Nope....I feel they get so nit picky that they forget the obvious! Individual tastes.
And there are many many recipes they have not tested!
Linda C

bob b,

Linda C is correct that individual taste will always determine what is "the very best." However, they definitely do pay attention to detail at ATK, and I find that I can learn a lot about how to get exactly what I want from a recipe. Sometimes I am very glad to follow their methods, and sometimes I'm glad to know how to avoid doing something I don't really like.

So ATK is great source for information and recipes and, especially, techniques to START from. This site is another great source, and if you want to learn what "the very best" recipe is for something--just ask here. You'll get lots of "very best" answers to choose from. LOL!

Welcome to our community.
Valerie

ATK is interesting (a "safe" word, I know). I think they have had "the best" version of, for example, chocolate cake at least five times and they're all different recipes. On the other hand, their analyses are handy when deciding how to handle either their recipes or your own. I view their opinions as I do those in Consumer Reports: They're helpful but I don't do everything their way. ... I have been testing recipes for Cook's Country for several months, and some have been excellent (repeatable) and others have been the opposite (discarded without finishing them). It's been fun to cook some things I might not choose to try from a magazine.

No, they're not the best. But in my experience they are always at least good. I don't think I've ever turned out a bad meal using their recipes, and off-hand they are the only source I can say that of.

I have one of their cookbooks, the "Cover and Bake" one. I also watch the show and occasionally make something I see on there. I had pumpkin cheesecake at my friend's house from their recipe and it was definately the best I have ever had, by far. The recipes in my cookbook are good but they are conservative on the seasonings and what veggies they use for my taste, so none of them have been fab. in my opinion. Definately good and tasty though. I made their scones and they were OK but a lot of fussy little things (like freezing the butter and then grating it) that didn't make them any better than my tried and true scone recipe. In fact they were not quite as good because they were "too short" for my taste, i.e. too much butter to flour ratio. Good, yummy yes, but not my favorite recipe.

I've never gone horribly wrong with them but I think if they have any fault, it is that they err on the side of pleasing the most number of people. Which is fine, as others have said you can learn a lot from hearing about their techniques and using the principles in your own cooking. I find ATK a lot more palatable than say Alton Brown, who basically does the same kind of thing. Oddly, I have only made one or two of his recipes and haven't even liked them. So individual taste does come in to play with all of these "best" technique claims.

I own a couple of their cookbooks, subscribed to their magazine for a couple years, and have a current subscription to their site.

I've never had a bad result with their recipes, but many have not been the "best." I enjoy reading the description of the process they went through in developing the recipe. I've learned a lot of useful food and cooking facts through those.

Sometimes the time and effort required doesn't result in a dish that warrants all the fuss, though.

I find these days I come to this forum to get quick replies relating to cooking and when I want to find a "tried & true" recipe. I'm going to let my online CI subscription expire, because I just don't use it.

If someone I knew was a novice cook and wanted cookbooks that were instructive and easy to follow, I wouldn't hesitate to point them to ATK's.

They are sometimes good. But sometimes they annoy me with a recipe that just isn't what it is suppose to be. They want to make X but avoid characteristic Y - which to me isn't always something to be avoided and sometimes when they do that they make something that just isn't X. I can't remember the one I looked at a few months ago where I felt like "you just don't like X so don't try to make it."

They were talking about rack of lamb and they recommended getting American lamb which is grain fed rather than grass fed because it will be milder, bigger and not taste gamy (spelling?). They made this pronouncement like that was the only best lamb. Well, I like lamb because it tastes different from beef and I would rather have a smaller lamby tasting piece of lamb then one artificially swollen by being grain fed.

Or their chicken stock made starting with canned chicken broth and ground chicken not using bones for "cleaner flavor" and they make up for the loss of body in not using bones by adding cornstarch. If they wanted to describe this as a way to get better flavor from canned chicken broth, I wouldn't mind but don't put this up as better than real soup made from scratch.

cloud, I agree, I'll take my "cloudy" chicken stock made with my free range organic chickens, onions and carrots from the garden, and simmered all day until my kitchen smells wonderful over that canned stock with cornstarch.

