DEBORAH CROMBIE: While we still have license to review 2024, I've been thinking about what worked--and what absolutely did not--in my kitchen this past year. I thought I'd post photos of some of the triumphs and disasters, but I've just looked back through my phone photos and found none of either. Problem #1 being I forget to take pictures of food I've made (my daughter takes photos of everything!) and problem #2 being that I don't know until I start eating something which category it will fall in! (Who wants a photo of a half-eaten dinner, especially if it was a bad one?)
So I will give you a photo of a small delight that took no cooking skill. My daughter gave me a box of Harry and David pears for Christmas and, oh, there is nothing like them. This was a pear salad with arugula, blue cheese, and toasted walnuts, dressed with walnut oil and lemon juice, topped with fresh-cracked black pepper. So delicious, and pretty enough that I remembered to take a photo.
And then I give you my Instant Pot, star of some of the triumphs.
I have finally learned how to make perfect Instant Pot steel cut oatmeal, and--at least 95% of the time--perfect Instant Pot beans. (Beans can be persnickety, depending on how fresh they are.) This means I can cook a pot of beans in about an hour on the weekend and we will have them for varying things all week. Black beans have been particularly spectacular.
I've also discovered, when there was a weekly glut at the farmer's market, that the Instant Pot is great for cooking green beans. A cup of water, the beans on a trivet, set timer for 1 minute, then instant release. If you like them a little snappier or are going to finish them in a saute pan, pull the plug sooner. (My Instant Pot doesn't do less than a minute--I don't know if others are more flexible.) A win! Picky husband now eats green beans.
Broccoli in the Instant Pot goes in the failure category. Even pulling the plug when the pot hits pressure and instantly releasing and taking them out resulted in mushy broccoli. Sigh.
Some other wins? Lemony Pearl Barley Soup by Hetty Liu McKinnon. I love this so much I dream about it. Seriously. I think I'll make it again this week. (Note: I learned from experience that if the barley is whole rather than processed, it takes a LOT longer then the recipe says. Also, make sure the vegetable stock is pale. A dark one, like Trader Joe's, will ruin the look and the taste of the soup.)
I have made perfect seared scallops. So simple, but so hard to get just right. (Watch how many attempts chefs throw out on cooking shows.)
Back before Christmas I made a tiny PERFECT rack of lamb. It only weighed a pound and I thought there was no way I could get it done on the outside without overcooking the inside, but I did. Again, simple, but so good.
Ditto shrimp and grits, and my first attempt at Pasta Amatriciana. (Inspired by Stanley Tucci, I wanted to learn to cook some traditional Italian pastas.)
On the failure side, skillet sizzled cornbread that I've been making for thirty years recently came out...brown. Not just nicely browned on the outside, but brown all the way though. It didn't really taste bad, just very unappealing.
The turkey and wild rice soup I made after Thanksgiving. This was something I'd made before and loved but something this time just did not work. Ugh.
And the pork roast for Christmas dinner!! I used this really complicated recipe that was supposed to give you crisp crackling, but it was so much trouble and in the end the roast was dry, the crackling NOT crisp, and it was horribly salty. I should have stuck with Jamie Oliver. Or coughed up the big bucks for a standing rib roast. Then our Yorkshire puddings collapsed into pancakes! So disappointing, and my first-ever failure with Jamie's Yorkshire pudding recipe. Oh, well, it was all great fun, and it was the company that mattered most.
How about it, Reddies? Any notable successes or failures in your 2024 kitchen?
Maple bread pudding was a nice treat . . . Mia thinks the macaroni and cheese is the best thing ever!
ReplyDeleteThankfully, no disasters to report . . . .
Maple bread pudding sounds wonderful!
DeleteAll of your food looks yummy! My major fail was an attempt in baking banana bread and it failed to rise because I forgot to sift the flour! That never happened before! Usually I bake banana bread and it turned out great.
ReplyDeleteAt least it was a simple fix, Diana!
