Classic Fried Chicken

Keeping with our southern location, we often try different takes on fried chicken. This time it was Fine Cooking's classic fried chicken (issue no. 106).

This version created a nice crispy skin and extremely juicy meat. One of the difference between this version and many others is that it recommends you shake the chicken in a paper bag to coat. Not only does this lead to less mess, but it is also a great job if you have a little "sous chef" looking for something to do.

Fried Squash Blossoms

We set off to the farmer's market this morning not sure if we would be able to acquire ourselves some of this often hard to fit ingredient. We were in luck, one man held our pot of gold, beautiful looking squash blossoms, alive with yellow and orange. Tonight...fried squash blossoms, from the Fine Cooking issue number 106.

None of us had ever tried squash blossoms. They were a bit of a pain to prepare, having to removed the stamen from each. The taste was nothing special. I have seen recipes before that call for you to stuff them with cheese, but these were simply battered and fried. The first bite gave you a hint of squash flavor, but then the taste was mostly of something fried. It could have been anything in batter.

Verdict: nice novelty, but we won't be seeking them out anytime soon.

Chile-Rubbed Steak Tacos

In the interest of full-disclosure, I need to tell you that one item appears on our menu each week consistently. Taco or fajitas or some version thereof. It started when the other half lived at home. His mother made tacos every Friday it seemed. And now we have what we call Fajita Friday. Sometimes it is Taco Thursday. The alliteration of the name does not always denote exactly the food of the day.

Today was Chile-Rubbed Steak Tacos, from the May 2004 issue.


We made two substitutions with the recipe. We didn't have any allspice or cloves on hand, so we substituted five-spice power instead. The flavor profile was similar, so I don't think the taste was affected. The second change was the meat, we had skirt steak, which is more traditional to use for tacos here in Texas anyways.

The verdict: delicious. It is a winner at our house.

Cook the Issue

We, the other half and I, are great cooks. Okay, he is a great cook and I am a great selector of recipes. He cheerfully (most of the times) makes anything I ask. And for the past six years or so we have been avid readers and users of Fine Cooking Magazine.

For some time now I have thought, "we should write about the things we make," and then I came across the Cook the Issue 2010 Challange from the magazine itself. And here we are. While we do most of our cooking from the pages of Fine Cooking, we do read and make use of the expertise of other recipe sources. We hope that you will enjoy our exploits and in the case of the other half, his interpretations of recipes.