southerncooker's Profile

From: Boomer, NC USA

Joined: January 3rd, 2010

About me: I collect cookbooks and love to cook and try new recipes. I tested recipes for Leite's Culinaria for almost eight years. I learned to cook from many good southern cooks including my Mom, Dad, several Aunts and my Grandmothers. My children and husband also like to cook and try new foods and recipes. My son still lives with us but our daughter is married. She often visits to cook with me. We are adventuresome eaters willing to try new things.

Bourbon Roasted Pork Loin from Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook

This was delicious. I know she says in the book not to use the good bourbon but all I had was Woodford Reserve so that's what I used. I marinated for about 8 hours in fridge. Loved the apples and onions... read more >

recipe reviews (2277)
book reviews (117)
useful review votes (491)

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southerncooker's Reviews

49 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 49Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

The New Midwestern Table: 200 Heartland Recipes

By Amy Thielen
Clarkson Potter - 2013

We loved these. I was a little Leary of the coriander in this but it was fantastic with the other bbq sauce/marinade ingredients. Even son loved this one and he's not a big fan of ginger which was also in the sauce.

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They were delicious and amazingly tender. I used country ribs. Since I couldn't find Meyer lemons I just used regular ones. Lots of yummy smells while they were cooking.

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This recipe was named right. This soup was amazing. I didn't have mustard oil but I can't imagine it could have been any better with it as it was absolutely delicious. I did sprinkle some thyme on each bowl. Son, daughter and I loved it. I made home made bread bowls to eat ours from. The bread was so good dipped in the soup. I omitted the bell pepper since son doesn't enjoy those.

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This was an easy crust to make and delicious on the Spring Chicken pot pie page 144.

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What a great way to get delicious green beans using frozen ones as suggested by the recipe. The caramelized onions lend a nice touch as does the brightness the vinegar brings to the dish.

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I got a great deal on some nice thick pork chops and I've been wanting to try this recipe. I'm so happy I did. I just wish I'd remembered the fresh sage since I know it would have been even tastier with that instead of the dried I used.

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So good. I did use talapia instead of walleye. Moist and delicious. I made hush puppies, slaw, and oven roasted potatoes to go with. Sweet Potato for me and regular for hubby and son.

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I'm not a big beet fan except for my Mom's version of pickled beets which I love. I decided since I haven't tried them any other way in years it was time for another taste and I'm sure happy I did. I loved these. I did opt for the oven roast method but I'm sure they'd be wonderful in a camp fire as well. Daughter loved them too but hubby and son in law not so much but they did taste them and hubby even ate all of the small amount I put on his plate.

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Love the addition of peanut butter in this cookies. Lots of chocolate chips are nice too. Recipe makes a lot but you can freeze one log if you so desire for later consumption.

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I made this cake for our Easter 2014 dessert and it was delicious. It's so moist and wonderful. My daughter said if German Chocolate Cake and Oatmeal Cake had a baby this would be the result. I've loved German chocolate cake for years and often requested my Granny's version for my birthday while growing up. My Mom used to make a mean Oatmeal Cake with a similar broiled icing to this Lazy Daisy Cake but it had regular milk instead of coconut milk and it also had pecans. I agree with my daughter this cake made me think of both those cakes and it was absolutely delicious. Hubby said he loved it while inhaling it with his coffee.

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This roast takes quiet a few hours to make but it's so worth it. Falling apart tender and delicious.

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This was really good and my daughter loved it. I used Aged Gouda since it said that or aged cheddar. Lots of flavor in this one.

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This was very good slaw. I'd never thought to add bread and butter pickles to slaw but they were great in this. The ground mustard was a bit powerful for me at first and I think next time I'll go a bit easier on that ingredient but otherwise this was wonderful. My daughter enjoyed it and so did hubby but he picked out the pickles.

