Customer Reviews

The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This cookbook, and the associated magazine "Cook's Illustrated," try hard to discover the best methods, equipment and ingredients for cooking in the home. And they do so by exhaustive (at least it would be for me!) comparisons. They then explain the results and why they were achieved. If you have a scientific bent at all the explanations will suck you into trying the recipes. Then the tastes will hook you forever. For example, brining almost all poultry is now a staple technique in their repertoire, and after reading why (and going through the drawing of what happens to protein molecules during brining) it's now a staple in my home as well. Some discoveries that they share were serendipitous, too, such as leaving a brined turkey uncovered overnight in the fridge, cooking it anyway, and discovering that the resulting bird had both crisp skin (from drying out in the fridge) and juicy meat (from the brining). If understanding why something does what it does, if being shown why one thing is considered better than another, if comparisons are important to you -- then this cookbook is one you should have.

These books are great! I love my Cooks' Illustrated Books and use them all the time. My one and only complaint is that they have now published the Best Recipe series and now the Test Kitchen books and they don't have enough recipes to fill them each one with enough unique recipes to distinguish one book from another.

A few repetitions is understandable, but they have gone way over the top. If you buy more than two of these books, the third is bound to be composed of a third the recipes from each of the first two. Same test info, everything. This only leaves 1/3 of the recipes as original.

Because of this, I say look carefully before deciding which one from this series you purchase unless you want multiple copies of the same testing articles and recipes.

I fell in love with Cook's Illustrated magazine -- I've subscribed since the charter issue ten years ago. So I bought Chris Kimball's COOK'S BIBLE when it appeared. It included many of the same recipes lifted from the magazine, but that was okay, because it made searching for a particular dish easier. Shortly after that came his YELLOW FARMHOUSE COOKBOOK. More of the same. Meanwhile, the magazine is issuing individual-theme "booklets" for... It's up to a couple dozen by now, and all of them simply riffs on previously published material in the magazine. Then came Pam Anderson's (she was former exec ed and her absence is sorely missed) THE PERFECT RECIPE, which contained 30 of her COOK'S magazine articles. More repeats of the same information. A year later Cook's puts out THE BEST RECIPE, virtually identical to Pam's. More repeats of the same classic American fare. Now we have the BEST RECIPE SERIES, up to four at last count, the most recent being, AMERICAN CLASSICS, yet ANOTHER spin redux on mac-cheese and lemon meringue pie. What sets AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN apart is that at least it's based on something other than magazine articles -- in this case, the TV series, which in itself, however, is incestuously bound to many of the same tried-and-true recipes from the magazine (and all those previous books). All of this is perfectly legal of course. You can't be arrested for plaigirizing your own recipes. But is it ethical? How many more printed versions of the same roast chicken recipe do we need? You can find nearly the same one in all of the COOK's books. Furthermore, I've begun to notice that there are odd discrepancies creeping into their recommendations. A recent chocolate dessert recipe, for instance, advocated using one of two different brands of chocolate -- these two brands, in fact, being the only two "not recommended" of the dozen taste-tested in an issue the previous year. For me, this wholly undercuts the credibility of the magazine, making me doubt the judgment of Cook's staff, which is really the main thing going for it since their shtick is testing and then declaring the best, whether it's an ingredient or technique. It's no wonder that so many recipes are simply dragged and dropped from one book to another -- there's no way that the relatively small staff of the magazine could produce this amazing and tireless flood of COOK'S products. It's a shame because, for me, all this marketing and mercenary publishing have made me mistrust an old friend.

This was the first Cooks Illustrated cookbook I bought (I now have three) and it's... well, limited. It's meant to accompany the TV series, though in actuality it's really only a small part of what the TV show is about. Like other Best Recipe books, it occasionally nicks material from the other books (a frequent Cooks Illustrated annoyance) but it still manages to work nicely, and the recipes in it are still enough to get the reader going.

It's the odd one out of the series, limited as it is to a fairly narrow selection of items, and it has a rather strange but appetizing Southern accent (strange because of the show's basis in New England). It also has plenty of pictures that give it a playfulness that the bigger books lack.

I do recommend this book, with some reservations (though the recipe that teaches how to butterfly a turkey is not something you're going to find anywhere else, and might be worth it if it saves someone some frustration on Thanksgiving). I really wanted to give it 3 1/2 stars, and rounded up because I don't like being cheap with praise. Just understand that it's a sample of what Cooks Illustrated is all about, and really just a cleverly done ad for their bigger books, and you will definitely not be disappointed.

