Product Description

With The New Best Recipe, we invite you into America's Test Kitchen where you will stand by our side as we try to develop the best macaroni and cheese, the best meatloaf, the best roast chicken, the best brownie, and nearly 1,000 more best recipes for all your favorite home-cooked foods.

Behind this book is a deeply felt understanding of how frustrating it can be to spend time planning, shopping and cooking only to turn out dishes that are mediocre at best. With The New Best Recipe in hand, you will have access to a wealth of practical information that will not only make you a better cook but a more confident one as well. In fact, as long as you follow our instructions, we guarantee that these recipes will work the first and every time.

We have also included 800 illustrations showing you the best way to do almost everything from how to carve a turkey and beat egg whites properly to how to frost a layer cake and set up your grill. Also, get valuable information on how and when to splurge on that expensive knife or baking pan and when the basic model will do just fine. We also explain the science of cooking since understanding the science of food can help anyone become a better cook. Complete with recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts, The New Best Recipe

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1084 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1000 pages

From 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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

People Magazine, Novembe 12, 2004
". . . .will please those who groove to the cooking geek sensibility of CI editor Christopher Kimball."

Newsweek Magazine, Decmeber 6, 2004
"Its charm is its over-the-top thoroughness."

Customer Reviews

I consult this before I cook anything
This is a thinking man's "Joy of Cooking". They give you all the caveats to avoid when you are making any dish. I am not one to follow recipes to the letter. I like how they give you the objectives of what you are trying to accomplish. Then you can work within your range of knowledge. It is a great book for an advanced cook.

GREAT MONSTROSITY!
The recipes are thorough to the point of an extreme and if followed EXACTLY you will have perfect results every time. Even when not followed to the tee they come out great! I have purchased a lot of new equipment for these recipes and the buying tips offered in the book were invaluable! so you may be asking why only 3 stars after all the praise? The problem with the book is it's sheer size. It is a monstrosity! 5 pounds does not sound like a lot of weight but combined with the thickness of the book it makes very hard to read. I have accidentally ripped a lot of the pages just by holding them while the book has slipped between my legs. A better format would have been to break this into smaller pieces each focusing on a certain category like baking, main dishes, equipment corner, ect and offered as a boxed set. All said and done it is a great read! 5 stars for content 1 star for format= 3 stars.

I really like this book!
I'm not a chef so I don't want to experiment on my own. I want to cook something the right way the first time. This book allows me to do this as the authors have taken the time to try the various methods and only give you the one that works the best.

I am also a geek at heart and I love the fact that they often explain the science and reasoning behind their recommendations. Very good book and I highly recommend. If you are a chef or someone looking for highly unique or very ethnically diverse dishes, this is probably not for you.