Cook's Illustrated Revolutionary Recipes: Groundbreaking techniques. Compelling voices. One-of-a-kind recipes.

by America's Test Kitchen (Editor)

Celebrate Cook's Illustrated's 25th anniversary with a special collection of CI's ground-breaking recipes and extraordinary innovations. See why Cook's Illustrated is changing the way America cooks, one recipe at a time.

Cook's Illustrated recipe testing process leaves no culinary stone unturned, and this has led to some pretty surprising discoveries. CI's recipes are not just foolproof, they have changed the way America cooks. Examples range from hard-boiled eggs that aren't actually boiled to perfectly grilled steaks that start in the oven, plus secret ingredients ranging from baking soda to dried milk powder to gelatin. We've made international favorites like Dolsot Bibimbap accessible for the home kitchen by cooking ours family-style in a Dutch oven, but we've also challenged traditional wisdom on the simplest fare like whole roast chicken; ours is butterflied and cooked under the broiler for chicken perfection in under an hour. Included alongside the recipes are the smart, funny essays that detail the fascinating path of how each recipe came to be, complete with bursts of insight and wrong turns, plus sidebars, helpful illustrations, and gorgeous full-page photos, all to tell the story of what Cook's Illustrated does best.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Reference, Nonfiction

576 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2018

About the author

America's Test Kitchen, based in a brand new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. facility with over 15,000 sq. ft. of test kitchens and studio space, in Boston's Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Over 50 full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, and publisher of more than one dozen cookbooks each year, America's Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. America's Test Kitchen the television show launched in 2001, and the company added a second television program, Cook's Country, in 2008.

Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!

Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

On their 25th anniversary, the magazine Cook’s Illustrated put together this tome of 180 previously published recipes (each is dated from its original publication) that includes a picture with each recipe and focuses on the best of the past 25 years. If you are familiar with Cooks then you’ll know the structure of deep discussion and frequent diagrams and pencil drawings about how to create the perfect version of a recipe. The cooks illustrated philosophy is built on the idea that there is an objectively best technique, and this book, like their others, is built on this principle. And in principle I agree, but in practice I’m not as convinced. I’ve seen Cooks Illustrated recipes change as a new approach is tried or idea is explored. Additionally, some people cannot taste the differences between food cooked following a given objective principle and food that isn’t cooked in that way.
While I may not always agree that the Cook’s recipe is the best one (and sometimes there are just too many persnickety steps), this is a great book to get ideas, and, for the beginning cook, it’s a way to create reliably good (albeit not always particularly interesting) food. It’s also one of the most detailed looks at how different changes in recipes will affect the finished product, knowledge that can be useful on lots of other recipes not found in this book.
The book starts with the basics, which might seem unnecessary. Who needs a recipe for fried eggs? But if you want to understand how an egg works, these sections are worth reading, regardless of whether you want to go to the trouble of the recipe (no heat, crack, fry, flip here).
If you are a cookbook fanatic like myself, this is a cookbook that is an indulgence to read through even if you don’t make many of the recipes.
One of my problems with Cooks is the recipes often aim at the most innocuous, average recipe. So, for example, granola is made with maple syrup because it has less flavor, and is less likely to turn people off than honey. Thus, this cookbook provides that which is least offensive to the most people. There is nothing wrong with that, but I tend to like strong, spicy flavors so often find the savory recipes lacking. Another issue is their emphasis on speed. Sometimes good flavors take time, and I don’t mind taking time sometimes. I wish all their recipes weren’t designed to cut out time.
One of the things I like most about these recipes is that they make me want to cook all the things I usually don’t cook because they never turn out like leg of lamb or lemon chicken on the grill. Their attention to the usual weaknesses and how to fix them convinces me that they might be worth another go.
Their baking recipes are worth the price of the book if you want to understand how baking works. You don’t necessarily have to follow the recipes, but they provide a framework for thinking about whether other baking recipes will turn out who you want.
The attention to detail is inspiring, even if it doesn’t match your own approach to cooking, and the uncovering of underlying cooking processes is eye opening and useful in many recipes not contained in this book. In this way, for me, these books are essential to my development as a cook

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Packed full of tips and tricks and delicious looking recipes. Great for novice and experienced home cooks alike.

[Mbgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most stunningly beautiful AND useful cookbooks I have had the pleasure to read and use as a manual.

Many a recipe I have made this season, and glad to have found out about it. Highly recommended

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book weighs about a bajillion pounds (only a light exaggeration.) Carrying it out of the library gave me shoulder strain! Other than that, initially I gave it an "ok" but after sitting in our Try Something New Cookbook club at the library I gave it another look. So many folks loved it and the recipes are interesting and the food tasted wonderful so I gave the books another look after the gathering. It still weighs a bajillion pounds but the weight means the book lays flat when one is cooking from the recipes and there are plenty of vegetarian options. Directions and recipe history include wht the folks at Cook's tried to get to each particular recipe and that is helpful especially if you are someone who like to change recipes - you won't be repeating someone else's mistakes. Borrow it from the library before you buy it. But it is absolutely worth taking a look at!

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

True to the mission of America's Test Kitchen, this book collects articles from previous sources to gather them into a powerhouse of basic kitchen proficiency.
The process of how this recipe was achieved is shared so as to explain how it was all discovered to be the best option; with variations. Each chapter is about 15 recipes to master.
I've seen the program but never read their magazine, or books. I had no idea how detailed it would be. This is an absolutely fantastic first cookbook because it covers the basics so very well. The budding chef will understand the very foundation of the culinary arts.

[Deborah Cleaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still dislike the niggling testing reports of the Test Kitchen. Why could they not just provide recipes? Do they need to justify themselves more than the ordinary cookbook author? No. No they don’t.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cook's has always been my go-to for best practice, basic and new kitchen skills. I love having all these recipes in one book. It's fun to read how the Cook's test kitchen chefs arrive at their conclusions.

[Margaret Gerberding · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing about books by Cook's Illustrated is that you know the recipes have been tested and they will work for you. I found several recipes I want to try.

[Brianna Sowinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

ATK is always great.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Americas test kitchen folk. Only problem with the magazine is finding the recipe I want. Dint have that problem with this cookbook. And I happen to like the test stories. Yum!

[CG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Invaluable learning from test kitchen trials and errors. I’ve truly become a better cook because of this book. Fantastic!

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be worth owning. I didnt necessarily like all of the recipes but I loved the test kitchen information on how to cook.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

revolutionary? - no. helpful. instructive, thinking flavors through, best techniques - yes.

[Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this cookbook. Really fresh ideas.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty basic

recipes, but some good science behind how to get to expert level with them and some variations for most of them.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has a little bit of everything. There is good commentary for each recipe.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best cookbook I own. It will walk you through the steps of what the test kitchen has tried and why it did or didn’t work. I loved learning the science behind the cooking method!

[Honest Mabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just buy it

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing cookie recipes and totally changed my hard-boiled egg game