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The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition with 1,000 Recipes (Paperback)
by Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine
Category:
Cookbook, Gastronomic science, Culinary Arts & Techniques |
Market price: ¥ 378.00
MSL price:
¥ 338.00
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Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
Good for Gifts
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MSL Pointer Review:
Not just a cookbook - a cooking education! Great recipes, plus the science, with excellent organization. |
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Author: Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine
Publisher: America's Test Kitchen; 2 edition
Pub. in: October, 2004
ISBN: 0936184744
Pages: 1,000
Measurements: 11 x 8.5 x 2.3 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01078
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0936184746
Language: American English
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- Awards & Credential -
This cookbook has so much technique and explanation that it has been extremely well received. It's the #1 bestseller on Amazon.com in the category of Culinary Arts & Techniques. |
- MSL Picks -
This is a great cookbook if you like to read and want to understand why some recipes fail or how to do something better. The recipes are excellent and I especially like the background information on how they constructed the "best recipe" for a particular dish. The book has all the basics so it's a great starting point if you're learning to cook, want to perfect a recipe, or need basic information on cooking.
This is definitely one book that any cook should have as part of his or her arsenal. I've cooked or baked about a dozen items from this cookbook and each one turned out like it was supposed to. I'd rate myself has a "good" cook in most things, but I don't make layer cakes well for some odd reason. The layers always had a "hump" in the middle, never were the same size, and the frosting was always a disaster. Their yellow cake recipe came out perfect. I was quite amazed. It looked and tasted like a layer cake!
(From quoting an American reader)
Target readers:
All home cooks.
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Founded in 1980, Cook’s Illustrated is renowned for its near-obsessive dedication to finding the best methods of American home cooking. The editors of Cook’s Illustrated are also the authors of a best selling series of cookbooks (The Best Recipe Series) as well as a series of companion books to the America’s Test Kitchen public television show (which reaches 2.4 million viewers per episode). Filmed in America’s Test Kitchen (a 2,500-square-foot test kitchen in Brookline, Massachusetts), the show features the editors, test cooks, equipment testers, science experts, and food tasters from the magazine’s staff.
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From Publisher
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.
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View all 9 comments |
B. McCollam (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-25 00:00>
I feel I need to refute the previous reviewer's allegations. I've had this book for a year and a half, and while I've always enjoyed cooking, this book has taken me to a new level, in both enjoyment and skill. I read it front to back (and have since subscribed to the magazine) and found it fascinating reading. I love the explanations on the development of each recipe. I've made at least a hundred of the recipes in here, and very few have failed me. Most have been amazing.
Because I have not made either the Osso Buco or Beef Burgundy recipes the previous reviewer mentioned, I cannot attest to their quality specifically. However, one of the goals of these recipe developers is to take culturally traditional food and make it accessible to the American home cook. Many traditional recipes include ingredients and equipment that are not practical or available, and the recipes in this book do their best to work around this and still produce fantastic food.
I have however baked both the Baguette and Rustic Italian Bread recipes from this book. When I removed the baguette from the oven, I realized that I had finally made a great baguette, after trying many other recipes. The crust was great and the crumb was perfect. (The taste was bland-I forgot to add the salt.) I've made the Italian bread several times and gotten a ridiculous amount of compliments on it.
I've found their equipment testings valuable, even more so because they do not advocate buying tools that will be useful for only a specific food. Since reading this book, I've put my breadmaker, egg cooker, and deep fryer in storage, because the stove and oven can do it all. I've also found their tastings useful, especially because the magazine does not accept advertising. The science explanations peppered throughout the book have really wet my appetite for more kitchen science.
I will admit that this book is not for everyone. A lot of people aren't interested in the "best" recipe, they're interested primarily in the easiest or healthiest recipe. Also, there are no color pictures. I don't find this too detrimental because a lot of the focus of the book is on developing the best recipe for classic dishes, like mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, and I know what those are supposed to look like. There are line drawings to help explain techniques, and these are helpful.
For me, this has been a great book. It's a large resource of recipes from a source that I trust, and because every recipe starts by explaining their goals, I know what to expect from the finished product. I've also been able to take what I've learned here and apply it to everything I cook. Perhaps most importantly, it makes me excited to learn still more about food and cooking. |
Laura Stokes-Gray (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-25 00:00>
This hefty volume is so much more than a collection of recipes. Technique reigns supreme, not only telling and showing us the "how" but explaining the "why". It's the quintessential reference tool for the beginning cook, the expert and everyone else in between. It's a scholarly canon replete with scientific elucidation: how an autolyse works, why people vary in their tolerance of chili peppers (citing a psychophysicist at the Yale School of Medicine), instructions on how to keep your potato salad from developing Staphylocuccus auerus, and a two-page spread entitled "Eggs 101". There are ingredient and equipment recommendations and a panoply of handy tips for streamlining tasks. There aren't any glossy photos, but 800 elegantly drawn illustrations which are far more useful. No, you won't find every recipe you're searching for, but many of the basics are covered: Beef Burgundy, Coq au Vin, Chocolate Cake, Black Bean Soup, Hummus, Scalloped Potatoes, Shrimp Scampi, and a knock-your-socks-off Pasta Bolognese that can be made in just 45 minutes. The baking section is outstanding. A quick technique for removing the extra water from canned pumpkin yields an especially luxurious cheesecake. I've used the Pumpkin Cheesecake from Gourmet Magazine for years - but this extra step has improved that recipe - proving that the techniques gleaned in this tome can work across other recipes as well.
