I went to a taping of "America's Test Kitchen" last week; had a blast. They were making Meatloaf & skillet potatoes, and they tasted great to me. I also noted that C. Kimball and the other chef kept eating after the camera stopped rolling- the sign of something that actually tastes good.
To be honest, some of their recipes are just far too fussy but that said, I treat their "Best Recipes" book (which is like...two phone books big) as my first source for any meal I'm contemplating.
That said, their old beef stew recipe used bacon grease to kick off the browning of the beef but in their new version, they took out the bacon.
FOUL.
I am a pretty ambitious home cook, but I find most cooking mags too fussy (hence, no subscriptions). I just found that a lot of magazine recipes didn't come out so hot, and required a lot of specialized ingredients (read: expensive). Maybe they just aren't as well tested or inconsistent filler, but I prefer the familiarity of cooking from a book.
These aren't necessarily problems w/ Cook's Illustrated, and I think they have a solid editorial mission, style, and voice. But, like you, I prefer their cookbooks to the magazines.
And, having toured the kitchen I will say this: they have a serious posse of young, cute test cooks. I mean, when we left, my fiancee turned to me and said, "There were a lot of cute young girls in there. Did you notice?"
I am a pretty ambitious home cook, but I find most cooking mags too fussy (hence, no subscriptions). I just found that a lot of magazine recipes didn't come out so hot, and required a lot of specialized ingredients (read: expensive). Maybe they just aren't as well tested or inconsistent filler, but I prefer the familiarity of cooking from a book.
Co-sizzle. Generally speaking, I like to grab recipes out of a very basic cookbook because I mostly just want the basic techniques and to know how long to cook something and at what heat. When it comes to flavoring and all that stuff, I use the cookbook as a guide, but I generally handle it on my own. So the fussiness of cooking mag recipes can be rather off-putting when I'm just looking for the basics of the dish.
Oh, and the only magazine subscription I have these days is Sports Illustrated, though I sort of have an XLR8R subscription by virtue of being a writer for them.
I am glad to see multiple folks are down w/ Saveur, very much feeling their country focus of each issue. I used to be heavy into mags but it leads to too much clutter, thus I've cut down. It's insane to think of the amount of trees wasted purely for a disposable medium.
Giant Robot Anthem The New Yorker Rerax Big Daddy (I miss you)
I'm kinda burnt out on music journalism to be honest.
Spin Newsweek Rolling Stone (I really don't knw why I subscribed) Maxim Complex (I don't remember ever subscribing but I've been getting it in the mail for years now)
Smithsonian (2 years for $11.00 from an ebay auction) The Smithsonian Magazine has always been one of my favorites. For those of you who find National Geographic to be a bit dense, try this one.
and the two that came free with it
Maxim (I can't stand the frat boy tone of the mag, but it does make good shit-break reading)
Black Enterprise (I had to choose between this, Golf Digest and some women's fitness magazine. Ends up Black Enterprise is just like nearly every other financial magazine, but with pictures of Black people.)
Tape Op Rolling Stone Mad Magazine Men's Health Stereophile Kiplingers PC World (parents get this, I get it when they're done) PC Magazine (ditto) People (ditto)
Magazines I usually pick up on the newsstand each time there's a new issue:
Cargo Wired Men's Fitness Blender Best Life GQ Esquire
Smithsonian (2 years for $11.00 from an ebay auction) The Smithsonian Magazine has always been one of my favorites. For those of you who find National Geographic to be a bit dense, try this one.
and the two that came free with it
Maxim (I can't stand the frat boy tone of the mag, but it does make good shit-break reading)
Black Enterprise (I had to choose between this, Golf Digest and some women's fitness magazine. Ends up Black Enterprise is just like nearly every other financial magazine, but with pictures of Black people.)
the Ebay subscription combos are pretty non-sensical sometimes
National Geographic, I get a gift subscription from my aunt every year for my birthday, love it, great magazine so I can vicariously travel through others and not just read about hotels and restaurants
for some reason i always feel like i am looking at an encyclopdia when i see Nat'l G. Like nice pictures and all, but nothing really i want to spend my time with.
or perhaps i am just a layman.
To each his own, I actually really like reading about the pictures, gives them context instead of just being striking images. Last year N.G. changed editor in chief, and the magazine has been taking a new direction, more involved in current affairs, as opposed to sole travel, archaeology, and evironmental science articles.
Nat'l Geographic = FHM/Stuff/Maxim for the science-minded. About equal in the titties department.
Finally called to stop the subscription when I realized that the photos, nice as they were, just did not justify the crappy writing.
Or maybe I was just their target audience for lightweight smut but not for anything else?
If you want a mag to look at fine women get perfect 10 that maxim shit is airbrushed up one side and down the other. Keep your smut and your reading material separate. Playboy being the exception.
I always wonder about this one, is it just a mag for weekend warriors with tons of adds for high end camping gear or does it have interesting articles?
I always wonder about this one, is it just a mag for weekend warriors with tons of adds for high end camping gear or does it have interesting articles?
I don't read it regularly or anything, but if you look at the writers who have written for them, they attract some top notch talent; David Rackoff, Jon Krakauer, and Jack Hitt all come to mind off the top the dome.
Also, the pictures fucking suck. The D-list celebs they con into photo shoots are so greased and airbrushed, they end up looking like Real Doll versions of themselves.
I always wonder about this one, is it just a mag for weekend warriors with tons of adds for high end camping gear or does it have interesting articles?
