Taste and technique

[Anna N]

 

 I thought it only fair to start testing some of the recipes. At the moment I am somewhat hobbled because I am going away for 10 days and therefore have no desire to restock with any fresh ingredients.  But I did have some very nice green beans, some garlic, some salt (Diamond Crystal) and some extra-virgin olive oil.  So I attempted the slow cooked green bean recipe.

 

 The recipe was clear enough to follow without difficulty and I think the end result was what was intended. It was not something I would make again as it did not tick any boxes with me in terms of flavour.  In all honesty I don't think the recipe really called out to me but my conscience said I ought to try something if I was going to be so critical of the book.   Once I can restock on groceries I will be trying other recipes hopefully ones that called out to be a little more.  I hope someone else gives the book fair shake by testing some of the recipes  in the meantime.

 

[Okanagancook]

There is a bit of a disconnect in the book with this recipe.  The savoury tomato confiture recipe notes say serve with these beans but the bean recipe doesn't mention this.

 

started reading the book.

introduction:

 

recommends a a notebook to take experiences on recipes to a useful level....no mention of colour of said notebook.

she makes excellent points about seasonality and quality of ingredients and being flexible about what you find at the store/market.

she has side bars on most recipes giving recommended side dishes along with seasonal picks

she emphasizes meal composition with balance.  I find many home made meals at friends lack this very important aspect of a meal, ie coleslaw goes with pulled pork and not a proper spinach salad. It might be a lovely spinach salad but it doesn't go with pulled pork....in my books anyways.

 

sauces:

 

i have not not seen the recommendation of using a squeeze bottle to make mayo...brilliant

the recipes make a lot or maybe more than two people can use before going off so I will need to make half recipes.

the sauces look like multi-use sauces.

so far so good but will have to make some.

 

still reading.

[Anna N]

@Okanagancook

 

Hmmm. The tomato confiture might have done wonders for the beans!   They definitely needed something. I tried a good squeeze of lemon juice but it wasn't enough.  

[Okanagancook]

 That tomato confiture is similar to our beloved 'tomato chutney'

seeing we have the chutney on hand I will use that.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

introduction:

recommends a a notebook to take experiences on recipes to a useful level....no mention of colour of said notebook.

 

I wish to record that I like this.

 

[Martin Fisher]

FWIW...

re: salt

Taste & Technique: Recipes to Elevate Your Home Cooking by Naomi Pomeroy, Page 371

 

 

 

[Shalmanese]

You don't even want to know what they do to those poor sodium ions at the Kosher Salt plant! Open your eyes, people!

[MelissaH]

So after going to the farmer's market last night and then dropping by a local bar to say goodbye to one of my husband's colleagues who is about to start a new job, we stopped in at the local indie bookstore. And I looked at the book myself.

 

Apart from the salt issues, I decided that there wasn't a lot in the book that I would actually see myself making, so I left it behind for someone else to buy.

 

I can't say the same thing about the Alton Brown's latest book, Simple by Diana Henry, or the new tome on rye baking. And this is just the start of the holiday cookbook release season!

[Okanagancook]

I attempted the Orange Palmiers on page 305.  Pretty simple instructions.  HOWEVER, the baking time is WAY, WAY OFF.  She tells you to bake them at 350F on a cookiesheet lined with a silpad, then the palmiers are covered with parchment paper, another cookie sheet and finally topped with a medium weight sauce pan to weigh it down.  This is baked for 10 minutes.  The pot, cookiesheet and parchment paper are removed and they are to be baked for a further 2 to 4 minutes until they are golden brown on the bottom and presumably, they look like the picture in the book.  The first picture is of the palmiers after the first ten minutes of baking followed by 4 further minutes!  They were no where near done.  So I baked them for a total of 16 minutes more minutes and took them out...picture number two.  I decided to flip them over so the white tops might brown.  In the picture you can see I have flipped a few.  Then I baked them for another 8 minutes and finally they were cooked and brown.  Some were a little too dark on their little tails.

 

I had the other half of the recipe to bake..  This time I baked them for 15 minutes; removed the coverings and baked for another 12 minutes.  Took them out and flipped them.  Baked another 4 minutes.  The third picture.  They were all pretty even and cooked in the middle.

 

They taste great.  Not too sweet.

 

I am fearful of the remaining recipes after this.  But I will try some next week.  I have company for a few days.

 

[Anna N]

Well I don't know.  I make palmiers  or more often elephant ears quite frequently using store-bought puff pastry and this recipe seems to be an awful lot of faffing about.  I am wondering if the end result justifies it.  

