The Bitten Word

Cover to Cover 2013: Ranking the Recipes

For all the years that we've closely read food magazines, we've always wondered how many of the recipes in any given issue are really worth making.

Yes, magazines have test kitchens. But that doesn't mean that everything that ends up in the issue is perfect. Mistakes happen. Errors occur. Some dishes just aren't that great.

With this year's Cover to Cover project, we get a glimpse into that very question for Bon Appetit's September issue.

When our reader-chefs submitted their recipes, we also asked them to answer a simple question: Would you make this dish again? And we gave three options: yes, no, and maybe (with some changes). 

Quiz time! Thirty-eight recipes later, how many reader-chefs said they'd make their dish again?

The answer surprised us, in that it was far higher than we expected. Our very scientific poll of the reader-chefs revealed the following:

54% of reader chefs said yes, they would absolutely make their dish again.

33% said they might make the dish again, with some alterations.

And just 13% said no, they wouldn't make their dish again.

Considering that we randomly assigned the recipes, we think this issue of Bon Appetit fared extremely well with our reader-chefs in the Cover to Cover project.

 

So what were the most successful dishes?

Cover to Cover 2013: Desserts!

You guys!  This is it -- the final day of the 2013 Cover to Cover project! No doubt you know what that means: It's time for something sweet.

The September Bon Appetit was light on desserts. Only two sweet treats are included. But woah, do they sound good...

Most of the folks who made the Cornmeal Crepes with Figs and Pears liked them. (Although not everyone loved the texture and the flavor of the dish.) For many readers-chefs, if was their first time making crepes! Way to go, guys!

The Buttermilk Cake with Sour Milk Jam and Gin-Poached Cherries sounds exactly like something we would gravitate toward on a dessert menu. Our reviewers were mixed -- many people thought the jam and cherries were too sweet (reader-chef Cate said the jam was like a "sweetened-to-the-point-of-a-cavity creme fraiche"). But everyone seemed to agreed that the buttermilk cake itself was a real winner.

Desserts

Buttermilk Cake with Sour Milk Jam and Gin-Poached Cherries 

Cornmeal Crepes with Figs and Pears

Cover to Cover 2013: Sides Dishes and Condiments

Way back when we kicked off the Cover to Cover challenge, we promised an explosion. 

Well, here you go. The Brussels Sprouts Kimchi, in which the sprouts ferment in a pickling brine for five days, led to an exploding jar for Erin, one of our reader-chefs. Erin writes that she still loved the "fresh, fun, and kickin'" dish, so we guess the explosion wasn't too traumatic.

The kimchi wasn't the only out-there dish in today's batch of condiments and sides. Fried Farro with Pickled Carrots and Runny Eggs (and maitake mushrooms)? That challenged a lot of readers' palates. (Basically, it comes down to whether you like pickled carrots, runny eggs and maitake mushrooms...)

The Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Speck and Chimichurri was another dish with some wild flavor pairings. Okay maybe not the speck -- salty cured ham makes just about everything better.  Based on the feedback from the reader-chefs, though, it's a total hit.

We've gotta be honest about the Sauteed Greens with Olives. It didn't sound appetizing to us. We love both of those things, but together...? We weren't sure. But based on the raves from Team Sauteed Greens, we'll have to try it for ourselves. Sounds like a winner.

Pretty much the opposite turned out to be true with the Tarragon Creamed Corn. We thought that sounded lovely -- and Team Corn's photos are mouthwatering -- but most of the folks who made that recipe thought it turned out just okay. 

Anyway, read through for yourself!

 

Condiments

• Brussels Sprouts Kimchi 

Side Dishes

• Fried Farro with Pickled Carrots and Runny Eggs

• Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Speck and Chimichurri

• Sauteed Greens with Olives

• Tarragon Creamed Corn

 

Cover to Cover 2013: Main Dishes (Fish and Pizza!)

The Cover to Cover Project rolls on. Today is seafood day!

And we have a bit of a confession: When the two of us were trying to decide when we should do the Cover to Cover Challenge, and which magazine to have everyone cook from, there were two recipes in the September Bon Appetit that gave us pause: The Skate Wing Schnitzel and the Fat Rice. Who in their right mind wants to tackle Skate Wing Schnitzel? we thought. And the Fat Rice, the namesake dish from Chicago's Fat Rice restaurant, is an incredibly complex recipe. It's more like five separate recipes that you then throw together in a big pot.

