The Bitten Word

Post-Grill Marinated Grilled Skirt Steak

Cook's Country (June/July 2012)

Questioning what you're doing in the kitchen, and why you're doing it, can be a powerful thing. 

We're not talking about doubting yourself. You shouldn't. We believe in having confidence in the kitchen, and storming ahead in the face of recipe adversity -- be it overflowing pots, less-than-ideal ingredients or equipment that just won't cooperate. 

Instead of a lack of confidence, we're talking about having awareness in the kitchen: looking at what you're doing and why you're doing it, and being able to see the effect it will have on your finished dish. 

In our experience, this comes with time and practice. When we first started getting serious about cooking, we were very "safe" cooks. We almost exclusively made things that we grew up eating, or that seemed like easy meals for young twenty-somethings to make. But once we moved in together and had the space to entertain friends, we got more ambitious. The recipes got progressively more complicated, the ingredients a bit more elaborate. And then we started The Bitten Word, and things escalated from there. Suddenly we were often cooking things far outside our comfort zones, and we were delving into dishes that previously would have made us cringe. 

Looking back over the course of these last five years, we can see many changes to our cooking styles and methods, but we can also see that when we're cooking on our own -- meaning not using a recipe from a magazine or cookbook -- we're playing it less safe. We're a bit more aware of how each decision in a dish can elevate or diminish the finished product. 

But we still have a long way to go in this culinary journey. We want to be cooks who are not only aware of every move we're making in the kitchen, but who also question the methods we use, those habits we've picked up as we've learned to cook. America's Test Kitchen -- the publishers of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country -- does this better than anyone else. The cooks there will reexamine methods that everyone takes for granted, subjecting them to testing that either reinforces or disproves those methods. Often, they end up with a recipe that's a big improvement on the traditional method.

This recipe for Marinated Grilled Skirt Steak is a perfect example. 

Fluffy Diner-Style Omelets

Cook's Country (January/February 2012)

If we serve eggs at our house, chances are they're going to be scrambled.

If we're feeling fancy, we might do over-easy, maybe served on top of a vegetable or beef hash if we're being industrious. 

Poached? Forget about it. Over-hard? Blasphemy. 

Omelets are another matter altogether. We love omelets and often order them when we go out for breakfast, but we hardly ever make them at home. Why is that? Well, in truth, we're not very good at making omelets.

We build big, beautiful omelets, cooking the eggs and then filling them with delicious vegetables and meats. And then it comes time to seal the deal (literally), and the whole thing falls apart, making for a really ugly omelet that we then hack up and serve as a scramble, as if to make ourselves feel better. 

And we're not talking about Julia Child-style omelets. (If you've never seen the Omelet Dinner Party episode of "The French Chef," you should.) We want to make omelets that are stuffed with deliciousness and then folded over, an omelet that sits tall on the plate, oozing with cheese and fillings.  

When we saw this recipe for Fluffy Diner-Style Omelets in Cook's Country, we knew the wizards at America's Test Kitchen would show us the errors of our omelet ways. 

Thanksgiving 2011: Carolina Sweet Potato Sonker

Cook's Country (November 2011)

First, we fell for "spatchcock."

Then, "sformato." 

This year, we couldn't resist "sonker."

What is it with us and the funny Thanksgiving words? 

We just had to make Carolina Sweet Potato Sonker.

Thanksgiving 2011: Make-Ahead Roast Turkey and Gravy

 

Cook's Country (October/November 2011) 

"Make-ahead turkey."

When it comes to Thanksgiving cooking, are there any three words that sound more enticing? (Or more sacrilegious? After all, what is Thanksgiving Day without slaving away in a crowded, overheated kitchen while a huge bird takes up your entire oven for three and a half hours?)

Seriously, though: "Make-ahead turkey." Think of how dry it would be! How tasteless! But think of how much easier it would make your cooking! Think of how much less stressful your Thanksgiving could be!

As Cook's Country points out, many restaurants do it for holidays, with great success, so why not try it at home? 

"Make-ahead turkey." We had to try it!

We're here to tell you, not only is this make-ahead turkey the easiest turkey recipe we've ever made, it's also the best turkey recipe we've ever made. Ever.

And p.s.? This is also the best gravy we've ever made.

Thanksgiving 2011 Recipe Index: What the Food Magazines Are Recommending

Our Fakesgiving + Our Favorite Holiday Dishes

A little more than a week ago, we had Thanksgiving.

Or really, we had Fakesgiving, our annual tradition with friends and family where we pack as many seats as possible into our apartment, make a bunch of new dishes from November food magazines, and see what everyone likes and dislikes. This year, there were 13 of us. Zach's mom and sister came and helped cook the day before (we literally could not have done it without them), and we made 17 new Thanksgiving dishes. 

(This year's Fakesgiving crowd, minus the two of us.)

Below, you'll see the initial list of recipes we started with: more than 250 Thanksgiving recipes from 10 magazines. To be included in the index, the recipes had to be part of the magazine's Thanksgiving coverage. So this is not meant to be comprehensive -- there are many more recipes in this month's magazines. If the recipe is hyperlinked, it is available online. If not, it's not there yet. 

In preparation for this year's Thanksgiving coverage, we've also created a page of Our Favorite Holiday Recipes. There, you'll find a collection of dishes from Thanksgivings, Fakesgivings and holiday dinner parties past. We'll be updating it as we introduce new content and recipes on the site.

Enjoy the index! 

Thanksgiving 2011 Trends in Food Magazines: Pies, Pecans, Ginger and Green Beans

Thanksgiving is coming! Thanksgiving is coming!

And we're ready. We've scoured the magazines, tested recipes, and we're eager talk turkey, recommend dishes, and answer any Thanksgiving-related questions you might have.

