Friday, December 18, 2015

Top 11 Food Trends of 2015


“Cooking vegetables as you would meats. Slow-roast beets on the grill until they are charred and perfectly tender, let them rest with a bit of tarragon and grapefruit butter on top, and there isn’t much more you need.”

“Even with all of the non-gluten-eating diners, pizza continues to trend!”


“The top food trend of 2015 is probably ice cream in all its variants.”
—Sandy Dee Hall, Black Tree

Pre-Game Pub: The Irish Embassy




Wings and sausage platters help get the game energy going to the max. 


Great company never hurts.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

The Guardian - Best Cook Books





Largehearted Boy - Favorite Food and Drink Books of 2015

This year I launched a new food book and drinks series, Whisk and Whiskey, and was exposed to a multitude of cookbooks as well as food and drink books.

These are the six food and drink books I have most recommended to friends, family, and anyone else who has crossed my path (my personal definition of "favorite").
What was your favorite food and/or drink book of 2015?

Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails: Restorative Vintage Cocktails, Mocktails, and Elixirs

Warren Bobrow's Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails once again proves his "cocktail whisperer" title well-deserved. Captivating and filled with gorgeous photography, not to mention the delicious drink recipes, this is the cocktail book of the year.

The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook

America's Test Kitchen once again impresses with this hefty vegetarian cookbook, which also includes many vegan and gluten-free recipes.

The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

My favorite cookbook of the year, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science takes a scientific approach to cooking.

Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto

My favorite Texas barbecue joint's cookbook offers a thorough guide to smoking meat, from wood to smoker to meat to step-by-step recipes.

Pie School: Lessons in Fruit, Flour & Butter

As well as an accomplished poet, Kate Lebo is also an eloquent evangelist for pie. Her cookbook Pie School: Lessons in Fruit, Flour & Butter brings the lessons from her baking classes to print with the same flair, wit, and enthusiasm in a book as rewarding to bake from as it is to read.

The Southerner's Cookbook: Recipes, Wisdom, and Stories

The editors of Garden and Gun magazine produced one of my favorite Southern cookbooks, one that masterfully combines recipes of mainstays with regional specialties.