The Best Make-Ahead Recipe - Magazines - Good Grape Wine Company

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
In its many publications and on TV, Cook's Illustrated/Americas Test Kitchen offers exhaustively tested "best" recipes, tips, and product evaluations. Among its cookbooks, The Best Make-Ahead Recipe offers over 300 formulas that can be prepared in advance, held, and finished later. The recipes range widely from pre-prepared oven-ready dishes like Baked Fish Provencal; "double-duty" recipes, such as Mexican-Style Pork and Chorizo Stew, that use leftovers imaginatively; slow-cooker items like Tuscan white bean soup; and desserts, such as a chocolate souffle that can go from freezer to oven successfully. In addition, the fully illustrated book offers helpful charts like How to Reheat, which provides advice according to portion size and heating method; special-occasion menus that can be started up to a month ahead; and discerning product and equipment advice.

As with other Cook's Illustrated projects, Make-Ahead includes recipes that have appeared previously in its other works, though a majority of these have been amended with make-ahead or scaling-up data. Almost all the recipes are prefaced with their trademark testing "diaries," exhaustively detailed accounts of the recipe-making process ("With the onion shells figured out, we focused next on the filling...," gives the flavor), which some readers will find enlightening, but others will think excessive. Of course, certain recipes, or recipe classes, like that for desserts, are necessarily made wholly or partially in advance--but the book's point is to provide formulas designed to yield superior results even when the uncompleted dishes are held, as most can be, in the refrigerator or freezer. Mission accomplished. Readers will find the book a consistently reliable resource for superior make-ahead dishes for everyday and special-occasion cooking. --Arthur Boehm

Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Cinnamon Rolls Rule September 28, 2008
If for nothing else, the cinnamon roll recipe is to-die for in this book. I am NOT a very experienced cook and my cinnamon rolls were gobbled by my family in minutes. The dough was easy to manage and I loved the clear instructions and illustrations.

4 out of 5 stars

Make your life a little bit easier. February 8, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

It was so interesting the trial and error of each recipe. They make suggestions why you use one product over another when you refrigerate or freeze your food. Great information regarding kitchen gadgets as well. I have several recipes marked to whip up and have made several things already. Some I didn't care for and others where very time consuming. The manicotti recipe is great fresh or from the freezer. It was hard to tell the difference between the two. I can't wait to make the chocolate molten cakes and the apple turnovers. You can freeze both of these and have them ready for company.
The roasted chicken filled my kitchen with heavenly smells yesterday and it tasted yummy. So tender and juicy!

5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous Cookbook From A Cookbook Collecter September 13, 2007
8 out of 12 found this review helpful

I have well over 200 cookbooks. I purchased this cookbook because I love cookbooks of course and I love the publication Cook's. If you have to have color photographs this book is not for you. But it is so well illustrated in black and white that you cannot miss a trick with it.
Very well illustrated and a great reference book. I would suggest all in the series for a beginner cook too. I LOVE it. I can honestly say that I do not have a cookbook in this catagory. It is truly worth the money and should be in every cooks library.

5 out of 5 stars

easy to understand directions September 7, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

they actually tell you how to make things not try to make them more complecated than they need to be. easy to understand.great product.The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook

3 out of 5 stars

Do You Own "Cover & Bake?" August 26, 2007
109 out of 115 found this review helpful

If you don't own "Cover & Bake," this a five-star book; skip down to "Here's What I Like ..."

I think this may be the lowest rating I've ever given to a CI book (I own seven in the Best series and a handful of others.) If you own "Cover & Bake," you have many of the recipes in this book, hence the low rating.

Some of the shared recipes include:
Slow Cooker Favorites (5 of the 17 are shared with C&B)
-Pot Roast
-Beef Stew
-Brisket
-Chili
-Beef & Barley Soup

Sides (There are two shared recipes)

Casseroles (There are more variations of the recipes in this book) both books share:
-Baked Ziti
-Lasagna
-Manicotti
-Mac & Cheese
-Chicken Enchiladas
-Chicken Pot Pie
-Beef Pot Pie
-Tamale Pie
-Shepherd's Pie
Lamb & Eggplant Moussaka
-Chicken & Rice Casserole

Breakfast & Breads (only the bread recipes are unique to this book. What irks me is that the same photo is used for the start of the breakfast chapters in each book.) Shared recipes are:
-24-Hour Omelet
-French Toast Casserole
-Breakfast Strata

Here is what I like about the book
-TOC in each chapter
-The Double-Duty Cooking Chapter is great -- cook a little extra now for tomorrow's dish that won't taste like leftovers
-All of the stews and the majority of the casseroles can be made ahead and frozen. Outside of those categories, you'll find maybe 10 additional recipes that can be frozen.
-Desserts
-Make-Ahead Holiday Menus

If you don't have "Cover & Bake" get this book. When reviewed in isolation, it is a five-star book. If you're deciding which to choose, this book has a range of recipes across appetizers, sides, main courses and desserts. If you're looking for a complete make-ahead meal, this book is the way to go.