I’m happy to announce the new release of Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Reviews, Memoir, and More, in its 2nd edition, by Dianne Jacob. At the end of this post, I’m giving away one copy for free!

For those of you already familiar with the previous edition – I know many of you already own it and will wonder why you should upgrade – you’ll appreciate this much expanded volume, which includes a HUGE chapter on blogging and social networking as they pertain to food writing. She’s also beefed up the other sections, interviewed countless new sources, and added updated information on the ever-changing world of food writing as it exists in this new-fangled Internet age. The new book is not only bigger, but far more relevant to today’s new media.

Says Dianne of the recent additions to Will Write for Food:

I interviewed the most successful food bloggers, writing a 17,000-word chapter on food blogging (about 70 pages double spaced) that will answer your questions, inspire you, and provide resources and insider information … In addition to the new chapter on blogging, the new edition of Will Write for Food incorporates tips on using social media as a freelancer and a blogger; updated info on book publishing, whether traditional or self-publishing; and updated info on the newer, more competitive freelancing market.

If you like the book, I recommend you also check out Dianne’s blog on food writing. She’s not only an excellent writer, but a wonderfully thorough teacher and consultant. I also interviewed her on Wasabimon not long ago about her cooking and blogging life.

To celebrate the new release of her book (and the fact that I’m quoted a few times – check the index and acknowledgements. *blush*), I’m giving away a free copy to one lucky reader. If you’re lucky, I’ll even ask her to sign it before I send it your way.

Here are the rules to enter the giveaway:

1 – For one entry in the contest, you can join the Wasabimon mailing list by clicking this link, entering your email address, and then clicking the confirmation link that you’ll receive via email. Sorry, only confirmed subscribers will be entered to win.

2 – For another entry (or if you’re already on the list) you can post the following to Twitter, exactly as it appears here so that I can keep track of who’s posting where:

Interested in food writing? Win a copy of @diannej’s Will Write for Food at @wasabimon: http://bit.ly/bJchb4 via @sstiavetti

Then leave me a comment on this post to let me know that you’ve joined the mailing list and/or posted the tweet. Also, let me know how you’re interested in food writing… just because I want to know more about you.

Be sure to enter by Tuesday, August 3rd, at noon PST. I’ll draw a winner at random that day.

Are you a fan of goat milk? It’s common knowledge that people are more easily able to digest it over cow’s milk, due in part to the fact that it contains less lactose (milk sugars) and very different fat and protein profiles. These differences in chemistry also make it taste different, and a lot of people are down on the goat milk – which is a huge bummer, because its culinary capabilities are outstanding. Also, I’ll bet a lot of people don’t know that goat’s milk actually tastes similar to cow’s milks when it’s stored and consumed properly. If you cool goat’s milk quickly and consume it fresh, that flavor that people complain about just isn’t there. Yes, really.

I’m a goat zealot. I love goat milk, and I can’t imagine a happy life without goat cheese. I can think of few things that make me happier than someone who does something unexpected with goats milk.

So, dear readers, here’s a concept that might be new to you: goat milk sweets.

Ecce Capra: Behold, goat milk caramels.

Ok, stop – before you freak out and click away, I’d like to introduce you to my friend Michael Winnike. Michael’s the brain and taste buds behind Happy Goat, a brand of candies that really stands out against all the others. In fact, he’s creating some of the most amazing caramels I’ve ever eaten. What makes his caramels different? Since they’re made with goat milk, there’s a slight difference in taste and texture. I’m not talking about that signature “goatiness” that people tend to shy away from; I’m talking about a nuance of flavor, a gentle, complimentary tang that goes surprisingly well with caramelized sugar.

Happy Goat made quite a splash at the Fancy Food Show, and the company has been noted in more than a few local media outlets. Michael has been approached by a handful of major magazines and is currently being courted by some serious retailers. Why do you think this is? I’ll tell you: these caramels are freaking fabulous.

