of five (5) copies of this cookbook. All you have to do is tell us:
What is your favorite bacon dish?
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters here. Comments will be open until noon Saturday, December 15. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Ed Levine, December 3, 2007 at 2:40 PM
Long before Top Chef co-host Tom Colicchio was a television personality, he was a working chef. One of the best, most thoughtful chefs in the country, for that matter.
In 2000 he wrote what was then a groundbreaking cookbook-manifesto, Think Like a Chef. In it he successfully and clearly deconstructed the chef's craft. It was and is a terrific book, full of recipes and sage advice. In fact, it's the equivalent of a master class from one of our greatest chefs.
Now Think Like a Chef has been reissued in a gorgeous trade paperback edition, and we are giving away five copies in this week's Cook the Book.
To enter, just tell us what your favorite cooking technique is.
The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Ed Levine, November 26, 2007 at 5:23 PM
I've been eating Susan Spicer's spectacularly delicious food in New Orleans first at the Bistro at Maison de Ville, then at her own Bayona, for more than 20 years now, and frankly I could never figure out why she'd never written a cookbook. With the publication of Crescent City Cooking my days of wondering are now over. Spicer has always had a way of combining classical French cooking techniques and traditional New Orleans food preparations and ingredients into her own effortlessly elegant cooking style. She manages to elevate comfort food into something special without tricking it up.
We've got eight copies of Crescent City Cooking to give away.
To enter: Tell us what your favorite New Orleans dish is when you comment on this post. Spicer's beautiful, picture-filled book has 170 recipes, everything from a Classic N'Awlins Remoulade to Elegant Oyster and Artichoke Soup to Bayona Extra-Cheesy Spoon Bread. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? Standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Ed Levine, November 5, 2007 at 2:45 PM
Conventional wisdom in the food world is that desserts in Italian restaurants are an afterthought. All I can say is that the people spouting that conventional wisdom have never had Gina DePalma's desserts at Babbo in New York City. I have had the privilege of eating DePalma's desserts since the restaurant opened. I have over the years sampled every dessert on the menu at least once, and I can tell you there isn't a loser in the bunch. Now that DePalma has written Dolce Italiano: Desserts From the Babbo Kitchen, we can all try to replicate the magic that comes out of Mario Batali's tiny kitchen at Babbo every night. What's really cool about Dolce Italiano is that DePalma herself wrote every word with the exception of Mario's introduction. It turns out the woman can write and cook.
Win One of Five Copies
As you may have guessed, Dolce Italiano is this week's featured Cook the Book entry. Like all Cook the Books, we have five (5) copies to give away. Just tell us what your favorite Italian sweet is.
Five winners will be chosen at random from among the comments. You have until 3 p.m. ET Saturday, November 10, to comment. The standard contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 29, 2007 at 2:00 PM
This week's installment of Cook the Book features Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. (We figured you could use a counterpoint to last week's selection.)
Bittman is, of course, known for his Minimalist column in the New York Times dining section, for his popular How to Cook Everything series of cookbooks, and for his cooking show on PBS—all of which stress an informal style of cooking, as befits the Minimalist title.
This book, obviously, puts Bittman's spin on vegetarian cooking. The first recipe we'll be highlighting from it will be along shortly, but, as always, let's take care of business.
We've got five (5) of these to give away this week. Simply tell us in the comments: What's your favorite vegetarian recipe?
Winners will be chosen at random, and commenting will close at 3 p.m. ET Saturday (November 3). The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Erin Zimmer, October 26, 2007 at 1:30 PM
Digital cookbook clubs are an interesting concept. Some are more exclusive than others, with a membership fee and book discounts through Amazon and the publisher, while others use the term "club" loosely. Since location doesn't really matter—anyone can pick up the same cookbook—websites have popped up all over. Personally, I'm partial to our Cook the Book series but chatted with Suzanne Simon of D.C.-based Loulies.com about her "Cook the Book Club," her full-time gig with friend Bettina Stern.
Ten years ago, the two ladies met at a cocktail party and after a best friend–sealing conversation (You love food and discovering new cookbooks and sampling esoteric foods too?) and rounded up some galfriends to form a cookbook club, fondly referred to as "Boiling Point." Like any traditional book club, they chose a book, but in this case, discussed the recipes and cooked together. One thing led to another, and now they have a resourceful website that waxes about cocktail party ideas, Trader Joes quick meal finds and of course, the cookbook club, which rotates books every month or two.
