Recipes & Techniques Grounded in Science.

Elevate your cooking with our science-backed recipes, transformative tips, unbiased reviews and detailed illustrations with step-by-step instructions.

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Each issue is a collectible work of art.
No ads, just delightful food reading.

Featured Recipes

Celebrate with Fritto Misto

Appears in Cook’s Illustraed November/Decmber 2024

Italy’s signature coastal dish, in which fried vegetables and fish, shrimp, squid, soft-shell crab, or other seafood are piled atop each other like a trove of gold nuggets, feels extra special and celebratory.

Serves 6 to 8 as an appetizer

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Cook's Illustrated All-Times Best Recipes + Free Gift Cover

Recipes crafted with scientific precision
From our expert test kitchens to your table.

Lan Lam and Glazed Pork Chops

Our signature recipe development process

We put every recipe through the same rigorous process, testing and retesting every variable and then taking what we’ve learned to create a dish that’s the very best in its class.

Lan Lam with finished Ultimate Yule Log

1. The five-recipe test

First we seek out five existing recipes. We taste and assess them, noting qualities we like and any we don’t.

Lan Lam rolling Ultimate Yule Log

2. Our first draft

Next, we define goals for our version, and sketch out the most promising way to reach them.

Chef decorating Ultimate Yule Log

3. Test, taste, repeat

Over at least six weeks, we test and retest every recipe variable, learning from our mistakes so we can pass on that information to you.

Finished Ultimate Yule Log

4. Final, failproof results

At last—a recipe that works perfectly in our kitchen and has been tested and approved by thousands of home testers.

Ready to get cooking?

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Cook’s Illustrated Magazine
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Every issue includes:

BEST RECIPES backed by science and vetted
by home cooks

NO-NONSENSE AND UP-TO-DATE REVIEWS for cookware and honest taste test results

STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS demonstrating the right way to prepare a recipe

QUICK TIPS for everything from no-mess tomato chopping to sting-free seeding of hot peppers

NO ADS, just cooking information

The best cooking techniques—and
why they work

From deglazing to proofing, blanching
to braising, get the scientific scoop.

Get a free gift and one year of Cook’s
Illustrated Magazine
(6 issues) for just $9.99.
Measuring liquid layout

Question:

Why do very hot and
very cold foods need
more salt?

Answer:

Our taste buds’ saltiness receptors to the brain are most responsive when food temperature is between 85 and 95 degrees—close to the temperature inside our mouths.

Take a
look
inside

Magazine spread featuring article on quick tips.

For the home cook who never stops learning

In-depth recipes are paired with explanations that bolster your food science knowledge to make you more confident in the kitchen.

For the home cook who never stops learning

In-depth recipes are paired with explanations that bolster your food science knowledge to make you more confident in the kitchen.

Details that take your cooking skills to the next level

Each issue features thorough illustrations and diagrams so you can master the techniques behind the recipes.

How to Butcher Pork Butt

Removing waxy fat from the surface of the meat.

1. Remove any hard, waxy fat from the surface of the meat. Leave just a thin layer, and don’t worry about removing any interior fat at this point.

Removing waxy fat from the surface of the meat.

2. Slice meat crosswise into slabs of the desired thickness

Removing waxy fat from the surface of the meat.

3. Cut slabs lengthwise into strips of the desired thickness.

Removing waxy fat from the surface of the meat.

4. Cut each strip crosswise into cubes.

The magazine cooks love to curl up with

Experience immersive storytelling and beautiful visuals that take you on a food lover’s journey.

Woman reading Cooks Illustrated

Sharpen your
culinary skill

Get a free gift and one year of
Cook’s Illustrated Magazine
(6 issues) for just $9.99.

Shrimp Cocktail Makes a Comeback Spread in Cooks Illustrated