DeleteDebs, we used to get a box of Harry and David pears for Christmas every year, but the connection to our gift giver was lost, along with the pears. We really enjoyed them while they lasted though. I can't really think of any major successes or disasters, since I haven't cooked much this past year. However, I have learned where to buy some things I love for take-out. And, Philip, who is usually in charge of supper these days, has perfected making his green beans. Even the granddaughter loves them. I do still make the occasional meat loaf, which with my ketchup and brown sugar coating is pretty good. But, yesterday, I did something right in the crock pot that I hadn't before. I never could get chicken breasts to turn out very tender, but yesterday I strictly followed the directions I looked up online. I put four chicken breasts in the cooker, seasoned them a bit, and covered them with water, just so the water covered them and no more. I have used chicken broth in the past, but I didn't have any yesterday, and the directions said you could use water instead. The directions said to cook on high for four hours, but I thought that might be a bit much. Before I usually went for three hours. But this time, I set it on high for three and a half hours. Of course, I didn't hear any beeper or didn't check right on time, but the cooker went to warm, and I don't think they sit there for more that fifteen minutes. The nice part was that the chicken breasts were just right, nice and tender.
ReplyDeleteI want to mention here that on yesterday's post, I forgot to put my name, but my post was about the Sally Lockhart mysteries and the Catwings series. I made a comment late tonight on it, but I can just repeat here that I'm thrilled that you, Debs, and you, Hank love the Sally Lockhart books, too. And Coralee, you were right on target that I had indeed mentioned the Catwings books on this blog before, and I'm delighted that you loved them.
I thought that must be you, Kathy! Mystery solved! I have poached chicken breasts but have not tried cooking them in the crock pot, so good for you being adventurous!
DeleteI love how that brings us together!
DeleteI don't take many photos of food at home or in restaurants. However, I do take photos of cakes and cookies, especially if I am bringing them to the kids in Delaware. My oldest grandson has a cellphone, so I can send him pictures of goodies before we drive down. His younger brother said to me when we were visiting last September, "Gramma, your cookies are so good, better than any other cookies! You must have a secret ingredient! What's your secret ingredient, Gramma?"
ReplyDelete"It's love, Sweetheart."
I subscribe to an online magazine which shares recipes that I read through regularly. If I see something with new combinations and flavors that might appeal to us, I'll print it out and try it. One thing I have learned, if they say the prep is 20 minutes, triple that. I am not a professional and neither is my kitchen that conveniently laid out. There have definitely been successes and failures from those recipes. Usually it is fine, sometimes it is spectacular!
You are not kidding about the prep, Judy, and I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only that can't make a recipe in the time stated! Maybe the recipe developers think no one will make a recipe that takes more than half a hour. Or maybe they don't count the time spent hunting for things in the fridge and pantry and doing all the prep. Grrr.
DeleteThose pears look fabulous! This week I made Hugh a "dessert" that conforms to all the anti-inflammatory restrictions he has put himself under. I think it's tasty, but he's eating it so slowly that I'm pretty sure he doesn't like it but is too kind to say so. (It's oats, bananas, applesauce, almond milk, vanilla, and cinnamon, baked and cut into bars.) The Mongolian beef I tried to make a couple of months ago turned out kind of horrible.
ReplyDeleteSuccesses? Turkey tikka masala, chocolate tahini babka, French apple cake, chocolate sour cream Bundt cake, shrimp quesadilla, among others!
Try some flaky salt, like Maldon, on those bars. But you might need some kind of a glaze to get the salt to stick.
DeleteFrom Celia: Hi Edith, my daughter has been fighting anti inflammatory stuff too and swears by the Paleo plan. She gave me this Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. It's huge and appears to me to be a bible of health vs food. I know youre an excellent, creative cook but who doesn't have room for one more book.
DeleteThanks, Celia. I will check that out. I'm feeling a bit at a loss to be creative with cooking right now - so many things off limits.
DeleteYou can also try The Dummies Guide to Paleo. Written by one of my daughters' best friend.
DeleteI hope this diet helps Hugh!
DeleteThat pear salad sounds and looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteI don’t cook much and when I do it is something very simple thus reducing the chance for failure. But, also nothing spectacular. I did make a cheese ball recipe for only the second time to take to a Christmas Eve dinner party. I remember the first time it didn’t end up forming into a ball very well. This time it turned out quite well and the chopped pecans even stuck all around the outside very nicely. I did not take a photo.