I don't read it regularly or anything, but if you look at the writers who have written for them, they attract some top notch talent; David Rackoff, Jon Krakauer, and Jack Hitt all come to mind off the top the dome.
sure there's a weekend warrior element, but there's also some great articles and amazing photography. it's turned me on to some cool traveling spots, too, if you can beleive it. a recent issue had the first-ever written account of the Chileans whose plane crashed in the Andes and they had to eat each other (depicted in "Alive").
For real the article was . Definitely convinced me to buy dude's upcoming book.
Comments
I need this one:
I am a pretty ambitious home cook, but I find most cooking mags too fussy (hence, no subscriptions). I just found that a lot of magazine recipes didn't come out so hot, and required a lot of specialized ingredients (read: expensive). Maybe they just aren't as well tested or inconsistent filler, but I prefer the familiarity of cooking from a book.
These aren't necessarily problems w/ Cook's Illustrated, and I think they have a solid editorial mission, style, and voice. But, like you, I prefer their cookbooks to the magazines.
And, having toured the kitchen I will say this: they have a serious posse of young, cute test cooks. I mean, when we left, my fiancee turned to me and said, "There were a lot of cute young girls in there. Did you notice?"
Umm...yes, I did, honey.
Edit: gram.mar.
I always think that misread STUFF as SNUFF.
Tape Op
Wax Poetics
The New Republic
Used to subscribe to The Wire and Remix.
Co-sizzle. Generally speaking, I like to grab recipes out of a very basic cookbook because I mostly just want the basic techniques and to know how long to cook something and at what heat. When it comes to flavoring and all that stuff, I use the cookbook as a guide, but I generally handle it on my own. So the fussiness of cooking mag recipes can be rather off-putting when I'm just looking for the basics of the dish.
Oh, and the only magazine subscription I have these days is Sports Illustrated, though I sort of have an XLR8R subscription by virtue of being a writer for them.
I am glad to see multiple folks are down w/ Saveur, very much feeling their country focus of each issue. I used to be heavy into mags but it leads to too much clutter, thus I've cut down. It's insane to think of the amount of trees wasted purely for a disposable medium.
Giant Robot
Anthem
The New Yorker
Rerax
Big Daddy (I miss you)
I'm kinda burnt out on music journalism to be honest.
Newsweek
Rolling Stone (I really don't knw why I subscribed)
Maxim
Complex (I don't remember ever subscribing but I've been getting it in the mail for years now)
EQ
Remix (free subscription.. some decent articles though)
Thinking 'bout a National Geographic and a Wired sub, but it'd just end up being more crap taking up space in my tiny room.
Wax Poetics.
The Wire.
Harpers.
and I used to get Studio Voice, but shit is craaazy expensive.
Smithsonian (2 years for $11.00 from an ebay auction)
The Smithsonian Magazine has always been one of my favorites. For those of you who find National Geographic to be a bit dense, try this one.
and the two that came free with it
Maxim (I can't stand the frat boy tone of the mag, but it does make good shit-break reading)
Black Enterprise (I had to choose between this, Golf Digest and some women's fitness magazine. Ends up Black Enterprise is just like nearly every other financial magazine, but with pictures of Black people.)
Rolling Stone
Mad Magazine
Men's Health
Stereophile
Kiplingers
PC World (parents get this, I get it when they're done)
PC Magazine (ditto)
People (ditto)
Magazines I usually pick up on the newsstand each time there's a new issue:
Cargo
Wired
Men's Fitness
Blender
Best Life
GQ
Esquire
the Ebay subscription combos are pretty non-sensical sometimes
Good Housekeeping and Car & Driver?
Nat'l Geographic = FHM/Stuff/Maxim for the science-minded. About equal in the titties department.
Finally called to stop the subscription when I realized that the photos, nice as they were, just did not justify the crappy writing.
Or maybe I was just their target audience for lightweight smut but not for anything else?
If you want a mag to look at fine women get perfect 10 that maxim shit is airbrushed up one side and down the other. Keep your smut and your reading material separate. Playboy being the exception.
and for some reason I started receiving this all of a sudden:
I have to say I'm not mad at it though.
I always wonder about this one, is it just a mag for weekend warriors with tons of adds for high end camping gear or does it have interesting articles?
I don't read it regularly or anything, but if you look at the writers who have written for them, they attract some top notch talent; David Rackoff, Jon Krakauer, and Jack Hitt all come to mind off the top the dome.
I get the feeling Nate Bizzo spends a lot of time in the bathroom. Are you constipated?
Naw dude, "Staying Up" is part of my job description. I read that shit at my desk.
Well, according to an ex-editor, that is more or less what they aim to provide.
Also, the pictures fucking suck. The D-list celebs they con into photo shoots are so greased and airbrushed, they end up looking like Real Doll versions of themselves.
I think you should try a different batch of magazines then. I don't get that aroused by Wax Poetics as I do by some eroticdiggerxxx
This was an interesting read.
Thanks!
never checked for this, you likes?
is it business or just current affairs? how do you feel it measures up to other magazines of the like?
inquiring hypnotized mindz want to know.
sure there's a weekend warrior element, but there's also some great articles and amazing photography. it's turned me on to some cool traveling spots, too, if you can beleive it. a recent issue had the first-ever written account of the Chileans whose plane crashed in the Andes and they had to eat each other (depicted in "Alive").
For real the article was