Press for food52
The Envelope, Please
June 23, 2010
"The results are in for Slate's recipe contest. About two weeks ago, we matched Web upstartfood52 (which invites recipe contributions from users) against Cook's Illustrated (which relies on professional cooks and a meticulous testing process). Each contender created two recipes—one for pork shoulder, another for chewy sugar cookies; then we asked Slate readers to vote for their favorites.
In both competitions, Cook's Illustrated won. But it was a very close vote. This particular election did not necessarily provide a broad mandate for experience, tradition, and professional expertise over crowd-sourcing. Out of the 103 respondents who prepared both pork shoulder recipes and completed our poll, 54 chose the Cook's Illustrated pork shoulder with peach sauce, and 49 opted for food52's porchetta. The cookie competition was even more of a squeaker: Out of 166 respondents, 84 chose Cook's Illustrated Chai-spice sugar cookies, while 82 preferred food52's chewy sugar cookies No. 2."
-Sara Dickerman
food52 Suggests Recipes for Mother's Day on iVillage
June 23, 2010
"Food52 is the brainchild of New York Times food writers Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs. They stand by their mantra that home cooks are the best cooks. Each week, Food52 hosts a recipe contest: Readers vote and the winners go into the book, Food52, which will be published this year. This recipe for a delicious spice cake was a finalist from their Best Recipe or Technique Your Mother Taught You Contest."
-Erin Renzas
Bon Appetit Q&A with Amanda and Merrill
June 23, 2010
"Yesterday we told you why we love food52--the web site that asks home cooks to submit their best recipes to weekly contests that determine which recipes will make it into a cookbook at the end of 52 weeks.
Today we bring you an interview with the projects founders', New York Times food writers Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs. Check back tomorrow, and every Thursday, to see which recipes Hesser and Stubbs have chosen as that week's finalists.
We hope you'll get involved in food52 and help link our passionate food community to theirs!"
-Emily Fleischaker
The Future of Food Media? food52 and Crowd-Sourced Recipes
June 23, 2010
"The goal of food52 is both simple and brilliant: to publish a cookbook of recipes submitted online by home cooks. But food52, a website founded by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, has quickly evolved into something bigger than its end game. By setting up weekly contests that entice their users to submit recipes, vote for their favorites, and become crowned as winners, Hesser and Stubbs have built a dedicated community of cooks. Their community is engaged, their community is discerning, and most remarkably, their community is providing them with some darn good recipes."
-Emily Fleischaker
Web Food Fight: food52.com vs. Cook's Illustrated
June 23, 2010
"Everyone loves a good food fight. And there's a sizzler going on right now between the culinary pros at Cook's Illustrated magazine and the website Food52.com, an online community for home cooks.
At issue: what produces the better recipe — rigorous professional test kitchen protocols or the online consensus of multiple cooks." -Michelle Locke for The Associated Press
Babble Chooses food52 as one of top 50 Mommy Food Blogs
June 23, 2010
"Co-founded by New York Times food editor, Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, a Cordon Bleu graduate — the same duo responsible for the upcoming New York Times cookbook — food52 came to fruition from the belief that “the best meals are those prepared by home cooks.” The result is an online food community and recipe database — including videos! — that plays host to bi-weekly recipe contests (winners will appear in a future food52 cookbook), can’t-live-without food products handpicked by A & M, and even a cookbook tournament hosted by Nora Ephron. As Hesser put it, food52 is a 'place that celebrates home cooks, where home cooks have a voice.'"
Eater National Covers America's Test Kitchen vs. food52
June 23, 2010
"Back in October, Chris Kimball of America's Test Kitchen railed against crowd-sourced community-driven recipe sites (in particular Amanda Hesser's food 52), challenging them to a recipe death match. After months of negotiations, food52and Kimball have reached a consensus. The winning recipes on food52 for Roasted Pork Shoulderand Chewy Sugar Cookies will 'face off with Cook's Illustrated's thoroughly tested recipes. The dueling recipes will be posted on Slate and put to a public vote sometime in May.'"
SF Weekly Talks Real Time Sunday Supper
June 23, 2010
"One of the more interesting things about cooking boils down (sorry) to its communal nature. Family recipes and cooking experiences create a sort of legacy that by-the-book recipes can only aspire to. But nowadays, gathering friends and family on a Sunday night to collectively perfect that risotto is probably a rare event ― especially if your best buds are scattered all over the world. But now, with a little site (and app) called Hot Potato, you can share the experience of cooking a dish with anyone, anywhere, and in real time.
