# Chris Kimball out at America's Test Kitchen et al **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2015, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767 "2015-11-17T01:36:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/81 "2018-01-16T17:04:19Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > Apropros of nothing, I recently finished a book authored by Kimball about remaking/reinacting the very last dinner menu in the original Fannie Farmer cookbook. This was videoed as well and it was pretty good. Not great, but good. It’s been awhile, but I liked the history, the ingredients and the prep. What an ordeal. I’m sure reading about it would be quite different than seeing it done. Here’s a link to it on Netflix: [https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80148271](https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80148271) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/82 "2018-01-16T17:17:00Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > If anyone is curious about Kimball the man, here’s a long, revealing, \*interesting \*[article](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/magazine/cooks-illustrateds-christopher-kimball.html)from the NYTimes magazine from 2012. > > I own many of the ATK cookbooks, and I appreciate their relentless testing and documentation of recipes–both ingredients and methods–to come up with the best-tasting versions. And they explain WHY their tweaks work. I love that. Thanks for the link. I like “getting to know” people like that, on the other hand, I don’t want to know too much. It’s like meeting your heroes. You’ll always be disappointed. 🙂 But I do like a bird’s eye view of “celebrities”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/83 "2018-01-16T17:24:51Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > If anyone is curious about Kimball the man, here’s a long, revealing, \*interesting \*[article](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/magazine/cooks-illustrateds-christopher-kimball.html)from the NYTimes magazine from 2012. Pretty much as I expected him to be. Well-written article, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/84 "2018-01-16T17:37:09Z")
I miss Chris on ATK and Cook’s Country. I watch Milk Street but it’s just not as good a show as the other two. I love Bridget but Julia has always seemed snobby to me. She always finds a way to remind us that she went to culinary school. However, of the two, she’s probably the better cook. And speaking of snobby, Jack “I don’t allow frozen pizza in my house” Bishop makes me all stabby. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/85 "2018-01-27T02:52:49Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I miss Chris on ATK and Cook’s Country. I watch Milk Street but it’s just not as good a show as the other two. I love Bridget but Julia has always seemed snobby to me. She always finds a way to remind us that she went to culinary school. However, of the two, she’s probably the better cook. > > And speaking of snobby, Jack “I don’t allow frozen pizza in my house” Bishop makes me all stabby. I still watch ATK, and I miss Chris there because of the interaction with the other cast members. I watched Milk Street for a while, but I’ve bailed. The chemistry of personalities just isn’t present. The recipes aren’t that interesting and the young chefs are bland and boring. On ATK Chris’s jerkiness was manageable, but on Milk Street it sticks out. I also hate the all-white sets and clothes. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/86 "2018-01-27T18:08:20Z")
The new ATK/Cook’s Country aren’t bad. But mostly they aren’t good, either. The two women take turns lecturing each other – I know they need to explain the recipes to average people but they come off sounding like the one explaining thinks the other one is an ignorant slut. They sound … condescending. The other hosts range from obnoxious to annoying. That being said, I thought this was wonderful: [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPnvVfYDYKY) Since Bridget started putting her hair up and Julia got her cut short again I’m more comfortable – last season all that long hair hanging down in their faces bugged me. I think the problem is in the scripts. They are poorly written. They really need to find another way of doing this. Having everybody be buddies and having raptures over, say, baked potatoes is too stupid for words. And that bad habit of repeating whatever idiotic thing the other one just said makes me wanna holler. If you can’t say something to advance the situation, shut up! Did anyone ever hear about how all those lawsuits resolved? Kimball is the same MrKnowItAll he always was, except now it’s all about what he did and said and cooked in that quaint little place on the other side of the world rather than some place in Vermont. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop – when the former intern(s) at ATK/Cook’s Country has their MeToo moment. Any day now. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/87 "2018-01-27T18:11:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Pretty much as I expected him to be. Well-written article, for sure. It’s pretty obvious Kimball is one of those New England Trustafarians … as lower class Yankees observe, like a lot of those folks I’m sure he has a picture of Seabiscuit over his fireplace because he thinks they’re somehow related. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/88 "2018-01-27T21:56:13Z")
I finally saw an episode of _Milk Street_. It was _America’s Test Kitchen_ with brunettes. > [@TubaDiva](#): > > That being said, I thought this was wonderful: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPnvVfYDYKY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPnvVfYDYKY) That is just too adorable for words. I’m surprised the editors let that run on so long; it didn’t seem entirely necessary toward the goal of preparing sticky buns. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/89 "2018-01-27T21:59:11Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > That being said, I thought this was wonderful: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPnvVfYDYKY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPnvVfYDYKY) I know, I loved that when I first saw it. A real genuine moment of food bliss, and mostly not scripted (I’m guessing). To be fair about having two chefs, one explaining things to the other, is that the one doing the talking is supposed to know something about _this recipe_ as it worked out from the testing that the other one doesn’t, which seems a reasonable hook on which to hang their schtick. I don’t usually get a feeling of condescension, except from Erin, who clearly seems to think she is too good for this gig. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/90 "2018-01-27T22:48:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I finally saw an episode of _Milk Street_. It was _America’s Test Kitchen_ with brunettes. > > That is just too adorable for words. I’m surprised the editors let that run on so long; it didn’t seem entirely necessary toward the goal of preparing sticky buns. No, but it was such a sweet human moment (no pun intended) that it was a welcome relief from all the dour seriousness that affects so many cooking shows. Sometimes stuff happens and you just have a goofy moment … I’m glad they let the cameras run and then shared that with the rest of the world. It helped me forgive all the other stuff that got on my nerves with ATK and bought them some grace afaic. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/91 "2018-01-27T22:53:51Z")
Thanks for sharing that. I love Bridget and Julia. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/92 "2018-01-27T23:13:09Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > … I don’t usually get a feeling of condescension, except from Erin, who clearly seems to think she is too good for this gig. Erin is my favorite. I’m glad she stayed on ATK. She let drop that she has worked in lots of restaurants and she may be the most competent cook there. Chris mentioned once in passing that Erin likes _control_. Coming from him… that’s scary. > [@TubaDiva](#): > > No, but it was such a sweet human moment (no pun intended) that it was a welcome relief from all the dour seriousness that affects so many cooking shows. Sometimes stuff happens and you just have a goofy moment … I’m glad they let the cameras run and then shared that with the rest of the world. It helped me forgive all the other stuff that got on my nerves with ATK and bought them some grace afaic. God, I could have crawled into a pan of those sticky buns… I loved it when Bridget said she wouldn’t throw them out of bed. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/93 "2018-01-27T23:28:36Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > God, I could have crawled into a pan of those sticky buns… I loved it when Bridget said she wouldn’t throw them out of bed. I know, that recipe hit all the buttons: hot, sweet, savory, sticky, gooey fun. I would very like to make them but 1) that’s about a year’s worth of sugar rush all in one pan and 2) I’m very afraid I couldn’t stop at one. Like Bridget. Have any of you tried the recipe? ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767/94 "2018-01-28T04:36:13Z")
I enjoy the shows, but the thing that gets me about America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country is how much salt they use. For example, they put a 1/2 cup of soy sauce in a smallish pan of onion soup- that’s equivalent to at least a tablespoon of salt. Kimball has even referred to himself as the “sultan of salt.” The other thing that bugs me are the stupid three guitar chords played between segments on Cook’s Country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chris-kimball-out-at-americas-test-kitchen-et-al/737767.md?page=4)