[Okanagancook]

They were crispy but I don't make them often.  Maybe once before.  I used store bought puff pastry also.

Putting the pan and pot on top wasn't that much of a hassle, it was the inaccurate cooking time that made it frustrating.

[rustwood]

Being a novice home chef, as I read this thread I wondered if perhaps this book would be more suitable for someone like me than for a more experienced contributor.  Unfortunately, I just started it and I already have issues with it.

 

The first thing I noticed was the constant referencing of other pages in the book.  It wasn't long before I stopped chasing the references.  I don't see the point of referencing a short paragraph on page 378 every time you use a toasted spice.  Also, the next to last paragraph of the introduction says, "Before making any of these recipes, see my notes using salt on p371 and 375."  If the author feels so strongly about that and all of the other references to that section, then the book should have started with that material. Alternatively, put those pearls of wisdom within each recipe as they come up and then stop repeating them.  The book is supposed to build knowledge from beginning to end so that would make perfect sense.  It would still be fine (if not best) to also include them in a summary at the end, but please save the references to other pages for when they are truly useful.  My guess is that these issues should have been addressed by an editor.

 

As a novice I appreciate her sharing her opinions and recommendations - even if they are a bit fussy at times (an alternative to BLiS Maple Sherry Wine Vinegar would be welcome).  I can even live with her opinions when they probably aren't widely held ("I've found tomatoes in cans have a metallic aftertaste"), but I take issue with her stating something as fact that is probably untrue.  For example, after stating that she only uses wood cutting boards (fine), she says, "Plastic cutting boards are brutal on your cutlery."  Are they?  Who says?  I am sure there are others somewhere who share her opinion, but as far as I can tell it is not a widely held belief - at least not for the commonly used soft plastic boards.

 

The minor issues I've spotted and the other issues already pointed out in this thread make me wonder what other questionable facts and techniques are contained with the text.  As such, I doubt I will invest much time in reading or cooking from it - in spite of the fact that I could probably learn a lot from it.

 

 

[Anna N]

@rustwood

 

You make some excellent points. I, too, was a little taken aback by her comment on canned tomatoes.  As for some of her recommended pantry items, substitutions would've been welcomed for those of us who don't live in a major city or who face other challenges in acquiring unusual ingredients. She does say that her book is aimed towards the home cook  and perhaps her aim is to push us to greater heights.  I am still trying to be as open-minded as I can until I have had an opportunity to attempt three or four recipes from the book.   For the next 10 or so days I will be in what amounts to an ingredient desert so her book may not be the one that I turn to until I return. 

[rotuts]

Id like to see in a published book mention that Plastic  ( generally very hard ) is not the same as Poly ( which is softer and a very  

 

sharp knife will easily mark )

Edited October 3, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[MelissaH]

@Anna N and @rustwood, in my quick look through the book, I missed the special vinegar recipe. And I definitely agree that substitutions would be welcome, especially for the specialty ingredients that may not be widely available. And my reasoning is not only because specialty ingredients can be hard to find or expensive (the Blis Maple Sherry Vinegar, ordered directly from Blis, would cost $12.95 plus shipping). The other reason to include substitutions using regularly available products is that specialty ingredients may be transient: what happens if Blis stops making this particular vinegar, or the company goes out of business? How would one make the recipe if the vinegar is an endangered species, limited only to the quantities available in various people's pantries?

 

I'm specifically thinking in this case of one of the cakes in Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible. There's a recipe in there that requires a specific candy bar (possibly Hershey's Golden Almond?) that has long ceased to exist. Without this exact candy bar, the recipe has become obsolete. (IIRC, in one of her newer cake books, she published a recipe that was similar to whatever this one was, but doesn't need the special and nonexistent candy bar.) Of course, I now can't find whatever the specific recipe was!

 

Anyway, I prefer my cookbooks to be timeless. I get that any book will be a snapshot of the time in which it was published, as far as what's popular or "in" (both the recipes and the formatting). But when I can't make the recipes because I can't get the ingredients or a reasonable facsimile thereof (for whatever reason), the cookbook loses much of its appeal to me.

[rustwood]

5 hours ago, MelissaH said:

Blis Maple Sherry Vinegar, ordered directly from Blis, would cost $12.95 plus shipping).

