The Complete American Cookbook Is a Very Reliable Recipe Resource.
Welcome to Cookbook of the Week. In this series, I highlight cookbooks that are particularly unique, easy to follow, or just special to me. While searching for a specific recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has its own magic.
I spend most of the year randomly browsing blogs for dinner ideas, quick recipes, and inspiration, but when the holiday season approaches, I just don’t have time to mess around. Honestly, the internet is full of junk and cooking content, and it takes time to sort through the AI nastiness and other untested recipes and find something good. A girl needs a reliable resource for her holiday preparations. For me, it’s the TV show cookbook Complete America’s Test Kitchen (2001-2019).
The title doesn’t roll off the tongue, so from now on I’ll call it the ATK Cookbook . A few years ago, my father gave me this monstrous cookbook. Like a true ungrateful brat, I initially dismissed it because it lacked a cute cover and seemingly any theme. But I’m also obsessed with cookbooks (obviously), so I kept coming back to them anyway. With 26 chapters and a seemingly endless supply of recipes, I soon noticed that it seemed to have everything I ever wanted in a good, reliable recipe, from New York cheesecake to sticky toffee pudding , Philly cheesesteak and light handmade pasta. There’s even a whole section dedicated to Thanksgiving .
I decided to test the cookbook. With my annual Christmas party on the horizon, I settled on Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake. I followed the instructions, which can be difficult for me as I like to experiment. Trusting the process, I blotted the pumpkin as recommended in the notes. I filled the water bath. I even used heavy cream even though my boyfriend is lactose intolerant. After baking, the cheesecake fell apart perfectly without a single crack. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try it—one of the risks of baking a new recipe for a party is that tasting it will have to wait until show time. That evening I cut into the cheesecake while people were still milling around the party. I figured if it was a flop, I could probably throw it back in the fridge before anyone noticed.
There was no need for this: after trying it, I started telling everyone that they should try it immediately. I may have started to flaunt it on my shoulders like a little MVP pumpkin. Creamy, dense, but not spherical; slightly tart and with a real pumpkin flavor, this is and will always be my favorite pumpkin cheesecake recipe.
And this is just one of the recipes in the ATK Cookbook.
A little about the book
What I love most about this cookbook is that each recipe begins with a small but important blurb: “Why this recipe works.” Every recipe, especially a classic one, has an inherent difficulty or problem—a common problem that plagues us all, from soggy schnitzel to cracked cheesecake. America’s Test Kitchen is a pillar of testing and testing. This rigorous process means that by following their recipes, I don’t end up with tasteless bread or spend extra time on techniques that are proven to have no impact on the finished dish.
The next benefit of the ATK Cookbook is that I don’t have to look anywhere else if I want a good recipe right away. It’s all here: easy chicken breast preparations, instructions for making the perfect omelet, and a section on roasting and carving a turkey. Some recipes also include a sidebar with pictures of a specific process, such as stuffing a chicken breast.
Great cookbook for creative recipes
Because this cookbook has all the popular recipes and then some (from the classics to the lesser-known), it’s perfect for the cook who doesn’t want to spend an hour surfing the Internet or hopping from cookbook to cookbook to find a foolproof chicken Milanese . Basically, this is for the cook who doesn’t need a bunch of opinions, just wants to start cooking.
It’s also great for someone interested in food science. While ATK tries not to get too clever, the notes and “why this recipe works” sections offer thoughtful analysis and assessment of recipe problems. This is a good mental workout for anyone who wants to start experimenting with their own originals.
Recipes You Can Expect
Don’t look for the sweet personal anecdotes that precede each recipe or the glamorous close-up shots of a mysterious hand sprinkling almonds on a cake. This is a simple cooking resource. There are good pictures, but they are small and sometimes black and white. There are notes at the front of the recipe, but they relate to temperature, timing, or other practical issues. You don’t get a glimpse into the lives of brilliant people in a test kitchen. Instead, you’ll get a damn good recipe that will never let you down.
Dish I chose this week
I fell down the rabbit hole trying to choose a recipe from this book. I wanted to demonstrate something a little complex, but when I couldn’t decide on one thing, I realized I was doing it all wrong. I decided to cook what I wanted to eat. So I chose lemon pie.
I’ve tried baking sponge cakes before and they always turn out either too dense or too similar to a regular loaf-shaped cake. The note at the top of the recipe was essentially complaining about the same things and explaining what they did to fix it. Instead of going with the classic “a pound of each ingredient” approach and no baking powder, they add a little baking powder to keep the cake from feeling heavy, but not to the point where the cake loses its typical pound texture.
I’ve never made this recipe before, but I will make it again. Finally, a pound cake that lived up to my standards: high rise, crispy outer ring, and a dense, melt-in-your-mouth crumb. The cake is topped with lemon syrup, which soaks in to add a bit of crunch, but you could skip it if you just wanted the lemon zest flavor in the batter.
How to buy
My edition is outdated, but there is now an updated version for 2024 , and the 25th Anniversary of America’s Test Kitchen cookbook came out this month. You can buy it at a regular bookstore, but be aware that it’s a pretty heavy baby, so I hope you have a car or bike basket to carry it home. (It’s worth stopping by the ATK store and checking out other cookbooks; they often offer discounts.)