Table Of ContentTHE NEW FAMILY
COOKBOOK
ALL-NEW EDITION OF THE BEST-SELLING CLASSIC
WITH 1,100 NEW RECIPES
THE EDITORS AT AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN
BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS
Copyright © 2014 by the Editors at America’s Test Kitchen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever
without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles or reviews.
AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN
17 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The America’s Test Kitchen new family cookbook : all-new edition of the best-selling classic with 1,100
new recipes / the editors at America’s Test Kitchen.
pages cm
Includes index.
EPub ISBN: 978-1-940352-12-1
1. Cooking, American. I. America’s Test Kitchen (Firm)
TX715.A5496 2014
641.5973--dc23
2014009517
Hardcover: $40.00 US
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
DISTRIBUTED BY
America’s Test Kitchen
17 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Jack Bishop
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, BOOKS: Elizabeth Carduff EXECUTIVE FOOD EDITOR: Julia Collin
Davison SENIOR EDITOR: Debra Hudak
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Rachel Greenhaus DESIGN DIRECTOR: Amy Klee
ART DIRECTOR: Greg Galvan
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR: Taylor Argenzio DESIGNER: Jen Kanavos Hoffman
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Julie Cote PHOTOGRAPHY: Carl Tremblay, Keller + Keller, and
Anthony Tieuli STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Daniel J. van Ackere ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY:
Steve Klise ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR, PHOTOGRAPHY: Steve Klise CAST PHOTOGRAPH:
Christopher Churchill FOOD STYLING: Daniel Cellucci, Catrine Kelty, Marie Piraino, and Mary Jane
Sawyer PHOTOSHOOT KITCHEN TEAM:
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Chris O’Connor TEST COOK: Daniel Cellucci ASSISTANT TEST
COOK: Cecelia Jenkins PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: Guy Rochford SENIOR PRODUCTION
MANAGER: Jessica Quirk PROJECT MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR: Alice Carpenter PROJECT
MANAGER: Britt Dresser
WORKFLOW AND DIGITAL ASSET MANAGER: Andrew Mannone SENIOR COLOR AND
IMAGING SPECIALIST: Lauren Pettapiece PRODUCTION AND IMAGING SPECIALISTS:
Heather Dube and Lauren Robbins COPYEDITOR: Jeff Schier
PROOFREADERS: Pat Jalbert-Levine and Elizabeth Wray Emery INDEXER: Elizabeth Parson
Contents
Welcome to America’s Test Kitchen
Preface
Navigating this E-Book
Master Recipe Listing
Getting Started
CHAPTER 1: Appetizers
CHAPTER 2: Salads
CHAPTER 3: Soups, Stews, and Chilis
CHAPTER 4: Poultry
CHAPTER 5: Meat
CHAPTER 6: Seafood
CHAPTER 7: Vegetarian Entrées
CHAPTER 8: Grilling
CHAPTER 9: Casseroles
CHAPTER 10: Pasta
CHAPTER 11: Pizza and Sandwiches
CHAPTER 12: Vegetables
CHAPTER 13: Rice, Grains, and Beans
CHAPTER 14: Eggs and Breakfast
CHAPTER 15: Quick Breads
CHAPTER 16: Yeast Breads
CHAPTER 17: Cookies and Bars
CHAPTER 18: Cakes
CHAPTER 19: Pies and Tarts
CHAPTER 20: Fruit Desserts
CHAPTER 21: Puddings, Custards, and More
The America’s Test Kitchen Shopping Guide
Shopping For Ingredients
Conversions and Equivalencies
Index
Navigating this E-Book
This eBook includes a Table of Contents that allows you to jump to any chapter.
And each chapter has its own table of contents with links to every recipe in the
chapter.
We have also created a Recipe Index that lists all the recipes in the book,
divided by chapter, in one place. You can access the Recipe Index from the
Table of Contents. (It also appears at the end of the book.) Each title in the
Recipe Index is a link that will take you directly to that recipe.
This cookbook is filled with sidebars; throughout the book there are links to
this material where appropriate.
Most eBook reading devices also offer a search function that allows you to
type in exactly what you are looking for. Please read the documentation for your
particular eBook reader for more information on its search function and any
other navigational features it may offer.
WELCOME TO AMERICA’S TEST
KITCHEN
This book has been tested, written, and edited by the folks at America’s Test
Kitchen, a very real 2,500-square-foot kitchen located just outside of Boston. It
is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is
the Monday-through-Friday destination for more than four dozen test cooks,
editors, food scientists, tasters, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test
recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and
until we arrive at the “best” version.
