America's Test Kitchen
Encyclopedia
America's Test Kitchen is a half-hour cooking
show distributed to public television
stations (reruns airing on Create) in the United States
, also airing in Canada
. The show's host is Cook's Illustrated
editor-in-chief Christopher Kimball
; the show and the magazine are affiliated, and the magazine's test kitchen facility in Brookline, Massachusetts
, is used as a set for the show.
Cook's Illustrateds parent company, Boston Common Press, renamed itself America's Test Kitchen in 2004.
Up through season 6, the show was taped in standard definition, 4:3 video; season 7 saw the show switch to widescreen 16:9 video. The high definition version of the show is shown as part of PBS HD's master digital schedule and, by some PBS affiliates, as part of their normal schedules.
Eps: 163
and Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? / Personal Trainer: Cooking
.
s in the episodes include:
Cooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
show distributed to public television
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
stations (reruns airing on Create) in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, also airing in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The show's host is Cook's Illustrated
Cook's Illustrated
Cook's Illustrated is an American cooking magazine published by America's Test Kitchen in Brookline, Massachusetts, every two months. It accepts no advertising and is characterized by extensive recipe testing and detailed instructions; the magazine also conducts thorough evaluations of kitchen...
editor-in-chief Christopher Kimball
Christopher Kimball
Christopher Kimball is an American chef, editor, publisher, and radio/TV personality.- Education and career :Kimball was born and raised in Westchester County, New York. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and then Columbia University with a degree in Primitive Art. After graduating from...
; the show and the magazine are affiliated, and the magazine's test kitchen facility in Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...
, is used as a set for the show.
Cook's Illustrateds parent company, Boston Common Press, renamed itself America's Test Kitchen in 2004.
Show format
A typical episode contains two or three recipes joined by a common theme (e.g., "Quick Tuesday Night Pasta Dinners," "Comfort Food Favorites," "Supermarket Steak Recipes," "Making Chinese Take-Out Dishes"). Each recipe segment opens with Kimball showing the problems inherent in cooking the recipe (e.g., waterlogged pasta dishes with jarred sauces; tough, leathery supermarket steaks that don't hold up well in skillet recipes) or in ordering out for the dish (e.g., overcooked meat in tasteless soy-laden brown sauce with a few vegetables thrown in for a so-called "steak and peppers" Chinese takeout meal), leading up to Kimball urging everyone to "join [featured chef] in the test kitchen as we make [bad recipe] the right way." During the cooking of the recipe, usually at a fairly mundane step of the recipe (e.g., browning onions; baking item for ___ minutes; letting finished dish cool), other segments are shown, usually consisting of two or more of the following:- A Tasting Lab segment, where an ingredient or prepared food product is run through a tasting panel and then taste-tested by Kimball;
- An Equipment Corner segment, which gives reviews and rankings of kitchen gadgets;
- A periodic "Science Desk" segment, discussing the science behind a pertinent technique used in the recipe;
- A "Quick Tips" segment, inserted as a 15–30 second mock-bumperCommercial bumperIn broadcasting, a commercial bumper, ident bumper or break-bumper is a brief announcement, usually two to 15 seconds that can contain a voice over, placed between a pause in the program and its commercial break, and vice versa...
, to demonstrate tips and tricks from Cooks Illustrated magazine and viewers' mail.
Up through season 6, the show was taped in standard definition, 4:3 video; season 7 saw the show switch to widescreen 16:9 video. The high definition version of the show is shown as part of PBS HD's master digital schedule and, by some PBS affiliates, as part of their normal schedules.
Eps: 163
Cast
America's Test Kitchen features several recurring cast members, although not every cast appears in each episode.- Christopher KimballChristopher KimballChristopher Kimball is an American chef, editor, publisher, and radio/TV personality.- Education and career :Kimball was born and raised in Westchester County, New York. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and then Columbia University with a degree in Primitive Art. After graduating from...
, the show's host, introduces the recipes presented in each episode, as well as the equipment tested in the Equipment Corner and foods tested in the Tasting Lab. He also converses and works on-screen with the other cast members during the show's various segments and is the primary presenter in the "Quick Tips" segment. - Bridget Lancaster, Julia Collin-Davison (identified on-screen before season 7 as "Julia Collin"), Kay Rentschler (season 1 and one episode of season 2 only; by season 2 she had moved to the positions of Culinary Producer and Executive Chef, and then was gone by Season 3.), Rebecca "Becky" Hays, Sandra Wu, Yvonne Ruperti, J. Kenji Alt (now J. Kenji Lopez-Alt), and Erika Bruce are the chefs who explain and prepare the recipes in each episode as Kimball watches and comments. Usually only one or two of the chefs will appear in an episode. Hays joined the permanent cast in season 5, Bruce, Wu, and Ruperti each appear for a single season (seasons 5, 6, and 8, respectively), and Alt appears in seasons 7 and 8. All are prominent recipe testers or editors in Cooks Illustrated. Beginning in season 5, Cooks Illustrated staff chefs Hays, Bruce, Jeremy Sauer, and Matthew Card appeared in segments answering common viewer mail questions. Hays, Bruce, and Sauer joined the on-camera cast for season 6; Hays moved into credited cast member status beginning in season 7.
