592555 Sun Feb 01 04:28:15 -0800 2009 21 31 Home Cooking 0 4377102 February 2009 COTM: A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider Please post your full-length reviews of poultry and meat recipes here. Please mention the name of the recipe you are reviewing and the book and page number, if possible, as well as any modifications you made to the recipe. A reminder that the verbatim copying of recipes to the boards is a violation of the copyright of the original author. Posts with copied recipes will be removed. Thanks for participating! Sun Feb 01 04:28:15 -0800 2009 10985 MMRuth 1 4387120 Szechwan Pepper-Crusted Steak Smothered with Onions, p 317 with Port Wine Sauce (modified) p. 637 How ironic that my first COTM post and introduction is this recipe! This book appeals to me for its simplicity and vegetarian options. But my 13 year old cooks on Tuesday nights and given free reign (and groceries) from the book this was his choice. It was a huge success and very easy to follow and produce a successful meal. For the onions we used what we had on hand which was two white onions from our CSA box and one red. Followed the recipe details and timing otherwise and they were excellent. I suspected we would each eat a small portion and have significant leftovers since it made quite a lot. We ate it all and both kids wished there was more. Whole Foods had some very reasonably priced Eye of Round (?). We don't cook much meat so struggled with timing and doneness, but it ended up fine and the pepper flavor was good. We just used a tricolor peppercorn mix and didn't worry about restraining the powder. Also made a rub by mixing the oil, pepper, salt, and ginger instead of doing it in the steps she recommended. That seemed much simpler and worked well. My son was eager to make a Port Wine Sauce -- he loosely followed the recipe on p. 637, but had to mix some red wine leftover from Sunday with a little bit of Port. The reduction needed some mellowing that a glob of butter handled nicely. Served this with bread and a broccoli salad. I'm sure we'll make it again. The onions would go well with any flavorful meat. Wed Feb 04 10:55:55 -0800 2009 4377102 260447 runandeat 2 4389989 13 yr old boy who likes to cook? I love it! He is going to be a catch in a few years:) Thu Feb 05 09:21:58 -0800 2009 4387120 95577 yamalam 1 4392770 Turkey Burgers with Apples, Onions, and Sage, p. 348 I had mentioned in the mother thread that there is a typo in this recipe- it basically says to do the onion and apple saute and then add 1 t. of that mixture to the ground turkey to make the patties. Obviously not correct! Anyway, I halved the recipe, but I ended up adding all of the apple and onion mixture. This seemed to be the right decision, because they were moist, but definitely not too moist. We really, really liked these- the apples added just a tiny bit of sweetness that went really well with the caramelized onions. The sage just tipped it all off really well too. We will definitely be making these again, and I'm not even sure I would need a bun next time, which is saying a lot because I'm definitely a bread fan. They went great with sweet potato fries! Fri Feb 06 07:46:21 -0800 2009 4377102 12813 Katie Nell 2 4392985 Katie -- Are you saying you used half the amount of turkey but the full amount of apple/onion as in the original recipe? I'm getting confused and this sounds like it should be tried. Fri Feb 06 08:39:25 -0800 2009 4392770 123744 karykat 3 4393537 Sorry, I halved the entire recipe, so I used a 1/2 lb. of turkey and halved the rest of the ingredients too, since there's only 2 of us. So, a 1/4 cup onions, 1/4 of a medium apple, etc., but I used all of the apple mixture from that in the meat mixture. I hope that makes sense! The one thing that I would have done differently is to flatten them out even more than I did- they puff up quite a bit. Fri Feb 06 11:09:14 -0800 2009 4392985 12813 Katie Nell 4 4399729 Excellent. I haven't made burgers with ground turkey or chicken and our coop has some from really good local vendors. So I think it's time to try. Thanks for the proportions. Sun Feb 08 21:26:12 -0800 2009 4393537 123744 karykat 2 4440379 My turn on the turkey burgers. I agree, they were the best turkey burgers I've had! The flavors were great, as Katie said, thanks to the apples, onions, and sage, and the milk-soaked bread definitely helped keep things moist and bind everything together. I doubled the apples, but not the onions, and they were indeed moist, but not at all too sweet. I made these as mini burgers on sourdough rolls for a bbq/dinner party and put out a number of different toppings. The favorites were cranberry sauce, smoked gouda, dijon mustard, and pickled onions. Thanks for the