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Post by pairesta on May 3, 2017 10:02:07 GMT -5
Based on your experiences with his books, I'm feeling like I should pull out my copies of "Tender" and "Ripe" and try to keep them on hand for this coming farm/garden/orchard season. My impression had been that they are a little more guideline-y than serious-recipe-y, if that makes any sense, but that's probably the entire point!  He's right on your wavelength. I mean, you do alot of it already but it'd be good validation for what you do. |
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on May 3, 2017 10:27:29 GMT -5
May's cooking is Street Food of Mexico by James Beard Award winning (as of today!) chef Hugo Ortega, heading up my favorite Houston restaurant, Hugo's. Actually the book doesn't lend itself well to concentrated monthlong cooking (I mean, I'm happy to eat tortas every night for a week, but it's probably not advisable), so I may augment with some other Mexican or Tex Mex books in my collection. Very excited to hear your report on this one, it's a very intriguing subject to me and Hugo is awesome. So excited to do a road trip for Xochi. Another book in a similar field that's on my radar is True Texas Mexican by Adán Medrano, which came from a university press. |
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Post by pairesta on May 3, 2017 10:38:45 GMT -5
May's cooking is Street Food of Mexico by James Beard Award winning (as of today!) chef Hugo Ortega, heading up my favorite Houston restaurant, Hugo's. Actually the book doesn't lend itself well to concentrated monthlong cooking (I mean, I'm happy to eat tortas every night for a week, but it's probably not advisable), so I may augment with some other Mexican or Tex Mex books in my collection. Very excited to hear your report on this one, it's a very intriguing subject to me and Hugo is awesome. So excited to do a road trip for Xochi. Another book in a similar field that's on my radar is True Texas Mexican by Adán Medrano, which came from a university press. Eager to hear your thoughts on Xochi. My parents went the week it opened for lunch and loved it. Went back for dinner and were disappointed; said everything was bland and underseasoned. My brother and his wife went some time later and had the same complaint. I had Xochi pretty high my list of possible birthday dinner destinations and that spooked me off. Last night I made his vegetarian tacos with roasted potatoes, swiss chard, and mushrooms and they were amazing. |
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Smacks
Shoutbox Elitist 
Smacks from the Dead
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Post by Smacks on May 3, 2017 11:05:07 GMT -5
Based on your experiences with his books, I'm feeling like I should pull out my copies of "Tender" and "Ripe" and try to keep them on hand for this coming farm/garden/orchard season. My impression had been that they are a little more guideline-y than serious-recipe-y, if that makes any sense, but that's probably the entire point! He's right on your wavelength. I mean, you do alot of it already but it'd be good validation for what you do. I'm curious about Tender, but couldn't get a great feel for it looking on Amazon. I don't have a garden, but with my produce delivery I get a large variety of seasonal vegetables weekly and they are my food of choice the majority of the time. I keep very few pantry or fridge staples though. How simple are the recipes, really? Would this book give me cooking methods and simple ideas or would I have to be running to the store for extra ingredients? |
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Post by pairesta on May 3, 2017 11:26:38 GMT -5
He's right on your wavelength. I mean, you do alot of it already but it'd be good validation for what you do. I'm curious about Tender, but couldn't get a great feel for it looking on Amazon. I don't have a garden, but with my produce delivery I get a large variety of seasonal vegetables weekly and they are my food of choice the majority of the time. I keep very few pantry or fridge staples though. How simple are the recipes, really? Would this book give me cooking methods and simple ideas or would I have to be running to the store for extra ingredients? Slater is really relaxed in his style. He's not dogmatic about much. His recipes basically come from what he has onhand and what he's craving and then working from there, and I don't get the sense that he's super well stocked with three or four bottles of stuff from every cuisine imaginable. He'd be the last person to criticize you for not following one of his recipes: if you have something else, and think that'd work better, go for it. Also, it's not just the recipes, even: at the outset of each section on a particular vegetable, he lists other ingredients and preparations that suit that vegetable well so you can just go off those. Here's an example: he has a section on Chinese greens. One of his recipes is to steam/boil the greens, and while they're cooking, saute some garlic in oil, then pour in oyster or hoisin sauce to cook with it. Dress the steamed greens with that mixture. That's it. That's his dinner! I'm sure that's a stock Chinese recipe, but it seems like usually there's alot more going on in the authentic Chinese recipes I've read or used, and here he just distills it to its essence. I'm contemplating a CSA next year, and specifically thought that this cookbook in particular would be a big help in that regard. |