Besides the novel goat-thing, Happy Goat caramels are handmade by someone who loves what he does. Michael puts an immense amount of time and love into every candy he makes, and I really believe this adds to the special feeling of bliss these caramels evoke. He’s also planning on branching out into a few other areas, including spreads, chocolates and caramels sauces, so you can bet that there will be lots of other goodies coming down the pike from Mr. Winnike.

A super sweet giveaway

You know you want to try Michael’s Happy Goat caramels, so I’m giving you a chance to win some of your own. One lucky winner will receive a gift box of Happy Goat confections, delivered straight to your door (ooh! Look who’s spoiled!). Leave a comment here to enter the giveaway, and twitter this following phrase, verbatim: Love caramel? Win a gift basket of Happy Goat caramels on @wasabimon: http://bit.ly/aoeH0s

Or join the mailing list for an additional chance to win.

What should you do with your bounty, should you win? Well, I recommend eating them straight up, one at a time, until your eyes roll back in your head and you’ve slipped into a state of sugar-induced ecstasy. Or melt a box’s worth and
make caramel apples, again experiencing the afore-mentioned blissful, tingly experience. Regardless of what you do with them, I’m pretty sure you’re going to love them. And I’m pretty sure that you’ll hoard them away, like I do, safe from the sticky fingers of others.

Contest entries must be in by noon on Friday, February 12th. I’ll announce a winner then. Sorry, this contest is only open to folks located within the US, since international shipping is a huge pain in the patoot and there are weird restrictions on shipping food to foreign countries.

The publishing industry is on its ear, but while book sales are lagging overall, sales of cookbook titles are on the rise. We could hypothesize about the ‘whys’ all day: people are broke and cooking at home more, American food culture has gained in momentum over the past decade, people are returning to a ‘back to basics’ way of eating that involves cutting out restaurants. Whichever theory you subscribe to, the facts are the same; cookbooks are as popular as ever.

With so many cookbooks titles on the market, which are worth their salt? I know I’ve stood at my local Borders and gawked at the rows upon rows of colorful spines within the culinary section, wondering which to pull down and flip through. When faced with a selection of hundreds to choose from, overwhelm sets in and I just give up and walk away.

For me, it always ends the same way: with the sense that there are just too many damn cookbooks in the world right now.

Thankfully, we’ve got a few pros to help us separate the wheat from the ass. Small specialty shops, such as Omnivore Books in San Francisco, are filled with more cookbook titles than any single large-scale chain bookstore can possibly hold. You might think that it would be more difficult to make a selection when confronted by literally thousands of cookbooks, but here you’d be wrong. Because in a store like this, you have a pro at hand who can walk you through the vast majority of the books before you.

Today we’ve got Samantha Tackeff back again, sharing with us her favorite cookbook selections. You might remember her from Food Blogger Spotlight a few weeks ago, where I introduced her and explained that she had the best job ever – she works at the afore mentioned Omnivore Books, where she spends her days getting up close and personal with more cookbooks than you can possibly imagine.

So if you’re like me and find yourself prostrate before a throng of cookbooks, gaping wildly and drooling on yourself in confusion, you’ll appreciate Sam’s advice about which are worth your pennies and ingredients. Some of her recommendations might surprise you.

Finding Fun Cookbook Titles

You work in a store that sells only cookbooks (best job ever!!). Can you name ten books, new and old, that are must-haves for any serious cook?

(ed note: Omnivore doesn’t have an online shop, so I’m linking through Amazon.)
People come into the shop and routinely ask me what my favorite cookbook title is, to which my response would be… well, I could tell you my favorite four in each section? Even that’s difficult!

You know, this question is a tough one, mostly because there is such a huge range of what people are looking for in cookbooks – one of the best parts about working in a bookstore is getting to talk to people and figure out exactly what they might like – and it’s so incredibly satisfying when they come back and tell you all about how in love they are with their choices. Ultimately, even though there are books that are “classic” – I want people to come out with a book that they are really going to use, so my list sways a little bit on the modern side.

