“I have no photograph of my mother cooking, but when I recall my childhood this is how I picture her: standing in the kitchen of our suburban ranch house, a blue-and-white-checked terrycloth apron tied at her waist, her lovely head bent over a recipe, a hiss of frying butter, a […]
From Around the Web
“by M.F.K. Fisher. North Point Press. See all the pieces in this month’s Slate Book Review. Sign up for the Slate Book Review monthly newsletter.” Read More: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/11/the_gastronomical_me_by_mfk_fisher_70th_anniversary_of_the_seminal_food.html
Reading: “The Gastronomical Me”
“Being able to cook at home isn’t that hard—all you have to do is follow the recipe. Unfortunately, when the recipe is full of a bunch of confusing terms that are alien to us beginners, things get more difficult.” Read More: http://lifehacker.com/a-beginners-guide-to-the-most-confusing-cooking-terms-1459836282?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29
Reading: “A Beginner’s Guide to the Most Confusing Cooking Terms”
“When I make my grandmother’s breakfast casserole, I’m instantly transported to her bright, warm kitchen on Christmas morning, where it is her annual custom to make the sausage and egg dish along with cool ambrosia salad for breakfast.” Read More: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/11/the_dinner_parties_in_provence_where_julia_child_james_beard_and_m_f_k_fisher.html
Reading: “The Dinner Parties in Provence Where Julia Child, James ...
“To be a food editor is to be barraged with pitches about adventurous eating.” Read More: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/11/dana_goodyear_s_anything_that_moves_reviewed_a_new_yorker_writer_takes_on.html
Reading: “Dana Goodyear’s Anything That Moves, reviewed”
“Unless you’re some sort of Ginsu master, capable of slicing, dicing, and jullienning an entire meal together with a single blade, food prep is a whole lot easier when you use the right knife. Here are the five most essential, versatile cutting implements in a cook’s arsenal.” Read More: http://gizmodo.com/five-knives-every-home-chef-should-own-1356765850/@whitsongordon
Reading: “Five Knives Every Home Chef Should Own”
“Surf and turf. It sounds like mere decadence–a pairing of premium proteins to assuage the appetites of both cigar-smoking tycoons at Morton’s and soccer moms at Applebee’s.” Read More: http://www.fastcodesign.com/3016578/a-scientific-map-of-optimal-food-pairings
Reading: “Infographic: A Scientific Map Of Optimal Food Pairings”
“When in doubt, use your nose. That’s how you’ll know pineapples, peaches, and other fruits are ripe. For many summer fruits, smell is a good indicator of their ripeness. For peaches, pineapples, cantaloupes, and mangoes, their stem ends should smell sweet like how they should taste.” Read More: http://lifehacker.com/give-most-fruits-the-sniff-test-to-see-if-theyre-ripe-1154475487
Reading: “Give Most Fruits the Sniff Test to See If ...
“For more than six years, I ran a restaurant without tips. A couple of years after opening the Linkery restaurant in San Diego, the team and I adopted a policy of adding to each dining-in check a service charge of 18 percent—a little less than our tip average had been.” […]
Reading: “What Happens When You Abolish Tipping”
“In last week’s Hacker Challenge, we asked you to share your best grill hack. We received some great entries, but the winning hack shows us how to build a DIY smoker on the cheap using a trash can.” Read More: http://lifehacker.com/hacker-challenge-winner-create-a-diy-trash-can-smoker-1124469979
Reading: “Hacker Challenge Winner: Create a DIY Trash Can Smoker”
“In the category of “the vast and ridiculous number of things you can find on YouTube” are a handful of videos in which people steam salmon in their dishwasher. Just to see how it turns out. (Surprisingly well is the answer.)” Read More: http://www.slate.com/articles/video/food/2013/08/dishwasher_cooking_can_you_steam_or_poach_eggs_shellfish_and_vegetables.html
Reading: “How to Cook With Your Dishwasher”
“Behold: A 12-course meal … in a can! Photo: Chris Godfrey “All in One” was created by Chris Godfrey as part of a dissertation on consumer culture. Photo: Chris Godfrey No false advertising. All the dishes on the label were made, processed, combined with gelatin, and meticulously layered.” Read More: […]
Reading: “The Ultimate Apocalypse Cuisine: A 12-Course Meal in a ...
