America's Test Kitchen

12-05-2005 @9:34PM Marc said... I am an avid reader of Cook's Illustrated, and therefore when I found America's Test Kitchen on my TV schedule, I watched it a few times. I didn't like it, I think, because I like the magazine's methodical style so much. In print, each recipe is carefully dissected and the reasons for success or failure are clearly explained. On the show, though, it was typically "here is what is best," without the full background. But based on today's glowing review, perhaps I'll start taping it (after the local PBS station's pledge drive ends...).

My favorite cooking show is Rick Bayless's "Mexico One Plate at a Time" (http://www.fronterafoods.com/television/) because it has very little cooking compared to other programs. Instead, Bayless spends a good part of the half-hour touring the markets, restaurants, and cultural sites of Mexico, providing interesting background on the amazing cuisine of Mexico.
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12-05-2005 @11:36PM Alex said... Thats the problem, a cooking show should be about cooking. The food network has started to do a lot more food related stuff, not as much cooking. First Discovery turned Monster, TechTV turned gaming, now Food Network. Needless to say, I don't watch too much TV.
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12-06-2005 @1:28AM Jan Jumonville said... Man, i hate copy cats, why ya couldn't think of a type of t.v. show of your own. you people make me sick. Hey copy of off 30 min. meals instead.
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12-06-2005 @1:33AM extramsg said... Yeah, I'm watching less and less Food Network all the time.

ATK is a good show, but Chris Kimball has all the charisma of your average particle physics professor. I do appreciate the approach based on testing recipes and throwing out the useless steps. But recipes can be a bit boring at times. I like to use them as bases on which to build and improve. I think they're best for technique. Another problem can be that the tasting by committee can produce questionable end results, even if buried in the "data" you can find better ones. This happens with equipment testing, too.

The Cooks Illustrated website is only about $30 a year, a pretty good deal, really. I'm a member. The only problem is that their searching is mediocre, driven by Google. So you can't search just for a keyword in the title of a recipe.
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12-06-2005 @10:38AM Sir Not Appearing in this Blog said... As much as I enjoy ATK and Cook's, I'm getting very tired of their relentless desire to have me buy their stuff.

I subscribe to both CI and Cook's Country. Both great magazines. Every month they've got offers for books. So one time I decided to buy one, something about grilling. I had it sent to my office. BIG mistake.

Since then I've gotten two sample issues of CC and a "please subscribe" offer has come just about every other week. They even sent me ANOTHER book, unasked for, telling me I was part of a "book club" I'd never agreed to join. I've called, I've written, and still the garbage flows in. And they've already sold my address to other people! People, I must point out, who have been far more responsive to my requests for deletion than Cook's have been.

I'm close to cancelling my subscriptions outright in protest. If I get one more piece of mail from them, I will.

So yeah, great stuff, but they need to be more responsive to peoples' wishes.

Yes, I know they don't take external advertising and must rely therefore on selling their products. Great. But when someone asks you to stop sending stuff, and you DON'T, that's unacceptable.
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12-06-2005 @12:11PM Justin H. said... I enjoy the barebones format of the show, but I cannot get past Kimball. Specifically, his arm movements. The way he holds his elbows out and keeps his hands near his armpits while gesticulating is so distracting. I got a sample issue of the magazine once, and his opening column was a very depressing story about unexpected death and the harvesting of maple syrup. It was very odd.

The best thing I've taken away from the whole franchise is Jack Bishop. Usually he's only seen during the taste-testing portion of the show, but in reality he has written a couple of excellent cookbooks.
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12-06-2005 @2:55PM Mike said... I love ATK and have watched it for years. Like Good Eats they tell you the "why" and not just the "what". Knowing that you have a better understanding of what you might want to get creative with and what you shouldn't mess with when following their recipes.

Was anyone one else annoyed when they "tarted up" the women this past year? New chefs outfits, much more makeup. For me it had less of the just cooking, no nonsense look to it. ( And personally, I thought the women looked fine, they didn't need tarting up )
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12-06-2005 @3:04PM Mike said... I love ATK and have watched it for years. Like Good Eats they tell you the "why" and not just the "what". Knowing that you have a better understanding of what you might want to get creative with and what you shouldn't mess with when following their recipes.

Was anyone one else annoyed when they "tarted up" the women this past year? New chefs outfits, much more makeup. For me it had less of the just cooking, no nonsense look to it. ( And personally, I thought the women looked fine, they didn't need tarting up )
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