America's Test Kitchen

Yes, I am a big fan of America's Test Kitchen. I love their TV show on PBS, I love their magazine, Cook's Illustrated, and I love their cookbooks. And there is none I love more that their new one, one that takes on the slow cooker. If you are a fan of the slow cooker...or someone who has one gathering dust on a pantry shelf...this is a book you will like. For fans, it will add a wide variety of well tested recipes to the favorites you are already making. For those of you that are not using show more your slow cooker at much as you might like, for any number of reasons, this book will answer all the questions that may be holding you back.

In that particular rather geeky way that I love, ATK starts at the beginning with how to buy a slow cooker and the keys that will make your recipes a success. Then it is into the 200 recipes, broken down into categories- Soups, Stews, Braises, Chilies, Barbecue, Pasta Sauces, Meatballs and Meatloaves, Enchiladas and Tacos, Casseroles (Mac and Cheese, using uncooked pasta), On the Side, Eggs and Brunch, Desserts (Nutella Bread Pudding..oh, be still my heart) and ends with Basics, which covers things like jam, applesauce, gravy and four different broths. There is quite a range of recipes here, and since the vast majority use fresh ingredients, some prep is needed in many. But there is also a number marked "Easy Prep" that are, well, easy prep.

This is a very attractive book, each recipe on a full page, many with a full page, full color photograph opposite. I tell you, if you look at the photos in this book, there is no way you will not want it.

But this is ATK, so you know they are going to throw in a lot of practical, useful information as well. A nice full page article of how to use the microwave to help out that slow cooker, "All About Herbs" and "Pasta 101" are a couple of examples. Many pages, in addition to a recipe will have one of ATK's "Smart Shopping Tips", like the best brand of canned beans, jarred tomato sauce or coconut milk, and "Quick Prep Tips", like the best way to cut stew meat, prepare your hearty greens or use lemon grass. And many recipes will have a nice little On The Side box on the page, giving a quick, easy recipe for something that would go perfect with the slow cooker dish, like Easy Mashed Potatoes, Caesar Salad or Cheese Toasties. Golly, they sounds so good....

And I love that ever recipe starts with a paragraph explaining "Why This Recipe Works", where they show what they learned in testing. Why use high or low in this recipe, why add this or that ingredient, and techniques to use that will really make the dish turn out it's best.

I have a long way to go with my slow cooker. Soup, especially a great sound onion soup with a surprise ingredient, may be my next attempt. Then something I would never think of, like the delicious cooking Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna (they use a foil collar and foil sling for easy removal of their lasagnas, like the sausage one on the cover). Or how about Coconut Rice Pudding?
But I started with the more classic braised Pork Loin with Cranberries and Orange...which was so easy and so delicious. show less

I first borrowed this cookbook from the library to see if it was worth buying. In many ways the book is "A day late and many food-sensitivities short". Why did it take them so long to attempt gluten-free cooking and baking? Many of us have moved beyond just gluten-free and now try to cook and bake foods that are free of most of the more common allergens.

Still I do appreciate the ATK approach . . . these recipes are certainly well-tested, which can't be said of many cookbooks these days!

I show more did find a couple of aspects of the book rather disappointing:
(1) if they had read even a few GF Baking books they would have learned about Superfine Brown Rice Flour from Authentic Foods and used it in their blend . . . it solves all the "grittiness" problems they and everyone else complains about in GF baking
(2) they provide no suggesions for dairy-free options in the many recipes that use dairy products (and many folks who are GF are also DF). On top of that, they even include dairy (milk powder) in their flour blend . . . so no so helpful for vegans or folks avoiding dairy.

Even so, there was enough valuable information in the book that I went ahead and bought myself a copy. I'll be exploring how/whether it is possible to get good results with their techniques when you also have to be dairy-free, corn-free, and mostly soy-free. show less

What a terrific surprise: this is not just a collection of recipes, it’s also in-depth food writing -- it’s like a 550-page issue of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine!

America’s Test Kitchen is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Cook’s Illustrated by reprinting feature stories that revolutionized cooking techniques, including 180 recipes. They tend to be for standards (from the small, like all sorts of eggs, to big meats and everything in between, plus sides and desserts), but feel show more completely contemporary. And it’s fun to see writers from before they were famous (hello, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt and Mark Bittman!) Their curiosity leads to fascinating science and technique, which combine on smooth, heavy pages with beautiful photos and well-organized recipes to make this fabulous volume. I will re-read and cook from it for years to come.

(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.) show less

When I subscribed to Cook’s Illustrated magazine, I read each issue cover to cover, enjoying every bit of deconstructing a recipe or technique and evaluating commercial pantry staples and cookery tools. And now I devoured every word of this big volume on the science behind 50 fundamental concepts essential to good cooking.

Each concept is presented as an 8-16 page chapter that begins with the science/theory behind a technique, followed by a cooking experiment that tests the science, and show more then much further exploration of the concept via at least half-a-dozen recipes (for generally familiar, delicious, foods). Note: this is not an “illustrated,” coffee-table book; there are some graphics to help describe the science, and some simple photos of experimental results, but this is a text-heavy book -- lush with information not visuals.

The topics mostly concern meat, eggs, vegetables and baking. All of it feels solid -- the reinforcement of concepts I already knew about, the confidence to try techniques that are new to me, and many “aha” moments about the whys behind the science, some of which come to mind even now:

• when to cut a food with the grain vs. against the grain (answer: onions and tough meats, respectively; cutting across cells breaks them, resulting in a too-pungent onion but a more tender meat);

• the difference between baking soda (which reacts with an acid in the recipe to create CO2 bubbles that leaven) vs. baking powder (which contains baking soda + a powdered acid) vs. double-acting baking powder (which contains a second acid that works later, in the oven’s heat) -- and why you ever even need separate baking soda (it leads to flavorful browning);

• why adding eggs to a batter one at a time, and alternating the addition of wet and dry ingredients, does matter (both cause ingredients to incorporate faster/better and prevent the over-mixing that toughens the batter);

• whether to salt scrambled eggs before or after cooking (before: “Salt affects the electrical charge on the protein molecules in the eggs, reducing the tendency of the proteins to bond with each other. A weaker protein network means eggs are less likely to overcoagulate and will cook up tender, not tough.”)

If you have an opinion about Cook’s Illustrated magazine, that will be your opinion of this book -- multiplied by 50 :) If you’re unfamiliar with the magazine, I highly recommend using e.g. Amazon's “Look Inside” feature to browse the Table of Contents for the concepts/techniques covered, and then read the “First Pages” (which is “Concept 1: Gentle Heat Prevents Overcooking”) and is representative of the book.

Enthusiastically recommended! show less