Cook S Illustrated Popular Books

Cook S Illustrated Biography & Facts

Cook's Illustrated is an American cooking magazine published every two months by America's Test Kitchen Limited Partnership (ATK) in Brookline, Massachusetts. On February 2, 2023, Cook's Illustrated was one of ATK's brands included in the sale of its controlling interest to Marquee Brands.It accepts no advertising and is characterized by extensive recipe testing and detailed instructions. The magazine also conducts thorough evaluations of kitchen equipment and branded foods and ingredients. History Founder and former editor Christopher Kimball launched Cook's magazine in 1980 with money raised from investors. Kimball eventually sold Cook's to Condé Nast Publications, which discontinued the magazine in 1989. Kimball later reacquired rights to the name, hired several former Cook's staff members, and launched a rebranded Cook's Illustrated in 1993.Circulation grew from an initial 25,000 to 600,000 in 2004 and one million subscribers in 2007, maintaining a growth rate substantially higher than the general category of cooking magazines. In 2009, Cook's Illustrated magazine had 1.2 million subscribers, a figure that grew by 11% on average over the previous nine years. The 78% renewal rate is twice the 35–40% rate for all consumer magazines. The website enjoys 300,000 paid subscribers, about half of whom also subscribe to one of the magazines.The magazine's staff also produces the PBS cooking shows America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country, and publishes cookbooks including The Best Recipe and America's Test Kitchen series. A sister magazine, Cook's Country, which emphasizes home-style cooking and reader submissions, launched in October 2004; the two magazines come out in alternate months. Though the company is still officially known as Boston Common Press, most of its publishing activity is done under the America's Test Kitchen brand. On November 16, 2015, a news release from Boston Commons Press announced the departure of Kimball over a contract dispute. The 2016 TV programs had already been filmed and Kimball appeared as host, but his direct participation in the company was ended immediately. He remains a minority stockholder in the closely held company. There had been signs of a dispute between the corporate leadership and Kimball ever since September 2015 when David Nussbaum was appointed from outside the company as CEO, above Kimball.On February 2, 2023, Marquee Brands became a majority owner of America's Test Kitchen Limited Partnership and its associated brands, including Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country. Also David Nussbaum was replaced by Dan Suratt as CEO of ATK. Format Each issue of Cook's Illustrated is 32 pages in length. While formerly printed almost entirely in black-and-white, the magazine received full color photos and illustrations in 2018, aligning with 25th anniversary of the magazine. The front and back covers contain color illustrations of various foods and ingredients, and the inside of the back cover contains color photographs of the recipes featured in the issue. Founder Kimball's philosophy, which his magazine reflects, is that there is a "single best way to make a dish" that leads to "nearly bulletproof" results. About 10,000 "friends of Cook's'" provide feedback that help the magazine choose recipes. Approximately ten recipes are presented in each issue, taking the form of a narrative in which the author discusses the recipe's evolution. The author of each article usually begins by relating the reason why they decided to create the recipe. For instance, they might have enjoyed the dish from their childhood, wanted to simplify a typically time-consuming recipe, or tried a dish in a restaurant that they wanted to recreate. The article then follows the recipe's development, which invariably begins with numerous problems in its original incarnation. The author then describes iteratively modifying the recipe's ingredients and cooking method, each time presenting the recipe to a panel of tasters who provide feedback. At the end of the article, the author reaches a final recipe and lists the ingredients and preparation instructions, often with minor variants. Recipes typically include hand-drawn illustrations of any difficult cuts or other uncommon preparation. Recipes in the magazine often utilize unorthodox, but easy, inexpensive, and commonplace ingredients and instructions. For instance, a recipe for Chinese barbecued pork substitutes ketchup for the traditional red bean curd, which can be difficult to find in the United States; a method for improving inexpensive beef roasts suggests turning off the oven during the final hour of cooking to improve the beef's texture; and a recipe for low-fat cookies includes pureed dates, an unorthodox ingredient that the author preferred over more traditional low-fat alternatives. Each magazine also includes a detailed taste test, in which a panel of tasters evaluates different brands of ingredients such as ketchup, dark chocolate or balsamic vinegar. In addition to testing each ingredient by itself, tasters also try the ingredient in several recipes, such as pots de crème and brownies in the case of dark chocolate. Often, a category is sub-organized into purposes, such as "best teas plain" and "best teas with milk". The magazine also applies this process of testing and evaluating to kitchen tools and products.Every issue includes a detailed equipment test, where a panel of users tries a variety of items such as knives, cutting boards or baking sheets. In the case of more expensive pieces of equipment, an overall winner as well as a "best buy" are selected. Both types of tests sort their results into four categories: Highly Recommended, Recommended, Recommended with Reservations, and Not Recommended. As with recipes, much space is devoted to explaining the selection and testing process, and any exceptions to the general conclusions.In addition to the featured test, most issues test a few other products with less detail, where the best and worst brands in each category are presented with a brief description of the products' highlights and drawbacks. The magazine also features a "Kitchen Notes" section, providing tips on completing common cooking chores, often relevant to the recipes in the issue; a "Recipe Update", in which the magazine provides variations on recipes from previous issues; "Quick Tips" submitted by readers; and "Notes from Readers", in which the magazine's editors respond to reader questions. Many issues also include a two-page spread illustrating details on a general method or task, such as "Mastering the Art of Stew" or "Stocking a Baking Pantry". Other media Books Television See also List of food and drink magazinesReferences External links Official site. Discover the Cook S Illustrated popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Cook S Illustrated books.