As lpinkmountain noted, they try to appeal to a vast audience and so they get a palatable end result that offends very few, but some of us would prefer something more flavorful and less "perfect".

I also find their techniques to often be cumbersome and time consuming.

I almost always disagree with their taste tests too, at least 90% of the time the things that they liked the best were not the ones I would choose.

Annie

ATK recipes are very subjective, but for a cookbook that offers a wide range of things, I find most of the recipes very good. That said, you have to remember:

1) These are Yankee recipes; tested and tasted by Yankees, most of whom don't always like a lot of spice; this doesn't mean however they are lacking in flavor. Most of their recipes tend to be very conventional, rather old-fashioned, and geared to the general public, which may or may not be you. For example, I find their taste test choice of Nathan's hotdogs way too salty; and feel it's too subjective due to their availability in that particular part of the country. Often what tastes best to testers is what they are used to, and what is familiar; evidenced by my preference for Kosher All Beef hotdogs which are not Nathans.

2) The science behind their methods is pretty sound. They usually have a reason for testing/adapting a recipe the way they do. Whether or not it's something you would like is up to you, but I have learned some new techniques from ATK that I use and believe has helped improve some of my cooking. (For example, their pizza dough recipe has been adopted by me!) Not everything is worth keeping however; see point #4, below.

3) Yanks like to save money. Although I too, don't always agree with their choices, for the most part their recommendations are good. I like knowing a $30 knife will do the same thing that the $100 version will. If indeed they prefer an expensive digital thermometer like the Thermapen, I know there's a good reason for it.

4) They cook their meats entirely too rare IMO. I had an argument about undercooked pork with my husband, who was following one of their recipes precisely to the letter. Let's just say...I don't eat undercooked pork. Or beef, or lamb or chicken. He refused to believe that the pork chop need another minute or two, which irritated the carp out of me. Of course, it was fine for reheating later on, being undercooked as it was!

I recently tested a recipe from Cook's Country that was a revised version of German Chocolate Cake. As a person who makes German Chocolate Cake (from scratch) at least twice a year (and has one made for me on my birthday), I look forward to the real thing. Making it over with cornstarch in the frosting and on the low-fat side just doesn't cut it for me. I would rather eat a smaller portion and enjoy it to the fullest for a few more days, than change anything about it. The fact that it looks familiar doesn't mean that it is. ''Revising'' something like this simply isn't necessary. I appreciate the thought that goes into the process, but some things should just be left alone!

I've had about a 50% success rate with ATK's recipes. For example, a spinach lasagne which was quite a big deal to cook, turned out flavorless. I've made a spinach lasagne from a recipe on the back of the lasagne box that turned out much better. Don't go near their "salsa" recipe--it's the worst! Biscuits--dry and pasty. On the other hand, their marinara sauce, their pasta meat sauce, chocolate cake, and various vegetable dishes have been stupendous. So, I think their recipes are like almost anyone's--some work, some don't.

One thing I've found is that they consistently use too much salt and garlic--and I really like garlic. I halve every salt and garlic quantity I see in their recipes and that works great. They are also big fans of brining poultry and pork, a method I dislike cause I think it makes everything too salty.

On a personal note, I sometimes find Chris Kimball a bit pompous and out of touch with real people on his TV shows and in his magazine. I am on Cooks Illustrated email list, and he occasionally sends out an email newsletter "Notes from Vermont". It is very much of the tone that if you don't live in Vermont and, e.g., can make your own maple syrup, you're not living as well as he is.

The only recipe collection I have consistently found never to have a bad recipe is Martha Stewart's. Think what you want about her, but all of her recipes come out great every time (not so much her frequent guest's recipes, but I am talking about her older books of her own recipes).

Claire, you hit it on the head! I've never subscribed to Penezy's magazine because of the Yankee factor, and now I realize why I'm not impressed with either King Arthur or ATK's recipes. I've lived below the Mason-Dixon line since 1984, and prior to that I was in Denver (grew up there). It is truly amazing how regional tastes develop! My love of ethnic food lies in the mastery of spices in those foods!

