Customer Reviews

Test Kitchen Favorites: The 2007 Companion Cookbook to the Hit TV Show (America's Test Kitchen)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

America's Test Kitchen is similar to Consumer Reports, but for food. They will try a recipe 100 times, with every variation possible, experimenting with ingredients and techniques, until they can give you an informative article and a winning recipe.

I have tried about 14 recipes from this book and every one has been terrific. The carbonnade has a more complex flavor than carbonnade I ate in Belgium! We've also enjoyed the chicken parmesan, fish and chips, , chicken kiev, the pepper-crusted filet mignon (with a fantastic cherry-Port reduction), , stir fried chicken, hot and sour soup, potstickers and buttermilk coleslaw. And the strawberry cream cake is gorgeous and delicious. I am so confident in ATK's recipes that I've made a recipe for the first time when company was coming over, and it was wonderful.

Articles are supplemented with terrific sidebars that typically rate ingredient brands, compare kitchen tools or show a technique.

My only complaint about the whole series of ATK books is that they are organized idiosyncratically (sorry, but that is anathema to a librarian!) and have extremely poor indexes. For example, I knew the recipe for carbonnade was in the 2007 book. I looked in the index -- nothing under "carbonnade", nothing under "beef"! So I went to the table of contents. Nothing about carbonnade, but a chapter called "Best Beef Stew" -- could that be it? Luckily, yes, but that is no way to run a cookbook!

You cannot go wrong with these great books -- consistently reliable and delicious recipes.

It's almost superfluous to keep reviewing these books -- they're like collections from the Onion. They come out every year and either you like them or you don't. Fortunately, ATK is far less controversial than the Onion -- it goes without saying that it's one of the best cooking shows on the air, with a solid cast and a dedicated support staff behind it. But I guess I have to say something, right?

Okay, here goes: let's see. Highlights, all-beef meatloaf (the bane of my childhood, apparently made actually edible), Cantonese-style chow mein (aka Stir-fried chicken and bok choy with crispy noodle cake), Chicken Parmesan, Carbonnade a la Flamande, and even what they claim is a foolproof recipe for the notoriously balky Chicken Kiev, and that, of course, is just the beginning. Two new chefs, behind-the-scenes veterans Erika Bruce and Rebecca Hays, bring their voices to the screen on the television and their recipes to the book. If it has any significant flaws, it's that it doesn't seem to have an overarching theme like some of the earlier seasons -- it's just a random shuffle of cool and interesting dishes.

If you're a fan of America's Test Kitchen or a convert to the First Church of Kimball, Brown, and Corriher, you already know you need this book, and this review is pretty much redundant. If you're not an ATK fan but you like finding out how to make interesting and unusual dishes just right, I'm telling you you need this book. These guys do great work.

I've been a faithful fan of America's Test Kitchen for years and have tried many of their recipes. This particular edition is excellent and I've tried several recipes in it and they've all been great. Instructions are clear, results are fantastic. The recipe for the Key Lime Bars is worth the cost of the book.

Published to coincide with the January 2007 launch of the series is TEST KITCHEN FAVORITES by the editors of America's Test Kitchen, which provides some of the best tested recipes from a popular TV show. More than just another recipe collection, TEST KITCHEN FAVORITES opens each recipe with an article discussing the best attributes of each dish and how the kitchen testers overcame obstacles to produce the perfect recipe. From BBQ and meat and potatoes to company dishes and ethnic meals, TEST KITCHEN FAVORITES is far more than another cookbook, detailing the testing requirements and recipe adjustments which led to formulating the perfect dish.

The cookbook is true to the television show and probably a good buy for those who are new to cooking and stocking a kitchen. I was looking for the recipes developed by the test kitchen and instead discovered that 2/3 of this book is about how to buy food stuffs and kitchen gadgets. While I am sure helpful to some, I found the book not to be what I expected and will be passing it on to a 16 year old acquaintance who is just learning to cook.Test Kitchen Favorites: The 2007 Companion Cookbook to the Hit TV Show (America's Test Kitchen)

I absolutely LOVE this series! I am brand new at learning how to cook and I have somewhat been scared at trying to learn recipes. This series has taught me everything I know, and fixed any fears I have of trying new foods to cook. Every recipe in this book comes out perfect the first time I try it.
They put cooking into simple terms - and test each recipe until it is perfect. Their recipes make me look like a professional chef! They have taught me everything I know about spices and herbs as well; they don't use strange ingredients that are hard to find in small-town grocery stores.
I've tried several recipes from this book, and I love them all. For instance, the Sunday roast chicken and stuffing was to die for! The cream biscuits were as easy as making biscuits from a "box" - but MUCH better. They have a light and fluffy texture. I am looking forward to trying their "lighter chicken parmesian", "lighter macaroni and cheese", and their potsticker (wonton) recipes.
I got this book along with the DVD set for the 2007 TV series, and I watch the episode before I try the recipe from the book. That way, I know what to expect before I make it. That has proven to be an effective teaching tool for me.
I highly recommend this along with the boxed DVD set!

I decided to buy the book when I saw the show for the chocolate layer cake, and I am glad that I made this purchase. The cake was dark, moist and rich. Their method of getting more chocolate flavor into the cake was dead on. The "ribbon" method described in the book was easy to follow and made for a soft tender crumb. The frosting was tasty and held up well even in my exeptionately hot kitchen. Just make sure that the chocolate that you use for the frosting is one that you enjoy eating eating raw, because the taste and texture really affects the taste of the frosting. I used Bakers Chocolate in my cake; the unsweetened version in the cake was fine, but the semi sweet kind in the frosting was so-so. As I flipped through the book, I saw a tasting lab review that stated raw Bakers Chocolate had gotten a mediocore review, but when cooked into a cake was perfectly fine. My preffered brand of chocolate is Ghiardelli, and I think that I will stick to that brand although it is pricier. The next recipe that I will attempt will be the "Fish and Chips."

Another delicious hit...but then I do have most of their publications and love them all...

For amateur cooks like me this is a wonderful and informative book that has resulted in many great meals with a minimum of work.

I'm 'new' to America's Test Kitchen and this is the the 'newest' edtion of America's Test Kitchen companion books - so bottom line - you may not be interested in what I have to say!!! OR - you may find my review refreshing - since I haven't been influenced by anything that has come out previously!!!

I LOVE IT!!! The recipes alone are the perfect assortment of things I would really want to make - and my family would really want to eat!!! They make everything as simple as possible - and they rate absolutely everything - they even rate Ketchup!!!

As is usual - for me - the first thing I do when I get a cookbook is flip to the back - to Desserts - my personal favorite!!! And after the scrumptious looking Strawberry Cream Cake - the decadent Chocolate desserts ranging from the Dark Chocolate Mousse, to the Chocolate Cupcake - with Chocolate Buttercream Icing - to the Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake - I came upon the recipe for a Skillet Brown Betty - that just made my mouth water (and I was already drooling over the chocolate recipes)!!!

So after I did a little dabbing with my hanky - I rushed right over to my computer and in true compulsive fashion - continued to order from Amazon all of the other companion books dating back to 2002!!! When I get them - I'll let you know what I think - but - until then - I highly recommend this one!!!