hipcook's Reviews
260 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating 
| Recipe Title
I'm Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking
By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori & Chang - 2004
I know 2 or 3 people, plus myself, who've tried this recipe and, as near as we can tell, it's just broken. The dough comes out wet, almost soupy, and makes something like a biscuit-flavored muffin top. It doesn't hold its shape and it spreads out tremendously in the oven, gaining almost no height. It's a pleasant enough bread (especially if you're partial to crumbly biscuits instead of flaky), but it sure ain't no biscuit. At the end of the day, turn to page 138 and make the biscuits according to that beautiful bulletproof White Lily recipe (which is the same as the one on the sack of flour).
useful (1)
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.
useful (1)
Website: The Food Network
Alton, you know you're my boy. There are terra cotta tiles in my over because of you. I eat barbecued tofu because of you. But, my friend, sometimes you just gotta rein it in.
Like this steak recipe. I mean, it's broiled steak! The point is simplicity. And here you go telling me to move the dang oven racks after 10 minutes of cooking. Not the steaks, the racks! I don't know what dinnertime looks like in your house, but in mine, it doesn't involve messing with hot oven racks.
Maybe I'm overreacting. But let's try a little less "mad" in your "mad genius."
useful (1)
Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
I didn't care for this at all. The curry struck me as sandy, which I blame on the ground coconut. It was also somewhat bitter and unbalanced toward the pungent side of cloves, cumin, and cayenne. My wife thought it showed promise for further experiments (like substituting coconut milk for coconut flakes). I'd start with a new recipe... so we'll average those opinions and call it a 2.
I feel like this is a recipe which shows its age badly. One of the things that struck me is that, in 1977, you probably couldn't get decent curry paste or powder in most supermarkets. In 2011, I'm quite sure I could make curried cauliflower that's just as good or better with off-the-shelf ingredients, and I live in the sticks.
useful (1)
As a main course, this was disappointing. Hearty to be sure, but bland. It's certainly in the "comfort food" genre, but didn't quite make it for me... it got boring before it got homey. I might make it again as a side dish for a potluck, but not as an entree.
A warning - use your biggest pot. 2 pounds of raw spinach is a lot, as is 4 cups of cooked rice.
useful (3)
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.
useful (0)
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.
useful (2)
This is a pretty good chicken and rice soup. It is, unfortunately, a lackluster gumbo. With a dash of hot sauce and a sprinkle of file powder at the table, it was OK - again, good for soup, but just OK for gumbo.
I suppose it displays my prejudices when I say that the first problem with this chicken gumbo is that there's not enough pork in it. A smoked sausage would be very nice, or failing that, ham or at least double the bacon called for.
The real problem with the recipe, though, is that there's no depth of flavor, none of the body I associate with gumbo. I think it's the lack of a roux (though purists might say you don't use both roux and file). Overall, I may return to this recipe, but it needs tinkering to be what it claims to be.
useful (2)
The Great Sandwich Book
By Anita Borghese
Rawson Associates Publishers - 1978
On the one hand, this technique for home-made flatbread couldn't be easier. On the other hand, it couldn't be more bland. (The ingredients, literally, are flour, water, and a pinch of salt.) I imagine I'll return to this idea, but with an addition of something like minced garlic or scallions in the dough, or a brush of flavored oil at the end.
Cooking notes: either Borghese's idea of "medium" heat is lower than mine, or 2 minutes per side isn't enough time.
useful (0)
Website: The Food Network
I'm not crazy about these granola bars. They're OK, but not great. I find they have a little too much honey sweetness and not enough grain and nut flavor. They also don't hold together as well as I'd like, though that may be because I keep forgetting that my square pan is 8x8 not 9x9, so they're a little extra thick.
useful (1)
Website: Red Streetcar Line
It might be more fair to think of this as a Mint Watermelon Sorbet - the mint flavor was dominant, almost overpowering, in my attempt.