Best Seller Cook S Illustrated Books of 2024

  • Pressure Cooker Perfection synopsis, comments

    Pressure Cooker Perfection

    America's Test Kitchen

    100 foolproof pressurecooker recipes that will change the way you cook. In Pressure Cooker Perfection, the first volume in our new test kitchen handbook series, the ed...

  • 100 Recipes synopsis, comments

    100 Recipes

    America's Test Kitchen

    A provocative, handpicked collection of relevant (and surprising) essential recipes for today’s cook. We have countless recipes at our disposal today but what are the real keepers...

  • Multicooker Perfection synopsis, comments

    Multicooker Perfection

    America's Test Kitchen

    Praised by Wired.com and featured by Chicago Tribune, Booklist, Epicurious, Booklist, and Eat This, Not That!Multicookers such as the GoWISE USA and Instant Pot Duo are hugely popu...

  • The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook Volume 2 synopsis, comments

    The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook Volume 2

    America's Test Kitchen

    Our allnew collection of glutenfree recipes features a new wholegrain flour blend, more than 50 dairyfree recipes, and nutritionals for every recipe. Building on the bestselling s...

  • The Side Dish Bible synopsis, comments

    The Side Dish Bible

    America's Test Kitchen

    A roadmap to help home cooks round out and enhance any meal, for any occasion with 1001 recipes for every type of side dish imaginable.Every cook struggles over making side dishes,...

  • The Complete Slow Cooker synopsis, comments

    The Complete Slow Cooker

    America's Test Kitchen

    The Complete Slow Cooker is America's Test Kitchen's definitive guide to how to cook using a slow cooker. It builds on the success the test kitchen has had from years of testing an...

  • Vegetables Illustrated synopsis, comments

    Vegetables Illustrated

    America's Test Kitchen

    The only vegetables book you'll ever need reveals hundreds of ways to cook nearly every vegetable under the sun.We're all looking for interesting, achievable ways to enjoy vegetabl...

  • The Make-Ahead Cook synopsis, comments

    The Make-Ahead Cook

    America's Test Kitchen

    The ultimate planahead cookbook that delivers on flavor Harried home cooks learned the hard way that the best possible way to maintain their mealtime sanity is to make things ahead...

  • What Good Cooks Know synopsis, comments

    What Good Cooks Know

    America's Test Kitchen

    After more than 20 years of obsessive research and testing, America's Test Kitchen has literally written the book on how to master your kitchen. Logically organized and packed with...

  • Food Processor Perfection synopsis, comments

    Food Processor Perfection

    America's Test Kitchen

    America's Test Kitchen unleashes the potential of what a food processor can do with an eyeopening collection of 75 kitchentested recipes to make your cooking easier, faster, and be...

  • Spiced synopsis, comments

    Spiced

    America's Test Kitchen

    Harness the power of spices to take your dishes from simple to spectacular with 139 exciting recipes, plus find 47 easy spice blends and condiments you can use many ways.Spices: Yo...

