Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cast iron pan pizza

  • anya_sf on February 03, 2020

    Adding pepperoni on top boosted the flavor. Otherwise it was more like pizza bread, even when made in a 12" skillet. My family enjoyed it (it's pizza after all), but didn't love it as much as some other pizzas. It was easy to make.

  • Kinhawaii on January 11, 2020

    We enjoyed this - crust was easy to make, cheese formed a nice crunchy edge. We did only have diced tomatoes but since they go into the processor, they were fine. Also only have a 10 inch pan so it was more like bread with cheese but obviously that was due to the pan size, but if that’s what you like - cook time was the same. Our thick crust was still light & chewy. Also couldn’t find just Monterey jack in the market & only found it mixed with cheddar - but we still liked the taste with the mozzarella.

• Rice pilaf with beef and carrots (Plov)

  • bching on January 19, 2021

    The effort/ flavor ratio was very poor on this recipe. It's cooked on the stovetop and in the oven but the instructions don't specify whether the final steps are stovetop or oven.

• Maple syrup cake (Pouding chômeur)

  • anya_sf on May 03, 2020

    My cake took 40 minutes to bake, but otherwise the recipe turned out perfectly. Since the maple sauce was quite sweet, we topped the cake with unsweetened whipped cream with a bit of sour cream mixed it. My maple syrup-loving family inhaled this dessert.

• Pan-seared strip steaks

  • ashallen on May 27, 2022

    This recipes uses a simple, intuitive approach that does indeed keep the spatter and mess of pan searing a steak to a minimum. Steak came out great - good browning but very evenly cooked. Approach worked fine with my well-seasoned 12-inch cast iron skillet instead of the non-stick/carbon steel skillet specified in the recipe.

• Microwave-fried shallots

  • sparklypuppets on September 21, 2021

    Keep an eye on these - microwaved for less than half the time and they were already burnt.

• Five-spice powder

  • ashallen on July 25, 2022

    Quick and easy if you have a spice grinder - making a half batch worked fine. Wonderful aroma! Worked great in a chicken and snow pea stir-fry. Available without paywall at https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/10998-how-to-make-homemade-five-spice-powder

• Crumpets

  • anya_sf on March 25, 2020

    I tested this recipe for CI before it was published. I thought the step to scrape off the excess batter was futzy, and would have preferred individual small crumpets vs the larger one cut into quarters (not sure why I'm hung up on the shape, but I am). I also had trouble dividing the batter evenly. Otherwise the crumpets were good, but not my favorite recipe.

• Almond-browned butter cakes (Financiers)

  • anya_sf on March 24, 2020

    Quick and easy to make. I made 1/2 recipe, adding orange zest to all, a dark chocolate chip on 6 of them, and a couple of pieces of strawberry on the other 6. Interestingly the strawberry-topped financiers rose more than the chocolate-topped ones. I baked them 14 minutes, but they could have used another minute or so, as the bottoms were paler than the tops. Both chocolate-orange and strawberry-orange versions were very tasty.

  • ashallen on December 18, 2020

    Agree with anya_sf that this was a nice easy recipe to pull together. I made "plain" almond cakes without any extras. Delicious classic buttery flavor! This recipe has a higher ratio of nuts-to-flour than other financier recipes I've tried, so the flavor was nuttier and the texture a bit more nubbly. Also, the exteriors got crisper/chewier than in other recipes. It'll be fun to experiment with the other nuts suggested in the recipe. Recipe says to use baking spray or, if not available, vegetable oil spray + flour to grease the muffin tin. I didn't have either and instead used butter + flour. The cakes had the desired flat tops but stuck to my "non-stick" mini muffin tin, so I'd try a different greasing approach (or perhaps a different pan...) next time.

• Skillet-roasted broccoli

  • anya_sf on October 07, 2020

    Like Rinshin, I used the parmesan-black pepper topping (recipe available online, not in magazine), which was delicious. 2 Tbsp oil was enough to coat the skillet. Unfortunately, my carbon steel skillet wasn't big enough, so I had to use non-stick, which I don't think was ideal over high heat. The skillet overheated and the broccoli charred a bit too much. Still, it was tasty and a good method if you don't want to turn your oven on.

  • Rinshin on May 10, 2020

    Loved this technique. Great tasting results. Much, much better than oven roasted style which I do not like. I used the lemon zest, black pepper, and parmesan cheese topping option which I do not see here.

  • Rinshin on June 06, 2020

    I have made this several times with the parmesan cheese topping which we really like (don’t see it here). Tried this orange zest and sesame seed topping this time. Still great technique but this topping was much more muted and we prefer the parmesan cheese version. On my 4th time, I skipped parmesan, orange zest and sesame seed and only drizzled very small amount of Japanese sesame sauce/dressing over the cooked broccoli and it was excellent.

• Masala chai concentrate

  • kayanelson on August 18, 2020

    Not sure about this. I had to add more sugar. It tasted a little bitter but then it grew on me.

  • SenseiHeidi on April 22, 2020

    Good flavor. Mellowed out in a good way the second day.

• Skillet-roasted broccoli

  • anya_sf on October 07, 2020

    Like Rinshin, I used the parmesan-black pepper topping (recipe available online, not in magazine), which was delicious. 2 Tbsp oil was enough to coat the skillet. Unfortunately, my carbon steel skillet wasn't big enough, so I had to use non-stick, which I don't think was ideal over high heat. The skillet overheated and the broccoli charred a bit too much. Still, it was tasty and a good method if you don't want to turn your oven on.

  • Rinshin on May 10, 2020

    Loved this technique. Great tasting results. Much, much better than oven roasted style which I do not like. I used the lemon zest, black pepper, and parmesan cheese topping option which I do not see here.

