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Here are the winners for this year. Any thoughts? Cookbook of the Year Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy by Diana Kennedy (University of Texas Press) American Cooking Pig: King of the Southern Table by James Villas (John Wiley & Sons) Baking and Dessert Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours by Kim Boyce (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) Beverage Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink Like the World’s Top Wine Professionals by Jordan Mackay and Rajat Parr (Ten Speed Press) Cooking from a Professional Point of View Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by René Redzepi (Phaidon Press) General Cooking The Essential New York Times Cook Book: Classic Recipes for a New Century by Amanda Hesser (W.W. Norton & Company) Healthy Focus The Simple Art of EatingWell Cookbook by Jessie Price & the EatingWell Test Kitchen (The Countryman Press) International Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories by Grace Young (Simon & Schuster) Photography Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine Photographer: Ditte Isager (Phaidon Press) Reference and Scholarship Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes by Mark Bitterman (Ten Speed Press) Single Subj ect Meat: A Kitchen Education by James Peterson (Ten Speed Press) Writing and Literature Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food by Paul Greenberg (The Penguin Press)

A friend's husband has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks and as he has done some work for me and refused any payment, I want to get him something fun, along with another gift. He is an enthusiastic amateur bartender and likes experimenting with unusual things. I know he has another book, published a few years ago, that includes some simple jello shots, but has nothing newer. I thought this looked like it has some newish tricks of the trade. I would really appreciate hearing if anyone has seen an advance copy and thinks this would be appreciated by someone who likes playing with liquor.

I am doing an eGullet food blog over here and would love some input on using mustard seeds with cauliflower. I want to keep things simple and was thinking of tossing the sliced cauliflower with olive oil, salt, and mustard seeds (black, white?)- would they need to be toasted first? I plan on a hot 425F oven. I know this is not a standard Indian prep but I thought cooks familiar with Indian preps would be the most knowledgeable about mustard.

OK, I know they're considered a delicacy, and their season is now, so how do I go about pickling spruce tips? I have an enormous spruce tree in front of my house, but I'm not sure what variety it is. Do they need to come from a particular type of spruce? What goes into the pickling liquid? Do I pour it over the spruce tips while it's hot, or do I cool it first?

Quick question here - My potato salad recipe for this weekend begins with roasted new potatoes and a mayo/sriracha dressing. Trying to think of what to add from there without including the normal hard boiled egg, celery, etc..... Blanched/chopped fresh green beans...pickled asparagus....I know some obvious and delicious stuff is escaping me here..... IDEAS?

I'm planning a bbq in a couple of weeks where I'll be serving homemade Vietnamese coffee ice cream along with some sort of ginger cookies. I'm trying to think of a tasty and unique way to incorporate Sriracha in maybe a caramel sauce, or a candied nut...something of that nature that can go over the ice cream. Any ideas or experience with this?

Was wondering if you could use bacon fat instead of oil in making mayonnaise. I've searched around, but found no answers. Would it work because the bacon fat would not be room temp? Don't know if that makes a difference or not.

I came across a jar of pickled pig's feet at Safeway today, could not resist. Says pickled on it, so I'm immediately attracted, and looks like a jar from a medical curiosities display at a circus side show, an other bonus. But what now? Google tells me they're a Southern thing, and are usually eaten as a snack. Haha, can't wait to put them out for a casual dinner or picknick! But is that all? You just snack on them? Cold? Roast and eat on toast? Dice and put over pasta? Make finger puppets? Curious what others might suggest here, if anybody here has eaten them before. I'll eat anything pickled

Hello, all, Was just out in the garden, and see that the radishes I've let go to seed for fall planting have produced an immense number of seed pods. They make great peppery additions to salads, but I have way more than I can use. Has anyone made cold pickled radish pods? I'm supposing at least I want to blanch them, and dump them into the pickling solution. I'm not trying to can them, just trying to hold them for a few weeks to serve with hot dogs.

Quick food safety question: I left an unopened jar a mayo (light, mayo actually) in my car for a day. It wasn't terribly hot out, but my car has a black interior and it gets pretty warm in there with the sun beating down all day. I know that you don't need to refrigerate this stuff before opening, but I'm not sure you are supposed to let it warm up like this either. Safe to eat? I know this is a tad paranoid, and normally I would just go for it, but my bigger concern is my pregnant wife. Thanks.

Any ideas on how I could put a honey centre in a jelly pastille

Anyone knows a solid shop with a really big selection of both olive oil and vinegars? Or a shop in london would do that wouldnt have crazy prices

A discussion around the family lunch table leads me to come here for authoritative answers: What are the proper definitions of and differences between jelly, jam and related products?