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My son loves extra thin pizza so I knew I had to try this cracker crust pizza and I'm glad we did. I did have a bit of a problem with my first one. I put it on parchment and transferred it to the pizza stone in the oven. When I went to remove the parchment and pizza from the oven I turned it upside down onto my kitchen floor. Toppings were a mess to clean up and the pizza was ruined so I had to toss it, but was able to save some of the crust that didn't hit the floor and it was super crunchy.

I decided not to try the stone for the next two pizzas and just placed them side by side on a large baking sheet although the crust wasn't quiet as crisp the pizzas were still delicious. I definitely need a better way to get the pizzas out of the oven off the stone without loosing my pizza.

I also made the homemade sauce on page 33 and the Homemade Italian Sausage on page34.

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I'll update this when I try some on something. I made the horseradish ice for the tomatoes and decided to use some of the leftover to make this. I divided it between my sister, daughter and I and we got a little less than a 1/2 cup each.

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I've had my eye on this recipe since I got this book several months ago. I had hoped to find either some Borage seeds or a plant before trying it but no luck. Since the flowers were optional I decided to go ahead and do it before cuke season was over here. The salad was delicious.

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I had to give this a five even though daughter and I like my version of potato salad a bit better. We still enjoyed it but hubby loved it so much he had two helpings which is virtually unheard of. Son enjoyed it too but said next time leave out the celery and a little less dill. I've never made a potato salad with a cooked dressing so this was a new way for me.

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Although this is considered a side I could just eat a huge bowl of this all by itself. Hubby didn't care for it though. I loved that you make Ghee first and you separate the browned butter from the foam and brown bits in the bottom of the pan but you use both parts in this dish. The browned butter to fry the cabbage and then you stir in the foam and browned bits at the end.

Not only are there poppy seeds in this one but sesame seeds as well and ginger and garlic. It makes a large amount so I only made a half recipe.

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These were amazing. Daughter and I loved them and hubby said they were good too. He thought they tasted like a cheesy potato cake. I used yellow cheese curds from a nearby cheese factory.

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What makes this deluxe is the addition of a smoked turkey leg and some smoked sausage links as well as some slab salt pork and the crumb topping. These beans are not as sweet as some baked beans and we enjoyed that. This is one the whole family agreed upon. It does take several hours to get this one prepared but worth the effort and time.

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This soup was loaded with flavor. Using both thighs and a whole chicken made a delicious broth. I had some leftover chicken for my grand puppy and also to make chicken salad for my work lunches for two days. I though making home made noodles would be hard but by following the well written instructions is was easy and they were delicious. Next time I'll double the noodle recipe though since I would have liked a few more in this deliciously satisfying soup.

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This one takes a bit of work and time to put together but it's so worth it. Delicious. Even hubby loved. The Ciabatta bread gives it a nice crunchy topping. The author tells you that if you want to get it in the oven faster you can boil eggs, cook veggies and bacon, and make the cheese sauce the day before and keep in fridge till ready to assemble. The recipe serves 8 so I just made a half recipe.

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Even though hubby didn't like this one I'm still giving it a 5 since daughter and I loved and son in law enjoyed. In addition to the ground pork I used ground turkey instead of ground beef since daughter doesn't eat ground beef.

Don't let the long list on ingredients stop you from making this enjoyable meat loaf as it's delicious. I was a little leery of the addition of allspice and nutmeg but it was a really small amount of each and not detectable at all. The shiitake mushrooms and pistachios were nice additions. The onions were cooked until almost caramelized before adding to the other ingredients and gave a nice depth of flavor.

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We really enjoyed this refreshing salad. I couldn't find radicchio so I used baby arugula instead. I also omitted the celery since hubby and son don't care much for it. Loved the addition of crumbled blue cheese. I don't normally care for French dressing but Amy's version is wonderful.

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We love Martha Stewart's recipe for fried corn with thyme and onion. I must say I might even like this one even better with basil, zucchini (you could also use sugar snap peas the author says) and poblano pepper (Amy says or other med-hot garden chili pepper) and onion. Even my Dad and son enjoyed this one.

