More from America's Test Kitchen
Book Description
Repackaged to be easier to use and expanded to include a whole new chapter of healthy, light recipes, this revised edition of one of last fall's bestselling cookbooks remains the one and only basic cookbook you will ever need. Beautiful step-by-step photos illuminate every conceivable technique from chopping shallots and skinning salmon to cutting up a chicken and tying a roast. In fact, just about anything you want to do in the kitchen is explained in these pages in America's most popular test kitchen's approachable, no-nonsense voice.
These recipes will keep you busy (and your friends and family happy) for years to come, since we've included hundreds of easy weeknight dishes (like Skillet Lasagna and One-Pot Chicken and Rice), company-worthy dinners (like Beef Burgundy, Roast Leg of Lamb, and Fresh Fruit Trifle), equipment ratings, shoppings tips, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Best Basic Cookbook.......2007-10-11
I have over a thousand cookbooks. I am a pretty accomplished cook with some professional experience. My wife on the other hand is potentially a great cook who is just getting acquainted with the kitchen. We both agree that this is our favorite basic cookbook. I highly recommend this book as a basic reference for any one learning how to cook. As a well experienced cook I can vouch for the quality of the recipes as tested by America's Test Kitchen. If you had to buy only one cookbook this would be the one.
Family Cookbook, America's Test Kitchen.......2007-09-27
I have been a subscriber of Cooks Magazine for over ten years now and have never been dissapointed. I am a professional Chef and find most of their publications to be great sources. My still favorite and mostly used source is the original Julia Child Cookbook based on her TV programs of years ago but this America's Test Kitchen publication,I suspect, I will use a great deal.
Test Kitchen Cookbook.......2007-09-26
I really like this cookbook because it has good pictures and explainations for techniques with which new cooks may be unfamiliar. Putting the pages and dividers in yourself is clear and easy. The pages are a little thinner than I would prefer for a cookbook, but I just use a clear plastic page protector that one might use for a portfolio or scrapbook to keep the page I am using clean. I highly recommend it!
The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.......2007-09-15
Amazon did an outstanding timely job getting me the cookbook. This cookbook is the very best I have ever read. I gave one to my daughter and will be ordering one for myself. Thanks.
The First Word on Cooking.......2007-09-14
The best basic recipes ever published. All tested.
Wish they would issue update pages with more and new recipes
Book Description
A Year in Our Test Kitchen
This volume represents the best of the best from America's most famous test kitchen. Every year, our editors and cooks develop nearly 1,000 recipes for our magazines, books, and public television show. The Best of America's Test Kitchen contains our absolute favorite recipes from the past year. Come share our successes (and learn about some interesting failures) in this book packed with step-by-step photographs, opinionated equipment and ingredient recommendations, and common-sense information that will make you a better cook. Following are just a few things we learned in our test kitchen this year.
A "PUDDING" MIXTURE MAKES THE MOISTEST CAKE. For a layer cake that's extra-chocolaty and super-moist, add a homemade pudding mix (unsweetened chocolate, cocoa, and sugar cooked with a little water) to the batter.
YES, YOU CAN BUY A DECENT inexpensive STEAK. Our expert tasters sampled 12 inexpensive supermarket cuts and found two that can rival any fancy steak.
GELATIN IS THE SECRET TO GREAT MEAT LOAF. Forget about buying three kinds of ground meat. You can use only beef—and get tender results—by adding a pinch of gelatin.
Sometimes the Cheaper Pan Is The Best Option. Our equipment testers set out to compile a list of must-have pots and pans for any kitchen and in the process learned that the high-priced brands are not always the best.
You'll find many other equipment tests throughout the book, on everything from hand blenders and deep fryers to vegetable peelers and meat pounders.
For the best chicken ever, poke holes in the skin (so fat can escape) and rub the bird with cornstarch. The result is an extra-crisp coating that's almost crunchy.
Customer Reviews:
Perfect!.......2007-08-13
I love this cookbook....I just purchased it & have made 3 receipes in 1 week...each came out perfect. I do not subscribe to the magazine so all the receipes are new to me...new in the best form of an old recipe. Love it!
MORE THAN A COOKBOOK.......2007-07-28
Anything from America's Test Kitchen is a wealth of information. I have this book - I have given this book for gifts....it's appreciated from the novice cook to the most experienced cook!
