# Which is your favorite culinary publication?



## papa (Oct 5, 2001)

Dear Friends:

I subscribe to several culinary monthly publications. It is a requirement of my chosen profession.

My favorite culinary publication is the SAVEUR magazine. I was wondering what other people like to read. I am looking forward to reading your opinions.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

I enjoy Bon Appé*** and Cook's Illustrated for the discussion about each recipe. I also read some French magazines.


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## foodnfoto (Jan 1, 2001)

The only ones I read cover to cover are Savuer, Vogue Entertaining (Australian) and Cook's Illustrated. The stories are well researched and the recipes thoroughly tested. Nothing irritates me more than published recipes that don't work. Most times, I've found, the text (instructions) to the recipes have been edited to fit space requirements by copy editors and often leave out vital information. One note, the recipes in Redbook magazine are always very good, well-tested, and work every time.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Hi Papa..

I enjoy Food Arts and Art Culinare.
Food arts has some fun inside scoop and great recipes and Art Culinare is the top dog.
( I think)
cc


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Waitrose Food Illistrated (British)!!!! wonderful stories great pix 
Savuer is great for American mag
Gastronimca from U of Cal is good (very technical but well done...not lite reading
William Sonoma has a new one out and I've enjoyed their last couple issues (doesn't compare to Waitrose though)
Good Food (British)is pretty good too, but I have a darn hard time translating the english!!! 
My two cents....actually more like $100 a month habit...tough being a foodie mag junkie


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## seattledeb (Nov 5, 2000)

Saveur, Food & Wine, Cook's Illustrated, Bon Appetit, Sunset (great recipes)...hmm that's about it...


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## holydiver (Aug 9, 2000)

Cuisine,Fine cooking,saveur,Gourmet,Bon Appetit,Chile Pepper,Chocolatier,Culinary Trends, and Pastry art and design.


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

There have been some interesting and informative discussions on this topic in the past here at cheftalk you might want to look at: 

Trade magazines

Magazines

food periodicals

[ March 15, 2001: Message edited by: cchiu ]


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## papa (Oct 5, 2001)

Thanks everybody and thank you cchoiu for posting the links. I am going to visit them.

I checked out Gastronomica. I wanted to place an advertisement in their first issue promoting my olive oils. They sent me a beautiful sample of what I should expect their first issue to look like. I called them back and I expressed my concern that out of the three stories they were presenting, one was about promoting fast food culture and the second was about promoting Genetically engineered foods. I telephoned Gastonomica's marketing department and I asked if that was just an accident (66.66% of the stories presented were issues that I feel very strongly against) or if that was a requirement imposed by grant donors to the University. As you probably know, Gastronomica is published by the University of California and I assume that they receive a lot of research funds from corporations that promote fast foods and GE foods. They never responded to my question. It is for this reason that I never advertised or subscribed to their magazine.

I have found Cook's Illustrarted to be a great publication. My only criticism is that they restrict their approach to the culinary arts to the technical aspect. I strongly believe that you cannot create art without the culture. 

I agree with FoodnFoto's posting. There is nothing more irritating than a recipe that has been edited to fit the page. This is how I arrived at Saveur.


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

My response is little off the wall. I read and reread two texts: Time/Life's Pate's, Terrines and Galantines and Raymond Oliver's La Cuisine. I guess I'm into older, more rich style French foods requiring long hours of preparation - the snob that I am. 

[ March 15, 2001: Message edited by: kokopuffs ]


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Cook's Illustrated is pretty much the standard. I do enjoy Saveur but I find I will read a Cook's Ill from cover to cover.


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## kylew (Aug 14, 2000)

I read Cook's Illustrated, Bon Appetit and Saveur. I love the detail of Cook's, the way they explain what happened the first 10 ways the tried something before arriving at their conclusion. If they just presented their conclusion, one might be tempted to try one of their "failures" unknowingly.

I love the way Saveur can transport me to another place, the way they focus on the entire cuisine of a region. The photography is great. Things jump off the page and onto my tongue. I have yet to be dissapointed when something that looked great on the page has made it onto my plate.

