I’m a big fan of Cook’s Country & America’s Test Kitchen. I’ve watched the episodes over and over, I have many of their cookbooks, and I appreciate their product reviews (both foods and tools/appliances). I liked the show(s) when Kimball (the creator) was on them, and I still like the shows now that he’s gone.
When Chris was on ATK, he was an annoying, curmudgeonly, resistant sort of guy, but that persona (don’t know if he’s like that IRL) interacted well with his colleagues, Julia, Bridget, and Jack. He was skeptical, critical, a little sarcastic, but smacked his lips appreciatively when they cooked up something good. There was humor, often with Chris as the butt of the joke. There was some warmth and a sense of *team *and family. It worked for a long time. That’s how it looked and still does with Chris gone.
I’ve been watching Kimball’s new show Milk Street and he seems to be trying to recreate the once-successful, quirky chemistry with the new guys & gals, but IMHO failing miserably. For one thing, the new staff is mostly really young-- so there’s not that sense of colleagues/peers ribbing each other. Also, the young people on the show are just…well, odd. I think they’re supposed to be stylish and edgy, but TO ME (MY OPINION ONLY) they have weird ways of talking, weird mouths, weird speech patterns, weird hair, and most of them are at least a head (or more) shorter than Chris. And 20-30 years younger. I think there’s one woman who is close to Kimball’s age. The white sets and white clothing don’t look chef-ly to me-- the effect is space station. Or laboratory. Maybe 'cause milk is white?? I dunno. He’s trying for sophistication and is churning out weirdness instead. There is NO warmth or humor. There are unsuccessful *attempts *at humor, often a completely fake teasing thing between the kid and the old man. Ick. No chemistry at all between/among the cast of characters.
I still watch it, because I like to suffer. Am I the only one watching?
I watch it. That’s an accurate summary. There’s one young woman who does a pretty good job of taking no shit from Chris - Rayna somebody. She cooks yummy-looking stuff, too.
I do like the greater emphasis on ethnic food and interesting new ingredients.
So I watch, but I still like the old America’s Test Kitchen best. The old staff keep it going just as well as ever.
I don’t bother watching the show, although I do subscribe to the magazine. Kimball bugs the shit out of me, and his taste buds aren’t calibrated anything near the way mine are. I’ll stick with ATK.
I’m a long-time subscriber to Cook’s Illustrated, and it’s taught me a lot over the years. That said, Kimball was always annoying. His opinion pieces at the front of the magazine are cringe-worthy, and he seems weirdly spice-averse. That said, the recipes are well-researched and I’ve had very few duds.
Now I’m thinking I should make CI Boeuf Burgundy tonight…
I agree. As I mentioned, I have many of the ATK and CI cookbooks. I love how they research the holy heck out of everything and then explain why this method works and that method doesn’t.
Chris’s inherent annoying-ness was tempered in the company of the genial, relaxed ATK group. One guy, Brian (bald with a beard, made the big chunky polenta with tomato sauce) was clearly intimidated by Chris and acted nervous when they were paired on a recipe. Brian has really come out of himself since Chris has gone and is quite relaxed, witty, and charming.
The young, motley group on Milk Street ALL seem intimidated by Chris and the jokes and banter they attempt remind me of when the parent or the school principal show up at a student party, and the kids try to act relaxed, but they’d really rather the Old Dude just take a hike.
I still watch it but man he is obnoxious. Something about the Milk Street format makes him even more pretentious and overbearing than he was on ATK. Thankfully it seems they’ve done away with cutting to the audience for awkward reaction shots but it seems that his “jokes” always fall flat and his colleagues often don’t seem to know what to make of them.
I’ve noticed that on this season of ATK they’ve turned the spices and the garlic WAY up. Kimball-era recipes would have homeopathic doses of garlic, but one I saw last week included six cloves in a family-sized pasta dish. Still not as much as I would have gone with, probably, but definitely a new paradigm.
I feel like every time they do this they raise a collective middle finger in Kimball’s general direction.
And I LOVED to hate-read his editorials about his life as a burly Vermont mountain man. I like to think his neighbors got together whenever a new issue came out so they could laugh and roll their eyes.
I watch all three- Milk Street, ATK and Cook’s Country.
I have to admit, I kind of liked the old ATK/Cook’s Country with Kimball; the other folks kept him in check, and we had a lot less middle-aged woman food orgasms.
That said, I do like that Milk Street has a lot more ethnic food and seems to be a bit more authentic in terms of the actual ethnic recipes. But you’re right- the banter, etc… is kind of awkward, and I half think they should maybe have Kimball do the introduction and stage-setting, and then have a separate scene where the chef actually describes the recipe and how to cook it.
I can’t always pull in Create TV, but I have noticed a couple of things on Cook’s Country. One is they got rid of the pretentious bling-bling-BLING guitar chords between segments, and the other is Julia isn’t sporting the pompous popped collars any more. Both are Good Things.
I think that ATK has lost something when Kimball left. He actually added something, either a joke or an important point to each segment and he had a great rapport with the other cooks. Now the noncooking partner in the demonstrations is limited to straight cooking advice that’s far less entertaining.
Milk Street, oddly, seems to suffer from the same thing. Kimball doesn’t connect as well and has gone into the background as a straight man.
I watch both ATK and Cook’s Country by osmosis, as my wife is a “food porn” addict. I never liked Kimball, for reasons already better stated (twerpy personality, and bland tastes). My wife watched Milk Street a few times, and didn’t care for it at all, but she still likes the original two shows.
Also, I think it’s a weird name for a cooking show, unless you’re really focusing on dairy-based recipes.
For me it’s not so much disliking Christopher Kimball as really liking all the people (a least a half-dozen) who are getting more screen time now that he’s gone: I think the ecological niche he tried to fill in both shows (guy sort-of in charge who never did anything but taste and comment) turned out not to be necessary. That said, I watch Milk Street when I remember to, and I think the folks there will settle into a pretty good show too.
