America's Test Kitchen

Either of the two women cooking on this show would run rings around Rachel Ray in even a meager kitchen. They are nowhere near annoying enough though, so they bring in Kimball to lower the enjoyability of the show.

The taste offs and equipment tests rate highly with me.

Every recipe I've tried has worked well. The draining trick for the tomato salsa has improved my already great recipe.

 

Geez, Havana, you need some "food styling" lessons. Looks yummy though.

My favorite recipe from this show is the smothered pork chops, I think it's from the 2003 season. HOLY COW man, it's a lot of prep but probably the best way I've ever had chops.

Greg

 

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I've had a S-P for this show for a long time. I usually pick up a tip or two that is helpful. I do have to snicker though when they do BBQ in their New England style. Being from Texas, we think we are the only ones who know how to cook BBQ.

 

Though they are usually up-front about calling it things like "sissy chili" and "Yankee-style" whatever...

 

Indeed. They are very upfront about that. Sometimes, they joke and say "all you people in Texas, just turn off your TVs".

The food certainly does have a New England/Yankee bent to it. Of course, that's to be expected since Chirs Campbell is a true Yankee.

 

He's a Vermonter. That's worse.

 

But of course, you're wrong...
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Nah, I lived in North Carolina for a while. Barbecue only grows in Texas, especially around Lockhart and Luling. Y'all tarheels can roast a piggy, but it ain't barbecue.

As far as America's Test Kitchen goes, most of their stuff turns out pretty good. Skip anything that claims a Cajun or Southwest flavor. They just don't get it.

Never trust a skinny cook.

 

I could be wrong, but I don't think the complaint was about your cake decorating skills. The stuff in the background of the photo distracted from your yummy looking cake.

 

That sounds good. Thanks for posting.

ATK is one of my few must see shows every week, but I have not had a chance to see this one yet.

 

I've been making this recipe for a few years now. It's really good. I'll admit sometimes I get lazy and cheat and buy pre-fab taco shells from the store. No where near as good as frying up some fresh tortillas. Once you do a few of them, you get the hang of it.

The "trick" of toasting the spices early is pretty standard, actually. You just don't see lots of recipes doing it because adding it later makes for a shortcut.

 

I absolutely love ATK, and they've been improving as they go along. Sadly I had to stop watching, I wasn't able to make their recipes anymore. I'd be gaining weight again if I did that!

Watching without using what I learned would suck so I stopped, heh.

Greg

 

If I have top complaint about CI/ATK recipies is that that they tend to be scaled to feed a large family or dinner party. 6-8 servings of whatever is pretty typical.

 

I did their "high roasted chicken" last night. The chicken was good, but the potatoes came no where near getting as golden brown and delicious on the bottom as on the show. I had to put them under the broiler for about 10 more minutes to crisp them up. The schmaltz from the chicken did add a lot of flavor, however.

 

One of their recipes that's compatible with my current diet are smothered pork chops. HOLY COW I should make some this week. But yes, it's 6 servings. I don't really mind this, since it makes 2 or 3 meals for us. It's nice to brown-bag a meal everyone asks you about when they smell!

Greg

 

cooking things like porkchops, where each piece of meat is an individual serving, is easy to scale. But things like desserts and stuff get trickier. They have recipes for individual things like creme brulee, panna cotta, etc. and the like. The recipes are usually scaled for eight. That's a lot to make for a single guy. I wish they had variations that were scaled smaller, as in baking, it gets a little trickier.

 

hmmm.. Mine don't come out crisp. But I am not expecting them to. I guess I didn't see the episode where they did this (that, or I forgot).

Anyway, this is my current favorite method of cooking a whole chicken.