[sawse]

Most Popular Recipes on America's Test Kitchen

1. Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin Medallions
2. Glazed Meatloaf
3. Skillet Chicken, Broccoli, Ziti, and Asiago Cheese
4. Potstickers
5. Oven-Barbecued Spareribs
6. Thick-Cut Pork Tenderloin Medallions
7. Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
8. Marinara Sauce
9. Spiced-Rubbed Picnic Chicken
10. Chicken Ki

[phatch]

Any particular reason you think this list is important?

[sawse]

Do you know what America's Test Kitchen does?

[phatch]

It earns the people involved with it a living.

But otherwise, yes, I know. And still, Any particular reason YOU think this list is important?

Phil

[sawse]

Just so you really know:

Our (ATK) mission is simple: to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods. To do this, we test each recipe 30, 40, sometimes as many as 70 times, until we arrive at the combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time, and equipment that yields the best, most-foolproof recipe.

List is Top 10 popular, trustworthy, tested, and optimized recipes for the American palate.

Try this prize winner from a grandma in the kitchen (she was younger then):
Peach Puzzle
url: cookscountry dot com / recipe.asp?recipeids=4185&bdc=50220

Thank you for your question: phatch Culinary Experience: Can't boil water
Your answer about ATK was so helpful.

[Harpua]

When my cookbooks were in storage and I was living at my parents' house, I used her ATK book often. I made a few things from there, and they were good. Let's see if I can remember...

Oh one recipe, was buttermilk biscuits. Instead of cutting them out, you drop them and roll them into a ball. I thought that was weird, but they turned out good, for b&g.

Also some baked goods and a couple of soups. Not bad, but not my favorite. My mom loves the book and the show.

[KCZ]

Sawse, if you want to start a discussion about that list of recipes, you probably shouldn't begin by insulting a long-time and very knowledgeable member of this forum.

But since you brought up the list, I think it's interesting that ATK's most popular recipes are primarily for meat. This speaks volumes about America's eating habits (and cholesterol level).

I also find it interesting that only 2 of those recipes are included in ATK's "The New Best Recipe." Do the editors believe that what America wants to eat isn't the necessarily the same as the best dishes possible? Or do they just want me to buy a bunch of different cookbooks to get all America's favorite recipes?

[phatch]

Originally Posted by sawse

Just so you really know:
List is Top 10 popular, trustworthy, tested, and optimized recipes for the American palate.

Try this prize winner from a grandma in the kitchen (she was younger then):
Peach Puzzle
url: cookscountry dot com / recipe.asp?recipeids=4185&bdc=50220

Thank you for your question: phatch Culinary Experience: Can't boil water
Your answer about ATK was so helpful.

Yes, I already do know. I get spammed every few months to subscribe to Cook's Country. I watched Chris and Brigitte make the very Marinara on the list on Saturday, as I have also watched many other episodes. I was unimpressed with the Marinara. I've been disappointed in most every recipe they take to the grill. If they're using a spice rub, I think they have a lot to learn about combining flavors.

My point about asking you about the list was covered by Harpua a bit. You posted a list of recipe by titles. You didn't say if you agreed, if you thought they were of any particular quality, if you had cooked any of them or anything else. That a recipe gets the most hits on a website is no indication that they were actually cooked, or even liked if they were cooked. Yes, there's something to be said for ATK's approach, but there are also flaws.

Taste is not universal for example. People's preferences vary. An analogy will help me make this point. Movie Critics supply reviews of movies. As I get to know a particular critic's taste, I can more accurately use his/her reviews to judge my reaction to a movie. I don't have to agree with his review to do this. If he routinely reviews a particular genre more harshly, science fiction for example, and I like science fiction, I can learn to add a few more points to those movies than he gives them so even a negative review can influence me postitively.

By hiding the comments of the reviewers of these subjective things, we have no ability to really determine how their judgements reflect our reality.

This is the year I'm letting my Subscription to Cook's Illustrated lapse. I enjoyed it for a time, and I learned a fair bit of stuff. But they're not offering any real level of new insight. I own a number of their books. I haven't bought one for some time. I'm finding my cooking has moved beyond their target audience. I often refer to things I've learned from them here on this site. When someone asks for a product review or technique, I frequently mention what I remember from CI as they do provide some value. But they are not the final judge of Best by long shot.

