My NPR station plays the radio show n Saturdays. I find him smug, too. Best parts are usually the interviews with various chefs. I wouldn't get the magazine if they follow the same obnoxious renewal browbeating that CI always has done.

I do not find him smug or pompous - there are other people occasionally on the show that are much more annoying, such as the young skinny guy who would begin almost everyone sentence with "So Chris..." or at least with "So..." That bothered me much more than anything about Chris. I'm around a lot of people that others may consider pompous, and so perhaps I have more tolerance for that. Anyway, it is nothing that needs to be taken seriously, and it somewhat amuses me. Better to be pompous than boring or talk with a whiny nasal voice. Some TV chefs start sentences with "What I'm going to do next is I'm going to..." instead of saying "Next I'm going to..." and this also annoys me, especially if it becomes repetitious or habitual. Someone being smug does not affect me, but then again, I do not take it so seriously.

I do like Bridget better, and I'm also okay Julia, except when she tastes something and her eyes roll back in her head - something that she has admitted doing. I seldom like watching people taste something that they just made. Julia Child was better at this because she was more critical and would say what was wrong with something instead of going into a fit of ecstasy. For this reason, I like the taste tests that Chris did on the show, but my favorite part was the equipment corner. I never make any of their recipes the same way they do, although I have picked up a tip here and there. My personal taste is not typically "American".

Lars, are you saying you are interested in Milk Street magazine and/or TV show?

I received a copy of Milk Street this week and went through it. It is very similar to CI in layout, illustration instead of photos, no advertisements. I can honestly say that I was not impressed with it.

Annie, I just signed up for the "free introductory" Milk Street magazine, and promptly received an email from "Christopher Kimball". It said:

"My cooking has changed so much in the last few years that it’s become, for me, a whole new way of thinking about cooking. I wasn’t preparing ethnic or regional recipes — I was doing what is done everyday in fashion and music: borrowing ideas and techniques, pairing flavors and textures to create something new yet familiar.

That’s what Milk Street is all about. We want to change the way you cook, to help you produce dishes that you never thought possible from your own home kitchen."

That message tracks with what you have seen in the magazine. I actually like CI because it does take familiar dishes, and helps me make them better. I want to feed my family "family style" food--they would not like dinner time to be the dishes you named. It sounds like the Milk Street magazine may be a no-go for me, but I will give it a chance.

Chris Kimball doesn't bother me except when he dresses up like a vegetable or something. I'm a very gullible person though, I like when they taste the food, the "eyes rolling back in the head" thing, it easily convinces me that the dish is indeed marvelous & I often will try it. Kimball's leaving hasn't bothered me, I guess I really like the set up of the program, and I like the ATK program so much better than the magazine. I like nice photos, I probably would never make a recipe from the magazine if they didn't convince me the food tasted delicious. I like hints, techniques, and reviews though. I have only tried one recipe that I was actually disappointed with from CI, many were excellent-although after I made some of them a few times & used some shortcuts, I decided they had unneeded steps. Now for the original question, I would be interested in the new program-and would read the magazine then since it is set up like the CI magazine. I find I
am interested in more international recipes these days, I like trying different flavors so this could be good for me. Doesn't
work well with DH since he prefers bland foods, I have to wait til the
kids are visiting,

I was a very irregular watcher/reader of the show/magazine. I liked both ok. I completely missed the New England smugness - maybe because I am from New England (although only first generation - which matters lol) I think I just tuned out what didn't interest me. I have glanced at Milk in the grocery store line but so far put it back. I usually only buy expensive food magazines if I am starving and the cover photo looks particularly delicious to me.

I got the first issue of "Milk Street" magazine. I don't like it at all.

Clearly Kimball has the ATK mailing list. I'm an online subscriber to ATK/CI.

I thought it was very elitist. Strange, expensive ingredients, and complex recipes for foods that no one would eat.

If I was cooking just for me, I would never make any of them, and I am cooking for my family - DD, SIL and grandchildren and they would not eat any of the recipes in that issue.

I read this thread so I went and signed up for the free issue because I am curious (and it's free). The most adventurous my DH gets is a beef-and-string-bean stir fry which he loves but was dubious the first time I made it. It was a CI recipe! There are a number of other CI recipes I've made that he loves - some chicken dishes, a beef stew, meatloaf. He's not a meat-and-potatos guy, he's a meatballs-and-spaghetti guy. I learned wonderful Sicilian recipes from my late MIL, but they are hearty and budget-friendly. My DH actually loves vegetables, if they are made Sicilian-style sautéed with garlic and olive oil. He won't like the recipes in the Milk Street magazine if they are strange ingredients or elitist kind of food. I am not sure I get Chris Kimball's strategy of a combination of New England down-homeyness with recipes that are foreign or unusual ingredients.

I'd asked for the free initial copy of the magazine, but it either never arrived or got mis-delivered to a neighbor who kept it. (It happens, here.) I've not been curious enough to pursue it.

I grew up in a house of "strange" ingredients. Living in, and then near, New York City, Dad would come home with everything at some point or another. He loved to cook, and I grew up on international (not "strange" to me) flavors. Mom cooked "German/Southern" as befitted our origins in the south of this country, and her ancestry. For the most part, she enjoyed Dad's experimentation. So I'm not really certain what's "elitist". Then again, I haven't seen Kimball's new magazine, but the idea did seem to me like they'd be taking things beyond the ordinary mac n cheese sort of thing (something parents only served us - from a box with extra cheese - when they were going out, so they didn't have to eat it - it never became "comfort" food for us!) At any rate, not everyone's family style cooking is the same, even in the same country.