Hi everyone!I'm new to the blog and picking up many tips. I would appreciate it greatly if anyone could answer all or some of my questions.I have searched past topics but I need specific points answering...Regards in advance I had a business idea a couple of years ago whilst sitting bored at my desk at work. The basis of the idea was a natural, traditional throat and cough remedy that tasted nice and had ingriedients that had some scientific basis as to their "healing" powers. I need to take on the large pharmaceutical companies with a hand made anti bacterial candy Now there are many pastilles,hard candies,jellies and other confectioneries that help relieve symptoms. To cut a long story short I did a lot of research and tasting and came up with philosophy for the product and a list of ingriedients that were beneficial. I decided on a pastille/ pate de fruit style jelly sweet, but I wanted a pure honey liquid centre. As I mentioned I needed it to be natural,so all non natural flavours,colours, sweetners were out I also needed it to be vegetarian My current list of possible ingriedients for the prototype is as follows.. Pectin- Natural demulcent and natural gelling agent agar agar- to add a little more firmness to the jelly pastille lemon juice- main flavour, amalfi or sicilian? citric acid- to add a zing and to produce saliva liquid honey- for the centre powdered/crystalised honey - to coat the jelly any tips, recipes, additions, changes would be greatly welcomed...Any ideas on how to make the centre liquid? andy Eldictator edit *Development*

I just received a whole pickled herring. (As a substitute for a dozen Oreo cookies. Yes, you should boggle.) I love pickled herring, but I've never encountered it 'en situ', as it were. I have the "what to eat with it" part handled. (I'll be making bagels tomorrow.) What's the right thing to do with this? Cut across the spine, into mini-steaks? Filets Help me, eGulleteers, you're my only hope!

Anyone know of a place to get real, fermented pickles in Tampa? Or real sauerkraut?

Sour Tomatillo Achar Made this one up from a recipe for lemons. It really works for tomatilloes. A unique spice mix, and really sour for a 'different' type of pickle, or achar. It is based on a Marwari recipe - from the arid north-western part of India. Tomatilloes are not used in India (or at least not much) but are quite productive plants in my garden while lemons or other sour fruits are not possible to grow here. No vinegar or lemon juice is used, because tomatilloes are very acidic and don't need any extra. Ingredients 3 lbs tomatilloes husks removed and quartered 1/4 cup salt 1 Tbs black mustard seeds 2 star anise buds 10 dried chilies (I used very hot yellow peppers) 1 tsp fenugreek seeds 2 inch ginger (ground to a paste) 2 TBL dark brown sugar 1/2 cup sugar 1. In a large bowl, put the tomatilloes and sprinkle salt over them. Cover it and leave for a day, mixing occasionally. 2. Next day drain the tomatilloes. 3. Dry roast the star anise (put in first as these take longer, the black mustard, and the chilie pods (add last and barely brown in places). Cool. 4. Grind the roasted spices with the fenugreek and put aside. 5. Add tomatilloes, ginger, sugars, and everything else to a large pan and heat to boiling. 6. Cook till fully hot and boiling. 7. Fill half-pint jars and seal.

Sweet Eggplant Pickle This is an Indian pickle, some would call a chutney, that I made up from several sources and my own tastes. It is based it on my favorite sweet brinjal (eggplant here in the US) pickle available commercially. It has onion and garlic, which are often omitted in some recipes due to dietary restrictions of some religious orders. It also has dates which I added on my own based on another pickle I love. I also used olive oil as mustard oil is not available and I like it's taste in these pickles. Use other oils if you like. This has more spices than the commercial type - and I think it's superior. I avoided black mustard seed, fenugreek, and cumin because almost all other pickles use these and they start to taste the same. One recipe from Andhra Pradesh used neither and I followed it a little. It's wonderful with all sorts of Indian foods - and also used for many other dishes, especially appetizers. SPICE MIX (Masala) 4 Tbs coriander seeds 3 hot chilies (I used a very hot Habanero type, so use more if you use others) 18 cardamom pods 2 inches cinnamon 24 cloves 1 1/2 Tbs peppercorns MAIN INGREDIENTS 1 cups olive oil 4 inches fresh ginger, minced fine, about 1/2 cup 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 large onion finely chopped 3 lb eggplant, diced, 1/4 inch cubes 1/2 lb chopped dates 1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 2 cups rice vinegar (4.3 percent acidity or more) 2 cups brown sugar 2 Tbs salt 2 tsp citric acid Spice Mix (Masala) 1. Dry roast half the coriander seeds in a pan till they begin to brown slightly and become fragrant - do not burn. Cool. 2. Put roasted and raw coriander seeds and all the other spices in a spice mill and grind till quite fine, or use a mortar and pestle. Put aside. Main Pickle 1. Heat half the oil and fry ginger till slightly browned, slowly. 2. Add garlic, onion, and half the salt and fry slowly till these begin to brown a bit too. 3. Add eggplant, turmeric, and spice mix (Masala) and combine well. Fry for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 4. Add rest of ingredients, including rest of the salt and olive oil and heat slowly to a boil. 5. Boil for about 5 minutes. Add a little water if too thick - it should be nearly covered with liquid, but not quite - it will thin upon cooking so wait to add the water till heated through. 6. Bottle in sterilized jars and seal according to your local pickling instructions. This recipe will be sufficiently acidic.