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While this was good my family preferred some other onion dips I've made more. Nothing wrong with the recipe just a taste preference I think.

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This one is a bit different in the German Potato Salad I usually make but it was still delicious. I've never had one where you sautee green onions, and garlic a bit before splashing in the other dressing ingredients and bacon.

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I don't have the aebleskiver pan but did have an electric mini muffin maker. It worked pretty good in that. Hubby helped me make these and we both loved them. Lots of spices and flavor in these little gems.

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While this is probably considered a side I made it for our main course for supper. Both hubby and son agreed with me that this was delicious and worth clarifying some butter. I used some poblano and banana peppers from hubby's cousin's garden.

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What a delicious burger. I used the spicy mayonnaise recipe p.119 and some of the Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles p. 283, bacon, cheddar cheese and the spice blend of ground Ancho chili, salt and pepper on this burger as suggested and it was so good.

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This was easy to make and great on the Cracker Crust Pizza from page32. I didn't realize I was out of fennel seeds until I started making the sausage so I used a little Italian seasoning. I know this would be even better with the crushed fennel seeds.

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This was really good but I think it would have been even better had I had some fresh fruit to top it off when it came out of the oven. I did serve ours with bacon. Our Valentine 2016 breakfast.

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Hubby fell in love with these. He couldn't stop talking about how good they were. I didn't have lingonberry jam so I decided to use strawberry instead to spread on the inside before rolling up. I did serve them with the Maple syrup drizzled on top thought as suggested. We at them with some sausage patties. I agreed they were excellent.

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This chicken turned out looking lovely and browned. My family and I enjoyed it but decided we enjoyed our southern way of frying it better. I guess you usually prefer the way you grow up eating something a certain way. I'm happy we tried it though and I'd definitely give it at least a 4 out of 5 stars. Interesting that you first fry the chicken then finish baking in the oven. Does give a crisp skin and coating. On the other hand my son, daughter and I Loved the sage gravy that goes with the chicken on our mashed potatoes. We did have problems getting it to thicken though and had to almost double the amount of flour called for. I also made the Fried corn from the book to go with and it was a big hit. So good.

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My daughter and I were the only ones who liked this one. My sister doesn't like dill so she tasted and said no thanks. I did used the herbs suggested, basil, dill, and parsley. I'm sure it would also be good with other herbs. I got some great small new potatoes from our local farmers market for this recipe. I cooked the potatoes on some green beans and browned some for those in the family I knew wouldn't go for the herb gravy. I served them in a potato shaped bowl with the browned on one end and plain on the other. Daughter and I did as suggested in the recipe and smashed the potato open on our plates and then spooned on the herb gravy. I also served the herb gravy in a smaller potato shaped gravy dish with ladle.

I chopped up the left over potatoes and added the leftover tomatoes with horseradish ice (had melted naturally), added some onions and Bread and Butter Curry Pickles also from the same cookbook, then added the leftover herb gravy to make a potato salad to take to work for my lunch. Amazingly delicious.

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This is the best pork roast I've ever eaten. Even my daughter who doesn't care that much for pork roasts fell in love with this one. It was so moist, tender and mouth watering delicious. This recipe takes time for basting with a mixture of butter, pepper, garlic, thyme and apple cider vinegar ever 10 minutes during the 50 minute cooking time but it's so worth it. I know I'll make this one again.

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I'm going for excellent but haven't tasted these yet. I'll update when we try them. I made them for my son who loves habaneros. I plan on trying them later in the week in the Pickled Habanero Egg Salad from the same book and maybe next week in the Spicy Brunch Salad with Smoked Ham Hocks also in the same book.

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We really enjoyed these to use up some leftover Easter ham. I had planned to make homemade buns as suggested in the recipe but had some leftover dinner rolls so I used those instead. I hope to make the bread part of this recipe in the future.

