Food/Cooking Magazines

[skrattypants]

huzzah for la cucina italiana. usable recipes for both everyday meals and fine dining, focus on an ingredient and/or technique very month, information about my favorite italian varietals and spirits. i try to read them all, but that is the only one i don't miss.

all, that is, except cook's illustrated. far too subjective to be taken seriously in my mind. they lost me when the first line of a red wine evaluation began, "now, none of us even like red wine, but..." that's like asking peta to judge a bbq.

food arts is another i enjoy.

[fierydrunk]

Well, put re: Cook's Illustrated. It is like a snotty club of which I don't wanna be a member...but I can't help but peek in on what they are up to!

[formerly grueldelux]

Of course the reason they do keep trying to make more money off of their subscribers is that they get no $$$ from advertisers. So their subscribers are the only source left.

I don't mind paying a little extra here and there (for the CI web site in particular) and not have to look at page after page of ads. 

And, like many others posting here, the engineer/scientist side of me appreciates their delving into what works and why with a recipe. 

David

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I wonder sometimes about how impartial they are. Take cookware, for example. They continually advise full price All Clad stainless, when no "consumer" magazine that did even a little homework (eg. reading eGullett) would do so. Makes me suspect their relationship with Sur la Table, a major underwriter. I know they often select cheap versions of things (like Bakers Secret), but I'd still like to see them back off the recommendations for All Clad when there are much better values.

And the food science angle is often hit or miss. For example, until this issue their position has been that the heat of a chile is in the seeds. Have they been living under a rock? Using russets in a potato salad, on the other hand, now that was genius.

[Tracy K.]

I've just let my subscription to Cooks Illustrated lapse because they were simply too repetitive. They have an extremely active chat on their website.

I've also just picked up subscriptions to Gourmet and Bon Appetit. IMHO, I liked Gourmet more before Ruth Reichl and her ego showed up. Both are owned now by Conde Nast, and although they originate from different coasts, I too find them to mirror one another in content too often. However, the subscriptions were inexpensive, and if you buy a few off the newsstand, you've paid for the subscription anyway. I am entirely sick of the heavy advertorial content...but I suppose nowadays they have to keep their costs under control. I picked up a load of old copies of each at our library for 25 cents each...prior to merging with Conde Nast and editorial changes. More recipes, more interesting content, no advertorials to wade through. In sum, though, I've found some really creative things that have made the subscripstions worthwhile.

The one thing I made from "Everyday Food" took far longer than it should have...and it was a simple pasta and winter squash recipe.

Found the best recipe for rice pudding in Taunton's food pub.

[monavano]

I get several magazines which include recipes and wanted to know what others are out there which are informative and useful.

Specifically, I like the recipe format in Martha Stewart Living magazine, where a complete meal's recipies are given along with a timing chart. Very smart.

I also am recieving Cook's Illustrated and am finding it to be incredibly informative and practical. I'm very impressed and would recommend it.

[CaliPoutine]

I love Cook's Illustrated. Everything Ive ever made has been fantastic. Coconut cream pie, a chicken green bean and mushroom stirfry and a fantastic way to prepare brown rice have now been added to my repetoire.

I used to love Gourmet when Laurie Colwin wrote for them. Her writing alone was worth the price of the magazine.

I like Everyday Food and I also enjoy Cooking Light. More so for the main dishes than the baking.

[mrsadm]

Vogue ... for Jeffrey Steingarten's columns.

[Tkrup]

Eating Well is a great magazine. The recipes are healthy and delicious, and they take the time to educate the reader on the theme ingredients used in some of the features.

[helenas]

Australian Gourmet Traveller - my current favorite. Not easily available in US so i started a subscription. Edited January 30, 2005 by helenas (log)

[chow guy]

Saveur gets my vote.

The recipes in Gourmet have never really done it for me (especially way back in the old days when it was of the only game in town).

[Syrah]

Australian Gourmet Traveller - my current favorite. Not easily available in US so i started a subscription.

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I have decided to limit my cooking mags each month to Australian Gourmet Traveller and Delicious. I am also considering subscribing to Fine Cooking but the seasonal issues irk me slightly.

[pattimw]

Australian Gourmet Traveller - my current favorite. Not easily available in US so i started a subscription.

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I have decided to limit my cooking mags each month to Australian Gourmet Traveller and Delicious. I am also considering subscribing to Fine Cooking but the seasonal issues irk me slightly.

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Thanks for that link, helenas! Looks like such a good mag...I checked out some of the recipe indices and those alone would make me want to subscribe, but at $50 USD, plus the freight, which I think was as much as the subscription is itself, phew! I am wondering if Borders might carry it, they carry Donna Hay and other British/Australian food pubs.

[pattimw]

ok, I just picked up Delicious (the AU version) and Australian Vogue Entertaining and Travel. I was very impressed by content and they just seem "meatier" than US food and cooking mags.

