TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S): America's Test Kitchen

Howdy, y'all, and greetings from deep behind the orange curtain in beautiful Irvine, California, a baked or chilled dish that has been made light by adding whisked egg whites.

TOURBUS is made possible by the kind support of our sponsors. Please take a moment to visit today's sponsors and thank them for keeping our little bus of Internet happiness on the road week after week.

On with the show ...

America's Test Kitchen

Since 1997, I have been an avid reader of wonderful cooking publication called "Cook's Illustrated." Published six times a year, Cook's Illustrated is sort of like Consumer Reports for cooking. Each issue is free of advertising and features exceptional recipes, useful cooking tips, and in-depth kitchen product reviews.

You can find Cook's Illustrated Web site at

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ .

What I like the most about Cook's Illustrated are the recipes. The folks at Cook's Illustrated actually test their recipes before they print them (GASP!), constantly tweaking the ingredients, preparation instructions, and cooking time until the recipe is perfect. Or at least perfect for the taste-testers at Cooks Illustrated.

It's not uncommon for the folks at Cook's Illustrated test kitchens to test over a dozen different variations of the same recipe before they find the one that is hands-down the best.

That's the good news. The bad news is that, like Consumer Reports, most of the neat things on Cook's Illustrated's Web site -- like, oh, say, the RECIPIES! -- are locked up tighter than a coon dog full of 12 pounds of government cheese. Unless you're willing to pay US$24.95 a year to subscribe to the Cook's Illustrated Web site, the only recipes you can see are at

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipe/default.asp#free .

Don't pout. There's a silver lining.

The folks at Cook's Illustrated recently launched a nation-wide television show on public broadcasting called "America's Test Kitchen." The show has a companion Web site. And the recipes on this site are FREE! Woo-hoo!

Well, kind of free. You still have to subscribe to the site. But the subscription is free. All you have to do is fill out a form.

Just point your Web browser to

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/ .

The site has six main sections:

1. Recipes -- 70 field-tested recipes for stuff ranging from
classic fajitas to baba ghanoush.

2. Episode Guide -- information from the first 39 episodes.

3. Tasting Lab -- want to know what the best-tasting all-purpose
flour, bittersweet chocolate, or even canned tuna is? This section is for you.

4. Science Desk -- this section is for the "On Food and Cooking
Crowd" who want to know the science behind brining, the Maillard reaction, mayonnaise emulsification, and much more.

5. Equipment Corner -- now that you know the best ingredients,
why not get the best equipment? This section shows you reviews of the best kitchen equipment from box graters and bread knives to whisks and zesters.

6. TV Schedules -- a not so up-to-date listing of the stations
and time of day that you watch America's Test Kitchen on your local, US public television station.

A *BUNCH* of the information that you'll find in this site is pulled from Cook's Illustrated numerous cookbooks. This can be a bit confusing because the site has a lot of "Add Book to Cart" links scattered throughout. Click on these links only if you want to purchase the book from which the recipe, taste test, science article, or equipment review is copied. To actually *SEE* a recipe, taste test, science article, or equipment review without buying a book, just click on the black link. [You'll see what I'm talking about when you visit the site.]

Now let's get you registered with the site. Go to the America's Test Kitchen site at

http://www.americastestkitchen.com/

and then click on the "Recipes" link. Click on the recipe that interests you. A new page appears asking you to register. Fill in the form, leaving the last line blank, and then click on the submit button.

For some stupid reason, once you submit the form the site dumps you back to the homepage. Grrr. Click on Recipes again, and then click on the recipe in which you are interested.

Ta-da! :)

Spend some time digging through the site. It is a treasure trove of cooking information. The "Equipment Corner" is especially worthy of your attention.

Enjoy!

TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S): America's Test Kitchen

TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE WEEK

SALAD (adjective). Not hollow. Usage: "Hurry in today, folks, and git this salad wood table fer only $99!"

[Special thanks to Barbara Manning for today's wurd]

           .~~~.  ))
 (\__/)  .'     )  ))       Patrick Douglas Crispen
 /o o  \/     .~
{o_,    \    {              crispen@netsquirrel.com
  / ,  , )    \            http://www.netsquirrel.com/ 
  `~  '-' \    } ))    AOL Instant Messenger: Squirrel2K
 _(    (   )_.'
'---..{____}                  Warning: squirrels.