 

It may be even more expensive in person.  I have held the 375 ml bottle (12+ ounces) of Blis bourbon maple syrup in my hand twice now but both times I couldn't bring myself to pay a significant premium over the web price.  Of course I haven't paid $18.95 plus shipping to buy it from the web either.  I'd love to try it, but I fear it might spoil less expensive syrup for me.  I am tempted to just add a little bourbon to my Costco maple syrup before I warm it up 

[chefmd]

For those who don't have this book, here is a link to ten recipes 

 

https://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes?q=176196 "Taste %26 Technique"&online-recipes=true

[Okanagancook]

Ok, I am about half way through making her stock on page 346.  I made a few adjustments, of course, due to availability of ingredients.  Instead of duck/chicken bones I used drumsticks and whole legs; instead of young beef shank bones/knuckle or marrow bones I have used beef short ribs; I got the oxtails.  I am roasting as directed in a 450 oven until deep, deep brown boarding on burnt but I am now realizing I won't have enough oven space to finish off the stock:  put the bones, covered with water/the veggies, in a hotel pan, cover and bake at 250 for at least 12 hours or overnight.  If I were to do this I would need to do it in batches.

 

My question is can I just put the meat/bones, veggies and water into a pot and simmer very slowly over night with the lid off like I normally make my stock?  I have already not followed the recipe.

I think the answer is 'yes' but is there any real difference between baking the stock or stove top simmering???

 

If you want to make this and don't have a big oven and big hotel pan then make 1/2 a recipe.

[Anna N]

47 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Ok, I am about half way through making her stock on page 346.  I made a few adjustments, of course, due to availability of ingredients.  Instead of duck/chicken bones I used drumsticks and whole legs; instead of young beef shank bones/knuckle or marrow bones I have used beef short ribs; I got the oxtails.  I am roasting as directed in a 450 oven until deep, deep brown boarding on burnt but I am now realizing I won't have enough oven space to finish off the stock:  put the bones, covered with water/the veggies, in a hotel pan, cover and bake at 250 for at least 12 hours or overnight.  If I were to do this I would need to do it in batches.

 

My question is can I just put the meat/bones, veggies and water into a pot and simmer very slowly over night with the lid off like I normally make my stock?  I have already not followed the recipe.

I think the answer is 'yes' but is there any real difference between baking the stock or stove top simmering???

 

If you want to make this and don't have a big oven and big hotel pan then make 1/2 a recipe.

Hmmmm.  I did look at that recipe and wondered if I could possibly have anything large enough to accommodate all the ingredients but I didn't get any further than that. In your case I think I might be inclined to accommodate half of it in the oven and the other half on the stove top.   I don't know if it makes huge difference I would just be hedging my bets.

[Okanagancook]

Thanks Anna N, that's a thought.  Perhaps I will attempt the recipe again only this time half a recipe and try to get all the proper ingredients, duh!

It occurred to me that her ingredients, mostly bones, is quite different from the MC stocks which are more meat centric.

I guess I could compare this stock to the one I will make as the recipe is written.

 

The BIG problem with this recipe is resisting picking up the bones and nibbling the crispy brown meat.

Here are a couple of pictures.  Not sure I got the bones/meat brown enough.

 

[Okanagancook]

Made the roasted shallots.  Really easy and must have been good because I made 1.5 lbs of shallots raw and there were four left after a dinner for 7 people!

[rustwood]

I made the Buckwheat Crepes with Sauteed Apples and Toffee Sauce this morning.  I don't have much experience with crepes (mostly just the Shopsin's fake crepes), but they seemed plenty good to me.   Of course they would almost have to be good given all of the butter, cream, eggs, and sugar involved.  I didn't make the malt ice cream, nor did I serve any other ice cream, although I am sure a little vanilla would be a great addition. 

 

After I had semi-manually added the recipe to my Paprika database, I stumbled onto the recipe here:

 

http://www.extracrispy.com/food/912/these-buckwheat-crepes-stand-up-to-the-french-classic

 

I should have searched for it first as it would have been a lot easier to import it from there.

 

[Okanagancook]

Made the roasted halved cherry tomatoes.  I liked the savoury herb flavour.  Dead easy.  Do we need a recipe for this?

[Okanagancook]

I made the ritz crackers and the sesame crackers.  Again, the baking time is way off.  Almost double what she calls for.  Meh to both recipes.  Forking waste of time, grrrrrr

[Anna N]

11 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I made the ritz crackers and the sesame crackers.  Again, the baking time is way off.  Almost double what she calls for.  Meh to both recipes.  Forking waste of time, grrrrrr

It seems inappropriate in too many ways to hit the like button  so I'll just say thanks for trying.