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He's talking about Christopher Kimball, not Alton Brown...

I visited the website, and I think this is marketing. The most important measurement of temperature in cooking food is the internal temperature of high-mass items such as steaks. The temperature reading which is important is the innermost part of the thickest steak in the pan. How is an RFID tag in the pan going to measure that? Answer: it isn't. Only a thermocouple probe can cut that job, which is why I have two different thermocouples in my kitchen that I use almost every time I cook.

Another part of the website reads: "Prohibits use of wrong pans with incompatible recipes." Excuse you, Vita Craft Corporation, but I don't need you to tell me how to use my own pans. Sometimes I cook on the outside of my cast iron skillets.

I think this has nothing to do with improving the way that humans prepare food and everything to do with using a new technology to sell more cookware. If you want to become a better cook, then, by god, invest the money in some good cookware, take some cooking classes with people you like, watch some good tv shows, and, by all means, don't be afraid to try things and have fun doing it. If anything, it's an excuse to become more social. If you invite 6 people over, then you're going to be inspired to try and make something that impresses and feeds your loved ones.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to take a look at them. I wonder if America's Test Kitchen has reviewed these other brands. Their insight is most helpful when buying culinary items.

if you think his pot roast is good, (which I've tried also.) try the america's test kitchen one.

the best part about ATK is the fact they start with a single dish and look at 2 or 3 different recipes and try to combine those and change those to make the best possible recipe. they'll try 20-25 different variations before they finally agree on a perfect one. I guess that's why I've never had a problem with a single recipe yet.

Mike

Even if you don't care to tinker, his canned recipes work right out of the box...

I'm reasonbly efficiant in the kitchen but I've had nothing but problems with his recipes, after having 3 or 4 turn out like total crap I gave up. (I was especially angry after his duck recipe.)

I much prefer America's Test Kitchen. not only do they get into the science of cooking but all of their recipes have been easy to do and spot on delicious. It's like Good Eats, but without the quirk that can become quite tiresome.

Mike

Cook's Illustrated
They'll cook 50 pounds of tuna in order to perfect the recipe for a perfectly seared crust. Hell, look at one of their head chefs
Then I make my rounds to epicurious and foodtv

There's another worthwhile magazine, Fine Cooking. It does accept ads, and isn't as good as CI, but better than Bon Appetit or Gormet, or any of the other "lifestyle" cooking magazines.

do you have any suggestions for other resources that present food and food preparation in the same way?

do you have any suggestions for other resources that present food and food preparation in the same way?

do you have any suggestions for other resources that present food and food preparation in the same way?

do you have any suggestions for other resources that present food and food preparation in the same way?

do you have any suggestions for other resources that present food and food preparation in the same way?

The process the Chris Kimball and the CI folks take is to start with the known recipes for a dish, and distill them into a master recipe using a mix of food science and empirical cooking. How would you describe your approach to science in your cooking? Do you start with what you know about ingredients and build the recipe from the ground up, or do you start with known recipes and tear them down and rebuild as necessary?