Product Description

We simmered enough chicken soup, beef stew, and corn chowder to feed a small city. Here are more than 200 exhaustively tested recipes, kitchen equipment tests, and blind food tastings that share our discoveries on the undisputed best ways to make America's favorite soups and stews.

The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews is the result of testing more than 6,000 recipe variations for America's favorite soups and stews, from chicken noodle soup, clam chowder, and French onion soup to bouillabaisse, chicken gumbo, and chili. We cover the basics, from which equipment works best to secrets for making quick, rich-tasting chicken stock. We share the secrets for turning out a great bowl of soup or stew, including where to simmer stews (use the oven, not the stovetop), how to puree vegetable soups (the blender, not the food processor, worked best), and what sets a decent beef stock apart from a great beef stock (it's the meat, not the bones). For both beginners and advanced cooks, The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews is sure to become an indispensable kitchen companion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #583658 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

From Amazon.com
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."