877 replies to this topic

[lotusbear]

Anyone else see the new episodes? I saw the Jambalaya episode today and the New England seafood dishes last week. I'm definitely planning on making the Jambalaya and one day when I have a free 20 bucks to spare I might splurge and try to make their crab cakes. They looked durn good.

[jellywager]

I've never caught this show, but it sounds awesome. I'll have to check my local listings. BTW, what is the name of the cookbook so I can look for it on Amazon?

[silentbob]

The new episodes have been pretty good. Almost everyone looks different! Christopher's hairline is quickly receding, Bridget cut her hair to shoulder length and wears a ponytail, Julia has a wedding ring. Adam, on the other hand, still looks like Marshall from Alias.

I've made jambalaya at least a dozen times and was intrigued by the ATK approach of using a food processor to chop the veggies into a mince. Definitely worth trying. The clam juice was an interesting twist, too.

[Suzikins]

jellywager The name of the new cookbook is Inside America's Test Kitchen I lurve my copy!! The show is on PBS sometime later Saturday morning in my area.

[biakbiak]

If any of you live in the greater Boston area, they are doing tours of the test kitchen in the next month or so. My sister is going and she is extremely excited.

[Smeg]

For the Northern Californian fans, there was a mention in the latest Cook's that Christopher Kimball (Annoying Bow Tie Man) will be making an appearance in Mountain View in April (I think). I can't find any information about it online, though.

[annex]

I'm a relatively new convert to ATK and a new subscriber to Cook's Illustrated. Does most of ATK's content come from recipes published in the magazine? I just wondered, there have been some great recipes recently in the magazine (heavenly spinach lasagne! for example), should I expect to possibly see them on tv soon, or is the delay longer?

[lotusbear]

No, not always. There are repeats between the older issues and the show, but the current issue does not usually correspond to what we see on the TV. So don't hold your breath on the spinach lasagne. Usually if you visit the ATK website you can see all the recipes that they plan on showing for the season.

[michelec]

There's a profile in today's Washington Post about Annoying Bow Tie Man (tm Smeg).

[silentbob]

Heh, at least everyone seems to have the same impression of him ("he resembles a stern professor -- intelligent, aloof, with impatience simmering just below the surface"). Even he describes himself as "smart, somewhat arrogant, impatient and demanding."

I had no idea Mark Bittman used to be affiliated with the franchise.

[wombathefool]

I had no idea Mark Bittman used to be affiliated with the franchise.

Oh yeah. When I renewed my subscription last, I got a copy of Issue No. 1. Mark is listed as Executive Editor.

[lotusbear]

Wow, this thread has been dead for over a month! Anyway, made their Maryland Crab Cakes and boy were they delicious. We got a pretty good price on the crab meat - 16 oz of lump crabmeat for 11 dollars. Granted, it was canned, but I was expecting to pay upwards of 20 bucks for it. The cakes were incredibly easy and the seasoning was great. I'd make them again in a heartbeat.

Mr Lotusbear and I ate up a storm tonight. We had the crab cakes and Cook's Illustrated's oven fries, which were also quite tasty. When I first began watching the show Mr Lotusbear used to make fun of Chris Kimball, but now when I tell him I'm making an ATK recipe he's always excited to try out the results.

[ParasiteTwin]

I made the stuffed bell peppers. Good stuff.

I try to catch this show regularly, even if it's a rerun. Sort of a guilty pleasure. Christopher is such an arrogant ass sometimes. And I see that I am not the only one who is reminded of Marshall when they see Adam. I really admire Julia.

Edited by ParasiteTwin, Mar 28, 2004 @ 4:35 AM.

[Smeg]

I sort of made their twice-baked potatoes (I was making them as an appetizer and used smaller red potatoes instead of large russets), and they were really good. Buttermilk is kind of amazing stuff; I'd never used it before.

My brother made their clam chowder a few weeks back, although he used canned clams because fresh were really expensive. It turned out well, but a little on the thin side, which I thought was fine but he didn't like.

[lotusbear]

Oh yeah, I made the carrot cake too. It's not too sweet and it's another easy recipe. Just make sure you have a large bowl to mix everything in.

[silentbob]

Not that I'm complaining, but Doc Willoughby appears to be off the show. What's up with that?

[Smeg]

I'm sort of glad Doc is gone. I always fast-forwarded over his sections, anyway. Whenever he was on, either Jack or Marshall got booted.

Baking Illustrated tour! Annoying Bowtie Man & Co. may be coming to YOUR hometown! Check here to see. Julia will also be on hand, along with Matthew Card, who I think is the new younger guy. There will be discussions about the new book, a signing, and a chocolate tasting.

[lotusbear]

Was Doc Willoughby a real Doc? or at least phD?

I want Baking Illustrated as well. They have it at ovestock.com for 20.89. When my paycheck deposits on Friday I shall order it.

[silentbob]

I didn't hate Doc, but he was definitely a bankrupt man's Alton Brown.