On Sunday night (March 28), food blog Food52 is hosting a supper hour, during which you can cook alongside your friends and family (and perhaps even learn something from fellow cooking aficionados who happen to be complete strangers) via Hot Potato, which allows you to share notes, videos, and photos around events in real time. Think of it as participating in a little dinner-making party without having to clean up after anyone else. Food52 will be making risotto using recipes from its "Your Best Risotto" contest finalists. "
-Maya Baratz
Where do Amanda and Merrill Eat When Not Cooking at Home?
June 23, 2010
"It's time for Feast Lists, these two courtesy of food mavens Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs. Together, Hesser and Stubbs founded the cooking and social networking site Food52. Separately, Hesser, the former Times food editor who profiled Julie Powell's Julia Child project, publishes The Essential New York Times Cookbook (with recipes dating back to the 1850s) next fall. Stubbs worked the test kitchen at Cooks Illustrated and now writes for Edible Brooklyn and others. Hesser leans towards seasonal Italian, while Stubbs stops in three boroughs for her picks."
-Alex Vallis
Huffington Post Covers the Roger Smith Food Writer's Conference
June 23, 2010
"Last week, I spent two days at the remarkable first Roger Smith Food Writer's Conference in New York City, in the company of some very powerful writers and speakers. Among them were Jane Daniels Lear, formerly of Gourmet; David Leite, of Leite's Culinaria; Dana Bowen, of Saveur; Kathleen Flinn, author of The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry; Bret Thorn, of Nation's Restaurant News; Mimi Sheraton; Betty Fussell; Molly O'Neill; Melissa Clark; Amanda Hesser; Raymond Sokolov; and a host of others from every end of the food writing spectrum."
-Elissa Altman
Saveur Names food52 Best of the Web
June 23, 2010
"Throughout Saveur.com, we proudly share "the best of the web"—handpicked links to our favorite recipes and articles, wherever they might live. Every site we link to becomes a "Site We Love." This is one of those sites; our links to it appear below."
-Saveur.com
My Friends; My URLs
June 23, 2010
"Well, now, I can go to Amanda's blog, Food 52, http://www.food52.com/cooks, which is tasteful, gracious, and welcoming to just about anyone who has a good food idea. Now I can tour Amanda's New York kitchen; I can peer into her refrigerator (OK, you know she cleaned it for this short video, but it still looks as stuffed as mine). I can send her my own recipes, and I can vote on contributions to her new book. I'm Amanda's friend now, sort of."
-Heather Atwood
Amanda and Merrill Share Their Kitchen Essentials with Ebay's Inside Source
January 26, 2010
"After collaborating on the upcoming The New York Times cookbook, fellow chefs, food writers, Brooklynites, and friends Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs (above, left and right, respectively)joined forces again last year to launch Food52, a site that operates on the belief that the best meals are those prepared by home cooks. Hesser, a columnist for The New York Times for over a decade, and Stubbs, a Le Cordon Bleu grad who’s contributed to publications ranging fromCook’s Illustrated to the Times’ T Living, have created an online community for foodies all over, hosting bi-weekly recipe contests, the winners of which will eventually be published in a Food52 cookbook. Between updating their daily blog, vetting recipes, and scouring the market for epicurean products to add to their web shop, the pair took time out to comb eBay and share the kitchen tools they can’t live without."
-Emily Hsieh
Amanda and Merrill Share Their Most Memorable Meals in the GOOP Newsletter
January 22, 2010
Amanda and Merrill each share some of their most amazing dining experiences in this issue of the GOOP newsletter along with Nora Ephron, Ferran Adria, Melia Marden, Mario Batali, A.A. Gill and Suzanne Goin. To read all about it, click here.
Amanda and Merrill Battle it Out on the Today Show
January 22, 2010
Amanda and Merrill participated in a Today Show segment called "Turkey Stuffing Done Right" on November 15, 2009. Featuring stuffing recipes from food52 members MrsWheelbarrow and Mellisav, all of the Today Show staff thoroughly enjoyed their pre-Thanksgiving stuffing preview. For the full segment, click here.
