hipcook's Reviews
260 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating | Recipe Title 
I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking
By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori and Chang - 2002
Once again, Alton shows that a dish I usually make on the stovetop is actually better suited for the oven. The recipe takes more than 4 hours, but most of that is baking time which doesn't need supervision. The texture of the collards comes out terrific, and it's a very forgiving recipe.
So why only 3 stars? Because I prefer more vinegar and some heat in my collards. Of course, you can dress with hot sauce at the table. Also, because it takes 4 hours, and while the tradeoff of effort to dish is good, it also makes collards not a weeknight dish, which is a shame.
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Website: Food: The Insider's Guide
We make this without the addition of apples; the cider provides enough of an apple taste to the bread. Very nice loaf, hearty without being overly dense.
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The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors
By Jeff Smith
Avon - 1992
I think of this as a fun recipe for mini-meatloafs - "sausage" really gives me different ideas. Easy and fun to make, and an ideal size if you like "meatloaf" sandwiches later in the week.
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The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor
By Matt Lee, Ted Lee
Clarkson Potter - 2009
A very pleasant fry-up of eggs, onions, and tortilla chips. The technique of adding the eggs to the hot onions (and then topping with cheese) makes this a very forgiving recipe.
A few notes - I like the serving suggestion that migas could be served with a bowl of greens, but "atop a bed of greens" didn't work for me. (The greens overwhelm the eggs.) A cup of chili would also be very nice, as they serve it at the Texas Chili Parlor in Austin. Actually, I bet there's a lot of leftovers which would pair up well with migas for breakfast the next day.
Think of the balance of onions, eggs, and tortillas as a guideline, not a rule. We found 6 medium eggs to 3 tortillas to be about right, but the "medium" onion was too much (for me, by a little, for my wife, by a lot). The recipe calls for 8 large eggs, so that's no surprise.
Making your own tortilla chips is cheaper than buying them, and what's more, now I have tortillas to cook with, not a pound bag of chips to snack on without thinking. That said, using store-bought chips won't hurt anything and will save time.
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Grits (Short Stack)
By Virginia Willis
Short Stack Editions - 2013
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.
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Website: Kevin Dundon
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.
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The Cookbook for Kids (Williams-Sonoma): Great Recipes for Kids Who Love to Cook
By Lisa Atwood
Weldon Owen - 2011
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.)
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Website: The Food Network
Everybody likes bacon on top of meatloaf, right? Well, why not put it inside instead of on top? And what goes on ground beef but mustard and ketchup - so the traditional meatloaf glaze gets a tangy kick. The cheese part can probably be completely customized to your taste; what was in my fridge was feta and mozzarella instead of cheddar, so that's what I used and it came out fine. (I actually suspect the recipe might call for more cheddar than I'd enjoy, but the point is, I'd be willing to try it and find out.)
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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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Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
By Jeni Britton Bauer
Artisan - 2011
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.
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The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook
By Ella Brennan, Dick Brennan
Clarkson Potter - 1984
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.
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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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Fagor Pressure Cookers
By Fagor America, Inc
Fagor America, Inc - 2000
A very nice take on the French classic. I used a round steak instead of stew meat, which broke down into a tender stew. The sauce is luscious and rich (probably because it's finished with a half-stick of butter...)
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The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors
By Jeff Smith
Avon - 1992
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.
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Fagor Pressure Cookers
By Fagor America, Inc
Fagor America, Inc - 2000
A passable pot roast in half an hour of cooking time. The flavor is good, but my attempt turned out dry. I suspect this has to do with which parts of the roast were covered in liquid and which weren't.
I'll probably make it again for the convenience, but I have other pot roast recipes which pay off the long braise with superior flavor and texture.
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Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
By Beth Hensperger
Harvard Common Press - 2004
I was underwhelmed by this stew of beef, zucchini, and tomato. I found it watery and lacking in flavor. Perhaps part of the problem is that it's a spring or summer stew which I made in November, and my taste buds were set for something heartier. Still, in future I think I'd increase the garlic and herbs, and brown (perhaps broil) the zucchini before adding it.
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Fagor Pressure Cookers
By Fagor America, Inc
Fagor America, Inc - 2000
Another winner for the pressure cooker! Admittedly, I was on a "cleanout the freezer" binge and used nearly double the meat called for. It turned out a luxurious stock, with a fraction of the time and energy used on the stovetop.
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Another revelation from the pressure cooker manual. A quick recipe that turns out tender beef and fully-flavored sauce. Since cooking this one, I've tried a couple of "quick stroganoff" recipes - and all were more work than this way.
Also the recipe that taught me to watch the heat in a pressure cooker like a hawk. The first time I tried this recipe, I scorched the beef a bit but chose not to wash out the pot. Wrong choice. The bitter flavor of burnt meat smoke was infused into every tender bite. Since then, I've been careful that any error gets completely washed out of the pot before the recipe continues.
