The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition
by Cook's Illustrated Magazine
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Book Reviews of The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition
Book Review: The King of Cookbooks
Summary: 5 Stars
I am an avid home cook and baker and I LOVE Cook's Illustrated. I subscribe to their magazine, their website, I watch their show "America's Test Kitchen" on public television, and I own several of their cookbooks. This cookbook is one of my favorites, as it's a very comprehensive book of their very best and most sought after recipes. You will find sections on Starters, Main Dishes, Vegetables, Grains, Breads, Pastries, Pies, Cakes, etc. What I like about Cook's Illustrated is that it doesn't just throw recipes at you, but instead exhaustively tests a recipe to arrive at what they feel is the very best version before they publish it. Along with the recipes they provide a detailed write up of their test kitchen experiments and how and why they arrived at a particular recipe. For some people this may seem extraneous and needless, but for anyone who is serious about cooking and baking and wants to better their skills in the kitchen, this is a wonderful tool. It provides valuable information about the science behind the cooking, which is very useful knowledge. In the two years that I have been reading their material, I have learned so much about cooking and baking, and my skills in the kitchen have been much improved as a result. This book also contains countless tips and useful tools scattered throughout the book that I find very welcome. For example, product reviews, equipment reviews, cooking tips etc. If you could only own one cookbook, then this one would surely be a contender. It is a trusted, comprehensive and well-rounded source. I must admit, however, that in my opinion, Cook's Illustrated is much better at baking than at cooking. I have made a couple dozen baked goods recipes and every single one has been UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. (By the way, if you are more interested in baking than in cooking, then spring for "Baking Illustrated" instead of this book. It is THE BEST baking book.) I attribute this to the fact that baking is way more of a science than cooking, and is much more exacting, whereas cooking is a more subjective art. I have never had any "flops" with their cooking recipes, but my tastes are not always on par with theirs. I do think that is common since individual tastes vary so much. That being said, I still think they are the best source around for trusted recipes and helpful kitchen information. I can honestly say that Cook's Illustrated has made me a much better cook and baker. And for that I am thankful.Book Review: Entertaining but their magazine is better
Summary: 4 Stars
It may be a little premature to write a review on this book given that I've only tried two recipes from it but my disappointment needs an outlet. Cook's Illustrated Magazine was truly a godsend in that it was entertaining, informative, and their attention to detail made every attempt (to-date) an unqualified success. For this cookbook, however, the economies of quantity (of recipes) versus quality (of details) means that the beginner chef must fill in the blanks herself.
The waffle recipe, when followed literally, resulted in a curdled wet mixture as the melted-but-cooled butter was mixed with a yolk and milk. I had some thoughts of perhaps also allowing the milk and yolk to warm to room temperature, but I decided that substituting oil was the way to go. Afterall, I wasn't in the business of running a test kitchen and authoring cookbooks! It's also not practical (and positively impossible) to beat a single egg white in a stand mixer (a common household tool now). I don't own a hand mixer (just as I don't own a VCR) so I ended up beating two egg whites and just using half of the resulting product.
As a minor detail, perhaps because the book was printed in 2004, the lasagna recipe does not reflect that no-boil lasagna noodles (from Barilla for example) now come in packages of 16 to be placed 4 at a time per layer width-wise instead of 3 length-wise. Their spreading of the cheese mixture is also prescribed on a per noodle basis thus adding to the confusion. Maybe they need to be more thorough in their market research or make their recipes noodle-distribution proof (i.e. cheese mixture measurement on a per layer basis). Also, while they make disrespectful comments about packaged pre-shredded mozzarella cheese, they don't make any suggestions as to how to effectively shred gooey fresh mozzarella cheese. Needless to say, it was a lot easier evenly distributing the dry parmesan.
Of course I still love reading the cookbook (especially the sidebars) but it is not as thorough and thus not nearly as reliable as their magazine articles. I'd still recommend the book but look elsewhere to pick up the "common sense".
Book Review: Ideal for both beginners and experts!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a new cook. I was introduced this cook book by my fiance. To be frank, I was rather disappointed by the book at first. Other than it's colorful and glossy book jacket, the entire 1028 pages worth are all in black and white. And what more, it doesn't include pictures of what the dish that you are about to try out for the first time will look like.
