Cook's Illustrated - March & April 2011

Why is it magazines always arrive weeks ahead of their dates? I received the March & April 2011 edition of Cook's Illustrated weeks ago. I don't get it, but I also don't get why you receive a renewal bill a year in advance either - I won't pay one more than three months out - it seems like a racket to me.  But I'm me, so no big surprise there.

So I love to go through anything I get from Cook's Illustrated or Cook's Country magazines and pick out the recipes that I want to make. The trouble is that I sometimes don't go back and make any of it and I need to figure out a way to how to keep these good ideas to the front of my mind. Perhaps going to my online version of their websites and printing the recipes to add to my notebooks.

So here is what I have picked from this magazine:

p.  6-7 - Ultimate Steak Sauce - What a cool idea. Make your own steak sauce. Really? I must try this. It also has a recipe for cooking steak inside - which we rarely do since we can grill out the vast majority of the time.

p. 8-9 - Simplifying Potato Galette - This looks simple with only a few ingredients. But you know with Cook's Illustrated, it won't be or if it is, it will involve lots of dirty dishes.

p. 13 - Quick Mushroom Ragu - So will it only take 30 minutes to make it? I doubt it. Sauce needs to take longer - to me, it's a weekend thing - that you serve during the week after it sits in the fridge for a couple of days. I'll give this a go - on a weekend.

p. 14-15 - Wicked Good Boston Cream Pie - I have never made a Boston cream pie before, even though it's not a pie per se. It does seem like something I would like and it's components, well, I could really like it. I hope.