Above all, these recipes are RELIABLE. You can actually prepare dinner and dessert for guests, having never tried these recipes before, and they will be perfect. To the reviewer who didn't care for the "Osso Buco" and it's seemingly large amount of canned tomatoes, check Marcella Hazan's recipe for Osso Buco in her Book, "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking". That recipe contains 1.5 cups of canned tomatoes, although the recipe proportions are slightly different. Similar instructions are given in Julia Child's "The Way to Cook". Remember what Hazan says? "Reduce, reduce it, reduce it!" If you find the Beef Burgundy or Coq au Vin not complex enough, then by all means, add your own homemade "glace de viande", if you have that kind of time.
Why didn't I give this book 5 stars? Well, I'd give it 4.5. The book is huge and unwieldy and might have been better as a two-volume set. I can just hear Martha Stewart saying, "...and at nearly 5.5 pounds, this book makes a handy doorstop too!". There's no chapter entitled "Veal". "Osso Buco", which makes use of veal shanks of course, is in the "Beef" section. Yes, we all know beef and veal come from the same animal but somehow this seemed odd - and there are no other recipes using veal specifically: Veal Scallopini, Veal Stew, or Veal Chops. So many people are up in arms about Veal, myself included, but I buy my Veal at Whole Foods so I know the animals aren't mistreated and I know what they eat. There isn't a "Vegetarian" designation, either, although there are plenty of vegetarian offerings and other recipes that can be adjusted as such. The index could have been easier to read with a larger font - do the editors of Cook's Illustrated really believe that everyone who cooks and bakes are under he age of 40? Increasing the font size would add a few pages, but at this point, what's the difference? Sadly, two of my favorite Cook's Illustrated Recipes: Easy Multigrain Sandwich Bread and Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake appeared in the Cook's Illustrated Magazine after this book was published - so keep buying the magazine! WORD OF WARNING: Nearly all of the recipes found in Cook's Illustrated's "Baking Illustrated" are already in this book. If you buy both, it will be redundant, with the exception of a few helpful extras and a book which is not quite so hefty. |
Renee Gleason (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-25 00:00>
I am an avid home cook and baker and I LOVE Cook's Illustrated. I subscribe to their magazine, their website, I watch their show "America's Test Kitchen" on public television, and I own several of their cookbooks. This cookbook is one of my favorites, as it's a very comprehensive book of their very best and most sought after recipes. You will find sections on Starters, Main Dishes, Vegetables, Grains, Breads, Pastries, Pies, Cakes, etc. What I like about Cook's Illustrated is that it doesn't just throw recipes at you, but instead exhaustively tests a recipe to arrive at what they feel is the very best version before they publish it. Along with the recipes they provide a detailed write up of their test kitchen experiments and how and why they arrived at a particular recipe. For some people this may seem extraneous and needless, but for anyone who is serious about cooking and baking and wants to better their skills in the kitchen, this is a wonderful tool. It provides valuable information about the science behind the cooking, which is very useful knowledge. In the two years that I have been reading their material, I have learned so much about cooking and baking, and my skills in the kitchen have been much improved as a result. This book also contains countless tips and useful tools scattered throughout the book that I find very welcome. For example, product reviews, equipment reviews, cooking tips etc. If you could only own one cookbook, then this one would surely be a contender. It is a trusted, comprehensive and well-rounded source. I must admit, however, that in my opinion, Cook's Illustrated is much better at baking than at cooking. I have made a couple dozen baked goods recipes and every single one has been UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. (By the way, if you are more interested in baking than in cooking, then spring for "Baking Illustrated" instead of this book. It is THE BEST baking book.) I attribute this to the fact that baking is way more of a science than cooking, and is much more exacting, whereas cooking is a more subjective art. I have never had any "flops" with their cooking recipes, but my tastes are not always on par with theirs. I do think that is common since individual tastes vary so much. That being said, I still think they are the best source around for trusted recipes and helpful kitchen information. I can honestly say that Cook's Illustrated has made me a much better cook and baker. And for that I am thankful. |
Yan (MSL quote), USA
<2007-11-25 00:00>
First of all, to assume that you can even compile a book of the "Best Recipes" is a bit presumptuous--everyone likes their food cooked differently, it's all a matter of taste. Looking for the best gumbo recipe is a bit like looking for the best baroque-era violin piece, everyone's going to have a slightly different opinion.
That said, I used this book with somewhat mixed results. I've tried a good number of varied recipes, including the shrimp and sausage gumbo, the potato-crusted salmon, the spaghetti marinara, and the orchietti with broccoli, to name a few. Although the salmon came out absolutely delicious, the rest were varied from decent to well below average. The orchietti was bland and lacked any real complexity. The gumbo tasted more like shrimp broth than anything else. Although I love how they explain in such detail their experimentation techniques (although they could do well to tone down the pretentiousness in their tone), the recipes were ultimately lackluster. I'm far from the most skilled or the most experienced chef, but I feel that a good cookbook should be able to compensate for that. Frankly, I've had better success from epicurious.com.
THE BAKING RECIPES however were FANTASTIC and the only reason I am still giving this four stars. The lemon cheesecake was absolutely perfect and got rave reviews from all my friends. The same with the New York cheesecake, the chocolate chip cookies, the apple pie, and the chocolate macaroons. Thanks to this book, I am now the official baked-goods provider of our weekly hang-out nights (like it or not :P).
My recommendation: If you're looking for good daily food recipes, either purchase something else or use this as a foundation for your own personal creations. If you want to bake, however, either spring for this book or get BAKING ILLUSTRATED, another book by the same editors that covers solely baking. |
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