hipcook's Reviews
260 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date 
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Website: 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 them from being rubbery. I did apply a second coating of crumbs, just massaged in by hand, to return some texture after pounding in the first layer.
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The Gift of Southern Cooking: Recipes and Revelations from Two Great American Cooks
By Edna Lewis, Scott Peacock
Knopf - 2003
"Effortless" is right; simple to prepare and delicious. It feels like there's more butter in this recipe than I'm used to - and as the nursery rhyme says, "butter makes the batter better."
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Website: Food Wishes
This is a remarkably simple technique for a delicious fiery pepper puree. You can make it with green hot peppers (poblanos and jalepenos are more available to me than fresnos); the color gets muted but the flavor is still delightful. I'm considering draining my next batch in cheesecloth to get a pastier consistency, but honestly, the looser texture is fine with me.
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The Irish Cookbook
By Jp McMahon
Phaidon - 2020
Basically a soda bread griddle cake. I think my technique needs work (and maybe the recipe needs more specificity) - I made my first batch way too thick and ended up having to cut them in half to get the insides done. But it's a fun way to get something related to a biscuit in a fraction of the time.
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Website: The New York Times
Pretty interesting concept. I didn't feel like I got a "bread pudding"; the egg layer and bread-and-zucchini layer were totally distinct. (And the zucchini layer was not nice to look at.) I feel like that might be a technique thing; if the bread wasn't totally beaten to mush, or the egg was mixed in to the squash better, it might have been nicer.
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The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers
By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016
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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Website: Irish Times
A very nice recipe for this Irish fruitcake. Personally, I'd like it to have a bit more depth - some whole wheat flour might be nice, or a touch of molasses or dark brown sugar. But on the whole, with a bit of butter, it's a delightful snack.
(I also think I might prefer the recipe for "fruity tea loaf", which has a little more dough and a little less fruit. I mentioned this to my wife, and she gave me a confused look, and explained slowly, as if to a child, that the ideal fruitcake should have just enough bread to keep the fruit together. Well, to each their own.)
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Website: Food Wishes
Is this "the best egg sandwich" I've ever had? It is not. Is it better than 80% of the omelets I've had, and 90% of the omelets I've made? It is. It's a wonderful exercise in textural contrasts, with soft cabbage, crispy toast, and carrots which still have a little crunch.
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Website: The Food Network
Very little effort and it makes a dish as good as you'd get in a restaurant (and better than some). I think it needs just a little hit of black pepper in the marinade, just to wake up the beef a little.
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I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking
By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori and Chang - 2002
This is a fabulous technique, producing ribs which are ready to fall off the bone nicely perfumed with the spice and cooking liquid.
I say "cooking liquid" because I completely deviated from the recipe. (Tomato juice and lemon made delicious ribs, but I gave up on reducing it into a glaze and just used a bottled sauce.) I'd like to do some more experiments with different flavor profiles.
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The New Chesapeake Kitchen
By John Shields, David W. Harp
Johns Hopkins University Press - 2018
These were fine, but nothing to write home about. I had trouble with the extra moisture from the pumpkin throwing the cook time off; my first batch was definitely underdone and even the more done ones were more moist than fluffy. I found them undersweetened, although maybe that's intentional because they were about right with syrup and candied pumpkin seeds.
The recipe also makes an enormous batch, so I'll be finding out how well they reheat.
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Pleasant little snack. The orange flavor comes through more than I'd expected and I like the sweet instead of savory take. It did take 4 minutes longer in my oven than the recipe said.
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Website: Food Wishes
If, like me, you always seem to end up with more winter squash than you actually want, this is a pretty neat approach. I took some liberties with the recipe, and can report it works pretty well as a technique. Specifically I used tasso instead of ham, which worked wonderfully and points me to the idea that any strongly-flavored meat might work well. And I used supermarket cheddar which I suspect did not work as well as the specified Gruyere. I'm not sure whether the answer is better Cheddar or sticking with the recipe.
I also used a mix of smaller butternut, acorn, and delicata squash, because that's what I had on hand and quite frankly I can only barely tell the difference. Delicata is probably too delicate for the scoop-and-stuff procedure; I broke too much skin on one half and ended up just peeling it.
Personally, I think that re-stuffing the shells is fiddly, annoying work, and I'm tempted to do it as a casserole in future. In the shell is a pretty plating, though.