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Smacks
Shoutbox Elitist
Smacks from the Dead
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Post by Smacks on May 3, 2017 11:44:44 GMT -5
I'm curious about Tender, but couldn't get a great feel for it looking on Amazon. I don't have a garden, but with my produce delivery I get a large variety of seasonal vegetables weekly and they are my food of choice the majority of the time. I keep very few pantry or fridge staples though. How simple are the recipes, really? Would this book give me cooking methods and simple ideas or would I have to be running to the store for extra ingredients? Slater is really relaxed in his style. He's not dogmatic about much. His recipes basically come from what he has onhand and what he's craving and then working from there, and I don't get the sense that he's super well stocked with three or four bottles of stuff from every cuisine imaginable. He'd be the last person to criticize you for not following one of his recipes: if you have something else, and think that'd work better, go for it. Also, it's not just the recipes, even: at the outset of each section on a particular vegetable, he lists other ingredients and preparations that suit that vegetable well so you can just go off those. Here's an example: he has a section on Chinese greens. One of his recipes is to steam/boil the greens, and while they're cooking, saute some garlic in oil, then pour in oyster or hoisin sauce to cook with it. Dress the steamed greens with that mixture. That's it. That's his dinner! I'm sure that's a stock Chinese recipe, but it seems like usually there's alot more going on in the authentic Chinese recipes I've read or used, and here he just distills it to its essence. I'm contemplating a CSA next year, and specifically thought that this cookbook in particular would be a big help in that regard. Thanks, that actually sounds perfect. I get bored with my usual preparation of veggies but I do like to make a meal out of some greens, or a pepper and potatoes, with the right prep and seasonings. I should definitely check this out. |
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Post by pairesta on Jun 5, 2017 9:35:20 GMT -5
May's cooking is Street Food of Mexico by James Beard Award winning (as of today!) chef Hugo Ortega, heading up my favorite Houston restaurant, Hugo's. Actually the book doesn't lend itself well to concentrated monthlong cooking (I mean, I'm happy to eat tortas every night for a week, but it's probably not advisable), so I may augment with some other Mexican or Tex Mex books in my collection. Reviewing this, it basically covers antojitos (masa snacks or appetizers), tacos, tortas, and ceviches, with an additional chapter on salsas. So it's not a comprehensive overview of Mexican cuisine, but then again, it's right there in the title what the focus is. (There's also a chapter on sweets, but I didn't do any of those). As we saw on the food thread, I struggled with the antojitos, and pretty much just stuck to tacos. So, probably not enough variety or depth for a month of cooking, but none of us seemed to tire of it. I didn't do the more adventurous stuff, like a taco wrapped around an entire stuffed poblano en nogado, or another taco made of a deep-fried pig's foot, complete with bones it simply directed you to spit out between bites. Gross. For what it does, though, it does really well. You could buy this and plan a fun little party featuring a recipe from each chapter, for instance. |
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Post by pairesta on Jun 5, 2017 9:39:01 GMT -5
In June I'm doing Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen. Unfortunately, looking at our schedule for the coming month, I have only 8 days to work with to cook from this book: vacations, birthdays, and my wife and kids on their own trip eat up the rest of the time. So I'll be unable to get anywhere near in depth with the book, probably.
Which is a pity because it's surprisingly deep and covers alot of ground. Just when I think it's about to wrap up, there's yet another chapter with a wealth of recipes. So I'll probably be stuck doing a greatest hits type approach (a salad one night, a noodle bowl the next, pho another, etc).
