| From: All Recipes (reviewed 5th October 2022)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. |
| "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." |
| From: Food Wishes (reviewed 2nd June 2022)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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: Irish Times (reviewed 21st December 2020)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.) |
| From: Food Wishes (reviewed 6th December 2020)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. |
| From: The Food Network (reviewed 6th December 2020)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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: Food Wishes (reviewed 29th October 2020)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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: Food Wishes (reviewed 12th July 2020)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.) |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: Sous Vide Supreme (reviewed 2nd November 2019)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. |
| 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. |
| From: The Food Network (reviewed 28th October 2019)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. |
| From: The Food Network (reviewed 22nd October 2019)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. |
| 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. |
| From: Lemon Blossoms (reviewed 21st September 2019)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. |
| From: The Food Network (reviewed 19th September 2019)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! |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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...) |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: Martha Stewart (reviewed 5th April 2019)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. |
| 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. |
| From: Boston Globe (reviewed 10th March 2019)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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: Cafe Delites (reviewed 25th February 2019)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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: The Food Network (reviewed 25th November 2018)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). |
| Yup, it's blanched cauliflower. Though I must admit salting the water is a good step. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| From: Cooking (reviewed 20th August 2018)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. |
| 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). |
| It's "pigs in a blanket"; there's not much to it. But heck, it was fast and let me cook with my kid. (His review was that he'd rather figure out how to do corn dogs at home.) |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Solid recipe for a basic bacon cheeseburger. I do like the burger technique in this book. |
| It's a yogurt parfait; it's as good as your yogurt and berries are. But it's also a dish my kid can put together entirely on his own, and experiment a little with plating artistically. So points for that.
(Don't tell Williams-Sonoma, but we found that my highball glasses are just about the perfect size for a yogurt parfait.) |
| Pretty darn good fritatta, really, especially for a "cooking with kids" book. I did make a half-recipe... except for the bacon, which I left at its normal proportion. (Which might mean this recipe should call for some salt and pepper in its normal proportions.) |
| From: The Takeout (reviewed 8th April 2018)Barely a recipe, more of a technique, but it went over gangbusters in my house. Bacon is topped with a layer of brown sugar and a crack of pepper before baking. I used substantially less brown sugar than pictured, which I think was right for a basic breakfast meat. On the other hand, in future I'll probably be more aggressive than I was with the pepper; the brown sugar gives a lot of cover before you get to "pepper bacon" territory. |
| Pleasant; more of a technique than a recipe. Needs salt and possibly other seasonings. Generally a hit in my house; we had some debate over whether it needed a sauce or whether that would make the coating go gummy. |
| A little lackluster. Using some corn grits to give crunch to baked wings was a neat idea, and I liked the little bit of corn taste, but my family didn't care for it. I also got a slight raw flour taste; it could have used a little more time in the oven (or a hotter temperature?) but the chicken was about perfectly done.
I didn't make the sauce, which was a mistake. The cumin and pepper don't come through nearly as well as I hoped. |
| From: The Takeout (reviewed 14th January 2018)My technique needs work, but I did enjoy making these and they were pretty tasty. Not having a spaetzle press, I opted for a tip from the comments to try piping the dough into the boiling water. I learned a couple of things, primarily to make the hole in the piping bag even smaller than I thought, and to allow it to drizzle into the water by gravity more than squeezing it out like icing. Also it makes a pretty big batch; I will definitely end up freezing some and seeing how it reheats. |
| From: Cooks Illustrated (reviewed 26th November 2017)Every year, at Christmas or Thanksgiving, my wife says "we could make glazed carrots" and I say "we don't have a glazed carrots recipe" (meaning "I don't really like cooked carrots.") And she says "yes we do, the Cook's Illustrated one" and I say "I have no memory of what you're talking about." And then we make this one, and the strong hit of ginger balances the rosemary really well and gives needed complexity to its restrained sweetness.
And I say "you were right, honey, these are really good."
