Originally Posted by
jakuda
America's test kitchen is just a shortened version of older (around a year's behind) of Cook's Illustrated items. I subscribe to and enjoy Cooks Illustrated. It is important to understand who their target audience is and how the writer's chosen methodology determines what is the "best" recipe for the dish.
That being said, I've found baking to be the most difficult and precise of the cooking disciplines and can see how something different from a non-calibrated oven to the use of kosher vs table salt can drastically alter the outcome.
I understand kosher vs table salt vs sea salt. I understand how non-calibrated ovens can affect lots of factors. I consider myself reasonably adept in the kitchen, and haven't found problems with even fairly advanced cookbooks (other than finding the time).
But this does not explain why the chocolate butter cream frosting was abysmal after going to the effort of searching out Dutch process cocoa powder in order to make certain she could follow the directions precisely.
I've also subscribed to Cook's Illustrated for awhile. I enjoyed reading the recipes and watching the videos - porn for a foodie like me. But actually making the dishes - most are bleh.
My experience, anyway. YMMV.