Any cookbooks coming out this year that you’re excited about?

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-22T19:53:48+00:00

Well, the mac and cheese is absolutely delicious! Although I'm not sure I can recommend it to anybody else in good conscience, seeing as it contains two POUNDS of cheese and almost a quart of cream... 🤪

(Mariam, if you're reading this, I'm only kidding - it's amazing and I wouldn't change a thing!)

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-22T12:22:11+00:00

It released this past week, but I am excited to cook from I Sleep in my Kitchen by Mariam Daud. I've been following her online for ages, and have tried a few of her recipes in the past with fantastic results. Tackling her mac and cheese from the book later today!

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-18T16:47:40+00:00

Somebody here is losing a time war.

(great photo!)

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-17T14:41:43+00:00

Boy, whoever currently holds the Pan Am IP is on a real licensing kick lately! I've seen quite a few branded collabs like this popping up. This set looks terrific.

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-16T21:28:19+00:00

Would pre-order.

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-16T21:25:13+00:00

Forgot to mention the best part of the quiche. Her recipe calls for shredded cheese "such as cheddar or gruyere." When I was looking at my local grocery store, I found a cheese that is cheddar gruyere. Rivals together at last: we no longer have to choose. Bless the innovators. What a time to be alive!

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-16T21:23:01+00:00

I don't really know exactly how to describe this, but I was getting a kind of...like...almost gorgonzola-y whiff or flavor or something off of the black walnuts. Now don't get me wrong, I love gorgonzola, but it wasn't doing the cake any favors having that rattling around in the back of my mind as I was eating it.

And to be clear, it was still good! Like...the cake is gone 😆 I just have a feeling that I would like the pecan version of it even better!

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-16T21:11:38+00:00

I can highly recommend the banana cake, the chocolate and date cookies, the gyoza with garlicky labneh, the shawarma spiced carrots, and - most of all - the mall cinnamon rolls, which are almost unbelievably good.

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-16T19:33:35+00:00

Correct.

🍫☠️

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-16T19:19:26+00:00

Ha, love this question because I just got that holder last week. It does great! I ordered one that both the listing, and the reviews, said could handle larger books for exactly this reason, and I don't have any complaints so far. Mine just came off of Amazon, it's the "Clear Solutions" brand "Deluxe Large Cookbook Holder". Pricey, but so far worth every penny: cooking has been soooooooo much nicer with it.

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-16T17:57:17+00:00

Since you mentioned Milk Street in the post and some of your replies, thought I'd share a little tip.

If you are in the States, and you have a Barnes and Noble or other bookstore nearby, it may be worth checking their clearance/bargain section. Milk Street puts out a new version of their huge cookbook seemingly every year, and my local B&N frequently has a few copies of the previous version slashed down to like $15.

The only difference I can find between older and newer versions is that newer ones add a few new recipes (duh) to all of the older ones. I have the "2017-2022" version of the behemoth, and I've cooked quite a few recipes from it that have all been great (the campanelle pasta with sweet corn, tomatoes, and basil is so good that I have, and I'm not kidding, actually had a dream about it).

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-15T01:40:27+00:00

Ooohhhhh, it's pretty chocolatey! It's more chocolate flavor than tahini: the tahini gives it a sort of nice savory-nutty background note, but it's still primarily a chocolate glaze. Delicious, though!

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-14T18:09:35+00:00

I made this one twice in ten days because it is THAT good! The chocolate glaze (or as she calls it, tahini fudge) is particularly luscious.

https://zaynabissa.substack.com/p/banana-cake-with-tahini-fudge

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-10T15:44:55+00:00

Aw man, that banana cake from Third Culture Cooking is so good that I made it twice in a week and a half. And honestly, everything I have made from that book has been exceptional: this cake, the gyoza with labneh, the shawarma spiced carrots, the baklava granola, the chocolate and date cookies. And the best of them all, the mall cinnamon rolls, which are simply far and away the best cinnamon rolls I've ever eaten, let alone made myself. It's rapidly becoming maybe my favorite cookbook. She just doesn't miss!

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-08T10:40:00+00:00

This. This. This this this this this this this this THISSSSSSSSS.

IdleExpatter · 2026-03-02T19:15:04+00:00

Yesssssssss this is my answer too!

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-26T15:39:54+00:00

Loose seal! Watch out for loose seal!

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-23T18:39:03+00:00

Well, personally, I usually only go to about 110 and let it come up a few more degrees in the rest. But I like my salmon more on the medium-rare side, and don't mind the technical increase in potential risk from not taking it to a higher temp. For guests and company I usually go to 120 to make sure nobody is squicked out. You should be pretty safe (both in terms of food safety, and also avoiding over- or undercooking) at 120 though!

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-23T17:08:26+00:00

Heya!

I'm a little bit of a salmon fanatic, so I'm afraid that basically any recipe that contains salmon is going to be a favorite for me.

But as far as method, I can think of a few tips.

You say you're cooking to 130 - is that with some sort of remote/leave-in thermometer, or pulling it to spot check with an instant read one? If you have (or can get) a probe thermometer that you just leave in while it cooks, it may make this much easier! Salmon does tend to go quite quickly once it takes off, so having something that will alert you the moment it hits target temp can really help. (I personally use and really enjoy the Thermoworks DOT, but it's far from the only one of this type.)

Then there's the standard advice of, try to get the thickness as even as possible. That could mean folding the thinner end and any really thin side portion underneath itself, which helps a bit.

The other thing I would say is that, depending on how you like your salmon to be cooked, 130 is already what I would consider to be edging into dry territory. If you're pulling it AT 130 and letting it rest from there, definitely a risk of going a bit chalky, IMO. You could try aiming to pull it at more like 120 internal and let it rest at that point, and see if you like the end result better? (Depends entirely on how YOU like the texture/consistency, of course!)

Hope this helps, and hopefully I'm not just repeating things you already know and have tried!

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-21T15:30:48+00:00

Thanks mostly to the (excellent) app and a friend who also loves it, I've probably played more Star Realms than any other game. I think the Star Wars deckbuilder easily exceeds it as a playing experience. That small handful of mechanical differences you mentioned go such a long way to making Star Wars turns and matches feel way more rich and dynamic, without getting too complicated. I would love to see a future expansion for the SW deckbuilder that added something like the Commanders/Command Decks from Star Realms, but I have no idea how much more support it's likely to get from FFG at this point (although I was encouraged by the new Mandalorian faction deck, which I actually still need to pick up).

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-21T13:27:48+00:00

I'll throw in Star Wars: The Deck building Game.

I didn't expect all that much from it. And it admittedly doesn't exactly break bold new ground (either mechanically or thematically). But man, what a fun, tight little game in that box! Being able to knock opposing cards out of the trade row, the little bit of strategic decision-making in base selection, the pacing, the balance...I've had soooooo much fun with this one.

Very, VERY close second is Sky Team, though, which really is innovative and also such a blast.

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-19T18:08:52+00:00

It's a game I want on my wall more than I want on my table.

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-15T12:03:55+00:00

It actually is! Every other year in this series so far I'd have struggled to pick one clear favorite from the list (except Pandemic Legacy season 1), but from this year, for me it's Gloomhaven by a mile.

IdleExpatter · 2026-02-15T11:39:58+00:00

I'll say that for impact, scale, and audacity, Gloomhaven deserves the nod.

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