Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Reading pleasure as well as recipes
Cooks Illustrated is like no other cooking magazine I have ever read. It's a sort of Consumers Reports for cooking, aimed at the beginning gourmand. The magazine includes recipes, tips sent in by readers, standard methods for important cooking procedures, reviews of gadgets or food items, and reviews of cookbooks. All of these are accompanied by beautiful black-and-white illustrations and photos of the foods and techniques used (which explains the "Illustrated" part of the magazine title).My favorite articles are those that delve into the development of the recipe featured. These articles all provide a standard format of describing the "perfect" representation of the items and then the authors explain their process for creating their final recipes and the method by which to read and make the recipes. While this sounds scientific (and indeed, it is), the writing is delightful and down-to-earth, not dry or esoteric as other gourmet magazines. In addition, sidebar articles explore choosing particular ingredients or comparisons of different brands or gadgets relating to the recipe shown and give clear direction where the more elusive ingredients and gadgets can be purchased. While I am not always confident that the recipes in other magazines or cookbooks have been tested, I am always certain that the recipes in Cooks Illustrated have been rigorously reviewed and have been designed to be made by the average cook, not trained culinary experts. If you are seeking a magazine that provides tried-and-true recipes for basic food items (ranging from Beef Stroganoff to Salade Nicoise), this is a perfect choice. It is obvious that this magazine is a work of love for its editors and writers. There are no advertisements, and the only color photos are on the inside of the back page of the magazine. (At one time, Cooks Illustrated had a special featured area on Amazon.com. The articles posted there are still available on Amazon.com, but you have to dig. Search under the book The Best Recipe, click through to the book description, and under "Book Information" in the left column, click the Amazon.com articles link and explore from there. These articles are great--albeit more brief and non-illustrated--versions of the articles in the magazine.)
Rating: - Don't let the high price fool you, CI is a STEAL!
I can't think of another culinary magazine that delivers so much good, well considered information each month. Editor Christopher Kimball has such a clear, thoughtful vision of what he wants to communicate, that the reader just gets pulled along. The recipes in this magazine are uniformly excellent. They are well researched, yes, but more importantly, they are well edited. There is no fluff; each word is there for a reason. Instead of wading through endless self-important puffery (like some other culinary magazines I won't mention), Cook's Illustrated has mastered the knack for providing just enough information to educate and entertain. It never preaches, never bores. The illustrations are top-flight, and if you can't learn 50 worthwhile things from every issue, then you're not paying attention! Cook's Illustrated is not only my favorite cooking magazine, it's my favorite magazine--period.
Rating: - Wonderful Gift Idea for someone who loves Cooking!!!!!!!!!
This Magazine is my #1 Favorite out of all 16 subscriptions that I had received within the past 4 years. As the other reviews mentioned it goes into such detail that I often times carry it along as reading material for myself when I'm going out of town. I have bought this as gifts for at least 4 friends of mine in the last 2 years alone. I really enjoy the time the writers take in the Test Kitchen's explaining the "why" and the "how" the recipes work or doesn't for that matter. I find that this is one of those Magazine that is worth every penny no matter how much the cost. They review cookbooks and in their very own in depth fashion, go into detail in describing how they test the recipes in these cookbooks. And for someone like myself that buy at least 5 cookbooks per month this cuts down on the cost of buying books full of recipes that really aren't tested. I find it interesting when they "test" various products and appliances... I can't even begin to express what a value this subscription is all I can say is that every person I purchase this for has renewed their subscription on their own. So what does that tell you huh? BTW You can always purchase the Cookbook index that they put out at the end of every year it has every issue that came out. Happy Reading
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