The complete Americas test kitchen TV show cookbook 2015

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 Illustrated and Cooks Country magazines and is the Monday-through-Friday destination for more than four 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.

Our television show highlights the best recipes developed in the test kitchen during the past yearthose recipes that our test kitchen staff makes at home time and time again. These recipes are accompanied by our most exhaustive equipment tests and our most interesting food tastings.

Christopher Kimball, the founder and editor of Cooks Illustrated magazine, is host of the show and asks the questions you might ask. Its the job of our chefs, Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Becky Hays, Bryan Roof, and Dan Souza 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.

Adam Ried, our equipment expert, and Lisa McManus, our gadget guru, share the highlights from our detailed testing process in equipment corner segments. They bring with them our favorite (and least favorite) gadgets and tools. Jack Bishop is our ingredient expert. He has Chris taste our favorite (and least favorite) brands of common food products. Chris may not always enjoy these exercises (hot sauce isnt exactly as fun to taste as mozzarella or dark chocolate), but he usually learns something as Jack explains what makes one brand superior to another.

Although just 10 cooks and editors appear on the television show, another 50 people worked to make the show a reality. Executive Producer Melissa Baldino conceived and developed each episode with help from Co-Executive Producer Stephanie Stender and Associate Producer Kaitlin Hammond. Debby Paddock assisted with all the photo research. Guy Crosby, our science expert, researched the science behind the recipes. Along with the on-air crew, executive chefs Erin McMurrer and Keith Dresser helped plan and organize the 26 television episodes shot in May 2014 and ran the back kitchen, where all the food that appeared on camera originated. Hannah Crowley, Kate Shannon, and Lauren Savoie organized the tasting and equipment segments.

During filming, chefs Morgan Bolling, Aaron Furmanek, Andrea Geary, Andrew Janjigian, Cecelia Jenkins, Lan Lam, Suzannah McFerran, Ashley Moore, Christie Morrison, Chris OConnor, Diane Unger, and Cristin Walsh cooked all the food needed on set. Interns Jared Hughes, Abby Miller, Amy Siblik, and Robin Swayze worked on-set developing recipes for our magazines and books. 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. Kitchen assistants Maria Elena Delgado, Ena Gudiel, Eliot Carduff, and Jason Roman also worked long hours. Chefs Daniel Cellucci, Danielle DeSiato-Hallman, Sara Mayer, Sebastian Nava, Stephanie Pixley, Russell Selander, Meaghen Walsh, and Anne Wolf helped coordinate the efforts of the kitchen with the television set by readying props, equipment, and food. Shannon Hatch, Kate Zebrowski, and Christine Gordon led all tours of the test kitchen during filming.

Special thanks to director and editor Herb Sevush and director of photography Jan Maliszewski.

We also appreciate the hard work of the video production team, including Stephen Hussar, Michael McEachern, Peter Dingle, Roger Macie, Gilles Morin, Brenda Coffey, Ken Fraser, Joe Christofori, James Hirsch, Bob Hirsch, Jeremy Bond, Eric Joslin, Cara McCabe, Phoebe Melnick, Wes Palmer, and Matt Stavropoulos. Thanks also to Nick Dakoulas, the second unit videographer.

We also would like to thank Nancy Bocchino, Bara Levin, and Victoria Yuen at WGBH Station Relations, and the team at American Public Television that presents the show: Cynthia Fenneman, Chris Funkhouser, Judy Barlow, and Tom Davison. Thanks also for production support from Elena Battista Malcolm and DGA Productions, Boston, and Zebra Productions, New York.

DCS by Fisher & Paykel, SieMatic, Kohler, Diamond Crystal Salt, Cooking.com, and Wente Vineyards helped underwrite the show, and we thank them for their support. We also thank Michael Burton, Anne Traficante, Ann Naya, and Kate Zebrowski for handling underwriter relations and Deborah Broide for managing publicity.

Meat was provided by Kinnealey Meats of Brockton, Massachusetts. Fish was supplied by Ian Davison of Constitution Seafoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Live plants and garden items for the show were furnished by Mahoneys Garden Center of Brighton, Massachusetts. Aprons for Christopher Kimball were made by Nicole Romano and staff aprons were made by Crooked Brook.