Great Book!.......2007-06-10
I'm a big fan of America's Test Kitchen, and the recipes in this book are really great. The spaghetti sauce and meat sections are my favorite.
Guarantee positive results........2007-02-03
The TV show America's Test Kitchen has received much acclaim for its step-by-step tested recipe presentations which guarantee success even for novice cooks, so it's no surprise that The Best of America's Test Kitchen would gain our highest recommendation for cooks who want to be virtually guaranteed quality results from recipes. Here for 2007 are the prior year's best recipes, equipment reviews and tastings, pairing black and white and color photos throughout with secrets of obtaining foolproof results, whether you're using a slow cooker, making pie pastry, or producing 'dirty rice'. Notes on what makes the recipe recommended and special preparation keys guarantee positive results.
Great cookbook.......2007-01-03
For someone who doesn't cook well or doesn't like to cook, these recipes are foolproof. Great book for a beginner or pro.
Average customer rating:
- another great, but slightly flawed, cookbook from ATK
- Old fashioned chocolate layer cake
- Test Kitchen Favorites is a great cookbook
- Pick up a copy, slap a 5-star rating on it, and walk away
- From BBQ and meat and potatoes to company dishes and ethnic meals, TEST KITCHEN FAVORITES is far more than another cookbook
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Test Kitchen Favorites: The 2007 Companion Cookbook to the Hit TV Show (America's Test Kitchen)
Manufacturer: America's Test Kitchen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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Cooking at Home With America's Test Kitchen
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The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2007: The Year's Best Recipes, Equipment Reviews, and Tastings (Best of America's Test Kitchen Cookbook: The Year's Best Recipes)
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America's Test Kitchen Live!: The All-New Companion to America's Favorite Public Television Cooking Series (America's Test Kitchen)
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The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Revised Edition: Featuring More Than 1,200 Kitchen-tested Recipes, 1,500 Photographs And No-nonsense Equipment And Ingredient Ratings
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The Best 30-minute Recipe: A Best Recipe Classic (Best Recipe Series)
ASIN: 1933615044 |
Customer Reviews:
another great, but slightly flawed, cookbook from ATK.......2007-09-23
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.
Old fashioned chocolate layer cake.......2007-08-11
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."
Test Kitchen Favorites is a great cookbook.......2007-05-30
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.
Pick up a copy, slap a 5-star rating on it, and walk away.......2007-04-21
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.
From BBQ and meat and potatoes to company dishes and ethnic meals, TEST KITCHEN FAVORITES is far more than another cookbook.......2007-03-05
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.
Average customer rating:
- Great, But Pages Don't Hold Up
- Combination cookbook & textbook!
- Shop carefully
- More than just recipes
- Think of it as a sample size...
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The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook
Manufacturer: Boston Common Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| U.S. Regional
| Regional & International
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Special Occasions
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Holidays
| Special Occasions
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Here In America's Test Kitchen: All New Recipes, Quick Tips, Equipment Ratings, Food Tastings, and Science Experiments from the Hit Public Television Show
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Inside America's Test Kitchen: All-New Recipes, Quick Tips, Equipment Ratings, Food Tastings, Science Experiments from the Hit Public Television Show (America's Test Kitchen)
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The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2007: The Year's Best Recipes, Equipment Reviews, and Tastings (Best of America's Test Kitchen Cookbook: The Year's Best Recipes)
ASIN: 093618454X |
Amazon.com
Based on the popular PBS TV series, Cook's Illustrated's America's Test Kitchen Cookbook presents more than 200 recipes in short, essay-like investigations that reflect exhaustive ingredient, equipment, and method testing. Over the years, Cook's Illustrated magazine has set itself to the task of finding the best versions of favorite dishes. The result has been often-definitive reports on how to achieve fare like thin-crust pizza, oven-fried chicken, and blueberry muffins. Readers who look to the magazine for the last word on dish preparation, and others seeking reliable, enlightening cooking counsel, will welcome this book.