I may have to suck up the subscription fee to the US.

[battlepanda]

Hmmm. I haven't seen much love for "Cooking Light" magazine. If any of you have been put off because "it's healthy so it can't possibly be any good", do give it a try. A better name for the magazine should really be "Cooking Lighter". They are not health nazis, and they are consciencious about making their food taste so good that one does not feel deprived. Do stay away from the baked goods (there's just no way to skimp there), but the rest of their recipes are often delicious and varied. I cook from it all the time even when I'm not thinking about my weight.

And I agree. Fine cooking has gone way downhill. A shadow of its former self. Echoing what another poster said about CI, you know a cooking magazine is out of ideas when they do issue after issue on infinite-variant foods like sautes, "more ways with cutlets", etc. etc.

People complain about the esoteric ingredients in Saveur, but it's one of the most rewarding things about cooking to be able to replicate a taste from another corner of the world. Take the time to seek out the ingredients, and you'll find that their recipes are perfectly calibrated for American kitchens. The articles together with the recipe really give you a sense of adventure without leaving your kitchen.

I think by the time I got on the culinary scene, Gourmet has already seen its salad days go by. I'm kind sad to hear that (according to many posters) the arrival of Ruth Reichl marked its decline, because I heard Terri Gross' interview with her on NPR and her new book sounds interesting. But then again, it's about her tenure as a NYT food reviewer rather than as editor of Gourmet.

See my rant on CI on a more recent thread all on CI. I have a love-hate relationship with that one.

[TJHarris]

From a professional standpoint: Art Culinaire

Culinary Trends

Pastry Art and Design

Food Arts

I used to take Gourmet to keep abreast of trends on the coasts but it became too much fluff.

[bradyvickers]

Ok.....I kind of have a magazine addiction. Amongst all my various hobbies I subscribe to so many magazines things are starting to get out of control. So I have decided to force myself to cut back. So if you had to pick just one (ok, maybe two) culinary magazines which would you pick. Believe it or not right now I subscribe to:

Food & Wine

Bon Appetit

Gourmet

Saveur

Cook's Illustrated

Cook's Country

Fine Cooking

Cuisine At Home

Kitchen & Cook

Chocolatier

Hmmm......obsessive maybe....

[lia]

My two picks would be Saveur for beauty and reading (which would have gone to Gourmet a couple of years ago but...) and Bon Appetit for actual recipes and 'new stuff' news, and fun articles.

[lauderdale75]

Hi all -

At the outset, let me mention that I did use the "search" function, and found little to nothing on the subject which I post about.

With my birthday coming up, and friends/family asking about what I would like as a gift, I thought it'd be nice to subscribe to a few cooking related magazines. I've received both Gourmet & Bon Apetit in the past, but I had let the subscriptions lapse a few years ago.

I read mixed reviews on this site about both of the aforementioned magazines, and would like to get your personal picks for a subscription. I really don't want to subscribe to more than 2 per month, as Im sure I'll never get through them all between all the other mail / periodicals I receive every month.

So, esteemed members of eGullet, I respectfully request you all to recommend 2-3 "must have" magazines for anyone who is enthusiastic about eating and cooking as I am.

Thanks in advance,

Chirag

[LoveToEatATL]

If you love to cook, Cook's Illustrated would be my choice.

If you love food trends, I would pick either F&W or Gourmet

[Music]

I also like Cook's Illustrated and love Saveur, which has detailed articles and authentic recipes. I've subscribed since their first issue.

[Gifted Gourmet]

more magazines mentioned here .. enjoy reading the opinions ...

[Katie Nell]

I really, really, really enjoy Fine Cooking... it is my favorite by far! The only thing I don't like is that it only comes every other month, but I can overlook that for the love of the magazine! They also have special issues, such as, "Cooking Fresh" and "Quick and Easy" that I love!

Another new one is Chow, and it's a beautiful magazine! I've only looked at one issue, but I think it will become one of my favorites too!

I get Gourmet and will not get it again... I just don't cook with a lot of the ingredients their recipes call for, but I like some of the articles.

I've looked at Cooks Illustrated and like the content, but sorry, I like pictures! Can't help it! I'm an interior designer and experience with my eyes as well as all my other senses!

I pick up Bon Appetit every once and awhile and I like it as well!

[lauderdale75]

Thanks for all the great recommendations. Moderators - sorry, apparently my search wasnt good enough as there was already a thread on the subject.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thanks for all the great recommendations.  Moderators - sorry, apparently my search wasnt good enough as there was already a thread on the subject.

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Not to worry .. the way I did it was type in the search term "food magazines" and then sort through the millions of titles that came up ...

[orangeman747]

Which cooking magazines do people like to read? What do you like about them?

I know I like Gourmet, Saveur, Cooks Illustrated.

So...?