Anyway, no book signing appearances remotely close to the DC area. Boo.

[silentbob]

Double-posting because it's been several weeks.

I just saw our favorite anal-retentive host (sans bowtie!) on an episode of From Martha's Kitchen from 2001. He was wearing a dark polo shirt that must have been at least three sizes too big -- the short sleeves actually went down below his elbows. Frightening. But his banter with Martha was hilarious; few things are more entertaining than watching woeful attempts of semi-flirtation between two very uptight New Englanders (apologies in advance to those from the region).

Anyway, this week's chocolate chip cookie episode stunk. Not nearly as interesting as the one from Good Eats, although there was a sock-puppet appearance too (using an oven mitt) during the equipment segment with Marsh ... er, Adam.

[Hand in a Flame]

Anyway, this week's chocolate chip cookie episode stunk. Not nearly as interesting as the one from Good Eats, although there was a sock-puppet appearance too (using an oven mitt) during the equipment segment with Marsh ... er, Adam.

Word, word, word to this. I know someone else said it up thread, but I was watching the DVDs from S 1 of Alias to prepare myself for the finale (EW.) and then watched ATK and dude, it was AMAZING, especially because Adam was taking about those food chopper things. Yeah, I totally had one of those moments.

Also, I made their hot fudge cake for my sisters birthday, and it came out AMAZING. Totally recommend it.

Edited because closing codes is good.

Edited by Hand in a Flame, May 29, 2004 @ 1:10 AM.

[bj1968]

I never cared for Doc much either. I found his segments really boring, maybe because I'm not a science buff and it reminded me too much of school.

Does anyone know if they have any of the previous seasons on dvd or tape?

[silentbob]

Doesn't seem like it. All I found was a DVD on the "making of" the show.

Anyway, here's a potentially disturbing question: did Marshall leave the magazine? I've been getting sample issues in the mail recently, and he was listed as a Senior Editor in the first one I received -- but his name disappeared in the July-August 2004 edition. That would be quite a bummer, if true. The "Equipment Corner" is usually one of the show's highlights IMO.

[D.C.]

Any show that tests all kinds of fancy imported bittersweet chocolate and then says, that though one of the fanciest and most expensive of them is definitely the best, "a good second place is Hershey's Special Dark chocolate, which is readily available and costs a lot less," is a great cooking show in my book. I also like the fact that they tried out a dozen pie plates and declared Pyrex the winner. If they picked the cheap product all the time, I'd feel suspicious about their testing methods. If they picked the expensive product more frequently than they do, I'd wonder about product placements. As it is, I trust them.

Though, I, too, made the oven-fried potatoes and they made a huge mess and burned.

[bj1968]

Thanks Silentbob.

I like 'Equipment Corner' too, although I don't always agree with the final results. I like producr testing which is why I signed up to be a product tester for a magazine. I have been trying to purchase all of their cookbooks, but I didn't realise that there were so many published! I made the crescent rolls from their 'American Classics' cookbook and they were wonderful. They were a timesaver because they freeze really well.

[Smeg]

I hope they feature biscuits in an episode. The recipe in the June/July issue of Cook's was AMAZING. I've gotten a lot of really positive feedback on them. I guess that would have to be for next season, probably.

[Hugh Jass]

Used a tip from this show yesterday. I was bbq'ing chicken and the breasts were twice the size as the rest of the pieces, so I cut them in half. (Technically, I cut the halves in half.) Pieces were then closer in size to each other and all cooked up at the same time. The only thing was that I felt a little ghetto, like I was trying to stretch the chicken. (For 4 people I cooked a whole chicken and 6 bratwursts.)

[D.C.]

Haven't they done biscuits? I seem to remember them making cream biscuits, making the point that with real cream, you don't have to cut in shortening (or, my preference, lard) because the cream has enough fat to carry the recipe. That said, I may be thinking about cream scones. Or, since biscuits and scones are so similar to make, I could be completely flamgoodled.

[lotusbear]

Speaking of stuff that's been in the magazine, their American potato salad is forking delicious. We had some with turkey burgers and saved the rest in the fridge. The next morning, i found the empty tupperware in the sink. Apparently Mr Lotusbear ate it as a snack during the night. I've made it a couple times and the one thing I changed was that instead of using chopped red onions I finely minced some scallions. That's less offensive to me than hunks of red onion, no matter how small they've been chopped.

[Smeg]

Haven't they done biscuits? I seem to remember them making cream biscuits, making the point that with real cream, you don't have to cut in shortening (or, my preference, lard) because the cream has enough fat to carry the recipe. That said, I may be thinking about cream scones. Or, since biscuits and scones are so similar to make, I could be completely flamgoodled.

I don't know, it's possible. I don't think I've seen every episode. The recipe in the current CI was for buttermilk biscuits and, strangely, used AP flour and butter. No lard, no shortening, no low-protein flour. And they are wonderful.