And she smiles, knowing I'll forget about them before next year. |
| Fun treatment for chicken. We didn't serve it with the brown butter sauce, but instead heated up a little tomato sauce and made an ersatz chicken parmigiana. |
| Not a bad recipe. Not quite enough sauce for my taste, but that might be another case of needing to bake in a wider pan. Could use some additional herb and spice notes. |
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| I love fried tomatoes (especially fried green tomatoes), but my results have been decidedly hit-or-miss. Three small things will make this my go-to recipe. First, the flour is mixed with an equal amount of breadcrumbs. I suspect this gives a much crunchier crust with less risk of burning. Second, the timing is about right (4 minutes per side over a medium burner).
And finally, topping the tomatoes with brown sugar at the end! What a delight, to add sweetness to the acidic tomato and lightly peppered dredge! (In fairness, my kid didn't like this... so I won't sugar his in future.) |
| Dead simple, does what it says on the tin. The coconut oil really does create a chocolate crust which will melt in your mouth. Of course Jeni would point out that it's as good as the chocolate you use; that said I'm perfectly happy with what I got from Nestle bittersweet morsels. |
| I'd call this a 4 for the ice cream - nice banana flavor. If you've got some leftover fruit purees from other recipes, you can use them well here - strawberry banana is good.
It's a two for the chocolate freckles though, with an asterisk that it's probably my equipment's fault. The directions say to drizzle the chocolate bombe shell "through the opening in the top", but my old bought-at-the-hardware-store ice cream maker doesn't _have_ an opening at the top. Now, what I should have done was laid down ribbons of chocolate while packing the ice cream. What I did do was take off the top and spin the beater by hand while my son poured in the chocolate. And what I got were a few "freckles" of chocolate, some big chunks that were more like "moles," and 3 or 4 enormous "dude, get that checked by a doctor" clumps. I eventually fished these out and smashed them with the points of a fork to get them down to a size that will fit on an ice cream spoon.
Having done that, it's very tasty. I used dark chocolate and it's a pretty close recipe to Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. So I'll probably make it again, but I'll replace my machine or deal with the chocolate differently next time. |
| I've tried to make sorbets before, and consistently come out with a granita at best and a frozen block of flavored ice at worst. But the instruction earlier in the book is spot on - churn to the consistency of a thick smoothie. With this recipe and that instruction, I got a nice soft scoopable sorbet. And a delicious flavor - primarily watermelon with some refreshing lemon acidity. |
| A very good ice cream, rich and lush. The cream and buttermilk combo gives a very interesting flavor. I'll agree with the comment that a little more strawberry flavor would be welcome. This is an ice cream which really benefits from a minute or two of thawing - the creamy texture becomes something you'd expect at an ice cream shop, and the strawberry wakes up just a bit. |
| From: The Kitchn (reviewed 13th May 2017)Worked pretty well, and made me less afraid of the time and effort needed for paella. Mine needed salt, and benefited from a drizzle of olive oil at the end. I also messed up by adding too many frozen peas, which sucked up a lot of the heat which was supposed to be cooking the shrimp, which led my "crunchy rice" into just burned territory. I might go ahead and pan-sear the shrimp next time, for more control over flavor and texture. |
| From: All Recipes (reviewed 23rd April 2017)Chef John's blog and video point out that you really should use russets on this recipe, and sure enough, I think Yukon Golds were too waxy to get a good crust. That said, it's a really neat approach - potato cylinders are fried on one side to make a crust, and then braised in stock to complete cooking and add flavor. (I also suspect that the second side should get a longer fry than I gave it - but that's the side that's going to be in the braising liquid so I don't know if it matters.) It's more effort than just baking up some home fries, but I'm interested enough to try it again. |
| Nice loaf of bread. Mixed up particularly wet, which was odd for our house and weather; ended up adding a lot of flour to make it workable and a longer bake time to get it fully cooked. |
| The recipe as written looks like a cool way to whip up just enough cranberry sauce to coat a couple of pork chops. However, my wife believes in making always making enough cranberry sauce to put some up, so I cheated and used sauce we already had on hand instead of fresh cranberries and sugar. The flavor combination is certainly a winner; I really liked the way the cranberries developed a different depth of flavor while baking with the pork. Practically, I'm more likely to make panfried pork chops with a quick heated cranberry sauce in future, but this is a really cool inspiration. (And I suppose it's possible we might run out of cranberry sauce.) |
| I wanted to like this more than I did. At the end of the day, it was a pretty fair Swiss steak or even something like a pot roast. There wasn't enough Cajun seasoning called for, in my opinion, to give it any particular Louisiana flavor. Also, my gravy came out rather oily; I should have run it through a gravy separator. Serving Swiss steak with grits as a starch is a pretty neat idea, though. |
| I didn't actually make the migas as directed, but the grits cakes which stand in for the tortilla chips are a big winner. (In a nutshell, cooked grits are spread out, cooled, cut, and baked.) I've added the grits strips, crumbled a bit, to scrambled eggs with some hot sauce for an ersatz migas, and it's a nice breakfast, adding texture and some richness to the eggs. Even better, though, was sausage gravy served over them like a biscuit.