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Website: New York Times - Dining and Wine
www.nytimes.com/pages/dining/index.html
My wife and I had the same reaction to this burger - it's a kick-ass mini-meatloaf. It's heady with parsley, capers, and onion, and had a great burger char on the outside. The recommendation to use a coarse grind for burger meat is a good one - it makes the meat distinctly more beefy, although I feel like I lost some classic American "burger-ness". I found it could do with a little more salt and spice - but a squeeze of lemon juice and a shot of hot sauce definitely makes it a recipe to return to.
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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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The Cookbook for Kids (Williams-Sonoma): Great Recipes for Kids Who Love to Cook
By Lisa Atwood
Weldon Owen - 2011
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.)
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Cook's Illustrated
(Mar/Apr, 2010)
We participated in the testing phase for this dish, and it was an interesting take. The flavors are definitely lighter and more distinct than the beef stroganoff of my past... it's a classier, more refined dish. It bears almost no resemblance to stroganoff a la college cafeteria, that's for sure!
Or, put another way, if you _like_ stew-like beef stroganoff, this isn't it. I do prefer a heartier approach, and I already have an easy recipe for that from the Fagor pressure cooker manual, so while this is a good and pretty easy recipe, it won't be going in my personal heavy rotation.
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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
This is one of those recipes that makes you yell "Eureka!" in the kitchen. Or possibly "Look what I have created!" like Tom Hanks in Castaway. Or "I read your book!" like George C. Scott in Patton. (OK, that one might just be me.)
It's easy, it's delicious, it sums up why we still revere Saint Julia. It's even funny - I won't spoil the joke, but don't miss the prologue to the recipe.
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You know what's wrong with American hamburgers? Not enough butter. Well, Saint Julia knows the solution to that!
This opulent burger was a big hit in our house. I think of thyme as more of a friend to beans and pork than beef, but it lends these burgers an interesting depth of flavor. And oh, the butter... onions sauteed in butter, butter added to the meat, fry the burgers in butter. (In retrospect, I wish I'd read Julia's notes closer and gotten 90% lean ground beef instead of 80%.) The wine reduction (finished with butter, natch) made an interesting condiment - not exactly like steak sauce, but more like that than anything else I can think of.
Serve on a hearty bun with a lettuce leaf and pickles.
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The Cookbook for Kids (Williams-Sonoma): Great Recipes for Kids Who Love to Cook
By Lisa Atwood
Weldon Owen - 2011
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.)
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Website: Cooks Illustrated
I was impressed with how high these pancakes were. Admittedly, I like my pancake batter a little stiff, but this batter hit a sweet spot of being workable and still substantial. The flavor is creamy and sweet, if a bit plain. The method of putting the batter on the griddle and then adding berries is the only way to go.
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I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking
By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori & Chang - 2004
One of my go-to recipes for party desserts. It makes a fabulous, light, crumbly shortcake which serves as a perfect base for any fruit. I do have a note right next to "bake for 20 minutes, or until golden" where we've written "start checking at 12." Maybe my oven runs hot.
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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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New English Kitchen: Changing the Way You Shop, Cook and Eat
By Rose Prince
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2005
A pretty good technique for using leftover roast - minced, mixed with shredded root vegetables, and braised into a hearty sauce (suggested for Yorkshire puddings but fine for noodles or rice). And while it does take an hour, there's not a ton of work involved if you use a food processor. I feel like it misses an herbal note - maybe thyme or even parsley to green it up a bit.
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The Gift of Southern Cooking: Recipes and Revelations from Two Great American Cooks
By Edna Lewis, Scott Peacock
Knopf - 2003
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.)
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New English Kitchen: Changing the Way You Shop, Cook and Eat
By Rose Prince
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2005
Pleasant technique. Braised sausages take longer than panfried, and you don't get the same browning, but they do require less attention and cook up moist and tender. A quick browning before or after the braise might be called for.
I've braised a ton of sausages in beer; cider has a more delicate flavor, but the apple note is clear and goes nicely with a mildly-spaced sausage. I'll remember that.
The hot potato salad was pretty good. My wife added pan juices to the dressing, which was a great choice which tied the dishes together and added a bit of complexity to the dressing.
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The Great Sandwich Book
By Anita Borghese
Rawson Associates Publishers - 1978
Tomato paste and brandy are added to a bechamel, and then cooked lobster is warmed in it before the mixture is spread on toast, topped with cheese, and broiled. It's a refined sandwich. The grape flavor from the brandy plays nicely with the lobster and tomato, although we did get a couple of boozy bites. It seems like something you might find at a semi-formal New England lunch.
So why only 3 stars? Quality vs. effort. It's not that this is a difficult dish - it's just a bit fiddly, compared with the simplicity of a buttery lobster roll. If I have to do the work of cracking a lobster shell, I probably will pick the easier recipe and enjoy the purity of fewer ingredients instead of the nuances of a bigger sauce.
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The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor
By Matt Lee, Ted Lee
Clarkson Potter - 2009
After 24 hours in the fridge, we broke these out, and my wife said "it tastes like Christmas." The mix of brandy and cinnamon and plum does taste like something you'd expect to find on a holiday table. I wonder how it would hold up as a fruitcake ingredient. (In fact, I imagined it as a special Christmas-stocking candy.)
Of course, all the talk of Christmas makes me wonder if the recipe would have to change to make them store well. We'll pay attention as we nibble the jar down over the next few weeks... for science.
