I am loud, I am proud, I am a Luddite. There, I’ve said it. I’m not a huge fan of technology. Give me a book, give me incandescent lighting, a comfy spot, and a mug of warmth, and I am in heaven.
No frills, that’s me. Which is why I like Cook’s Illustrated. It’s my idea of perfection. Its straightforward presentation comforts me. What appears to be black Times Roman, I’m guessing size 10, against an unthreatening white page lets me know that I am in familiar territory. Understated black and white photography makes an appearance on many of the 32 pages of the December issue. It is, however, the illustrations that look as if they are pen and ink that win top marks.
And then there’s the text. After the slightly creepy editor’s letter from Christopher Kimball comes the truly useful Quick Tips in the front of the book. The recipes are so well researched and written that you think you can smell the aromas of the holiday ham or the French pot roast you’re reading about. The articles about how best to stock a baking pantry and how not to spend too much dough on Tom Turkey plus the Kitchen Notes and Equipment Corner that conclude the publication, well – it’s all just so good.
And the icing on the cake? There is not a single bit of advertising in the whole damn thing. None. I’m telling you, it’s a beautiful thing.
The Web site, www.cooksillustrated.com, is not.
After many helpings of the rich, succulent, buttery goodness of the magazine, the Web site is the veritable turd in the punch bowl.
You just want to walk away and leave the party.
It is the antithesis of the magazine. I thought it would be like the magazine, calm, smooth, intellectual, but it’s jarring, confusing, and hard to read. My Luddite eye reads left to right, but the Web site pulls my ocular attention in twenty different directions. A light gray sans serif font against a painful white background doesn’t do the site any favors. And while the Web site shares the magazine’s characteristic of having many words on a page, it feels oversaturated and I am overwhelmed. Where the magazine is an oasis the Web site is a state fair midway.
I spent far too much time on the Web site to find far too little. The expenditure of energy on my part was not worth such a meager purchase. Speaking of, I would need to drop $24.95 (20 percent off if I already held a subscription to the magazine $19.95) to become a member of the Web site.
Cook’s Illustrated is classy. Of that there is no doubt. The publisher gives us just what we want without the nuisance of advertisements – terrific!
Unfortunately, that isn’t possible with its Web site. Until I bought a membership I was allowed to follow all the seductive sounding recipe links – potato garlic soup, best drop biscuits – but only so far. Reduced recipes or half recipes taunt with the obnoxious lure to buy a membership and read the rest.
Don’t get me wrong the Web has a lot going for it, I guess, but it’s not the right venue for this cooking mag. I threw up my hands in disgust, cursed the screen, and dispensed with going any further. Why would I go to the trouble when I can pay a respectable $5.95 and get 32, ad-free, well written, knowledgeable, interesting pages full of fare from food loving folks?
-Carrie Chantler
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