Americas Test Kitchen - All Time Best Holiday Entertaining

Copyright 2017

by the Editors at

Americas Test Kitchen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Library of Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Americas Test Kitchen (Firm), author.

Title: All time best holiday entertaining / by the editors at Americas Test Kitchen.

Other titles: Holiday entertaining

Description: Boston, MA : Americas Test Kitchen, [2017] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017000742 | ISBN 9781940352992

Subjects: LCSH: Holiday cooking. | Entertaining. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX739 .A344 2017 | DDC 641.5/68--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017000742

Ebook ISBN9781945256004

AMERICAS TEST KITCHEN

21 Drydock, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210

Distributed by Penguin Random House Publisher Services

Tel: 800.733.3000

Chief Creative Officer: Jack Bishop

Editorial Director, Books: Elizabeth Carduff

Executive Editor: Julia Collin Davison

Executive Editor: Adam Kowit

Assistant Editor: Samantha Ronan

Design Director: Carole Goodman

Deputy Art Directors: Allison Boales and Jen Kanavos Hoffman

Production Designer: Reinaldo Cruz

Graphic Designer: Katie Barranger

Photography Director: Julie Bozzo Cote

Photography Producer: Mary Ball

Senior Staff Photographer: Daniel J. van Ackere

Staff Photographer: Steve Klise

Feature Photography: Keller + Keller and Carl Tremblay

Food Styling: Catrine Kelty, Marie Piraino, Elle Simone Scott, and Sally Staub

Photoshoot Kitchen Team:

Senior Editor: Chris OConnor

Lead Cook: Daniel Cellucci

Assistant Test Cooks: Mady Nichas and Jessica Rudolph

Production Director: Guy Rochford

Senior Production Manager: Jessica Lindheimer Quirk

Production Manager: Christine Walsh

Imaging Manager: Lauren Robbins

Production and Imaging Specialists: Heather Dube, Sean MacDonald, Dennis Noble, and Jessica Voas

Copyeditor: Cheryl Redmond

Proofreader: Pat Jalbert-Levine

Indexer: Elizabeth Parson

Pictured on front cover:

v4.1

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The How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook: Volume 2

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The Americas Test Kitchen D.I.Y. Cookbook

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All-Time Best Appetizers

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The Complete Cooks Country TV Show Cookbook

for a full listing of all our books

CooksIllustrated.com

AmericasTestKitchen.com

Contents

welcome to americas test kitchen

This book has been tested, written, and edited by the folks at Americas Test Kitchen. Located in Bostons Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, it features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including photography and video studios. It is the home of Cooks Illustrated magazine and Cooks Country magazine and is the Monday-through-Friday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, 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.

We start the process of testing a recipe with a complete lack of preconceptions, which means that we accept no claim, no technique, and no recipe at face value. We simply assemble as many variations as possible, test a half-dozen of the most promising, and taste the results blind. We then construct our own recipe and continue to test it, varying ingredients, techniques, and cooking times until we reach a consensus. As we like to say in the test kitchen, We make the mistakes so you dont have to. The result, we hope, is the best version of a particular recipe, but we realize that only you can be the final judge of our success (or failure). We use the same rigorous approach when we test equipment and taste ingredients.

All of this would not be possible without a belief that good cooking, much like good music, is based on a foundation of objective technique. Some people like spicy foods and others dont, but there is a right way to saut, there is a best way to cook a pot roast, and there are measurable scientific principles involved in producing perfectly beaten, stable egg whites. Our ultimate goal is to investigate the fundamental principles of cooking to give you the techniques, tools, and ingredients you need to become a better cook. It is as simple as that.