I don't find Chris Kimball smug; he's definitely a unique character, but I never particularly watched the show for him. I was interested in technique, and in the product reviews. I cringed whenever they approached international ventures in cookery.

While I own two of their cookbooks (one on the science of cooking - technique, again; and one on vegetables), neither are my go-to cookbooks. (I have a LOT of cookbooks...) I have however adopted their recipe and method for making scrambled eggs - far superior to Gordon Ramsey's frenetic scrambled egg prep.

I guess I am an unintentional elitist..... Though I have no idea if I would like Milk. I was raised by an experimental cook. So I guess it rubbed off. I like trying new things. That said there is a serious food culture in Maine now - I barely partake. It is expensive.

And rye cookies seem to be a thing lately. Kind of makes sense to use a low gluten flour in pastry. Lol

I think that the word "elitist" in this context is to convey that these recipes sound like they are foods/ingredients not that accessible for many people. The examples that Annie1992 mentioned (Annie, hope it's OK I am copying and pasting) "Thai chicken with serrano chilies and Sichuan noodles with red pepper flakes, as well as tabbouleh, Yam Neua, Miso Shiitake soup, Hummus, Turkish beans with pickled tomatoes and Rye chocolate chip cookies" sound like they have ingredients I will have to go out especially to buy, or order online, and end up with a lot of leftover ingredients because you have to buy e.g. an entire bottle and perhaps use only a teaspoon or two of it for a one-off recipe.

I think if I made the rye chocolate chip cookies, everyone would be, like, "where are the Toll House cookies you've been making for the last 40 years??" Not saying it's OK that sometimes people don't want to be adventurous. Just saying that is how my family is, so that I think Milk Street will be an interesting read, but from what I am reading here, I may not want a subscription.

freidajune, there don't seem to be ingredients that I would have to buy, for the most part. I have soy sauce, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, even pomegranate molasses and dried lemon grass, although no sake for the Japanese fried chicken. There are some mixtures of flavors, though, that don't appeal to me. And he did throw in some whipped cream biscuits along with the spicy noodles and Thai chicken.

I'm going to back track just a little here, though. I think I will try the method used for making hummus, although it's not actually a recipe, it's a method. I like hummus enough to try something different, even if it is only using warm garbanzos and processing for three minutes.

Dcarch will be happy to know that Kimball made gin in his sous vide appliance and cheap vodka. He got a $129 Anova Precision Cooker, and he liked it a lot, although his caveat was that most items needed to be cooked twice. Steak needed searing after sous vide and chicken still needed frying, but on the whole he was impressed.

There is absolutely no way, though, that I'm putting rye flour in chocolate chip cookies. I'm not a huge fan of CC anyway, but those flavors just don't seem to "go". I'm not sure why, when some rye breads use cocoa for color, but it just doesn't appeal to me. And although I'm happy to know that his Japanese fried chicken turned out nicely crunchy with potato starch in lieu of wheat flour, I wouldn't buy sake just for fried chicken with ginger and lemon zest. Every issue seems to have something with more chilies than I care for, and that surprises me because it's the one taste that I seemed to have in common with Kimball, we both like mildly spicy but not tongue searing hot.

And I also confess that Elery bought a subscription, he likes it very much, although he hasn't made a single recipe from it either. As for ATK, I haven't watched it in the past several weeks, as I've been busy with spring farming jobs like fence repair and cows giving birth and starting tomato plants!

Annie

Oh I agree - what I mean is I usually have shiitakes, miso, tahini, bulgar, rice noodles, a variety of hot peppers on hand. To me this is regular food.

Despite growing up in rural Maine I was raised by an adventurous cook who is a child of an immigrant - and she grew up/lived in an ethnically diverse area of the country before moving to the whillywhacks.

The things I find difficult to justify buying are for example supplies for gluten free baking. Most recipes seem to recquire multiple expensive ingredients that I have no other use for or urge to eat - all in order to make a bread facsimile. I would undertake it if I or someone close to me needed to go gluten free.

I think a lot of the recipes have been dumbed down too much for my taste, and I have never had an issue with any of the ingredients being difficult to find - in fact they often remove ingredients that I already have on hand and replace them with what I consider unsatisfactory substitutes.

I may or may not watch the new show - my personal taste is very different from Chris's, and I try to watch chefs who have similar taste to mine, although I know enough to make certain adjustments for certain chefs. For example, I know to always reduce the salt by half or eliminate it completely in any recipe from Martha Stewart. Once I do that, I like her recipes; otherwise they are too salty for me. I did the same thing when I got the Joy of Cooking cookbook.

One recipe that I did make from CI was tabbouleh, and I already had all of the ingredients on hand. However, their recipe was not significantly different from other tabbouleh recipes that I already had. I think they changed the proportions, and so I decided to try theirs and liked it.

What I consider regular food (like Agmss) is different from what is typically American.

So it appears that I like Kimball's stories and writing style better than his recipes, and ATK recipes better than I like the Bridget/Julia combo. In other words, I'm not especially happy or unhappy with either now.

*******

I miss Kimball's CI missives.

I think that the word "elitist" in this context is to convey that these recipes sound like they are foods/ingredients not that accessible for many people.

The ingredients are certainly available, but far too expensive to consider using, especially if any goes to waste.

To me that's not good stewardship of food, or money.

I do like Chris Kimball and enjoy his part in the TV shows.