“It’s grilling season, and if you don’t own a good charcoal grill, you should consider making your own out of an old beer keg. This tip comes via Instructables user limer_10. As you might imagine, the hardest part is finding a good keg to use, followed closely by cutting it […]
Reading: “Turn a Beer Keg Into an Awesome Charcoal Grill”
“Vivi Mac is a freelance artist from France. In an ongoing series entitled Art Ephemere, Mac uses a wide variety of foods, drinks and ingredients to create speed painting portraits of artists, musicians and celebrities.” Read More: http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/speed-painting-portraits-food-drink-vivi-mac/
Reading: “Speed Paintings Made from Various Foods and Drinks”
“Atkins? The Paleo Diet? Those have no place here, amidst a beautiful mega illustration of over 250 types of pasta. Why does pasta have ridges? There’s actually a great reason: Ridges help sauce stick, but it’s so much more complicated than that.” Read More: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1673203/250-pastas-you-should-eat-before-you-die
Reading: “250 Pastas You Should Eat Before You Die”
“Food52, a crowdsourced cooking website co-founded by former New York Times food editor Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is today making the move into e-commerce with the launch of an online shop called Provisions.” Read More: http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/06/content-meets-commerce-meets-food-cooking-site-food52-debuts-new-e-commerce-shop-provisions/
Reading: “Content Meets Commerce Meets Food: Cooking Site Food52 Debuts ...
“If you’ve ever found yourself at an Italian restaurant trying to decide between mezzani or ricciutelli or chifferi or fazzoletti without knowing what any of them mean only to settle for ubiquitous and familiar penne, a new chart from Pop Chart Lab can transform you into a know-it-all pasta snob.” […]
Reading: “Pasta Shapes, Charted”
“If you’ve ever found yourself at an Italian restaurant trying to decide between mezzani or ricciutelli or chifferi or fazzoletti without knowing what any of them mean only to settle for ubiquitous and familiar penne, a new chart from Pop Chart Lab can transform you into a know-it-all pasta snob.” […]
Reading: “Pasta Shapes, Charted”
“Rhiannon is the 25-year-old Australian Zoology graduate and self-taught baker behind the food blog cakecrumbs.me. Her incredible Jupiter planet cake (seen above) was featured earlier this week on the highly influential I f*cking love science Facebook page (which boasts a staggering 6.” Read More: http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/spherical-layer-cake-planets-by-cakecrumbs/
Reading: “Spherical Layer Cake Planets by Cakecrumbs”
“An ear of corn isn’t all that difficult to remove from its husk, but if you don’t do it the right way, you’ll waste time picking out the silky threads that are left behind. If you peel it correctly though, it’s possible to avoid them.” Read More: http://lifehacker.com/shuck-corn-with-one-quick-tug-to-get-rid-of-silk-thread-1013236723
Reading: “Shuck Corn With One Quick Tug to Get Rid ...
“In late 2011, a Dutch scientist made headlines by announcing that he was ready to grow meat—or at least muscle tissue—in a cell culture dish.” Read More: http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/08/in-a-380000-publicity-stunt-synthetic-hamburger-cooked-in-london/
Reading: “In a $380,000 publicity stunt, synthetic hamburger cooked in ...
“Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin financed what could be the next revolution in food production: a test tube-grown hamburger. Dutch researchers unveiled a stem cell-grown 5-ounce beef patty at a public taste testing on Monday.” Read More: http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/05/google-co-founder-unveils-his-latest-moon-shot-a-test-tube-burger/
Reading: “Google Co-Founder Unveils His Latest Moon Shot: A Test ...
“Exclusive Co.Create Articles, Delivered to Your Inbox Daily. The folks at Thrillest conduct a long-overdue study into which chain’s coffee is strongest, and the results may cause you to change your morning routine.” Read More: http://www.fastcocreate.com/1683514/caffeine-quantified-your-favorite-coffee-chains-ranked-weakest-to-strongest?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcocreate%2Ffeed+%28Co.Create%29
Reading: “Caffeine Quantified: Your Favorite Coffee Chains Ranked, Weakest to ...
“Burpple, the memorably-named mobile app for food lovers that we profiled in December, has launched an updated version that makes it easier for gourmands to share pictures and recommendations.” Read More: http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/01/burpple-2/
Reading: “Burpple Unleashes A Fresh Version Of Its Social App ...
“Some people seem to spend more time snapping photos of their food than eating it, but they may have good reason for it. A study recently published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that posting an image of a dish to Instagram before digging in may make it taste better.” […]
Reading: “Instagramming Your Food May Make It Taste Better, Study ...
