Useful Info

My book tour has taken me all around the country, to smaller independent cookware stores in smaller cities that I normally don’t get to, like Des Moines, Madison, Savannah, and Anchorage. Everywhere I go I am working for my book sales. I have learned from past experience that unless you do a cooking demo and give out samples, people are not inclined to buy your book, particularly in this day and age of downloading recipes from the internet. It is… more »

Normally I would have posted this in the kitchen shrink part of my website but I thought the topic of weepy meringues was such a burning issue that I should feature it as a blog entry. The answer comes from one of my good buddies and an important mentor, Jean Anderson, author of a million cookbooks (no kidding it must be in the 30’s), most recently A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, Harper Collins 2007. When I hosted “Cooking Live,”… more »

I am frequently asked how to find information on cooking schools around the country and occasionally around the world. I usually recommend picking up a copy of The Guide to Cooking Schools or Culinary Schools and Programs by Peterson’s. Both are available on line and in bookstores and it is important to get the most recent edition. But recently I have discovered just how many cooking school guides are available online. Although they vary in content quality, taking a quick… more »

Let me explain. First the dry brine idea. Cook’s Illustrated, the magazine that has been in the forefront of brining (because many years ago Pam Anderson, their food editor, ran a recipe for brining a turkey after she discovered it in one of Jean Anderson’s cookbooks. Jean had learned this method on one of her trips to Portugal and unfortunately, neither Pam nor Jean get the proper credit for introducing America to this amazing process), featured a recipe for dry… more »

I get a lot of questions about being left handed and how it affects the way I do things. Actually, it doesn’t affect me at all. There are several inconveniences I have to suffer of course because this is a right handed world. Every time I have to sign one of those charge it machines at the supermarket the pen is on the wrong side and it is a tad awkward. Ditto day planners and journals where the center fasteners… more »