On my own shelves I have almost every Jamie Oliver, and generally recommend any of them, but ‘Jamie at Home’ and ‘Jamie’s Italy’ are the ones that have gotten the most use lately. Like Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall “River Cottage” books are all stellar. He writes these big encyclopedic books with clear titles like “Meat” and “Fish” and has this brilliant series of handbooks, on bread baking, preserve making, mushrooms, seafood, and vegetables. This is a guy who is so passionate about food, and reading any of his books is [dare I say it] life changing. He also has a great cookbook I recommend for families: “The River Cottage Family Cookbook”.

I also recommend Mark Bittman’s ‘How to Cook Everything’ and ‘How to Cook Everything Vegetarian’ to almost everyone who comes into the shop. He writes the New York Times column ‘The Minimalist’ and generally shares my philosophies about food. His books are slightly encyclopedic, and have master recipes with dozens of variations. They are also very well organized so you can easily look up odd ingredients in the index and flip to the page and get a myriad of ideas. Most of all, they encourage some spontenaiety in the kitchen, which makes things so much more fun!

I really love Nigel Slater – his book ‘The Kitchen Diaries’ chronicles his year in dinners – it’s great because on some days he has really detailed recipes, and on other days, he might have picked up a japanese bento box, or maybe this great peach is in season and he eats it with a wedge of cheese and a nob of good bread. I’ve read the book through several times, and love going back to it for seasonal inspiration.

I also collect every Donna Hay book, which is generally my recommendation to food bloggers – her simplicity, innovation, and beautiful food photography is so inspirational. For baking, you can’t go wrong with either Flo Braker’s ‘Baking for All Occasions’ or Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Baking: From My Home to Yours’. They both have cult followings and recipes that turn out so well.

For Vegetarian cooking, I love Deborah Madison’s ‘Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone‘, and for vegan baking: any of Isa Chandra Moscovitz’s books. My coworker routinely bakes vegan things out of her books that make me swoon. Edna Lewis’ books are the best for Southern cooking. Believe me, it pays to have some really great southern things in your repertoire.

For classic Chinese, Fucshia Dunlop has written really great books – she was the first foreigner to take classes in the Chinese National Cooking schools, and is a great writer. I’ve always used copies of Madhur Jaffrey’s books for Indian cooking, with lots of success. I’ve also been reading through Luke Nguyen’s ‘Songs of Sapa’ – he’s an Aussie chef who went to seek his roots in Vietnam. It’ll make you hungry and empowered in about 30 seconds.

Finally, every good cook should have a copy of Harold McGee’s ‘On Food and Cooking’. It’s a mix of food science and history and technique that is a great resource.

And I’d highly recommend a copy of ‘Mr. Boston’s’ or ‘The Savoy Cocktail Book’ for anyone with a desire to learn how to mix a good drink.

Wow, Sam, thanks for all of this! I know I’ll be digging through a few of these titles in the very near future.

To everyone else – remember the old adage, “don’t just a book by its cover,” no matter how gorgeous that dish on the front might look. Do a little homework before buying, and your cookbook title collection will thank you.

What are your favorite cookbooks, and why? What makes a particular cookbook stand out for you as a good egg?

As you can tell from my posting spree this week, I have a little love affair with the macaron. So when I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita came up for presale on Amazon, I added it to my cart immediately. Here’s a funny thing about macarons – they’ve become really popular with Japanese chefs, who are taking this elegant little cookie to new heights.

Aesthetics

First, a bit about the book itself: it’s thin. This book is only 80 pages long. I guess I was hoping for a Tome de Hermé, but macarons are a fairly simple recipe that requires a lot of personal precision, so I guess it makes sense that you wouldn’t need to dedicate a few hundred pages to the process.

Second, I love the photos. I’m such a sucker for colorful photos, especially photos of macarons, and this book is full of them. Woot.

A Plethora of Macaron Recipes

The recipes themselves are inspired, such as pistachio with bitter ganache filling and purple yam with chestnut cream, and there are lots of photos of the macaron making process, which is undoubtedly helpful for beginners. Ogita also talks about two different ways of making macaron batter – the classic method, using a French meringue that results in a softer cookie, and a second Italian meringue method, which yields macarons with a crunchier surface.

These photos are not from the book!