Each recipe includes a What We Wanted statement (in the case of french fries, for example, "Golden brown fries with a nice crunch on the outside and an earthy potato taste"); explores various dish approaches (the perfect fat for fries is investigated and determined, among other cooking issues); What We Learned ("Use russet potatoes, soak them in ice water, and fry in peanut oil twice); the recipe itself; and other features such as Testing Lab (a detailed view of the dish's perfecting process). A full range of dishes are explored, from puréed soups, sandwiches, and barbecue fare to holiday dinners, seafood classics, and sweets such as apple pie, bar cookies, and chocolate desserts. Fully photo illustrated, and with useful step-by-step technique drawings, the book is a valuable kitchen resource that will help readers cook better. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook is the companion volume to the new hit public television series based on the recipes, techniques, and taste tests created by Cook's Illustrated magazine. Filmed in the actual Cook's test kitchen, both the television series and the cookbook set out to find the best methods of preparing your favorite home-cooked foods from the simplest tomato sauce to the fanciest French tart.
More than just a collection of recipes, this beautifully photographed book takes you inside the entire 2002 season of the America's Test Kitchen series, with 26 chapters each dedicated to a different episode of the show. You will meet the cast - through photographs, bios, and quotes from each member - and will follow the America's Test Kitchen process, as Christopher Kimball and the rest of the cast identify common cooking problems and then test dozens of variations to come up with the best methods for preparing recipes. Many of the most popular segments of the show, including the Science Desk, Equipment Corner, and tasting Lab, have been brought to life with photos.
With more than 200 recipes and dozens of beautiful, behind-the-scenes photographs, The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook is sure to become an indispensable part of any cook's library.
Customer Reviews:
Great, But Pages Don't Hold Up.......2006-02-04
I love this cookbook. Maybe it is a ripoff of their magazines and other books, I don't know. However, the pages are weak and rip out easily. Treat it gently.
Combination cookbook & textbook!.......2003-09-20
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.
Shop carefully.......2003-08-10
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.
More than just recipes.......2003-01-24
If you are interested in the chemistry of cooking, you'll love this book. The recipes are good but the reasons behind why certain ingredients work better than others, which brands are better tasting than others, etc. is so interesting if you really want to cook well.
Think of it as a sample size..........2002-10-26
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.
Amazon.com
Over time, twin enterprises Cook's Illustrated magazine and America's Test Kitchen have published many books dedicated to providing exhaustively tested recipes--"best" versions of traditional dishes plus definitive takes on kitchen equipment and ingredients. Some series readers have complained of endlessly recycled or rejiggered recipes; others take each book at face value, finding the formulas and cooking insights good and helpful. America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which calls itself a cookbook, cooking school, and kitchen reference in one, offers over 1,200 approachable recipes for a very wide range of dishes--from "weekday" fare like Creamy Rice Casserole, Cheesy Nachos with Spicy Beef, and Skillet Lasagna, to dressier recipes, including Pan-Seared Lamb Chops with Red Wine Rosemary Sauce, Roasted Trout Stuffed with Bacon and Spinach, and Chocolate Marshmallow Mousse. There are "specialty" chapters devoted to sandwiches, drinks, and slow cooker and pressure cooker dishes; a grilling section is a tutorial in itself.
Unorthodox, "better-way" approaches abound. For example, a fried chicken formula instructs the cook to wet the bird's dry coating slightly before it's applied for an extra-crunchy crust. Predictably, side bars feature equipment and ingredient evaluations, on bottled salsa, for example; "good food/bad food" photographs show readers what to aim for when producing fare like holiday cookies; and there are tips, charts, and "Cooking 101" sidebars galore. Step-by-step photos offer more direction still.
Though the majority of recipes are sound and yield tempting results, readers poring through the book will note gaffes and curiosities. The recipe for poached eggs, for example, offers the option of extra cooking for "firm yolks" (hard-boiled poached eggs, anyone?) and hamburgers receive an indentation before cooking to avoid "puffy" domed burgers, a novel problem that could, in any case, be solved by proper shaping. The addition of sugar to some savory dishes--for example, a pan sauce for steak--is misguided. Readers should also know that the book, which comes in loose-leaf form, requires some assembly, and that the pages themselves are quite thin, making them vulnerable to spills and tearing in daily kitchen use.
These things said, the book delivers solid, family-friendly dishes with enough fully orchestrated "how-to" to make even novice cooks feel secure when tackling the basics or more ambitious fare. --Arthur Boehm
Amazon.com Exclusive
Read a letter, written exclusively for Amazon.com, from Christopher Kimball, host of America's Test Kitchen and founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated magazine, as he talks about the years-in-the-making new project, America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook--an 800-pages-plus collection with 1,200 classic recipes.
Exclusive Recipe Excerpts from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
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Interesting collection, but sometimes simple.......2006-08-11