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LazBro
Prolific Poster 
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Post by LazBro on Jun 5, 2017 9:41:50 GMT -5
Reviewing this, it basically covers antojitos (masa snacks or appetizers), tacos, tortas, and ceviches, with an additional chapter on salsas. So it's not a comprehensive overview of Mexican cuisine, but then again, it's right there in the title what the focus is. (There's also a chapter on sweets, but I didn't do any of those). As we saw on the food thread, I struggled with the antojitos, and pretty much just stuck to tacos. So, probably not enough variety or depth for a month of cooking, but none of us seemed to tire of it. I didn't do the more adventurous stuff, like a taco wrapped around an entire stuffed poblano en nogado, or another taco made of a deep-fried pig's foot, complete with bones it simply directed you to spit out between bites. Gross. For what it does, though, it does really well. You could buy this and plan a fun little party featuring a recipe from each chapter, for instance. Sounds pretty good. I mean, is it even possible to get tired of tacos? This post alone has made me decide that my leftover rib-eye is headed for taco town. That trotter dish reminds me of the first time I went to Tei An. There was a monkfish soup on special, and I'd never had monkfish at all, so I was really eager to try "poor man's lobster." The soup was delicious and the monkfish good, but it was just a hunk of it, bones and all, which was super awkward to eat. Like, either you had to get your hands on it to tear the meat - which again, hot soup - or you had to just pull it into your mouth and kind of hoover the fish off and spit the bones back out. Tasty but not pleasant. |
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Post by pairesta on Jun 5, 2017 9:56:15 GMT -5
That trotter dish reminds me of the first time I went to Tei An. There was a monkfish soup on special, and I'd never had monkfish at all, so I was really eager to try "poor man's lobster." The soup was delicious and the monkfish good, but it was just a hunk of it, bones and all, which was super awkward to eat. Like, either you had to get your hands on it to tear the meat - which again, hot soup - or you had to just pull it into your mouth and kind of hoover the fish off and spit the bones back out. Tasty but not pleasant. I can't wrap my head around any dish with lots of little bones to negotiate, or shell, and it's served hot. Like, chili crab. It smells insane. But you've got a whole, hot, greasy crab to figure out how to get the meat out of. I have no idea how to approach it, and wind up with more sauce on my fingers and shirt than in my belly. |
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Jun 16, 2017 10:19:37 GMT -5
We just went to Mala Sichuan in Houston and they had a spicy bullfrog stirfry, so of course we got it, but just like Snape's monkfish, it had a zillion tiny bullfrog ribs and other bones to eat around. Still super delicious, but kind of a pain.
Andrea Nguyen is amazing and I want all of her books. Well, to be clear, I only have one - the deep dive into pho - and haven't made any recipes from it, but the historical essays and other context are great, the writing style is so friendly and approachable, and the recipes are helpfully explained and targeted with separate versions for beginners and pros.
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Post by pairesta on Jun 19, 2017 11:52:12 GMT -5
We just went to Mala Sichuan in Houston and they had a spicy bullfrog stirfry, so of course we got it, but just like Snape's monkfish, it had a zillion tiny bullfrog ribs and other bones to eat around. Still super delicious, but kind of a pain. Andrea Nguyen is amazing and I want all of her books. Well, to be clear, I only have one - the deep dive into pho - and haven't made any recipes from it, but the historical essays and other context are great, the writing style is so friendly and approachable, and the recipes are helpfully explained and targeted with separate versions for beginners and pros. Get the book I'm working off of now next then. It surveys all of Vietnamese food and hits many of the classics. Plus the beginning of the book is about her and her family's flight from Vietnam. |
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Post by pairesta on Jun 29, 2017 8:31:43 GMT -5
In June I'm doing Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen. Unfortunately, looking at our schedule for the coming month, I have only 8 days to work with to cook from this book: vacations, birthdays, and my wife and kids on their own trip eat up the rest of the time. So I'll be unable to get anywhere near in depth with the book, probably. Which is a pity because it's surprisingly deep and covers alot of ground. Just when I think it's about to wrap up, there's yet another chapter with a wealth of recipes. So I'll probably be stuck doing a greatest hits type approach (a salad one night, a noodle bowl the next, pho another, etc). Highly recommended. I had alot of fun this month. Only one recipe I tried--fried quail--didn't appeal to me and I ultimately went with a different version instead because of how complicated it was. |
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Post by Desert Dweller on Jul 15, 2017 22:46:47 GMT -5
So, I talked to my mom tonight. She had a checkup for the first time in about 15 years. She's 71.
