Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP I was just at a local library and noticed that they had back issues of Cook's Illustrated available for check out. This is the magazine put out by the same people who do America's Test Kitchen (on PBS?) that I do not watch because I don't have TV. Anyway, flipping through it, it looks pretty interesting. Sort of a Consumer Reports for Chefs, product ratings, extensive testing, no ads. Each of the three I checked out has about 10 recipes (some with variations) at least one product test (cutting boards, serrated knives, baking sheets) and some product taste tests (turkeys, dark chocolate, premium oj) as well as other product reviews and a few other smaller features. The product reviews seem fair, when a much cheaper product rates better or nearly as good as the prestige brand they don't hesitate to say. Unlike women's magazines they look like they are aiming for a minimun of processed goods (egg beaters, cake mixes, ect.). I havn't yet gone grocery shoping for any of their recipies so I don't know how cost of ingredients compares with, say, Martha's expensive lists. The instructions don't look too far out of my range, but some may stretch me. Does anyone else have any experiance with this magazine? A little about my cooking: I cook dinner at home most nights for elderp and I and consider myself an average cook. I like to cook, but hate to make menus, so I rely upon magazines and the like for fresh ideas. Right now I am focused on getting the maximum health for the minimum dollars. (Based on this, in the past couple of weeks I've made at least three dinners ElderP wouldn't eat more than two bites of. *frown*) I am more willing, now that I'm at home most of the day w/Younger P, to do more from scratch and am trying to rely less on more expensive convinence products. However, I do hate "cutting in" butter/shortning and thus rely heavily on Bisquick .
Originally Posted By redlegtwo I love Cook's Illustrated. I also love America's Test Kitchen and my favorite cookbook is America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I like the comparison you made to Consumer Reports. I never realized it before, but that's very much what the magazine is set up like. I think what I like most about Cook's Illustrated is that they use real ingredients and not a lot of packaged or processed foods. The recipes have ingredients that are usually easy to find at the grocery store. Most of the recipes are simple enough. I cook almost every night, and I'm always looking for something different to make but not too different or my family won't eat it. I like to make simple recipes with familiar ingredients.I don't know if the recipes cost more or less to make than others because I almost exclusively use Cook's Illustrated or America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I also shop at WINCO which saves me a lot of money on my grocery bill. You can also find some recipes online for free, or join for about $24/year to have access to all the recipes in their archives. I love the tips and the recommendations in the magazine as much as the recipes.
Originally Posted By threeundertwo The cooks illustrated cookbook is great. I used to subscribe to the magazine, but it's really expensive. I do love to read the product reviews and I've followed their advice many times. I don't think their recipes are particularly difficult. >>Right now I am focused on getting the maximum health for the minimum dollars. >> Do you read Cooking Light magazine? I've had great success with every recipe of theirs that I've tried. Very healthy too. I also recommend their cookbooks.
Originally Posted By velo Cooking Light is great, as is Cuisine at Home. Love this last one - great recipes and product reviews as well (altho they never really "dislike" anything).
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP I like the recipes in Taste of Home, and especially their "light" magazine. (The normal magazine is fairly fatty, good only if you eat normal servings, and since normal servings look small to me, that's no good!) The Taste of Home people are closest to my cooking style and prefered ingredients. However, they don't really do that much in the way of product reviews or the experimentation that I'm finding in the Cook's Illustrated.
Originally Posted By mele The neat thing about Cook's Illustrated is that they try to do a lot of testing to find out the "best" techniques and recipes, as well as the taste tests (Heinz 57 is the best ketchup!). Also, no advertisements. No photos either, I don't think. It's hard for me to want to try a new recipe w/o photos. I hate cookbooks w/no photos also. Cooking Light is my favorite however however they use a lot of ingredients which isn't particularly budget friendly. I like that they have seasonal recipes, using fruits/veggies when they're at their peak so they taste the best and are cheaper and easier to find. Cooking Light's website now has free recipes. You used to have a code or a subscription to access the recipes but now you can just do a search. It might be worth checking out their website to see what you can glean for free. I love Martha Stewarts "Food" magazine. I have the cookbook and LOVE it. They have a lot of easy, fresh recipes. Not all are low fat but they are healthier recipes...no junk processed food products, fresh flavors, lots of produce.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP I've found cooking light to be too expensive for us right now. Pretty recipies, however the ones I've tried have had mixed reviews at home. (ElderP resents "sneaky" vegtables. Veggies like squash have to be on the side--preferably raw, not mixed into things like lasagna.)
Originally Posted By BlueDevilSF I'm pretty ambivalent about Cooks Illustrated and the TV show. I think sometimes they go to great lengths to make their recipes as labor-intensive as they can in the name of making it the "best." Well, sometimes their "best" isn't all that great. If you're trying to cook "quick and easy," they're not good for that. I don't put a lot of stock in their product reviews, though. Taste is, as always, subjective, but some of the descriptions in the reviews...sheesh! Where do they come up with this stuff??? They need to drop the word "best" from their vocabulary, or at least add the qualifer "at this moment in time." We've seen them review the same products from year to year and what is "highly recommended" one year winds up under the "not recommended" column the next, even though the same slate of products is reviewed. That said, yes, they do have some good and useful tips from time to time, and their recipe for bleu cheese dressing (from "The New Best Recipes" book) is the tastiest such dressing I've ever had. I'll post it if anyone wants it. Mrs, have you looked at Fine Cooking or Everyday Food? Everyday Food, in particular, is very good.