When it comes to baking, Ogita’s directions are easy. Actually, almost too easy. Macarons are relatively simple to make, though there are countless pitfalls that beginners can fall into. Fortunately, she has included a section at the end of the first chapter that provides some basic troubleshooting techniques, though recommendations are only one or two lines and leave a lot for interpretation. And therein may be the problem – the book was originally translated from Japanese, so something may have been lost in translation.

If you have a Japanese copy of the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, though, I really liked this book. While it might not be appropriate for someone with no baking skills at all, if you know your way around a silpat, you’ll probably work through the recipes just fine. Ogita dedicates an entire chapter to making a variety of fillings, another on how to creatively wrap your sweet little gems (big plus in my book), and a final chapter on how to use the leftover egg yolks you will inevitably end up with after an afternoon of baking macarons.

If, like me, you love macarons, then you’ll enjoy I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita. In fact, I’d say order it now, or give it as a gift to someone you know who is equally obsessed. Maybe wrap it up with a box of colorful macarons, straight from a local bakery. If anyone did that for me, I have to say I’d have a hard time controlling myself.

These photos are not from the book!

Win a copy of I Heart Macarons by Hisako Ogita!

I love this book, and you will too. And I’ve got a copy here to give away to one beloved Wasabimon reader. To win, leave comment on this post telling me why you love macarons (don’t forget to include your email address so I can reach you in you win!). For additional chances to win, you can subscribe to the email newsletter and post the following phrase on Twitter, verbatim: Hey! @sstiavetti is giving away a copy of Hisako Ogita’s “I Heart Macarons” book on @wasabimon: http://bit.ly/65imV8 – note: you need to leave a comment here in order to enter, even if you tweet.

I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010. Sorry, but you have to live in the continental US to win, unless you want to pay for shipping.

You know you want a copy of this book!

For this week’s Food Blogger Spotlight, we’re doing something a little different and talking to two fabulous cookbook authors about baking gluten free bread recipes. When Zoë Francois and Jeff Hertzberg began working on their most recent bread-baking book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, they discovered early on that there was a huge desire for healthy gluten free breads. Jeff, a doctor, and Zoë, a pastry chef, set about developing a series of recipes for their gluten-free, yet still bread-hungry, readers. They quickly realized it wasn’t an easy feat, but powered through and have included an entire section of their book dedicated to bread recipes that will tempt even the most gluten-obsessed bread-fiend.

To keep with the Food Blogger Spotlight theme, Jeff and Zoë also blog at Artisan Bread in 5, while Zoë keeps her own personal blog at Zoë Bakes. If you love baking, I highly recommend you check out both! You might also check out their first book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

Let’s welcome Zoë and Jeff as they share their experiences with gluten free baking.

Be sure to read to the bottom so you can enter to win your own copy of their book!

Before writing Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, what were your initial thoughts on gluten free baking?

Jeff: I’d never tried anyone’s homemade gluten free breads, and the store-bought ones seemed awful, really not tasting like bread at all, just sweet and weird. And that texture! So it was a revelation to find that you can get really nice results at home. Zoë and I really had to collaborate on these. Translation: I started working on them, but got quickly flummoxed by the differences from wheat flour, and tried to punt it over to the professional chef. She really made them work beautifully, and I’m ever-grateful.
Zoë: I had very little experience with gluten free baking other than what I tried at various bakeries. Some of it was very good, but mostly cookies and sweets. The breads that I tried were generally from the frozen section of the co-op and not all that exciting.

Had you made any gluten free bread recipes before you began work on the book?

Jeff: I had not!
Zoë: No, I have to admit I was taken aback at how many requests we had for gluten free bread recipes. I didn’t realize just how many people were on gluten free diets, including several of my friends. It became immediately obvious that this was a big need and would have a prominent place in our second book.

What caveats did you run into while developing gluten free recipes for the book?

