The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition
by Cook's Illustrated Magazine
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Book Reviews of The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition
Book Review: Really good but don't expect everything to be perfect on your first try
Summary: 4 Stars
This is from a college student on a shoe-string budget with limited cooking experience. At the risk of sounding overly critical, I won't waste time pouring out accolades for the book. It is mostly what everyone else has said. Its strongest selling point is the details in which they present the recipes. As someone who has not yet developed a good cooking intuition, I very much appreciate the short essays before each recipe describing how they came to the 'best' one. Unlike other recipe books that just give you a list ingredients with sparing and often obscure instructions, this one gives you the thought process behind each step so that you understand what is going on, which in the end I think will make you a better cook.
As good as it is, this book does suffer from many of the same pitfalls that plague the recipe book genre. Despite their earnest attempts to make their recipes as robust as possible, I find that their recipes tend to be somewhat kitchen specific. Simple things like differences in oven settings and thickness of pots and pans will throw off the recipe. You will find that while high heat was ideal for them, it may mean a burnt salmon for you. They try to address these things but most times you just have to use your judgement and learn from your mistakes. For me, the recipes almost never come out the way like it on the first try; they tend to be 'ok' but not spectacular. This is usually a combination of me not having their recommended cookware, making small adjustments to cook with the ingredients I have or me just disagreeing with what the authors consider the "best recipe".
The first issue is largely a function of me being college student and not being able to afford the top notch cookware that they recommend. To be honest, the cookware they recommend are not exorbitantly priced. They tend to go for the best value but sometimes even the best value is a bit out of reach for me. Overall, I do find that most recipes were accessible and they try to stick with the most basic set of cookware that they think most home kitchens should have. They would even outline variations based on available equipment. For example, if a recipe calls for mixing they would sometimes show you how to do it with a standing mixer, food processor or by hand. Judging from the very pleasing results from my lackluster cookware, I would imagine that if I had reasonably well stocked kitchen I would be consistently churning out splendid dishes. The second case, not having the exact ingredients, is almost unavoidable in my opinion. They sometimes recommend things that I either can't find at my grocery store (usually a specific brand of a product) or too exotic to be used for something else. They have a thing for fancy cheeses and fine wine. Well, fine wine is always useful :) but I'm not going to buy $12 block of cheese just to grater a little bit over a bowl of soup.
There have been a few occasions where after making everything exactly as they say (right ingredients, cookware, method and everything), I would still find the recipe to be underwhelming. I could think of their blueberry muffin recipe for example. For them, the ideal blueberry muffin should be light and moist, sweet, have a distinct buttery taste and loaded with blueberries. After making these muffins, I found that they were too light (almost cake-like), too sweet and too buttery. I would say it was a blueberry cupcake rather than muffin. I like to eat muffins with my breakfast so I like them to have a hearty texture and not to be too sweet. That's just my preference though. I also didn't like their french onion soup recipe. They introduced a short cut that literally involved burning the onions to speed up the caramelizing process but the soup came out way off. I tried other french onion soup recipes and I thought they were way superior. Others will disagree with my taste and that's fine but this is where the book shines. By providing the thought process behind each step, it is a lot easier to tweak the recipe to your liking.
I should also mention that the book is littered with many educational gems such as how to pick out the best knives, why brining a chicken works to improve its flavor and moisture, the different types of flour and how their properties affect your recipe etc.
Other caveats... the book is somewhat difficult to navigate. It presents recipes under broad sections like soups, poultry, beef, breakfast, etc. which I think is fine but the aforementioned educational asides are scattered. The first time I tried roasting chicken by their method I set off my fire alarm because of the smoke coming from the fat dripping onto the hot oven surface. A few pages later, they tried a recipe that was more prone to smoking and took a long aside to go over why smoking happens and how to avoid it. It would have been nice, if they had all these little caveats organized at the beginning of the book or each section so that you can read through them before jumping into a recipe.
In my humble opinion, recipes should provide more inspiration than instruction and this book possesses this quality more than any other I have read. I have just scratched the surface of this book, about a dozen recipes tried, and I have been very impressed with the outcomes so far and I have learned a whole lot. I do plan on investing in good cookware :) and I even have plans to host dinner parties soon.
