Sorry, not a how to thread. Just a quick comment re America’s Test Kitchen. Some of the posters from a few years back nailed my experience today: the recipe was fine, it took practically every pot I had in the house, I’m not much of a cook but I saw 4-5 places where the instructions could have been simplified with no change in the end result, and I really should have doubled up on the spices. And that’s for someone who is paler than Chris Kimball and had his taste buds acclimatized in 1960s Soviet Canuckistan, which makes Vermont look like everyone does the Samba and eats according. But the instructions were good, everything worked the way they said it would, and next time, I’ll double up on the arbol.
Kropotkin’s revival of this thread caused me to watch a number of ATK videos and try a few recipes. Outside of the BBQ (I haven’t watched all the BBQ shows yet) I have to disagree with the OP. I was expecting to dislike Kimball but instead I found him largely fun and engaging; I have a soft spot for people willing to make fun of themselves. So far the recipes have been spot on. I haven’t made a spicy one yet but this weekend I plan on trying their canned tomato sauce.
The show really touches all my geek points: they test different parts of the recipes (e.g. pasta with different flour) and explain why they made the choice the did; good gadget reviews; useful taste tests; good food.
The biggest problem is now I need to get a food processor so I can “grind” my own meat to try those hamburgers.
Yes, trustworthy.
Trivia about Chris Kimball:
He has talked about how he and a friend cooked for the Grateful Dead on the road. He wasn’t always a bow-tied geek, people. It’s a persona, a character.
I see I’ve already participated in this thread, but a couple things I haven’t mentioned: I agree they fuss up certain recipes more than necessary. Like I said before, for me, it’s mostly the techniques they discover that I incorporate into my cooking. Also, the seasonings bit. I’ve never really noticed stuff being too underseasoned (except maybe the spicy and ethnic stuff). Like with the apple pie example above, if I have good apples, I generally don’t want to overwhelm them with spices. If I have average apples, sure, I’ll kick up the spices a bit. But it’s just something you should be tasting for as you go along and adjust to your own preferences. Their recipes are almost always good for creating crowd-pleasing middle-of-the-road results, but they have a bit of that "recipe by committee"ness to them, so recipes, especially the spicy and ethnic ones, tend to get toned down.
My roommate has one of their cookbooks and we call it the cookbook of awesome because we haven’t had a bad recipe yet.
A few observations from my Like/Mildly Dislike relationship with ATC:
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Whenever they talk about food science/food facts, I think back to a Good Eats episode from years ago where Alton Brown discussed the same thing (in a MUCH more entertaining manner)
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They gear their products tested and overall tastes to the Northeast. I live in a large urban area with well known gourmet groceries but I don’t recognize many of the food items tested. I also find myself throwing items at the TV when they attempt to tell the world what Southwestern/Tex-Mex/Southern Cooking should taste like.
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I don’t care what they claim on the air, all the staff cooking in the background is fake.
^ So, I got dibs on Yvonne, yes?
I agree with this post. I’m not understanding the distaste for Kimball, as I find him interesting, entertaining and informative. I really don’t get the comments about him being skeezy. His banter with the chefs, equipment testers and foot testers seems genuine and friendly to me.
Overall, I like how the shows explain techniques and how they tested different methods. I’ve picked up several pointers from the shows, and have made tasty dishes. Cook’s Country and ATK are on my Tivo, and fill in the gap left when Alton Brown quit making Good Eats.
Totally agree. Don’t understand the Kimball bashing AT ALL. I liked Alton Brown, too.
I love the way they test everything many (sometimes hundreds of) times to find the best techniques. I have many of their cookbooks. I don’t love every single recipe, but so what. I like things hotter, so I had more hot stuff.
As for
Here’s the ATK answer from here
No. Blunderbusses at dawn, sir.
She pushes a lot of my buttons, and I understand she can cook, too.
At my house, the host is referred to as Chef Sheldon Cooper.
FWIW, I prefer the recipes from “Cook’s Country” to those of ATK. They’re more like comfort food to me.
Just what I came into the thread to post. Except maybe he’s more like Sheldon Cooper’s lookalike uncle from Vermont.
Sadly, dropzone has joined the choir invisible. We shot it out this morning for the favors of the fair Yvonne and the mutt got the drop on the zone. So th…
Whoa! Gotta go! Outta my way! Make a hole! ::running, running, running, running::
The editorial essays are my favorite part of Cook’s Illustrated. Sure, a lot of what he says might be schtick, but a lot of the underlying philosophy - neighbors, self-reliance, quality - appeals to me.
My favorite tip from the magazine was someone who actually took the time to write in the suggestion that after you empty a can of something into a pot, you can actually put your spoon in the can instead of using a spoon rest! :smack: Good god, what an innovation!
We watch the show regularly for entertainment. Don’t think we’ve ever tried a recipe. May have picked up a tip, a technique, or an extra ingredient here or there. I love how excited the snaggle-toothed guy gets over gadgets!
I had been doing that for decades, since I first started cooking in college and didn’t have spoonrests. That could have been my tip, but I thought it way too obvious.
Most of the cans that I empty into pots are too small to be an effective spoon rest. That is, the spoon I stir the pot with is long and heavy enough that if I put it in the empty can it would tip over. I suppose I could lay the can on its side with the business end of the spoon inside, but I think there would be some unavoidable drippage of the remaining can contents.
I’ll haunt the two of you forever. No, forget you. I’ll just haunt her forever. What’s stalky for a live person is normal for a ghost.