Two things come to mind on that point. First, I scaled the recipe up by three to try and use up a watermelon which was far larger than necessary for a small Fourth of July party. Maybe mint doesn't scale linearly. (Though since I also find it a little too sugary-sweet, I think that's not the whole problem.) Also, I was using chocolate mint from my garden, and though I aimed for younger leaves, certainly some more mature leaves got in there as well. I have no idea how to control for the strength of your mint crop, but I suspect that's an issue too. I'd love any tips people have (or any other experiences with this recipe).
useful (1)
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.
useful (0)
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.
useful (0)
The Great Sandwich Book
By Anita Borghese
Rawson Associates Publishers - 1978
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.)
useful (0)
Grits (Short Stack)
By Virginia Willis
Short Stack Editions - 2013
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.
useful (0)
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.)
useful (0)
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.
useful (0)
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.
useful (0)
I'm Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking
By Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori and Chang - 2002
Rice cooking is one of my great struggles - I seem to have either wet mushy stuff or a burnt layer at the bottom pretty frequently. But Alton's approach to pilaf is darn near bulletproof, including the facts that it's flavorful, and saves well in the fridge.
useful (0)
Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
I'm giving this a slightly higher rating than I think it deserves, because I suspect I made an important (and negative) change to the recipe by using ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese. Truth is, I don't like stuffed squash very much, and this only seemed average to me. I am glad I used the optional handfuls of raisins and chopped pecans; they added good texture and flavor. (The recipe says walnuts, but as far as I'm concerned, every recipe which calls for walnuts is better with pecans.) All in all, not a bad way to make stuffed squash, just not exceptional.
useful (0)
Jane Brody's Good Food Book
By Jane Brody
W. W. Norton and Company, Inc. - 1980
I'm rating this because it says it's inspired by the version in the Moosewood Cookbook (but the Moosewood version is the one I made). The recipes are nearly identical, with the exception that Brody uses 2 tablespoons less butter for sauteeing the onions and apples. (I suspect that there's so much cheese in this recipe that it can lose the extra butter easily.)
Brody also does a major service by converting Katzen's more homey amounts (juice of one lemon, 2 apples chopped) into measurable ones (1/4 c. lemon juice, 3 cups chopped apples). I had some questions about the consistency of my filling (it seemed watery), and I think I wouldn't have if I followed these amounts.
useful (1)
Cook's Illustrated
(Mar/Apr, 2008)
Steaming the potatoes instead of boiling them really does seem easier. I have to admit that I wimped out at the idea of getting out the food mill, and just used the potato masher. It turned out OK, but I do think breaking the potatoes more would have helped them be fluffier. (Also, I note that the butter and milk are added separately, instead of together like every other mashed potato recipe I know.)
All that said, there's nothing but potato flavor in this recipe. Fine, if that's what you're looking for, but I like mashed potatoes rich with dairy and other flavors. (If I wanted potato flavor, I'd eat them baked.) So for me, it's more a recipe that illustrates a technique, than a finished dish.
useful (1)
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.
useful (1)
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.
useful (0)
Website: The Food Network
A hearty dish which comes together with a lot less work and time than I thought it would. It's almost a 4-star recipe, but I'm dinging it a bit because the gravy didn't thicken in the oven as much as I thought it would. (It's my fault, though, that I gave the sauce more time in the oven and the chops got tough.) I didn't have a Vidalia onion, so I used one medium-size white onion. The flavor worked, but it would have been more "smothered" if I'd gone for 2 onions.
useful (0)
Fagor Pressure Cookers
By Fagor America, Inc
Fagor America, Inc - 2000
A serviceable recipe from the pressure cooker manual. It's a light stew, appropriate for a spring or summer dinner, with only meat and sauce. I made it with a beef flank steak instead of lamb stew meat and it worked just fine. It might benefit from an herbal note - maybe a bay leaf.
useful (0)
Website: Cooks Illustrated
Nice combination of flavors, straightforward stir-frying technique. I might increase the ginger next time.
useful (0)
Recipes: The Cooking of Italy (Foods of the World)
By Time-Life
Time-Life - 1968
A pleasant enough recipe for a crispy, hearty starch - almost like an Italianate hush puppy. The recipe makes a wealth of 2-bite balls, appropriate for appetizers or a side dish, not the baseball-size behemoths I've had on occasion.
I admit using leftover rice pilaf, not the called-for risotto, and my mixture was a wet mess almost impossible to work with. I added an additional half-cup or so of rice, which still didn't help; finally, I added bread crumbs to the mix (in addition to the bread crumb coating) and the mix started to hold together. I should try it with risotto instead of long-grain rice to see if it's a recipe problem or a changed-the-ingredients problem.
useful (1)
The Great Sandwich Book
By Anita Borghese
Rawson Associates Publishers - 1978
On the one hand, you've pretty much got the whole recipe right there in the title. It's not like it's groundbreaking cuisine here.