The GOOP Newsletter Spotlights food52
January 22, 2010
"Food52 is a home cooking celebration brought to you by food writers Amanda Hesser and Merill Stubbs. Each week home cooks face off, offering their recipes on themes like “best beer cocktail” or “best fig recipe.” Amanda and Merrill judge all the entries, testing the most appealing recipes and posting the best ones online. The 52 winning recipes from the weekly contest will be included in a cookbook published by Harper Studio at the end of the year. I’ve been a judge on Food52, and let me just say, the recipes are excellent!"
-Gwyneth Paltrow
Entrepreneur Magazine on food52: "Take One Website, Add a Stroke of Genius"
January 22, 2010
"The idea for Food52 came out of testing some 1,200 recipes culled from the Times' archives for a cookbook that Hesser is writing. At some point--Recipe 452? Creamed rutabagas?--Hesser realized that the best of them came from home cooks. "We also noticed that online there are a lot of really good food websites, and the one thing missing seemed to be a place that celebrated home cooks, where home cooks could have a voice," she says."
-Leslie Brenner
LearnVest Blog Includes food52 in its New Year's Resolution
January 19, 2010
"There are plenty of websites boasting quick and easy recipes, but food52 is different because it doesn’t. Co-founded by former New York Times Magazine food editor, Amanda Hesser, food52’s mission is to encourage family bonding, environmental sustainability, general health, and community. Instead of providing thousands of recipes, this is a curated crowd-sourced collection of quality recipes—including videos!—for the enterprising cook in each of us."
food52 Recognized as a Tastemaker of 2009 in the Montreal Gazette
January 17, 2010
"Surf the Net and in five minutes you can find out where Martha Stewart spent her Christmas vacation (Thailand), what Ruth Reichl has been up to since the demise of Gourmet Magazine (eating and cooking, it seems), uncover a recipe for brown butter rice pudding (check out www.food52.com) and read blogger David Lebovitz's take on the future of food journalism (at www.davidlebovitz.com). With so many advances in the cyber food world, one can only wonder if a virtual chef in the kitchen is that far away."
- Lesley Chesterman
Listen to Amanda and Merrill on Savvy Talk Cafe
January 12, 2010
Host Henrietta Williams interviews Amanda and Merrill on the episode 52 Weeks to a Fabulous Meal!
"Culinary Divas, Amanda Hesser and Merill Stubbs pay a visit to the Savvy Talk Cafe to dish about their mega successful "Food52" Web site."
To Listen, Click Here
Serious Eats Discusses Thanksgiving With Amanda and Merrill
November 23, 2009
"Each week Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs host recipe contests revolving around specific foods (everything from pancakes to lamb) on their site Food52. After testing the recipes, they announce the two tastiest finalists and the community votes on the winner. Naturally, they've been focusing on Thanksgiving lately. Elbow-deep in stuffing preparation, they paused to chat with us and share some of their favorite recipes for Thanksgiving sides, including celeriac puree, glazed brussels sprouts with browned butter and cream, potato leek au gratin, and pink greens." - Erin Zimmer
Check Out Pictures From the Piglet Party on Metromix
November 23, 2009
"To celebrate the culmination of their March Madness-style Tournament of Cookbooks, Food52 hosted a Piglet Party on Monday at Astor Center. Aside from a panel discussion on the future of the cookbook, Ginger Pierce (Five Points) and Preston Madson (Freemans) served dishes from the participating cookbooks, and the coveted Piglet Trophy was presented to the winning entry: Francis Mallman's "Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way." A party honoring the year's best cookbooks, hosted by a crowd-sourced recipe Web site? Who knew?" - Gabi Porter
Serious Eats Announces Piglet Winner Seven Fires
November 23, 2009
"If you've been following along with Food 52's Tournament of Cookbooks (aka "The Piglet"), you'll be pleased to know that the grand champion has been chosen. Final-round judge Nora Ephron calls it for Francis Mallman and Peter Kaminsky'sSeven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way."
-Adam Kuban
NBC New York Features The Brooklyn Chocolate Experiment and Amanda and Merrill
October 29, 2009
"Organized by Theo Peck and Nick Suarez, and with help from Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs of Food52, the Brooklyn Chocolate Experiment's Chocolate Cook-off will see chefs battling it out with chocolate creations that aim to woo the crowd and win over the celebrity judging panel.
Advance tickets for the choclately affair are currently going for $20. The ticket price includes a beer and enough sweet nothings to last all day, with a portion going to help Ovarian cancer research.
