#CookbookTrials: Fried & True

Delinquent! Delinquent I say! I know, I know. And I do love blogging but impending move means that Cookbook Trials may be on hiatus while I pack and then unpack. Yeesh. Anywho, I did do March (which stretched into April's) trials using the cookbook Fried & True I received at a launch event I attended at the supperclub under Red Rooster in Harlem. I got a mini cast iron skillet for Christmas and a wok for my birthday so I was set friends.

I managed four recipes as per the usual. Two sides and two chicken. The basis for Fried & True is as the title states, fried chicken recipes. Fifty of "the best" in the United States as found by the editor Lee Brian Schrager with Adeena Sussman of this cookbook. One of which was Charles Gabriel's fried chicken and he's not too far from where I work in Harlem.

Swiss Chard Salad with Pine Nuts and Lemon (Art Smith)

Prep/Cooking Difficulty: No difficulty whatsoever. You have five ingredients (not including salt & pepper) and mix it all together. The only prep was cleaning off the swiss chard leaves and toasting the pine nuts after that it's all mixing.

Taste: It's a nice healthy mix to add to a fried protein. Swiss chard has a slightly bitter taste close to mesculun or even kale in a way and is super good for you. The crunch of the toasted pine nuts and some saltiness with the parmesan and salt/pepper was a nice mix and I ate it all in one day since I made half a serving. Good and good for you!

Yay or Nay? Yay for healthy!

[Vietnamese] Fried Chicken (Hy Vong)

Prep/Cooking Difficulty: This was another deliberately easy one, folks. Chicken stock, soy sauce, jalapenos (which I skipped), and scallions along with chicken is all you need. Fry the chicken immediately and make the sauce while the chicken fries and that is it.

Taste: Perhaps the real kick comes from the jalapenos for this recipe as I found without the chicken being flavored you rely a lot on the sauce, which is the intention, but that's none too flavorful for me. I usually make recipes with soy sauce that also have sesame seed oil, oyster sauce and other items so this being really stock, soy sauce, and in my case no peppers it didn't have as much flavor as I would have liked but is definitely a nice alternative.

Yay or Nay? I'm middle of the road on this one as it's not as good day after where as other fried chicken may hold up better.

Candied Yams (Charles Gabriel)

Prep/Cooking Difficulty: Not very. You do make this is two stages which is boiling the potatoes then cutting that up to bake and making a sauce to put on top which includes orange, cinnamon sticks, and sugar. I've made much more complicated sweet potatoes in mashed form.

Taste: The syrup is what makes this dish! Oh my goodness it IS like candy. Move over old school recipes I've done before Charles' takes the cake for me from now on.

Yay or Nay? Yay. For goodness sake yay!

Country Pan Fried Chicken (Charles Gabriel)

Prep/Cooking Difficulty: As mentioned I went with the easier of recipes and this was one of them. It must be brined overnight with salt, pepper, and garlic powder so that those flavors literally stick to the meat when you're ready to bread and fry it.

Taste: The brining makes the difference here because the garlic powder and salt/pepper stick to the meat with little else needed in the breading. When you fry it all up you taste those spices in the juicy chicken and it's all good. Reminds me of my grandma's chicken for sure.

Yay or Nay? You know what I'm gonna say don't you? If not: YAY!

So overall would I recommend Fried & True? Yes, with the caveat that it's not all easy. There are some multi-step, hardcore recipes in here and it'll take a while to get through. Plus it's a lot of fried chicken with just a couple alternates so that's a huge amount of oil. I'd say pick your recipes wisely and definitely try out the sides as they were fun to look through and consider. The sides range from Popeye's like biscuits to mac n' cheese to waffles to various slaws and grit type sides so there's a nice range.

Since summer is coming I may try for some more dessert-y cookbooks, or not.

#CookBookTrials: A Taste of Home's Home Style Cooking

February is almost at an end and I have completed my first cookbook trial with A Taste of Home: Home Style Cooking.

This is a cookbook filled with recipes from home cooks that have been compiled into various sections like: morning meals, side dishes & salads, Sunday dinners, sweet treats, and so on. I did five recipes one breakfast, one side dish, one gatherings dish, one Sunday dinner, and of course one sweet treat. I will always stand by doing something sweet!

Baked Eggs with Cheddar and Bacon

Prep/Cooking Difficulty: Not hard at all. You grate some cheese (in this case instead of cheddar I got smoked mozzeralla), break some eggs, chop some garnish and preheat the oven. Very easy to make and easy peasy but you have to watch your eggs to make sure the yolk doesn't harden fully to get the slight "jelly" effect of it while the whites around are hardened.

Taste: Perhaps because I under did the cheese (I'm not a huge fan of the egg & cheese combo) it settled on a bland taste for me, more egg than anything else. I'd also rather bacon inside than on top crumbled as a garnish because I like the combo taste of meat and egg. So, this may have been more my fault on the prep end than on the recipe itself but of course one can always make modifications and not necessarily go by the book.

Yay or Nay? In a sense "meh."

Crusted Baked Chicken

Prep/Cook Difficulty: Not difficult at all, especially if you've made chicken before. Biggest thing is if you don't have a good bowl for mixing you'll have crumbs all over your countertop after breading the chicken. Dipping chicken in flour and buttermilk is traditional fare for frying but since you bake less mess from no oil popping on your stovetop. And then you simply let it bake.