Continue reading »
TasteBook launched today, a new online service that lets you curate your favorite recipes from Epicurious.com, Gourmet, and Bon Appétit and print them as a cookbook. You can also use TasteBook to organize, share, and collect your own recipes. Each "TasteBook" can include up to 100 recipes and costs $34.95. Looks like a fun service, and just in time for the holidays.
Posted by Matthew Amster-Burton, October 23, 2007 at 12:00 PM
I've been reading new kid-related cookbooks so you don't have to. First, the good news.
Nicola Graimes's Top 100 Recipes for a Healthy Lunchbox is petite (the book is about 6-inches square) and English. The author may also be petite and English, for all I know. The recipes have an emphasis on "healthy" but without resorting to unsavory stuff like low-fat cottage cheese or tub margarine. Surely my daughter Iris could be convinced to take Chicken Tikka Naan, Zucchini & Parmesan Fritters, or even Sushi Cones in her Hello Kitty lunchbox, although she would eat the contents of the sushi cone and leave the seaweed. There is a whole section on salads; if your kids accept salad in their lunch, please don't mention this in the comments. Top 100 is appealingly laid out and a bargain at $10 list.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 22, 2007 at 1:30 PM
As promised, here's the place where you can throw your hat in the ring to win a copy of Fergus Henderson's Beyond Nose to Tail, which Serious Eater Cathy just weighed in on.
The first recipe from the book will be up in a few minutes, but for now, if you'd like to win a copy, just tell us what your favorite offal dish is.
We'll be giving away ten (10) copies, choosing the winners at random from among the comments below. Commenting will close at noon ET Saturday, October 27. The standard Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Jenn Smith, October 19, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Alice Waters said of Cecilia Chiang that she did for Chinese cuisine in America what Julia Child did for French. Each relished her role as ambassador of deliciousness, broadening the collective culinary horizons of America in the '60s. There are other similarities: Both worked for the OSS during World War II, both stumbled into their culinary careers, both did so at a relatively advanced age in an era when for a woman, being a homemaker was far more common than being an entrepreneur (Child was 37 when she started to cook and closer to 40 when she started to teach cooking; Chiang was 36 when she opened her first restaurant). But Child is a revered and well-known figure, whereas Chiang doesn't even show up in Wikipedia results. How is it that a woman this influential (she introduced America to high-end Chinese cuisine and continues to consult on restaurant menus at 87 years old) is so beneath the radar?
Chiang's memoir-cum-cookbook, The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco, may change that. Written with Lisa Weiss, the book opens with Chiang's arrival in the U.S., establishes her as a canny, classy businesswoman in jet-set San Francisco and recounts the success and growth of her restaurant, The Mandarin. It then backs up to tell the story of her life, touching on 20th century Chinese history at the same time illustrating how Chiang came to know and appreciate food.
Continue reading »
Posted by Lucy Baker, October 11, 2007 at 4:00 PM
Ed recently wrote about the best cheesecakes in New York, and while I completely agree with his classic picks (I've been known to visit both Monteleone's–Cammereri's and Monte's Venetian Room in one go), I think it's also important to acknowledge the more innovative, unconventional takes on the city's signature dessert. After all, while they may defy tradition, who can resist versions like pumpkin mousse, Black Forest, and banana fudge?
Those are just three of the 50 recipes that can be found in the Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook, which just hit stores.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, October 8, 2007 at 1:30 PM
I've actually never met Anissa Helou, the author of Savory Baking From the Mediterranean, but I'm sure she's annoyed with me for not including her pizza piece in A Slice of Heaven. Anissa, my humblest apologies. I just forgot. If you send it to me again, we'll post it on Slice, our pizza site. But in the meantime, we're going to be giving away five copies of Anissa's new book this week in this installment of Cook the Book.
Savory Baking From the Mediterranean is filled with simple recipes that don't require the reader to be an expert bread baker. If you've ever wanted to make focaccia, pita bread, or even your own French milk rolls, stay tuned, because we'll be featuring recipes for the above-mentioned breads all week here.
And, as always, we're giving away this week's book. We have five copies this week. To enter, just tell us what your favorite kind of flatbread is.