Jeff: The caveat is “BE PATIENT!” It’s not at all easy to convert wheat recipes into gluten free , so it’s going to take much trial and error if you don’t start with a working recipe. Remember also that in our method, we need to be able to store the dough in the refrigerator so that busy people have time for daily baking. It’s challenging to convert wheat recipes to gluten free , but it’s not at all difficult to mix and store the recipes from our book in your refrigerator. The method is exactly the same as in our wheat-based breads, it’s just as easy.
Zoë: The gluten free dough doesn’t feel the same as dough made with wheat flours. We wanted the dough to be mixed and stored in the same way that all of our other breads are made, but once it is mixed it feels entirely different. It is much softer, lighter and has no stretch to it. In order to get a smooth surface on the gluten free dough you need to wet your hands and rub it smooth – it is just as easy to work with, but feels different. For those used to baking with traditional dough, they will have to enter into this chapter with a sense of adventure. Suspend any expectations of how it will feel.

What resources came in handy when developing your gluten free recipes?

Jeff: We really relied on other bakers who’d been down this path before, and people were wonderfully generous with their ideas. That’s what makes baking so much fun. This hobby is really about connecting with people, and now that we’ve added gluten free recipes to our books, no one is left out.
Zoë: We credit several people in our book for helping us develop this chapter. Those folks generously shared their experience baking with gluten free ingredients with us. We wanted to make sure that the recipes were as easy as our other recipes, but more importantly they had to taste great. It was through testing and dialog and more testing that we came to the breads that are included in this chapter. I had read several books about baking gluten free breads, but in the end it came down to trial and error. None of the books were storing the dough and that really changes the whole equation. In order to have a dough that bakes well after 5 days we had to change the ratios of the recipes. The experience was a real challenge and yet in the end one of the most satisfying accomplishments.

Which gluten free recipe in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day is your favorite?

Jeff: That would have to be “Not Rye (But So Very Close).” The teff flour is a bit sour and together with the caraway seeds, it gives the illusion of sour rye. Second place goes to any pizza– the toppings become the focus, so you really don’t notice the lack of wheat flavor (which is subtle in the first place). I’m a pizza lunatic, I could eat it every night. In fact, we just signed the contract for a third book, tentatively titled “Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day,” or something to that effect. Seriously, I defy a non-culinary school grad to distinguish our thin-crust gluten free pizza from wheat. At least if they’re willing to accept our offer of wine or beer with the slice.
Zoë: I tested all of the recipes and then served them to people, some who were used to gluten free baking and others who were not. For a picnic I made the gluten free brioche and my father said it was the best bread I’d ever made. He does not eat a gluten free diet and he loved it. It was so exciting to have the bread stand alone and be satisfying as a bread, not necessarily a gluten free bread!

What sage advice can you offer home bakers who are just learning to bake gluten free ?

Jeff: It isn’t all that hard, this works just like our other recipes– you dump everything into a bucket, mix it, and then let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours. After that, it goes into the fridge. Don’t over-handle it when you shape the refrigerated dough into loaves or you’ll knock gas out of the finished product, which causes density.
Zoë: The gluten free recipes are just as easy to put together as the traditional ones, but you have to add the liquids slowly. If you add the liquids all at once as you would with our other recipes you will end up with lumps in the dough. If this does happen you can just throw the dough into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and let it mix on medium high for a couple of minutes and the lumps work themselves out.

Do you have any tips for home bakers who are setting out to develop their own gluten free bread recipes from scratch?

Jeff: You need to use xanthan gum, which mimics the action of gluten to trap fermentation gases, promote leavening and give stretch. Can’t succeed without it, especially if you’re going to store the dough.
Zoë: Start with a recipe you love and make subtle adjustments to it. Start by substituting a little at a time so you can keep track of the changes and keep the texture of the bread the same. One thing about gluten free flours is that each has its own flavor and texture profile. Potato flour and corn starch may look similar but that behave differently in the recipes. A sense of adventure is key!
I think just about any style of bread can be recreated with gluten free ingredients, but the flavors and textures will be different. I think they are fabulous, but are their own thing. There are some breads that really come close to the wheat breads people grew up with, but then there are loaves that are unique and should be enjoyed by everyone just because they are delicious.

Click here for more Food Bloggers Spotlight interviews.

Win a copy of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day!

