[.ca] Here in America's Test Kitchen: All-New Recipes, Quick ... (ISBN 0936184590)

From Amazon.com:
At a certain point you have to ask yourself, do you really need another couple of hundred recipes all carefully clustered around a food concept, or do you want a more manageable number of recipes that all work--guaranteed? Welcome to Here in America's Test Kitchen by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. Not only can you rest assured that the results will taste as good as they look in the color photo, you get to learn along the way exactly why these recipes work so well. If you are a little confused about which salt or which pasta is going to bring you the pleasure you deserve, that information's in there, too, along with the inevitable concerns about kitchen tools. Ingredients, tools, technique, kitchen science, good humor, insatiable curiosity, bonhomie--this is the world of Here in America's Test Kitchen. 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

Yet another winner from ATK:
This is my third Amerca's Test Kitchen cookbook. In all of the meals that I have cooked using these books, I have never had a flop. As a male and a physician, I really appreciate the "clinical" approach to cooking that ATK applies. Want to make good, gooey chocolate cookies? Then try a dozen different methods and see what works best. They have used this method for all of their recipes, and the reaults are tremendous. ATK avoids pretentious cuisine. They aim to make the best steak, best french-fries; things that my kids will eat. Yet, some of my favorite meals for guests come from the book as well. (Twice-coked potatoes with pesto...mmmm). Even though I live in a small town in a remote area, I have always been able to find the ingredients they suggest. They have a "Consumer Reports"-like approach to rating ingredients and equipment. What a delight when Morton's table salt out-performs...sea-salt in blinded taste-testing. I can't wait for next year's book to come out!

Just As Good As the PBS Show!:
I have been watching this series on PBS and the book is just a delightful. The receipes are pretty easy to follow, ingredients are available in most grocery or gourmet shops. Plus they have done all the testing and we get to prepare the perfect combinations! Highly recommend it, especially as a gift!

Buying more in the series:
This is the one cookbook that has not gone on the shelf, but instead sits on the corner of the counter. So far I've made the beef burgundy, pan roasted chicken, smothered pork chops, lemon meringue pie, macaroni and cheese, nachos with salsa and guacamole, and more. I'd've done more in the past two weeks, but I do have a job to go to. These may not sound like extraordinary recipes - they're all in my Betty Crocker cookbook or Good Housekeeping cookbook - but this is the cookbook that tells you the how and why, what works and what doesn't work (based on their own testing, which is an interesting read in itself). One of the things I like most is that they make an honest effort and usually succeed at restricting themselves to ingredients found in nearly every supermarket. Serving sizes are extremely generous. I ate nachos for four days --- luckily, they were delicious. I do wish they would include nutritional analyses. These recipes are all about taste and optimal preparation to ensure the best results; nothing particularly low cal or low carb and certainly not low fat here; and it doesn't purport to be a diet cookbook. That's okay, but it would still be nice to have the numbers. And it would be nice if they would test a few ways of cutting calories and/or carbs and/or fat while developing the best recipe. As a novice, I also got tripped up in the pan roasted chicken because the recipe didn't give me even a clue as to how long the pieces would be in the oven; I guessed about 30 minutes but turned out to be 50 minutes to get to temperature, which threw off the timing on the side dishes...minor, novice issue. Finally, I also subscribe to Cook's Illustrated published by the same people. In the Nov/Dec issue was an incredible recipe for pumpkin cheesecake (beg, borrow or steal it from someone). Their technique explanation ranted about the wonders of cooking a cheesecake in a waterbath. Indeed it made a great difference. But in this cookbook, there's a recipe for a New York Style Cheesecake with no mention of a waterbath. I'm not a pro, so maybe the different techniques deliver two distinct textures, but it was curious why both ways aren't discussed in the cookbook since they touted it in the magazine (or vice versa). I've bought a couple pieces of their recommended equipment and believe they've been right on target there too. It's an impressive book that has pursuaded me to buy both the Italian Classics Cookbook and the cookbook for the 2002 television series. Looking forward to receiving those soon.

A New Chef's Must Have:
There are three things I love about this book: 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.

Quality Cooking Advice & Phenomenal Ribs!:
As someone who consider's themselves an elite "home chef", I stopped using recipe books years ago and just built on the basics that I'd gleaned from reading what I considered the "essential" cookbooks. Then, one stormy Saturday afternoon when the husband was at work and the kids were away at Grandma's, I stumbled on America's Test Kitchen on PBS. Needless to say, I loved what I saw. 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.