Book Review: The Best Cookook I Own
Summary: 5 Stars
I collect cookbooks. They're everywhere at my house. Also subscribe to various cooking magazines. THIS is my favorite. Every single recipe I have made has turned out perfect. I only got this book a couple of weeks ago but so far I've made:
*Classic Deviled Eggs-terrific. Tells you how to boil the eggs perfectly. Put 7 eggs in a saucepan and cover with 1" of water. Bring to a boil over high heat; remove pan from heat and cover for 10 minutes. Fill a bowl with cold water and add 14 ice cubes. Transfer eggs to water and let rest for 5 minutes. Peel. So easy. The yolds are cooked through and no green ring around them.
*Greek Salad-the best I've had. The fresh mint and parsley really brought out the flavor.
*Glazed Carrots-oh wow! Even my kids loved these and they are so easy to make.
*Mashed Potatoes-I thought I was doing just fine with my way. Apparently boiling them in the skin does make a difference. Every one loved them.
*Chicken Marsala-Oh my!!! This is the best thing I've ever made. It is so much better than any chicken marsala I've had at a restaurant. It's easy too. My kids devoured it and they don't even like mushrooms. The chicken was so tender you could cut it with a spoon. I am not exaggerating. This is one recipe you have to make.
*Oven Fried Bacon-Wow! So easy and I don't get splattered cooking the bacon anymore. Plus all the pieces come out the same size. No shrinking.
*Home Fries-so delicious. We can't get enough of these. Perfect for breakfast.
*Pizza Dough & Pepperoni Pizza-homemade pizza is way better than chain pizzerias. This is not difficult and will spoil your family.
*Cream Biscuits-these turn out beautiful and even have a little split line around the middle so they're easy to cut. The easiest biscuits I've ever made. Try these if you've never made biscuits. Only 5 ingredients.
*American Sandwich Bread-the best. This is a simple recipe to follow and makes consistently beautiful bread. I don't even buy bread at the store anymore. Talk about a perfect grilled cheese!
*Buttermilk Biscuits-perfect texture and you don't even need to roll them out. Make it in your food processor!
*Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies-Now I have neighborhood kids coming by and asking if I have any of my cookies made. Yeah, they're that good. I just keep them in stock all the time now.
*Blueberry Cobbler-perfect with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. I can't get over how beautiful this turned out and it's so simple. It almost seemed too simple. The lemon juice and zest in the blueberries really brightened the flavors.
This book is huge. 1028 pages. Not all of that is recipes. There's the Table of Contents and Index and several pictures of "how to" and reviews of different products.
Chapters include:
*Appetizers
*Soups
*Salads
*Vegetables
*Rice, Grains, and Beans
*Pasta and Noodles
*Poultry
*Beef
*Pork
*Lamb
*Fish and Shellfish
*Stews
*Grilling
*Eggs and Breakfast
*Pizza, Calzones, and Foccacia
*Quick Breads, Muffins, and Biscuits
*Yeast Breads
*Cookies, Brownies, and Bar Cookies
*Cakes
*Pies and Tarts
*Crisps, Cobblers, and Other Fruit Desserts
*Puddings, Custards, Souffles, and Ice Cream
PROS: Every single recipe has been rigorously tested. I read somewhere that they decide on a recipe and then research and gather 30-75 recipes then boil it down to a few. They then start testing various ways of making the recipe until they come up with a winner. Then a professional tester tries it. Then it's sent out to hundreds of volunteer testers to make sure there are no problems and the directions are crystal clear. So you know that each recipe has been tested and re-tested. Everything turns out great. I also love the product reviews. Which knife is best for my money? Which shredded cheese is best?
Before each recipe is a rief description of some of their trials and errors and what worked. I find it interesting, at least.
CONS: This is just a personal issue but I would have liked some photos of the recipes. What can I say? I like to feast with my eyes as well. So that's really not a big deal.
I think you really get a lot for your money with this book. It would be perfect for anyone but especially for novice cooks because the instructions are so clear and precise.
Get the book. You won't be disappointed. Now I'm off to make some more of that delicious bread. :)
Book Review: Damn Fine Book!