Taste: I enjoyed the breadcrumb mixture detailed in the recipe. Reminded me of some I had bought and now I know what combination of herbs and spices to use to get that similar Italian seasoned breading taste for chicken. And I prefer baked chicken to fried at times so on a cold day it was a nice way to eat without worrying about a lot of calories.

Yay or Nay? Yay!

Bacon and Garlic Green Beans 

Prep/Cook Difficulty: Not much really. You're using thawed frozen greenbeans so you take it out the bag before you're ready to use. From there frying up bacon and the garlic, onions and such make a nice savory combo to what could be a bland side dish with little additions.

Taste: I used turkey bacon for this (and the egg dish) and have to say I enjoyed it with the garlic & onions of the string beans. It was a different taste to something I usually eat with salt/pepper or with a bit of garlic/onion powder. It worked well as a side for the crusted chicken and complimented it with the hearty taste even though I had double the protein. It'd probably even go well with some basic mashed potatoes as a larger meal with turkey instead of crusted chicken.

Yay or Nay? Yay for varying up vegetables!

Lemon Snowdrops

Prep/Bake Difficulty: For me no difficulty whatsoever. But if you are truly new to the game I think the fact that you make the lemon butter filling (which is on par with homemade lemon curd in texture/taste) and then make a basic lemon shortbread could be a bit trying as a first recipe. But for someone who is used to baking it was super easy. I'd suggest making the lemon butter filling before the cookies this way it's cooling in the fridge while you're baking cookies and by the time the cookies have cooled so has your filling ready for use!

Taste: Oh my goodness. Fantastic. As several co-workers said to me when I gave these cookies out: "This is the perfect cookie." The shortbread cookie is made how shortbread should be made with confectioner's sugar so the texture is on point in being buttery & crisp (and you know I know having won a cookie takedown with shortbread.) And if you're a lemon fan like myself it's great because there's lemon essence in the cookie from lemon extract but strong lemon sweetness in the filling and it's a sandwich cookie so you get lots of cookie and a bit of filling with each bit. Also I did not add confectioners sugar on top because it's messy and I think this lessened sweetness helps since the filling is good enough as is.

Yay or Nay? Duh! Yay! A zillion times yay!

Note: For this recipe I also want to not try and make the cookies as small as you can. I rolled them out as tablespoons which made about 20 sandwich cookies in all when the recipe says four dozen though they are much much smaller.

Lemon Easter Bread

Prep/Cook Difficulty: Not much. The main thing about making anything with yeast is it needs to rise a few times in a warm atmosphere. So if you're making it make sure you have a few hours. Otherwise mix everything in bowl and leave, knead and leave then bake!

Taste: The mixture calls for lemon pudding mix along with flour, yeast, water, and such. So I think I had been expecting a sweeter bread but this was your traditional not sweet bread with a hint of lemon. Freshly baked it smells amazing. I did make some honey butter and having that along with the bread (warm) was very tasty as a nice treat. But I had it cool and alone and was none too impressed. So I'd suggest eating it warm and with something like a sweet cream or preserves.

Yay or Nay? A moderate yay with accouterments and warm. Cannot emphasize how good freshly made warm bread is.

Would I recommend A Taste of Home: Home Style Cooking? Absolutely, each recipe was easy peasy, and for the most part the ones I chose to do were quick (except for the bread which needs time to have the yeast rise). In general prep isn't more than 30 minutes per recipe and certain ones, like turkey, would take several hours on the baking/cooking end. There's a good range of options for protein dishes, but a head's up that in general this isn't a cookbook for vegans or those who are gluten-free. There are a good amount of veggie options but bacon can fit prominently into some dishes, though there is the availability of seafood for pescetarians. The ingredients for dishes is not hard to find and the title itself, Home Style Cooking, notes that this book was compiled with home cooks (not necessarily hardcore chefs) in mind.

For my friends with families who need to do a quick meal or even my couple/single buds who may want to do more cooking at home I'd heartily recommend this book. Also keep in mind the cuisines featured are very much American based (BBQ, fried, bacon galore, some Italian influence, cheese is great!). There won't be items like mascarpone or anise or anything of the like really. So if you're looking for items that are familiar and may have an alternate ingredient or method of preparation consider this book and feel free to tweak recipes as you feel fit. I'm definitely gonna delve in more.

Let the #CookBookTrials Begin ...

New year, new blog post series. Last year was #ArtistTherapy, which I thoroughly enjoyed scribing. But, this year, I realized upon looking at my overflowing bookcases that I have a lot of books (yes) but also many cookbooks. Cookbooks I've been gifted as a food blogger, purchased, and/or sent for review. I have previously done posts/giveaways for Herbivoracious and Easy Chinese Food Recipes. Now though, I want to actually take the time to make the recipes from the cookbooks lining my shelves to discover new go-to recipes that I will hopefully fall in love with.

So, starting in February I will pick one cookbook I have that I have rarely, if ever, used and try several recipes. I will report back to you on them and more than likely post successes/failures on Instagram as well. At the end of each month (or very beginning of the next) I will note how progress went and the ease of use (good for people on the go or many lengthy recipes). And in terms of some cookbooks they may have a theme like Ellie Krieger's Comfort Food Fix (a healthy spin on comfort food) or the Mom's 100 Meals.

So that's the challenge I've made for myself this year. And I look forward to letting you know how that goes.