FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Cook's Illustrated a satisfying read

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

An exception is Cook's Illustrated, a bimonthly cooking guide that I never fail to read cover-to-cover or save (at least until I can buy the annual bound volume that includes all the magazines for the year). I hesitate to call this a magazine because it features no celebrity chef interviews, no trend-tracking features, very few color photographs and no advertising. Instead, Cook's Illustrated makes use of detailed line drawings, employs a straightforward and restrained voice and is so full of information that it's like a miniature encyclopedia.

Regular features include three or four in-depth articles on specific recipes ("Perfect Cheese Omelets," "Perfecting Pasta with Garlic and Oil"), an equipment comparison, a useful compendium of tips from home cooks and chefs nationwide, product taste tests and a resource guide so you can find the ingredients and tools they used.

Recently at a dinner party, I was seated next to a man who likes to cook and we had one of the most satisfying conversations I've had in a long time, comparing notes on pots and pans, describing recent successes and failures, and swapping brand names and e-mail addresses.

Reading Cook's Illustrated is like that. I sink into the sofa, take up the latest issue and lose myself in long, detailed discussions of how, exactly, to get the truest fruit flavor in a cherry cobbler, three steps to rid tuna salad of watery texture and bland flavor, or why you should stir-fry or braise bok choy, but not blanch or steam it.

These people are serious and they share a cooking philosophy that is also mine: It matters. It matters what pan you use, whether your oven thermostat is correctly calibrated, whether the water is truly boiling, whether you cover the pot, whether you chop or dice, how hot the oil is, whether the vegetables are really fresh, and on and on. These "matters" are what make the difference between an unforgettable dish and "something to eat."

The staff of cooks routinely take recipes apart, testing and retesting and testing again to determine, for example, that a heavy-bottomed, deep-sided Dutch oven actually does a better job of frying crispy chicken than the old-fashioned cast-iron skillet.

Cook's also has an excellent Web site where much of the material is free, although you must become a site subscriber to conduct database searches. And its new book, "The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook" (Boston Common Press, $29.95), based on the TV show and the magazine, is also beautifully done.

Cook's Illustrated is $29.70/year, $55/two years; (800) 526-8442; PO Box 7446, Red Oak, IA 51591-0446; cooksillustrated.com.