kathisms' Profile

Joined: July 3rd, 2010

Leek and Onion Soup from Modernist Cuisine at Home

Let me preface this with I am not an onion soup person. I did want to try this anyway. I didn't like it after my first try, but after about a month in the freezer I took it back out and loved it with some... read more >

recipe reviews (23)
book reviews (1)
useful review votes (9)

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kathisms' Reviews

11 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 11Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Modernist Cuisine at Home

By Nathan Myhrvold, Maxime Bilet
The Cooking Lab - 2012

Another great soup. I served this at a family function and got requests for the recipe. Made it exactly as written aside from using half the quantity of butter.

In the future I'd try this with a third less of the salt and slightly less baking soda.

The color comes out a very pale white color, like the flesh of the apples without the peels. Next time I might try it with some of the apple peels while it's cooking in the pressure cooker to get some of the red color into the soup.

useful (0)  

Another great soup recipe! Easy to make and goes well with just about everything.

I halved the butter, as usual, and it was perfect.

useful (0)  

The soup is fantastic! I've made it twice and preferred it with the cores of the carrots intact, and with slightly less butter than they recommend.

I tried the recipe as is, then reduced the butter to 6 Tbs, next time I'll try it with 4 Tbs. I'd also use less salt and a little less baking soda in the future. Depending how it turns out, I'd bump the recipe up to 5 stars. As written, it's excellent and easy to tailor to your tastes.

I had to buy a pressure cooker to make this in. I now have a 7 qt size and a 3.5 qt size, both from Kuhn Rikon. The 3.5 is the easier to manage of the two. You could prob do it in a 2.5 qt size and be fine as well.

They suggest an immersion blender, but a regular blender worked fine and I think the texture of the carrot purée was better.

So far everyone that's tried this agrees the recipe is a keeper.

useful (1)  

Solid soup, but the color and the taste were a little off for me. The color came out a very dark brown, which didn't look appetizing. It also had a strong roasted flavor, which worked well in small amounts.

I halved the butter in this recipe. In the future I'll do the same and decrease the salt and baking soda as well. I'll also be more vigilant about shaking the pot a bit to make sure the cauliflower cooks evenly.

useful (0)  

Let me preface this with I am not an onion soup person. I did want to try this anyway. I didn't like it after my first try, but after about a month in the freezer I took it back out and loved it with some grilled cheese.

It's getting a very good rating because out of the leek & onion soups I've tried, it's one of the better ones.

As usual, I cut the amount of butter in half.

useful (0)  

Easy to make, huge quantity, good for a group. Not extremely memorable, but it does beat store bought sauce. I'll be making it again because it's easy and reliable.

Note: the book pairs this with whole wheat noodles and eggplant Parmesan. I've also had it on polenta and imagine it would go well with bruschetta.

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Another great (and easy) recipe. Has a very strong smell, though, and not everyone in the house liked the smell. Something I would serve for guests.

A note about the achiote paste: I got what I thought was the paste at my local supermarket under the Goya brand. It was actually a powder. The powder worked fine, but I think this would have been even better with the paste.

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Made this with chicken stock and Parmesan cheese (couldn't find the Cotija). It was the best homemade polenta recipe I've tried, but still doesn't compare to the polenta I've had at restaurants. It also didn't look as creamy as the picture, so I'll be trying this again with the right cheese next time to see if it makes a difference.

Two wide mouthed pint sized jars fit perfectly in a 3.7 Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker..

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Good stock, first time I've made any stock. The recipe only takes an hour and a half total (most of it cooking on the stove) and makes the house smell heavenly.

In the future I'd save old herbs and chicken bones to make the stock instead of buying everything fresh. (The expense isn't worth it.) I'm also going make a recipe with Swanson's broth and stock, I'm not sure I'd be able to pick up the difference.

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Good side dish, the flavors seem to come together best after it's been sitting for a little bit. I poured off the extra liquid after cooking the quinoa and would do it the same way next time. The vermouth was a little overpowering, so I might switch it out for a dry white wine next time.

Went well with the harvest chicken with olives and grapes from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook.

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Ridiculously good soup. Easily my favorite out of the five I've tried so far from the book.

Note: I made a few changes to the recipe (only because didn't have the right ingredients on hand. I'll be trying it again as written.) I used soy milk instead of coconut milk and omitted the lemongrass. I used less butter, salt, and baking soda than called for. (for 8 servings I used 95g butter, 3g salt, and 3g baking soda)

useful (1)