Cook's Illustrated

Product Description

Product Description

Cook's Illustrated provides readers with recipes, cooking techniques, and product and food recommendations exhaustively developed in our extensive Test Kitchen facility - the same kitchen featured on our cooking show, America's Test Kitchen. Included are best ways to prepare favorite American dishes -- from pot roast and chocolate chip cookies to grilled salmon and fruit cobbler. Best (and worst) cooking equipment -- from chef's knives to cookie sheets. Best brands -- from canned tomatoes to baking chocolate. Best cooking techniques - from brining shrimp to baking ham. And all of this is provided without a single page of advertising - just 100% cooking information.

Product Description

Cook's Illustrated provides readers with recipes, cooking techniques, and product and food recommendations exhaustively developed in our extensive Test Kitchen facility - the same kitchen featured on our cooking show, America's Test Kitchen. Included are best ways to prepare favorite American dishes -- from pot roast and chocolate chip cookies to grilled salmon and fruit cobbler. Best (and worst) cooking equipment -- from chef's knives to cookie sheets. Best brands -- from canned tomatoes to baking chocolate. Best cooking techniques - from brining shrimp to baking ham. And all of this is provided without a single page of advertising - just 100% cooking information.

Product Details

• Format: Magazine
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Publisher: Boston Common Press
• ASIN: B000069YW9
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (117 customer reviews)
This magazine subscription is provided by Synapse

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

163 of 165 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reading pleasure as well as recipes, July 2, 2002

By 

Jennifer Grace Dawson "John's mom" (Whitefish Bay, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cook's Illustrated (Magazine)

Cooks Illustrated is like no other cooking magazine I have ever read. It's a sort of Consumers Reports for cooking, aimed at the beginning gourmand. The magazine includes recipes, tips sent in by readers, standard methods for important cooking procedures, reviews of gadgets or food items, and reviews of cookbooks. All of these are accompanied by beautiful black-and-white illustrations and photos of the foods and techniques used (which explains the "Illustrated" part of the magazine title).

My favorite articles are those that delve into the development of the recipe featured. These articles all provide a standard format of describing the "perfect" representation of the items and then the authors explain their process for creating their final recipes and the method by which to read and make the recipes. While this sounds scientific (and indeed, it is), the writing is delightful and down-to-earth, not dry or esoteric as other gourmet magazines. In addition, sidebar articles explore choosing particular ingredients or comparisons of different brands or gadgets relating to the recipe shown and give clear direction where the more elusive ingredients and gadgets can be purchased.

While I am not always confident that the recipes in other magazines or cookbooks have been tested, I am always certain that the recipes in Cooks Illustrated have been rigorously reviewed and have been designed to be made by the average cook, not trained culinary experts. If you are seeking a magazine that provides tried-and-true recipes for basic food items (ranging from Beef Stroganoff to Salade Nicoise), this is a perfect choice. It is obvious that this magazine is a work of love for its editors and writers. There are no advertisements, and the only color photos are on the inside of the back page of the magazine.

(At one time, Cooks Illustrated had a special featured area on Amazon.com. The articles posted there are still available on Amazon.com, but you have to dig. Search under the book The Best Recipe, click through to the book description, and under "Book Information" in the left column, click the Amazon.com articles link and explore from there. These articles are great--albeit more brief and non-illustrated--versions of the articles in the magazine.)

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great magazine even for the culinarily-challenged, November 4, 2004

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cook's Illustrated (Magazine)

"Cook's Illustrated" serves as a mentor to me and others who refused to learn the art and science of cookery in the kitchens of their loved ones. I did take a home economics class in high school, but my main memory of it is my teacher's repeated iteration of "Oh mercy, Elaine. Mercy." It took a long diet of college jello and Spanish Rice, and then a marriage in which neither of us fathomed the mysteries of the kitchen to get me interested in the art of cooking for myself and others.

Most of the other magazines in the culinary market don't seem to cater to the cooking-challenged. For instance, the seemingly simple instruction "beat enough sugar into the meringue to stiffen it" caused me to set the oven on fire. I added cups and cups of sugar to my three egg whites and the darn meringue finally got grainy, which I figured was the equivalent of 'stiff.' Not so. Once enough heat was applied, the meringue flooded over the sides of the pie plate and set the oven ablaze. It was not easy explaining my culinary mishap to a sceptical fireman.

My inadvertent attempt at incendiarism wouldn't have happened if I had been following a recipe in "Cook's Illustrated." Here the recipes are lovingly detailed, and there diagrams on 'simple' techniques such as How to Slice an Onion. Most of you probably learned about such matters at your mother's knee, but I was more interested in Astronomy than Onions back in the good old days when someone cooked for me. As a consequence, I've been slicing onions incorrectly until the December 2004 "Cook's Illustrated" hit the newstand.

The contributors to this magazine test their recipes multiple times, varying the ingredients, using different cooking utensils, until they get what they consider to be the perfect outcome. For instance, in the article on "Balsamic Braised Chicken," John Olson writes: "At that point, I stopped my tests with the high-end vinegar. Simmering such a vinegar might well be considered high crime in Italy. All the time and effort expended to create its subtle flavor balance would be wasted, as boiling destroys it. (This is not a problem with the cheap stuff.)"

"Cook's Illustrated" recipes are adventures into a mysterious art, as well as producers of wonderful dishes. The editors don't accept advertisements, so you can trust their ingredient and product recommendations. If you are a fan of the show, "America's Test Kitchen" on public television, then you'll definitely love the magazine that details this program's favorite recipes. Also check out their website at cooksillustrated.com for eleven years worth of recipes.

83 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good beginner magazine for the home cook - you can't get off their list, September 24, 2006

By 

Eric LaCour (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cook's Illustrated (Magazine)

This is a good magazine for the home cook that wants to branch-out from the standard Family Circle or Good Housekeeping no risk recipes.

My BIG problem with this company is once they've got your contact information, you will receive more junk mail than you thought one company could generate; hawking every single publication they produce, relentlessly.

I stopped subscribing and it took a year to stop receiving their snail spam; and there's no way to 'opt out' online