Obsessed

Hi, my name is Amanda, and I am obsessed.

With Cook's Illustrated.

When we first got to Musky Hunt, Theresa whipped out a magazine that I had never seen before called Cook's Illustrated. Not just any Cook's Illustrated...the "All-Time Best Recipes" edition. As I initially paged through it, I will fully admit that I was unimpressed. I was so used to the flashy, sensory-overloaded cooking magazines that this seemed about as interesting as stale bread to me. It was mostly text. What little pictures they did have were in black and white. It certainly wasn't the light vacation reading I was looking forward to.

But then I started reading...and really? Wow. This magazine is like the Consumer Reports for anyone who loves cooking. They test all sorts of things, from the best vanilla extract (plain old McCormick) to the best saran wrap. Not only that, all their recipes are tested and re-tested until they are just right.

Take, for example, pie crusts. Cook's Illustrated wasn't content with the status quo pie crust of shortening, butter, flower, salt, and water. You know the one...it breaks easily, is barely flaky, and so finicky that you're ready to throw it out the window by the time you've spent an hour and a half mixing, chilling, rolling, chilling... You get the point.

CI decided to put pie crusts to the test. They tried tons of combinations and explained why each one didn't work. And then they published the mother of all pie crust recipes...using vodka. (Yes, now you can justify your purchase of a jug of vodka! Rejoyce!)

Armed with a new subscription to CI and their recipe for pumpkin pie, I decided to put them to the test.

As promised, the crust came together like a charm. In fact, it came together better than any other pie crust I had ever made. Since there is so much more liquid in the crust and the alcohol cooks off while baking, the dough is quite a bit stickier than a traditional recipe would be...but you're allowed to use up to 1/4 cup of flour while rolling it out, thereby solving that problem.

The pie filling itself was pretty interesting. CI said they were out to solve the problem of pumpkin pies not actually tasting like pumpkins, so they added things like fresh ginger, candied yams, and maple syrup to bring out the pumpkin flavor. I was definitely skeptical, but these people obviously know what they are doing.

In the end, I think it was the best pumpkin pie I have ever tasted. The hubby thinks it needs more "pumpkin pie spice"...eh. That's easily fixed.


The point is, I am obsessed with Cook's Illustrated and that's not going to end any time soon.