Favorite Food Magazine

[maryland crab]

Cook's Illustrated without doubt. Have every issue from day one and refer to them often. Gourmet is too tied to NYC and God help you finding the ingredients for their recipes.

Cook's also has great reviews of products and equipment that I find invaluable.

Second choice - Bon Appetit.

[ErinB]

The only food magazine I subscribe to is Gourmet. I really like their section at the end, Gourmet Every Day, and usually end up making at least 1 or 2 recipes out of that section.

But, I do wish Gourmet had more recipes, and less travel stuff. I live in the New York Metro area, so i like the fact that they usually review a New York restaurant. I have been thinking about subscribing to Bon Appetit lately, though.

[Flocko]

1. "Old" Gourmets, circa 1950-1985..............$1 each at local used book store

2. Cook's Illustrated

3. Saveur

[johnjohn]

Fine Cooking - But have noticed the past year or so, that they have started to go the 30 minute weeknight meals route in regards to content. When it first came out it was full of recipes or techniques that were more sophisticated and time consuming - a good way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon (like today) in the kitchen.

johnjohn

[fresh_a]

Chow.

[JosephB]

[ Fine Cooking - But have noticed the past year or so, that they have started to go the 30 minute weeknight meals route in regards to content. When it first came out it was full of recipes or techniques that were more sophisticated and time consuming - a good way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon (like today) in the kitchen.]

Yes, indeed. The "Master Class" was reason enough to buy the magazine. Nevertheless, it's still more technique-driven than most food magazines.

[Andrew Fenton]

Funny that there are so many complaints about the travel articles in Gourmet. My mother has subscribed for decades, and complains that in the last few years the ratio of recipes to travel articles has increased. She's less interested in cooking than travel at this point, I guess...

As for my #1 choice, I'll Cook's Illustrated, I guess. I'm at the point in my development as a cook (let's say, a solid intermediate home cook) where I'm most interested in the hows and whys of cooking. And CI is pretty good for that sort of thing: if I choose to modify one of their recipes, I can get a sense of what the variables are.

(The academic in me has a strong second choice for Gastronomica, though.)

[lamington]

Does anyone read Petits Propos Culinaires?

[alacarte]

Does anyone read Petits Propos Culinaires?

I've read it, but I'm a food history junkie.

It's probably too dry or too esoteric for most people.

I also like Food History News

[Nick]

Cook's Illustrated and F&W. If I had to pick just one, I'd stick with CI.

[ferdlisky]

Oh, goody, my favorite topic!!! Here's what I think about food mags (whether or not you want to know). Readers seem to fall into two camps: The ones who want lots of recipes (Bon App, Cooks Illustrated, Fine Cooking) and the ones who want lots of good writing about culinary topics with a few recipes included (Saveur, Gastronomica [spelling?], etc). Gourmet these days is kind of hanging out in the middle... In many ways, we really need to have two names for these two types of books, since "food magazine" doesn't really cover all the variations.

Me? I love to cook. No, what I really mean is, I LOVE TO COOK. So while I adore reading great food writing, which to paraphrase another eGullet conversation, is usually found in magazines like the New Yorker, Vogue, Elle, and the Atlantic Monthly, what I want to get in my mailbox each month is recipes.

I agree with the comment that BA is not creative enough (in fact it's downright boring at times), but I do like a lot of their food; Cooks Illustrated is getting more middle American by the month, but plenty of stuff to cook; Gourmet has terrific recipes, but has become such a dull hodgepodge.

I think we need a new recipe-driven magazine. Something that addresses the way we cook now with the ingredients we use now: fresh, simple, and super high quality. Something that addresses the fact that there is a generation of people now who love to cook, have sophisticated palates, and are willing to spend money on equipment and ingredients. Any publishers out there listening?

[edited for spelling]

Edited June 9, 2003 by ferdlisky (log)

[JAZ]

I keep trying to read Saveur, and trying to like it, but I'm afraid I just don't get the appeal. I've finally narrowed down the source of my dislike, though -- it's the formatting. It's simply not pleasant to look at and confusing to read. Too many columns, too may insets and sidebars. If I can make it past that, then the magazine is okay.

The ironic thing is that somehow I've ended up with a subscription (never ordered it; I'm not sure why). Maybe it'll grow on me.

[Jinmyo]

Well, is there any food magazine as interesting as eGullet? I don't think so.