BRUCE (AKA The Chef)

MARK (AKA The Writer)

 

DREYDL (AKA The Dog)

Check out this cheeky tome called Ham: An Obsession With The Hindquarter

FINE COOKING calls it "a witty ode to pork's most primal cut." It's our hymn to backsides: American country ham, European dry-cured hams like prosciutto crudo or jamón ibérico, wet-cured hams like the ones from HoneyBaked, and even fresh hams, the best pork roast you'll ever eat. (Click on the cover to get your copy today.)

The Ultimate Cook Book

Our big compendium cookbook--900 new recipes, tons of cooking tips. You'll be an ultimate cook in no time.

Want to see a video on this book. Check it out here.

Cooking Know-How

WINNER OF THE 2009 GOURMAND AWARD at the Paris cookbook show for the "BEST COOKBOOK IN THE WORLD" for "easy recipes." Also starred reviews in both Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal, a main selection of the Good Cook Book of the Month Club, a selection by NPR as one of the best cookbooks of 2009, and a favorite of the San Jose Mercury--that called us "culinary wonks."

Pizza: Grill It, Bake It, Love It!

Our brand-new pizza book. That's the squash, caramelized onion, and pine nut pie. And there are 89 more.

The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie Book

Cookies galore--and every one of them with chocolate: chips, shavings, cocoa, melted, irresistible.

The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book

America's favorite spread? Yes, but also the world's. Wait until you see all the no-cook Asian sauces, the African stew, the Filipino braise, and a host of favorites from breakfast to dessert!

Cooking For Two

Every dish for just two--and no waste. Cut it, open it--and use it. It's a feast for twosomes.

The Ultimate Muffin Book

Get your muffins! The chocolate chip ones soon became a holiday tradition in our house.

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

The book that started a whole career. A quarter million copies in print and still going strong!

The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book

And a follow-up to The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, this time with gelato, sherbet, granita, and a groaning board of ice cream cakes and frozen pies!

The Ultimate Shrimp Book

A one-book compendium for America's favorite seafood

The Ultimate Party Drink Book

Up, shaken, frozen, pitcher punches, shooters--here's a guide to drinks to make your next party a splash

The Ultimate Brownie Book

Fudgy, cakey, you name it--even a chapter on brownie mix doctor recipes--here's a book that'll keep everyone smiling!

The Ultimate Candy Book

A reviewer on amazon called it "an evil book." We could only hope so. Gooey, crunchy, a ton of chocolate barks, fudge, divinity, and it just keeps going.

The Ultimate Potato Book

Spuds forever! We love everything about the potato--and in this book, we made our favorite vegetable front and center since every recipe is a main course with spuds aplenty.

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Our Youtube Channel

Want to see more? Come on over to our youtube channel. We're cooking up a storm! Check it out here.

It's all about the recipes!
Get your copy of our seven-step plan to get off processed food!

Click on the book jacket for your copy. Don't miss it. Seven simple steps, a hundred great recipes, lots of motivational help, and all in an easy plan that starts small and could end up changing your life!

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Want to come cruising with us? We're off to Alaska with Holland America on August 4th for a week--leaving from Vancouver (and returning to there) with lots of cruising up the Tracy Arm and through Glacier Bay National Park. We'll be cooking up a storm in classes on board, so come have a blast with us. For more information, click here.

 

REVIEWS OF COOKING KNOW-HOW

Don't take our word for it. Here are some cool reviews of COOKING KNOW-HOW:

weightwatchers.com

In Mama's Kitchen

5 Second Rule

Richmond Times-Dispatch

The Winston Salem Journal

Super Chef

NPR--chosen one of the ten best cookbooks for the summer of 2009

Relish Magazine (although the writer complains that I use too many big words. Heaven forfend!)

And if you want to see an outrageous clip of us on San Francisco TV, check out our appearance on A View From The Bay here.

Or for white bean veggie burgers on the same show--in which I go off on a bizarre jag about the ethics of cruising--click here.

DANCING WITH A COLLIE

brought on no doubt by that empty bottle of wine on top of the fridge

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    Bruce's Blog

    Bruce has his own blog. A knitting blog. Knits Men Want. It's a companion site to his new knitting book: ten rules every woman should know before she knits for a man--plus ten patterns men are guaranteed to like. And I do. I have some of the sweaters. And I wear them. Imagine that. Check on the cover to check it out.

    Entries in tomatoes (5)

    Monday
    Jan112010

    Perfect Meatballs

    Comment9 Comments

    I've got a confession. A pretty rank one. Pull up a chair, get a cup of coffee.

    First, a picture.

    A skillet full of browning, herb-laced meatballs. Pretty good, eh? OK, so now the truth. Ready? I don't like ground meat.

    OK, don't leave me. I did my best to prepare you. There's more. I could probably go the rest of my life and not eat another hamburger. (See, it gets worse.)

