The three recipes we made from the Cook's Illustrated magazine were, Thai beef salad, "perfect scrambled eggs" and a cucumber salad. A change from previous weeks is that Neil and I did not prepare all the recipes together; Neil made the salad and I made the eggs as Neil won't eat eggs! Here is the break-down of the recipes:
Perfect Scrambled Eggs
So when first reading this article, I was surprised that scrambled eggs could vary so much in their texture. Apparently, cooks want to avoid rubbery or wet scrambled eggs, and strive to achieve large fluffy eggs with what the article refers to as "curds." As I love eggs, I was looking forward to trying this recipe out. The method involves using half and half and an extra egg yoke per 2 egg whites in the scrambled mix, and cooking on two heats (high then low). They also suggested cooking in a smaller pan but I did not have one handy.
Taste: 3.5 out of 5
Cost: $1.50 for one serving
Healthiness: 279 calories, over 60% fat - oh why do eggs have to taste so good!?
Difficulty: 3 out of 5
Despite the good taste and nice 'curds' of scrambled eggs, I doubt I will make these again for several reasons. (1) when I make eggs it is usually because I want something easy that is not cereal and this recipe can be time consuming with the extra steps (2) I rarely carry half and half around the house (3) it wastes an egg white in order to achieve the perfect egg taste!
My Favorite Eggs
One reason I hesitate to convert to the perfect scrambled eggs is that I make some pretty tasty (albeit sometimes wet) eggs.
Recipe:
1) beat two eggs, tablespoon of goat cheese, and add herb of your choice (basil or oregano work well)
2) cook on medium heat, constantly scraping pan
and voila! the eggs taste delicious - a small amount of goat cheese goes a long way!
Thai Beef Salad
Now this recipe is a keeper (with some adjustments)! I will not touch thai food - likely due to the coconut milk and peanuts that do not settle well in my stomach; however, Neil loves the complex flavor of Thai foods. This recipe did not involve curry, coconut milk, or nuts - yet still had the complex and well-balanced hot, sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and earthy flavors. The only substitutions we made were using soy sauce instead of fish sauce and buying a more affordable steak than was suggested by the recipe.
Taste: 4.5 out of 5
Cost: $12 for two servings
Healthiness: 380 calories per serving, < 30% fat, high on iron and vitamin C
Difficulty: 3.5 out of 5
Truly a delicious recipe but next time we will (1) go ahead and get the good steak or at least learn how to make a cheap steak well... (2) skip the rice. The recipe calls for browning and then grinding rice with a mortar and pestle as it is supposed to enhance the texture/taste of the dish. We are not sure that it made much a difference - so we will skip this time consuming step and see what the product is like!
Cucumber Salad
The recipe produced a refreshing, summer salad. The recipe suggested simmering the vinegar on the stove in order to reduce it and make the taste more concentrated but less watery. We skipped the olives in this one (not a fan of the taste and did not have any lying around). May consider doing this recipe again - but we actually think the cucumber salad from our African cooking may beat this one!
Taste: 2.5 out of 5
Cost: $3 for two servings
Healthiness: 99 calories per serving, over 40% fat, but loaded with vitamins A and C
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
Next week...
To wrap up the Cook's Illustrated challenge we will be making a peach cake!
Next challenge....
We will be taking a break from our challenges in August due to travel plans but will resume in September. More details to come!
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