...except when's the last time YOU had sauteed apples on a sausage? Because I don't think I ever have.
(The serving suggestion says to add a scrambled egg for a hearty meal. I might also suggest a glass of red wine and a Lipitor... but again, you're not using a cookbook from 1978 if a strict diet is really your top priority.)
useful (0)
Fagor Pressure Cookers
By Fagor America, Inc
Fagor America, Inc - 2000
I usually think of chicken stock as an all-afternoon project, one where I break out the biggest stock pot I own and all the frozen chicken carcasses I've been saving for months, then boil (and cool) for hours. This recipe is a completely different take - with 2 pounds of chicken bones and 30 minutes at pressure, you get 6 cups of stock. Hopefully, this recipe will help with my freezer space, and lead to me eating more soup.
useful (1)
Website: The Food Network
The taste on this was fantastic - peanut butter and jelly plus a glass of warm, vanilla-scented milk, all at once.
But the pudding didn't come out right for me, I think because "half a loaf of challah" isn't a very clear measurement. I definitely should have added bread; I got something loose, more like pudding than bread. I also suspect I should have chosen a more rustic loaf of bread; the dense, soft loaf I used pretty much disintegrated at serving.
useful (1)
The Commander's Palace New Orleans Cookbook
By Ella Brennan, Dick Brennan
Clarkson Potter - 1984
I am not a fan of egg nog, but this is a pretty pleasant alternative for a holiday cocktail. The Brennans say to serve it ice cold, but given that it's basically milk and vanilla with some booze, I think warmed up it would make a lovely Christmas nightcap.
useful (0)
Website: The Food Network
A perfectly serviceable recipe for a sugar cookie base for cutout cookies. I found the dough a little too dry; perhaps it's the hazard of winter baking.
And don't tell your 3-year-old it's time to use the cookie-cutters before the dough is made! Unless, of course, you were looking forward to him asking at every step whether it's time. (See also sturlington's review of what I assume is the same recipe but in a Nigella cookbook...)
useful (1)
Website: The Food Network
We call this kind of recipe "refrigerator Velcro" - make it once to get the flavor profile, then in the future use the basic recipe as a background for cleaning leftover meat and veggies out of the fridge.
It's not exceptional or authentic, but it is tasty and quick, and it turned a dish I thought was restaurants-only into something I can pull off for a quick weeknight meal. That counts for something.
useful (1)
Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
I'm a fan of potatoes and cabbage, so this dish caught my eye. With cider vinegar and 3 forms of tart dairy (cottage cheese, yogurt, and sour cream), it's a very rich dish but with a refreshing zing.
I certainly enjoyed it, but my family thought it was only OK. They prefer colcannon, which has the benefit of being a little less work. But I think I'll be tinkering with my colcannon recipe to see if I can get a little acidity into it, thanks to this recipe.
This is the second recipe in Moosewood which I think could be simplified by making it in a large (very large!) oven-safe skillet, or doing the sauteeing in a dutch oven. No sense dirtying 3 pots when 2 would do!
useful (3)
A recipe with good bones. I'm sure I'll be returning to it, with some tweaks perhaps to my ingredients and the recipe. Specifically, I cut the chili powder in half, to make sure my son would eat it. Not only will I use the whole amount next time, I might add something like a cubanelle pepper for a little more kick (and texture).
The mix of beans, cheese, tomato, and apple is like an interesting take on chili. Unfortunately, the Granny Smith apples I used were light on flavor. (Maybe that's what I get for buying apples in March in Ohio.) Next time, I might use a sweeter apple (although trying to keep the acidity and the way Granny Smith holds its shape).
Next time, I will also probably switch to a white bean, maybe Great Northern beans. This is not an appetizing recipe to look at. The red beans and light brown cooked apples just don't work for me.
This all sounds really critical, but it was hearty and rich, good for a main course (maybe served with rice) or a side dish (I enjoyed it with a pork loin roast). And it smells like a miracle coming out of the oven. I like it enough to make again, in fact, enough to put my own stamp on in future.
useful (2)
Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
By Beth Hensperger
Harvard Common Press - 2004
Nothing to write home about, but a fair balance of effort to taste. Something in this hearty casserole reminded me of my youth - my mother must've had a similar "Spanish rice" recipe. As Alison points out, there's a base here for just about any protein you'd want to add; I used a non-spicy lamb bratwurst and it was fine.
useful (1)
Essentially, this is three recipes - how to make rice and lentils in your slow cooker, how to caramelize onions, and a yogurt-cucumber-mint sauce.
