The Perfect Recipe: Getting It Right Every Time Making Our Favorite Dishes the Absolute Best They Can Be - Hardcover

Anderson, Pam / Illust.by Judy Love

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395894034 ISBN 13: 9780395894033

Publisher: Shelburne, Vermont, U.S.A.: Chapters Pub Ltd, 1998

Synopsis

Which comes first when mashing potatoes--the butter or the milk? How do you roast a turkey so the breast is as moist and juicy as the legs? Is it possible to create a fudgy, cakey, chewy brownie all in one? Pam Anderson, executive editor of the highly successful magazine COOK'S ILLUSTRATED, painstakingly conducted test after test to arrive at not only the best recipe but frequently the most convenient and sensible one.

About this title

About the Author

As the executive editor of Cook's Illustrated magazine, Pam Anderson has been called a culinary detective. A recipe troubleshooter. A perfectionist cook.

Just like a private eye, a culinary detective has to have an insatiable curiosity. Pam Anderson does. Tired of guessing whether a recipe in a magazine or a cookbook would produce a winner or a dud, Anderson set out to crack the secret of the very best ways to prepare our most beloved foods. THE PERFECT RECIPE: Getting It Right Every Time-Making Our Favorite Dishes the Absolute Best They Can Be is the result of her meticulous testing.

Getting there is half the fun, as Anderson narrates the story of her flops and eventual triumphs. From this book, you'll not only get infallible recipes, but you'll learn why they work. Even veteran cooks will learn from Anderson's conclusions:

--For a perfect burger, poke small holes into the surface with your fingertips and use 100 percent ground chuck.
--For great coleslaw, salt the cabbage briefly to wilt it so it absorbs the dressing better.
--For the smoothest, lightest mashed potatoes, add the milk before the butter.
--For the plumpest lobsters at the most reasonable price, buy them between Mother's Day and the Fourth of July.
--For moist, full-flavored corn bread, stir boiling water into part of the cornmeal before adding the remaining ingredients.
--For the juiciest turkey, brine it before roasting.

To get her recipes just right, Anderson consulted other cookbooks, chefs, restaurateurs, caterers, industry authorities, food councils, experts and home cooks.

Anderson lives with her husband and their two daughters in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

From the Inside Flap

Which comes first when mashing potatoes-the butter or the milk? What grade and grind of meat make the best hamburgers? How do you roast a turkey so the breast meat is as moist and juicy as the legs? For the tenderest muffins, should you use buttermilk, yogurt or milk? At what temperature should you cook prime rib for the most succulent results? Is it possible to create a fudgy, cakey, chewy brownie all in one?

Most of us don't have time to figure out the answers to questions like these. We need somebody to do the work for us and get our favorite recipes just right. In this book, Pam Anderson, executive editor of the highly successful magazine Cook's Illustrated, does just that.

Painstakingly conducting test after test, Anderson arrives at not only the best recipe but frequently the most convenient and sensible one:

--A simple formula for a stir-fry that can be varied with different combinations of meat, vegetables and sauces.
--French bread so easy it can be baked every day.
--Chicken pot pie for weeknights, made with chicken breast rather than whole chicken.
--Macaroni and cheese as effortless as boxed, but three times as satisfying.
--Pizza dough that rises in just one hour or throughout the day.
--A cobbler that can be prepared with dozens of different fruits, making it 40 desserts in one.

More than 150 recipes in all, with dozens of step-by-step illustrations of techniques, comparisons of products and useful tips.

Reviews

Anderson, executive editor of Cook's Illustrated, follows in the footsteps of Christopher Kimball, CI's editor/publisher and author of The Cook's Bible, and Shirley O. Corriher, author of 1997 James Beard Award-winning CookWise. All detail their efforts through trial and error to find the best way to prepare specific recipes and rightfully claim considerable authority. Anderson's quest began as a personal mission to find the best way to cook "dishes I prepared frequently." Starting with 34 recipes for favorite American foods, from chicken soup and meat loaf to potato salad and strawberry shortcake, she recounts her attempts at perfection and then offers her tested variations of some 150 recipes. She is generous in paying credit to cooks from whom she learnedAe.g., Corriher, Edna Lewis, Betty FussellAand imparts valuable tips along with her own conclusions. Low-fat yogurt used as a moistener adds a nice tang to Meat Loaf. Brining brings out the best in Oven-Roasted Turkey with Giblet Pan Sauce. To achieve lush, large Muffins that rise right and overhang their cups, triple the recipe. For a non-weeping Lemon Meringue Pie, reheat the filling before piling on the beaten egg whites. While covering territory mapped by others, Anderson offers distinctive guidelines on her route to reliable, speedy kitchen success. Line drawings by Judy Love. BOMC Good Cook selection; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Anderson is executive editor of Cook's Illustrated, whose editor, Christopher Kimball, presented his take on "the best of American home cooking" in The Cook's Bible (LJ 10/15/96). Here she offers her absolute favorite recipes for about three dozen standards, from Macaroni and Cheese and Memorable Meat Loaf to Strawberry Shortcake. Her approach is that of the magazine, testing and retesting, trying a variety of kitchen experiments before settling on a foolproof satisfying recipe. Most of the final recipes are accompanied by several variations; there are boxes on ingredients and culinary discoveries along the way, and the detailed testing notes describe the process involved. For fans of the magazine and others seeking a reliable collection of recipes for all-American favorites.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Make your mornings special this holiday season with Pam's Raspberry-Almond Muffins. For more holiday recipes from Houghton Mifflin cookbooks see Bruculinu, America by Vincent Schiavelli, The Complete Italian Vegetarian by Jack Bishop, Garlic, Garlic Garlic, by Linda and Fred Griffith and The Complete Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly.

Raspberry-Almond Muffins Makes 1 dozen large muffins

Vegetable cooking spray 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) butter, at room temperature 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) almond paste 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon sugar 2 large eggs 1 1/2 cups plains yogurt 6 tablespoons raspberry jam

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin (with standard-size molds that have 1/2 cup capacity) with vegetable cooking spray. 2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. 3. Beat butter, almond paste and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third if yogurt. Beat in half of remaining dry ingredients, alternating with one-third of remaining yogurt, and repeat until fully incorporated. 4. Spoon half the batter evenly into the muffin cups. Using a small spoon, make a little indention in the batter in each cup and spoon in 1 1/2 teaspoons of jam and fill with remaining batter. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Set on a wire rack to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tin and serve warm.

Edition details

• Publisher: Shelburne, Vermont, U.S.A.: Chapters Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395894034
• ISBN 13: 9780395894033
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 372