Best American Side Dishes (Best Recipe) (Hardcover)

~ Cook's Illustrated Magazine (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sweet three-bean salad, creamy coleslaw and cheese straws shine under the scrutiny of America's Test Kitchen in this latest addition to the Best American cookbook series. Most of the book's recipes offer variations on potluck basics- like deviled eggs, stuffed zucchini and potato salad-but all go through the same "scientific" taste panel test that made Cook's Illustrated famous for producing simple, agreeable (though sometimes a tad boring) flavors. For example, after determining that the best way to cook broccoli is by steaming (boiled broccoli absorbs too much water and becomes "soggy tasting and mushy"), the editors perfect the techniques of uniform floret cutting and offer a series of variations on the theme: e.g., Steamed Broccoli with Sesame Vinaigrette, Steamed Broccoli with Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette, Steamed Broccoli with Spanish Green Herb Sauce. Next they perfect the techniques of Stir-fried Broccoli, Sautéed Broccoli, Broccoli and Cheese Casserole, and Broccoli Rabe. Each side dish presented in the book benefits from this meticulous step-by-step method. A few more unusual recipes are also included in the volume, like Savory Noodle Kugel with Caramelized Onions & Cauliflower, and Pissaladière, a kind of French olive tart. But there's no snobbery here: the Pissaladière is followed by a four-page discussion of nachos, including the results of a tortilla chip tasting. Insets with illustrations examining different equipment, techniques and ingredients get down to the nitty-gritty of cooking. What can of beans to use? How to cut up butternut squash? Like a mini-cooking school, the detailed instructions and illustrations insure that even the most inexperienced cook can follow these recipes with success.
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Product Description

Cooks today are looking for more creative ways to prepare side servings of vegetables, rice or grains. They still want the basics like how to make fluffy white rice and mashed potatoes, but they also want to know how to make really good risotto or perhaps a fresh-flavoured dip for crudites. With "Best American Side Dishes", the editors of "Cook's Illustrated" provide more than 500 recipes for dishes to round off every kind of meal - from weeknight suppers to special celebrations. Packed with more than 250 illustrations, "Best American Side Dishes" shows you step-by step how to prepare vegetables for crudites, clean salad greens, and cut potatoes for frying. Ingredient tastings and equipment testings rate extra-virgin olive oil, mayonnaise, paring knives, salad spinners, and more, so you know just what brands to buy (and which to avoid). Whether you're looking for just the right combination of appetizers to serve before a special meal or easy sides dishes to serve with midweek suppers, "Best American Side Dishes" is here to lend a hand with all the recipes and know-how you've come to expect from the editors at "Cook's Illustrated".

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: America's Test Kitchen; First Edition edition (February 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 093618485X
• ISBN-13: 978-0936184852
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #272,853 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #29 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Vegetables & Vegetarian > Salads
  #77 in	Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Meals > Appetizers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good only if you don't own "The New Best Recipe" by Cooks Illustrated, June 22, 2006

By	Amalfi Coast Girl (Mid-Atlantic, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook acquisitions. If you do not own "The New Best Recipes" by the same editor you will like this book, if you do, read on.

The book is outlined as follows:
1. Appetizers
2. Salads
3. Vegetables Sides and Casseroles
4. Potato Sides and Casseroles
5. Rice, Grain and Bean Sides and Casseroles

The "Side Dishes" by the editors of Cooks Illustrated Magazine is a nice book provided that you do not own either "Italian Classics" or "Best Recipes" by the same editors. If you own either of these two books (as I do) you will find that this book contains many of the same recipes. The books are not entirely duplicative, but at least 50% of all the recipes are in either and sometimes both of the other two books.

In the first chapter on Appetizers even the order of the recipes is the same as "The New Best Recipe" book. I stopped looking after the first five recipes were the same, and in the same order.

Many of the recipes in this book have a strong Italian influence. Most of these recipes are Italian classics. The recipes themselves are very good, and authentically Italian when appropriate. There are also some Mexican and French recipes included as well.

If you don't own either "Italian Classics" or "Best Recipes" this is a nice book. The recipes are strong and the dishes routinely turn out well. This book is written in the usual Cooks Illustrated Style. The writers tell you what they tried that did and did not work followed by the recipe. If you don't plan to purchase "The New Best Recipe" by the editors of Cooks Illustrated I recommend this book. However, I would suggest that you purchase "Best Recipe" instead since it covers many more recipes including most if not all of these.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Cooks" cookbooks are exceellent, December 6, 2007

By	Dawn Poston "Uni" (Carmel, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have used this cookbook over and over again, it's an excellent adjunct to my cookbook library. In fact, I've enjoyed it (and it's recipes) so much I purchased two copies as gifts for two "foodie" friends. They each had complimented a dish I prepared from the cookbook--I know they will like the gift! The recipes are sophisticated enough to satisfy their "foodiness" yet simple enough to accomplish fairly quickly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly very good recipes, May 26, 2009

By	Amy R - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This was my second purchase of this cookbook - the first was for me and this was a gift, so I obviously like it. I mostly stick to the vegetable sides and they are very good, although a little oily at times. I love how they explain and illustrate all the different cooking terms that I didn't really know. Also the articles on WHY to prepare a vegetable a certain way are very helpful. My only desire to "improve" this would be to star the ones that are small prep time. It is difficult for a cook like me to be doing the excellent green beans (with maple pecans) that require standing and stirring while I am getting the rest of the meal ready.