I have a pile of their books, enjoy the science of their reasoning (that's my favorite part), like the TV program on PBS and usually watch it on Saturday with hubby, but rarely find their recipes my "favorites". As others have pointed out, "taste is sooooo subjective". But saying that, today I made the rice pudding recipe they made on the show Saturday. It's like my mother used to make (cooked on the stove, not baked). It turned out great, just like Mom's!

They recently "improved" their supposedly already "perfect" chocolate chip cookie recipe by browning the butter in the recipe, so they must be running short of new ideas.

I do like Chris Kimball's method for adding steam to the oven for crispy crusts on Artisan loaves of bread, and tend to use it over other methods I've tried.

A week or so ago Mr. Know-It-All, Chris Kimball, gave absolutely BAD information during a Q&A segment on a program. The question was about the best way to cool a pot of soup. I bet he got LOTS of e-mail about the proper way to quickly cool a pot of soup - including USDA links providing the food-safe information. He said to just let it sit out on the counter for a few hours before refrigerating, to bring it to room temperature. Sitting for a long period of time in the DANGER ZONE - temperatures at which bacteria grow best - between 40° and 140°F.

I guess he hadn't heard you are supposed to quickly cool the contents of a pot of soup by placing it in an ice-water bath in a deep sink - stirring frequently so the warmer inner portion also gets cold, before portioning the soup and refrigerating/freezing.

Their so-called test with a couple brands of Solar Ovens was simply showing their ignorance on the subject - a lame attempt to go "green" I guess. I use Solar Ovens all the time and their information was laughable. I don't think they did their homework before giving them a try. I'm sure they consider Solar Ovens the "red-headed step-child" in their finely equiped kitchens (LOL).

-Grainlady

I've enjoyed the TV show numerous times and have learned a lot from them. I've also enjoyed a few of their recipes immensely. They have a southern fried chicken recipe that had such a wonderful crunch, we were in heaven clogging our arteries. Did we ever mess up the kitchen with that project. They also have a simple chocolate pots de creme that is amazingly delicious. I've made that a few times. I was sadly disappointed with an apple pie recipe that they touted as the "best" ever. It was as boring on the tooth as anything I've ever had.

They offer some really good techniques and I give one of their cookbooks to young families just starting out in the kitchen. The recipes aren't always the best you've ever tried and sometimes their experiments and tests are utterly anal but they do get a new cook thinking about the process and that's a good thing every time.

michaelp

"Yanks like to save money"....hmmmmmmmmmm.....not getting that statement. Oh and by the way most Yanks that I know eat Sabrett or Boarshead Hot Dogs although I have downed a few Nathans in my day right in Coney Island.

Well, I admit that I do like to save money, LOL, but I am very picky about hot dogs. I don't like 'em, mostly, but I will eat Koegel Viennas. good thing they're made here in Michigan, I can buy them at the grocery store.

I will note, though, that they aren't cheap, so there goes that theory about saving money! (grin)

Annie

eileenlaunonen, I was referring Christopher Kimbell's opinions (about liking to save money) as stated directly by him on ATK, since I thought that's what we were talking about. Nathan's hot dogs were rated best by ATK, which is why I referenced those in particular.

I also have some good friends who are born and bred Yankees who wouldn't consider going out to dinner without a coupon, and never more than once a week. (I guess you could say my opinion is very subjective as well.) These are not frivolous people. As one who used to read Yankee magazine out of curiosity on occasion, the premise of some of the articles (years ago) was about ''making do'' and ''using up'' what wasn't yet worn out. Repairs would be made instead of buying something new, if some *thing* still had good life left in it. There were always plenty of home-made remedies and recipes, and common sense advice. It's a mindset (which might be helpful to our wasteful culture) still in practice by certain segments of the population, that's all. (Probably still more popular with rural folk than those in the city, and by those who do things for themselves.) Since Chris Kimball talks at length about living on the farm in Vermont, it makes total sense when you think about it.

here on the west coast, i watch ATK, it is subjective to personal tastes, its funny when they do Asian food, i get a good chuckle, i have tried some of their recipes they're only ok nothing to rave about, as far as hotdogs, i personally like Hebrew National or Sinai Kosher hot dogs.