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The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers
By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016
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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The New Chesapeake Kitchen
By John Shields, David W. Harp
Johns Hopkins University Press - 2018
Most of my ratatouille recipes are built in a skillet or pot. In this one, the vegetables are roasted first and then covered with tomato sauce. The result is that the eggplants, peppers and zucchini hold their shape and individual flavors better.
We just ate it as a side dish; serving over pasta or rice would also be nice.
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Website: Food Wishes
This was a delightful and easy shortcake recipe. These shortcakes seemed sturdier than the crumbly ones I often make. (That may be because my dough was too wet, but they turned out fine anyway.)
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The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers
By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016
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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Website: America's Test Kitchen
Certainly the most Instagram-worthy chicken I've ever made; this was a pretty dish. And darn easy to boot.
Instead of tenting the bird, I just put the lid on my cast iron; I think that was a bad choice because the skin, while well browned, wasn't particularly crisp.
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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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Website: Patricia's Pickles, Preserves, & Provisions
picklespreserves.wordpress.com
As a dessert, honestly, I found this disappointing. It's OK, but it tastes too much like someone tried to make it "healthy". The caramel isn't ooey-gooey enough, the custard isn't rich enough, the rum flavor is lost entirely, the quinoa has a nutty flavor which makes me realize this dish needs pecans. The bananas are nice, but it's a very Midwestern take on Bananas Foster.
But it makes a big pan, so I warmed up a bowl for breakfast, and I discovered what this actually is. It's a terrific breakfast casserole. It's hearty, it's sweet but not cloying, that "healthy" taste works first thing in the morning. If you imagine it not in the family of cake or bread pudding, and more in the family of oatmeal or a french toast casserole, it actually works pretty well. I'd make this if I had people coming over for brunch.
Still needs pecans though.
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VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good
By Mark Bittman
Clarkson Potter - 2013
The role of a panade is played by bulgur wheat (or another cooked whole grain) in this recipe, bringing moisture and adding nuttiness and texture that bread crumbs wouldn't. It's a neat trick and we were happy enough with the meatballs, finished in tomato sauce and served as subs.
I did find them underspiced; I'd be tempted to look at a kibbeh or kofta recipe, or at minimum a nice hit of oregano. I'm not entirely clear what the spinach is bringing to the table; I found it distracting and my family didn't notice it at all.
The recipe says it makes 16, which would be fine, but I found 12 to be a more pleasant target. Although if I were going to do it again, I'd be tempted to make a double-batch and freeze half.
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The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers
By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016
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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Website: Sous Vide Supreme
I've been making an ersatz Asian-ish salmon for a long time, with a doctored Hoisin/vaguely teriyaki-ish glaze. This recipe doesn't have that level of sweetness in it, but my family reports that's a good tradeoff. The meaty flavor of a nice piece of salmon can shine through the reduced sweetness, and since it's a sous vide preparation, the salmon is perfectly done. This is going in the frequent rotation.
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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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Website: The Food Network
Turns out I do like quinoa, if you cook it in enough half-and-half and cheese. Alton's right; this is squarely in comfort food territory.
This serves up a lot like the old classic broccoli and rice casserole, but I find the flavor and consistency closer to a terrific dish of cheese grits. I left out the mushrooms, because my kid wouldn't eat them, but I should have added some extra broccoli to balance the casserole a little better. I found a little tiny bit of hot sauce at the table brightened it up a bit.
It makes a ton and is perfectly suited for a main course, but it would be quite at home as a side dish as well. It might make my Thanksgiving table.
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Website: The Food Network
Pretty good pudding. Nice with a few slices of pear or apple. It's a good strong chocolate bomb; use the best you can. I wanted it to set up a little more firm than it did; that may be because I added more maple syrup than called for to get it sweet enough, or it just may need a little less water. (Or both.) The texture of chia seeds could be an acquired taste but my family liked it. All in all, it's better than a mix and easier than a cooked pudding.
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I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking
By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori and Chang - 2002
Very nice take on applesauce. I made it to use up some overripe pears, and it worked just fine. It's also amazingly easy, and using the microwave means no worrying about whether the fruit's going to scorch.
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Website: Lemon Blossoms
This was only OK. I felt like something was missing from the sauce - like the pungency of lime and garlic cooked down too much in the slow cooker. Still, it's low effort and worth more experiments.
