Food/Cooking Magazines

[achevres]

I have had great success with recipes from Food & Wine, Cook's Illustrated and Martha Stewart Living.

I have had consistently dissappointing results with recipes from Gourmet and Bon Apetit. The "new" Gourmet is not what the old one was. The new version seems an odd intersection of wanting to remain gourmet but also wanting to help people who barely know how to cook, judging from some of the instructions, IMO. But I wouldn't care if the recipes turned out. Gourmet, however, has good travel info.

I love love love Saveur, but have made only a few recipes. It irks me to no end that they give no direction on the amount of salt for the savory dishes. When cooking with expensive ingredients, like an an expensive cut of meat, I would welcome some starting point with the salt.

[JPW]

Another vote for the recipes from Food+Wine.

Not just because I have yet to have one not work out, but also because of their variety.

PS - eG's own Madame Paula Wolfert is a frequent contributor and has provided (or funneled) some superb recipes. Which reminds me that I need to try more of them!

[Underhill]

I got a subscription to Gourmet when my husband and I were married and read it happily for many years. But about ten years ago the quality started to decline, the articles got shorter, the writing was less good. Finally, when Ruth Reichel became editor, I dropped my subscription.

The four food magazines that I now read regularly are Saveur, Food and Wine, Bon Appétit, and Cook's Illustrated. I rarely cook from Saveur, as so many of the recipes are for Latin and Asian dishes that I'd rather have in a restaurant instead of at home. I occasionally cook from Food and Wine, although some of my favorite recipes came from that magazine (such as poulet à l'estragon). Most of my recipes, however, have come from Bon Appétit--at least those that aren't in Julia Childs's cookbooks. But for technique I prefer Cook's Illustrated, the first and only food magazine that appeals to my husband. Absolutely nothing beats CI's method for cooking halibut steaks: perfect every time.

[BoogEats]

I'll throw another title into the discussion- Wegmans Menu Magazine- published seasonally by Wegmans Food Markets- and available in their stores. (NY, NJ, PA and Northern VA)

Anyone familiar with it? Lots of interesting recipes, all developed and tested by their culinary team. Recipes that introduce new flavors and cooking techniques to customers, but are all very 'doable'. The recipes work! And- you can find all ingredients at the store... no hunting, substituing etc... The same recipes in the magazine can be found at their website (www.wegmans.com) under menu ideas.

[artisanbaker]

Fine Cooking used to be better. They kinda sold out to a wider audience after a year or two of existence. At least it seemed like that's what happened. Anyone else notice?

Saveur is pretty good.

Thuries is the best!

The rest are only good for spending the afternoon sipping coffee at borders imo

[helenas]

Stopped to buy any US magazines except for Food & Wine (mostly getting it because of Wolfert)

Had a subscription to french Saveur and still have to Cuisine et Vins De France - no plans to renew.

But i enjoy every issue of Australian Vogue (like to browse through the back issues) and relatively recently discovered Delicious.

And my B&N just stocked on australian Gourmet Traveller and after reading through i'm looking forward for the next issue.

[JumpinJude]

Yes, Boog, I get Menu from Wegmans, and I agree that they have neat ideas for food and presentation. I have been telling all of my friends and relatives back in DC to try their new store in Sterling, VA (they're opening a second in Fairfax soon, too). I also understand they are in talks with folks in Montgomery County, MD; unfortunately things did not work out for a store in the Baltimore area.

[Mistinguett]

Just got a one year subscription for Saveur from bestdealmagazines.com for only $3.99 - it's $4.69 and if you use the discout code PXBF1010, an extra 15% off. Hope this helps someone.

[marie-louise]

Saveur is good food porn.

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Well said!

Saveur is my only food magazine subscription. I LOVE how they write about a region's culture through their food. It's a good read, even if I don't make any of the recipes I feel like I've gotten my money's worth.

I buy Cook's Illustrated as a yearly bound book-makes for great winter reading. Again, even if I don't make any of the recipes as written, reading about their process for determining the best makes for interesting reading and my money seems well-spent.

Re: Artisan Baker's comments re: Fine Cooking. I'm not sure if I've outgrown Fine Cooking or if Fine Cooking has lost its edge, but I find that lately whenver I buy a copy, I recycle it without making a single recipe. Unlike Saveur and CI, it's all about their recipes and the techniques they represent-since the recipes don't appeal and the techniques seem recyled, I feel like I've wasted my money. Plus the photography is so poor, it often takes a leap of faith to make the recipe!

I've got to give Food & Wine another look..