We start the process of testing a recipe with a complete lack of conviction,
which means that we accept no claim, no theory, no technique, and no recipe at
face value. We simply assemble as many variations as possible, test a half-dozen
of the most promising, and taste the results blind. We then construct our own
hybrid recipe and continue to test it, varying ingredients, techniques, and
cooking times until we reach a consensus. The result, we hope, is the best
version of a particular recipe, but we realize that only you can be the final judge
of our success (or failure). As we like to say in the test kitchen, “We make the
mistakes, so you don’t have to.”
All of this would not be possible without a belief that good cooking, much
like good music, is indeed based on a foundation of objective technique. Some
people like spicy foods and others don’t, but there is a right way to sauté, there is
a best way to cook a pot roast, and there are measurable scientific principles
involved in producing perfectly beaten, stable egg whites. This is our ultimate
goal: to investigate the fundamental principles of cooking so that you become a
better cook. It is as simple as that.
If you’re curious to see what goes on behind the scenes at America’s Test
Kitchen, check out our daily blog, The Feed, at AmericasTestKitchenFeed.com,
which features kitchen snapshots, exclusive recipes, video tips, and much more.
You can watch us work (in our actual test kitchen) by tuning in to America’s
Test Kitchen (AmericasTestKitchen.com) or Cook’s Country from America’s
Test Kitchen (CooksCountryTV.com) on public television. Tune in to America’s
Test Kitchen Radio (ATKRadio.com) on public radio to listen to insights, tips,
and techniques that illuminate the truth about real home cooking. Want to hone
your cooking skills or finally learn how to bake—from an America’s Test
Kitchen test cook? Enroll in a cooking class at our online cooking school at
OnlineCookingSchool.com. And find information about subscribing to Cook’s
Illustrated magazine at CooksIllustrated.com or Cook’s Country magazine at
CooksCountry.com. Both magazines are published every other month. However
you choose to visit us, we welcome you into our kitchen, where you can stand by
our side as we test our way to the best recipes in America.
FACEBOOK.COM/AMERICASTESTKITCHEN
TWITTER.COM/TESTKITCHEN
YOUTUBE.COM/AMERICASTESTKITCHEN
INSTAGRAM.COM/TESTKITCHEN
PINTEREST.COM/TESTKITCHEN
AMERICASTESTKITCHEN.TUMBLR.COM
GOOGLE.COM/+AMERICASTESTKITCHEN
Preface
I made my first recipe at age 8—it was an old-fashioned chocolate cake with
seven-minute frosting. That recipe appeared in an old edition of the Joy of
Cooking, the go-to cookbook for my parents’ generation. Irma Rombauer, the
author, was a gracious host from the very first omelet to Cock-a-Leekie Soup;
she invited you into her kitchen and gave you the confidence to become a good
cook.
When we published the first edition of The America’s Test Kitchen Family
Cookbook in 2005, our objective was the same as Irma’s: to invite people into
our test kitchen to make them comfortable with the culinary arts. But as we have
learned more about teaching the culinary arts, about how to write and present
recipes, and how to make anyone and everyone successful in the kitchen, we
thought that it was time for a major revision. The America’s Test Kitchen New
Family Cookbook runs almost 900 pages, contains 302 finished recipe
photographs, over 1,100 step-by-step photos, and 1,356 recipes, including 1,139
new recipes for this revised edition.
One thing we have learned is that teaching cooking is something quite
different than just presenting recipes. Our 60 Learn How tutorials clearly set out
the basics from pan sauces, pot roasts, and buttermilk biscuits to pizza, quiche,
cobbler, and even stir-fried tofu. We also visually present over a dozen All
About sidebars on brining, setting up the grill, Asian ingredients, cheeses, and
grains.
And let’s not forget the recipes. After 20 years of test kitchen work, we have
developed unusual, sometimes remarkable, and always foolproof ways of
making classic recipes. Our Weeknight Roast Chicken turns the oven off halfway
through cooking. We use vodka in our Foolproof Pie Dough to make tender pie
crust that is also easy to roll out. Easier French Fries start in room-temperature,
not hot, oil and they are less greasy than regular fries. We reinvented Poached
Salmon by using only a small amount of liquid and lemon slices to keep the fish
above the water. A grated apple makes our Ultimate Blueberry Pie a winner
since apples are full of pectin that gives the final pie the perfect soft but firm