I made them on a cookie sheet, instead of in a baking pan as directed, so I think were significantly thinner than expected. That said, I like this thickness. |
| Good spongecake recipe, lightly flavored with orange. The outer edge of our cake came out just a hair tough, which might be related to the fact that we used a 10-inch pan instead of the 9-inch called for. A big hit with some whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. |
| With cream, Marsala, tarragon, and Swiss cheese, these are much sweeter than the "mushrooms stuffed with herb cream cheese" that I remember from family holidays. They are refined and delicious, if a tad oily, and play well with other foods. That said, they are more effort than the old family "open a container" recipe; it'll be a matter of personal preferences whether that effort pays off. |
| Shortbread cookies are layered with a simple chocolate icing and some almonds. It is a simple family treat; I can imagine this as something I'd make to dress up ingredients I had on hand anyway. |
| From: The Food Network (reviewed 19th December 2016)I associate brines with salt, but this one is mostly sugar. That makes the turkey skin come out with a pronounced sweetness, almost similar to a sugar-cured bacon. It also gives an interesting flavor to the meat, though I miss a little more saltiness on the meat. It did come out nice and moist, though. |
| From: Buttermilk (reviewed 9th October 2016)Most of the recipes I've seen for fresh cheese call for a mix of buttermilk and whole milk. This one calls for straight buttermilk, with half-and-half added at the end to moisten the curds. Simple and delicious. |
| From: Buttermilk (reviewed 9th October 2016)Fresh buttermilk cheese is a wonderful thing - a very slight bit of effort for an appetizer which always impresses. I've tended to serve fresh cheese on the sweet side, but this goes spicy with ginger, jalapeno, and pepper. It was a big hit as both a dip and a topping for chili. We liked it with more ginger than originally called for. |
| From: Cook's Country (reviewed 4th October 2016)Steaks are dry-brined with a mixture of 4 parts sugar to 3 parts salt. Fun technique and one I'll be using again. Note to self: the amounts of rub listed really do assume thick steaks; thinner steaks need significantly less rub. (Which should have been obvious, but wasn't.)
I made it under my broiler, which was fine, but I didn't get quite the caramelization I was expecting and it did a number on my cast-iron grill pan. |
| Terrific meatballs. I'll definitely be using the technique of mixing panade with meat in the food processor, not by hand. These seemed to pay off my labor better than other meatball recipes I've tried. (The recipe also makes enough meatballs that I can get 2 or 3 meals out of it.)
The sauce is fine, but forgettable. I'll probably just open a jar in future. That may be a comment on the quality of my supermarket crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce. |
| I don't understand why this recipe calls for 3 slices of bread per sandwich. I guess it makes it a little more filling, and you might argue it's a little more refined, but I prefer the more obvious flavors of the 2-slice version. In particular, I think the egg batter gets downplayed when there's an unbattered slice of bread in the middle, and that's a key to a good monte cristo. (I also like a little mustard in the sandwich, though you could always serve that on the side.)
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| From: The Food Network (reviewed 15th August 2016)I think this just became my house margarita recipe. It's just a hair sweet; I'll probably go with 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar in future instead of 2. I also left off the cilantro. But the cucumber is delightfully refreshing, and it's dead simple (compared to many of the cucumber margarita recipes which start with making cucumber juice in your blender).