Five winners will be chosen at random from the comments below, and commenting will be open until Saturday (October 13) at noon ET. The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Ed Levine, October 1, 2007 at 2:30 PM
For those of you too young to know about James Beard, he was a food writer, cooking teacher, and television food personality who in many ways legitimized American food. He wrote many wonderful books, including this week's Cook the Book, Beard on Food. Who was James Beard and why should everyone passionate about food know about him? Here's Mark Bittman from the book's introduction:
Other people gave your recipes, sometimes detailed (Julia Child), sometimes spare and functional (Craig Claiborne). James Beard gave you logic, emotion, history, and consideration. He gave you confidence, and he let you relax. In a time when serious cooking meant French cooking. Beard was quintessentially American, a westerner whose mother ran a boarding house, a man who grew up with hotcakes and salmon and meatloaf in his blood.
And this:
Beard's most valuable legacy is his recipe writing. His recipes worked, but he also had a way of letting you move within them that inspired creativity and learning....Beard didn't make a big deal out of anything, it seemed. He encouraged the use of good, often simple ingredients. He taught that a recipe could be tweaked an infinite number of ways, and that for the home cook, confidence, experience, and relaxation in the kitchen were far more important than training or detialed instructions. His passion, his knowledge, his easgoing erudition were instrumental in bringing good cuisine back to America.
We have ten copies of Beard on Food to give away. Just tell us who your greatest cooking inspiration is.
Winners will be chosen at random from among the comments, which will close on Saturday, October 6, at noon ET. The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Ed Levine, September 25, 2007 at 8:30 AM
Grant Achatz (pictured), the acclaimed chef-owner of Alinea battling cancer (his spokesperson just announced that nearly 80 percent of his tumor has been shrunken by chemotherapy), is writing a cookbook. No man-bites-dog news there. But that's where the similarity to a traditional cookbook publishing model and arrangement ends.
In a move that looks to the movie business for inspiration, Achatz and his business partner, Nick Kokonas, have produced a trailer for the book that shows us just how far they're willing to push the publishing envelope in the direction of the internet.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, September 17, 2007 at 2:00 PM
It's been a while since we've done a strictly dessert Cook the Book, so this week we're featuring Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert.
Medrich first came to fame in the 1970s as founder of Cocolat, her San Francisco Bay Area chocolate and dessert store. After selling the business, she went on to write three award-winning dessert cookbooks (Cocolat, Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts, and Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies).
Here, in Pure Dessert, chapters are arranged by flavor—among others, sections highlight the use of milk; grains, nuts, and seeds; chocolate; and herbs and spices. With beautiful photography and extensive notes, it look like just the book to cook from now that fall is upon us and thoughts turn to baking.
To win a copy (we have ten to give out), just tell us what dessert you like making most.
Winners will be chosen at random from among the comments, which will close on Saturday, September 22, at noon ET. The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Ed Levine, September 15, 2007 at 9:50 AM
There are certain cookbooks that are as much coffee table books as much as anything else. The French Laundry Cookbook comes to mind immediately as one of those cookbooks rarely used but fun to look through.
Food porn is the term often thrown around about books like this. Well, we've got a first-class piece of food porn to give away this weekend, seven copies of Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking, courtesy of the good folks at DK.
Its author, Masaharu Morimoto, will be recognizable to fans of Iron Chef America, on which he appears.
The photos are stunning, and recipes like the Caramelized Sweet Potato and Angry Chicken seem quick, simple and eminently doable. To win this elegant tome, just tell us who your favorite Iron Chef is. The books will be closed on this baby at 8:00 a.m. Monday morning.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 4, 2007 at 4:00 PM
You know, I realize that Memorial Day and Labor Day are great bookends for summer here in the U.S., but as a rather literal-minded person, I've always had a problem with that. They both occur well before the official start and end of the season. But what really gets me is that they're both used to mark the opening and closing of "grilling season," what with numerous newspaper and magazine articles trumpeting the arrival of grilling season and then a whole other flurry urging you to light your grill while you still can.
Anyone who's a serious griller, however, knows that the whole year is grilling season. And that's why we've chosen Lobel's Prime Time Grilling for our Cook the Book feature this week. We're urging you to keep the flame alive.