The banana bread my husband has made many times turned out too brown the other day. Getting used to a new oven.
Ovens are all so different! It calls for more banana bread experimenting:-)
DeleteDebs, I can't stop looking at that pear salad! It looks professionally plated, and the plate itself is so pretty. Truly appetizing. And charming.
ReplyDeleteMy most recent failure, not to the point of dumping it, but not a great outcome. This past week I made the family chili recipe that my mother made when we were kids, and that I started making in 1970. And put WAY too much chili powder in it. We muddled through, adding sour cream and shredded cheese, but we both had watering eyes every time we ate it.
I remember my mom saying she couldn't cook any more, and it worries me that could happen, forgetting how to make meals I've made for decades.
Edith, I made something similar to your banana bars once, from a recipe that was floating around the internets, and it was good, but so bland. I sprinkled some flaky salt over top, to try to salvage it, and it perked it up considerably. Is salt a factor in inflammation?
He doesn't have salt restriction. I'll sneak some on and see if it helps!
DeleteFingers crossed, Edith, for a simple fix.
DeleteKaren, I was just making that salad for lunch. Rick would starve before he would something like that. So it's nice to be appreciated here! Now my mouth is watering for that salad but alas, no more pears. I will try some from the supermarket. And thank you for the compliment. Those are our everyday plates. I bought them at Anthropologie years ago, never expecting them to last, but they've been troopers. Not even a single chip!
DeleteThey're just gorgeous!
DeleteThe salad is magnificent! I think I must order some pears. I don't have an Instapot and have no room for an extra device!
ReplyDeleteThey really are big and awkward. I've made a place in my butler's pantry but it's not great. However, if you want to eat a lot of beans, I can't recommend it highly enough. Maybe worth making a room in a closet:-)
DeleteSame about the Instapot, Lucy, although the thirty-something crowd swears by theirs.
DeleteIf you use Rancho Gordo beans the cooking time is usually much less than grocery store beans need. Right, Lucy/Roberta?
DeleteI love Rancho Gordo but have had some failures with them. I LOVE Camellia brand beans: https://www.camelliabrand.com/ They are a New Orlean's based family company, and if you don't get Camellia in your supermarkets, you can order them online.
DeleteI've made beans in the crock pot, then I froze them in batches for recipes. A nice alternative to buying canned beans.
DeleteAnd I have learned to put in gallon ziplocks, freeze flat on baking sheet, then easy to store in the freezer. So wonderful to have instant meals.
DeleteI got on a Thai & Vietnamese food kick and successfully made
ReplyDeleteGrilled lemongrass chicken with dipping sauce
Pad kra pao (made with ground chicken & the abundant Thai basil crop from my balcony garden)
Tom kha gai (Thai coconut chicken soup)
Vietnamese caramelized pork belly
My big failure was burning the almond stollen I make for Christmas gifts. I have made this for30 years but I blame my COVID loss of smell for not detdcting a burning smell!
Ah, Grace, sorry to hear about your burnt almond stollen! I've burnt a few things in my time and sometimes there's just no fixing the result.
DeleteThanks, Flora. I was shocked that I messed up. Fortunately, I had enough time and ingredients to make a second batch of stollen successfully. The burnt stollen went into the bin.
DeleteWish we had recipes Grace - your Thai/Vietnamese recipes sound delicious!! YUM.
DeleteANON: I got the recipes from Hot Thai Kitchen. Pallin is a Thai-Canadian chef based in Vancouver, Canada.
DeleteYou can search for Pallin's Kitchen Youtube channel for video tutorials.
Recipes are on her website.
https://hot-thai-kitchen.com
Burnt almond stollen! That is a shame. So sorry, Grace.
DeleteTom kha gai is my very favorite dish to order at Wild Ginger, our local Asian fusion restaurant. So satisfyingly delicious.
Grace, your Thai food sounds delicious! And I am impressed that you made almond stollen at all. I should think it's quite a project.