For more information, visit http://thefoodexperiments.com/."
New Yorker Lists The Tournament of Cookbooks Event in "On the Horizon"
October 26, 2009
"The Web site Food52.com is running a Tournament of Cookbooks, in which sixteen cookbooks compete for top honors. The tournament ends with a celebration at the Astor Center, featuring a panel discussion with authors and chefs. (www.food52.com.)"
SF Weekly Writes About the Tournament of Cookbooks in "Daniel Patterson Referees a Smackdown"
October 26, 2009
Slashfood's Lisa Schweitzer Talks Tournament of Cookbooks
October 26, 2009
"Not sure which new cookbooks are worth investing in this year? Take the guesswork out of your decision and follow along with food52's Tournament of Cookbooks. The competition -- run by this new home-cooking Web site's founders (former New York Times food editor Amanda Hesser and food writer Merrill Stubbs) -- pits 16 of this year's best books against each other, to be cooked from and judged by 17 venerable chefs and food writers. " - Lisa Schweitzer
Amazon's Al Dente Blog Chats With Amanda and Merrill About The Piglet in "Dishing with food52's Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs"
October 26, 2009
Food & Wine's Emily McKenna Discusses the Tournament of Cookbooks in the F & W Blog Mouthing Off
October 12, 2009
Josh Friedland Wonders Who Will Take Top Seed in "The Piglet: A Cookbook Smackdown"
October 12, 2009
W Catches Up With Amanda and Merrill in "Attention Foodies! Five Minutes With Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs"
October 7, 2009
The New York Times Article "The Joy of Wikis - Online Recipes Get E-Tweaks" Features both food52 and food52 Winner Jennifer Hess
September 30, 2009
MediaBistro's Fishbowl Interviews Amanda and Merrill About the Secret Ingredients to a Crowd-sourced Cookbook
September 25, 2009
NYTimes Blog The Moment Features food52
September 7, 2009
"Why not try it at home? A member of Food52, the former T editor Amanda Hesser’s new cooking site, posted this delicious recipe." -Charlotte Druckman suggests a recipe by food52 member loli while writing about watermelon as a star ingredient.
Business Week Features food52 and Amanda in "Thanks to Blogs, a Bigger Menu for Food Criticism"
August 28, 2009
7 x 7: "Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Crowd-sourced Cookbook!"
August 13, 2009
"As Hesser says in an interview with Tech Crunch, 'There is a huge tradition of community cookbooks, but none of them are user vetted.' This is maybe what appeals to me most about the project. It has the feel of a modern church or community cookbook, with people from all walks of life submitting. But it has expertise behind it, to ensure that there aren't, say, 15 recipes for no-bake cookies and dozens more for mayonnaise-based salads." - Jessica Battilana
Chicago Tribune's The Stew Invites You to Check Out food52
August 13, 2009
Bill Daley Writes in Chicago Tribune's The Stew:
"Did you get an invitation in your computer mailbox this morning?
Food writers Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs announced the September beta launch of their food52, an interactive site where cooks can contribute recipes, compete in cyber cooking contests and, in a year or so, see their work published in what’s billed as the first user-generated cookbook. Users can read the food52 blog, get newsletters and more. Signing up for it all is free."
Serious Eats
July 29, 2009
A Preview of Amanda Hesser's "Food 52" Website, Plus a Tour of Her Kitchen by Adam Kuban.
"In May, there was a blip on the radar that former New York Times Magazine food editor (and current Recipe Redux contributor) Amanda Hesser—along with food writer and recipe-tester Merrill Stubbs—would be launching a new site called Food 52."
What People Are Saying on Twitter and Elsewhere
July 20, 2009
"Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs make a great Laurel and Hardy in the kitchen -- and I totally mean that in good way. Can't wait to see more." -chefgwen
"[Amanda Hesser's] new food site looks kind of brilliant." -Jane Black of the Washington Post (via Twitter)
"Great concept! Can't wait for the launch." -The Thrifty Gourmet (via Twitter)
"Really digging the crowdsourced recipe concept of @food52. Can't wait to see what users contribute." -CSMcBride (via Twitter)
"Everyone, check out @food52, @amandahesser's newest awesome project. Can't wait to see it in action!" -The Naptime Chef (via Twitter)
"Are you following @food52, @amandahesser and @merrillstubbs? You should!" -bonnevivante (via Twitter)