[jschyun]

re Artisan Baker's and marie-louise's comments re: Fine Cooking

You know what, now that I think about it, I haven't looked at it much lately. I remember the days when it first came out and the pictures were very clear, and gorgeous.

If you have a good library with a "Friend of the Library" bookstore adjacent, you can sometimes score some great cookbook/magazine deal. My all time favorite are about 5 or so of the green bound cooks Illustrated books. Each book was $2. Also, I got Larousse Gastronomique for $5. I sometimes can score Cooks Illustrated or Saveur mags for $.25 each.

[Fritz Brenner]

I would LIKE to read Gastronomica, as it seems to be The Atlantic of food porn.  But $10 per quarterly issue.... yikes.  I'm reading one of their free online articles right now to see if I can still be wooed.  :-)

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i don't subscribe to Gastronomica, as i'm on a student budget. however, they provide a pretty good discount to students (just not cheap enough for me, and besides, i already procastinate enough with egullet!) and (i believe) educators, in case you're either. i wanted to get my college to subscribe to Gastronomica as a periodical, but i had a feeling i was relatively solitary in my desire for that...

[lmarshal1]

I've had a subscription to Saveur for several years and like the articles. Cook's Illustrated is great for someone like me who needs to be led by the hand when it comes to cooking. And Food and Wine is fun to read but out of my league in terms of skill at cooking and how much money I'll spend on ingredients. Taste of Home is more in my league. I'm a peasant in terms of food, I guess. Has anyone tried the cooking magazine by Martha Stewart (maybe called Everyday Cooking or Everyday Food???)? lkm

[chefwoody]

Spain Gourmetour. Best cooking magazine EVER!! And, it's free!

[mrsadm]

incidentally, has anyone seen an issue of the new food mag put out (or at least connected to) the CIA?  i'm thinking it was called "Cook and Kitchen" or similar, but it's escaping me now and Google's no help.

it looked promising, along the lines of their Prochef material. but have yet to receive my first issue.

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Haven't seen it yet. I received a brochure in the mail and sent in a subscription card. Brochure looked nice. We'll see...

[mrsadm]

I'll be a little bit of a contrarian here. What's the big deal about Saveur??? I've bought several copies over the last two years and nothing in there appeals to me. Seems to be focused on recipes and ingredients that are way too exotic for me. Maybe I am a neophyte, but...

I have subscribed to Gourmet, Bon Appetite, Cook's Illustrated, Fine Cooking, Cuisine at Home, and many others. My husband got fed up with all the magazines in the house and asked me to cut back. Now I only receive Fine Cooking, although I am waiting to try the new CIA magazine.

So what have you all found so interesting in Saveur?

[spice]

incidentally, has anyone seen an issue of the new food mag put out (or at least connected to) the CIA?  i'm thinking it was called "Cook and Kitchen" or similar, but it's escaping me now and Google's no help.

it looked promising, along the lines of their Prochef material. but have yet to receive my first issue.

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I've been getting CIA's "Kitchen&Cook" since they started offering it, and finding it quite interesting reading - both in terms of recipes and cooking technique. It's more of a newsletter than a magazine so far, but I actually find that aspect rather appealing. You can download a free issue at the moment from their site: http://www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/k&c.htm

In the past I've also subscribed to Gourmet and Bon Appetit, and, until recently, Saveur. Mostly I let them lapse because I wanted something that was a little less advertising and travelogue heavy and thus with more concentrated food and cooking material. I have cooked a number of things from them, but now just tend to use epicurious.com to look up recipes.

My subscription to Cook's Illustrated remains active and I usually buy the collected book at the end of the year and loan out my individual issues to friends and family. I haven't really noticed anything particularly annoying about Kimball, but I admit I don't read the editorials often. I don't always agree with their taste tests, but find that in the descriptions that I can sort out which ones will likely work for me. Mostly I just like them for all the ideas that end up percolating in the back of my brain.

I'm going to check out Gastronomica (after the mentions I've seen here) though I suspect I'll find it too dear. But they have a way to download a sample copy so I'm at least going to browse through that.

[marie-louise]

...[re: Cook's Illustrated] I don't always agree with their taste tests, but find that in the descriptions that I can sort out which ones will likely work for me. Mostly I just like them for all the ideas that end up percolating in the back of my brain.

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I don't always agree with them either-and I've made at least one "best recipe" disaster- but I find that reading about their trial and error process teaches me how to critically examine and tinker with my own recipes.

[andiesenji]

I mentioned Cuisine at Home in my earlier post.

