's Best of 2001
Everyone loves soups and stews--but how best to prepare these sometimes challenging dishes? The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews, part of the Best Recipe series from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine, has the answer. Applying its signature "trial and error" approach to the business of choosing definitive recipes and techniques, the magazine tested 23 noodle soups, 40 corn chowders, and 54 beef Burgundies. The results? Not only 200 exemplary recipes--ranging from Manhattan Clam Chowder and Cream of Tomato Soup to Lobster Bisques, Chicken Noodle Soup, Irish Stew, and Beef Goulash--but an armament of technical information, tips, and equipment recommendations all cooks will welcome. Among these are authoritative stock-making suggestions, keys to choosing tender stew meat, and recommendations that yield a superior crust for onion soup. Readers also learn why blender jars with interior flutes produce the best purées, which brand of matzo meal to choose, and how best to crush tomatoes and slice flank steak. The book also covers accompaniments such as baguettes, mashed potatoes, rice, and cornbread. With ingredient profiles, "Science" sidebars (How Starches Work, is one), plus step-by-step how-to illustrations, Soups & Stews will help all cooks achieve mastery of these beloved dishes --Arthur Boehm


From Publishers Weekly
The newest addition to the Cook's Illustrated (How to Grill, How to Make a Pizza, etc.) library dives into the world of soups and stews, from the most basic chicken stock to a silky lobster bisque. This weighty volume is divided into four helpful sections: the first covers equipment and ingredients (including recipes for the necessary homemade stocks); the middle two focus on soups and stews; and the final one addresses the matter of accompaniments. Inserts provide descriptions of ingredients, details of their preparation, and the impact they have on dishes. An introduction to each recipe describes the testing processes involved in determining its final proportions and directions, so that chefs are treated to the "why" as well as the "how." Soups range from the classic Chicken Noodle Soup and the warming Mushroom-Barley Soup to the spicy, creamy Indian Dal Soup, a variation on the Lentil Soup. Chilled soups include favorites like Borscht and Vichyssoise, as well as more unusual fruit soups, such as Chilled Melon Soup sweetened with honey. For stews, there's everything from the Hearty Beef Stew to the robust, sweet and piquant Country Captain Chicken, which was one of FDR's personal favorites. The vegetarian is not forgotten, either: there are vegetable stews and suggestions for animal-friendly substitutions in several of the recipes. Accompaniments, like the subtle Basmati Rice, Pilaf Style or the fluffy Mashed Potatoes, perfectly complement this impressive compendium of liquid cuisine. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Daily News
"...the result of massive research."


Book Description
The Test Cooks at Cook's Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, simmered enough chicken soup, beef stew and corn chowder to feed a small city-- the result? More than 200 exhaustively tested recipes and hand-drawn illustrations, kitchen equipment tests and blind food tastings that share our discoveries of the undisputed best ways to make America's favorite soups and stews. 3rd title in "The Best Recipe" series.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
What is the secret to a really good vegetable stock? How can you make a good chicken stock in under an hour? What makes the difference between a so-so beef stew and a great one? Luckily for us, the editors of Cook's Illustrated have tackled the mysteries of soups and stews, and done all the heavy lifting. As a result, all we need to do is read and cook.

En route to the perfect recipes, they have simmered more than 6,000 pots of stew and soup, test-driven 23 chicken noodle soups, 40 corn chowders, and 65 beef stews to find the absolute best in methods, ingredients, and equipment. More than 225 recipes and 200 illustrations are the result.

The book is divided into four sections: basic equipment and homemade stocks; soups (chicken meat, seafood, vegetables, or pasta and beans); stews (meat, chicken, seafood, vegetable, chilis, gumbos, curries); and accompaniments like rustic country bread, mashed potatoes, rice, and cornbread.

In an essay preceding each recipe, the editors explain the methods they tried while developing the recipe. So we know now that the best vegetable stock comes from adding four kinds of alliums (onions, shallots, leeks, and garlic) and sautéing the vegetables until lightly caramelized before adding any water; that adding Parmesan cheese rind to water makes the best stock base for minestrone; and that the key to a good chicken stock is sautéing the chicken parts first.

Along the way, the editors share a lot of useful tricks, like freezing stocks in muffin trays, then storing the blocks of frozen stock in plastic bags, or cutting a butternut squash by placing a cleaver on the back of the squash and driving it in with a mallet. There are taste tests of canned chicken broth, Parmesan cheese, and canned beans, as well as illustrated step-by-step drawings of truly handy techniques, such as how to remove the meat from steamed lobsters. (Ginger Curwen)

SYNOPSIS

The editors of Cook￯﾿ﾽs Illustrated tested 23 chicken noodle soups, 40 cioppinos, and 54 beef burgundies to find the absolute best methods for making more than 200 soups and stews. Now you can have the very best versions of these recipes, and much more, in The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews. More than 200 recipes cover just about every soup and stew imaginable, from American classics such as Manhattan Clam Chowder, Cream of Tomato Soup, and Lobster Bisque, to international favorites such as Coq au Vin, Hot-and-Sour Soup, and Beef Goulash. 200 illustrations show you how to cut up a chicken, shape matzo balls, and fill tortellini, and no-nonsense testing results provide you with equipment buying recommendations and suggestions on which food products are best.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly