Rating: 
Summary: Stop Your Complaining and Start Cooking
Review: About two years ago I received a copy of THE BEST RECIPE from a dear friend as a gift. An avid baker, I immediately turned to all of the desserts and started baking away. Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cheesecake Brownies are among just a few of my favorites. Since that day, I have expanded my repertoire to SOUPS & STEWS, AMERICAN CLASSICS, and my husband's favorite, GRILLING. I have my favorites in each book including my latest of Blueberry Buckle Cobbler and Chewy Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies from AMERICAN CLASSICS. Now, my Williams Sonoma cookbooks are in the attic along with the dozen or so other cookbooks. I keep my Cook's Illustrated cookbooks out at all times and have NEVER ONCE been disappointed. Since that day two years ago when my dear friend gave me the copy of THE BEST RECIPE, I have passed on this same gift experience to my mother, grandmother, aunt and friends. Every single one of them has become hooked on the Cooks Illustrated Series and the quality of our cooking has improved immensely. So, to the complainer in California...why not stop looking for similar recipes and start trying the hundreds of original recipes in each and every Cook's Illustrated book?
Rating: 
Summary: Not their best
Review: American Classics is not the best cookbook that Cook's Illustrated has put out. It may be interesting to know why you should do some of the things that they recommend in a recipe but you could get the same or better information from a stalwart like Joy of Cooking not to mention MORE recipes. In fact some of these recipes are just updated JOY recipes and I don't that the update is really a marked improvement. There just is nothing substantial in here. Fannie Farmer & Joy of Cooking are much better and more complete. Saveur does American is better if indeed all you want is Classic American recipes. If you are looking for an intro book by the Cook's crowd try the Yellow Schoolhouse book.
Rating:
Summary: I love this cookbook.
Review: As a devoted reader of Cook's Illustrated, I was very pleased to get a copy of this wonderful book. I found many of the recipes perfect for my family. The meat loaf recipe is the best we've ever had and the chile con carne is better than my mother's(shhh!). I love to have the perfect recipe so I don't have to find it myself. Nothing is mediocre!
Rating:
Summary: I love this cookbook.
Review: As a devoted reader of Cook's Illustrated, I was very pleased to get a copy of this wonderful book. I found many of the recipes perfect for my family. The meat loaf recipe is the best we've ever had and the chile con carne is better than my mother's(shhh!). I love to have the perfect recipe so I don't have to find it myself. Nothing is mediocre!
Rating:
Summary: Unnecessary Complaints
Review: As the previous reviewer, I too am an ardent supporter of Cook's Illustrated and have the same stockpile of titles. While I acknowledge some repetition and duplication of recipes, I called Cook's Illustrated to find out exactly how repetitive this title was. I found out that over 75% of these recipes are in fact new to The Best Recipe Series, consisting of such wonderful titles as the benchmark, The Best Recipe and sister titles, The Best Recipe: Grilling and Barbecue and The Best Recipe: Soups & Stews. Readers, you can rely on Cook's Illustrated to employ the most obsessive and compulsive techniques and methodologies to find, as they indicate, truly the "best recipes." And, I just love the cover, a true American Classic! Just last weekend I treated the family to the Quick Cream Biscuits and Denver Omelet for breakfast, the kids lunched on Philly Cheese Steaks and my wife and I indulged on the Broiled Salmon with Horseradish and Crisp Potato Crust for dinner (kids were out on sleepovers)!! Ummm...
Rating:
Summary: Up To Their Usual (Very High) Standard
Review: Did it ever occur to the whiners writing reviews about duplications that these might exist, not because the editors don't "have enough" recipes, but because some recipes BELONG in more than one cookbook? A grilling recipe from the Test Kitchen series might be appropriate in the Best Recipe: Gilling and Barbeque book. In fact, the Grilling and Barbeque cookbook might be lacking a key technique or dish without it. The Best Recipe (1999) was the first of its kind, and since it contained "best" Italian recipes, chicken recipes, and soup recipes, a few of these would be entirely appropriate in cookbooks that claim to cover all the basics in the sub-categories. And I wouldn't want an incomplete Perfect Vegetables cookbook, for instance, just because a recipe had been perfected during the Test Kitchen television series. The 1/3 figure is much too high, by the way.
Rating:
Summary: Up To Their Usual (Very High) Standard
Review: Did it ever occur to the whiners writing reviews about duplications that these might exist, not because the editors don't "have enough" recipes, but because some recipes BELONG in more than one cookbook? A grilling recipe from the Test Kitchen series might be appropriate in the Best Recipe: Gilling and Barbeque book. In fact, the Grilling and Barbeque cookbook might be lacking a key technique or dish without it. The Best Recipe (1999) was the first of its kind, and since it contained "best" Italian recipes, chicken recipes, and soup recipes, a few of these would be entirely appropriate in cookbooks that claim to cover all the basics in the sub-categories. And I wouldn't want an incomplete Perfect Vegetables cookbook, for instance, just because a recipe had been perfected during the Test Kitchen television series. The 1/3 figure is much too high, by the way.
Rating:
Summary: My kind of cookbook!!
Review: I absolutely recommend "American Classics," by the editors of "Cook's Illustrated" magazine. This book not only gives the very best recipe, but answers every question about them. I have hundreds of cookbooks, but having read this one, I want each and every publication this company has to offer!
Rating: 
Summary: One of the more original in the series
Review: I agree with 'sharvell's' review completely. This is a cookbook about comfort foods. I liked the idea that the recipes were worked out thoroughly by the tester's to make sure the final results were perfect. How to keep the crust from becoming too soggy while creating a moist cheesecake; how not to serve the 'shoe leathery' Sunday dinner roast by knowing which cut of beef to use, etc. These are the things we as cooks had to do by trial and error before, now this cookbook eliminates all that. I'm more than happy to save $$$ and time by using a winning recipe from the pros at Cook's Illustrated. And, I can use the saved $$ to buy more cookbooks!
Rating:
Summary: American Classics (The Best Recipe Series)
Review: I agree with 'sharvell's' review completely. This is a cookbook about comfort foods. I liked the idea that the recipes were worked out thoroughly by the tester's to make sure the final results were perfect. How to keep the crust from becoming too soggy while creating a moist cheesecake; how not to serve the 'shoe leathery' Sunday dinner roast by knowing which cut of beef to use, etc. These are the things we as cooks had to do by trial and error before, now this cookbook eliminates all that. I'm more than happy to save $$$ and time by using a winning recipe from the pros at Cook's Illustrated. And, I can use the saved $$ to buy more cookbooks!
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