    Growing up, we called it "loose meat." As in "loose meat sandwiches." (AKA, Sloppy Joes.) Call me crazy, but I don't like loose meat rolling around my plate. It's unbecoming. Plus, you have to go through about a thousand sessions of expensive therapy for every time your mother ever asked you as a teenager, "Mark, are you willing to try some loose meat tonight?"

    That said, Bruce has changed me over the years. (Darn you, marriage.) I've actually gotten to the point where I like meatloaf. And--get this--crave meatballs. Beg for them, in fact. I'm still not over the burger thing, but I'm working on it. Nonetheless, when we were writing COOKING KNOW-HOW, the chapter on meatballs was hands-down my favorite. I loved the whole technique, the way you could make this crazy, global range, from Turkish kofta to buttery Danish frikadeller, from down-home Italian meatballs to Romanian chiftele (made with mashed potatoes and lots of garlic).

    So I begged for meatballs the other night. And here's what I got:

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateMonday, January 11, 2010 at 1:25PM | in ,
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    Friday
    Sep042009

    Panzanella

    CommentPost a Comment

    Can you believe it's almost Labor Day? The summer has flown by. Where we live, some trees at the back of our property near the brook are already tipping red on the upper branches. The light is more precious--and clearer, too, as if in compensation as the sun sets behind the valley a little earlier than it was doing about a month ago.

    Bruce and I celebrated the last bits of summer yesterday with a hearty plate of panzanella, an Italian bread salad made with lots of veggies, particularly sun-ripe tomatoes. Without any ado, because it's the best gift for the end of the season, here it is, ready for your holiday weekend:

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    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateFriday, September 4, 2009 at 11:29AM | in ,
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    Wednesday
    Sep022009

    Melanzane Pizza

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    People always ask us if we have a big vegetable garden. Mostly, we have a CSA. Our travel schedule this summer doesn't allow us to plant a big garden. Flowers aplenty, sure--but we do have a few things in pots on the deck. Tomatoes, mostly. And chiles. Or at least we thought we did.

    Earlier in the season, we shot a series of videos for weightwatchers.com, technique videos that will soon be up on the site. One of our editors brought her dear parents to the shoot at our house, an older Italian couple. Frankly, I wanted to blow off the shoot and spend time with them. Italians are some of the world's best foodies! We had lunch out on the deck and they were checking out our pots. "Melanzane!" her mother exclaimed. We were very patient. "No, no, peppers. Chiles." But she was insistent. We showed her the little tag from the farm where we got the plants. "Peppers," we kept saying.

    They were eggplants. She knew. We should have listened. Italians, after all. So we've now got eggplants growing on the deck. Not such a bad thing. And certainly worthy of a good pizza.

    Click to read more ...

    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateWednesday, September 2, 2009 at 10:54AM | in ,
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    Wednesday
    Aug192009

    BLT Pizza

    Comment1 Comment

    Bruce calls ham "the most Christian of all meats." Funny, but when I was growing up in the South, I could have sworn it was bacon.

    Maybe ham was too much of a given, like loud-mouthed preachers at a state fair. But bacon? Now that was real religion. Along with donuts. Which we buttered. Yep, slathered it on, one bite at a time.

    But I digress. Bruce and I have been doing quite a few pizza demos from our grilled pizza book this summer--and the BLT is always a hit, no matter its religious orientation. Here's the drill:

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    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateWednesday, August 19, 2009 at 10:34AM | in
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    Tuesday
    Aug182009

    All-Vegetable, No-Noodle Lasagna

    Comment2 Comments

    We're closing in on writing our 19th cookbook (that's counting the two for the fussy celebrities) and there are a two things I've learned over the years: 1) some people like exact recipes and 2) some people don't.

    I'm a recipe-follower. Probably the debt of a stern Protestant upbringing. I follow the rules, make it as it stands. If I make it again, I might alter the recipe. Maybe (after a glass of wine). Mostly, I do it by the books. Give it to me in grams and I'm happier.

    Bruce never met a recipe he couldn't disregard. He rarely follows one. Even his own. Right now, we're cider-curing a bone-in, big-butt ham for a cookout this weekend, using the recipe from our up-coming book on ham (AN OBSESSION WITH THE HINDQUARTER), and yesterday I had to walk him carefully through the procedure to make sure he observed his jots and tittles.

    Even when we're done recipe-testing for a book, Bruce will read through the manuscript and say, "Oh, you know, we could make that with thus-and-so."

    "Did you?" I'll ask, a little exasperated.

    "No, but you could."

    So this post is for him--to celebrate one of his on-the-go, never-the-same-way-twice summer veggie casseroles. It's like a lasagna, tomatoey and cheesy, but without any noodles. And the recipe's going to be inexact. Very.

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    AuthorMark Scarbrough | Posted on DateTuesday, August 18, 2009 at 10:00AM | in , ,
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