Summary: 4 Stars
This hefty volume is so much more than a collection of recipes. Technique reigns supreme, not only telling and showing us the "how" but explaining the "why". It's the quintessential reference tool for the beginning cook, the expert and everyone else in between. It's a scholarly canon replete with scientific elucidation: how an autolyse works, why people vary in their tolerance of chili peppers (citing a psychophysicist at the Yale School of Medicine), instructions on how to keep your potato salad from developing Staphylocuccus auerus, and a two-page spread entitled "Eggs 101". There are ingredient and equipment recommendations and a panoply of handy tips for streamlining tasks. There aren't any glossy photos, but 800 elegantly drawn illustrations which are far more useful. No, you won't find every recipe you're searching for, but many of the basics are covered: Beef Burgundy, Coq au Vin, Chocolate Cake, Black Bean Soup, Hummus, Scalloped Potatoes, Shrimp Scampi, and a knock-your-socks-off Pasta Bolognese that can be made in just 45 minutes. The baking section is outstanding. A quick technique for removing the extra water from canned pumpkin yields an especially luxurious cheesecake. I've used the Pumpkin Cheesecake from Gourmet Magazine for years - but this extra step has improved that recipe - proving that the techniques gleaned in this tome can work across other recipes as well.
Above all, these recipes are RELIABLE. You can actually prepare dinner and dessert for guests, having never tried these recipes before, and they will be perfect. To the reviewer who didn't care for the "Osso Buco" and it's seemingly large amount of canned tomatoes, check Marcella Hazan's recipe for Osso Buco in her Book, "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking". That recipe contains 1.5 cups of canned tomatoes, although the recipe proportions are slightly different. Similar instructions are given in Julia Child's "The Way to Cook". Remember what Hazan says? "Reduce, reduce it, reduce it!" If you find the Beef Burgundy or Coq au Vin not complex enough, then by all means, add your own homemade "glace de viande", if you have that kind of time.
Why didn't I give this book 5 stars? Well, I'd give it 4.5. The book is huge and unwieldy and might have been better as a two-volume set. I can just hear Martha Stewart saying, "...and at nearly 5.5 pounds, this book makes a handy doorstop too!". There's no chapter entitled "Veal". "Osso Buco", which makes use of veal shanks of course, is in the "Beef" section. Yes, we all know beef and veal come from the same animal but somehow this seemed odd - and there are no other recipes using veal specifically: Veal Scallopini, Veal Stew, or Veal Chops. So many people are up in arms about Veal, myself included, but I buy my Veal at Whole Foods so I know the animals aren't mistreated and I know what they eat. There isn't a "Vegetarian" designation, either, although there are plenty of vegetarian offerings and other recipes that can be adjusted as such. The index could have been easier to read with a larger font - do the editors of Cook's Illustrated really believe that everyone who cooks and bakes are under he age of 40? Increasing the font size would add a few pages, but at this point, what's the difference? Sadly, two of my favorite Cook's Illustrated Recipes: Easy Multigrain Sandwich Bread and Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake appeared in the Cook's Illustrated Magazine after this book was published - so keep buying the magazine! WORD OF WARNING: Nearly all of the recipes found in Cook's Illustrated's "Baking Illustrated" are already in this book. If you buy both, it will be redundant, with the exception of a few helpful extras and a book which is not quite so hefty.
Book Review: Great approach - almost perfect execution
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book after having misplaced Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything". I wanted something a bit different: a practical cookbook that had consistently top-quality recipes. I immediately found the descriptions of how recipes were constructed and tested in "The New Best Recipe" completely engrossing.
The first recipe I cooked from this book floored me. That was "Spicy Stir-Fried Pork, Asparagus, and Onions with Lemon Grass". Our opinion was that it was phenomenal, far and away the best stir-fry we had ever tasted anywhere. The mix of unusual flavors - the fact that everything had a distinctive flavor - was just amazing for a stir-fry. Among the other recipes that were great: "Shrimp Fra Diavolo" was terrific and fun to cook, since it was a flambe. "Stir-Fried Asparagus with Soy Sauce, Maple Syrup, and Scallions" was another innovative flavor mix.
"Sauteed Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Red Wine Vinegar, Warm Spices, and Raisins" was quite good although a little bland. "Roasted Potatoes" clearly lacked garlic and rosemary, but the recipe was on the right track. Recipes for things as simple as "Poached Eggs", "Steamed Broccoli" and "Stir-Fried Broccoli", "Oven-Fried Bacon", and even "White Rice" worked quite well. "Pan-Seared Hamburgers" didn't - but I chalked that up to the likelihood that the meat I ground wasn't 80% lean.
