New Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated Magazine, John Burgoyne (Illustrator), Carl Tremblay (Photographer)

From the Publisher

In America's Test Kitchen, we test variations on a recipe 10, 20, 30, or even 50 times to evaluate everything from baking temperatures, mixing methods, and ingredient choices to cooking techniques and equipment choices-all in the quest to deliver the best recipe while also answering every conceivable cooking question. And along the way, we make sure to tell you where things might go wrong because we know that food is expensive and time is a precious comodity. The result? A comprehensive cooking resource and more than 1,000 recipes you can count on time and time again. This all-new edition not only contains the best recipes for your favorite home-cooked foods-from Meat Loaf with Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze and Chicken Pot Pie to Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake and Apple Crisp-it also explains how and why these recipes work so that you will become a better cook.

Featuring the best of the best, this edition represents the editors' picks from 10 years of cooking in America's Test Kitchen. Expanded to include tutorials on grilling, baking, stir-frying, and much more, The New Best Recipe is the ultimate cooking resource for novice and experienced cooks alike. With the New Best Recipe, We Invite you into America's Test Kitchen, where you will stand at our elbows as we try to develop the best macaroni and cheese, the best meat loaf, the best roast chicken, the best brownie, and nearly 1,000 more best recipes for all of your favorite home-cooked foods. For the past decade, nearly two dozen test cooks and editors have worked together to develop thousands of recipes that millions of cooks have come to rely on. When the original Best Recipe was first published in 1999, this collection won accolades for its landmark approach to food and recipes. Now, with this newly revised and practical cookbook, we offer you the best of the best, an expanded collection (with 500 recipes new to this edition) assembled by the editors of Cook's Illustrated.

Behind this book-and indeed everything we do at America's Test Kitchen-is a shared understanding of how frustrating it can be to spend time planning, shopping, and cooking only to turn out dishes that are mediocre at best. Have you ever been frustrated by piecrust that shrinks down the sides of the pan once baked? Have you ever spent a fortune on prime rib only to have it come out dry and tough? Or baked a cheesecake that emerged from the oven with a crack the size of the San Andreas fault? Most of us don't have the time or inclination to spend hours and hours finding the answers to these and hundreds of other common cooking problems. We want recipes that work the first time and every time, and we want clear instructions. With The New Best Recipe in hand, you will have access to a wealth of practical information that will make you not only a better cook but a more confident one as well. No one likes to make mistakes in the kitchen. That's why we test recipes over and over again (in some cases, more than 50 times)-so you don't have to.

Because good technique is also critical, we have included 800 illustrations that show you the best way to do everything from carving a turkey to beating egg whites properly to frosting a layer cake to setting up your grill. And because the right equipment always makes a difference, you'll find valuable information on how and when to splurge on that expensive knife or baking pan and when the basic model will do just fine. (In our test, for instance, the $4 Baker's Secret loaf pan trumped competitors with prices four times as high.) We also explain the science of cooking (for instance, how brining works to ensure juicy meat and why butter should be added before dairy for the silkiest mashed potatoes) because understanding the science of food can help anyone become a better cook. Complete with recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts, The New Best Recipe promises to be a classic and timeless kitchen companion, one that draws back the curtain on our testing process so you learn firsthand what makes even the simplest recipe the best.

Publishers Weekly

A literal encyclopedia of recipes (culled from the magazine), this revision to Cook's Illustrated's popular The Best Recipe is almost double in size and includes more than 1,000 recipes. Cook's Illustrated is known for careful (some would say compulsive) testing of recipes with a focus on foolproof technique; detailed line drawings that take readers step-by-step through recipes; and opinionated guides that assert that their way is the best way. This methodology appeals particularly to a specific kind of cook, one with a primarily scientific rather than artistic or intuitive approach to cooking. Though there are a few photographs, readers who buy cookbooks for full-color photographs and personal anecdotes aren't likely to be drawn to this work. Twenty-two chapters cover appetizers to desserts. Even the simplest tasks, such as blanching vegetables or peeling an egg, are explained and illustrated in detail. More involved techniques include brining poultry and roasting a turkey. Pad Thai gets a full-page description with photographs to help home cooks learn how to properly soak the noodles. Well organized and extremely clear, the book has only one drawback: its heft may make it tough to hoist onto kitchen counters. (Oct.) Forecast: A 10-city author tour, national publicity campaign and regional holiday catalogue ads will target Cook's Illustrated fans and could make this a strong holiday seller. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Cook's Illustrated magazine is ten years old now, and this updated collection from its pages (the original was published in 1999) includes 300 more than the first (1000 total) and four times as many illustrations (800 total). Although there are more contemporary dishes, the majority are for traditional favorites such as Cream of Tomato Soup because the aim was to provide the best version of beloved kitchen standards (some, like Macaroni Salad and Tuna Noodle Casserole, seem more than a little dated). As in the magazine, recipe notes cover what worked and what didn't during recipe testing, with the result that there are, for example, two full pages of text about Corn Chowder before the recipe itself appears. The many fans of the magazine, obviously, relish such detail, while other cooks might prefer Irma S. Rombauer and others' All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking, which offers less talk and hundreds more recipes, or the new Gourmet Cookbook (see review below), with about the same number of recipes but a far more diverse and sophisticated selection. Nevertheless, this is an essential purchase for most libraries. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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