The Best Recipe

"The Best Recipe" is a series of cookbooks produced and published by Cook's Illustrated magazine based on both content from the magazine as well as original content created for the books. The titular first book in the series was published in 1999 in conjunction with the first season of the "America's Test Kitchen" television show and claimed 700 recipes; it was followed by many others, each with a different subject emphasis. The flagship book was revised and republished in 2004 as "The New Best Recipe" (ISBN 0936184744), and paperback reprints of older books (often with changed titles) began in 2006.

Content

The books follow a format roughly similar to the magazines, with each recipe introduced by a fairly lengthy commentary on how the editors developed the recipe and various issues of kitchen science involved in perfecting it. Sidebars include equipment and ingredient evaluations, as well as illustrations of specific techniques; most volumes also contain a series of color plates illustrating finished dishes. The original "The Best Recipe" also contained a short section of miscellaneous recipes as well as a description of recipes tied into the first season of the "America's Test Kitchen" television show; these features do not appear in later books.

Unlike series such as "Foods of the World" with a more encyclopedic format, the "Best Recipe" series is published as self-contained books providing broad coverage of a specific subject. As a result, recipes are often duplicated between books (for example, identical recipes for American-style cornbread appear in at least three different volumes, and chicken tikka masala in at least two), a controversial approach that has led many reviewers to complain of editorial laziness or reduced value.

ubject breakdown

The "Best Recipe" books cover numerous genres:

*Convenience cooking -- "The Quick Recipe", "The Best Make-Ahead Recipe", "The Best 30 Minute Recipe"
*Cooking techniques -- "Baking Illustrated", "Cover and Bake"
*Ingredients -- "The Best Meat Recipe", "The Best Chicken Recipe", "Perfect Vegetables"
*Categories of dishes -- "Soups and Stews", "Grilling and Barbecue"
*Ethnic and specialized -- "Italian Classics", "American Classics", "The Best International Recipe", "Restaurant Favorites at Home", "The Best Light Recipe"