Both dishes seemed awfully daunting, and we worried that nobody would be up to the challenge.

Boy, were we wrong! Team Skate Wing did marvelous things with a rather unfamiliar fish. (As reader-chef Jyll said, "Where I live in East Texas, 'skate wings' are a hairdo sported by teenage girls at the roller rink.") But they rolled with the punches, substituted where they needed to, and turned out some awesome-looking dishes.

And what about Team Fat Rice? Color us very impressed. Not only did they tackle a very complicated, involved recipe, their final dishes are mouthwatering. As reader-chef Marianne told us, one of her guests declared the Fat Rice "crazy voodoo delicious." Sounds like high praise to us!

In addition to those two recipes, we've got some scrumptious-looking Fish & Chips, a lovely Striped Bass with Lime Broth (although some of the people who cooked it found it too salty and too astringent), and some remarkably mixed reviews on a Clam and Bacon Pizza. Some readers raved, others thought it was a major disappointment. You'll have to read their reviews for yourself!

 

Fish

• Fat Rice

• Fish and Chips with Malt Vinegar Mayonnaise

• Skate Wing Schnitzel

• Striped Bass with Lime Broth

Pizza

• Clam and Bacon Pizza

Cover to Cover 2013: Main Dishes (Pasta and Vegetarian!)

Today happens to be our three-year wedding anniversary. 

Three years! How is it possible that our wedding was three years ago?

We're happy to mark the occasion on the blog by writing about pasta, a subject near and dear to our hearts. Word of warning: Prepare to get hungry.

When we first read the September Bon Appetit, we were lusting after the pasta dishes. On the page, they're stunningly beautiful. And we melted upon seeing the Orechiette Carbonara with Charred Brussels Sprouts.

A (somewhat lengthy) sidenote about carbonara:

We'd always like carbonara perfectly fine, but then we caught an episode of Nigella Feasts called "Solitary Sensations." It is an epic 30 minutes of food television. In the episode, she makes carbonara, chocohotopots, a delicious pea puree and a "back from the bar" snack that will make you want to go out drinking just so you can come home and cook. Each dish looks amazing, but the carbonara is out of this world. We used to keep a recording of this episode on our DVR -- it was equivalent of a TV hug. But then our DVR went caput, and with it, the episode. Watch for this episode. You will thank us!

Back to the task at hand....

If you're a pasta fan, today's Cover to Cover dishes are not to be missed. 

Enjoy -- and thank the chefs by leaving a comment!

 

PASTAS

• Fresh Pasta
• Orechiette Carbonara with Charred Brussels Sprouts
• Pasta with Chorizo and Chickpeas

 

VEGETARIAN PASTAS

• Orecchiette with Squash, Chiles, and Hazelnuts
• Strozzapreti with Spinach and Preserved Lemon

 

Cover to Cover 2013: Main Dishes (with Meat!)

 

"I never thought I was going to like _______, but now that I've made it I can't wait to make it again!"

If there's one statement that could sum up our five-and-a-half years of writing The Bitten Word, that might be it. We love trying things outside our comfort zone, and 99 percent of the time, we're thrilled we the results.

It's also a statement that pretty aptly describes just about all of today's dishes from today's the Cover to Cover Challenge -- and the Bittens who made them.

The recipes for Beef and Lamb Tartare? Waaaay out of most peoples' comfort zones, but nearly everyone who prepared them raved about how delicious they were. Same with the Strip Steak with Japanese Dipping Sauce. (We'll grant you that the Sloppy Tacos probably aren't too envelope-pushing. But you've got to read the write-ups about that lime sour cream!)

Our favorite converts have to be Meredith and Rick, who tackled the Lamb Shoulder with Polenta and Beans. Neither one of them was too happy with the idea of that dish -- lamb and polenta "honestly are two of my least favorite things," they write. But everyone at their table was bowled over by the lamb. "This lamb shoulder with polenta and beans is now our signature dish," say Meredith and Rick. "It also has a reservation for our Christmas dinner."

How great is that?

Check out the recipes and write-ups and let us know what you think!

 

Meat Entrees

• Lamb Shoulder with Polenta and Beans
• Sloppy Tacos
• Strip Steak with Japanese Dipping Sauce
• Lamb Tartare
• Beef Tartare

Cover to Cover 2013: Soups!

