Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pork chops with balsamic vinegar and sweet peppers

  • ashallen on October 29, 2019

    Everything in this dish was cooked just fine - textures of the peppers and the pork chops were all good. There was just something about the flavor combination that didn't appeal to me! Perhaps I'd like the version made with white wine vinegar better... [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Onion-braised beef brisket

  • ashallen on October 11, 2019

    This is a great, classically flavored brisket recipe. Savory, beefy flavors and very tender slices of meat. Recipe specifies cooking for 3.5-4 hours - we like our brisket super-tender so I usually go 5-6 hours. The onions that cook alongside the beef are delicious, but my husband's not fond of their squishy texture. I get around this by pureeing them into the sauce which adds great flavor and a bit of sweetness to it. Doing so also increases sauce volume, making for an excellent sauce-to-meat ratio. Resting the meat in the sauce overnight significantly improves its texture - I really try to avoid serving it the day it's cooked. Awesome with mashed potatoes. Leftovers are great. Freezes very well, particularly when meat slices are nestled in sauce. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Science of Good Cooking/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• German chocolate cake with coconut-pecan filling

  • ashallen on August 27, 2019

    I need to try this recipe a second time - I chose to make it as a 9x13-inch sheet cake vs. the two 9-inch round cake layers specified in the recipe (each then halved to create a 4-layer cake). I ended up with a thick frosting layer perched on top of a thick, not particularly moist cake slab. If I had made the layer cake, the frosting sandwiched between the thinner cake layers would have done a much better job of moistening the cake! I took the cake from the oven once the center reached 201F and it was a bit dry - I'd remove it sooner next time. While German chocolate isn't my favorite chocolate cake (I like more chocolate), the flavors of this cake worked very harmoniously with the coconut-pecan filling. The coconut-pecan filling was delicious (even though my pecans weren't very flavorful) and works great on yellow butter cake, too. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

  • ashallen on February 20, 2020

    Made this recipe again as a layer cake vs. sheet cake and it came out much better - moist and a good chocolate flavor that works very well with the delicious frosting. Even though German Chocolate isn't my favorite type of chocolate cake, I now think that this is a great version of it. I removed cake from oven just after edges started to separate from pan sides. Centers were 195F. I greased pans with unsalted butter and dusted with unsweetened cocoa vs. the baking spray + flour as suggested in recipe - cakes unmolded nicely. Recipe says to use ~1 cup of frosting between each layer - I used a scant 1 cup so there would be a bit extra to make a thicker, prettier layer on the top surface. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/ Magazine/ Cook's Illustrated Cookbook/ Leite's Culinaria]

• Pan-roasted asparagus with toasted garlic and Parmesan

  • Analyze on March 12, 2019

    This is a delicious recipe! I've made it four times and we've loved it every time. My husband doesn't care for the garlic, so I get it all :)

• Coconut-red curry sauce

  • ashallen on October 05, 2019

    This recipe makes a delicious sauce with complex flavors and a nice thickness - great for serving with mild-flavored fish. Relatively short and simple cooking process. Worked well with the Thai Kitchen red curry paste sold in most supermarkets - I used 4 tsp as suggested by the recipe for "those who like assertive flavors."(!) I grated vs. minced the ginger for a slightly smoother texture. The sauce was too sour for me when it first came off the stove, but was easily balanced out by stirring in a bit more sugar. I'm thinking the sauce would also be great with chicken and rice, though I haven't tried those combinations yet. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Beef braised in Barolo

  • ashallen on September 27, 2020

    A great pot roast-style dish with very tender beef and a thick, flavorful sauce. The tomatoes and large amount of wine added a tart edge to the sauce which differed from some other braised beef dishes I've made where earthier flavors (e.g., mushrooms) dominated. Delicious with egg noodles. Actually, I thought the sauce was a bit too tart once first reduced, but it adjusted well with some honey and soy sauce. It also mellowed further during storage overnight. I used a tart Cabernet Sauvignon instead of Barolo which might explain the tartness! Butcher was out of chuck eye roast, but since we were eating the dish with pasta, we didn't care so much about getting coherent meat slices, so regular chuck roast worked fine. I cut it into chunks for trimming and didn't bother to tie it back together in roast form. [Cross-post Cook's Ill. Magazine/ Cook's Ill. 2005 Annual Edition/ Cook's Ill. Cookbook/ Leite's Culinaria website]

• Dark chocolate cupcakes

  • ashallen on August 22, 2019

    Good cupcakes that pair very well with frosting (as cupcakes should!). Be careful not to overbake - they dry out quickly. I've also tried baking the batter as an 8x8-inch cake and it wasn't as successful because the edges seemed dry by the time the center was done - might try it again sometime and take it from the oven sooner. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine.]

