The New Best Recipe

Cook's Illustrated brings out strong reactions in cooks - it's almost love it or hate it. Theirs is a more scientific rather than artistic approach to food. I find that their methods are excellent but their seasoning often lacks finesse. And to be honest, I'd be happier with more recipes and less input about how they decided to do things a certain way.

I can't always afford the ingredients (let's make our meatloaf with veal!), but every single recipe I've tried from this book turned out perfectly*. The book contains the one "best" recipe for 1,000 foods. They explain the experimental process that resulted in the final recipe, so you can change things around a little if the Cook's Illustrated preference differs from yours. I'm by no means an expert cook, and I found the recipes to be very doable.

In short: absolutely worth the money.

*one time I over-caramelized (read: burnt) the vegetables I was roasting to make ratatouille. This was my fault, not the cookbook's.

This is the best cookbook EVER! The editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine tested numerous different ways to make each recipe and explain why their ingredients, proportions and methods yield the best results. It works. We tried all our old favorites using their methods and it always came out better their way!

It's also like a cooking course in a book - there are illustrations and explanations for everything from boning a chicken to choosing the best meat thermometer.

It took years for Illustrated Magazine to release this new version of this amazing recipe book and I remember I was so ecstatic and jumping with joy when I had my own copy. Like the first book, every recipe in here is new for me and the varieties are overwhelming. what I like most about this book as the detailed explanation and instructions on how to create a certain recipe I have experimented a number of recipes and the meals are just so perfect my family loves it when I cook something from this reliable recipe book. Thanks to this book I knew it had improved my cooking skills.

There's a lot of overlap here with the other America's Test Kitchen cookbook I've read. Hopefully when the Cook's illustrated cookbook comes out, it'll have a bigger selection of new recipes. Still, the recipes that are here are certainly quality recipes, and I'd definitely consider the book to be a worthwhile purchase.

I have learned so much just by reading some of the "how-to's" in this book. Every single recipe is tested over and over with improvements each time. The cookie section alone is worth the price of the book. The editors have gone the extra mile in coming up with the best possible recipes. Little tips are sprinkled throughout. I have always wondered why many fruit pie recipes call for placing several pats of butter on top of the filling. Guess what? The testers tried it many ways and prefer it without! This is great news for all you lactose intolerant people out there. I can't wait to buy this for my son and daughter-in-law!

Excellent! This has become my go-to cookbook. Every recipe has been very good, but best of all, it explains what was tried and what actually worked and why.