wester's Profile

From: Soesterberg, Utr Netherlands

Joined: September 24th, 2009

About me: I love cooking, I love eating, I love discovering new recipes. I have so many cookbooks I sometimes lose track of which recipe is where - though this site helps a bit. I have gone low-carb in 2010, so that's different recipes to explore again. This also means I may not agree with my own reviews anymore if they were written in 2009 or before. ------------------ I have a lovely husband and ten-year old twins who also love eating. ----------------- You can also find me on LibraryThing, BookMooch and EatYourBooks, using the same handle.

Favorite cookbook: The Complete Meze Table by Rosamond Man

Favorite recipe: Melissa Clark's Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp

Daond Pasha (Meatballs with Pine Nuts and Tomatoes) from The Complete Meze Table

The meatballs were very tasty, but I did not really like putting all the pine nuts together - it made for fussy cooking and I think I would prefer finding a pine nut here and there instead of finding them... read more >

recipe reviews (741)
book reviews (74)
useful review votes (327)

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wester's Reviews

3 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 3Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes

By Jennifer McLagan
Jacqui Small LLP - 2009

This one blew me away.
Green salads don't sound very exciting, but occasionally there is one that is really special, like this one. The poultry fat (I used goose) really works with the grapefruit. You will have to try this out to know how good it is.

I did not think segmenting the grapefruit was worth the trouble, as the segments fell apart anyway. Next time I will just squeeze them. And half the amount of grapefruit was plenty.

useful (4)  

Very fragrant, very rich. Wonderful.

useful (0)  

Very good - meltingly tender meat, crisp cracklings.

Husband wants the five stars - I would have preferred 4 1/2 as some small tweaks were needed.

This was the first time I made pork belly and the first time I used a meat thermometer. The pork belly is going to stay, I'm not sure about the meat thermometer. It reached the given temperature in half an hour or so, so I just turned the oven down to 150 C and cooked for about two hours, then finished under the grill as the recipe says.

I salted the skin the evening before, at the same time as adding the herb paste, and I think this works very well.

I will use more fennel and less kale next time.

The recipe says you need 3 pounds of meat to feed 6 people. I fed 6 people (well, 4 adults and 4 children) on 2 pounds, and we were all so full that nobody wanted dessert.

useful (2)