The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook: Featuring More Than 1,200 Kitchen-Tested Recipes

Unorthodox, "better-way" approaches abound. For example, a fried chicken formula instructs the cook to wet the bird's dry coating slightly before it's applied for an extra-crunchy crust. Predictably, side bars feature equipment and ingredient evaluations, on bottled salsa, for example; "good food/bad food" photographs show readers what to aim for when producing fare like holiday cookies; and there are tips, charts, and "Cooking 101" sidebars galore. Step-by-step photos offer more direction still.

Though the majority of recipes are sound and yield tempting results, readers poring through the book will note gaffes and curiosities. The recipe for poached eggs, for example, offers the option of extra cooking for "firm yolks" (hard-boiled poached eggs, anyone?) and hamburgers receive an indentation before cooking to avoid "puffy" domed burgers, a novel problem that could, in any case, be solved by proper shaping. The addition of sugar to some savory dishes--for example, a pan sauce for steak--is misguided. Readers should also know that the book, which comes in loose-leaf form, requires some assembly, and that the pages themselves are quite thin, making them vulnerable to spills and tearing in daily kitchen use.

These things said, the book delivers solid, family-friendly dishes with enough fully orchestrated "how-to" to make even novice cooks feel secure when tackling the basics or more ambitious fare. --Arthur Boehm

Amazon.com Exclusive
Read a letter, written exclusively for Amazon.com, from Christopher Kimball, host of America's Test Kitchen and founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated magazine, as he talks about the years-in-the-making new project, America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook--an 800-pages-plus collection with 1,200 classic recipes.

Exclusive Recipe Excerpts from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

French Onion Soup

Skillet Penne and Sausage Supper

Bake-Sale Brownies

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Book Description
Many years in the making, this comprehensive cookbook delivers more than 1,200 foolproof recipes for classic American family fare in a clear, accessible style. Beautiful step-by-step photos illuminate every conceivable technique from chopping shallots and skinning salmon to cutting up a chicken and tying a roast. In fact, just about anything you want (or need) to do in the kitchen will be explained in these pages in the test kitchen's approachable, no-nonsense voice. In addition, the recipes will keep you busy (and your friends and family happy) for years to come since we've included hundreds of easy weeknight dishes (like Skillet Lasagna and One-Pot Chicken and Rice), company and holiday-worthy dinners (like Beef Burgundy, Roast Leg of Lamb, and Fresh Fruit Trifle), dozens of menus, shopping tips, equipment ratings and more.

A cooking tutorial between two covers, The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook is the one and only basic cookbook you'll need, covering every course, from appetizers to desserts, and including chapters on breakfast, sandwiches, sauces and condiments, and beverages. Friendly test kitchen tips accompany nearly every recipe and point out either where you might go wrong or a special technique or ingredient that makes the recipe successful. Helpful charts (like a primer on steaming vegetables or cooking grains) and Cooking 101 pages (covering topics like brining, cheese, and crudité) make this a reference unlike any other. Bound to get America back into the kitchen again, this is a family cookbook for generations to come.

(Review copyright Amazon.co.uk)