“Hashtag games on Twitter are often born of simple ideas. Somebody with a sizable amount of followers tosses #depressingsitcoms into the digital ring and suddenly thousands of people are concurrently explaining that Nobody Loves Raymond.” Read More: http://www.fastcocreate.com/1683482/feast-your-eyes-on-snoop-loops-frosted-drakes-and-other-rapper-cereals#1
Reading: “Feast Your Eyes On Snoop Loops, Frosted Drakes, and ...
“Rare is the film that can make your mouth water. So rare, in fact, that when it happens—when a movie really gets food and cooking—it’s easy to gorge yourself on it, stretching lazily into the conclusion that nothing better could hope to exist.” Read More: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2013/07/cailles_en_sarcophage_babette_s_feast_s_richest_most_expensive_dish_made.html
Reading: “Cooking With Babette”
“Put it this way: A banana and a jar of Nutella can go a long way toward explaining the difference between pornography and real-life romping. In the Fast and the Furious series, drivers pull off some amazing stunts.” Read More: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1673144/infographic-porn-vs-real-sex-explained-in-food
Reading: “Infographic: Porn Vs. Real Sex, Explained In Food”
“Eat your words? A design studio imagines–and plates–fonts as their food counterparts. It used to be so simple: We’d experience things through five fairly well defined senses.” Read More: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1673112/your-serif-is-served-typefaces-imagined-as-food
Reading: “Your Serif Is Served: Typefaces Imagined As Food”
“Cereal, penises, NyQuil, even weed. Nothing is off limits for the creative minds behind Voodoo Doughnuts, which is exactly what’s made them so darned delightful. Long before the resurgence of Brooklyn and the birth of the Cronut, there was a West Coast revolution in sugar, flour, and yeast.” Read More: […]
Reading: “Weed, NyQuil, And Dongs: The Secret Ingredients Behind Voodoo ...
“Range is a smart thermometer from the makers of Twine. Photo: Supermechanical By minimizing components, the designers were able to fit all the guts into this handy silicone handle Photo: Supermechanical The app’s designed for one-finger use, natch.” Read More: http://feeds.wired.com/c/35185/f/661454/s/2f5914a9/sc/15/l/0L0Swired0N0Cdesign0C20A130C0A70Ckickstarter0Ea0Esmart0Ekitchen0Ethermometer0Ethat0Ehooks0Eup0Eto0Eyour0Eiphone0C/story01.htm
Reading: “Kickstarter: An iPhone Kitchen Thermometer, From the Inventors of ...
“Is it a coincidence that some of our favorite foods were originally designed to cure hangovers? Or is it a very depressing indicator of our own lifestyle? When you’ve woken up with the room still spinning, your mouth parched and ears ringing, chances are that brunch still sounds delicious.” Read […]
Reading: “Bloody Marys, Eggs Benedict, Coca-Cola: Foods Designed To Cure ...
“Does caffeine “cramp creativity”? It shouldn’t. More likely the opposite, if you do it right. Some say Sherlock Holmes’ regular use of cocaine was Doyle’s vehicle to illustrate the character’s moral weakness.” Read More: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/06/caffeine-for-the-more-creative-mind/277069/
Reading: “Caffeine: For the More Creative Mind”
“Here’s a sweet story to help offset all of the disaster/junk food/alleged racism news of this morning: Last summer, a Cincinnati writer named Bryn Mooth purchased a bunch of recipe cards from the thirties at an antiques shop.” Read More: http://www.grubstreet.com/2013/06/recipe-cards-lead-to-heartwarming-story.html
Reading: “Vintage Recipe Cards Lead to Heartwarming Food-Blogging Story”
“bloomsday, carrot, celery, chuck roast, garlic, james joyce, onion, recipes, rigatoni, stracotto, tomato, ulysses I read Ulysses in my first year of college, armed with a “European Literary Tradition” class syllabus and a book of annotations that was nearly as long as the novel itself.” Read More: http://paperandsalt.org/2013/06/12/james-joyce-rigatoni-con-stracotto/
Reading: “James Joyce: Rigatoni Con Stracotto”
“Stilton or Roquefort? This chart’s got you covered. With age and maturity must necessarily come more discerning tastes. Sooner or later, you’ll have to graduate from beer to wine, from Shining-Kubrick to Barry Lyndon-Kubrick, from Safran Foer to anyone else.” Read More: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672767/infographic-how-to-tell-the-difference-between-66-varieties-of-cheese
Reading: “Infographic: How To Tell The Difference Between 66 Varieties ...