Sitting in New Orleans Airport wondering about hot sauce.... First: any good homebrews to recommend Second: do you think its possible to make a clear hot sauce? Distilling maybe? Finally: assuming there is a really smart chef/geek who can figure out the clear part.... Could it be foamed? Can you foam a vinegar based solution? Why? I love the idea of making a white cloud of heat Thanks! J

We recently drove down to the North Carolina coast and took an unsuccessful shortcut from I-95 to I-40. The one nice thing about the routing was that we drove through a couple of legendary barbecue towns (Goldsboro and Wilson, not that we stopped). And at one point we passed through a place called Mt. Olive, where the signage claimed the town is the pickle capital of the world. I made a mental note and then, as with many of my mental notes, I forgot all about it. A couple of days later I was at the Food Lion getting some food supplies and a section of one aisle caught my eye: there was a whole block of shelf space devoted to the product line of the Mt. Olive pickle company. I bought a jar of kosher baby dills. Later, I ate a couple. I must say, they were probably the best shelf-stable pickles I've had. Very crunchy with a nice balance of salt, vinegar and seasonings. Certainly much better than the major supermarket brands. I'd have to do a more rigorous tasting against B&G -- my previous favorite brand -- to be sure. The location of Mt. Olive's facility, by the way, is the corner of Cucumber and Vine. The company's website: http://www.mtolivepickles.com

Eric Rygg of Kelchner's Horseradish Products, based in the Philly suburb of Dublin, is mustard royalty. That honor was certified Friday night by none other than the Clown Prince of Mustard-dom, Barry Levenson, founder and Grand Poobah of the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin, just outside Madison. The event celebrated the winners of the 2011 World Wide Mustard Competition and also featured the First Annual Iron Mustard Chefs Challenge. And no, I'm not kidding, though Levenson frequently does. At the event Rygg accepted medals for three mustards produced by his family-owned business, which includes Kelchner's and Silver Spring Farms of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Within the Horseradish/Wasabi Mustard competition Kelchener's Hot Mustard with Horseradish took the bronze medal, while gold went to Silver Spring's Beer 'n Brat Horseradish Mustard. (Brats, keep in mind, are almost as identified with Wisconsin as cheese curds and the Green Bay Packers.) Silver Spring's Organic Deli Mustard took the silver medal in the Organic Mustards category. Rygg is president of Kelchner's, a firm which has another Philadelphia area connection since it markets condiments under the Bookbinder's brand, which it acquired a few years back. Kelchner's also has a substantial distribution business of products from other manufacturers, so they handle the oyster crackers you find filling the bowls at the Oyster House on Sansom Street, as well as providing the horseradish. (Rygg is trying to convince Sam Mink, owner of the Oyster House, to ice the tableside horseradish because the product rapidly loses pungency once opened and allowed to reach room temperature.) It's horseradish, rather than mustard, however, that flows through Rygg's veins. In 1929 his great grand-father Ellis Huntsinger started Huntsinger Farms in Eau Claire. Today Huntsinger is the world's largest grower and processor of horseradish, so it was no accident that when Kelchner's was put up for sale a year or so ago the Wisconsin family firm acquired it. You can read more about the event, including the Iron Mustard Chefs Challenge and details about the National Museum, in my blog post.

So today I was snacking on some assorted olives, which I often do, seeing as how healthy they are . There were about 5 or 6 different olives in the batch; some sweet and fruity, some dry and funky - you get the picture. I think I've decided that my favorite olive is the Cerignola - especially the green ones. Might be because they're huge, but probably more so because they're so damn tasty. Do you have a favorite olive? And why?

Can anybody recommend any good books for chutney/relish making? Preferably something that's available in the UK - but open to looking elsewhere. Many Thanks Darryl.

I am having trouble finding a comprehensive list of James Beard award winners past and present, if anyone has a URL that is comprehensive I would greatly appreciate it. At last check the foundations websites list was imcomplete

Chemists measure chilli sauce hotness with nanotubes