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Saturday, May 21, 2011
A Lousy Last Supper
I thought Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles (pg 322) would be a good dinner to fuel up on for The Rapture. Teleportation sounds exhausting. I also thought a Chinese dish would be a nice change of pace. I was wrong. This dish was B-L-A-N-D. The recipe calls for a mere tsp of Chinese five-spice powder, tsp of sugar, and a pinch of cayenne to flavor a pound of shrimp and a whole pot of noodles. The instructions say to be generous with white pepper, and I was, so this tasted like white pepper. That's it. There was no other flavor.
Conclusion: Dislike. I have survived The Rapture to cook again.
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This was hilarious-love how you celebrated being able to "cook again", even if it is not the recipe on p 322. Very interesting to hear the results because I agree that this recipe sounds amazing - like a complete winner. Funny to hear that it fell flat. So sorry. But that photo looked fab. And we did survive :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, good thing the rapture didn't happen because I'd hate for you to end it on a bad recipe. Cellophane noodles are more difficult to flavor. I'm curious about making this dish now because cellophane noodles are best flavored with a sauce instead of direct spices. Great post though. Make sure to pick up your awards on my blog!
ReplyDeleteThere was tomato puree in there, too, which I guess was the sauce component. It didn't contribute much flavor, though.
ReplyDeleteToo funny - you even skipped the puree and STILL had issues. Le sigh.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't care for this one either. I liked the spices in this, but everything was just overwhelmed by the tomato puree.
ReplyDeleteSo glad we weren't the only ones who didn't like this one. Thought we had lost our minds!
ReplyDeleteNot a hit in our house, either! I just ate the shrimp.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the tomato puree sucked up all the flavors. Cilantro and 5 spice are so subtle. It was great without the tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteYes, bland was the word. I should have added more spice to mine, maybe it would have helped.
ReplyDeleteAh ... again, I'm in the minority! I did like this dish ... but I used only 1/4 cup of tomato puree, a bit more than a pinch of cayenne, ground BLACK pepper, and a generous squeeze of lemon at the end. I'm not sure it will be a "go-to" recipe for me, but I found the taste appetizing.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely bland. I felt like maybe the tomato puree flattened it all out. Go figure. Dorie missed on this one. Glad you survived the rapture. (P.S. Happy that I can comment, the comments are inaccessible on your new blog. Hope all is well in Italy.)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely in need of much more flavor. I doubled the 5 spice after the fact but it didn't help much. Wish I had left out the puree....
ReplyDeleteOh no! Sorry to hear this was not a hit.
ReplyDeleteLOL :) I doubled the spoce and it was too much but I also blended the spices then tossed them directly on the shrimp so it really kept its flavor.
ReplyDeleteDropping the tomato was a good idea, I think - sounds like the puree it overwhelmed the dish and contributed to the blandness.
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't like....I am one of the "few" who liked it!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. This was not the best of recipes. But alas, you survived and can continue to cook! (Next week's will be tons better!)
ReplyDelete