DeleteThe pear walnut salad is picture perfect. Shoutout to Harry & David, a company that started with a pear orchard in Oregon's Rogue Valley in 1914. Their stuff is delicious!
ReplyDeleteNot much to report here on the cooking front, although I did manage to mess up the brownie recipe I've been making since the late '70s. I tried baking it in my countertop oven (I'm going to get a new stove, soon I promise) and it just didn't come out.
We use our countertop oven all the time, but I've never tried baking in it. Maybe you don't get the proper heat distribution.
DeleteMassive failure – the Thanksgiving deep-fried turkey. There was more moisture on the Griswald’s bird! It will be remembered by 35 people for not turning up on the table.
ReplyDeleteSuccess – maybe. My personal jury is still out on this one. Perfectly rare Prime Rib, and again Lamb Roast done sous vide. Yes, meat is perfect, everything is perfect, but is the texture mushy? Need to try it again to really consider.
Mastered Gordon Ramsay’s Yorkshire – now they don’t need to be just a treat, but a ‘holder’ for anything that I want to put on them for supper. Yummmmm.
Need to learn – vegetarian gravy – not for me, but apparently there are others who want it. I can always open a package of Knorrs…
I have made a delicious miso gravy, Margo, in the past.
DeleteGood idea, thanks.
DeleteOh, poor you, Margo!!! At least my pork roast made it to the table and no one complained. I've never experimented with sous vide. I think Hank has done some? So do you just have bags and sealer and cook in a pot of water?
DeleteI made a Thai curry with caramelized white miso the other night. So good. We should deifinitely be using miso more often, and I'll bet you can make a good gravy.
(My Christmas dinner gravy, by the way, was excellent!)
I would love to have the recipe for the Thai curry with caramelized white miso, that sounds wonderful! (Barbara)
Deletehttps://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020045-coconut-miso-salmon-curry?q=miso%20
DeleteI used scallops instead of salmon, but you have to put them in a very end then take pot off heat so they won't overcook. I love NYT cooking recipes because people make such helpful comments. I followed some of those, doubling the garlic and ginger, using a full can coconut milk and a can of water. I also added some sliced bok choy and let that cook two or three minutes before adding the spinach, and that was delicious. Lots of lime, chopped cilantro and basil for garnish. The basil was especially good.
This holiday season, everything I made turned out perfect. My baked goods were scrumptious, dinners were delicious! I didn't make anything too complicated, and as I've mentioned before, I've been desperately trying to get some weight back on youngest nephew. So, it was wonderful to plate up meals and see him chow down. To see the cookie plates diminishing. And before y'all think I'm too smug, this has never happened before and I don't expect it to last. Just before the holidays I too made my usual, no-fail chili and it was awful. No amount of doctoring could fix it, and I ended up dumping the greater portion of it.
ReplyDeleteThe pear salad looks restaurant-worthy, Deborah!
Thank you, Flora!
DeleteMaybe your chili powder was off? It does get old.
Paula B here: Christmas dinner was supposed to be at my place but at the last minute had to shift all ingredients to another home and I was amazed how easily it transported but I was left with a vague feeling of ‘incompleteness”. Next day I found 2 sides and the pre-dinner munchies still in my fridge. Apparently change and I no longer work well together. I too don’t cook much in the way of fun or exciting foods anymore. Wish I could fix that. Tried. Failed. There’s always tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteMy addiction to New York Times Cooking is a dangerous thing. I'm sure my husband wishes I would stick to tacos and spaghetti. On the other hand, I made this Thai miso curry with bok choy, spinach and scallops last week, and he loved it. Go figure.
DeleteDebs do you recommend the Instant Pot? I have a pressure cooker and two crock pots but wonder how different the Instant Pot is and is it more convenient than a pressure cooker or crock pot?
ReplyDeleteI wish cooking shows would show the failures and explain why they didn't work out and what to do for next time! I find that Cooks Country or America Test Kitchen has fail proof recipes.
And I still cook with Better Homes & Garden Cookbook from the 1970's!
Epic cooking fail TV show - great idea! Sounds like something America's Test Kitchen should do, an annual outtakes show with lessons learned (or demonstrated).