In the meantime, I'm wondering how to pair them. Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream seems obvious, as would a shortcake. I'm tempted by the idea that these might work in something like a clafouti or even an upside-down cake.
I made a half-batch, and frankly, it doesn't save enough work to be worth it. The Lees are right; make two jars and, if you won't use them, give them away.
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Essential Pepin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food
By Jacques Pepin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2011
I like this recipe because it says that sometimes, you just let the meat speak for itself. Everything doesn't need a fancy-schmancy preparation; this 5-ingredient preparation is perfectly capable of standing next to the 10-ingredient dish on the same page.
I also appreciated being introduced to savory, not an herb I'd cooked with before. I couldn't get fresh savory in our supermarket, but the dried herb tastes a little like a lot of things - a peppery note, a rosemary-like flavor, a hint of a warm herb like thyme. I want to play with that particular ingredient more.
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Jane Brody's Good Food Book
By Jane Brody
W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. - 1980
My other recipe for this sauce uses more butter, but this lighter version trades richness for a very pleasant acidity.
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Website: Superspark
Nice recipe for a corn cake that's hearty and rich, but also light. A drizzle of maple syrup really brings out the vanilla flavor. I like to drop in some cooked corn niblets for an extra sweetness and texture.
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The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor
By Matt Lee, Ted Lee
Clarkson Potter - 2009
I had no idea that soft cheese was either so easy to make or so delicious. This recipe takes you from having cold milk to a delectable, rich, salty-tangy ricotta-like cheese in under half an hour. I'm just stunned, and looking for opportunities to show this off. (And no one will judge you if you scrape the cheesecloth clean as a cook's treat...)
I tried the lemon zest variant, which smelled outstanding, and married well with the pecan-crusted treatment. A drizzle of honey really brought out the zing of the lemon; it was a hit on a dessert buffet.
A few notes - the Lee brothers think this recipe takes 8 minutes of cooking; I think either their definition of "medium" heat is higher than mine, or my fridge is colder than theirs, because it definitely took longer than that for curds to develop for me. That said, I also feel sure I cooked it longer than necessary, hoping to see cottage-cheese size curds which never developed. The curds will be fine, but the cheesecloth will catch them.
I also have to admit that I didn't have whole milk on hand as called for, but I did have whipping cream. I don't know if 1 cup cream + 3 cups of 1% milk = 1 quart of whole milk or not - but it works fine for this recipe.
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I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking
By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori & Chang - 2004
This recipe makes high, light pancakes still rich with the flavors of egg and dairy. Plus, I've noticed that most recipes call for less buttermilk than I buy... so either this is a great way to use up the extra buttermilk, or a good reason to make one of those other recipes.
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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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The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor
By Matt Lee, Ted Lee
Clarkson Potter - 2009
A light and spongy cake, still very moist, and packed with vanilla flavor. A phenomenal base for almost any kind of dessert sauce you could imagine putting on it. The only problem is that a dessert this small and light is either for the end of a big meal... or you want to eat all 8 of them yourself.
(Also, the Lee Brothers' nonstick pans must work better than mine - I didn't grease the pan and they stuck monstrously.)
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Website: Epicurious
Coming up to Thanksgiving with a small number of sweet potatoes and one butternut squash in the house, this recipe was a great find. The squash adds an interesting texture to the smooth sweet potatoes, but the flavors are completely complimentary.
I'd disagree that this is a "lightly spiced" dish. It's very pleasant, but the spices of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and ginger are pronounced. I enjoyed the zing it brought to the table (and it's certainly not hot or unbalanced), but it's not subtle.
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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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Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
By Beth Hensperger
Harvard Common Press - 2004
Something seems to be missing from this recipe. Perhaps a sauce or gravy. (I left out the black olives, because I find them boring; maybe green olives would work.) There just doesn't seem to be much flavor in it.
I also suspect there's a bad instruction in it - the corn meal mixture is stirred together with the beef and onions. I wonder if the textures would be more interesting if the corn meal were allowed to sit on top of the beef, like many of the tamale pies I've seen.
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Website: The Takeout
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.
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The New Chesapeake Kitchen
By John Shields, David W. Harp
Johns Hopkins University Press - 2018
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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The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor
By Matt Lee, Ted Lee
Clarkson Potter - 2009
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).
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The German Kitchen: Traditional Recipes, Regional Favorites
By Christopher Knuth, Catherine Knuth
Interlink Pub Group - 2013
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.
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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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Website: The Food Network
Interesting take on cole slaw, with cauliflower playing the part of cabbage, and a flavor profile that's close to tabbouleh with its mint and parsley. I suspect it's a little overly salty, although that diminishes as the vegetables purge and the salt works its way more evenly through the dish.
It is important to break the cauliflower into reasonably small florets - I didn't, and ended up with slices of cauliflower which were a little bigger than I wanted. They broke up by hand easily enough, but it was a step I wouldn't have needed if I'd done a better job of coring and breaking up.
I also substituted pecans for pine nuts, because, frankly, I'm not crazy about pine nuts. My wife pointed out that almonds would fit the dish better, and she's right.
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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
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.
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