I just got around to reading the October issue Thursday morning. This issue is enough to hook anyone. Wonderful reading recipes which inspired me to get busy and make two so far. Another is in the works for this evening.

I have so far made the Ropa Viejo on pages 10 & 11, absolutely delicious!. To go with I made the Rissolé potatoes (using Finnish yellows purchased at Trader Joes) which turned out much better than earlier efforts to make them using a different recipe/method.

Wait, I have made three so far because I also made the Corn salad with Basil-Buttermilk dressing on page 29.

For tonight I am making the Butternut Tortilla Soup on pages 32 & 33. The photo made me salivate.

This recipe combines butternut squash with fresh corn, also onion, Roma tomatoes and baby spinach, things I have never added to a squash soup. Quite different in appearance, as all of the soup is not pureed, only a portion, and it looks more like a vegetable stew but has ground turkey in it or one can substitute ground beef, pork or kielbasa.

The soup is garnished with lime cream. Mmmmmmm.

I like this magazine better and better with each issue.

[Suzanne F]

Spain Gourmetour.  Best cooking magazine EVER!!  And, it's free!

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I've picked up copies at shows, and agree that it is excellent. Just wondering, though: how does one subscribe?

[chefwoody]

It's quite a pain in the arse. You have to contact the Spanish Trade Commission in New York. Plus, it took them around a month to get back to me. Here's the email address:

elisabet.aguirre@mcx.es

The name is Elisabet Aguirre. I don't know if anyone can get it, but I know that anyone in the food industry does.

[fierydrunk]

Hollis and I just recently started "really" cooking and trying out recipes and Saveur has been awesome. I like the tone of the articles way more than the condescension of Cook's Illus (tho I like it too for other reasons). I really like the adventurous nature of Saveur and really don't think the recipes are far out at all, for the most part. I found a huge stack of older ones from the mid 90's at a yard sale and must admit, it was a better magazine then.

I will try Cuisine at Home too.

I also agree with the taste test stuff of Cook's Illustated...I think I can trust myself and I can say their biscuit recipe in a recent issue was just plain wrong!

[bentherebfor]

I think I'll put in my own two cents and say that I subscribe to 8 different cooking mags including Savuer, Gourmet, Bon Appetite, Cooks Illustrated, Fine Cooking, Everday Food, and others and I have to say, I dont find Savuer that enjoyable. Maybe its simply because I'd rather (in most cases) be reading about cooking technique, then culinary adventures. I love Cooks Illustrated, though I can't say I've ever made a single recipe. Gourmet and Bon Appetite might as well be the same magazine in my eyes, and both are LOADED with ads. Fine cooking is a little too straight forward for my tastes, but I find Everyday Food to be fantastic. I'm by no means a Martha Stewart fan, and this is a Martha produced magazine, but the recipes are quick and easy and superb. On the other hand, it has very little content, no articles, great pictures though, and darn good ideas.

Anyway, I'm not sure I have a point, except that I just don't see the light in Savuer, though I will confess, I've never tried a recipe from it. Tell me, are the recipes worthwhile?

[alejita]

Gastronomica

-Essays, poems, and journals on food.

The Art of Eating

-More essays on food.

Glad someone brought these 2 up on the table, although they are not strictly 'Cooking" mags, but food-topic magazines. High quality! and they are quarterly, so you are not inundated.

Also, I don;t think Gourmet is worth it any more. I have subscribed to this magazine since the early 80s and, frankly, it does not fit the bill any more: too much glitz and 3-ingredient recipes you can get elsewhere.

[Aileen]

I'm new here, and just wanted to add my vote for Cook's Illustrated. I agree that the recipes are sometimes repetitive (I've subscribed for 4 years now), and I don't always agree with the results of their tastings, but I love the way they describe how they decided upon certain ingredients and methods for recipes. I would like to see more ethnic dishes where they aren't afraid to suggest authentic ingredients when you can get them (they sometimes do this, but most of the time they just end up substituting lime for lemon grass, etc. Isn't lemon grass available in most grocery stores these days? Why not use it, or at least list it as an alternative ingredient?) However, a couple of their recipes have become favorites of mine, and they still come up with enough interesting recipes/tips/techniques that it's well worth the price of the subscription.

[fierydrunk]

I have tried more recipes from Saveur than Cook's Illus and I have found them to be really great! I did a delicious Turkey Tetrazini, Hollis did tortilla soup, and I can't wait to try a bunch of recipes from Galatoire's in an old Saveur I have. I am not a Saveur-hater. Do I have anyone on my side of this who has cooked more of the recipes from Saveur?