When the hubby gave me Magnolia Table as a Christmas gift in 2018, I flipped through it on Christmas morning reveling in all the pictures. As I began to pause on particularly scrumptious looking dishes to read the recipes I found myself saying, “this sounds really” good over and over again. They were not particularly fancy or exotic dishes, lots of comfort food and ingredients that were not scary, and so many of them were things I would love to cook that I decided to challenge myself to cook them all.
What followed was 4 months of learning new cheeses, embracing kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, and expanding my skills a bit. It kick-started a bit of kitchen organizing, resurrected some of my kitchen gadgets I had purchased in the past but rarely used, got me to clean off at least half of my island, and expanded my spice collection to the point I had to revamp it and create a second storage area for it (alphabetically arranged, of course).
I posted pictures and short recaps of the food and the process with an overall score for the recipe on my personal Facebook page. I am a “doer” so my Facebook timeline is mostly populated with pictures from my yard, garden, or kitchen with the occasional dog meme thrown in for humor. I am also a Project Manager, both in profession and in the core of my being, so after the last recipe was cooked, scored, and posted I summarized the whole thing in a write up and a series of graphs to illustrate my final conclusions.
I present here the summary and each of the recipes with my take on it. Each person has their own tastes and preferences so keep that in mind if you disagree with me on my score. Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments, just stay civil and be kind.
Here is the summary from my original Facebook post:
It took me 4 months to finish the Magnolia Table cookbook and it was a really great experience. I thought I was a fairly accomplished cook before I started this process. However, after cooking all 140 recipes, and following her instructions, I have been humbled a bit and have to admit that my culinary skills have a long way to go. Although the last 4 months have definitely taken it up a notch.
I have to say that this is one of the best cookbooks I own. The vast majority of the recipes are good enough to be “keepers” and there are some great tricks and tips that are worth buying the book for. The food is classic comfort food with enough classy upgrades to make many of the old standbys feel like new.
I would like to see more cookbooks include pictures of the process, particularly when there are instructions based on color or consistency that determine the end of cooking time. There were a couple of these that may deserve a higher score but didn’t turn out because I did a “best guess” based on the instructions.
Summary – with added graphs because I am what I am. 🙂
There were only 5 recipes that scored below a 3, which is the midrange on a scale of 0-5.
Steamed Artichokes – .001
Roasted Elephant Garlic Bread – 1.5
Meatloaf – 2.5
Chocolate Chip Cookies – 2.5
Mexican Rice – 2.998
There were 8 recipes that scored above a 4.8.
NOTE – I updated this on 5/1 to reflect an upgrade in the score for the Jalapeño Drip Jam. We have made burgers two more times and it is the reason. I wouldn’t change a thing about it, and I will never make burgers at home again without it.
Baked Bruschetta with Tomato, Basil, and Fontina – 5
Jalapeno Drip Jam – 5
Gaines Brothers Burgers – 4.9
Lemon Pie – 4.9
Orange Scones – 4.899999
Mashed Potatoes – 4.89
1919 Pimento Cheese – 4.89
Almond Chicken Tenders – 4.85
Honorable Mentions that probably deserve a higher score
Best Ever Fluffy Pancakes
Becki’s Mac and Cheese
Mrs. Gail’s Chicken and Fettuccine Alfredo
All in all, this has been a very positive experience. It broadened my horizons, particularly where cheese is concerned, and forced me to step out of my comfort zone
Count of recipes by chapter and the average score.
