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OK, I am officially in love with Ruhlman's "Twenty" sort-of cookbook.
I have now made 5 recipes from it, and 4 have been brilliant. (The fifth will not be done for another 3 months or so- it's a preserved lemon confit.)
I raved about the pizza previously, and I am still craving it so will be making it again shortly.
But- today I made the "quick" coq au vin, and it is truly splendid. It incorporated roasted shallots, which were pretty splendid on their own. Now, in theory one can make the chicken in an hour; it took me 2 (elapsed time, not hands-on), but I am not a particularly efficient cook. The sauce is dark and rich and lovely. The mushrooms cooked down perfectly in the oven. The chicken legs are tender but not at all mushy. I served it over rice, to make good use of the lovely sauce it created.
In short- wonderful. I've made coq au vin before, but this is the best I've done, and other recipes have been a LOT fussier.
My main quibble with this book is its size and heft. I really wish "fancy" cookbooks would get out of the idea that they need to be coffee-table books. This one is too big and way too heavy to read easily- and since MOST of it is text- not recipes per se (the recipes are included to illustrate the text), it's damn hard to read. I'll continue to struggle with it- it's that good- but it IS a nuisance, and did not really need to be this massive.
Still- I look forward to finding more recipes of the "Ooo! I MUST make this immediately!" type! -not to mention getting a firmer grasp on various cooking basics.
I have now made 5 recipes from it, and 4 have been brilliant. (The fifth will not be done for another 3 months or so- it's a preserved lemon confit.)
I raved about the pizza previously, and I am still craving it so will be making it again shortly.
But- today I made the "quick" coq au vin, and it is truly splendid. It incorporated roasted shallots, which were pretty splendid on their own. Now, in theory one can make the chicken in an hour; it took me 2 (elapsed time, not hands-on), but I am not a particularly efficient cook. The sauce is dark and rich and lovely. The mushrooms cooked down perfectly in the oven. The chicken legs are tender but not at all mushy. I served it over rice, to make good use of the lovely sauce it created.
In short- wonderful. I've made coq au vin before, but this is the best I've done, and other recipes have been a LOT fussier.
My main quibble with this book is its size and heft. I really wish "fancy" cookbooks would get out of the idea that they need to be coffee-table books. This one is too big and way too heavy to read easily- and since MOST of it is text- not recipes per se (the recipes are included to illustrate the text), it's damn hard to read. I'll continue to struggle with it- it's that good- but it IS a nuisance, and did not really need to be this massive.
Still- I look forward to finding more recipes of the "Ooo! I MUST make this immediately!" type! -not to mention getting a firmer grasp on various cooking basics.