If you'll allow us to quote a certain dog-show mockumentary, "We both love soup. And we love ... talking, and not talking.... We could not talk or talk forever, and still find things to not talk about."

This seems like one of those times when it's best for us to not talk.

Instead, let's hear what today's group of Cover to Cover cooks thought about their soup dishes. We've got a Creamy White Onion Soup and two Asian soup dishes: a Thai chicken coconut soup and a Shoyu Ramen. We thought the ramen would be a particularly challenging dish in terms of  ingredient sourcing and prep. But Team Ramen totally rose to the challenge!

We do want to note one comment from one of today's reader-chefs that really made us chuckle, mostly because it sounds exactly like something we would do ourselves. Judi, one of the cooks who tried the White Onion Soup, wrote that the dish had "elegant flavors mixed perfectly to create a sophisticated, rich taste sensation. ... And we immediately went to the restaurant's website to see what they charged for this dish."

Atta girl, Judi.

 

SOUPS:

Creamy White Onion Soup

Shoyu Ramen

Tom Kha Gai (Chicken Coconut Soup)

 

Cover to Cover 2013: Salads

It's Day 2 of our Cover to Cover Challenge, and that means it's time for a nice, refreshing salad.

There were some really great-sounding salads in this month's Bon Appetit. We were excited to see what our reader-chefs thought about them.

We were especially happy to see the Carrot and Beet Slaw. What a beautiful dish!  (One of the chefs, Linda, dubbed that slaw "beauty personified." We agree!)

We were also excited to hear how the Horseradish-Creme Fraiche dressing turned out. That sounded so delicious to us. Turns out, though, our readers were mixed on it.

The biggest winner? Looks like it's the Celery Salad with Dates, Almonds and Parmesan. Every one of the Bittens who made that salad said it was an unqualified hit. We'll have to add it to our list of things to try!

Salads

Apple Salad with Walnuts and Lime

Carrot and Beet Slaw with Pistachios and Raisins

Celery Salad with Dates, Almonds and Parmesan

Fennel and Orange Salad with Lemon-Ginger Vinaigrette

Greens with Horseradish-Creme Fraiche Dressing

Roasted Pepper Panzanella

Wedge Salad

 

More from the Cover to Cover Challenge: Appetizers & Beverages

Cover to Cover 2013 Kickoff: Appetizers and Beverages

It's here! We're officially kicking off the results of this year's Cover to Cover Challenge!

Over the past couple weeks, as assignments went out, some Bitten Word readers told us they were having dreams about which dish they'd be assigned. (Some may have been having nightmares.) To be honest, that tickled us endlessly.

For those of you who haven't been following along, we've challenged our readers to cook every dish in the September issue of Bon Appetit magazine. And everyone enthusiastically responded. Nearly 500 of you signed up to make a dish within a week. And even better, nearly 300 readers were able to complete the challenge. Some readers even completed their dishes the day the assignments were given out! 

We were pumped to see the results roll in over the last week. Trust us: This going to be good. There's deliciousness. There's disappointment. There are looks of disgust but also lots of people enthusastically embracing dishes and ingredients that are way, way outside their comfort zone. 

And there's at least one explosion. 

Over the next few weeks, we'll be rolling out the results, course by course, starting today with Appetizers & Beverages. 

Last week, Bon Appétit interviewed us about the Cover to Cover Challenge. You can read our Q&A on their website to hear a little more about the challenge and the history of this blog. 

Anyway, enough intro. Ready to start the Cover to Cover Challenge?

Away we go!

Photos from Summer: Kentucky, Detroit, New York, and a return to Cape Cod

 

Zach and Clay in Provincetown, Mass

 

 

We're not ready to let go of summer.

In fact, we're still blissfully pretending it's August while we're hiding away at the beach in North Carolina for the week. So we won't be publishing this week. But don't worry -- we'll be back next week to kick off the first of our posts about the Cover to Cover project. The entries are pouring in and they look amazing -- you're going to love it! 

We'll leave you with a few stories and photos from summer. Have an amazing week. Cook something fun. And be sure to tell us all about it.

And if you want to follow along with more photos from us, you can also follow us on Instagram - we're "thebittenword." 

~ Zach and Clay