Cooking magazine suggestions

[MollJay]

Which cooking magazine would you recommend as a holiday present for a young but very interested and sophisticated cook. I personally don't care for many of the recipes in Cooking Light.

Would you suggest Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Cooks Illustrated or some other magazine? Thanks.

[Janey]

I would suggest Cook's Illustrated, because not only are there great recipes in there, there are also great articles that teach about food, food properties, and cooking.

[j*east]

Cook's Illustrated, also because they do testing of a lot of different products (both food and cooking equipment) and there's no advertising. One thing not everyone likes though is that the articles are very detailed and text-heavy. I'd buy it for someone who enjoys reading about cooking--not the casual cook, and not someone who wants fast, easy recipes. Their recipes are usually more time-consuming, picky but not hard, and the results are terrific.

[shg]

I am partial to Bon Apettit, I've subscribed to it for past 5-6 years and love it. I've also have subscription to Cook's Illustrated and Gourmet. I like BA because it has variety of different recipes for all occasions that are user friendly and are more gourmet than Cook's Illustrated.

[ee_chick]

I think it depends on what kind of cook s/he is. I have a real weakness for cooking magazines and cookbooks. I love Cook's Illustrated because it's full of information on how to cook better, but the recipes tend to be more basic and focused on American classics. I think Saveur has some of the best food writing around. I find Bon Appetit to have a great mix of quick weeknight meals that I want to make and longer recipes to enjoy over the weekend. I'm not a big fan of Gourmet, but still cave and buy it a few times a year. Fine Cooking is actually my favorite cooking magazine. I tend to be methodical and have been trying to become more a more flexible, on-the-fly type cook. The magazine is great at offering formulas with ideas on how and where to vary them. Plus, I just like the food in there. :)

[thompso2]

My DH loves Cook's Illustrated because it's very methodical and teaches techniques in addition to providing new recipes. (I may get him a subscription for Christmas, since he keeps talking about how he misses the one he used to have -- plus I'll get 25% back on a magazine subscription if I order it here (https://www.ebates.com/refer-a-friend/signup/holidaybonus/index.htm?id=27210703)).

[polarama]

Like the pp's, I would second Cook's Illustrated. I also really like Everyday Food (it's a Martha Stewart pub), for its lovely pictures and it's size--it's a smaller mag so it feels a lot easier to go through. The recipes are good too.

[mgrace]

I have a bit of a problem with cooking magazines. :)

Cook's Illustarted--great for techniques and equipment reviews
Eating Well--I really like this one for healthy food and it's focus on fresh ingredients.
Saveur--my very favorite cooking magazine. I've never actual made a recipe from this magazine, but the food writing and the pictures are amazing. A lot more than just recipes, including travel, etc.

I would also recommend Fine Cooking. I'm not a big fan of Gourmet, Bon Appetit or Food and Wine.

[sewhappy]

I don't have a subscription, but I third (fourth?) the rec for Cook's Illustrated. I find some of the others a bit pretentious, and inaccessible, at least to me.