Cooks Country - The Complete Cooks Country TV Show Cookbook Season 8: Every Recipe, Every Ingredient Testing, Every Equipment Rating from the Hit TV Show

This book has been tested, written, and edited by the folks at Americas Test Kitchen, a very real 2,500-square-foot kitchen located just outside of Boston. It is the home of Cooks Country and Cooks Illustrated magazines and is the Monday-through-Friday destination for more than three dozen test cooks, editors, food scientists, tasters, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.

Filmed in a renovated 1806 farmhouse, Cooks Country from Americas Test Kitchen features the best regional home cooking in the country and relies on the same practical, no-nonsense approach to cooking that has made Cooks Country magazine so successful.

Christopher Kimball, the founder and editor of Cooks Country and Cooks Illustrated magazines, is the host of the show and asks the questions you might ask. Its the job of our chefs, Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, and Erin McMurrer, to demonstrate our recipes. The chefs show Chris what works and what doesnt, and they explain why. In the process, they discuss (and show you) the best examples from our development process as well as the worst. Jack Bishop continues to challenge Chris to live tastings of kitchen staples like egg noodles, blue cheese dressing, and orange juice, while Adam Ried reveals the test kitchens top choices for equipment, including cookie sheets, slow cookers, aprons, and more.

Although just six cooks and editors appear on the television show, more than 60 other people worked to make the show a reality. Executive producer Melissa Baldino conceived and developed each episode along with co-executive producer Stephanie Stender and lead production assistant Kaitlin Hammond. Lynne Olver and Meg Ragland assisted with all the historical recipe research. Debby Paddock assisted with photography research.

Along with the on-air crew, executive chefs Erin McMurrer, Christie Morrison, and Dan Zuccarello helped plan and organize the 13 television episodes shot in September 2014 and ran the back kitchen, where all the food that appears on camera originated. Hannah Crowley, Lauren Savoie, Kate Shannon, and Lisa McManus organized the tasting and equipment segments.

During filming, chefs Morgan Bolling, Cecelia Jenkins, Lawman Johnson, Lan Lam, Ashley Moore, Russell Selander, Dan Souza, Diane Unger, and Anne Wolf cooked all the food needed on set. Kitchen assistants Ena Gudiel and Erica Sheridan also worked long hours. Chefs Daniel Cellucci, Sebastian Nava, Leah Rovner, and Stephanie Pixley helped coordinate the kitchen with the television set by readying props, equipment, and food. Assistant test kitchen director Leah Rovner and senior kitchen assistants Michelle Blodget and Alexxa Grattan were charged with making sure all the ingredients and kitchen equipment we needed were on hand.