Mom: "Dr said I had mild anemia, borderline high cholesterol, and high blood sugar bordering on Type II diabetes"
Me: "So.... he said your diet sucks and you need to eat completely different stuff?"
Mom: "..... Yeah."
Yep. I've been telling my mom she needs to stop eating so much junk food for *years*! YEARS!
So, who has a cookbook recommendation for very light, healthy meals? Can't be too long in prep time because she is in charge of a 4 year old.
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Post by Pastafarian on Jul 15, 2017 23:04:39 GMT -5
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Jul 21, 2017 13:43:53 GMT -5
Didn't want to start a new thread for cooking magazines, so thought I'd drop this in here.
Received a promo mailer for Cook's Illustrated. Anyone have a subscription? I love print media and this seems to have more usable information than any other cooking magazine we've ever received. Ten bucks for a year seems worth a try.
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Post by pairesta on Jul 21, 2017 14:07:02 GMT -5
Didn't want to start a new thread for cooking magazines, so thought I'd drop this in here. Received a promo mailer for Cook's Illustrated. Anyone have a subscription? I love print media and this seems to have more usable information than any other cooking magazine we've ever received. Ten bucks for a year seems worth a try. My wife it for me for Christmas and I love it. Without fail, you'll think of something you want to know about cooking, then your new issue arrives and there's an article about it. Check on that price though. $10 for a year sounds really cheap for them. And if it's accurate please pass where you're getting to to me since my subscription's up. Also note that this does NOT get you access to their other material/sites like America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, etc and you have to pay extra for those AND older online content too. |
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LazBro
Prolific Poster
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Post by LazBro on Jul 21, 2017 14:17:07 GMT -5
Didn't want to start a new thread for cooking magazines, so thought I'd drop this in here. Received a promo mailer for Cook's Illustrated. Anyone have a subscription? I love print media and this seems to have more usable information than any other cooking magazine we've ever received. Ten bucks for a year seems worth a try. Yeah go for it. Cook's Illustrated is awesome, especially at that gerbonzers price. Only problem is after awhile they really do start to take up space. |
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Jul 22, 2017 21:37:17 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback. Subscribed.
Not sure if this is a one time use promo code or not, but I've already subscribed so give it a go.
cooksillustrated.com/giftoffer and use D7FR107AH
It gets you a year's subscription and a cookbook of their best recipes for $9.95.
