Cooking with "Cook's Illustrated"

[CaliPoutine]

Ok, maybe I'm going crazy. I thought for sure that the CI potato salad calls for Russets. The first time I made it, thats how I did it. Then, I thought I saw another recipe that calls for Yukon Golds.

What does it call for?

[kiliki]

Russets. The Cook's Country potato salad that is in that blog calls for Yukons, though.

[jsmeeker]

That reminds me, the CI American Potato Salad is fantastic. Putting a couple tbs of vinegar on the potatoes while they are still hot makes such a difference.

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Indeed. I like that technique. However, I'm less of a fan of the use of russets. I know that supposedly makes it "classic" but to me, that's a flaw in classic American potato salad.

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What would correct that flaw?

I made this potato salad yesterday, and it was good, but it definitely ends up more like mashed potato salad.

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Different potatoes. A waxy one instead of starchy one like the russet. You could go with yukon golds or new potatoes.

As far as differences? I suppose CI has had various recipes over the years and/or when people copy them onto their blog, they may make slight ingredient substitutions

[snowangel]

This is my go-to potato salad method, complete with russets. The key is to slightly undercook the potatoes, and I love the results, expeciall when the warm cubes are combined with a vinegar that has been sitting for a few weeks (months?) with lemon slices and dill. Since the potatoes are tossed with the vinegar while they are warm, then left to cool, they continue to cook.

[Chris Hennes]

Pork Lo Mein (September 2008, p. 14)

Recipe here if you have online access.

I was impressed with this recipe: not because it was so great, but because for once Cook's Illustrated actually called for real Chinese ingredients and listed substitutes, instead of assuming none of us had access to an Asian market. All told, the result was tasty, though there are a few things I would change next time. First off, I only had bone-in ribs, which were a pain to deal with, so next time I will try to find boneless. Second, I will cut the pork into smaller pieces, since the best part were the little crispy bits at the edges. I also thought that overall the dish could use more flavor: I used freshly-made homemade five-spice powder, which kinda took over the dish. More of the other sauce ingredients would have balanced it out and given a bit more "oomph" to the finished dish. On the plus side, the slightly-crispy cabbage was a great addition, and searing the pork over very high heat in a cast iron skillet gave a great charred flavor.

[BarbaraY]

I don't have online access because I'm stingy. I did go to the site and it suggested country style ribs or pork tenderloin. I wouldn't use tenderloin as it's way too tender and has no fat. When cooking Chinese and Chinese style dishes I prefer pork shoulder.

Love those cast iron skillets!

[pam claughton]

I love CI, and a few years ago bought one of their books The Best Recipe, which has most of their classics. One recipe I've made repeatedly is their split pea with ham. It's the best version I've had anywhere.....the key is carmelizing the vegetables at the beginning, it adds such great flavor. Time-consuming, but worth it.

Their basic meatball recipe is another keeper. I am a bit of a science geek evidently because one of the things I love most about CI is their detailed explanations of all the different variations they tried and the discoveries they made.

And I am sold on the vodka crust too. Though I have a very sadly neglected food blog, I did blog about this crust and the bittersweet chocolate pecan pie that I made with it.

[Aileen]

I made the Crisp Oven-Fried Fish from the latest issue the other night. The flavor was very good, but I doubt I would make it again. The coating had the tendency to break off in chunks, which really bothers me for some reason. I'm still looking for a perfect oven-fried fish recipe.

[Chris Hennes]

Penne alla Vodka (November 2006, p. 10)

Recipe here if you have online access.

This is one of my favorite Cook's Illustrated recipes, in part due to its simplicity. It only takes enough time to bring the water to a boil and cook the pasta, in one saute pan, with a minimum of ingredients, most of which are pantry staples. For me, the exception to the "Pantry Staple" list is their choice of vodka: according to their tasters, you can taste the difference between the superpremiums and the crap, and they like the pricey stuff. I bought a bottle of Belvedere a couple years ago specifically to make this recipe, and I finally ran out tonight and had to use the rotgut I had in the cupboard. To be honest, while I guess in a side-by-side tasting you could probably tell the difference, I thought it still tasted great with the garbage vodka. So fret not if you don't stock Belvedere in your liquor cabinet: anything you've got is fine, even if it comes in a plastic bottle .

[Andrew Fenton]

Just made the Raised Waffles recipe (March-April 2004) for the third or fourth time. I keep trying it, because I really want it to work: a yeasted waffle that has a good long time to rise has the potential for more complex, deep flavors than typical waffles. But each time I've been disappointed: the waffles come out flabby and yeasty-tasting. Has anybody been successful with the recipe? Am I missing something? Or is it just a bad recipe?

[Margo]

I have, and it worked for me. And beyond that, I'm afraid I'm not much help. I made the recipe several weekends in a row after it was published, and then we moved off waffles to omelets for Sunday breakfast....

But to solve the "flabbiness" problem, maybe keep them in a warm oven, unwrapped and unstacked, as I believe the recipe suggests? They were almost too crisp for my taste that way.

[MelissaH]

I use the Cook's Illustrated technique (mix everything including the eggs together, omitting any baking soda called for, and leave the batter in the fridge overnight) with Marion Cunningham's ingredients (available in many cookbooks including Fannie Farmer and Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible, as well as a bunch of on-line sources including this one. It makes really crisp waffles. But then again, we tend to eat them as they come off the waffle iron. We each finish our half a waffle (or less, if we have company) before the next one's cooked, so they don't sit around and flab up. When we're full, any extras get bagged and frozen. They toast up just as crisp as the day they were first made.