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Website: The Food Network
OK, I took some liberties. Kind of a lot of liberties. It's still a good cake. I'm really impressed with the way the graham crackers don't go soggy (even after 2 days) but do soften into a cake-like texture.
I didn't have strawberry jam, so I used a mix of blueberry and a blackberry/raspberry preserve. These are delicious, but they were pretty substantial homemade preserves and I wonder if assembly would have been easier with a few teaspoons of water mixed in to loosen it up. Then again, free water might have made the cream collapse so maybe not.
I also didn't use the cream cheese icing, opting instead for whipped cream stabilized with gelatin, with a little vanilla and almond extract. (The process is described in the chocolate mocha refrigerator cake recipe from the same episode.) This worked just fine; I suspect it helps that the preserves were a little tart.
Would definitely make again!
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Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One (1) (Vol 1)
By Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck, Sidonie Coryn
Alfred A. Knopf - 2001
It is a delicious baked custard, but I found my cherries lacking in flavor. I wish I'd taken the step to soak them in a liqueur (like the next recipe in the book states). Or maybe just a little cinnamon or nutmeg over the top.
Would definitely make again, but I'll check the intensity of the cherries' flavor and make adjustments next time.
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The New Chesapeake Kitchen
By John Shields, David W. Harp
Johns Hopkins University Press - 2018
Frankly, I still don't love rhubarb. But I do like the fact that the rhubarb puree mixes with the uncooked strawberries in a way that preserves the fresh taste and texture of both, and doesn't go gloppy or overly sweet. The shortcakes are definitely a hit.
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Excellent shortcakes. Just the right amount of sweetness while still having a good bit of biscuit texture to them. I let the dough get too wet and it was hard to work with, but that's just something to watch for next time.
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Website: The Sauce by All Things Barbecue
There are lots of different recipes out there for tasso, but here's one you can make in a day. It's just a 4-6 hour cure and a 2-hour smoke. (I did an overnight cure, which turned into more like 14 hours before I got the pork on the smoke. It came out pretty salty; if I were going to do that again I'd probably shift the cure to equal amounts of sugar and salt.)
Anyway, this was a huge hit. Salty and spicy, meaty with a tender chew. I'm impressed that we had the self-control to not chow down on it before we got it in the freezer. But we're having all kinds of ideas for things we can use it in. I see jambalaya and etouffee and red beans and rice in my future. We're even thinking about how to use it on pizza (with all that salt it'll take a light hand and maybe some sweet ingredients as counterparts...)
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The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers
By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016
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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The New Chesapeake Kitchen
By John Shields, David W. Harp
Johns Hopkins University Press - 2018
I don't particularly like rhubarb or muffins. But it's Mother's Day and my wife and son like both those things, so I roused myself and made them. They were really quite good!
The little chunks of rhubarb provide the balance that most bakery muffins seem to lack. They're particularly good warm while the rhubarb is still hot and soft. The batter is the right amount of sweet but not too much so.
The recipe says "walnuts", but I used pecans because, well, I always prefer pecans.
The recipe says it makes 12 muffins, but in my muffin tin it makes 16. The last 4 were prettier than the first 12; maybe the batter benefits from standing a few minutes.
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Website: Martha Stewart
The garlic puree/marinade has some good flavors; we actually let it sit overnight and that seems like a good choice. I was pleasantly surprised that the temperature and cook time did not dry out the pork or burn the greens. Unfortunately, the water that's keeping things moist also seemed to keep them from browning.
Overall, I felt like this whole recipe needed a little more oomph. There's not nearly enough heat or acidity to the greens. The garlicky pork is nice, but I felt it wanted some brown sugar and maybe some cayenne. (Or maybe just a whole mess more garlic and oregano and a little more orange juice.)
I'd tinker with it some more; the pork did come out nicely. But it was underwhelming.
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Website: Cooks Illustrated
I love cacio e pepe, and I'm pretty sure this is the first recipe for it I ever tried. It's worth hunting down the video on this - the tempo at the end is a combination of do all the steps in quick order, so you don't lose your heat, but you pour the pasta water into the cheese slowly (and the same is true of the sauce over the noodles).
If I owned a fine grater blade for my food processor, I'd make this more often. Grating 6 ounces of pecorino romano is a job.
