I spent some time yesterday afternoon talking with Tanya Steel, editor-in-chief of Epicurious, about everything from her weeknight dinners to the cookbook she's releasing this fall. It was an honor to speak with Ms. Steel, who has written for Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, the New York Times, and appeared on numerous TV programs, including the Today Show (the list goes on). After our conversation, I can absolutely see her energy and enthusiasm in the pages of Epicurious. Talk about a foodie! I've noticed a lot of changes on Epicurious in the past year or so – new blogs and features. What's the idea behind this new content? I came to Epicurious in July 2005, and I found a site that I loved with tremendous depth, but not a lot of breadth. We needed to broaden out the site to make it the go-to site for people who love to eat and love cooking and love food. I knew that we had a fantastic recipe database, so we added restaurant coverage, a huge thing on drinks. We added video, and a blog that I started – for a while I was the only one writing. We spent some time not only broadening our coverage and trying to get notable names on the site, but we also took a look at the site, which was over 12 years old, and we realized it was time to make it look as rich and interesting as the content. We spent a good part of last year looking at the inner plumbing of the site, and we launched [the redesign] last September. I've never worked so hard, and it was incredibly rewarding to create a food site from the ground up. I thought, "What would I like? What kind of site would I like and how would I create it? We are still rolling out features throughout this year. There are going to be upgrades and additions this year and next. Any chance you can give us some hints about these upcoming features? One of the things that we are going to be doing is expanding our community section. We have always had a vibrant, passionate community of people – up to six million unique [visitors] in December. They love to talk to each other. We have ten forums, and realize this is something to increase. We made a deal with Facebook, and realize that a lot of people would love to have more social networking on our site. We are blowing out something called "My Epicurious" – people will be able to upload a photo of themselves, they can already tag interests. They will be able to upload pictures so people can see what they are cooking now. They will be able to join interest groups. For example, if they are interested in it cuisines, they will be able to see everything having to do with that interest group, like new Italian recipes and posts, anything to do with Italy.
It's getting to be that time of year when we make cookies shaped like humans. This one from Bon Appetit fits into National Chocolate Day quite nicely since the gingerbread cookies are covered in dark chocolate.
Question: when you eat a gingerbread man, what body part do you eat first? I think that tells a lot about a person. I always bite off the head.
Seems like every food mag is doing a travel issue these days, and Bon Appetit is no exception. Their "Where To Eat Now" cover story focuses on France, Italy, Australia, and Spain.
I haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth yet, so I don't know if Al Gore covers this, but it looks like one of the biggest contributors to global warming is the food we eat and the processes that give us that food.
According to this press release from the Bon Appetit Management Company, "the average American creates 2.8 tons of CO2 emissions each year by eating - even more than the 2.2 tons each person generates by driving." The company is pushing a "Low Carbon Diet" and trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The first "Low Carbon Diet Day" will be held next April.
So the moral to the story? Just stop eating completely and drive your car more, you selfish jerks!
Everyone has their Christmas morning traditions. When I was a kid, we couldn't open any of our gifts (OK, maybe our stockings) until mom had had her first cup of coffee. I don't really have any traditions or rules like that anymore, because I have my own place now and I go over to my sister's house later in the day and exchange gifts and she usually cooks, but a lot of people have certain things they always eat or drink on Christmas morning, even beyond the coffee you have in the morning or the turkey you have for dinner.
Starting today, the countdown to Christmas really kicks off. There are gifts to buy, cards to mail and cookies to bake. When it comes to baking cookies as holiday gifts, there are two schools of thought. One says to stick with a tried-and-true recipe that you aren't likely to accidentally screw up. The other says that there is no better time to try some new recipes than when you are going to be doing a lot of baking anyway. Personally, I'm in favor of trying new recipes and there are plenty of places to find them this year. The Food Network has their 12 days of cookies newsletter, with recipes delivered via e-mail, and Cooking Light has a cookie countdown, where recipes are revealed on their site week-by-week. Allrecipes also has a special holiday baking section on their site and will post one recipe to it each day. Finally, both Bon Appetit and Gourmet have holiday cookie slideshows
And if you really feel uncomfortable giving away something you've never baked before, try making two batches so you'll have one to taste-test first!
I have a confession to make. I didn't even taste cheesecake until I was around 30. I was one of those people that didn't associate cheese with desserts. It didn't sound right to me. But you can imagine my joy when I actually tried cheesecake all those years ago.
