The Just-Released Memoir I Read in One Night

I read Everything Is Under Control, Phyllis Grant’s new memoir, in one sitting.

You might recognize her name from this Genius tomato sauce or, years before that, when she shared creamy, garlicky, anchovy-y recipes during the early days of our site. Th…

I read Everything Is Under Control, Phyllis Grant’s new memoir, in one sitting.

You might recognize her name from this Genius tomato sauce or, years before that, when she shared creamy, garlicky, anchovy-y recipes during the early days of our site. Though the articles that went with weren’t just about cream or garlic or anchovies. Because to Grant, writing about citrus salad is writing about insomnia. Pasta with corn is her son going to camp. Hazelnut brittle is her daughter’s birthday.

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3 Riffable Baking Recipes From Cult-Favorite Baker Dominique Ansel

For many, Dominique Ansel and the Cronut™ are synonymous. Since its birth in 2013, thousands (if not tens, hundreds) have lined up outside Ansel’s eponymous bakery in SoHo to try the confection, a feat of pastry engineering: a cream-filled, fried ring …

For many, Dominique Ansel and the Cronut™ are synonymous. Since its birth in 2013, thousands (if not tens, hundreds) have lined up outside Ansel’s eponymous bakery in SoHo to try the confection, a feat of pastry engineering: a cream-filled, fried ring of croissant-ish dough.

Restaurant critic Tejal Rao deemed the creation a “masterpiece," Time Magazine called it one of 2013’s best inventions, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office dubbed it an idea worth trademarking. Its popularity even spurred the release of a cookbook, Dominique Ansel: The Secret Recipes, in which there is the secret recipe (it takes three days from start to finish).

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How to Make Over 100 Dishes With Ingredients You Probably Have

“Certainly, cooking in a quarantine was the furthest thing from my mind over the years I was working on the book,” cookbook author Lukas Volger emails me across Brooklyn. His intended aim for Start Simple was to show families, like his brother’s, that …

“Certainly, cooking in a quarantine was the furthest thing from my mind over the years I was working on the book,” cookbook author Lukas Volger emails me across Brooklyn. His intended aim for Start Simple was to show families, like his brother’s, that they can always whip up something delicious with whatever they’ve got.

The book, which came out this past February, offers over 100 fresh takes on 11 common ingredients home cooks are stocking (Volger’s done a lot of peeking into carts). Figuring into the starter pack are dried beans and hardy greens, silken tofu and tortilla stacks, sweet winter and spongy summer squash, to name a few. Sound familiar? I know—I felt a bit spooked, too.

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My Family Rarely Eats Dinner at the Table—but We Always Eat Together

All happy families may be alike in some ways, but one thing’s for sure—they each have unique and special food traditions. Christine Chitnis, photographer and author of the new book, Patterns of India: A Journey Through Colors, Textiles, and the Vibranc…

All happy families may be alike in some ways, but one thing's for sure—they each have unique and special food traditions. Christine Chitnis, photographer and author of the new book, Patterns of India: A Journey Through Colors, Textiles, and the Vibrancy of Rajasthan, explores travel, food, and the new traditions she and her family have created together, accompanied by beautiful images from her book.


Our habits around food are often informed by the environments in which we were raised: cherished family recipes; ingredients we love especially; a designated seat at the table for each family member. For the most part, our upbringing also shapes our understanding of mealtime. Especially in the food community, we often talk of the joy that comes from sharing a family meal, but it’s easy to forget that in some homes there is little comfort to be found in the act of gathering.

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How to Help Your Favorite Cookbook Authors (& Bookstores!) Right Now

Now more than ever, home is where many of us are seeking refuge and solace in light of the novel coronavirus. This is a tough time, but we’re here for you—whether it’s a new pantry recipe or a useful tip for your kitchen, here are some ideas to make th…

Now more than ever, home is where many of us are seeking refuge and solace in light of the novel coronavirus. This is a tough time, but we’re here for you—whether it’s a new pantry recipe or a useful tip for your kitchen, here are some ideas to make things run a little more smoothly for you and your loved ones.


Coverage of spring cooking usually looks pretty different than it does this year: At a time when food media should be beginning to sing songs of radishes, peas, asparagus, and ramps, the focus this year is mostly on storage produce, pantry staples, and all-consuming kitchen projects. Coverage of spring cookbooks looks pretty different, too—but that doesn’t mean the books have stopped!