This companion volume to the PBS series is presented as 26 chapters that correspond to the individual shows and include recipe analysis, equipment recommendations and illustrated techniques. Christopher Kimball and his rigorous cohorts define their goals, talk to experts, test dozens of recipe variations and then let you know what works and what doesn't. For example, Shrimp Classics includes recipes for Herb-Crusted Shrimp, Cocktail Sauce, Shrimp Scampi, Shrimp/Scallops/Monkfish Fra Diavolo with Linguine, five variations of Grilled Shrimp, a comparison of garlic presses, explanations of why shrimp turn pink and garlic's changing flavor, and taste tests for shrimp and dried pasta. This much analysis really helps you experiment more intelligently, though it's dangerous to open the book if you're in a hurry. Give yourself some extra time to peruse the always informative and entertaining text preceding the recipes.

Chapters include: pureed vegetable soups; pesto, carbonara & salad; spaghetti & meatballs; pizza night; simple sandwiches; shrimp classics; steak frites; fried chicken & fixin's; chicken cutlets 101; all-american cookout; middle eastern barbecue; fajitas & margaritas; thanksgiving dinner; christmas dinner; winter supper; ham, biscuits and greens; muffins & scones; bacon, eggs & home fires; french toast, waffles & breakfast strata; bar cookies; two french tarts; diner pies; apple pies; peach pie & cherry cobbler; chilled summer puddings; and chocolate desserts.

The pan sauce for steak is phenomenal, fajitas and cream biscuits are great, and I will never use another recipe for pie crust again.

I own about 60 food and cookbooks and would rank this as one of the top three. Though this Kimball & Co. never do in one step what they can do in three, the recipes are consistently excellent and make the extra work worthwhile.

Line illustrations,charts and a passable index augment the text.

After falling in love with the series, I decided to give the cookbook a try. I wasn't disappointed-- the casual presentation translates well into text, and the book is entertaining enough to read on its own merits.

As a would-be cook who lacked a wise mentor who could pass on simple but indispensable techniques, this was the answer to my prayers. Not only are the recipes simple and thorough, but the results have been phenomenal. As if that weren't enough, the reviews of different ingredients, utensils, and appliances have been a huge asset to me as I begin to fill in the gaps in my kitchen. The folks at Cook's Illustrated have done a fine job of presenting a show and a cookbook that are the perfect starting point for those who love to cook but don't have that certain something-- a painless way to go from apprehensive producer of so-so dishes into confident creator of attractive and tasty meals.

I've enjoyed the cooking show, America's Test Kitchen, for several years. Their web site ... includes the current season's recipes -- but not the full list. If your local PBS station is running a show from an earlier series, then the recipes are not readily available.

Well this book has all of the information. It has the recipes (plus usually one or two that weren't included in the show because of time constraints). It has the product reviews and it has the explanation behind food science involved (why you want to a russet potato for one kind of recipe and a boiling potato for another recipe). Many of the techniques are also discussed -- but the book leaves out Bridget's joy of whanging away at a recalcitrant piece of meat. Personally, I'm waiting for them to do a kitchen tool review on rubber hammers!

I still enjoy the show -- but find that I regularly return to the cookbook. My definition of a good cookbook. Now I'm looking for the next season's cookbook.

I found this book a fascinating read. I can easily spend a couple of hours immersed in this book, learning new techniques and observing the art and science of cooking. It is a plainly written, unpretentious guide to doing things better in the kitchen, and I can't think of another book I own that comes close to the engaging tone of this one. I learn something new every time I pick it up!

I've always wondered why sometimes you use baking powder and sometimes you use baking soda, and sometimes both. Now I know! This book explains cooking theory in little side articles that are easy to find (and easy to ignore if you don't care about them). It has lots of recommendations, for things like cooking equipment (I bought a new grater & love it) as well as ingredients. And there are a couple of recipes that have become classics at my house. Try the chocolate cream pie; it's to DIE for! The ingredient that they investigated in that one was baking chocolates. You'll be surprised which one ended up being used! One of my favorite cookbooks; it stays on the counter rather than getting filed away.

This book has a very unusal organization, each chapter is organized like the content of the TV show. This makes finding things hard.

What sets this book apart is that it explains the why. You leave each one with a better understanding of cooking. You feel that cooking is a science not folk lore.

What a great feeling and these recepies actually work, Wonderful book.