The rice and lentils part is amazingly easy. It serves as a nice base for the onions, which become the standout part of the dish. The rice and lentils also play nicely with the raita, but I felt like the mint and yogurt taste overwhelmed the onions.
useful (2)
A pleasant preparation of slowly braised ribs in a sweet Asian sauce. Ours completely fell apart; it wouldn't have been much work to pull the bones out of the pot and serve it like pulled pork. My wife enjoyed the subtle flavors, as did my young son; I thought it was OK but was hoping for bolder flavors. ("Soulful" is in the eye of the beholder.) I might add five-spice powder and up the garlic in future, to bring it more in the direction of Chinese-restaurant ribs.
useful (2)
Website: Simply Recipes
Good recipe for the Thanksgiving leftover classic. I think it needs garlic. I don't know how they think this fits into a 3 quart casserole dish - it looked it would overflow mine, so I made it in my crock pot insert. (Which led to a discussion about which vessel would have the best crunchy bread-crumb topping to creamy noodle ratio - we think it might be 2 lasagna pans.)
useful (0)
An easy and pleasant approach to roasted potatoes. They do turn out creamy, not fluffy or crusty. The garlic and rosemary flavors mix for a very pleasant bite.
useful (0)
A very basic pot roast - chuck roast in brown gravy with potatoes and carrots. I tried to up the flavor with 2 cloves of garlic and substituting 1 cup of beef stock for 1 cup (out of 3) of water; I think both were successful. I liked the strong flavors of carrot and bay leaf, but I still prefer a pot roast including red wine and tomatoes.
useful (0)
Essential Pepin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food
By Jacques Pepin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2011
Another entry in my collection of "Pepin recipes which look more complicated than they are." This would be a great vegetable for when company comes over... it looks classy but requires only a hair more time and attention than boiled green beans.
useful (2)
Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
A quick and easy recipe for pan-fried round steak - which is a nice find, because I've got quite a bit of it in the freezer. The recipe is simple - tenderize round steak (or buy cube steak cutlets at the market), dredge in seasoned flour, pan-fry quickly. It's basic and pleasant; I felt the timing was a little short but perhaps my oil wasn't hot enough (or was too deep).
Some of the comments on the web site suggest a cream gravy, which would be traditional for this preparation. But my wife and I wanted something closer to steak sauce; I found just a good hit of Worcestershire worked.
useful (0)
Mary Gwynn's 30-Minute Vegetarian Recipes
By Mary Gwynn
Meredith Corporation - 1996
A pleasant approach to tomato-cream sauce. It comes together easily and retains just enough texture to be interesting. I find it missing a little brightness, but as creamed tomato sauces go, it's a great payoff for the light effort.
useful (0)
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.
useful (0)
Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
By Beth Hensperger
Harvard Common Press - 2004
In my opinion, this belongs in the "beans" section, not the "chili" section. But as a bean dish, it's rather good. The addition of evaporated milk at the end gives the sauce a richness which is very satisfying. (I suspect this is an addition which would improve many vegetarian chilis, if you're not going for vegan.)
I omitted the canned jalapeno and served it with hot sauce at the table; I found it needed the acidity of hot sauce as much as the heat. It was good with flatbread but next time I imagine I'll make rice as well.
useful (0)
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.
useful (0)
Cooking from the Heart: 100 Great American Chefs Share Recipes They Cherish
By Michael J. Rosen, Richard Russo (Foreword)
Broadway - 2003
Reasonably good cure. I used it on ribs and found it a bit too salty for my taste, but my family thought it was fine. Nothing revelatory here, but for a cure, that's not a bad thing.
useful (0)
Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
By Beth Hensperger
Harvard Common Press - 2004
I wonder if my slow cooker's "low" setting is higher than this cookbook expects. At 4 hours, this looked ready to eat, and at 5, the sauce was broken and the meat slightly dry. The herb flavor was nice; I reduced the amounts by about half because I was using dried herbs, not fresh, but next time I'd use more.
I'll definitely be coming back to this recipe, to try and work out the timing.
useful (0)