Queezle_Sister's Reviews
12 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 12Sort by: Title 
| Date | Rating
The Science of Good Cooking (Cook's Illustrated Cookbooks)
By The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.D
Cook's Illustrated - 2012
All-Purpose Cornbread : page 353
If you like your cornbread on the slightly sweet and slightly rich side, then this recipe is for you. The corniness of this recipe is amped up by addition of fresh corn (frozen was called for, but I used 2 ears of end-of-season corn cut from the cob). I was somewhat shocked by the full stick of butter called for (for an 8 inch square pan), and included 1/4C brown sugar.
My old standby recipe for cornbread is this one from Vegetarian Epicure, but I had not remembered only rating it a 3, and I guess I don't prepare cornbread as often as I used to.
I would love to try this one again, but reducing the fat, and with only 1/2 the sugar.
useful (1)
Best Buttermilk Pancakes : page 360
If you love thick fluffy pancakes, then this recipe is for you. The white batter was so thick when I placed it into the frying pan that I was afraid I would end up with something more akin to a fried biscuit. But the batter did spread out a bit, and it it turned into very light fluffy pancakes.
This recipe illustrates Cooks Illustrated's cooking concept 42 - double leavening at work. The dry ingredients include both baking soda and baking powder. The wet ingredients include buttermilk (an acid). When the wet ingredients are mixed with the dry, the baking soda reacts and generates lots of carbon dioxide bubbles. The reason you do not want to overmix is often to prevent popping all these bubbles -- and to not develop any gluten.
The batter is allowed to sit for 10 minutes is so the small amount of gluten that does develop will relax.
Now remember - we also added baking powder. That reacts to the heat while cooking, and produces those bubbles that rise to the surface and that when pop, tell us when the pancakes are cooked. Baking soda - which gave the batter the initial set of bubbles - also contributes to brown color on the cooked surface and flavor - the Maillard reaction at work.
The Maillard reaction is complicated, and I still do not really understand it. It involves components from the food (often reducing sugars and amino acids) and heat, and leads to production of new compounds that are larger, pigmented, and to our tongue, delicious.
Who knew a pancake could be so complicated?
Back to eating - I do not care for large fluffy pancakes, I prefer thin eggy pancakes (e.g. swedish pancakes). But these came together beautifully and tasted wonderful. Next time I'll go out of my way to find a low-protein flour and I'll add a bit more milk, so the initial batter is more batter-like.
useful (2)
Best Old-Fashioned Burgers : page 138
Excellent instructions about grinding your own meat. My DH bought both sirloin tips and boneless short ribs, froze them first, and ground them according to instructions.
They were very good, nicely flavored. We did NOT use the suggested Americal cheese, but instead the typical mustard, lettuce, onion, tomatoes.
Quite a bit of work, but very nice.
The recipe illustrates concept 14, "grind meat at home for tender burgers". We do not eat many burgers, but its always a hit with the kids.
This book describes the cellular/tissue properties of the long muscles that are typically used for ground beer, and what happens when it is ground. It describes the influence of how finely the meat is ground, and prmotes grinding your own so you have the ultimate control. It also explains why your meat is more tender (the size of particles and materials that are released).
useful (1)
Dark Chocolate Mousse : page 433
Prepared by my 15 yr old daughter, this recipe produced a perfectly flavored and textured chocolate mousse. Not too sweet, but with rich chocolate flavor that comes from chocolate, cocoa, and a tiny bit of coffee.
useful (3)
Deep Dish Quiche Lorraine : page 192
A very involved recipe, but one sure to please. Just making the crust takes a full day - the most ingenious part is brushing it with egg white after cooking (to for a barrier to the liquid filling, keeping the crust crunchy). A lot of bacon, spiced perfectly (nutmeg and cayenne), and Gruyere cheese made this a big hit with the teenager.
I was worried that the custard might spill over into my new oven, so I put ~ 1/2C in each of two custard dishes. These were done more quickly, and also delicious on their own, with neither crust nor bacon.
This recipe illustrates how starch and egg proteins work together. Egg protein that encounter heat unfold, and then randomly re-bond (coagulate) with other proteins. Lots of things affect the coagulation - temperature (180˚F is necessary if you've added things like dairy or sugar) - additions (dairy) - and stirring. This recipe concentrates on the role of starch - in this case corn starch. The corn starch binds to the egg's proteins, and causing coagulation temperature to increase, but importantly, prevents the egg proteins from making too tight and strong a network. That strong network can cause the network to "break", and essentially squeeze the water out. Starch added to pastry cream protects the protein network in the same way.
useful (2)
Foolproof Vinaigrette : page 316
This recipe is a pretty standard vinaigrette - with wine vinegar, shallot, and olive oil. This recipe demonstrates Cooking Concept # 36 - Emulsifiers make smooth sauces. The two emulsifiers in this salad dressing are mustard and a tiny bit of mayonnaise. It held as a single phase (not separate oil and vinegar phases) for at least 15 minutes - pretty impressive.
