Rating  - Less than expectation
It has no great receipes,
it is only a very classic recipes done with small change.
Book is not that illustrative as mentioned by others reviews
Rating  - Classic!
I agree with one of the reviewers that he/she feels like a pro using the "The Best" series. I've cooked from this book and several of "The Best" Series and they ALL came up excellent according to the people and guests to whom I'd served them: from Asian to Italian to restaurant cooking, and many more. It takes away the guessing from what I've been doing. I agree with the editors that their books are simply the BEST. Unpretentious, simple, and straight-forward. Their equipment testing and food tasting are always reliable since they sample as many a brands as necessary with as many tasters too. So, how can that go wrong. They bring home cooking back with fun and enjoyment. I always learn something when I read their books as they are all informative, not intimidating, and fun to read.
Rating - the best!
I'm a guy in my early 20's just learning how to cook for myself... this book is amazing. precise, detailed instructions on how to do things that a novice like me wouldn't otherwise know how to do. it's become like my cooking bible, an indispensable fixture around my kitchen.
Rating  - Interesting take on recipes, but realization philosophies will seem alien to New Zealanders
The New Best Recipe is a compendium of more than 1,000 recipes from America's Test Kitchen. The philosophy is to preserve as much flavour as possible using the best cost-effective and time-saving way of cooking, with scientifically proven replicable methodologies. The range of cooking is vast: from Chinese stir-fries to Parker's roll, from chowder to Burgundy stews, the most commonly eaten dishes in modern Western homes are all inside.
There are a few quibbles with this book though. There is no metric equivalent for measurements. In New Zealand we never see such thing as "half and half" - it is either full cream milk or fresh cream, and the authors don't explain possible replacements when you can't find it. Many of the buyer's tips are useless in this country because of different brands (for example, Hellmann's is unheard of here, but only Watties or ETA) and different electrical applicances (fully automated ice-cream makers aren't available for domestic markets in NZ). We also don't have meatloaf mixes sold in supermarkets. The tastes are also a little different: while New Zealand has a preference of sweeter seasoning than Australia, it is nowhere as sweet as the average American palates in dishes such as using sweet white wine in making the bolognese sauce, so many of the food require less sugar. The idea of saving time using substitutes also runs contrary to Kiwi philosophy of "good things take time" - if you make it, use the full recipes. All of these make the book largely limited in appeal to New Zealand audiences.
All in all, it is a good introduction to home dishes, perhaps for American audiences, but I would strongly advise against New Zealand readers to consult this as the primary cookbook. Use The Australian Woman's Weekly series cookbooks or read Julie Le Clerc instead.
Rating - It'll make your brain smoke!
Amazing resource! This is not just a collection of recipes strung together there are wonderful discussions of how they arrived at the recipes they present that I enjoy even more than the recipes themselves. There is considerable discussion not only of what worked but other ideas they tried that did not work. I find these are exactly the discussions I find most interesting and rewarding. Even though some of their approaches might have failed in one context, they might work in another one.
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