Butter & Syrup

A concise, occasional food newsletter

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Cookbooks

What are cookbooks really for?

Comfort. Inspiration. Diversion. Cooking can be the least of it. Some cookbooks are more lookbooks.

This piece on "Why We Love to Believe the Myth of ‘Everyday Cooking'" examines a new cookbook and our inability to attain the goals and aesthetic it sets forth, every day or any day.

But calling a cookbook "Something Something All Day" or "Something Something Every Day" sets it up for an immediate disconnect.

Who cooks from a cookbook every day?

-Dan

p.s. You can try your hand at naming your own cookbook at Cookbook Title Generator

Main course

Will I ever cook from this book? I honestly have no idea. I'm not going to lie and tell you that I have, or even that I will. I can tell you that I'd like to. And that I have enjoyed this book immensely. It's the beautifully illustrated marriage of "On Food and Cooking" and "The Food Lab," covering the elements of taste. It also has recipes, most of which sound great and none of which I've made.

Links

2-sentence dessert recipes

I'm partial to the sautéed apples. There's an Alice Medrich recipe for chocolate sauce, too.

Against the grain

Salt, like butter and eggs before it, is finding its image rehabilitated after being villainized for decades. Enjoy the salt that pours from your Bluetooth-enabled salt shaker. (It's called Smalt; I smit you not.)

Before and after

I pass along this list of 25 things to eat before you die while we await the companion list: 25 things to eat in the afterlife.

Dos and doughnuts

If you're feeling betrayed by doughnuts, you are not alone. High-concept doughnuts are encroaching on something basic and beloved. What's next? Ice cubes?

Artisans on ice

Crap. I never expected to feel nostalgic about ice from a cheap tray in my freezer, but artisanal ice will do that to you.

Prison pizza

Some jail inmates in Illinois can order pizza delivered to their cells. The most shocking part: It looks pretty good.

New: "Will It Skillet?"
Available at your local bookstore and at online bookstores. 📚
Coming soon: "How to Instant Pot"

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