Notes about Recipes in this book

• Bacon-wrapped meat loaf with brown sugar-ketchup glaze

  • mfto on May 30, 2011

    This is my go-to meatloaf recipe. I first made the recipe with either the bacon or glaze but we prefer it without either. I do not use a loaf pan but just form it into shape on a foil lined pan. I use my own fresh bread crumbs instead of crackers which is an option in the recipe. I omit the hot pepper sauce if I am cooking for children. It is a never fail recipe for me.

  • ashallen on October 12, 2019

    This is a very good, classic meatloaf recipe - I particularly like the suggestion for using quick oats instead of bread crumbs and the sticky ketchup glaze. The bacon didn't crisp by the time the meatloaf was done - I ended up popping it in the oven by itself after the meatloaf came out to finish cooking it. Cook's Illustrated published another recipe for "Glazed Meat Loaf" in 2006, however, that I usually use instead of this one. Instead of using a bacon wrap to self-baste the meat loaf, it includes finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese in the meat mixture for extra moisture - very nice! [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]

• Simple stovetop rice pudding

  • ashallen on November 27, 2019

    This is my favorite rice pudding recipe - I "retired" my other stovetop rice pudding recipes after finding this one! Creamy, nicely thickened, tender rice, and great flavor. The recipe's great as written, but I've found that there's a fair amount of flexibility around the ratio of milk to half-and-half, so it can be made richer or leaner to taste. A mixture of heavy cream and milk also works well as a half-and-half substitute. When the pudding's come out thicker than I'd like, I stir in some fresh cream or half-and-half to thin it a bit - this also gives it a wonderful fresh cream flavor on top of the cooked cream flavors. When eating the pudding plain, I like it to be a bit sweeter than specified in the recipe and bump up the sugar to 3/4 cup. Making a half-batch works fine. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine.]