Huh?
A lot of you know that I like Cook's Illustrated. I'll often start with their recipe for some base component of a dish, and expand from there. They do exhaustive trials on their recipes, and regularly debunk myths, or explain the science behind them.
Because of this, they try and get the most bang for their buck by publishing books which essentially repackage recipes from the magazine. This is understandable; I'm sure they invest a lot in each recipe, and it makes sense to leverage that as much as possible. As a freelancer, it's a skill I should learn.
So I wasn't surprised to recently see them advertising Baking Illustrated, and I was only marginally surprised when they sent me a "evaluate for 30 days" copy. The book itself looks fine, though I probably won't keep it. I have several exhaustive baking books; I don't need another one. It was what was included that was so surprising.
Seems like they've started a "Great Restaurants of America" collectible coin set. They are promising me that each new book they send me will come with a bronze coin. Lucky me. One side shows the restaurant, the other the founder. The first one, which came with Baking Illustrated is for Antoine's in New Orleans. They promise to highlight restaurants that have helped shape the American culinary landscape. And my book came with a handy rack for holding up to five of them.
This just seems plain weird. Where did this idea come from? Who thought this would be a valuable addition? How much extra am I spending on my magazine subscription from them because they need to fund this? Cook's Illustrated should focus on their strengths, not try and compete with The Franklin Mint.
My friend Tom wondered a while back if Cook's might have "jumped the shark"--passed the acme of their efforts, the term presumably coming from the episode of Happy Days where Fonzie waterskis over a shark in Florida. He made some good points, but my little bronze coin (which I'll be sending back with the book, despite their exhortation to keep it regardless of my decision about the book itself) might have clinched it.
Hopefully there's still time for them to step off the path and get back to what they do best.
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