Easter—this year celebrated across the long weekend of April 3 to 6—is the Christian festival commemorating Christ rising from the tomb. A festival that has come to be symbolic of the beginning of Spring, with all its new life and green shoots—hence the abundance of eggs, lambs, bunny rabbits and chicks, including all those chocolate ones.
Read MoreFor Scottish chef Clare Coghill, spring is when the landscape around her on the Isle of Skye bursts with new life, and is the perfect time for foraging. As she puts it:
‘We call Spring ‘an t-earrach’ which literally means for plants to spring forth from the ground. And the ground is exactly where I look when I start foraging for the year.’
Read MoreChef Clare Coghill runs Café Cùil on the Isle of Skye. She is a native, born and bred on the Scottish island, where her family have run a hotel for more than 100 years. Skye is blessed with ane exceptional range of seasonal local produce, and at Café Cùil, Clare and here team make the most of this, including foraging for wild ingredients which grow locally. If you have never tried a wild gorse flapjack (or latte) you don’t know what you are missing.
Read More‘The first thing to understand is that baking requires technique, attention to detail, and respect for processes. Talking about confectionery, small details make a huge difference in the final result.’ Luciana Corrêa
Read MorePastry chef Luciana Corrêa has scoured ckbk’s collection of baking titles for top tips from experienced bakers to help you reliably achieve the best results with your cakes. Read below for her 15 key tips for cake making, and watch out for more culinary tips in future articles in this series.
Read MoreWith Saint Patrick's Day approaching on Tuesday 17 March, there’s every excuse to lean into the generous, comforting cooking of Ireland. It’s a cuisine that knows how to turn humble ingredients into something worth celebrating: potatoes, cabbage, butter, good bread and perhaps a splash of something warming in the glass. Just the sort of food that feels right while the weather still has a bite to it—and the kind that invites everyone to gather round the table and stay a while.
Read MoreCongratulations to food writer Maria Kalenska on the publication of her brand new book Cuisines of Odesa: A Ukrainian Cookbook. We are thrilled to have it added to ckbk simultaneous with publication. An ambitious and heartfelt project, the book’s recipes tell the stories of their creators, and are arranged into sections reflecting Odesan life—eg. On a Sunny Morning: Breakfasts and Bites, and From the Garden: Fermenting, Pickling and Preserving.
Read MoreIn this latest in our occasional series of articles from ckbk subscribers, we feature this contribution from Anthony Humpage, an enthusiastic cook and YouTuber with a particular fondness for the cooking of Japan. Here he describes the genesis of one of his own favorite creations, ‘triple umami potatoes’.
Read MoreJennifer McLagan has received multiple James Beard awards for cookbooks which dare to step outside the norm. To celebrate the addition of Odd Bits to ckbk, we spoke to the author about her unique approach to cookbook writing, her favorite ways with offal, and the culinary delights of Paris.
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Lifetime resident of Indiana, photographer and food writer Shelly Westerhausen Worcel has been vegetarian since the age of twelve. She charts her kitchen adventures in her blog Vegetarian Ventures, and in her books—such as Every Season is Soup Season. Newly added to ckbk, Vegetarian Heartland: Recipes for Life’s Adventures, a love letter to the Midwest, and an invitation to cook and eat vegetarian food along with her.
Lebanese cook Lina Saad’s first cookbook, Land of White, which featured the cooking of her homeland, won a World Gourmand Cookbook award. Her second cookbook, Ramadan Express, has just been added to ckbk.
Around the world, starting on Tuesday 17th February, Muslims will observe a fast during daylight hours to mark the holy month of Ramadan. In this feature, Lina tells of her own personal experience of Ramadan, and how the dishes she brings together in Ramadan Express, eaten either in the evening after the fast breaks, or in the early morning before it begins, are central to the ritual of Ramadan for her family.
Love makes the world go around, it gives us happiness and hope, and as Bad Bunny showed us all at the weekend, that is in no way restricted to romantic love. February 14 is the annual day of love. We need it all year round, but we also need all the love we can get. So let’s seize the day and celebrate our loved ones—our lovers and our Galentines, or anyone else you feel could do with a cuddle. Food is a love language we all understand, and making food for your beloveds is a special thing to do, a special thing to share.
Read MoreTo welcome the Year of the Fire Horse, which begins on February 17, we’re diving chopsticks-first into the delicious traditions of Chinese New Year with Judi Rose, author of To Life!
Read MoreMustard oil is to Bangladeshi food what olive oil is to Italian food. As a person of Bangladeshi origin it is almost unthinkable not to include mustard oil in my cooking repertoire and belongs to the far end of the spectrum of cooking oils—intense and bold in flavour, it has a high smoking point and also features heavily in Indian regional cooking such as Punjabi, South India and West Bengal.
Read MoreClassic Thai Cuisine by David Thomson is our #ckbkclub book of the month, and we offer ideas for cooking with venison and a collection of snacks for watching the Superbowl (and/or the Winter Olympics!)
Read MoreAustralian chef David Thompson’s critically acclaimed cookbooks on Thai cuisine, together with his hugely successful high-end Thai restaurants, have been instrumental bringing the range and diversity of Thai cuisine to an international audience. This week we are delighted to add David’s first cookbook, Classic Thai Cuisine, to ckbk’s collection. In this latest author profile, fellow Australian chef and long time friend Roberta Muir talks to David about his career, his influences, and the in depth research which has gone into his cookbooks.
Read MoreIt’s all about cake in this week’s ckbk newsletter, with Luciana Corrêa’s Introduction to Cake, and a new book added to ckbk, The Art of Modern Cake, which offers high-end cake decorating tips and techniques.
Read MoreIn this fourth installment of our ongoing series offering introductions to major areas of cooking, São Paulo-based pastry chef Luciana Corrêa explores a subject very close to her heart—the wonderful world of cake!
Read MoreJanuary 25 is Burns Night, the annual celebration of the life and poetry of Scotland’s beloved son, Robert Burns. It is a chance to revel in all things Scottish, and usually marked by a lavish and hearty supper. If you need a bit of inspiration for fitting dishes to grace your Burns Night table, we’ve got all the recipes you need in our collection of Burns Night Recipes.
Read MoreCooking with Kids is a 4-part series designed to get kids into the kitchen with simple, delicious recipes that unlock the mysteries of cooking. In this second installment, Carolyn Federman, Founder of the Charlie Cart Project, explores the ckbk collection with an eye toward helping kids to build fundamental cooking skills.
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