andrew's Reviews
5 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 5Sort by: Title 
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The Best Vegetable Recipes (Best Recipe Classics)
By Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine, Cook's Illustrated Magazine, John Burgoyne, Carl Tremblay, Daniel J. Van Ackere
America's Test Kitchen - 2007
Corn Fritters : page 85
These are simply excellent. I've tried a few corn fritter recipes from elsewhere, and these are far superior. They've managed to find a good balance between a robust corn flavour and a not-too-bready consistency. They're light, chewy, bursting with flavour.
I usually make them with fresh corn, but instead of grating the raw corn, I lightly cook up several ears (3 minutes in boiling water) and cut the corn off them, then puree half the kernels in a food chopper. If I have no shallots (I usually don't have them...) I use a quarter of an onion.
Recently I made the cheddar/chive variation, and while nice, it wasn't a huge improvement on the basic recipe. A batch of these makes for a lovely hot breakfast, or a side dish at dinner; we even have them as a main sometimes with potatoes and steamed veggies.
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Latkes : page 242
There are lots of latkes recipes out there, and I've tried a few of them. Many are disappointing - it's not always easy to make them relatively ungreasy and also cooked properly throughout.
This recipe works. I think there are two secrets - the first is the use of a food processor to cut 1/3 of the shredded potatoes and all of the onion into smaller pieces which cook faster. The second is collecting and reusing the thick potato starch which drains out when you squeeze the shreds. I don't (forgive me) use matzo meal, but the starch holds everything together just fine.
Okay, three secrets: the last being getting the right amount of oil to the right temperature and draining them on a sufficient thickness of paper towel. They freeze very well and I revive them by cooking them briefly in a dry frying pan - the residual oil comes out when they heat up.
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Master Recipe for Hash Browns : page 240
These are quite good, but they're so close in character to roesti (which Cook's Illustrated has a fantastic recipe for) that I don't bother to make them any longer and just make roesti or latkes when I want a potato pancake sort of thing.
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Master Recipe for Home Fries : page 237
Simple, straightforward recipe that works, like many Cooks Illustrated basics/classics. I think the definition of what a home fry is varies, as I'd always thought of them as the chunky wedge fries that they call Steak Fries.
However, call them what you will, these cubed potatoes are tasty. Where I'd always gone wrong before was by stirring them too often - rather than leaving them for 4 or 5 minutes to brown each side.
The recipe suggests turning the potatoes three or four times, all together, so that all sides are evenly cooked. In the real world, they get a good cooking on a couple of sides and then I shake them up every so often to try to even them out.
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Master Recipe for Oven Fries : page 229
This is a bit complicated - to do it right, you must use russet potatoes, preheat the oiled baking sheets and partially steam the cut potatoes. But the results are very good indeed. Before this recipe, I'd mostly made potato wedges in the oven and used whatever potatoes were kicking around, but they're right that russets are ideal for this type of recipe (Yukon Golds are also pretty good), and the steaming seems to help, though it's a bit messy.
We don't have peanut oil, so use canola instead, and sea salt instead of regular salt.
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