• Easy vanilla bean buttercream

  • ashallen on September 21, 2019

    Solid recipe for a basic, easy-method vanilla buttercream - not sensational, but definitely solid. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine.]

• Chocolate-chunk oatmeal cookies with pecans and dried cherries

  • Grywhp on June 03, 2013

    I have made these cookies probably a dozen times, and every time someone new has one, they ask me for the recipe and another cookie! Don't forget to flatten out the balls of dough on the cookie sheet and don't overbake.

• Baked raspberry tart

  • hillsboroks on August 21, 2016

    We had extra fresh raspberries from the garden but not enough for jam so I decided to give this tart recipe a try and my husband is so glad I did. The shortbread crust was lovely and did not get soggy even after a night in the refrigerator. The fresh raspberries and the bit of lemon flavor played well together and were perfect with the creamy custard. The crust took a bit of time with all the steps but I would not take any shortcuts as the end result was so good. This recipe is going into our favorite raspberry recipe bookmark for sure.

• Stir-fried Thai-style beef with chiles and shallots

  • ashallen on August 25, 2021

    Very fresh, strong flavors that work very well together. I wasn't able to find blade steak and used the flank steak option instead. I'll be more careful next time about how long I cook it since I let it go a bit too long and toughen this time. Leftovers held up better than I expected, but since a lot of the sparkle in this dish comes from its fresh, distinct flavors, I'll make a half-recipe next time for the two of us. Cutting back the fresh chiles to 1 yielded a happy heat level for us. Recipe uses a mixture of mint and cilantro as a substitute for Thai basil, but I'll hunt down the basil next time since it'd be excellent here. Recipe says to cook in a non-stick skillet, but a wok on a gas burner worked great.

• Fettuccini Alfredo

  • ashallen on November 08, 2019

    A rich and delicious pasta dish. I frequently substitute some milk or half and half for some of the heavy cream to make it a bit lighter. You can vary how thick the sauce comes out by cooking the pasta+sauce for a longer or shorter time over low heat. Some variations we really like are to saute some good ham or prosciutto, diced, in the butter specified in the recipe (cut back on the butter a bit if using fatty prosciutto) first. We remove the crisped ham, proceed with the sauce according to the recipe, and then fold the crisped ham back in at the end. We also like it with cooked fresh or frozen green peas folded in (with or without the ham). Cook's Illustrated subsequently published a revised version of this recipe in The New Best Recipe - we found we like the proportions of ingredients in that recipe a bit better than this one and it replaced this recipe as our go-to (though this one's still very good!). [Cross-post for Magazine/Annual Edition.]

• Butternut squash risotto

  • hillsboroks on November 22, 2020

    Like many Cooks Illustrated recipes this one calls for a few extra steps but the end result is so worth it. As instructed I sautéed the seeds and stringy guts of the squash and then simmered them in the broth before straining them out. It did make for a more intense squash flavor. Also I found that by adding half the sautéed squash cubes near the end made for an interesting contrast in squash textures between the half of the squash simmered along with rice in the wine and broth and the very fresh firmer-textured squash added at the end.

• Chicken Francese

  • ashallen on October 14, 2019

    Overall, I thought this dish was just OK. The sauce was too tart and lemony for my taste - I very much ended up picking out side dishes that would help with balancing out the flavors and spreading the sauce around. Between that and the typical spatter associated with pan-frying meat, I haven't felt inspired to make this dish again. Texture of the chicken was good, however, and those who like strong lemon sauces would probably enjoy this recipe. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Sweet potato casserole

  • ashallen on December 11, 2019

    This is really delicious. I don't like a lot of sweet potato casseroles (it's the marshmallows fault!), but this one doesn't have marshmallows and is silky, creamy, and really flavorful without being sticky sweet. I used Red Garnet sweet potatoes and made a 3/4 batch - worked great! [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]