The demise of "Fine Cooking" magazine

[blue_dolphin]

3 minutes ago, TicTac said:

How have I never heard of this magazine!?

 

Then again, I have not bothered with print media in years, but still...

 

Looking on their site briefly, surely a treasure trove.  Someone needs to back up that DB and share it elsewhere!

 

 

There's a Facebook group (Fine Cooking Community) that has digitized all the past issues on a Google drive and has a searchable recipe list in an Excel file.  You can also search for recipes on Eat Your Books.  Either way, you then download the issue PDF from the Google drive and get the recipes from there.

 

The FB group started a while back when Taunton sold FC to Meredith and the FC website went dark. It was ultimately revived but the group continues. 

[TdeV]

@heidih enthused here about Julia Child's chocolate mousse.

[heidih]

51 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@heidih enthused here about Julia Child's chocolate mousse.

Do report back. I don't have the book at home but sounds right though  not rum. I'm so goofy that the very notion of it had me put Jello chocolate pudding snacks and Cool Whip on my list for tomorrow. Not in the samr realm but enuf to evoke the "Madeline moment". Ephraim and I were not rum drinkers though it was in his cultural heritage.

Edited June 24, 2022 by heidih (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Lemon Sponge Cake from issue 1 - when I first became addicted to the magazine. 

 

Bake Shop Muffins

[Bruce Burger]

I just got a notice, probably like many of you, that said:

 

Important Update We're reaching out to let you know that Finecooking.com will no longer be available after September 15. To make sure you get to keep all your favorite recipes from your recipe box, please follow the instructions below.

 

The link is actually https://www.finecooking.com/article/finecooking-com-is-shutting-down-how-to-save-your-recipes-before-july-31 which suggests that they had originally planned to shut it down on July 31.

 

I'm surprised no one is willing to pay enough to preserve the site. Oh well -- glad it will live in the archive described in this thread. (I also have my own archive of favorite recipes and hardcopies of most issues.)

[blue_dolphin]

Well, the Fine Cooking website is finally gone 😢 and the URL now redirects to the Food & Wine home page. 

They'd pushed the date out so many times that I was hoping they might find another path. 

Ah well. 

 

[Annie_H]

I cut off all hard copy cooking magazines years ago but won a recipe contest and the prize was FineCooking. We really enjoyed it. I have a 2ft stack bundled up in twine to go out curbside but have hesitated. 

I'll take a bundle to the beach house as well as some NewYorkers. House guests always enjoy them. 

 

[lindag]

I make it a point now when looking for recipes, to search Fine Cooking, I've found some very good ones.

[rotuts]

@Annie_H 

 

what an excellent idea !

 

perhaps the Readers 

 

would consider an iPhone Snap 

 

rather than a Tear Out ?

 

good news :  you don't have to check !

 

for that sort of things

 

FC , in itd flesh , makes mighty fine reading \.

[gfweb]

There's a facebook group that I think has digitized FC.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/finecookingcommunity

 

ETA as @blue_dolphin said.

Edited September 15, 2022 by gfweb (log)

[ElsieD]

10 minutes ago, gfweb said:

There's a facebook group that I think has digitized FC.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/finecookingcommunity

 

ETA as @blue_dolphin said.

Thank you.

[mdicocco54]

Hi my name is Marie and I have always loved to cook. My parents were European immigrants, so I learned German & Italian recipes from my mother, and then by living in Italy for 3.5 years. I just came across this post when I couldn't find one of my recipes that I'd saved at Fine Cooking. I was out of the country this summer and must have missed the news. I started using their recipes years ago when they would send out an email every day with a recipe and discovered how wonderful they were. I never subscribed because the last thing I need is a magazine in my house but would gladly subscribe to a site if they ever decide to go that route since they've never let me down. I have a tendency to save recipes that look interesting on Pinterest, and then once I've tried them and know that I want to keep them, I add them to my Pepperplate. So all those Fine Cooking pins are useless now.

 

It does look like a bunch of the older magazines can be found at the internet archive so maybe I'll be able to find some of the recipes there. But after reading this post today, I applied for the Facebook group and was declined but with no explanation. Maybe I'll try again and ask for an explanation. I notice someone from that group posted about the FB group at Eat Your Books and said people were welcome to join.

[TdeV]

Hi Marie, welcome to eGullet. I saved a few recipes before FC disappeared. Hope you have success with FB group.

[blue_dolphin]

9 hours ago, mdicocco54 said:

But after reading this post today, I applied for the Facebook group and was declined but with no explanation. Maybe I'll try again and ask for an explanation. I notice someone from that group posted about the FB group at Eat Your Books and said people were welcome to join

Yeah, try it again and definitely ask for an explanation. I've been a member of that Fine Cooking Community group for quite a while and the number of new members seems to be going through the roof lately so I suspect they have to be careful of malicious bots and such. 
They have a searchable index (though I generally search with Eat Your Books) and PDFs of all the regular issues and many special issues on a Google drive.  Finding a recipe is a 2-step process.  First search for the recipe, then download the PDF of the issue it’s in. Not as handy as the FC website was but most stuff is there. 

[Fine Cooking Community]

Hello folks: thanks for drawing attention to the Fine Cooking Community on Facebook. Our group formed after the sale of the magazine to Dotdash Meredith back in October 2020 when the website was closed without notice. We petitioned Taunton publications to help get the website back up and running, and we were successful in doing that... until last month, when the site was permanently closed. 

The Fine Cooking Community banded together at the time of the first closure to create search tools that enable us to find our treasured recipes.

Any Fine Cooking fans who wish to join us may do so by answering questions and accepting the rules on our Facebook group page. For folks who want to join but have not completed the process, we typically provide a reason (not answering the questions or agreeing to the rules). We try not to decline anyone unless they appear to be spammers.

Marie, please try again if you wish, and be sure to answer all of the questions. Once you do that, you can join our friendly and generous community of fine cooks. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/finecookingcommunity

[blue_dolphin]

25 minutes ago, Fine Cooking Community said:

The Fine Cooking Community banded together at the time of the first closure to create search tools that enable us to find our treasured recipes.

 

Thanks so much for doing this.  The group is indeed very friendly and supportive.  A lot of people seem to ask for recipes without taking the time to read the instructions on how to search and retrieve them and they always get kind and helpful responses from others.  Love the sharing of what people have cooked. 

[iguana]

On 3/29/2022 at 7:18 AM, liamsaunt said:

 

It was a CD rom (I think?) containing every back issue of Fine Cooking from the year it was published through the year of the contest I participated in.  I think I gave it to my local library.

@liamsauntI remember doing that contest with you!! I think my username was Pielove back then. I just went to the FC website to look for Abby Dodge's gingerbread biscotti recipe and could not figure out why I kept getting redirected to F&W, then a quick search for "What happened to Fine Cooking magazine" brought me here!

[ElsieD]

I made one of my "keeper" recipes tonight.  It is in issue 128 (April/May, 2004 and called Indonesian-Style Ham Stir-fry.  Among a few other things, it calls for kecap manis, sambal oelek, rice vinegar, lemon grass, ginger and garlic.  If anyone wants the recipe, send me a PM.  

[dans]

Maybe I missed this being mentioned here. It looks like they are no longer offering the CD with all of the issues on it.  I have one from a few years ago and thought I might get the lat3est (last) one so I have access to everything but when I went to the web site they had everything but Fine Cooking.