DeleteThat maybe depends on how sophisticated your pressure cooker is. The IP will do all sorts of things and has a slow cooker function. Also a rice maker function, but I have to say I've never tried either. I don't think anything can beat my rice cooker, but I keep intending to try the slow cooker function. However it is big and clunky and you have to have somewhere to put it!
DeleteMy husband loves his America’s Test Kitchen cookbook. I have my Better Homes and Gardens red plaid cookbook from 7th grade Home Ec (1974-75). My mother had a previous edition.
DeleteI'm all in on the epic fail cooking show! You know they have them!
DeleteThose pears sound fabulous. Anything with good blue cheese and I'm in!
ReplyDeleteMy fail was a recipe I've made for years from a Moosewood cookbook -- "Sunday Salmon" (a layered casserole of potatoes, onions, fresh salmon, smoked salmon, cream cheese... add a milk-and-eggs mixture and fresh dill.) So good when it all congeals and the top puffs and browns the way it's supposed to. Mine turned into a gloopy mess. Edible but looked unappetizing. Takeaway: some recipes should not be doubled.
Weirdly great was a tuna salad I made with (Genova) oil-packed tuna, chopped onion, celery, sweet pickle relish, and mayo on brioche rolls. Go figure.
Sometimes those simple things turn out the best! So frustrating, however when a tried and true recipe (and yours sound delish) doesn't work.
DeleteFrom Celia: Hallie, I think one reason your tuna salad was so good was the quality of the tuna. I no longer eat tuna in water etc. Best is an Italian brand in olive oil. I like to buy the small cans with one serving in them.
DeleteSweet pickle relish is the best in tuna salad, IMHO. For decades my husband refused to eat it that way, but recently he is loosening up, thank goodness.
DeleteI use celery, dill, chopped cornichons, mayo, lemon juice, and m secret ingredient is a little bit of Boar's Head horseradish sauce.
DeleteI need to order some Italian tuna.
DeleteIt’s interesting that things we’ve made before suddenly don’t turn out right, isn’t it? I’ve had the same problem with Yorkshire puddings that I could once make in my sleep!
ReplyDeleteKayti was in charge or the Yorkies and I think she wasn't convinced that you couldn't take the hot muffin pan out of the oven to add the batter.
DeleteFrom Celia: This is so much fun Debs and I am putting off the work I should be doing to enjoy todays post. I can't think of any particular successes last year other than getting my writing to Julia with plenty of time for revision. I know we had some close misses with a couple of the recipes but I've blocked those. Now I need to work on food for one.Luckily I still have Judith Jones (of Julia Child fame) book - The Pleasures of Cooking for One. There is a mouth watering photo of a small shuffle on the cover, almost as good as your pears Debs, which look delicious. I could devour the plate too.
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you, Celia. Those plates I bought at Anthropologie years ago thinking they might last a season or two and they are still perfect!
DeleteThis is so fascinating! I almost did a meh beef stew until a Facebook pal, Andrew Ball, reminded me of beurre manié, and volià, perfect! Amazing.
ReplyDeleteAnd a pal gave us some wonderful dips for a gift— so I sautéed flattened chicken breasts, topped with the artichoke dip on each breast, topped that with a tiny bit of the sun dried tomato dip, covered each with a slice of mozzarella, then put under the broiler.
They puffed up, and the cheese browned gorgeously. So pretty!
And they tasted absolutely— blah. I could not believe it. I am still shaking my head over that. Blah. How can that be?
Hank, I made pot roast last week and could NOT get the sauce to thicken. You were supposed to reduce until it coated the back of a spoon. After about 30 minutes I have up and just used as it was. When we had the leftovers, I tried your beurre manie. Still no luck! But the sauce from Lidia's Italian Pot roast, was delicious anyway.
DeleteMaybe your chicken breasts didn't work because there was nothing to get the flavor into them?
That’s so weird! It should have worked. Did you put it in a tiny tiny bit at a time into hot sauce and whisk?
DeleteYep. And whisked and whiskey. Maybe I didn't use enough for amount of sauce?