Now the clunkers: "Fried Rice with Shrimp, Ham, and Shiitakes" was lousy. Without the overload of soy sauce (it was replaced with oyster sauce), fried rice didn't taste like fried rice, which I wouldn't have minded if it tasted good (it was excruciatingly bland). "Pan-Seared Sesame-Crusted Tuna Steaks" with "Ginger-Soy Sauce with Scallions" was a waste of some very expensive tuna. It bothered me that these recipes emerged from the testing process - they both appeared to show clear deficiencies in this process. The fried rice demonstrated that the tasters would settle on criteria ("no flavor muddiness, no soy sauce") and plow ahead with something that met that criteria but was probably worse than if they had not set that goal. The tuna steaks needed a much better accompanying sauce - but that called for a skilled, innovative chef rather than a bunch of iterative tastings modifying some existing recipes.
The book is flawed in some ways. The instructions are not terribly clear sometimes. Often the results in reality do not jive with the results described in the book. A number of times I found the book would say something like "Cook the sesame seeds x minutes or until they start to turn golden brown" - but x minutes was nowhere near that point. The index is clearly lacking. There's no indication of how much time it takes to prepare any recipe. Ingredients have not been terrible to find - but specialty markets (like big Asian markets) are a must to do a number of these recipes. I do find it funny that a casual recipe book like this one refers to me as if I have a butcher and fishmonger who will cater to my every whim.
But Cook's Illustrated's approach to this book is terrific - it's a methodology I wish more cookbooks used. I'm used to cooking out of books that are occasionally brilliant but usually mediocre, because they haven't bothered to test and refine their own output. This is different - I've had enough "hits" with this one that I'm inspired to keep trying.
Book Review: I don't know anything about cooking
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't have experience cooking and I sure don't know much about cooking technique. I have personally made all the recipes my family has enjoyed from this book with "technical" help from my wife. When my wife has made "new" recipes from other sources, we don't know what the final product will be like. With this book, not only do they tell you what the final product should be like, it most likely will turn out that way. I've watched America's Test Kitchen and thought that I could make some of the recipes they prepared. I like how detailed the instructions are on the show and the book is even more detailed. I've seen Cook's Illustrated magazine in the book store and this book is similar though slightly condensed (explanations of the testing they did and why the final recipe is the way it is).
While they have incredible detail on how and why, they do have to assume you have some rudimentary knowledge of cooking technique. So, when I tried the brownie recipe and it told me to "fold" the flour into the batter, I was clueless - fortunately, my wife supervises. As others have stated, they purposely change their recipe from "classic" recipes to make it more likely the average home kitchen has the tools required along with the ingredients being available at your supermarket.
The brownies are incredible - the difference between out of the box brownies and the "classic" brownies is why people make food from scratch. Light and fluffy pancakes came out just the way they describe it...not the dense version I usually generate from packaged mixes (my wife had to give me a lesson on flipping pancakes - that's how inept I am in the kitchen). BBQ spare ribs with the BBQ dry rub - just like the ribs I had at "Smokey Bones" in the Atlanta area (the book tells you how to cook grill recipes for charcoal and gas grills). Cheese Straws drew rave reviews at a party (although not as pretty because my daughter and I couldn't get the twists described in the recipe so we just laid it out flat - the guests didn't care). Fallen chocolate cake (molten lava cake) was better than the local Chili's. Every recipe I've made has come out they way they said it would.
As a totally novice cook, if I can get good results, then anyone should be able to do the same. As a novice cook, I do run into problems when timing is important when making a recipe the first time - like frozen dough becoming too warm because I took too long with something else before getting to the dough. They assume the average cook can get something done in X minutes while someone like me takes double the time. Fortunately, from America's Test Kitchen, I knew to just throw the dough back into the freezer when it got too warm.
On my wife's advice, I am writing all over the book with my own notes on each recipe I make with any adjustments on spices or time allotments so each recipe will be MY Best Recipes.
It's a great book. One day, maybe I'll let my kids use it and they can personalize it with the stains/spills they've put into the other recipe books we have (yeah, the books where the results are hit and miss).