I am getting a little tired of the Special Advertising Sections in Bon Appetit. They have some great things in the mag but it more and more difficult to find them.

[ March 15, 2001: Message edited by: KyleW ]


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## pete (Oct 7, 2001)

I love Saveur. It is a great mag. and one of the few that really talks about food in depth in its articles. My other favorite is Food Arts. I think it is one of the most important things that a chef can read. It keeps you very up-to-date on what is happening in the culinary world around the country. It keeps on top of trends, what's hot and what's not. They also have some great in depth articles on specific foods.


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## pooh (Mar 13, 2001)

Cook's Illustrated
Saveur
Fine Cooking
Food & Wine
Waitrose (great website too!)
Chocolatier
Pastry Art & Design


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

Wow, being the new kid at this site I probably shouldn't say this but I'm just shocked! Cooks magazine needs to hire a chef because they can't cook!

Granted I'm stickly doing pastrys last several years,(pro pastry chef) but nothing I've ever tried from them was remotely worth repeating. Granted it's a fun read...everything seems logical but the baking recipes **** with-out exception.

I prefer the recipes from Chocolatier over Pastry Art & Design....in real life who can sell half the crazy flavor combos or get the exotic produce year round the chefs promote. Chocolatier really has more recipes and I'd rather read recipes than who's won which award or opened that bakery. I'd be more interested in pastry Arts articles if they got more into depth instead of scratching the surface of topics. They don't give enough detail, they still write as if we're home bakers reading their publication.

The big booo ha you'll all be shocked to hear from me is that I like the recipes from Martha's magazine. Forget talking about her, or what she does or sells, I'm not talking about her specificly...but the recipes she gets (alot from very respected chefs) are tested and always excellent!


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## chrose (Nov 20, 2000)

Give me Food Arts, Art Culinaire, Pastry Arts and Design and "Konditerai und Cafe" and I'm happy!

"Konditerai und Cafe" is a swiss mag. that has some incredible work shown in it and great recipes to boot. There's a foldout that is translated into French and English for those that don't read German. Last time I looked it was expensive as **** though!


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## campchef (Jan 5, 2001)

Boy, you can tell who in this crowd is making the big bucks! If I had a couple of hundred bucks a year to to spend on mags and the time to read them, I might get Cook's (even thoutgh I agree it's NOT a chef's mag). I have to stick to the freebies, and the best one by far is Food Arts, I also try to read the National Culinary Review when I get a chance. I'm usually too busy cooking to read about it!


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## papa (Oct 5, 2001)

Dear CampChef:

You can either tell who "makes the big bucks" or who has given up on trying to make it big and is enjoying life.  

Guess which one I fall under!


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## snakelady1 (Mar 7, 2001)

I subscribe to Bon Apetit and Taste of Home Magazines I have found at least two or three very usable recipes for my place of work every month Taste of home is a magazine without ads Most of these recipes are submitted by homemakers across North America many of them are blue ribbon recipes at county and state fairs. Taste of Home tests these recipes several times before publishing and includes nutritional information and the price is quite reasonable for 6 issues $11. It is geared towards the homemaker rather than the chef but when you are trying to feed 600 students homestyle meals it has been an inspiration.


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## pooh (Mar 13, 2001)

As far as Cook's is concerned, I have to second W.DeBord. I also like Martha's recipes. I get them on the web.

I like Cook's for equipment info: Best Blender, best this and that! And their peanut butter cookie recipe turned out great in my home kitchen!

Have you seen Cook's TV show on PBS?

Disappointing...

[ March 19, 2001: Message edited by: pooh ]


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Pooh,


When and where can I see this program? 


Thanks!


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## bayou (Jul 30, 2000)

Two periodicals that work for me are "Food & Wine" and a new one by Cooking Light called "Gusto!" 

As more of a personal chef, I like the new ideas and the wine pairings of Food & Wine. And, the Latin American (not just Mexican) ideas are great!


