Cook's Illustrated (1-year auto-renewal)

Cooks Illustrated is like no other cooking magazine I have ever read. It's a sort of Consumers Reports for cooking, aimed at the beginning gourmand. The magazine includes recipes, tips sent in by readers, standard methods for important cooking procedures, reviews of gadgets or food items, and reviews of cookbooks. All of these are accompanied by beautiful black-and-white illustrations and photos of the foods and techniques used (which explains the "Illustrated" part of the magazine title).

My favorite articles are those that delve into the development of the recipe featured. These articles all provide a standard format of describing the "perfect" representation of the items and then the authors explain their process for creating their final recipes and the method by which to read and make the recipes. While this sounds scientific (and indeed, it is), the writing is delightful and down-to-earth, not dry or esoteric as other gourmet magazines. In addition, sidebar articles explore choosing particular ingredients or comparisons of different brands or gadgets relating to the recipe shown and give clear direction where the more elusive ingredients and gadgets can be purchased.

While I am not always confident that the recipes in other magazines or cookbooks have been tested, I am always certain that the recipes in Cooks Illustrated have been rigorously reviewed and have been designed to be made by the average cook, not trained culinary experts. If you are seeking a magazine that provides tried-and-true recipes for basic food items (ranging from Beef Stroganoff to Salade Nicoise), this is a perfect choice. It is obvious that this magazine is a work of love for its editors and writers. There are no advertisements, and the only color photos are on the inside of the back page of the magazine.

(At one time, Cooks Illustrated had a special featured area on Amazon.com. The articles posted there are still available on Amazon.com, but you have to dig. Search under the book The Best Recipe, click through to the book description, and under "Book Information" in the left column, click the Amazon.com articles link and explore from there. These articles are great--albeit more brief and non-illustrated--versions of the articles in the magazine.)

"Cook's Illustrated" serves as a mentor to me and others who refused to learn the art and science of cookery in the kitchens of their loved ones. I did take a home economics class in high school, but my main memory of it is my teacher's repeated iteration of "Oh mercy, Elaine. Mercy." It took a long diet of college jello and Spanish Rice, and then a marriage in which neither of us fathomed the mysteries of the kitchen to get me interested in the art of cooking for myself and others.

Most of the other magazines in the culinary market don't seem to cater to the cooking-challenged. For instance, the seemingly simple instruction "beat enough sugar into the meringue to stiffen it" caused me to set the oven on fire. I added cups and cups of sugar to my three egg whites and the darn meringue finally got grainy, which I figured was the equivalent of 'stiff.' Not so. Once enough heat was applied, the meringue flooded over the sides of the pie plate and set the oven ablaze. It was not easy explaining my culinary mishap to a sceptical fireman.

My inadvertent attempt at incendiarism wouldn't have happened if I had been following a recipe in "Cook's Illustrated." Here the recipes are lovingly detailed, and there diagrams on 'simple' techniques such as How to Slice an Onion. Most of you probably learned about such matters at your mother's knee, but I was more interested in Astronomy than Onions back in the good old days when someone cooked for me. As a consequence, I've been slicing onions incorrectly until the December 2004 "Cook's Illustrated" hit the newstand.

The contributors to this magazine test their recipes multiple times, varying the ingredients, using different cooking utensils, until they get what they consider to be the perfect outcome. For instance, in the article on "Balsamic Braised Chicken," John Olson writes: "At that point, I stopped my tests with the high-end vinegar. Simmering such a vinegar might well be considered high crime in Italy. All the time and effort expended to create its subtle flavor balance would be wasted, as boiling destroys it. (This is not a problem with the cheap stuff.)"

"Cook's Illustrated" recipes are adventures into a mysterious art, as well as producers of wonderful dishes. The editors don't accept advertisements, so you can trust their ingredient and product recommendations. If you are a fan of the show, "America's Test Kitchen" on public television, then you'll definitely love the magazine that details this program's favorite recipes. Also check out their website at cooksillustrated.com for eleven years worth of recipes.

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This is a good magazine for the home cook that wants to branch-out from the standard Family Circle or Good Housekeeping no risk recipes.

My BIG problem with this company is once they've got your contact information, you will receive more junk mail than you thought one company could generate; hawking every single publication they produce, relentlessly.

I stopped subscribing and it took a year to stop receiving their snail spam; and there's no way to 'opt out' online

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This magazine series is an excellent source of information beyond the wonderful recipes and cooking tips. For each simple recipe, there is a story behind how the formula was derived. Each recipe is painstakingly prepared in a test kitchen to get the best results -with suggestions for alternative approaches.

The standard format is that each magazine has approximately ten good recipes plus some cooking gear/tips. Each recipe is given with a brief history, the trials in the kitchen and then the recipe/instructions/hints.

As an example, the editor goes into great detail about the perfect New York Cheesecake. He provides information about the impact of adding additional eggs or egg yolks, tips on making a graham cracker crust easier to fill the pan, and why cracks happen (and how to avoid them.) All of this was done as a learning process (I tried this and the result was... so I tried this and ...)

The recipes are all wonderful. I have yet to be unsuccessful with anything I have tried. You will find this magazine well worth the cost if you enjoy the process as much as the preparation.

However, if you are just looking for the best recipes, I would suggest skipping the subscription and buying the cookbooks from the "Best Recipe" series that the magazine editors have also published.

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Cook's is an above average cooking magazine, don't get me wrong. Its format gets a bit stale after awhile, but the magazine itself is ok. The sales techniques used are what makes me give this a 1 star.

I had a representative of Cook's call me and ask me if I would like to buy their cookbook. I answered "no thank you". As a typical sales call, they continued their rehearsed sales techniques on how it would be worth it, told me if I didn't like it, I could simply send it back within 30 days. I restated my no thank you. He asked me why I wouldn't just try it and send it back if I didn't like it. I told him that I don't want to be hassled and I don't want to have to remember to return something in 30 days.

The Cook's Illustrated representative then began a personal attack on me, asking me how I manage to pay my bills on time if I'm that unresponsible. I was speechless. I was hoping that this was a one time thing a rogue employee on a bad day, but after googling the magazine, I'm afraid it is more par for the course.

Above average magazine, TERRIBLE sales techniques.

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