Review: Cook's Illustrated American Classics (ATK)

Although my general rule of thumb for borrowing or buying a new cook book is finding at least three intriguing recipes, there are two exceptions to that rule that can convince me to pick up a cookbook on the spot, potential recipes or not. Exceptions that relate more to the book’s ability to entertain than its ability to provide me with a slew of new recipes.

The first is when the cookbook is ethnic or unusual in some way and the author includes anecdotes about the country in question. One of my favorites in this arena is Let’s Go Dutch, by Johanna (van der Zeijst) Bates. Although she lives in Canada, she grew up in Holland and includes lovely little snippets of Dutch history, along with some of her own fond food memories. One bit I always remember is where she explains her lack of weight gain– despite the ever available pasty – in Holland. Her family, like most Netherlanders, walked or biked almost everywhere they went. The weight gain didn’t come until, as she put it, “I ate like I was in Holland and drove like I was in Canada”.

The other exception is a cookbook where the author(s) have loaded the recipes with lots of interesting extras. Where did the recipe originate? What is a common mistake that makes the recipe fail? Better yet, what can be done to guarantee success?

My newest purchase falls into the latter category. The book – more a cross between book and magazine – is Cook’s Illustrated American Classics. I’ve been so enamoured with the televison show America’s Test Kitchen that I would likely have grabbed it even if it didn’t have all the extra information. This show, by the way, is the only cooking show I watch with pen and paper in hand. It’s been on for years but I never paid it any attention until about a month ago.

As per the title, the recipes are American Classics. Some perhaps a bit too American for me. I suspect my Canadian palate will never acquire a taste for Southern style greens or baked cheese grits! The rest of the recipes are popular here as well as south of the border. North American Classics, I think.

A number of the recipes are for simple and familiar dishes, and with fewer people spending time learning the basics, this is a good thing. The science and testing that went into something as simple as the recipe for Hearty Scrambled Eggs made me want to go out to the store for eggs the minute I read it. At ten o’clock at night no less! I like my scrambled eggs plain but my son – no surprise at eighteen – likes it when they’re more of a complete meal. I can’t wait for the weekend to get here so I can make these for him.

My daughter is excited about the equally simple Great Iced Tea in 15 minutes and Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Two things that you’d think wouldn’t need a recipe, but we’ve all had our disappointments, at home and in restaurants.

There were a couple of surprises, too. I almost skipped reading "Reclaiming Salisbury Steak". I’ve never had good Salisbury steak so for me there was no “reclaiming” involved. I have, however, had many a nightmare inducing Salisbury steak. I never dreamt that someone could write so temptingly about something that has been so firmly entrenched in my not-if-I-can-avoid-it psyche. How can I argue with an article that concludes with “now I had tender and perfectly cooked beef patties and a gravy that was infused with deep, rich mushroom flavour…this recipe demonstrates what Salisbury steak was originally meant to be”?

Also a surprise was "Rethinking Apple Pie". I make a pretty close to perfect apple pie, and didn’t think there was much they could offer me on that front. But this is apple pandowdy, more like apple-pie-in-a-skillet. And sometimes I just don’t have the time for the whole fuss and bother of pie making. This fits the “feel like apple pie but don’t have the time” niche perfectly.

As usual with America’s Test Kitchen they included some excellent reviews of kitchen toys and tools. Serendipitously, they reviewed slow cookers when not only am I in the market for a new one, but the day after some Home Hardware gift certificates arrived in the mail from my dad. That review was an aside to the really excellent piece "Slow-Cooker Country Captain Chicken – This Southern stew should be tender and spicy, but a slow cooker can render the meat stringy and the sauce bland. Could we fix its faults?” After reading it I’m convinced they did. So convinced, in fact, that that’s what we’re having for supper on Sunday. And if we should happen to finish the meal off with "St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake", well, a long walk in the lovely fall weather is also on my list of things I want to do right away.

Thanks to all the authors – and testers! – at America’s Test Kitchen. You’ve done it again; straight forward delicious recipes that have me itching to get to work in my own kitchen.