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## logose (Nov 15, 2000)

I read alot of my mags from work. But I do subscribe to Art Culinaire (The best!). I read Cook's Illustrated,Chocolatier,Culinary Trends, Bon Appetit, and Gourmet to name a few. 
I have a problem with Martha Stewart's recipes. Of the recipes I have tried half of them needed adjustment in the basic recipe. If you watch her on TV, what she does is different from what the written recipe calls for. This is okay at home if you are experimenting with the recipe, but not quite right if you are trying to follow a recipe for the first time. 
CampChef,you might check your library for some Culinary mags. My library has Gourmet, Cooks and Bon Appetit. You can check out all but the most current issue. Sometimes I go down and spend an hour just reading the current issues of certain magazines.
Lorraine


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## jill reichow (Mar 12, 2001)

Cook's Illustrated. I gave up on Bon Appetit after 20 years. Too many adds and not enough food.


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## pooh (Mar 13, 2001)

Iza,

Sorry I didn't get back to you before.

They interrupted the show for Pledges  
and then, did the switcheroo game. It was on Sundays. Now, on Saturdays...

It's on Vermont Public Television (I think that's 43). On Saturday, April 14th:

*3:30 p.m. AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN:*
Salmon Three Ways
Cooking salmon has always been a challenge for home chefs. In this episode, Kimball discovers that whether salmon is sauted, grilled or broiled, it can easily
be prepared in 10 minutes or less. Closed Captioned. In Stereo. Rated TVG.

If you watch it, tell me what you think about the show!



[ April 10, 2001: Message edited by: pooh ]


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## plum (Mar 17, 2001)

Hello everyone, I've been listening in the background and learning lots from all you experienced people. I'm just a keen home cook, Shroomgirl, but I'd be happy to help 'translate' anything in Waitrose Food Illustrated. It's my local supermarket and I love it too!


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

Thaks Pooh, I'll be sure to watch. I usally wtche the cooking shows from 12 to two but I never thought to checked what was playing later.


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## seattledeb (Nov 5, 2000)

Logose,same here on the Martha Stewart recipes. Some have just not been good, but I did make her snickerdoodles that she had on her show last week and they were much better than my recipe. Also, someone had posted how bad the Cooks Illustrated recipes are...I've never had a problem with them yet. Maybe it all just depends on the recipe you try.


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## w.debord (Mar 6, 2001)

Logose and SeattleDeb I had problems working Martha's recipes from her first 4 books. Some baking recipes didn't/couldn't work or they were so tasteless and dry.

BUT you can't be talking about current recipes from her newer books (published after her magazine started) and magazine????? I've made almost every item from her last baking book, everyone worked perfectly as written! Many of them, I'd list as terrific tasting. 

The current quality of her baking recipes are about the best around. Granted she's been getting most of her recipes over the last couple years from visiting known chefs sharing their best recipes. 

Your opinion must depend on which side of the kitchen you work. I'm a pastry chef and don't cook professionally any more, so I have to admit I haven't tried any of her cooking recipes in quite sometime. I was under the impression that even her cooking recipes were coming from other chefs now a days too???

As far as Cook's magazine, are you all refering to it's baking recipes or cooking recipes being good?

P.S. Maybe it depends upon who the contributing writer/tester is?


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

Thank you Plum and Britcook~ I do have access to British products, and I do use a scale....but sometimes they lose me with directions...I'll copy an example soon.
Thanks again


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## pooh (Mar 13, 2001)

Iza,

Here are the upcoming shows:

Saturday, April 14 - 3:30 pm
- Salmon Three Ways 
Saturday, April 21 - 3:30 pm
- Stir-Fry Made Easy 
Saturday, April 28 - 3:30 pm
- Sunday Dinner 
Saturday, May 05 - 3:30 pm
- Tomato Sauces for Pasta 
Saturday, May 12 - 3:30 pm
- Cookie Jar Favorites 
Saturday, May 19 - 3:30 pm
- The Perfect Roast Turkey 
Saturday, May 26 - 3:30 pm
- Cooking Eggs 

Keep in touch!


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## seattledeb (Nov 5, 2000)

W. De Bord....

Yep, we're talking two different things. I'm talking cooking, not baking, although I did bake her snickerdoodles and they were great. Don't think I've baked anything from Cooks. It's just two of us so guess who would end up eating it all - hubby doesn't have the sweet tooth I have. 


Deb


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