- Jack Bishop appears in most episodes in the Tasting Lab segment. In the Tasting Lab, he describes a tasting panel's opinions on different brands of the food or ingredient in question, as Kimball tastes several of the items blind. After Kimball provides his thoughts on the different varieties, Bishop reveals the brands that Kimball tasted and compares his thoughts to those of the tasting panel. Bishop and Kimball frequently refer to a running joke that Kimball's tastes are often vastly different than the tasting panel's; as an example, in a segment tasting bottled waters, Kimball picked Boston tap water over all the brands of bottled water. Bishop also hosts the Cook's IllustratedCook's IllustratedCook's Illustrated is an American cooking magazine published by America's Test Kitchen in Brookline, Massachusetts, every two months. It accepts no advertising and is characterized by extensive recipe testing and detailed instructions; the magazine also conducts thorough evaluations of kitchen...
podcastPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
. - Adam Ried appears in most episodes as the host of the Equipment Corner segment. In this segment, he shows several brands of a piece of kitchen equipment and often asks Kimball to use several of the items or eat food prepared with different brands. In the end, he identifies the test kitchen's preferred brand and demonstrates its key features. For particularly expensive items, he often identifies a best buy: an item that was ranked highly but is significantly less expensive than the top brand. Throughout the show's run, items previously tested in other seasons have been retested as technology changes warrant; in season 8, garlic presses were retested due to the failure of the non-stick coating on the previous winning brand after heavy usage, and a new favorite brand was chosen. Occasionally the Equipment Corner segment does not focus on a single piece of equipment; instead, a "buy it/don't buy it" format is used to pick the best items among newer, trendier kitchen gadgets. One of Ried's favorite "buy it" gadgets was a timer that came with its own lanyard so cooks could wear it around their necks and not have to be in visual range of the oven timer; Ried revealed, however, that the timer was normally used to stay one step ahead of local traffic law enforcers by signaling that it was time to feed the meter or move the car.
- John "Doc" Willoughby hosted the Science Desk segment in the show's first two seasons but was gradually phased out during season 3. After he became executive editor of GourmetGourmet (magazine)Gourmet magazine was a monthly publication of Condé Nast and the first U.S. magazine devoted to food and wine. Founded by Earle R. MacAusland and first published in 1941, Gourmet also covered "good living" on a wider scale....
magazine, there was no Science Desk segment for two seasons. - Jeremy Sauer appears periodically in the Science Desk segment, in which he explains the science behind a particular process key to an episode's featured recipe.
- Odd ToddOdd ToddOdd Todd is a website owned and operated by Todd Rosenberg, an unemployed "dotcommer", who has created a series of humorous Flash cartoons depicting the world of unemployment, after entering the world himself....
(Todd Rosenberg) designs animations for the Science Desk segment, illustrating such concepts as flambé, brining, marinating vs. dry spice rubs, and whether plastic or wooden cutting boards are better for overall kitchen hygiene. His segments made their debut in season 5 but were replaced by non-animated segments with Jeremy Sauer in season 6. The animations returned for season 7, interspersed with non-animated science segments done by Kimball and Sauer.
America's Test Kitchen Video Game
On March 28, 2010, the show's first video game, America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking was released for the Nintendo DS, featuring 300 recipes. It is also part of a series of cooking games that started with Shaberu! DS Oryōri NaviShaberu! DS Oryori Navi
is a cooking simulator for the Nintendo DS. It was released on July 20, 2006 in Japan.-Brief information:The software contains numerous Japanese recipes with step by step instructions, and the user can use the Nintendo DS's microphone for voice-recognition commands like turning pages...
and Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? / Personal Trainer: Cooking
Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat?
Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat?, known in North America as Personal Trainer: Cooking and in Japan as , is a digital cookbook for the Nintendo DS. The original, Japanese-language edition was released in Japan on December 4, 2008, in Europe in English on June 20, 2008, in Australia on July...
.
Underwriters
Underwriting spotUnderwriting spot
An underwriting spot is an announcement made on public broadcasting outlets, especially in the United States, in exchange for funding. These spots usually mention the name of the sponsor, and can resemble traditional television advertisements in commercial broadcasting...
s in the episodes include:
- amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
Kitchen Store (Season 1) - Geerlings & Wade, a wine distributor (Season 2)
- Sub-Zero RefrigeratorSub-Zero RefrigeratorSub-Zero Refrigerator is a brand of residential refrigeration and wine preservation products built in the USA. The company also manufactures kitchen appliances under the Wolf brand name.- History :...
Company (Seasons 1 & 2) - Sur La TableSur La TableSur La Table, Inc. is a privately held American retail company based in Seattle, Washington, that sells kitchenware products, including cookware, cutlery, cooks' tools, small electrics, tabletop and linens, bakeware, glassware and bar, housewares, food and outdoor...
(Seasons 2 & 3) - Wolf Appliance Company, an affiliate of Sub-Zero (Season 3)
- ThermadorThermador]Thermador is part of BSH Home Appliances Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH, the third largest appliance manufacturer in the world...
Appliance Company (Seasons 6 & 7) - Kohler (Seasons 6, 7 & 8)
- Formula 409 (Season 6)
- cooking.com (Seasons 6, 7 & 8)
- Vendange Wine Cellars (Season 6)
- Viva Paper Towels (Seasons 6, 7 & 8)
- Foodsaver Vacuum Sealers (Season 6)
- Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Wine Cellars (Seasons 7 & 8)
- Valley Fig Growers (Season 8)
See also
- Cooks Illustrated
- List of America's Test Kitchen episodes
- Cook's Country from America's Test KitchenCook's Country from America's Test KitchenCook's Country from America's Test Kitchen is a half-hour cooking show on PBS. The show is shot in a renovated 1806 farmhouse located in Rupert, Vermont.- Cast and Content :...
- The Best RecipeThe Best RecipeThe 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...