The naked cookbook

An article by Josh Friedland on the blog The Food Section is talking about how cookbooks are being printed without dust jackets—they have only the paper-on-board cover. (Dust jackets being the paper book cover that wraps around the whole book.) I'm thinking that I agree with the basic premise: that cookbooks really don't need a dust jacket. Maybe they're a bit fussy and in the way. And of course we know it's cheaper to print without.

But a cookbook I just took out of the library recently didn't look cheap at all...in fact, it's positively sumptuous. Phaidon has put out a glorious cookbook titled Tuscany — each chapter is dedicated to the regional specialties of the different Tuscan towns.

Each recipe gets its own spread. On beautiful paper. With fantastic marbled endpapers.



















And there are not one, but two! finding ribbons (aka markers, registers, signets, or bookmarks); one in deep sienna, the other a lovely ochre. The design is a great blend of gli antichi e i moderni(the ancient and the modern).



















And the recipes are sbalorditive, including one for celery that is stuffed (and tied) and floured and fried. You'll have to check it out yourself for that recipe.

And naturalmente the book sports a dust jacket.

Sushi Cupcakes

Amazing! Created by a blogger on NotSoHumblePie.blogspot.com!

A little O'buzz

Über pal to BTD, the lovely and talented Pat O'Neill just launched his eponymous website. Friendly and approachable (just like Pat!), the site's got wit and depth (get it!?).

A radio professional extraordinaire (WSJ Radio, Bloomberg...need we say more?), Pat also has amazing writing and culinary skills (check out the photos of some of his yummy creations). Lately he's been out and about writing food articles and sous-cheffing. You can read his latest article for Inside F&B (that's food and beverage, natch!) about business team building with cooking here.

I'm wowed by the bunny polenta! Parmigiano-Reggiano fur!

Did we forget to mention how charming he is? Sorry ladies, he's taken, but available for work!

Lava cake mix

As much as I admire the retro type on this cake mix box, I can't help but think that this dessert can easily be homemade instead of mixed up out of a box. (I recommend this recipe from Gale Gand/Food Network.)



Meanwhile, though, a million years ago (okay, 2004), the New York Times published a great article about the science of a particularly interesting chocolate bundt cake called the "Tunnel of Fudge". The chemistry of the cake is that the amount of sugar super-saturates the cake batter, so it will never fully "cake" all the way through. When the cake is cut, the inner bundt part just oozes out. I've made it more than once, and it's totally a showstopper. Easy, too! Here's the recipe.

The original tunnel-of-fudge cake won second place in the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest for Ella Rita Helfrich of Houston. That version used a fudge icing mix to create a gooey chocolate center. But Pillsbury discontinued the icing mix, and the resulting clamor of home bakers led Pillsbury to release a recipe for making tunnel-of-fudge cake from scratch. Shirley O. Corriher, a bio-chemist and cook, took up the challenge.

While we're on the subject of chocolate cake, here is my hands down favorite recipe, which uses ricotta cheese as the binder (no butter to soften...always my downfall!).