4 ms·

> Most cookbooks tend to be like the meme about drawing an owl [0]. Mostly because the people making the instructions make assumptions about Stuff One Should Ju

> Most cookbooks tend to be like the meme about drawing an owl [0]. Mostly because the people making the instructions make assumptions about Stuff One Should Just Know and skip those bits in the instructions. You may wish to look at cookbooks produced by America's Test Kitchen. They try to create instructions that are clear and easy to follow. This is done via a 'beta testing' program which you can join: > As a recipe tester, you will be emailed in-development recipes. Recipe testers will receive one recipe per month on average. You can choose what to test; you are not required to test any or every recipe (but we hope you’ll want to!). When you test a recipe, please take the survey that accompanies it to tell us what you think. We will ask you questions about ingredient substitutions, recipe clarity, yields, and timing. And you get to rate the recipe. > Occasionally, we’ll ask you to help us check ingredient availability at your local grocery store. We do this to ensure that the recipes we develop use ingredients that are widely available to all of our readers. * https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5237-join-our-community-of-recipe-testers https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/5237-join-our-c... * https://www.americastestkitchen.com/testing https://www.americastestkitchen.com/testing * https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/7096-you-are-the-key-ingredient-in-ATK-recipes https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/7096-you-are-th...

theshrike79 3y ago
America's Test Kitchen is the best there is, along with a few smaller independent-ish creators. I wish we had a similar system in Europe, especially for reviewing kitchen equipment.
- eclipticplane 3y ago
  Their equipment review posts and videos are a must-watch. Even if you don't end up picking the winner, they will point out the best/worst aspects of their winners and losers that almost certainly apply to the products you're looking at. ATK is one of the few digital subscriptions I'm thrilled to pay for -- it pays for itself every year just in bad equipment purchases. (E.g., knowing that their top picks for kitchen timers will last many years despite being twice the price as cheapo ones, or knowing that buying the cheap bamboo wooden spoons is actually preferable.)
justinlloyd 3y ago
Watch their videos. Read their magazines. Happily pay them a $100/yr for the education. But throw their books (especially their "every recipe from the show for the past X years" books) in the trash. Honestly, their books are horrid. There's a marked qualitative difference between the writing of the recipes in the magazines and the writing of the recipes in the books. Dan Souza is editor-in-chief of the magazines which explains why the magazine is so good. I swear they outsource their book writing recipes and photography to failed college essay writers & photographers they found on Fiverr. An individual recipe in the books is all over the place. You'd think by the 12th edition they would have nailed the formatting or the writing style but it seems to just be a terrible copy & paste job from one year to the next. Their digital editions are even worse with broken formatting, unsearchable indexes, and bloated images.
jamiepenney 3y ago
I came here to talk about ATK, Lan Lam is amazing and has really helped me make nicer dinners https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnbzopdwFrnYyvwrqTB_5AhufdOMisGnF https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnbzopdwFrnYyvwrqTB_5... I just used her fast caramelized onions technique last night actually. I like that she explains why she's doing everything and how it contributes to the flavour of the meal.

theshrike79 3y ago

America's Test Kitchen is the best there is, along with a few smaller independent-ish creators. I wish we had a similar system in Europe, especially for reviewing kitchen equipment.

eclipticplane 3y ago
Their equipment review posts and videos are a must-watch. Even if you don't end up picking the winner, they will point out the best/worst aspects of their winners and losers that almost certainly apply to the products you're looking at. ATK is one of the few digital subscriptions I'm thrilled to pay for -- it pays for itself every year just in bad equipment purchases. (E.g., knowing that their top picks for kitchen timers will last many years despite being twice the price as cheapo ones, or knowing that buying the cheap bamboo wooden spoons is actually preferable.)

justinlloyd 3y ago

Watch their videos. Read their magazines. Happily pay them a $100/yr for the education. But throw their books (especially their "every recipe from the show for the past X years" books) in the trash. Honestly, their books are horrid. There's a marked qualitative difference between the writing of the recipes in the magazines and the writing of the recipes in the books. Dan Souza is editor-in-chief of the magazines which explains why the magazine is so good. I swear they outsource their book writing recipes and photography to failed college essay writers & photographers they found on Fiverr. An individual recipe in the books is all over the place. You'd think by the 12th edition they would have nailed the formatting or the writing style but it seems to just be a terrible copy & paste job from one year to the next. Their digital editions are even worse with broken formatting, unsearchable indexes, and bloated images.

jamiepenney 3y ago

I came here to talk about ATK, Lan Lam is amazing and has really helped me make nicer dinners https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnbzopdwFrnYyvwrqTB_5AhufdOMisGnF https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnbzopdwFrnYyvwrqTB_5... I just used her fast caramelized onions technique last night actually. I like that she explains why she's doing everything and how it contributes to the flavour of the meal.