MelissaH

[Elizabeth Clauser]

The other night I made the Golden Northern Cornbread from the September 1995 issue, and I was quite disappointed with how it turned out. From the article:

This cornbread is moist and light, with the rich taste of corn. Use stone-ground or water-ground cornmeal for the best taste and texture. Either yellow or white cornmeal bakes into a handsome, delicious cornbread.

In my opinion, there was very little flavor, it was a bit dry, and it was not very "Northern-like" at all to my tastes (that is, it was not soft, moist and sweet). What gives? I could swear I have made a successful CI-recipe cornbread before, it must not have been this one! I was left wondering if it was the cornmeal itself: I used a stone-ground organic that had lots of germ in it, so I was hoping for a lot of great flavor, as the article promised me! Is there another Northern-style cornbread recipe in a more recent issue that I could be thinking of? (I feel like it might have actually had corn kernels in it, anyone remember that one?)

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I make many, many items successfully from CI's various offerings, but I have to concur that the Northern Cornbread was problematic. I used high quality, stone-ground cornmeal that as far as I know wasn't sitting around very long. Yet mine also was a bit dry and lackluster. I tried more than once, thinking I had over-baked or any number of other variables, but never hit on a winning version with this recipe.

I did, however, make the cinnamon rolls from Baking Illustrated this weekend and they have never let me down. Yum!

[Kim Shook]

I made these CI blueberry muffins this weekend:

Absolutely delicious! We all loved them and my MIL says that these are going to be her go-to muffins in the future!

[Lapin d'Argent]

I've been a subscriber to CI since their inaugural issue, and I have all the bound books to make it easier to look up favorite recipes. I don't cook from CI recipes as much as I used to, mostly because my cooking style has shifted to a lighter, fresher style. BUT, there are a number of recipes that I turn to again and again over the years, usually as a seasonal treat, that I think are the best, and I'm not going to bother looking for something better.

Here are the ones I can remember off the top of my head, in chronological order:

- Classic Potato Gratin (November 1995)

- Fresh peach ice cream (July 1998)

- Turkey Tetrazzini (September 1999)

- Classic Green Bean Casserole (November 2006)

- Pan-Seared Shrimp with Garlic-Lemon Butter (March 2004)

I also enjoy re-reading the annual editions from time to time, to remind myself of recipes I forgot about, or something I never did get around to trying. This thread prompted me to go back and review some of the early years, and I had forgotten how open CI used to be to outside influences -- recipes and master classes from various chefs, contributions from the likes of Steve Johnson and Mark Bittman. Lately to me they seem to be rather insular, and the articles are all retreads, but I can't seem to break the habit...

- Laura

[Jujubee]

I made the Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake (March/April 2006) for a birthday party last week and it got rave reviews. The cake itself is nicely moist with a good chocolate flavor and bakes up into nice tall layers, but what people really loved was the frosting. It was billowy and fluffy and so light it almost melted on your tongue, but it was still very chocolate-y.

[merstar]

I made these CI blueberry muffins this weekend:

Absolutely delicious!  We all loved them and my MIL says that these are going to be her go-to muffins in the future!

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They look great! I have two CI blueberry muffin recipes in my files. Are these the "Best Blueberry Muffins?"

[Kim Shook]

Merstar - yep, those are them! Really lemony and good - I love the combination of lemon and blueberry!

[merstar]

Hey Kim,

Are you sure these are the "Best Blueberry Muffins", and not the "Blueberry Muffins?" The recipe I have for the Blueberry muffins contains lemon zest, but I don't see it in the one for the Best blueberry muffins. I found the Best blueberry recipe on another site - Could the poster have omitted the lemon from the recipe? Thanks.

[merstar]

Ah, never mind - disregard my previous post directly above this one - I saw from your post on Mimi's that this is yet another CI muffin recipe, called "Best Blueberry muffins with streusel topping!"

[ElsieD]

The blueberry muffin with the streusel topping sucked, IMO.

[Chris Hennes]

What didn't you like about them? I haven't tried the recipe, but from Kim's photo I am certainly tempted to.

[Kim Shook]

I'm curious too. They were tender without being cakelike, the struesel topping is part of the muffin and doesn't crumble off. The lemon taste is a gentle and almost elusive. Not too awfully sweet, but not one of those sawdusty healthy specimins either. Just wondering what you hated about them.

[CaliPoutine]

Elsie, what kind of flour do you use?

I've made a few recipes lately that didnt turn out all that great( one was a cake I always make).

I figured it out. I bought some flour from a local mill( in London, ON). I think the protein content of Canadian flour is a lot higher than US flour.

[isomer]

Today I made the no-knead bread 2.0 recipe from the January 2008 issue of Cook's Illustrated. Here's how it came out (comments follow):

The crust is completely amazing! Baking the bread in a dutch oven really, really works. It's light and very crispy. The crumb is also very nice. Chewy and open.

I made one mistake which was to use kosher salt when the recipe called for table salt. I only noticed afterwards, so I didn't use enough. But beyond being somewhat undersalted, the other components are pretty good. Adding beer and vinegar makes it takes pretty good. It's not anywhere near as complex as a good sourdough, but heck, for 10 minutes of work, this is really hard to beat.

I'm going to make it again for sure.

They have a video podcast showing the procedure, which I believe is free to watch for anybody: Almost No-Knead Bread

Edited September 21, 2008 by isomer (log)