The book was written by Stanley, Leon, Evan, Mark, and David Lobel, the men behind Lobel's of New York, one of the Big Apple's premier butcher shops, and the recipes, tips, and information given in the book are as reliable and foolproof as you could expect from a shop that's been operating and selling some of the best meats for generations.
The first of our recipes of the week will be along shortly, but first ...
Win a Copy of 'Prime Time Grilling'
We're giving away ten (10) copies of the book. Simply answer the following question here in the comments section: What's the one grilling accessory you can't do without?
Winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters. Comments will close Saturday, September 8, at noon ET. The usual contest rules apply.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 24, 2007 at 7:56 AM
What's Your "Go-To" Grilling Book?
A. The Barbecue! Bible, by Steven Raichlen
B. Boy Meets Grill, by Bobby Flay
C. The Thrill of the Grill, by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby
D. Born to Grill, by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison
E. Other
With my weeklong working vacation coming to a close, I started thinking about the things I am going to miss when I go back home: hanging out with my wife on our screen porch reading the newspaper, regular tennis games, beautiful Quansoo Beach, Mrs. Blake's strawberry-rhubarb pie, fried clams from John's Fish Market and the Bite, driving down sandy, unpaved roads surrounded by water and wildlife, and leafing through and rereading my go-to grilling book, The Thrill of the Grill, by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. Some people will swear by Steven Raichlen's Barbecue! Bible, others will pledge allegiance to Boy Meets Grill by Bobby Flay, but for sheer reading pleasure, terrific original recipes, and essential grilling information entertainingly conveyed, I don't think you can beat Thrill of the Grill.
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Posted by Alaina Browne, August 23, 2007 at 3:45 PM
Betty Crocker's Classics: 55 Recipe Cards
is a collection of the best-loved recipes from the original 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book. Think of it as comfort food in a box.
Posted by Ed Levine, August 6, 2007 at 1:15 PM
I must admit I had never heard of The Breakaway Cook or its author Eric Gower before fellow Serious Eater Alaina Browne told me about them. And I must admit I was skeptical about any book that has the following subtitle: Recipes That Break Away from the Ordinary. But when I took the book home and read it, damn if there weren't recipes I wanted to cook on just about every page. Gower's recipes are simple, easy to follow, and incredibly appealing.
As usual, thanks to the good folks at William Morrow Cookbooks, we are giving away ten (10) copies here on Serious Eats. To enter, just tell us what one ingredient you have discovered that's taken your cooking to another level. Winners will be chosen at random from among commenters. Comments will close Friday (August 10) at 9 p.m. ET. The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 18, 2007 at 6:00 PM
When you spend Memorial Day through Labor Day sitting in an air-conditioned office, it's easy to forget that it's summer. But as I break out the Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirts for an upcoming trip to the Jersey Shore, I'm jolted into the reality of the season.
It's a season for clam-digging, lobster-steaming, fried boardwalk fare, and grilled corn—just a handful of the many shore foods covered in Jasper White's Summer Shack Cookbook. White is proprietor of The Summer Shack mini-chain of restaurants, which serve his version of comfort food—the simple and fresh fare he was raised on as a boy growing up on that same Jersey Shore I'll be visiting soon.
More than just recipes, the book offers how-tos for catching seafood at the source and the equipment and tips you'll need to cook it.
And, as is custom now on Serious Eats, we've got a number of copies to give away. Just leave a comment here telling us what your favorite shore food is and where you get it. Nine (9) winners will be chosen at random from the comments section at the end of the week. Commenting will be open until Friday (June 22) at 9 p.m. ET. The usual Serious Eats contest rules apply.
Posted by Robyn Lee, June 15, 2007 at 1:00 PM
Leche merengada, or meringued milk, is a frozen cinnamon and lemon flavored meringue from Spain. It can also serve as a beverage if you prefer not to freeze it. As as I'm not going to Spain anytime soon, I'll definitely try David Lebovitz's simple recipe from The Perfect Scoop.
Remember, you can enter to win a copy of this book here.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, June 14, 2007 at 1:00 PM
For some reason, sherbet was something I only sparingly ate as a kid, usually in the flavor "rainbow" (a random mixture of artificial flavors that somewhat resembles real fruit, but not too closely or else kids wouldn't like it) and colored with fluorescent pink, green, and orange. I'm going to attempt to make David Lebovitz's simple Lemon Sherbet recipe from The Perfect Scoop to see if the homemade stuff tastes anything like the frosty treat of my childhood. I hope David's tastes a lot better.