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10 Books to Warm the Soul (or Just Distract It)

Now more than ever, home is where many of us are seeking refuge and solace in light of the novel coronavirus. This is a tough time, but we’re here for you—whether it’s a new pantry recipe or a useful tip for your kitchen, here are some ideas to make th…

Now more than ever, home is where many of us are seeking refuge and solace in light of the novel coronavirus. This is a tough time, but we’re here for you—whether it’s a new pantry recipe or a useful tip for your kitchen, here are some ideas to make things run a little more smoothly for you and your loved ones.


If you’re like me, you’re finding that this strange time wavers between being mildly unsettling and completely overwhelming, hour to hour, day to day. It can be all-consuming, even if you’re one of the lucky ones that can continue to work from home.

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11 Unexpected Things I Learned From the Marie Kondo of Dishwashing

Home is the place we feel the most like ourselves—where we kick off our shoes, share our meals, and make memories. We’re taking our love for all things home and bringing it to Instagram. Follow along at Home52 and make yourselves—well, you know.

I n…

Home is the place we feel the most like ourselves—where we kick off our shoes, share our meals, and make memories. We’re taking our love for all things home and bringing it to Instagram. Follow along at Home52 and make yourselves—well, you know.


I never thought I needed a book to teach me how to wash dishes. How to sous vide? Yes. How to realize my storage goals? Perhaps. But to wash dishes, that most quotidian of household tasks?

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21 Baking Books Our Staff & Community Swear By

Cookbooks solve practical problems, like what to make on a Thursday when you have 30-ish minutes to spare, what to bring to a newly vegan friend’s potluck, what to prep on the weekends. But baking books are all about pleasure. Distracting yourself from…

Cookbooks solve practical problems, like what to make on a Thursday when you have 30-ish minutes to spare, what to bring to a newly vegan friend’s potluck, what to prep on the weekends. But baking books are all about pleasure. Distracting yourself from what you’re actually supposed to be doing, celebrating a 91st birthday, making a midnight snack. Below are 21 of our favorite baking books, cherry-picked by our staff and community alike. Organized alphabetically by title, the list is by no means exhaustive—we hope you’ll weigh in with your favorites in the comments, too.


1. BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher

“If you love baking, reading BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher is a joy, and will help you understand the science of it so much better (and give you a lot of good cake recipes, too).” —Kristen Miglore, Creative Director of Genius

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3 Vegetable-Powered Dinners From Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver has written a lot of cookbooks. There’s The Naked Chef, inspired by his breakout television show of the same name, which debuted in 1999. Location-focused ones, from America to Italy to Spain. Constraint-focused ones, like 15 minutes and 5…

Jamie Oliver has written a lot of cookbooks. There’s The Naked Chef, inspired by his breakout television show of the same name, which debuted in 1999. Location-focused ones, from America to Italy to Spain. Constraint-focused ones, like 15 minutes and 5 ingredients. And, most recently, Veg.

While more and more vegetable-driven books also include meat (think Six Seasons and Ruffage), Oliver opts not to. Though he makes sure to clarify, “This book is not just for vegetarians.” Rather, it’s for anyone who wants to look at vegetables in a new way—as ingredients that can carry their own weight.

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What Are Your Favorite Cookbooks of All Time?

Ask any home cook what the best cookbook of all time is, and you’ll probably get an excited—and exasperated—response. Where does one even begin? It’s an entirely unscientific, exceedingly subjective question with a thousand and one right answers. It’s…

Ask any home cook what the best cookbook of all time is, and you'll probably get an excited—and exasperated—response. Where does one even begin? It's an entirely unscientific, exceedingly subjective question with a thousand and one right answers. It's like being asked to pick your favorite child or pet. (Heck, making this decision was almost impossible even when we were just trying to name the best cookbook of the year.)

Naturally, we decided to ask this question anyway, to the best and brightest home cooks we know (that's you!). We're officially on the hunt for the greatest tomes of our time, and we need your help. So, tell us: What cookbook—new or old, long or short, famed or unjustly overlooked—has changed the way you cook? Whose corners are dog-eared, with pages splattered, stained, and utterly well-loved? Which one do you turn to when you're in need of a kick of inspiration and a back-to-basics lesson on a classic dish? And which cookbook's there for you most, when you need a friendly, steady voice to coach you through a head-spinning technique?

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