hipcook's Reviews
260 recipes reviewed. Showing 201 to 250Sort by: Book Title 
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Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
It was only recently that I tasted borscht for the first time, and I knew I had to learn how to make it. It's fantastic comfort food; satisfying and rich, with balanced sweetness from the beets.
This recipe has the added benefit of being dead easy to make, especially if you let the food processor do the chopping like I did. (Like Queezle_Sister, I found some of the beet and carrot pieces too big at the end of cooking, so I hit it with the immersion blender to break them down a bit.)
I'll add a serving suggestion: horseradish. It adds a pleasant note of heat and a touch of acid to the soup. And don't forget a loaf of black bread.
useful (1)
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.
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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!
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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)
We made this without the mushrooms, which were missed, but it made a nice somewhat spicy soup. I tend to find butternut squash soup too sweet, but the heat and lack of dairy in this one seemed to help.
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The New Chesapeake Kitchen
By John Shields, David W. Harp
Johns Hopkins University Press - 2018
I don't particularly like rhubarb or muffins. But it's Mother's Day and my wife and son like both those things, so I roused myself and made them. They were really quite good!
The little chunks of rhubarb provide the balance that most bakery muffins seem to lack. They're particularly good warm while the rhubarb is still hot and soft. The batter is the right amount of sweet but not too much so.
The recipe says "walnuts", but I used pecans because, well, I always prefer pecans.
The recipe says it makes 12 muffins, but in my muffin tin it makes 16. The last 4 were prettier than the first 12; maybe the batter benefits from standing a few minutes.
useful (2)
Excellent shortcakes. Just the right amount of sweetness while still having a good bit of biscuit texture to them. I let the dough get too wet and it was hard to work with, but that's just something to watch for next time.
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Frankly, I still don't love rhubarb. But I do like the fact that the rhubarb puree mixes with the uncooked strawberries in a way that preserves the fresh taste and texture of both, and doesn't go gloppy or overly sweet. The shortcakes are definitely a hit.
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Most of my ratatouille recipes are built in a skillet or pot. In this one, the vegetables are roasted first and then covered with tomato sauce. The result is that the eggplants, peppers and zucchini hold their shape and individual flavors better.
We just ate it as a side dish; serving over pasta or rice would also be nice.
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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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These were fine, but nothing to write home about. I had trouble with the extra moisture from the pumpkin throwing the cook time off; my first batch was definitely underdone and even the more done ones were more moist than fluffy. I found them undersweetened, although maybe that's intentional because they were about right with syrup and candied pumpkin seeds.
The recipe also makes an enormous batch, so I'll be finding out how well they reheat.
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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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Prince calls this "in the French style", meaning roasted on a bed of vegetables which are then incorporated into the sauce. I found it very pleasant; the flavors are subtle and compliment the lamb nicely, and the meat was tender and juicy.
I suppose the style I'm more familiar with - crusted with assertive rosemary, garlic, and salt - must be the "American" style, but I do enjoy this continental take.
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Very nice way to use up the end of a roast, sweet and savory. It's easy enough to be a weeknight dinner, especially if you let the food processor handle the chopping and mincing. I think I went too heavy on the mashed potatoes, but it was awfully good... maybe it's served differently in the UK than in the US.
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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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I'd never considered stir-fry as a British dish, but this quick and satisfying preparation is exactly that. It's next to the page about using "cheaper cuts", but this was a nice way to put a dent in a leftover leg of lamb. (A different kind of frugality, I suppose.)
The cooking liquid can be either white wine or meat broth. I picked white wine, and I think the acidity helped cut the oiliness of the dish.
Not a dish I see myself buying lamb to make, but certainly a dish I'll put into the rotation to use up leftovers.
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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.
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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.
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Website: The New York Times
Pretty interesting concept. I didn't feel like I got a "bread pudding"; the egg layer and bread-and-zucchini layer were totally distinct. (And the zucchini layer was not nice to look at.) I feel like that might be a technique thing; if the bread wasn't totally beaten to mush, or the egg was mixed in to the squash better, it might have been nicer.
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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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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.
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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.
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A rich and satisfying casserole, appropriate for a main course but I can see it working very well as a vegetable for a pot luck. (It would be a nice side dish at home, too, but the recipe makes an epic amount of food.)
I substituted a roasted red pepper for some of the roasted green peppers called for, and I think it made the dish much more visually appealing. Using 2 cups of shredded cheddar was fine, but I think a mix of cheddar, Monterrey jack, and mozzarella would be nicer next time.
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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.
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A very nice soup, rich but not at all heavy. The herbs and spices layer nicely with the flavor of the meat. Slices of lime for garnish adds a wonderful brightness. Use the best chicken broth you can.
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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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I adore paprikash - stewed chicken in a rich and creamy sauce spiced with paprika. This slow-cooker approach is a winner. I used 2 chicken leg quarters instead of the poussins called for, and it worked just fine. The meat was tender, almost falling off the bone, and the sauce was pleasant.
Looking at my previous favorite recipe (from the Frugal Gourmet: Immigrant Ancestors book), I think I'd increase the shallots in this recipe next time. I also got a reminder that this is a dish where you should use the freshest paprika you can find - I used the end of a can of indeterminate age and it was a little lacking in flavor. (The amount called for - 3 teaspoons - looks right; I'm sure this was about my spice cabinet.)
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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.
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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.