Speaking of sherbet, who here says sherbert instead of sherbet? I grew up with the added "r", which I only realized now is the loser of the GoogleBattle against sherbet. Eliminating the final "r" feels awkward; as I reach that second syllable my mouth almost almost refuses to do it.
Remember, you can enter to win a copy of this book here.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, June 11, 2007 at 3:30 PM
When the weather is unbearably hot and sticky and all you feel capable of doing is melting into a human puddle, the best thing to eat for temporary relief is a member of the frozen dessert family: ice cream, sorbet, or granita. This week we're giving away three copies of dessert master David Lebovitz's latest book, The Perfect Scoop.
The Perfect Scoop starts with the basics of ice cream making followed by over one hundred recipes for ice creams, sorbets, sherbets, granitas, and accompanying sauces, toppings, mix-ins and vessels. Many of the recipes are prefaced by tips or personal anecdotes, such as the one where David reveals that the worst summer of his life was when his neighborhood's Good Humor man left his block forever after getting sprayed by a bully with a hose, thus cutting off David's access to his favorite ice cream bar, Toasted Coconut. Of course, today David (and readers of his book) can make enough toasted coconut ice cream to last a lifetime.
To win a copy of The Perfect Scoop just tell us what your favorite kind of frozen dessert is, whether it's classic vanilla ice cream or a towering sundae of neon rainbow sherbet drowned in chocolate sauce and whipped cream. We'll pick five winners at random. You have until Sunday (June 17th) to answer.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 23, 2007 at 5:15 PM
With all the talk today in the nation's various food sections about grilling and steak, I thought it would be fitting to feature a steak-related tip from What's a Cook to Do?, James Patterson's extremely useful book of kitchen tips that explains almost everything. After the jump, Steaks, by Cut.
And, thanks to the good folks at Artisan Books, we're giving away five (5) copies of this enormously helpful book.
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 21, 2007 at 1:30 PM
The combination of my own lack of knowledge and the inadequate explanations in cookbooks often drives me to distraction when I'm cooking. That's why I find James Peterson's What's a Cook to Do? to be so damned helpful. It explains (often with photos) everything, from how to deglaze a plan to how to make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich.
Peterson really knows his stuff (his book Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year award in 1992 ), and, more important, he knows how to impart his knowledge easily and succinctly with relatively few words and photos. Each day this week, we'll excerpt a tip from the book; the first tip will post shortly.
What's more, thanks to the good folks at Artisan Books, we're giving away five (5) copies of this enormously helpful book. Just post a comment here describing the best kitchen tip you know or have ever received. The five winners will be chosen at random from among the commenters.
Serious Eats contest rules »
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 14, 2007 at 3:30 PM
This week's featured volume for our ongoing Cook the Book series is Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen. (The first recipe will appear on-site shortly.)
Richard recently won a 2007 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef for his work at Michel Richard Citronelle in Washington, D.C. Happy in the Kitchen itself was nominated for Cookbook of the Year.
We have five copies to give away this week. We'll choose five winners at random from among the commenters on this entry. Just tell us what makes you most happy in your kitchen, whether it's a favorite tool, aroma, recipe, or simply chatting over coffee with friends and family.
Serious Eats's contest policy »
Posted by Lia Bulaong, May 10, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Unable to get a reservation at Thomas Keller's French Laundry, Carol decided to make her way through his French Laundry Cookbook instead, one recipe at a time. She's blogging it, of course—complete with photos of the process from mise en place to finished product—so you can follow her escapades at French Laundry at Home.
The project is a lovely idea, but the thing that really makes it work is that Carol is a fantastic writer with a great sense of humor and is unafraid of sharing her frustrations when things go awry. Last week she made the candied apple dessert from the book, which turned out to be a success taste-wise, but found the experience of making it so tedious that she warns, "Do NOT try this dish if you are busy. Or not busy. Or have a life. Oh yes, you may look at the recipe, scrutinize the three pages it takes up in the book, and think, "Well of course I can do this over three days, with just doing a little bit here and there like the book suggests." Yeah, I dare you. Call me if you can do it and not be annoyed." [via The Grinder]