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Son and I loved how crispy these potato skins are. It takes awhile to make these but it's so worth it. You first bake the potatoes in foil, then the skins are baked again and finally a third time with the bacon and cheese. I didn't have smoked cheddar so I used regular but I hope to try it sometime with the smoked. I also didn't realize my green onions had gone bad so didn't have them for the garnish but bet that would be good too. We did top them with some sour cram as suggested once they were done.

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These were much easier to make the bread and butter pickles I usually make and are very good. The aren't as sweet as some bread and butters and I like that. Instead of storing in jars in my fridge I just kept them in the crock I made them in. I bought a half crock at a yard sale a few years ago for a dollar and it's great for pickled veggies. Can't wait to try these on the Griddle Burgers from this book I'm making tomorrow night.

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This was absolutely amazing! I made this one for just me since hubby and son don't care for rosemary and it was outstanding. Just loved it!

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What a wonderful sauce this made for the pizza on page 32. It would also make an excellent pasta sauce. I didn't use the preferred by the author San Marzano whole plum tomatoes but bought some that were on sale at our local market and they were still excellent. They were only 99 cent a can versus the $4 price on the San Marzano.

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This was excellent on the Griddle Burgers and it also says can be served with Midwestern Crayfish Boil p118. The recipe makes enough for 20 people so I scaled it down to about a 1/4 of that. Have some leftover after the burgers but think it would be great on other sandwiches as well.

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I have searched for Kohlrabi all summer to make this recipe with no luck. I finally decided to make it without it. It was delicious but I hope to someday try it with the kohlrabi since I love it. Hubby's brother and one of their cousins has grown it in the past so maybe I'll find someone growing some since I don't have a green thumb.

This wouldn't fit in the specified 9 inch deep pie pan so I rolled out my crust to fit the top and bottom of a 10 x 13 pan or maybe a 9 x13. I loved the addition of artichokes in this one as well as fresh mushrooms.

I didn't have enough butter to make both a top and bottom of the Bev's crust recipe but did have a frozen crust so I used Bev's for the top and the store bought for the bottom. Of course the top crust was awesome.

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While my family usually only enjoys deviled eggs made the way my Mom always made them these were a big hit here. We liked the bread crumb, bacon, and dried seaweed topping on these eggs. We ate them with a dinner salad. Even though we love our normal deviled eggs I can see me making this version occasionally as well.

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Daughter, sister and I loved this one. It sure was hard grating the horseradish though, lots of tears. I used my microplane zester and had mountains of snow in no time but it seemed like forever since I grated an extra cup for the horseradish cream that is also in this book. Didn't want my horseradish to go to waste since it was hard to find. Was afraid the horseradish would be too hot with the tomatoes but the cream, sugar and lemon juice and the fact it's shreds of ice was the perfect amount of spiciness to complement the tomatoes. I used Cherokee purple, yellow and red tomatoes and some red cherry. I'll definitely be making this again.

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This is really an almost all day project but fun to do. I also made Bev's Pie Crust from Page 159 which is fantastic and I made it before for the Spring Chicken Pie also from this book. I did get mad at myself since I forgot to add the grated potato to the cooling meat filling. I remembered it when the pie was about 1/2 way done. While the pie was good I bet it would have been even better had I remembered the potato. Hubby didn't care for the pie.

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I wish I could find real wild boar but used ground pork and ground turkey instead. I would have used the suggested ground venison in place of part of the boar but daughter doesn't eat venison or beef. I also replaced the beef stock with chicken (same reason as before). Since I didn't have Wondra flour I used cake flour for frying the sage and shallots (replaced the shallots with red onion, since shallots are so pricey here). This is a great dish for a cold lazy Sunday since it cooks a long time. Son-in- law, daughter and I really enjoyed it. Son just got home from work awhile ago and is eating his now, he said it was very good. Hubby said he didn't care for it (he's so picky any more). The bites with the fried sage and onion were the best.

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My son who normally doesn't care for dill enjoyed the fresh dill in this recipe. My green beans weren't quiet as small as we would have liked but that was all I could get at the local farmers market despite that we all agreed delicious.

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