We're kicking off our Thanksgiving coverage by looking at the trends in this year's crop of magazines. As in previous years, we've indexed every single one of the November Thanksgiving recipes from the magazines in our rotation. We'll share that list with you on Monday. There are some really exciting (and bizarre) dishes among the more than 250 recipes.

But today we're going to talk about trends. 

As we pored through this year's Thanksgiving features, some clear trends emerged. To illustrate many of the trends in this year's T-Day recipes, we created word clouds, like the one above, which illustrate how frequently certain words popped up. You can click on all the word clouds to enlarge them, so you can take a closer look. 

What's the general theme for this year? Well, for a lot of our magazines, the theme seemed to be, "Thanksgiving 2011: We're Just Not That Into You." Food & Wine and Saveur seem rather light on their coverage. Even Martha Stewart Living, which we would sort of hold up as the grande dame of Thanksgiving entertaining, seemed scaled back. (We hasten to add that we're not saying that's a bad thing -- Lord knows there are plenty of great autumn recipes out there that don't involve sweet potatoes or cranberry sauce.)

But there was one magazine that blew us away this year. You guys know we tend not to single out particular magazines or issues as favorites, but this must be said: Bon Appétit BROUGHT IT this Thanksgiving. Buh-ROUGHT. IT. From its "Feast from the East" feature, which showcased marvelous ideas for an Asian-inspired Thanksgiving, to the "Down South" feature on a Louisiana Cajun Thanksgiving feast, we were enthralled. Four turkeys, a host of awesome side dishes, and drool-worthy desserts (we need that Grape-and-Apple Pie) -- the November 2011 Bon Appétit is a pleasure. Even if you're set on your Thanksgiving menu, consider picking up a copy just for fun.

Anyway, trends.

As you can see from the word cloud above, the usual suspects are, well, the usual suspects. So here's a word cloud showing all the recipe words, minus "turkey," "gravy," "cranberry," "stuffing," "potatoes," "dressing" and "roasted" (a.k.a. the saddest Thanksgiving ever):

Morning Glory Muffins

Cook's Country (May/June 2011) 

 

We've been to our fair share of coffee shops. So we were already familiar with the glories of the Morning Glory Muffin before seeing them featured in the most recent Cook's Country.

If you're not familiar with them (several friends we've discussed them with over the last week haven't been), they're those beautiful, carrot-studded concoctions of fruit and nuts, typically filled with raisins, cinnamon, walnuts and pieces of carrot. They're like the breakfast equivalent of a Compost Cookie -- a little bit of everything thrown in.  

Now, we're not usually muffin people. Breakfast around our house typically consists of protein shakes or oatmeal. On weekends we'll usually make some kind of eggs or the occasional pancake or waffle. 

But the arrival of guests is a great time to break out of your breakfast tradition. So when Zach's mom visited recently, we seized on the opportunity to make muffins. 

Breakfast Buttercups

Cook's Country (March 2011)

"Breakfast Buttercups." Have you ever heard a more adorable name? Honestly, it's 99 percent of the reason we chose to make these. Seriously, how could we not? 

Plus, with toast, ham, eggs, and cheese, all in a tiny package, how could they possibly bad?

Well, it’s true. These Breakfast Buttercups don’t disappoint.

Our 10 Favorite Food Magazine Recipes of the Past Year

                                      

Here at the beginning of a new year, we've been thinking a lot about the past 12 months of The Bitten Word, and about the dishes that we really loved.  

So we made a list of our 10 Favorite Food Magazine Recipes of the Past Year. And that exercise was a complete failure, because we just couldn't narrow it down to 10!

So after we cut out as many as we could stomach, there are 13 dishes on the list. We hope you'll forgive us.  

We were surprised to find that once our list was made, nearly all of the magazines we cover were represented.  Fine Cooking, Bon Appétit, Everyday Food and Cook's Illustrated each had two recipes on the list.  Southern Living, Martha Stewart Living, Cook's Country, Food Network and Saveur each had one recipe each. Surprisingly, Food & Wine isn't on the list, even though we really liked several dishes we made from their pages.

Making this list also reminded us that we learned some fun new words this year, including sformato, larding, and affogato. More on those in the list below. 

So here they are, Our 10, uh, we can't possibbly choose only 10, so 13 Favorite Food Magazine Recipes of 2010 (in the order that we cooked them): 

• Crispy Potato Roast from Everyday Food: "We don't want to overstate how good this Crispy Potato Roast is...but it will forever and irreversibly alter your life." 

• Indoor Pulled Pork from Cook's Illustrated: "This pulled pork tastes like it came from the best, divey-est Memphis BBQ shack." 

• Cajun Red Beans and Rice from Cook's Illustrated: "The beans are soft and creamy, while the andouille sausage is spicy and hands-down amazing."

• Korean Fried Chicken from Saveur:  "Spicy and sweet with the promise of a crispy, crackly skin? We were sold! ...This fried chicken is absolutely one of the best things we've made in a very long time."

Read the rest after the jump!

Thanksgiving 2010: Send Us Your Photos!

We're all done with our Thanksgiving posts! We really enjoyed trying all these recipes, and we've loved hearing from you about what you're planning to cook!

Now comes the fun part: Are you making a dish from a food magazine this year?  We'd love to feature your dish in a round-up of reader experiences after the big day. Whether you tried something new this year or you cooked some family favorites, we'd love to see your pics! Email them to us along with your thoughts on the dish and we'll post a round-up sometime after Thursday.

Below, you'll find every dish we made this year for Thanksgiving -- click on an image to read the recipe. And remember, don't lose your head on the big day.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving! We hope it's full of love, family and really, really good food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

>> More Thanksgiving recommendations from the Bitten Word

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