  • Rinshin on June 06, 2020

    I have made this several times with the parmesan cheese topping which we really like (don’t see it here). Tried this orange zest and sesame seed topping this time. Still great technique but this topping was much more muted and we prefer the parmesan cheese version. On my 4th time, I skipped parmesan, orange zest and sesame seed and only drizzled very small amount of Japanese sesame sauce/dressing over the cooked broccoli and it was excellent.

• Masala chai concentrate

  • kayanelson on August 18, 2020

    Not sure about this. I had to add more sugar. It tasted a little bitter but then it grew on me.

  • SenseiHeidi on April 22, 2020

    Good flavor. Mellowed out in a good way the second day.

• Smashed burgers

  • nadiam1000 on August 09, 2020

    Interesting twist on a burger - I felt they were a bit overdone because the patties are so thin. Next time I will flip a bit sooner. Making 2 at a time worked out great for my son and I. Used Boar's Head American Cheese slices - not a huge fan of American Cheese but this brand is good and goes well on burgers. The sauce is a nice accompaniment - I made extra so we can have another round of burgers. Served on potato buns.

  • bwhip on January 12, 2021

    Wow, these were so good! I’ve been wanting to try this technique and recipe for a while, and now my wife says she always wants burgers this way! Amazing that the burgers can be so thin and have all of that great caramelization and crispy edges, and still be so juicy. I’m sure that having great quality beef helps. Excellent instructions, easy and the results were fantastic. I couldn’t deal with using Kraft singles, but was happy to find some Sargento sharp cheddar slices that were super thin and melted quickly. Looking forward to having these again.

• Spicy tomato jam

  • Cameronfalls on July 16, 2020

    Made this July 16/20 Easy to make, but kind of eh, okay. It's like a slightly spicy but too sweet ketchup. We'll see if letting it sit in the fridge for a while sparks up the flavour.

• Farro and broccoli rabe gratin

  • Skamper on February 08, 2021

    We both liked this, despite the fact that the Farro (my nemesis) remained a bit chewy after almost 50 minutes on the stovetop. Made a half batch and couldn't get my hands on broccoli rabe so used a combination of regular broccoli and spinach. The panko and olive oil burnt to an acrid crisp after a minute in the microwave so I just mixed it with olive oil and parm and scattered it atop the gratin and left it at that. Two generous portions served in my mini lodge pans made a nice one dish ( though not one pot) meal.

• Chana masala

  • Nealm on August 28, 2020

    chana masala is (chick peas in tomato ginger sauce)

• Hearty Greek salad (Horiatiki salata)

  • anya_sf on September 24, 2020

    I substituted oil-cured black olives for Kalamatas and used maybe 3 oz feta (we had it as a side dish), but otherwise followed the recipe. I was pleasantly surprised that the ice water did remove the bite from the red onion. My family really enjoyed this salad.

• Yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting

  • mamacrumbcake on October 14, 2020

    This cake was just ok. It was done in the minimum time and had a strange shape, one side having risen twice as much as the other side. Also, there was a valley around the perimeter of the pan. The texture was ok despite the strange way it baked up, however, there were quite a few tunnels in the cake. I was concerned because the batter was runny—almost like pancake batter. The batter was also filled with tiny air bubble, something I’ve never seen in cake batter before. The flavor was kind of bland. I think one reason is that instead of a cup of butter, it was half butter and half oil. The frosting was good but not as good as the Foolproof chocolate frosting, also from ATK, which is the gold standard.

• Sous vide turkey thigh confit with citrus-mustard sauce

  • Emily Hope on December 02, 2020

    We were of mixed opinions in my house about this -- C really liked it, but I thought the flavor of onion came through too strongly in the finished dish. The technique is great, though (nice to have one less thing to worry about putting in the oven), and this may be the way we do turkey going forward, I will just reduce the onions in the marinade by a lot (or altogether), though that may mean some tinkering with the salt ratio. Used 2 thighs and 2 drumsticks from a whole pastured turkey that we broke down. Citrus sauce was OK, but no substitute for gravy--mostly we ignored it.

• Pan-seared shrimp with peanuts, black pepper, and lime

  • Kinhawaii on December 20, 2020

    Delicious & quick- loved the coriander seeds addition, will make again & I want to try the other variations.

• Chocolate crinkle cookies

  • ntt2 on December 08, 2020

    I made these for a christmas (outdoors, socially distanced) Christmas party - they were fabulous!

• Cranberry curd tart with almond crust

  • leilx on November 26, 2020

    This is very good and very easy. However it is not sweet at all. I might consider adding more sugar to the curd. It keeps well but the crust does soften.

• Chana masala

  • Nealm on August 28, 2020

    chana masala is (chick peas in tomato ginger sauce)

• Hearty Greek salad (Horiatiki salata)

  • anya_sf on September 24, 2020

    I substituted oil-cured black olives for Kalamatas and used maybe 3 oz feta (we had it as a side dish), but otherwise followed the recipe. I was pleasantly surprised that the ice water did remove the bite from the red onion. My family really enjoyed this salad.

• Yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting

  • mamacrumbcake on October 14, 2020

    This cake was just ok. It was done in the minimum time and had a strange shape, one side having risen twice as much as the other side. Also, there was a valley around the perimeter of the pan. The texture was ok despite the strange way it baked up, however, there were quite a few tunnels in the cake. I was concerned because the batter was runny—almost like pancake batter. The batter was also filled with tiny air bubble, something I’ve never seen in cake batter before. The flavor was kind of bland. I think one reason is that instead of a cup of butter, it was half butter and half oil. The frosting was good but not as good as the Foolproof chocolate frosting, also from ATK, which is the gold standard.