I’ve got one copy of the book to give away, and it will go to one of my lucky readers. To enter, you can do two things:

• Leave a comment on this post with your name and email address
• For a second entry, post the following phrase on Twitter, verbatim: Win a copy of Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day on @wasabimon! http://bit.ly/50bFUk #healthybreadin5

I will draw a name at random on Wednesday, December 30th, so be sure to get your entry in before then! Also, you must have a mailing address within the United States to enter this giveaway.

A few weeks ago, I attended the Blogher Food ’09 conference with Ree Drummond as one of the speakers. As she sat in her chair during one of the breaks, everyone stared across the room at this tall woman from Oklahoma. The conversation flitting around the room went something like this:

“There she is. Just sitting there. She’s not talking to anyone. Oh god! She’s one of those snobby, stuck up bloggers!”
“Do you think that’s her real hair color?”
“I’ve heard she’s nice…”
“How the hell did she have eight kids and stay that thin? Oh, four kids. Whatever. Still.”
“Oh my gosh! Look how tall she is!”
“Does she really cook with that seasoned salt stuff?”
“No, YOU go talk to her!”

For some reason, people were really, really intimidated by this woman. I’d never met her, and I was endlessly amused by the insecure chatter around the room. I think that the cattiest of these folks were just jealous, because without really trying, Ree had managed to curb the market on food blogging, beating out even our SF hometown heroes.

Ree’s blog, The Pioneer Woman, gets over 13 million pageviews a month, according to the LA Times. Her site is split into several sub-sites, including pages on cooking, photography and homeschooling, among others. The popularity of her food blog, The Pioneer Woman cooks has grown so fast and furiously that she’s already got a cookbook out: The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. And guess what? It’s on the New York Times Bestseller List.

How the hell did Ree gain such popularity in a world where everyone and their mom blogs? What is her magic formula? Well, here’s the ticket – she doesn’t have one, and that’s precisely what makes her popular.

In a universe with an untold number of blogs, people are knocking themselves out trying to create a gimmick that will bring people to their sites. It’s almost like walking down the street in the Red Light District, with hot women reaching out from every door way, wrapping their feathery scarves around the neck of anyone who passes by. “Come on in,” they breathe. “I’ve got what you want right here.”

But readers don’t want gimmicks, at least not for their everyday reading. They want something they can relate to, something comfortable, something familiar. Readers want their mom, their sister or the girl next door. Ree is all of these things.

A country-girl-turned-city-girl-turned-country-girl-again, Ree Drummond oozes friendliness. Her writing voice is easy breezy and offers to wrap you in a big old country-girl hug. Her food does the same thing; lacking the pretentiousness that many foodie blogs capitalize on, her recipes remind you of the stuff your mom used to make back in the 70s and 80s, when Lowry’s Seasoned Salt was all the rage and no one was afraid of butter yet.

Some turn up their nose at the idea of putting ketchup in their meatballs, but not Ree. Her cookbooks says, “Hey, it’s food. And it tastes good, so eat it.” Her book also says, “I like cowboys because they have damn fine asses.” Well, alrighty then. I can’t really argue with that.

Her recipes are so down-home while still hinting at an LA food-scene past that you can’t really resist them. I made three recipes – Huevos Hyacinth on page 70, Comfort Meatballs on page 172 and the Creamy Rosemary Potatoes on page 204. All were simple dishes that packed a lot of flavor, though this flour-heavy book might be tough to stomach for those of the gluten-free persuasion. That said, I’m thinking most of the stuff here would be simple to de-glutenize with a decent flour mix.

When it comes down to it, I love Ree’s book because it’s fun, chatty, colorful and stands out against today’s market of books that detail uppity global cuisine. Her cookbook pays homage to a dying breed: collections of American recipes that our mothers would have bought 20 years ago and actually made.

And by the way, I did finally meet Ree. After the conference Jaden, Elise and Ree threw a big crazy party, and Arnold and I ended up hiding from the crowds out on the patio. Out came the Pioneer Woman herself, who apparently doesn’t like crowds either. We sat outside, talking blogging for a while and then someone whisked her away.

All those catty biddies squawked for no reason – Ree was super nice and down to earth. Just like her cookbook.