Best Of America's Test Kitchen 2012 [Hardcover]

I'm already a subscriber to "Cook's Country" so I bought this book for my niece, along with a subscription to the magazine. I checked to make sure all of my favorite recipes from the 2011 magazine were included in this cookbook, and most of them are. Some of my favorites include:

Garlic knots--mince TEN garlic cloves and cook them in butter to make a dozen of the best-tasting garlic yeast rolls you'll ever eat. I made them for Thanksgiving and they didn't last until the next day, which averaged two rolls per person.

Make-ahead Meatloaf--this recipe makes two eight-inch loaves, and is a godsend for those nights when you just want to come home and pop something into the oven. The meat is an unusual combination of bratwurst (casings removed) and lean ground beef.

Eggplant Casserole--a great way to cook all of those eggplants from the garden, and this recipe eliminates the messy breading process.

Chocolate éclair cake--a simpler version of this recipe made with a box of instant vanilla pudding and Cool Whip was being passed around in my bridge group, but this recipe, although tricky to make, is also much tastier. The complicated testing process that the authors had to go through in order to come up with this recipe makes interesting reading, especially their failures: "But rather than a perky mousse, I had a runny pool that nearly dissolved the grahams."

This book is packed with tips on everything from making fish en papillote to cutting carrots into matchsticks (each step is photographed, with detailed text). The authors also suggest the best brand name products to use with their recipes, which is how I discovered Bull's-eye BBQ sauce.

If you know someone who enjoys the PBS show "America's Test Kitchen" or who loves to cook, this book would make a great gift. It includes recipes for starters and salads, soups and stews, vegetables and side dishes, breakfast and breads, pasta and pizza, meat, poultry, seafood, vegetarian entrées, and desserts--something for everyone.

I have all of the "Best of" ATK cookbooks. The first two volumes had over 200 recipes and are by far my favorite ATK books. The 2009 edition started the trend of less recipes for the same price. This 2012 volume has 160, which is down from 176 from the previous book.

Now I know it comes to opinion here but a lot of the recipes just didn't interest me this time. Nothing really stood out. This is the third time we have had a stuffed chicken breast recipe in this series. Grilled thin cut pork chops? Is that really the best of the year?

I'm not saying any of these recipes are bad, because I know they're not. Actually, I can guarantee they are all very good and up to the same standards of quality we have come to love and appreciate from this company. Even though I haven't cooked the two I mentioned, there has never been one dish that was not a 9 or 10 rating in my mind.

If this is the best of the year, then it was a bad year. Yet, they say they create over a thousand recipes every year, so why do we keep getting less?

The recipes that I have tried and loved: Thin Crust Pizza, Garlic Knots, Chicken Pot Pie with Crumble Topping, Juicy Pub-Style Burgers (with crispy shallots and blue cheese), Make-Ahead Pigs in a Blanket, Split Pea and Ham Soup and Sweet Cherry Pie. They were all very tasty, especially the Garlic Knots.

Pros:
Great tips, shortcuts, and information in the back.
Beautiful pictures
Taste and equipment tests

Con:
Less recipes
Could have been more diverse in the recipe choices
The breakfast and dessert sections are lacking

Conclusion: If you're like me and collect this series, then it's for you. You may be mildly disappointed in this one but I still think it's somewhat worth it.

Leave it to America's Test Kitchen to succeed once again with this book. I received it for Christmas and have already made a dozen of the dishes. Every single one turned out amazingly well...hands down the best version of these dishes I have ever tasted. It is essential to follow their instructions to a T, but the pay-off is well worth the effort. If you are looking for a cookbook that you will use often, this should be your top choice. Worth every penny.