The New Best Recipe produced by the Cook's Illustrated people is a cooking bible seriously beloved by older ladies and moms everywhere. I overheard a quartet of silver foxes on Bart discussing the merits of this book (and Meryl Streep's portrayal of Julia Child), and my sewing circle should probably get paid for the amount of hype they created.


The recipes are mostly spot on with the directions and quantities, but an added bonus are the technical tips, cookware recommendations and recommended ingredients that are interspersed throughout the chapters. If you want to know why a recipe works (or doesn't), or just want no fuss abc's to follow, this is a great book with a lot of common classic recipe's, mostly American, but also International cuisines, that are streamlined but not dumbed down. A small portion of the info may be redundant for an experienced or professional cook, like how to pan fry a salted fish fillet, but the skills set is a good refresher for anyone meticulous about their home cooking or for beginners intent on improving their skills.

Below are the recipes I recently tried that turned out very tasty. Most of the recipes were improvements on ones in my stash, while others were fantastic as followed more or less exactly. While the techniques sometimes varied a tad from what I've done in the past, all the recipe's were easy, easy to execute. Some of the cooking science was new to me, which helped adapt my technique to the physical limitations of my kitchen and improvise madcap fashion.

Blueberry Muffins - Thicker batter than ever before. Better muffins than ever before.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Perfect. Soft and chewy in the middle, crisp on the outside without any greasiness or cakiness. Holds texture for storage.

Balsamic Mustard Vinaigrette - My new go to salad dressing.

Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy - YUM! The breading was perfect. Steak thickness and oil temperature are paramount variables. I need a new instant read thermometer.

Mango Salsa - Made with the little golden mangos from the Fillipines.

Pizza and Basic Sauce - Remember, the dough recipe makes three thin rounds and comes out better on a pizza stone. Timing is crucial, although if you need to bake a bit later than expected you can put it in the fridge for a while. We topped ours with mild italian sausage, sauteed mushrooms and a thin layer of mozzarella.

Yellow Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting (Lemon, Coffee) - I substituted buttermilk for the sour cream in the batter. None the worse. The Frosting was a little twiddly and I added more zest and a stronger brew since I didn't have espresso. The result was an extremely rich, buttery, smooth topping without the gritty crackle of storebought buttercream icings.

Scrambled Eggs - No brainer, I know, but if those prestigious french chefs never had T-Fal then how come mine always get stuck on my stainless pan? Well, never again.

Shallot Vermouth Sauce - Simple stuff really. I did mine with roast chicken drippings.

Apple Crisp with Streusel - Quick no fuss desert to bake in a fry pan. I didn't have any lemons, so I subsituted some cider vinegar.

Rib Eye Steaks with Madeira Anchovy Sauce - Pan fried on high heat with sauce made in the pan

 New York Style Crumb Cake

Corned Beef and Cabbage  - Simple budget food.  Provides dinner and sandwich variations for three days feeding two. 

 **There were two recipes that fell short of my expectations but were in no way terrible or inedible. The Classic Irish Soda Bread, a giant biscuit really (the SO says giant cornbread), was just not what I expected but went well with breakfast eggs and bacon. Since the writers were trying to avoid a sandy texture, the Peanut Butter Cookies were a bit more delicate and flatter than I'm used to. I also didn't add the extra peanut bits the recipe called for, so it's probably my own fault, but I'm beginning to think I like my peanut butter cookies sandy.  However, the cookies hold up extremely well

Pozole Roja  - gets a thumbs down for overwhelming porkiness and lack of chili tone.