rec, and the heads up on the typo too. Sat Feb 21 20:11:20 -0800 2009 4392770 95577 yamalam 3 4440388 Ooh, your toppings sound great! I'm afraid I wasn't that creative, cheddar and honey mustard, but I'll use your ideas next time. I wish she had a veggie burger recipe too- I'm on a mission to find the best recipe. Sat Feb 21 20:16:02 -0800 2009 4440379 12813 Katie Nell 3 4440443 Do you turkey-burger-makers think you could pan fry these? Or at least start them that way? My broiler has one distance-setting from the flame and I'm not sure that will be right. Was thinking of starting on the stovetop and finishing in the broiler? Sat Feb 21 21:03:38 -0800 2009 4440379 123744 karykat 4 4440523 Definitely. I think she shies away from pan-frying because of the extra oil used, but it would definitely work. Or a Foreman grill too. BTW, the calorie count as listed in the book is only 200 per 1/4 lb. burger. Sat Feb 21 21:50:48 -0800 2009 4440443 95577 yamalam 5 4441242 Yes, I bet you're right. She is very conscious of fat and calories without being preachy about it. I was thinking of making these for a main course and then a butterscotch pudding for a blowout decadent dessert. Sun Feb 22 09:23:55 -0800 2009 4440523 123744 karykat 4 4441821 I actually ended up finishing them on the stovetop, because mine were getting a little too dark too fast under the broiler. Sun Feb 22 13:09:11 -0800 2009 4440443 12813 Katie Nell 5 4444371 That might be the ticket for me. Start them in the broiler, see how it goes and finish on the stovetop if need be. Thanks for this thought. Mon Feb 23 11:34:05 -0800 2009 4441821 123744 karykat 6 4449698 What about the grill? I'm only interested in these if I can grill them. . .any reason why that won't work? Thanks. Tue Feb 24 20:18:03 -0800 2009 4444371 244460 pastaguy 1 4399507 Chicken w/ Sherry Vinegar Sauce Pg 338 I love this recipe!! I've had this book for a few years now, but before I bought it, I came across this recipe from a foodblog( I think??). I make it at least 1 or 2x a year. Its a perfect make ahead dish because the flavors really get better the longer it sits. Its a classic braise w/ amontillado sherry( I use one I got a Trader Joes) and sherry vinegar along w/ shallots, mustard and chopped canned tomatoes. Yummy, its so tasty and comforting. I did make the brown butter orzo risotto so I'll give that review in the proper thread. Personally, I think if you make nothing else from this book, the book is worth it for this recipe!! I make the recipe as written, except I sprinkle some chopped italian parsely to finish. Sun Feb 08 19:31:27 -0800 2009 4377102 190009 Calipoutine 2 4411656 I made this last night and I agree that it was great. I didn't have the sweet sherry so I used the alternative in the recipe for dry sherry and added honey. I had some leftovers for lunch today. I purposely made a little extra so that I had leftovers - otherwise there wouldn't have been any. Thu Feb 12 13:17:17 -0800 2009 4399507 39323 Mary64 1 4423079 Several times in the past, I made the Revisionist Confit of Duck Legs (p. 313) using guinea hen legs once when the butcher's was out of duck. I have also used her confit seasoning mix for whole roasted chickens that made grown Frenchmen swoon. I heartily recommend the recipe and hope someone else gives it a try before the end of this COTM. This is the recipe that made the book for me :-) Snowpea Mon Feb 16 17:07:59 -0800 2009 4377102 203842 TheSnowpea 1 4430161 Chicken Breasts with Mexican Flavors (306) I made this in January (how presumptuous of me!) when I checked this book out of the library to peruse during the suggestions thread. So I'll try to report with clarity looking back on that chilly night. I know I was delighted with the results of this hot satisfying meal, pefect for an easy, fun winter dinner. This recipe inolves making her Ancho Chile Sauce/Revisionist Mole (p 656) and then basically cooking a bone-in breast in a foil packet with some grilled onions and the mole sauce. The sauce comes together quickly in the blender -- just rehydrate the dried chiles (I used pasilla plus Ancho) and then add to a bunch of other goodies in the blender, then cook it down with some tomatoes and a touch of chocolate at the end. I liked this for an easy chicken preparation with unusual flavors-- the sauce and onions were all set ahead of time, and then an hour-plus before I wanted to eat, I just assembled the packets and threw them in the oven. Quite tasty. This isn't my favorite-ever COTM chicken preparation (probably chicken Marbella would tie for that one with Mario's chicken cacciatore), , but for a weeknight idea I enjoyed it quite a bit. My roommate doesn't even really care for Mexican flavors, but he liked it and said "This