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Category Archives: Food Writing
So You Want To Write a Cookbook
So so so many people tell me they have a cookbook to write, asking for advice, and I almost always do my best to discourage them, with Asian delicacy and Germanic firmness, I hope. Because I believe that there are too many cookbooks out there already and the ones so often published add nothing new.
So when writer and educator Dianne Jacob asked me what does define a successful cookbook, it got me thinking. She’s written an excellent post collating many, many responses from people in the industry. The responses are surprising in their diversity.
The first and obvious answer is, a book is successful if it makes money for the publisher and author. And there are many ways this can happen, meaning that a book that sells ...
Also posted in Books, Business, Guest Post, Tips, Writing Tagged Dianne Jacobs, Will Write for Food, writing a cookbook 36 Comments
Waiting For Donna
Race week in Key West is a massive boondoggle for me. I wake, look out at the water, drink coffee, write until noon, personal writing, then head to the house where I cook for 12 to 16 people every night.
I straighten the kitchen, throw away a few forgotten red plastic cups with limes floating in them, make a list, do some shopping, prep what can be done ahead (make some sauces, or a stock, pick and blanch green veg). Then I go back to my room at The Galleon, condos right on the docks, and have some coffee and write and re-write some more.
The boys return from being on the water and I put ...
I straighten the kitchen, throw away a few forgotten red plastic cups with limes floating in them, make a list, do some shopping, prep what can be done ahead (make some sauces, or a stock, pick and blanch green veg). Then I go back to my room at The Galleon, condos right on the docks, and have some coffee and write and re-write some more.
The boys return from being on the water and I put ...
Also posted in Food Adventure, Food Culture, Travel, Writing Tagged key west, photos, refection, writing 16 Comments
US Customs
Also posted in Article, Food Politics Tagged dogs, exotic foods, illegal foods, searches, US Customs Leave a comment
One Vanilla Bean
Also posted in Article, Charcutepalooza Tagged blog, Cecilia, Charcutepalooza, One Vanilla Bean Leave a comment
Christmas Wishes
It's been a long day of wrapping and cooking in preparation for Christmas, amazingly stress free because of my amazing wife and colleague Donna. Her photo above is something of a self-portrait of us on the Christmas tree. Mom and James made cookies and I made our annual Addison's Brioche. Mom wants to use it to make sticky buns so we'll fill some muffin pans with brown sugar, butter and pecans, top each with the brioche and refrigerate till tomorrow morning. It's become a tradition. As has the reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas before bed. Traditions are powerful indeed.
The day has also been occasion to think about how lucky I am, for Donna, for Donna's work, for the health of my children, on this bountiful holiday. I miss my dad who was the very embodiment of The ...
Also posted in Holiday, Memories Tagged best wishes to all, christmas, holiday, memories, wishes 12 Comments
Christmas Yorkshire Pudding
Marlene Newell, who runs an excellent cooking forum called CooksKorner tested all the recipes for Ratio and Twenty. She's a friend and excellent cook. One of her passions is Yorkshire pudding, in effect, a savory popover, which is how she bakes them (as above). I, too, make roast beef for Christmans dinner and Yorkshire pudding. I believe it's critical to cook it in beef fat, for flavor, so I buy and render suet for this purpose. I've also poured the batter straight into the roasting pan which works great so long as there are no burnt bits (the pudding ripples and puffs like crazy; I then cut it to serve). I imagine the roasting pan method was how it would have originated, the batter cooking in ...
Also posted in baking, Beef, Books, Bread, From Scratch, Guest Post, Holiday, Memories, Recipes Tagged canada, Cooks Korner, Marlene Newell, recipe, roasts, Yorkshire Pudding 19 Comments
Examining Waste Costs
Also posted in Article, Food Culture, Food Politics Tagged food waste, forecasting, the atlantic, usa Leave a comment
Do-over: Charleston, Eve, & Grits
One of hard things about writing books is that they are in constant flux and then they are permanent. Thanks to the organic nature of blogs, I can make amends.
When I was at the Culinary Institute of America, one of my best and favorite teachers was Eve Felder, who taught Garde Manger. She was the Cheshire Cat of chefs, perched high on stacked stools, who taught us that "Cooking is alchemy, cooking is magic!"
And she was right. Righter than I knew, in fact.
I'm heading to her native city, Charleston, South Carolina, and so she's been on my mind. When I wanted to do a butter-poached shrimp for Ruhlman's Twenty, I naturally wanted to pair it with grits. Who did I call for grits finesse ...
Also posted in american regional cuisine, Appetizers, aromatics, chefs, From Scratch, Recipes, Seafood, Seasonings and Spices, sidedishes, Technique Tagged Charleston, CIA, Eve Felder, shrimp and grits, South Carolina, twenty 22 Comments
Ruhlman’s Twenty: Food Tools
I did two promotional videos for my new book, one a general description of the book (love that that one has a shot of Donna photographing, and one about an idea I thought people might call me out on. Even my recipe tester/organizer/overseer, Marlene Newell, had issues with this.
Can food be a technique?
I say it can. A technique is an action that has multiple applications. So while yes, an egg is an egg, it’s also an emulsifier, a leavener, a binder, and enricher. Therefore using an egg can be considered a core cooking technique. Knowing how to use salt, is one of the chef’s greatest assets. Learning how to think about these foods as tools makes you a better cook.
Disagree? I’ve heard ...
Also posted in baking, Books, Elements of Cooking, From Scratch, ruhlman products, Technique, Tips Tagged Food Tools, Functionality of Ingredients, keep things simple, Marlene Newell, technique, twenty 11 Comments