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Post by songstarliner on Jul 22, 2017 22:00:47 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback. Subscribed. Not sure if this is a one time use promo code or not, but I've already subscribed so give it a go. cooksillustrated.com/giftoffer and use D7FR107AH It gets you a year's subscription and a cookbook of their best recipes for $9.95. I'm late to the conversation, but you won't regret subscribing - it's the real deal. It's one of the best cooking mags out there, and it has no ads. None. Well, aside from promoting their own cookbooks and such. Anyway, it's a joy to read. The one thing that I think they should do differently is to give subscribers access to an online index - just some way to cross-reference and find recipes without skimming through a whole stack of magazines. |
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Post by pairesta on Jul 23, 2017 20:02:04 GMT -5
The one thing that I think they should do differently is to give subscribers access to an online index - just some way to cross-reference and find recipes without skimming through a whole stack of magazines. They do, you just have to pay for the online content. Something that isn't clear in any of their subscription prices. You can get a month free as a first time offer. |
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Post by songstarliner on Jul 23, 2017 20:10:55 GMT -5
The one thing that I think they should do differently is to give subscribers access to an online index - just some way to cross-reference and find recipes without skimming through a whole stack of magazines. They do, you just have to pay for the online content. Something that isn't clear in any of their subscription prices. You can get a month free as a first time offer. No, I mean they should GIVE that to print subscribers. It shouldn't cost more to look at an index of magazines you've already paid for, don't you think? All the other online content -recipes, reviews, etc - can be behind a paywall, but we should at least be able to see that. |
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Post by pairesta on Jul 23, 2017 20:14:15 GMT -5
They do, you just have to pay for the online content. Something that isn't clear in any of their subscription prices. You can get a month free as a first time offer. No, I mean they should GIVE that to print subscribers. It shouldn't cost more to look at an index of magazines you've already paid for, don't you think? All the other online content -recipes, reviews, etc - can be behind a paywall, but we should at least be able to see that. I thought you could? You do a search, it shows where it turns up, then you click and it hits a paywall. A formal "index" would be harder to do since your paid subscription is limited to two or three issues at a time, so the index would have to adjust for that, plus the specific magazine you're subcribed to. |
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Post by songstarliner on Jul 23, 2017 20:23:15 GMT -5
No, I mean they should GIVE that to print subscribers. It shouldn't cost more to look at an index of magazines you've already paid for, don't you think? All the other online content -recipes, reviews, etc - can be behind a paywall, but we should at least be able to see that. I thought you could? You do a search, it shows where it turns up, then you click and it hits a paywall. A formal "index" would be harder to do since your paid subscription is limited to two or three issues at a time, so the index would have to adjust for that, plus the specific magazine you're subcribed to. You're absolutely right: I just did a bit of poking around for recipes, and the first thing they list is the date published.  It never occurred to me to really look at the subscriber-only website: I just assumed it would be inaccessible. |
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GumTurkeyles
AV Clubber 
$10 down, $10 a month, don't you be a turkey
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Jul 24, 2017 7:24:43 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback. Subscribed. Not sure if this is a one time use promo code or not, but I've already subscribed so give it a go. cooksillustrated.com/giftoffer and use D7FR107AH It gets you a year's subscription and a cookbook of their best recipes for $9.95. Awesome, thank you! A friend got me a subscription years ago and I renewed it once, but let it lapse after that. So I've gone about 3 years without it. I'm signing up again thanks to you. |
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Jul 24, 2017 12:34:09 GMT -5
Glad I could help.
And who says that direct mail marketing is dead?
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Jul 24, 2017 13:04:14 GMT -5
Didn't want to start a new thread for cooking magazines, so thought I'd drop this in here. Received a promo mailer for Cook's Illustrated. Anyone have a subscription? I love print media and this seems to have more usable information than any other cooking magazine we've ever received. Ten bucks for a year seems worth a try. Yeah go for it. Cook's Illustrated is awesome, especially at that gerbonzers price. Only problem is after awhile they really do start to take up space. I had to let my subscription lapse years ago because of how much room they were taking up. It's such a great magazine that you just never want to let an issue go! |
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Post by The Spice Weasel on Jul 24, 2017 15:27:40 GMT -5
How many pages is each issue? The sample one they sent in the mail was around 30 pages.
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Post by pairesta on Jul 24, 2017 16:40:18 GMT -5
Yep.
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Post by pairesta on Aug 1, 2017 8:04:38 GMT -5
In July I cooked from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem cookbook. I didn't really focus on it until the past week or so since the rest of the month was so busy. But it's an easy, very accessible book, full of simple, fun recipes that you can make one-course dishes out of or combine for a larger meal. I didn't do some of the heavy hitters like falafel or baba ghanoush, but the shawarma, for instance, is the best version of the dish I've made and will be my go-to going forwards. Lots of vegetarian dishes, as well. Only the barley with swiss chard and pomegranate molasses didn't work, and that could be user error. |
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