Howdy cookbook fans!

And welcome to your Friday issue of Stained Page News! I write to you from a gorgeous sunny day here in Central Texas, where we’ve gotten a pitiful amount of rain in recent weeks but my garden is nevertheless thriving. Tomatoes: going bonkers. Kale: growing into giant bushes. Jalapenos: putting on flowers. Eggplant: a little wimpy, but they’re trying. Lettuce: keeps getting eaten by bunnies before I can get to it. Rude.

On the cooking front, I’m in the midst of another storm of recipe testing, this time bolstered by a few used book purchases I made recently, including The Recipe Writer’s Handbook by Barbara Gibbs Ostman and Jane L. Baker. Historically I’ve avoided such things, wanting to find my own language for recipe writing. But amidst this latest push, I sometimes find myself squinting at a text document and just entirely forgetting how recipe words work. So! References to the rescue. Always good to go back to the rules before you try and break them.

Now, I have a bunch of recipe testing to get to this afternoon, including a big ol’ pot of short ribs I just pulled out of the oven, so let’s get into it.