I have mixed feelings about cookbooks that are compendiums of other books and magazines because there is the sense that you can get all the material at other sources, often in sources that are already available to you. The Bon Appetit Cookbookis one such book, with 1,200 "best-loved recipes" from the magazine. On one hand, the recipes are excellent and you can be assured that have all been tested again and again by editors, cooks and readers. In short, it is a pretty reliable book and it is convenient to have everything in one volume. On the other hand, if you enjoy scouring Epicurious for recipes and reading the feedback from users every time you cook, you will not get that same satisfaction from the book.
To differentiate it from the site, the book has plenty of illustrations and lots of cooking tips to help you through even the most complicated recipes. To help push you over the edge of indecision when it comes to making the purchase, because a tangible cookbook is a wonderful thing, the price of the book includes a one year subscription to Bon Appetit. As of writing this, the Amazon.com price is $23.07 - definitely a good price for the set.
On the dining scene, little Delicious caters to Frank Gehry and other "creatives" in an industrial park in Playa Vista. SIV gives new Philippe Starck-designed Katsuya in Brentwood one star (*).
The editor of Epicurious, Tanya Wenman, has been busily blogging away at the Epi-logfor some time now. As of this week, the editors at Bon Appetit have launched their very own blog, as well. It's called the BA blog. Though there are only a handful of entries up at the moment - and none as immediately engrossing as the ones that SF Chronicle Editor Michael Bauer started out his blog with - it sounds as though they'll be blogging about "where they ate last night, what they cooked, what they drank, where they're traveling. In other words, all the stuff that really matters in [their] world." Sounds promising to me!
My only complaint is that when you leave a comment, you can't leave a link back to your own e-mail or blog, just the name you're registered with at Epicurious. How are they ever going to expand their blogroll that way?
This dish is based on a recipe from one
of last summer’s issues of Bon Appetit. I was flipping though it for inspiration when the picture caught my eye.
My dish is Grilled Salmon with Pineapple-Jicama Salsa, which uses salmon instead of the halibut called for in the
original and eliminates the step of preparing a tostada, though corn tortillas are still a nice accompaniment. The
thing that really made me want to try this was the salsa, a combination of pineapple, red onion, jicama and peppers. It
sounded fresh and delicious, in addition to being colorful. Since it’s spring, fresh flavors and the chance to
fire up the grill are definite pluses when it comes to dinner.
A jar of honey can become a sticky mess. Next time you're adding honey to another dish or a mug of tea, use a honey dipper to prevent a thick gooey layer from spreading.
I spent some time yesterday afternoon talking with Tanya Steel, editor-in-chief of Epicurious, about everything from her weeknight dinners to the cookbook she's releasing this fall. It was an honor to speak with Ms. Steel, who has written for Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, the New York Times, and appeared on numerous TV programs, including the Today Show (the list goes on). After our conversation, I can absolutely see her energy and enthusiasm in the pages of Epicurious. Talk about a foodie!
It's getting to be that time of year when we make cookies shaped like humans. This one from 
Seems like every food mag is doing a travel issue these days, and Bon Appetit is no exception. Their "Where To Eat Now" 
I haven't seen An Inconvenient Truth yet, so I don't know if Al Gore covers this, but it looks like one of the biggest contributors to global warming is the food we eat and the processes that give us that food.
Everyone has their Christmas morning traditions. When I was a kid, we couldn't open any of our gifts (OK, maybe our stockings) until mom had had her first cup of coffee. I don't really have any traditions or rules like that anymore, because I have my own place now and I go over to my sister's house later in the day and exchange gifts and she usually cooks, but a lot of people have certain things they always eat or drink on Christmas morning, even beyond the coffee you have in the morning or the turkey you have for dinner.
Starting today, the countdown to Christmas really kicks off. There are gifts to buy, cards to mail and cookies to bake. When it comes to baking cookies as holiday gifts, there are two schools of thought. One says to stick with a tried-and-true recipe that you aren't likely to accidentally screw up. The other says that there is no better time to try some new recipes than when you are going to be doing a lot of baking anyway. Personally, I'm in favor of trying new recipes and there are plenty of places to find them this year. The Food Network has their 
I have a confession to make. I didn't even taste cheesecake until I was around 30. I was one of those people that didn't associate cheese with desserts. It didn't sound right to me. But you can imagine my joy when I actually tried cheesecake all those years ago.
The editor of 
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