Then, the turning point came the day when I wanted to learn how to make Chinese fried rice. Curious about what this book has got to offer, I flipped to the glossary, looking for 'rice, fried'. To my surprise, the book does not simply throw you a list of ingredients and a few statements on what you have to do, all the time assuming that you already know what fried rice is, how it should look and taste like and what equipment should is used to make the dish. Instead, the book gave an introduction on what is and where does fried rice comes from, how it should look and taste like and all the details of what had been tested by the test cooks. The incredible test cooks tested steps right from the top, starting from the type of grains to use, the texture of the cooked rice, how to get the correct rice texture, what to do and what not to do when frying rice, the type of wok/skillet to use for the best results, the amount and type of fat/seasoning to use and best of all, WHY; why do they work!
In addition, this book also includes illustrations on how to perfect the various cooking techniques: poaching an egg, preparing an omelet, oiling a grill grate, grilling and craving steaks, choosing(knowing the differences between the different cuts of meats, seafood and poultry), deboning/cutting and preparing meats, seafood and poultry, assembling strudel and linzertorte, frosting layer cakes, shaping cookie dough etc...
It also shows pictures of tools used for different cooking methods like grill brush, skillet, steak knives, tart pans etc...
Truely, this book is great for a beginner like me, who's interested in becoming a decent cook and for an expert like my fiance to simply whip up an excellent dish for our enjoyment! I'm totally satisfied. Try it!
Book Review: they've made the mistakes so you do have to
Summary: 5 Stars
I LOVE IT! I'm excited about getting into my kitchen again. I have not had a failure since I bought it. I'm Australian, so American fare is not always my favorite style of cooking, mac and cheese and meatloaf? But living here, I have to deal with American ingredients, and to be honest I've had some spectacular failures since I've moved here. I can't totally blame having to work in oz and F.
I was skeptical about the title and I'm really glad I overcame my bias. This book is good - REALLY good. Most people consider me a good cook, and I have a veritable library of cookbooks and recipes. While I did not really need 1000 more, I was intrigued enough to open the book - it fell open at a meat page which "finally" I was able to find a diagram to tell me what the various local meat cuts equated to what I was used to. I started flicking though earnestly. I stumbled across the Pork area, I'd just made pork chops that turned out the equivalent of industrial brake pads. Cooks test kitchen pointed out that today's leaner cuts of pork, needed to be treated differently. Cooked on a medium heat. I figured that what I just wasted in meat, the investment would be worth it, so I bought it home. Since then I've had tender meat, superb roasts, great pancakes, a fabulous summer pie. The book sits on my kitchen counter - it is the ultimate resource. I still use other recipes, but I find myself always coming back and consulting it and ultimately using the techniques it teaches.
It explains the process of recipe building and talks about recipe variants, a great knowledge to go forth with if you are prone to substituting as I am. I've since subscribed to their magazine, bought their baking illustrated and look forward to their new barbeque and grilling book. I'm more confident than ever in my American kitchen, and I have the America's test kitchen to thank for it.
I think the greatest compliment is I've come back to Amazon to buy a copy for a friend that is about to get married. A true gift of domestic harmony.
Book Review: The book of Standards
Summary: 4 Stars
No, I don't mean 'standards' is the sense of old favorites like 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' or 'Shoo-Fly Pie'. I mean that this cookbook gives the reader a description of the goal of each recipe. Instead of arrogantly claiming that they know what's best and that you'd better agree, the authors establish definitions of the goal they're trying to reach.
One of my favorites from Cook's Illustrated is for one of my least favorite dishes: veggie burgers. It describes "....a patty with a modicum of chew, a combination of savory ingredients that did not taste specifically of any one thing. . .. . and the ability to go from grill to bun without falling apart." Fair enough. (The authors don't mention flavor, but veggie burgers are about morality, not flavor.)
This up-front approach to standards clears away the questions of taste that a book called 'The Best. .. ' raises. Whose best? Well, a best that's something like this.
The philosophy of 'Bestness' aside, this is an amazing cookbook. It focuses on the fundamentals of cooking procedures with particular goals in mind. Some of the recipes-especially those for using cheap cuts of meat will save you money. Many will raise ordinary dinners to a different level.
After years of subscribing to Cook's Illustrated, I just got my copy of The Best. Like other reviewers, I was troubled by the unreadable index (perhaps the authors should consult a book called "The Best Book Design Techniques") I'm content that this is not a mouth-watering inspirational food-porn picture book.
What I love about it and its parent magazine is the patient, craftsmanlike exhaustive testing that I would never do for myself but whose results I'm very happy to make use of. This is a book that will make your cooking more fun and bring better food to your table. And isn't that what cookbooks are supposed to do?
Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine and the forthcoming novel bang-BANG from Kunati Press.