As to why I listed Can't boil water on my profile, that's a bit convoluted. The field was added somewhat recently. I was in tweaking something in my profile and I couldn't close my profile without entering something for that field. I build my judgment of a person's skills and knowledge through their posts and thought the field was mostly useless. So I gave it the most useless entry available.

[KYHeirloomer]

Hmmmmm? Frankly, I thought the list was an ad for ATK. Basically, thinly disguised spam. The later responses merely solidified that belief. First we get a big-time plug for ATK, and then an attack on a valued member.

Sort of the Lenny Bruce school of winning friends and influencing people.

I notice, too, that sawse spares no opportunity to promote ATK (see for instance his comments on the Devil In The Kitchen thread), and have to wonder what his connection with them might be.

[sawse]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

then an attack on a valued member

I tried being nice, and I knew your valued member had 2000+ posts, but he insisted on being a smart-twit even after I gently probed and prompted about his knowledge of America's Test Kitchen.

He deserved the gentle ribbing that he got.

Let's talk about your characterization of my alleged attack. I stated:

Thank you for your question: phatch Culinary Experience: Can't boil water
Your answer about ATK was so helpful.

I repeated his own tongue in cheek description of himself, and I accurately implied that his smarty answer held no content.

Your characterization of that as an "attack" requires the "willing suspension of disbelief." Seems like your ego is just bursting to attack and mischaracterize someone in order to inflate your own importance and self-esteem.

Yes, I am relative new. But I do not have to sit like bump on a log as target for senior members to attack gentle, well meant, good content posts.

Regarding Phatch, today, he did come through with new comments that contained thoughtful content and sincerity.

-----------

Regarding the value of popularity:
ATK by itself cooked the recipes 30 to 70 times each, so they have been tested.
ATK gets 270,000 visitors per month, which is 10 X Cheftalk, which gets 21,000. Let's assume that a significant number of of ATK's 3.5 million visitors per year are sincere in their votes and comments about recipes. (After all, votes drive USA democracy and votes (links) drive the WWW Internet, so in sufficient quantities votes have real value.)
ATK's list of 10 most popular recipes is a valid as any other, and more valid than many.

[sawse]

Originally Posted by KYHeirloomer

(see for instance his comments on the Devil In The Kitchen thread)

In a stream of conciousness, my comment/response in that thread was the precursor to this new thread that I created, which has some intrinsic value.

You will have to dig deeper and be smarter than you have been so far in order to make a valid critique.

I should ask if you found my post about the history of French cookbooks to be too shallow, or too deep for your tastes.

[Anneke]

If this was an actual conversation, it never would have degenerated to this. Written conversation can certainly be tricky, nuances missed, tones of voices and irony lost... Can we please kiss and make up? You all have valid points and bruised egoes, naturally. Let's move on constructively please.

[phatch]

Originally Posted by sawse

Regarding the value of popularity:
ATK by itself cooked the recipes 30 to 70 times each, so they have been tested.
ATK gets 270,000 visitors per month, which is 10 X Cheftalk, which gets 21,000. Let's assume that a significant number of of ATK's 3.5 million visitors per year are sincere in their votes and comments about recipes. (After all, votes drive USA democracy and votes (links) drive the WWW Internet, so in sufficient quantities votes have real value.)
ATK's list of 10 most popular recipes is a valid as any other, and more valid than many.

By which logic McDonalds is the best food in the world and Olive Garden is the pinnacle of Italian cooking.

Self-selected polls are not particularly reliable. And again, I know nothing about the people voting so why should I trust their opinions. My experience with the food itself tells me it's not the BEST.

Best actually has a legal meaning for the purposes of labeling. You can call anything the Best without having to prove it. But if you call it better, you have to have some empirical data about why it's better than other things.

Phil

[sawse]

Originally Posted by phatch

By which logic McDonalds is the best food in the world

This is true for its intended purpose, which is openly stated by McDonalds, and proven by millions of people consuming billions of meals.

My experience with the food itself tells me it's not the BEST.

Best actually has a legal meaning for the purposes of labeling. You can call anything the Best without having to prove it. But if you call it better, you have to have some empirical data about why it's better than other things.

"BEST", best, looking for "best" in a post by sawse; word count = 0.

Edit: ATK uses "best" in its mission statement as follows:

until we arrive at the combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time, and equipment that yields the best, most-foolproof recipe

In this context, "best" is the best combination of variables for a given recipe. But they make no claim to be the best food in the world.

[phatch]

I wasnt' referring to you using best, but Cook's Illustrated/ATK labeling their books "The Best Recipe".

Phil