Tag: cooking

On Recipe Testing

Lauren4 Comments

Did you know Recipe Tester is an actual job?  I mean, it makes sense.  Someone has to try out all the recipes that end up getting published in cookbooks and magazines, but I guess it’d never really crossed my mind.  That is, until a local magazine I follow on Twitter, tweeted out a link for a cookbook writer looking for volunteer recipe testers.  Sign me up!

Now that I’ve been chosen, cooked my three assigned recipes and turned in all my evaluation forms, I thought I’d share some more about the experience.  And pay attention because after spending a good amount of money on the ingredients and only liking one out of the three recipes, it’s probably safe to say my recipe testing career is over.

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This was Recipe #1, a seafood-stuffed baked phyllo packet.  And then it was topped with a whole grain mustard sauce… yes!  I made this on a Sunday, thinking it would be the most time consuming, but this ended up being the quickest of the bunch.  Also, it was delicious.  Sadly, shrimp and crabmeat are kind of expensive and this will probably be the only time we ever make this dish.  Wah, wah.

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Recipe #2: A smoked turkey, hearts of palm and mushroom salad that was all over the place.  First of all, it served EIGHT and who needs to make eight servings of anything??  Also I thought it was going to be more like chicken or tuna salad consistency but it turns out smoked turkey is more like chunks of ham, aka pretty dense.  The whole things was just weird.  Not to mention that part where one can of hearts of palm is $5 and I needed three of them.  I think Joey ate a majority of this one 🙂

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Last recipe was a cheese grits soufflé, which sounds pretty fun, but was so bland it hurt.  I should’ve known right away when there was NO SALT in the recipe, but part of being a recipe tester means you have to follow the recipe exactly as written.  Also, this took two hours to make between prepping the ingredients and actually baking the soufflé.  Luckily, we made it on a Saturday, otherwise I think dinner would’ve ran straight into bedtime.  That kale salad, though!

So all in all, the whole experience ended up being a pricey/time-consuming let down.  And there go my dreams of being a professional recipe tester!  Just kidding, I think most people who do that for a career have culinary degrees 🙂  The only upside?  It made cooking things I picked myself extra fun this week!

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It’s Friday AND the first day of spring!  Do you have fun weekend plans?

A Book Review: Dearie

LaurenLeave a comment

Okay, the full title of the book is Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, but that was just too many colons for one blog post title.

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I just finished this one up on Tuesday, while sitting out on Joey’s deck and remarkable is right!  It’s interesting to me that Julia Child is such a huge name in the cooking world, yet before reading this book I knew next to nothing about her.  I didn’t know she grew up in California, didn’t know she was that tall, didn’t know she had a career with the secret intelligence agency before embarking on a career in cooking, didn’t know she didn’t begin that career until she was almost 40, didn’t know hard she worked and how much she did right up until her death just two days before her 92nd birthday.  Remarkable.

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While I’m not sure I loved the style of Dearie — it seemed like a lot facts and quotes and was a little dry for my taste — I totally fell in love with the character it depicted.  By the end, I felt like I had been friends with Julia Child.  And what a spunky and fun friend she was.  I don’t think anyone who knows anything about Julia Child can deny that she was one of a kind.  When I reached the end of the book, I was genuinely sad.  Sad that I was too young to know who she was when she was still living, sad that I never got to watch her shows, sad that the world will never see another like her.  But what a legacy she’s left behind.

P.S. Do not read this book while hungry 😛