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Joined: November 14th, 2009


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October 5th, 2022

Crispy Garlic Crumb Steak from All Recipes

Terrific technique which I'm looking forward to trying with chicken and pork. I even overcooked the steaks to try and get enough color on the crumb coating, but the pounding out (and the coating) saved... read more >


recipe reviews (261)
book reviews (2)
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hipcook's Reviews


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13 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 13Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers

By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016

18th July 2018

How To Cook A Basic Burger Best : page 6

Solid advice on how to make a good burger. I think my burgers have been too thick, not wide enough, and overworked, and following these steps may be helping.

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These were fantastic burgers. The shredded gruyere and caramelized onions made a fantastic rich creamy topping. Flavoring burgers with onion soup mix is kind of a throwback... but honestly, it still works.

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18th July 2018

New Bacon-ings Burger : page 11

Solid recipe for a basic bacon cheeseburger. I do like the burger technique in this book.

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19th January 2020

Is This Your Chard? Burger : page 42

Good burger. Will make again. Cheese, sauteed greens, and caramelized onions combine to make a soft, succulent topping for a burger perfect for a winter's night.

Also a very forgiving concept - I used spinach instead of Swiss chard, which worked well, and American cheese instead of chevre, which played the role like a pretty good understudy. I only used half the red wine vinegar called for, because I wasn't sure how close I was to the right amount of greens; in retrospect I could have used a heavier hand. The recipe calls for serving on French rolls; a nice chewy-crunchy bread would have been better. But on a standard hamburger roll, they were still good burgers.

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1st November 2019

Plymouth Roquefort Burger : page 122

It's a neat take on a Thanksgiving burger - turkey, cranberry sauce, and blue cheese for some creaminess and spice. The apple I used added some generic sweetness but got lost; I wish I'd had a firm green apple on hand as called for. (Maybe I diced it too small to add any texture.) I made them slider-size; the recipe made 9 small burgers. Paying for a good blue cheese was worth it.

I thought they were only OK, creative in concept but still kind of bland. My family, however, enjoyed them a lot, so I may experiment some more to try and kick up the flavor and texture just a bit.

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13th August 2020

The One Man Yam Burger : page 81

Good burger. Hit with my kid, so we'll be doing this again. I thought it was a little indistinct - the sweet potatoes and candied bacon are certainly nice, but they didn't exactly come together. Next time, I'll look at my sweet potato recipes to see if some kind of spice might help the pieces work as a whole. Even something like a piece of lettuce for texture would be good.

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13th April 2020

Sympathy for the Deviled Egg Burger : page 45

Didn't follow the recipe exactly, but come on, it's egg salad; make it the way you like. It added some pleasant creaminess and a hearty egg flavor to the burger, but on its own, I don't think I'd do it again.

However, I'd also made some sauteed spinach, inspired by the Is This Your Chard? or Sit And Spinach burgers. And together, they worked really well... the egg salad plays a role very similar to a rich mild cheese, while the greens bring the acidity and complexity. (And in my case the garlic and shallots.)

So I'm giving 3 stars for the recipe, but I'd rate the concept that egg salad can go on a burger 4 stars.

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18th July 2018

If Looks Could Kale Burger : page 22

For some reason, I didn't love these kale chips. They were crispy but maybe a little too much so; seemed a little grainy as they broke up in my mouth. (Maybe early season kale is different than late season kale?) That said, they did add a nice crunchy texture to the burger.

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28th May 2019

Totally Radish Burger : page 14

The radish-cucumber sauce is a neat idea. I disagree with the recommendation to use a microplane grater; we wanted a slightly larger grate to give more texture. This would be a great condiment on a more flavorful burger (like a lamb burger, or something with more heat); on a standard ground beef burger it added freshness but not a lot of zing.

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1st March 2019

Sit and Spinach Burger : page 87

Nice enough burger. (I used arugula instead of spinach, which was fine.) The instruction to reduce the lemon juice and red wine vinegar with the burgers is odd; it keeps the burgers from browning and the sauce gets lost. I wonder if it wouldn't be better mixed in with the greens.

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26th May 2020

One Horse Open Slaw Burger : page 68

Cole slaw as a burger topping was OK. I like mayo on my burgers anyway, so cole slaw isn't much of a jump. Could have used some acidity - something like capers or a pickled jalapenos or a diced pickle might be interesting. The Worcestershire in the burgers got lost, though... I'd seriously increase it, or leave it out.

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8th March 2021

Beets of Burden Burger : page 80

I was excited for the "borscht on a bun" concept of this burger. And ultimately, the beet slaw was pretty good (if underseasoned) and it was a pleasant burger topping.

But the poor rating is because the recipe isn't specific enough. How large is a large beet? How big is this head of cabbage that I'm supposed to use 1/4th of? 1 or 2 large carrots... well, which is it? I ended up with enough to top 10 burgers easily, but the recipe claims to make 4. This is going to take more experimenting to find the right proportions of ingredients. I suppose the lesson is that slaw is not a science and you should use the amount you want, and be glad for leftovers.

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8th September 2018

Chile Relleno - You - Didn't Burger : page 41

I want to like the idea of this burger. But the directions for making chile rellenos were entirely too vague for me to follow successfully. They were greasy, the cheese leaked, it was a mess. Maybe if I learn to make a chile relleno first I'll come back to this recipe. The cumin in the burgers was a hit though.

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