Average Reviews:
(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.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Here In America's Test Kitchen: All New Recipes, Quick Tips, Equipment Ratings, Food Tastings, and Science Experiments from the Hit Public Television Show