I generally shun commercial mayo. But here it was pretty smart, as it allowed the dressing to be highly emulsified while not having the dressing over-powered by mustard.
useful (0)
Tender green beans, bright green, and oh so flavorful from the shallot-vermouth topping.
This recipe used the make-ahead blanched green beans, and then has you add the carefully cooked shallots and vermouth to the beans at the very end.
useful (0)
Make Ahead Blanched Green Beans : page 230
This simple set of instructions guides the cook through cooking beans to nearly perfect texture, and then dunking them into ice water. The idea is that this critical step is the precursor for many green bean recipes, and is the key for preparing beans so they are neither over-cooked nor undercooked. The blanched green beans then wait in their cold/ice water until dinner is about to be placed on the table, and a quick warm is is all that is needed.
This recipe teaches of Cook's Illustrated Cooking Concept 24: Green Vegetables like it hot - then cold.
This concept is that what we want is tender vegetables but ones that look vibrant. The book goes into detail on the biochemical changes in cells and cell walls that accompany cooking. The background information is excellent - it describes accurately the pH dependence of green vegetables turning that sickly yellow-green color, and admonishes the cook to quickly blanch the vegetables to prevent that color change.
useful (0)
Pasta alla Norma : page 222
This was a decent pasta dish, and the instructions for dealing with the eggplant were superb. If you like things somewhat spicy, this could easily rate a "4".
This recipe is one that illustrates the Cooks Illustrated Cooking Concept 23: Salting Vegetables Removes Liquid. The eggplant is cut into 1/2 inch cubes, salted, and then microwaved (on a plate lined with coffee filters). The microwaving speeds up the water loss and contributes to evaporation. The eggplant responded by becoming shriveled and dry - as indicated in the instructions. The eggplant is then caramelized in the frying pan. It took up very little oil and browned up beautifully.
A can of crushed tomatoes, basil (we used pesto), and anchovies rounded out the sauce. It also included red pepper flakes. In the future I would cut the amount - either use the 1/4 tsp low range or half of that.
My husband does not care for eggplant, but he enjoyed this dish quite a bit.
useful (0)
Perfect Scrambled Eggs : page 170
The name says it all.
This cookbook explains the science behind why ingredients + heat lead to the desired (and undesired) effects. For scrambled eggs, addition of fat keeps the denatured proteins from binding tightly to each other - thus giving fluffy curds instead of rubbery globs. The suggested fat was half-and-half. I used a mix of skim milk and heavy cream. The recipe also suggests a yolk-heavy mix of eggs. Rather than having to decide what to do with a couple egg whites, I used eggs from my silkie hen, which despite being small, have large yolks and relatively little white.
Cooking entails a lot of mixing over gentle heat. Lovely cloud-like curds developed, and all claimed these to be the best scrambled eggs of their lives.
When a second round was called for, I used store-bought eggs, no extra yolk, but again added cream. Again the eggs were fluffy, but not quite as nice as with the home-grown egg-yolk-rich mix.
This recipe illustrated the Cooks Illustrated Cooking Concept #18 - Fat Make Eggs Tender.
useful (4)
Simple Rice Pilaf : page 272
A fine recipe for a somewhat buttery and delicate rice pilaf. A small onion is sautéed, the rice rinsed and then added to the pot (with the slightly cooked onion and butter), and then cooked with the butter until the grains are slightly opaque. The book explains that this step not only enhanced the rice's buttery flavor, but also helps the individual grains to be separate.
Water is added in a different ratio - 2 parts rice to 3 parts water. After it is cooked, it is held in the pot, with lid ajar and a dish towel between the pot and lid. This step is to lighten the rice.
This recipe illustrates Cook's Illustrated Cooking Concept 30: Rinsing (not soaking) makes rice fluffy.
I should admit to a lack of patience in rinsing. Our basmati rice came from a large sack and it seems to have an enormous amount of starch on the outside. I rinsed for at least 5 minutes, catching some water under the sieve every minute or so to check for water clarity. It never did turn clear, but I rinsed for about 5 minutes.
useful (0)
Ultimate Banana Bread : page 352
Fussy recipe is right, and an interesting process, but I'm not sure that the outcome was worth the extra effort. The idea is to increase banana flavor by extracting and then reducing the juice, rather than just add more banana (and risk a gummy texture). The bread baked up beautifully, might be the prettiest banana bread I've ever made. I didn't have walnuts, and replaced with pecans. Next time I will make sure to have walnuts - their bitter note is better with the bananas than pecans.
useful (0)