  • The Ultimate Burger synopsis, comments

    The Ultimate Burger

    America's Test Kitchen

    Achieve burger greatness, with updated classics, regional favorites, homemade everything (from meat blends to pretzel buns), and craftburger creations, plus fries and other sides, ...

  • Paris Sweets synopsis, comments

    Paris Sweets

    Dorie Greenspan

    The prizewinning author of Baking with Julia (more than 350,000 copies sold), among other cookbook classics, celebrates the sweet life with recipes and lore from Paris's finest pat...

  • The Blue Apron Cookbook synopsis, comments

    The Blue Apron Cookbook

    Blue Apron Culinary Team

    The Joy of Cooking for a new generation: A collection of easytomake, delicious, and original recipes from the kitchens of Blue Apronthe beloved national mealdelivery servicefeaturi...

  • The Best Mexican Recipes synopsis, comments

    The Best Mexican Recipes

    America's Test Kitchen

    Kitchentested recipes that bring the real flavors of Mexico home.  Let America’s Test Kitchen be your guide to making deeply flavored Mexican dishes at home. Our first Mexican...

  • How to Cocktail synopsis, comments

    How to Cocktail

    America's Test Kitchen

    All the kitchen secrets, techniques, recipes, and inspiration you need to craft transcendent cocktails, from essential, canonical classics to imaginative allnew creations from Amer...

  • The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook synopsis, comments

    The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook

    America's Test Kitchen

    Gluten free recipes perfected Successful gluten free recipes require more than just new ingredients. You need new techniques and that's where our test kitchen team can help. We tri...

  • How to Braise Everything synopsis, comments

    How to Braise Everything

    America's Test Kitchen

    With one simple, mostly handsoff technique, you'll unlock deep flavors in meat, poultry, seafood, and even vegetables in this authoritative guide of 200 foolproof, unique recipes.B...

  • Bread Illustrated synopsis, comments

    Bread Illustrated

    America's Test Kitchen

    In this comprehensive cookbook, America's Test Kitchen breaks down the often intimidating art and science of bread baking, making it easy for anyone to create foolproof, bakeryqual...

  • Desserts Illustrated synopsis, comments

    Desserts Illustrated

    America's Test Kitchen

    Finesse the final course with confidence using this musthave companion for making dessert magic with 91 types of sweets and 600+ foolproof recipes.Part cookbook, part handbook, Des...

  • Meat Illustrated synopsis, comments

    Meat Illustrated

    America's Test Kitchen

    2021 IACP Award Winner in the General CategoryIncrease your meat counter confidence with this musthave companion for cooking beef, pork, lamb, and veal with more than 300 kitchente...

  • The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook synopsis, comments

    The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook

    America's Test Kitchen

    650 Recipes for EVERYTHING You'll Ever Want to Make. Because smaller families shouldn't have to rely on recipes built for four or six, America's Test Kitchen has reengin...

  • The Complete Make-Ahead Cookbook synopsis, comments

    The Complete Make-Ahead Cookbook

    America's Test Kitchen

    An impressive collection of 500 recipes at your fingertips!  Make the recipe all at once, if you have time; or, use the accompanying suggestions on what parts are best to make...

  • The Healthy Lunchtime Cookbook synopsis, comments

    The Healthy Lunchtime Cookbook

    Let's Move Initiative, Michelle Obama & Rachael Ray

    FiftySix Fun, Fast, and Delicious Recipes from Kid Chefs for the Whole Family to Enjoy Together! As part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign, the Healthy Lun...

  • Naturally Sweet synopsis, comments

    Naturally Sweet

    America's Test Kitchen

    In this timely, unique cookbook, America's Test Kitchen tackles the monumental challenge of creating foolproof, greattasting baked goods that contain less sugar and rely only on na...

  • The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook synopsis, comments

    The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook

    America's Test Kitchen

    BestSelling vegetarian cookbook destined to become a classic. Everyone knows they should eat more vegetables and grains, but that prospect can be intimidating with recipes that ar...

  • All Time Best Appetizers synopsis, comments

    All Time Best Appetizers

    Cook's Illustrated

     Hosting a party is overwhelming enough; let the experts at Cook's Illustrated reduce some of the strain&...