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Website: Boston Globe
We're doing a winter CSA box, which is bringing a lot of winter veggies into the house which we don't actually buy by choice very often - turnips. rutabagas, and so much kale. We know we like colcannon and planned to make some for a St. Patrick's Day party, and my wife found this version which has the kale standing in for cabbage and adds some other root vegetables to the potatoes.
I'd have liked it with some bacon or ham, and I think it could use a little more dairy than we used. But I really liked the mix of veggies.
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The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook
By Ella Brennan, Dick Brennan
Clarkson Potter - 1984
Terrific recipe. Should go into my frequent rotation. I didn't let my roux go quite long enough, and I would have liked a little more of that deep dark flavor, but I bring this up because even with a roux that was more milk chocolate-colored than brick, it was in the right neighborhood. The flour on the chicken also lightens the roux and adds thickening - I found it took ~7 cups of stock, not 6, to get the desired consistency and even then it got gloppy when cold.
Similarly, I think there's room to be more aggressive in the seasonings. As written it was fine, but I noticed people adding hot sauce and salt and black pepper at the table. Again, that depends on a lot - the stock, the degree to which you season the chicken, personal preference.
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The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers
By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016
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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Website: Cafe Delites
Basically a blackened steak recipe, made in bite-size portions. This was a hit in my house, though we found using a commercial Cajun seasoning and slightly less meat than called for led to being significantly over-salted. I'll be more moderate next time. The garlic butter at the end was a good touch.
We served them like little lettuce wraps, just putting each bite inside some spring-mix size lettuce leaves. They'd be nice on a flatbread or in a tortilla too, or maybe atop some rice.
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The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors
By Jeff Smith
Avon - 1992
Pretty solid recipe. I might like a little more advice on good seasonings to add to the sausage. The technique of flouring the hard-boiled eggs to make the sausage stick to them better is genius and I don't know why every recipe doesn't include this trick. We also found that, if you don't want to deal with deep-frying, it's perfectly acceptable to use enough oil to get about halfway up the Scotch egg, and flip them at about 4-5 minutes.
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Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
We made this without the mushrooms, which were missed, but it made a nice somewhat spicy soup. I tend to find butternut squash soup too sweet, but the heat and lack of dairy in this one seemed to help.
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Website: The Food Network
These were a big hit at Thanksgiving dinner. The chipotle powder and garlic help cut through the richness. If you're looking for a spicy savory alternative to a sugary sweet potato dish, this works well.
We substituted a chopped chipotle and some adobo sauce for some of the ground chipotle powder, and our friend with the lowest tolerance for heat pronounced it "just right." We doubled the recipe and put it in a lasagna pan; this seemed to work well (though we didn't get the promised "crisp edges" on the potatoes, or think there was any chance of it with all that cream in the dish).
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Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One (1) (Vol 1)
By Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck, Sidonie Coryn
Alfred A. Knopf - 2001
Yup, it's blanched cauliflower. Though I must admit salting the water is a good step.
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Very successful in my house. A lighter treatment than a cheesy "au gratin" but the butter and tomatoes add some richness. It would be good with a piece of fish.
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The German Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Regional Favorites
By Christopher Knuth, Catherine Knuth
Interlink Pub Group - 2013
Nice approach; went over well with my family. Very similar to a paprikash, but I've not had pork served that way. I also like the more rustic sauce you get with the thinly sliced peppers, though I think the recipe's call for 4 green peppers would be overkill if you're using American supermarket bell peppers. I used 2 sweet peppers the size of Hungarian wax peppers, and that was plenty.
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The Bob's Burgers Burger Book: Real Recipes for Joke Burgers
By Loren Bouchard, Bob's Burgers, Cole Bowden
Universe - 2016
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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Website: Cooking
A quick dish that's a good combination of flavors. The recipe could be more specific in places; when I make this again I'll be careful to keep the heat closer to medium, and to chop the kale a little smaller than I did this time. I also might have enjoyed a little more anchovy and garlic, and less pepper, but obviously those are portions which might change dish to dish and person to person.
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The Cookbook for Kids (Williams-Sonoma): Great Recipes for Kids Who Love to Cook
By Lisa Atwood
Weldon Owen - 2011
Dead simple, but a pretty pleasant summer dessert. I might do a large chop instead of a slice next time; as the bananas cook they can become a little chewy (especially if they're not perfectly ripe yet).
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