“With the internet awash in Gatsby-themed gin rickey and mint julep recipes, F. Scott Fitzgerald has recently reasserted his reputation as “America’s Drunkest Writer.” Read More: http://paperandsalt.org/2013/05/28/f-scott-fitzgerald-prohibition-ale/
Reading: “F. Scott Fitzgerald: Prohibition Ale”
“Pulling a peanut butter and jelly, or ham and cheese on rye out of your lunchbox every day can get boring pretty quickly, but Evan and Kenny LaFerriere don’t have that common school-kid problem.” Read More: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/05/graphic-designer-dads-lunch-bag-surprise/
Reading: “Graphic designer dad’s lunch bag surprise”
“Our evolutionary ancestors were hungry for braaaiiins — antelope brains, that is.” Read More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/05/evolution-early-humans-ate-brains/2136493/
Reading: “Study: Early humans loved to eat brains”
“This new series from Brooklyn-based illustrator Monica Ramos shows people taking comfort in food in more literal way than usual. Ramos said she was inspired by Maurice Sendak’s “In the Night Kitchen,” one of her favorite books as a kid.” Read More: http://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/5-incredibly-charming-illustrations-of-comfort-food
Reading: “5 Incredibly Charming Illustrations Of Comfort Food”
“Few living filmmakers have proven as able to spin their obsessions into cinematic gold as Quentin Tarantino.” Read More: http://www.openculture.com/2013/04/the_power_of_food_in_quentin_tarantinos_films.html
Reading: “The Power of Food in Quentin Tarantino’s Films”
“No disrespect to the wonderful and vast assortment of food play sets that allow kids to plate pretend omelettes or experience the thrills of teatime, but this maguro model, which guides whoever yields the maguro bōchō through the process of butchering a whole tuna, is really just the best.” Read […]
Reading: “Tsukiji Fish Market Vendor’s Tuna Model Better Than Any ...
“HYDE PARK, N.Y. — About 90 students at the Culinary Institute of America walked out of classes Tuesday to protest what they called a weakening enforcement of educational standards, including a requirement that applicants have experience in a professional kitchen.” Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/dining/student-chefs-protest-at-culinary-institute-of-america.html
Reading: “Students Protest at Culinary Institute”
“The television personality and cookbook author Ted Allen stirred up a shit storm this week by calling me out on my hatred of the round wooden spoon, which he apparently has the hots for.” Read More: http://ruhlman.com/2013/04/creme-anglaise/
Reading: “Final Word On Battle of the Spoons (w/Creme Anglaise)”
“As in pre-colonial Africa, common women ran local food markets in the Aztec Empire and thereafter.” Read More: http://www.foodasalens.com/2013/04/food-markets-aztec-empire.html
Reading: “Food Markets In The Aztec Empire”
“Sure, we all know alcohol has fueled plenty a writing session. William Faulkner — who once said, “civilization begins with distillation” — was known to have kept a bottle by his side while he typed away throughout his writing career.” Read More: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/03/176121775/from-vine-to-pen-theres-more-than-one-way-wine-fuels-writing?ft=1&f=1053
Reading: “From Vine To Pen: When Your Drink Is In ...
“Las Vegas, NV – January 7, 2013 – HAPILABS, a company aimed at helping individuals in the 21st century take control of their HAPIness, health and fitness through applications and mobile connected devices, today introduced the HAPIfork at CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.” Read More: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/06/hapilabs-introduces-hapifork-and-spoon-smart-utensils-brings/
Reading: “HAPILABS introduces HAPIfork (and spoon) smart utensils, brings metrics ...
“As an artist, Caitlin Freeman found her calling in cake. Freeman started out wanting to be an art photographer.” Read More: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/17/177317449/modern-art-desserts-how-to-bake-a-mondrian-in-your-oven
Reading: “‘Modern Art Desserts’: How To Bake A Mondrian In ...
“My parents used an archaic version of the pressure cooker back in the day, primarily to cook spuds for mashed potatoes. As kids, we were wary of the thing–steam shooting from the hole in the top, making a wild whistle, an adult wrestling the beast open with difficulty. But mashies […]
Reading: “Pressure Cooker Terror”
“Since publishing The Omnivore’s Dilemma in 2006, Michael Pollan has become an ethical-eating guru, pointing the way toward conscientious consumption for a generation devoted more and more to the cult of food.” Read More: http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2013/04/michael-pollan-in-conversation-with-adam-platt.html