tastes like something you would get in a restaurant. Wow." I would serve it to guests but maybe not super-foodie guests because I would have to go overboard with that and pretend I'm on Top Chef.. LOL The recipe makes a big batch of the sauce which can be frozen, and then this can be whipped up in a snap. So if I had people pop by unexpectedly, I would happily put this together and serve it. I don't have the book in front of me now, so I'm not sure of exact cooking times, except that I know I needed to add on at least 20 minutes to what she suggested. I just kept checking the chicken to make sure it was cooked all the way through. Double wrap the foil to avoid leaks. I really enjoyed the flavors of the sauce and the way it melted into/onto the chicken while cooking. I served this with her Warm Bean Salad with Balsamic-Bacon Vinaigrette (444). I liked the beans SO much too -- packed with flavor and great as an accompaniment to this meal. Wed Feb 18 16:42:26 -0800 2009 4377102 56490 foxy fairy 1 4443503 Chicken or Rabbit Braised in Wine: A Guide to Improvising, p 333. I picked a bad month to try to start participating in COTM since I've barely cooked at all this month! I finally pulled out this cookbook this weekend, though. A grocery store I frequent always has rabbit and I've been curious about trying to cook it, so I used this as an excuse! I was pretty happy with the results, though not totally bowled over. My husband liked it (he's pretty anti-chicken most of the time and prefers rabbit as a lean meat anyway). He renamed the dish "Drunk Bunny" b/c it uses a ton of alcohol! As one of the guides to improvising, she gives lots of different suggestions and options. Here's what I did: I has some reserved bacon fat in the fridge so used that instead of cooking bacon or using olive oil. About an hour before I started cooking, I soaked some prunes (which were nice and soft anyway) in sherry since that's the fortified wine that needed to be used up in our household. Cut up the rabbit - her directions are tough to follow for my first time butchering this particular animal, so I also looked at some other suggestions. Basically, rabbit is small and bony so a pain to cut into nice pieces, though I suspect I'd get neater with experience. Flour rabbit pieces and brown. Cook shallots. Added sherry from the prunes, cooked, added lots of red wine, cooked, added chicken broth, thyme and rosemary. Put rabbit legs and bony rib pieces (but not loin pieces) in pan, cooked, added loin pieces, cooked, reduced sauce a bit, added prunes, cooked, touch of sugar, lemon, salt, pepper. Forgot to add the last bit of brandy or eau-de-vie. We only ate the big meaty back legs last night, so haven't seen how the loin or front legs held up in the braise. But it was nice and fully flavored and tender. I served it over cous-cous, which worked fine but could have done something else. The sauce remained very liquidy, and I didn't feel like pulling out the rabbit to reduce it more (plus which, it was late and we were starving), but probably could have benefited from much longer reducing time than she suggests in the recipe. So, a good guide to braising lean meat, I think, if not earth-shattering. I also made her braise-sauteed dense, starchy vegetables, but I'll post that on the appropriate thread. Mon Feb 23 08:01:49 -0800 2009 4377102 10320 The Turtle Bay Dove 2 4484027 I scored a rabbit at Borough Market for a bargainous 4 quid so my turn on the "drunken bunny" lol. I soaked the prunes in port, and used juniper berries as the flavouring, as she suggests. The butcher had jointed the rabbit for me, thank God. The sauce was rich and delicious, especially considering the small amount of fat, but I think I prefer rabbit to be cooked until it falls off the bone. I did cook it a bit longer than she suggests, but i think rabbit needs at least an hour of braising for it to be truly tender. My dinner guests seemed pretty happy, but this won't be my go-to rabbit recipe. A friend used to cook a bunny dish to die for with bacon, cider and cream - must get the recipe for that one! Sun Mar 08 06:28:26 -0700 2009 4443503 110146 greedygirl 1 4647380 Lamb Burgers, p. 348 This a variation under Homemade Sausages, using Merguez spices. These burgers made a great lunch today. I used ground lamb seasoned with s&p, minced garlic, paprika, ground cumin, coriander, fennel seeds, cinnamon, and cayenne, along with a little bread soaked in milk. I did up the spices to taste, especially the cayenne, and added some Spanish smoked paprika too. I grilled them and served with sliced tomato and a sauce I made with Greek yogurt, aleppo pepper, Penzey's shallot salt, minced cucumber, and mint. Delicious. Fri May 01 20:40:45 -0700 2009 4377102 10271 Rubee