Cooking at Home with America's Test Kitchen Review

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(More customer reviews)This companion volume to the 2006 PBS series is presented as 26 chapters that correspond to the individual shows; each includes recipe analysis, equipment recommendations, illustrated techniques and product tests. Christopher Kimball and his rigorous cohorts define their goals, talk to experts, test dozens of recipe variations and then let you know what works and what doesn't. One sample chapter, called Meat and Potatoes, includes Onion-Braised Beef Brisket, Smashed Potatoes (and variations), and sections on electric knives and the science of making tender brisket. Give yourself some extra time to peruse the always informative and entertaining text preceding the recipes.
Chapters include: Eggs for Brunch, Tex-Mex Favorites, South-of-the-Border Soups, Cooking with Squash, Dinner on a Dime, One-Skillet Dinners, American Classics, High-Roast Chicken, Turkey, Pork Chops and Tenderloin, Fish Steaks, Seafood Classics, Italian Classics, Two Curries, Asian Chicken, Paella, Grilled Pizza, Grill-Roasted Pork Loin, Pulled Pork and Cornbread, Barbecued Chicken, Summer Fruit Desserts, Deep-Dish Apple Pie, Cookies, Old-Fashioned Birthday Cake and German Chocolate Cake.
I've tried several recipes so far and they have each come out really well. The America's Test Kitchen cookbooks are terrific, and always a resource I turn to when I am trying something new.
Line illustrations, informative sidebars, conversion tables and a passable index augment the text.


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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 Review

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(More customer reviews)... but I won't talk about that in this review.
What I will talk about is a cookbook that takes the culinary gearheads at Cooks Illustrated and allows them to let it rip -- if the Best Recipe series is a solid and thorough series of workshops for the technically-minded cook, and the first America's Test Kitchen book seems to be a slightly dull but not unenjoyable tasting menu some of the crew's favorite recipes, Here In America's Test Kitchen is a blowout, a blow-the-roof-off-and-call-the-cops kegger of cool recipes. It doesn't say it explicitly, but this book is all about party food and comfort food.
Party food? Buffalo wings (their secret: extra Tabasco and a bit of vinegar), sangria, chili, barbecue ribs, and grill-roasted turkey for a different twist on Thanksgiving. (I think they do a different turkey recipe in every book.) Comfort food? Beef burgundy. Steakhouse filet mignon. Kung pao shrimp (with several choices of fried rice). Even green bean casserole and the missing meat lasagna recipe that should have been in Italian Classics. There's lots of things to look at and cook here, each one sliced and diced in classic Cooks Illustrated style to get the best possible results.
This is a must-have book. It's loaded with behind-the-scenes pictures just like its predecessor, and the food in it is picked out for fun factor and/or just novelty; they even claim to make stuffed peppers appetizing, which is a pretty daring proposition. Get this book, and I promise you'll enjoy just reading it; if other TV cookbooks with their closeups and cutting-edge graphic design are food porn, this stuff is Penthouse Letters.

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