It says this makes one, and hey, if you're not driving, who am I to judge? But you could split it and still have a respectable drink. |
| From: Serious Eats (reviewed 31st July 2016)I used this as a marinade for beef, and it was a big hit. I agree with kaye16; it's a little too salty. (I fixed it by adding yogurt and lemon but next time I'll just use less salt.)
The only complaint my family had is that I didn't reserve any of the marinade to use as a sauce, which would have been really nice. (My wife pointed out that I should reserve before marinading rather than trust my ability to heat a yogurt-based sauce without it breaking... which points out that this is in "make again soon" territory.) |
| Not crazy about this one. I found that the mint took over and the parsley got lost. I also found the carrots dominated the cabbage. But it's a fast hot salad with ingredients I'm often looking to use up, so I might try it again. |
| What a keeper of a recipe! It had never occurred to me that the rich, spicy taste of bulgogi came from a mere 30-minute marinade. My first attempt came out too salty; notice that "sesame salt" is made of far more sesame seeds than salt. I might also play with the heat a little; a sweet-spicy sauce like Sriracha might mellow the spice a little more to my son's liking. Definitely would benefit from an acidic side dish. |
| I slapped a partial recipe together in a little bit of time before dinner, and it was pretty pleasant. Once the red wine actually penetrates the carrots and turnips, the sweet notes of all three become very interesting and complex. I'll definitely return to this following the recipe more closely (and allowing a more proper amount of time to marinade). |
| A lovely easy technique for turnips. "Braised in butter" isn't actually as over-the-top as I thought - most of the braising liquid is stock or water. (And I probably used too much of it - I suspect "barely covered" actually means "not quite covered".) Definitely an improvement over just boiling them. |
| I am truly shocked at how easy this classic dish is. My caramel technique needs work, and this dish comes together fast so mise en place is essential, but I will be returning to this recipe. |
| For some reason, this cake came out really dense and dry last time. It was tasty enough, but not quite what we were expecting. The icing, however, is magnificent - buttery richness balancing sweet with just the right fresh kick of orange. |
| Simple base for a sandwich spread or dip. We used smoked salmon in place of "cooked" trout, and I suspect the lower moisture content is part of why we needed a lot more yogurt and sour cream to reach the texture we wanted. |
| From: Kevin Dundon (reviewed 17th January 2016)I'm not quite getting the point of this dish. It's leeks in a cheese sauce - a fair side dish, but not terribly interesting. |
| From: Kevin Dundon (reviewed 13th January 2016)Exceptionally good technique for trout - perfectly done, wrapped in crispy bacon, and not a hint of sticking to the pan. I'll be returning to this many times. It also has a lovely mix of textures, with firm fish, crispy-chewy bacon, and shattering slivers of almonds.
The sauce didn't work perfectly for me. I think I misunderstood an instruction that the oil in the pan needed to be dumped and replaced with just butter, because mine came out very oily and perhaps not lemony enough. The flavors are there, but I didn't get them in the right balance. |
| I made this with ham hock meat instead of chorizo, which I suspect was a mistake. The combination of sauteed greens and poblanos is pretty nice, but this recipe seems to be counting on the spice and fat from sausage, and the ham hocks' salt and smoke just isn't cutting it. I also prefer my greens very vinegary, and the 2 tablespoons called for in this recipe don't lend enough brightness for my taste. |
| Really, this is a 5 for the pie filling, which is delightfully reminiscent of a New Orleans praline. Nuts, butter, and of course sugar, but not that cloying gelled filling which so many pecan pies have. (A friend suggests this may only be because it hadn't been refrigerated between baking and serving, and she could be right.) But a 3 for the oil-based pastry crust, which shrank surprisingly during the blind bake and was a little thicker on the bottom than we expected. |
| A perfect crock pot recipe - peel and quarter the apples, add lemon juice and water, and forget it. I didn't even need to use the food mill on mine (though we do like applesauce just a bit chunky). |
| From: Cooks Illustrated (reviewed 19th October 2015)Good technique here for pan-seared shrimp, with a variety of glazes. We've tried all 3, and the chipotle-lime is our favorite - tropical and sweet, with just a bit of spice. Could serve as a great appetizer, an ingredient in shrimp tacos, or as a main course on its own. |