By Koseli. Pears by Smitten Kitchen.
I’m always on the hunt for meal inspiration, baking tips, and better cooking technique, and I find myself turning more and more to cooking blogs, recipe sites, and video how-tos for dinner inspiration. Mr. Porter, the men’s lifestyle site, recently introduced an intimate video series featuring handsome men cooking simple, delicious meals. It’s cleverly called The Way I cook. In this episode, Mr. Dermot O’Leary (presenter of the UK’s X Factor) makes John Deary, mashed potatoes, and green beans. I’ve never seen a cooking segment so cozy and conversational. And that fish looks delicious, doesn’t it?
How do you go about your cooking and recipe research? Do you prefer cookbooks to online recipe archives and cooking blogs, or a combination of both? What are your favorites? There are so many fantastic food blogs, but I love Smitten Kitchen, Pioneer Woman Cooks, Two Tiny Kitchens, and Kelsey’s Essentials. I can’t wait to hear what yours are.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I use a combination of blogs, websites, and cookbooks to satisfy my cooking passion. I recently discovered Michael Ruhlman and was given his latest book “Ruhlman’s Twenty” for my birthday. It’s a great compilation of twenty cooking essentials — ingredients and techniques — to improve your skills.
As for blogs, I’m currently in love with Farmette and Alexandra’s Kitchen:
http://marriedanirishfarmer.com/
http://www.alexandracooks.com/
Those are both new to me, Ann, so thank you for sharing!
BTW, for a Christmas gift to wow your foodie friends, make them some of Alexandra’s rosemary shortbread. It’s sweet, savory, and deliciously herbaceous. I get recipe requests all the time.
http://www.alexandracooks.com/tag/rosemary-shortbread/
Love Zoe bakes for delicious baked stuff. Everything I have tried has been great and she answers questions when you get stumped about how to do something.
http://zoebakes.com
I love to take a consensus of what people are doing/ saying about the ingredient or dish I want to tackle. Then I go my own way, “winging it with input.” That said, I love to read food blogs just for fun, regardless of actually using the recipes. I love Canelle et Vanille because she takes me away to a very happy place.
I go my own way, too. I don’t always love the end result but I learn something every time I make a mistake. Canelle et Vanille looks amazing. I want to go to her gluten-free dinner here in NYC in January!
Dinner A Love Story is my favorite, as well as, Eating From the Ground Up. I also have a stash of about 5 cookbooks that I rely on endlessly. Other than that, it is the above blogs and Pinterest that provide me with inspiration.
http://www.dinneralovestory.com/
http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/
I love cookbooks (have too many of them!) but I also get a lot of inspiration from blogs. I also like Dinner A Love Story and Smitten Kitchen; a blog I’ve recently found is In Sock Monkey Slippers: http://www.insockmonkeyslippers.com/.
I am going to miss my favorite food magazine, Everyday Food!
Are those pictures from your kitchen? They remind me of how Smitten Kitchen’s photos look. I like http://www.101cookbooks.com and http://www.davidlebovitz.com
They’re Smitten Kitchen, Angel. She’s so fantastic and I’m blown away by the magic she can create in her tiny NYC kitchen.
Thanks for the links!
I could not live without the gorgeous and delicious 101 cookbooks. I also have a carefully edited collection of cookbooks.
http://www.101cookbooks.com/
Koseli, with yet another wonderful post, I just want to say that I have so enjoyed your contributions to Designmom. I feel as if I have discovered a new friend! Thank you for sharing interesting and thoughtful inspiration – I’m glad to have found you
Sarah, thank you so much. I absolutely love finding and sharing new and interesting things and I am so glad you are enjoying the posts. Happy Holidays!
Thanks so much for the tip about the Mr Porter “The Way I Cook” series…swoon!
For those who are interested, here is the 1st video in the series…this guy is so calm and cool, love him!
http://www.mrporter.com/journal/journal_issue90/5
I mainly use cookbooks and I have to follow the recipe EXACTLY if it’s not something I usually make. I love to look at food blogs too but I rarely make the stuff on them because it’s usually decadent desserts that I can’t justify making…because I would eat the whole thing. And for the record-a man that can cook=HOT!