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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
With Here in America's Test Kitchen, a companion book to popular PBS TV series, the kind editors of Cook's Illustrated have placed the busy cook first and foremost in their concerns. Fine, the rustic bread is going to be a weekend project. But what about coming home after work knowing a few friends are going to fall by and being able to crank out award-winning nachos, Buffalo wings, fresh guacamole, and delicious sangría with complete confidence? That's where this book starts. Along the way you'll find the perfect fried rice and kung pao shrimp, or steak au poivre with a brandied cream sauce. Beef burgundy, Texas chili, barbecued salmon, pasta classics, American casseroles--these editors know what you want to put in your mouth. What they do best is showing the process they went through to get the exact result they were looking for. If you cook your way through this book, cover to cover, you will not only be a good cook, you will know exactly why that is so. And you can take that to the bank. --Schuyler Ingle
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Customer Reviews
What I will talk about is a cookbook that takes the culinary gearheads at Cooks Illustrated and allows them to let it rip -- if the Best Recipe series is a solid and thorough series of workshops for the technically-minded cook, and the first America's Test Kitchen book seems to be a slightly dull but not unenjoyable tasting menu some of the crew's favorite recipes, Here In America's Test Kitchen is a blowout, a blow-the-roof-off-and-call-the-cops kegger of cool recipes. It doesn't say it explicitly, but this book is all about party food and comfort food.
Party food? Buffalo wings (their secret: extra Tabasco and a bit of vinegar), sangria, chili, barbecue ribs, and grill-roasted turkey for a different twist on Thanksgiving. (I think they do a different turkey recipe in every book.) Comfort food? Beef burgundy. Steakhouse filet mignon. Kung pao shrimp (with several choices of fried rice). Even green bean casserole and the missing meat lasagna recipe that should have been in Italian Classics. There's lots of things to look at and cook here, each one sliced and diced in classic Cooks Illustrated style to get the best possible results.
This is a must-have book. It's loaded with behind-the-scenes pictures just like its predecessor, and the food in it is picked out for fun factor and/or just novelty; they even claim to make stuffed peppers appetizing, which is a pretty daring proposition. Get this book, and I promise you'll enjoy just reading it; if other TV cookbooks with their closeups and cutting-edge graphic design are food porn, this stuff is Penthouse Letters.
1. It's easy to use. So, when you're just starting to learn to cook you think, "I need something short and simple to try". The people at Cook's Illustrated take the opposite approach: They give you more complex recipes with minutely detailed instruction sets. At first, the book appears difficult. But then, you realize that what they've actually done is take all of the guesswork out of making good food. The instructions never say something like "Beat Egg Whites until glossy and firm". They say, "Get out your mixer, turn it on to medium (about a 5 on a KitchenAid) and beat the egg whites for 3 minutes." By providing precise instructions, they help even the most novice cook achieve tasty and predictable results each and every time they cook.
2. Unlike a lot of cookbooks, it's not a coffee table book. Each and every recipe in here is something you can make in your kitchen with ingredients you can get at the Shaw's (Star Market, Ralph's, Food Lion, Kroger, etc.) Market.
3. Each of the recipes is a lesson. By cooking your way through this book, you'll actually learn so many top notch ways to make basics that you'll be able to cook from any other cookbook out there on the market today.
My advice is to give this book to the novice chef in your life and then sit back and enjoy the results. You'll like the food so much you'll buy it for everyone you know.
Now I am a Cook's Illustrated fan. I have not come across anything done by these folks that isn't absolute quality cooking instruction - no matter what your level of cooking expertise. That's because ATK doesn't just write the recipes - they write articles and background about every recipe that breaks down each element of the recipe and explains why certain ingredients, techniques and equipment work so much better than others in producing the best tasting recipe. Even if you never follow an America's Test Kitchen or Cook's Illustrated recipe step-by-step, the things you learn just by reading the recipe books can be carried over into all of your cooking. If, like me, you are a non-recipe cook, there is still much to be learned here.
"Here in America's Test Kitchen" carries on the standard of excellence that Cook's Illustrated has established for itself. Detailed recipes that are actually essays about what goes into creating each recipe and why certain ingredients and methods are used will elevate the level of every home cook - regardless of your current level of expertise.
This book contains some of the best recipes I've ever had. The BBQ Rib recipe prepared with a dry rub and slow cooked over a smoky grill is simply the best rib recipe I've ever made - spicy, smokey, fall of the bone tender with a wonderful crisp skin on the outside. At a recent 4th of July party, these ribs and the ATK buffalo wings were a huge hit. And the cookie jar favorites - chewy, flavorful double chocolate cookies and ginger cookies are family favorites. The recipes here aren't always the quickest, the cheapest or the lowest in fat and calories, but if you are looking for the best in flavor and texture, with America's Test Kitchen you can't go wrong.
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