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My stock pot may never be used for making stock again, between this recipe and the ones in the Fagor pressure cooker manual. Why spend all that time and energy on the stovetop?
The long simmer produces a beautifully clear amber stock. There's also very little liquid lost in the slow cooker - unlike to stovetop or pressure cooker, the yield is darn near the amount of water you add. The recipe is chock-full of onion, leek, and carrot, and the stock has a strong vegetal sweetness. (If you prefer meatier stocks, you might cut these back a hair.)
I do have a quibble - my printing says to cover the turkey carcass with "4 inches" of water. I just can't see how that's possible in my (large) slow cooker for any turkey worthy of the name. Admittedly, today I'm making stock from the remains of Birdzilla, and I just barely got it into the pot. Extrapolating out to a more moderate-sized turkey, I still think it's a misprint.
useful (1)
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.
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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.
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With pork, tomato, wine, onions, and bell pepper, I was expecting a rather straightforward "pot roast" flavor for this stew. The addition of orange peel, however, brightens the whole dish. It's a dominant flavor, but it compliments the pork and onions without slipping over to the candy-like flavors of a fruit glaze. Definitely will make again.
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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.
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It took me a while to figure this recipe out, but finally, it hit me. It's the flavor profile of orange beef, but with tender braised pork shoulder instead of often-tough fried round steak. Now that I know what it is, I'm sure I'll be returning to the recipe. The orange flavor fades as a leftover; I don't think adding marmalade to the original would work well but a little hit while reheating might be nice.
The snap peas and red peppers are a nice nod to the Chinese restaurants of my youth, but broccoli would go well too.
If you want it "glazed", you'll probably have to flip the meat midway through cooking. Like many crock pot recipes, it's clear which side was in the liquid and which was above.
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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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This is a light and simple stew, appropriate for a spring meal. It's pleasant, but we found it lacking depth. The pork cooked nicely, and the apples and onions were fine, but the broth was downright watery. I imagine that either adding a cup of chicken stock, to make it a soup instead of a stew, or cutting half a cup or so of cider, to concentrate the flavors, would help. A handful of dried fruit might play well with the pork and apples, or I might do a riff on Julia Child's spring lamb stew and add green beans. So, as I keep saying with this book, the recipe is so-so but it's an intriguing base for future experiments.
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A pretty nice approach to a roast; once again with this book, I'm glad I turned the heat from "low" to "warm" about an hour early.
The apples are interesting. We used Fujis, which are probably too sweet for this dish, though their apple blossom perfume was captured well. With a sweet apple, a little goes a long way - it's almost a dessert topping. My son picked up on the brown sugar and ginger flavors and accused us of serving him sweet potatoes instead of apples. I'd like to try it again with a properly tart apple, but even so, I'd probably scale back the sugar.
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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).
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Original Thai Cookbook
By Jennifer Brennan
Perigee Trade - 1984
A delicious and complex treatment for pork. The mix of salt, sweet, and the acrid funkiness of fish sauce calls barbecue to mind. Brennan says this is the "Thai equivalent of ham" and I can easily see making a big roast of this and spreading it out over multiple dishes. (However, I used it as a treatment for pork chops, and while I'm afraid they came out a bit dry, they weren't at all tough and the flavor was delightful.)
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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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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.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
This may be my new go-to potato preparation. In fairness, I cheated quite a bit - using larger gold potatoes instead of new potatoes, and then (inspired by a different page on Pioneer Woman Cooks) microwaving them instead of boiling them. The end result was an amazing cross of creamy and crusty potato - almost like the top of a shepherd's pie. Obviously, your mileage will vary with a waxier or less cooked potato; probably a minute less in the microwave would have been closer to the recipe. Still, high marks for introducing me to a revelatory technique.
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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.
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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).
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Website: The Sauce by All Things Barbecue
There are lots of different recipes out there for tasso, but here's one you can make in a day. It's just a 4-6 hour cure and a 2-hour smoke. (I did an overnight cure, which turned into more like 14 hours before I got the pork on the smoke. It came out pretty salty; if I were going to do that again I'd probably shift the cure to equal amounts of sugar and salt.)
Anyway, this was a huge hit. Salty and spicy, meaty with a tender chew. I'm impressed that we had the self-control to not chow down on it before we got it in the freezer. But we're having all kinds of ideas for things we can use it in. I see jambalaya and etouffee and red beans and rice in my future. We're even thinking about how to use it on pizza (with all that salt it'll take a light hand and maybe some sweet ingredients as counterparts...)
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Website: Saveur Website
Jacques Pepin's lobster roll recipe. It's quite basic - lobster in a butter-lemon sauce - but there's nothing wrong with that! (Unless you're looking for a mayonnaise sauce.)
Do search out split-top New England hot dog rolls! While a regular hot dog bun will work OK, it will also lose structural integrity quickly. Or, just admit to yourself that your hands are getting buttery, and enjoy it.
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Website: Serious Eats
Lamb shoulder is rubbed, smoked, braised, and then shredded for tacos. The time is paid off perfectly with flavorful lamb which just falls apart.
A few tips:
The recipe says to reduce the braising liquid "skimming off any excess fat." I sent mine through our gravy separator and removed 2/3rds of a cup. Glad I wasn't trying to skim it off.
The recipe calls for tomatillo salsa. We also tried it with red salsa; tomatillo was distinctly better.
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Website: Serious Eats
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.)
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