Many years ago, as I was just starting to really get into cooking, I received a subscription to Cooks Illustrated from my Mom for Christmas.  That gift gave me a real solid start on taking my cooking abilities to the next level.  I have always maintained that subscription in the years that have passed, and have enjoyed the results very much.

Christopher Kimball, the founder of Cooks Illustrated then created a new publication called Cooks Country.  It was in the same format as Cooks Illustrated, but the food was more rustic and homey. This was followed by the third sibling in the trio, America’s Test Kitchen which now exists both online and as a TV show on PBS.

The great thing about these publications is that they are more than just recipe publications.  These folks create fresh recipes for each of their issues, and there is an article that accompanies each that in a very understandable way details what they tried, what work, what didn’t and very often why.  Then it is followed by a recipe that is as close to guaranteed to work as you can get, and usually accompanied by a variant or two to mix it up.

The format is very educational, and the resulting food is always awesome.  Moving into the digital age, the Cooks/ATK Collective founded websites to access their vast amount of information by computer.  This has made what was a great resource even more so. Then you add in the videos and episodes of Americas Test Kitchen and Cooks Country by Americas Test Kitchen on PBS (and the net) and you have a super enjoyable and informative way to better your cooking.

I have a number of favorite dishes that come from these books and sites.  Because I very much respect the work they do and their copyrights, I won’t reprint the recipes here without permission.

I encourage you to check them out, and to do a search on your TV listings for ATK or Cooks Country on PBS.