andrew's Reviews
5 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 5Sort by: Title 
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The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2008: The Year's Best Recipes, Equipment Reviews, and Tastings
By America's Test Kitchen Editors
Boston Common Press - 2007
Big and Chewy Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies : page 308
Close... but not quite close enough. They make a big deal about this being a low fat chocolate chip cookie that doesn't taste like one, and it almost is. The use of dates and browned butter gives a nice flavour note and compensates somewhat for the lower amount of butter in these cookies, but still you can tell that there's something missing from them.
Compared to the New York Times chocolate chip cookies (Google them for the recipe) that caused a bit of a stir the summer of 2008, they're obviously lacking. Fat tastes good, and it's hard to compensate for that.
My preference is to make a full-fat cookie, but make it smaller. A recipe that supposedly makes 18 cookies can easily make double that or more if you restrain yourself.
useful (0)
Chocolate Pots De Creme : page 307
These are glorious, and the recipe is very comprehensive and hard to mess up. However, we did not have tiny ramekins so we used the standard 1/2 cup ones we had at hand. Bit of a mistake, as this is very rich and it was almost too much at the end of a good meal. For future reference, we'll either buy smaller ramekins or find other containers (or fill them half full - though this will look rather odd).
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French Onion and Bacon Tart : page 20
Superlative. For me, this combines some of my favourite ingredients delightfully. The crust, which with tarts can be problematic, is simplified and worked flawlessly the first time I tried it (though I might make it a little thinner next time to make more room for filling). Pressing it into the shell and freezing it afterwards guaranteed a shrink-free and stress-free experience.
And what can I say about bacon and caramelized onion? Mmmm. For vegetarians (ovo-lacto), skipping the bacon still results in a very tasty tart.
Update: I cooked this again and would suggest one slight adjustment to the crust - omit the tablespoon of sugar. The tart is sweet enough with the onions that it doesn't need any sweetness from the crust.
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Gingerbread Muffins : page 108
These muffins are fairly good, with a nice gingerbread flavour, but they seem to be missing a little something. We're going to try to redo them with cooked apple, raisins or dates to add a bit more moisture and something to chew on inside. I'll update this when we do.
useful (1)
Potato Roesti : page 74
Oh yes. This is Roesti as it should be done. I have searched for a good Roesti recipe for a while, as I had it done properly in a Swiss restaurant in Toronto and it was heavenly - crispy, brown and buttery on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.
When I tried doing it at home using recipes I'd found online or in magazines, it just didn't work. It would either be too raw on the middle, fall apart in the pan or just be somehow off.
This recipe gets it right completely, as far as I'm concerned. In typical Cooks Illustrated fashion, they isolate the main points to getting it right: correct potatoes (Yukon Gold); getting rid of water from the potatoes; adding starch back in (corn starch or starch from the potato water itself - which I prefer) and then cooking it at the right heat for the right length of time.
A nice wedge of this with scrambled eggs and sausages makes a fantastic brunch.
useful (1)