DeleteI am so full of typos today! I wish you could edit these comments after they've published!
DeleteBut the "whisked and whiskey" conjures up a real Julia Child moment in the kitchen! :-)
DeleteFlora, that occurred to me, too, lol.
DeleteOh, and we got H and D pears, too! Love love love your salad, anything with blue cheese is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI cut our pears in half, scooped out the core with a spoon . Sprinkled sugar (or Splenda), then cinnamon on each. And put in the microwave for one minute.
The sugar and cinnamon melt into a sauce, then we top with vanilla ice cream.
It is so easy, and so low-cal, especially if you leave off the ice cream like I did, and takes absolutely not work and is so delicious . You absolutely cannot do better than that!
Well, Jonathan put a thin slice of chocolate cake on his, too. Which does add… Something :-)
I'm going to get some supermarket pears and try this! We don't usually have ice cream but I''ll bet a splash of cream would be yummy.
DeleteYes, or whipped cream, according to Jonathan. Or chocolate sauce. With nuts.
DeleteI covered the pears in the microwave, btw.
DeleteAs Rhys says, it's hard to understand why a dish that's always perfect and that we normally prepare without thinking about it suddenly becomes a disaster. And it's the disasters that stick in our minds, not the thousands of meals we've made that were delicious. This past Wednesday, I invited seven lovely people to dinner whom I didn't know very well; I wanted to thank them for helping me with a complicated project. My first course (tuna mousse) and dessert (apple crisp with vanilla ice cream) were as tasty as ever, but my tried-and-true beef stroganoff was boringly tasteless. I'm still not quite sure what went wrong. I think I just prepared it too far in advance. Well, hopefully, I'll have better luck next time.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your guests thought it was terrific, Kim! And your tuna mousse and apple crisp sound divine!
DeleteOh, those Harry & David pears! I’ll never forget the first time I had one, I Didn’t like pears before that. We are lucky enough to have them at Trader Joe’s the last couple of Decembers. In a smaller size box, perfect for me since I live alone.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen they at our TJ's but next year will be checking! A smaller box would be great. I loved them but strugged to get through the whole big box, especially as hubby doesn't eat them.
DeleteHow lucky is your Hubs to have you cook up such deliciousness, Debs! I don't log much time in the kitchen anymore unless I'm baking (Hubs has taken over the cooking - Amen!) and my most successful baking venture was a copy cat of Tom Cruise's famous coconut cake. OMG - so good!
ReplyDeleteJenn, we need that recipe!
DeleteI had no idea that Tom Cruise had a famous coconut cake! Yes, we need the recipe!
DeleteWhen it comes to coconut cake, Lucy has a recipe for it that is heavenly!
DeleteJENN We need the recipe!! LOL :)
DeleteI had a success and defeat with the same darn dish! I made black bean soup (from dried beans) and tried tossing in a little bit of this and that. It turned out amazingly good! Then a couple weeks later, I thought I'd make it again, and, you guessed it, I couldn't recall exactly what I had done the first time. The results weren't just mediocre, they were blech. I wound up using the soup as a base for chili; the new ingredients drowned the bland, vaguely unpleasant taste out.
ReplyDeleteOh, ugh, so disappointing, Julia. Maybe the beans weren't fresh? This site is a great resource for cooking beans: https://www.loveandlemons.com/how-to-cook-beans/
DeleteThey are individual recipes for different types of beans as well as stovetop and IP versions.
My first attempt at chocolate peppermint ice cream cake roll was maybe a B for appearance, an A for taste, and an F for the mess I made. Unfortunately -- no pictures to prove my point. It tasted great, but I ended up with powdered sugar all over myself, the floor, and the counter. (Note to self: do not wear black clothes while making this.) The tricky part was flipping the cake out onto the dishtowel dusted with powdered sugar and then rolling it up while it cools so the cake doesn't crack when you fill it with the ice cream. Mine cracked a bit, but I hid that part underneath--still turned into more of an oval than a circle. I'm better with words than I am with recipes--I swear!
ReplyDeleteWow, we give you major points for trying it!! That recipe sounds like something from Great British Bake Off! Yum!
Delete