by Steven Noess » Thu May 03, 2007 4:29 pm
I have to throw my vote in for Fine Cooking. The recipes are great, the explanations really teach me, and it's not filled with fluff or overstuffed with useless overkill. The editing is great, as it seems to have just the right amount of information and doesn't swamp you with millions of worthless ideas. Every issue seems to be filled with great ideas for everyday cooking (and improvements and explanations to make it better), a feature for a style or ingredient (which makes us try new things), and something a bit more ambitious for those special meals.
Fine Cooking was the first magazine that my wife and I really use and save. It's a magazine for people who like to cook and aren't afraid to try something new or learn new technique, and it isn't aimed at people who like to throw a can of this and a can of that in a pot and call it dinner (unlike some mags, it seems). We were given multiple subscriptions to other magazines by our family (such as Cooking Light, Taste of Home, etc) and found them failing in several regards. First, there is just SO much crap in there...where do you start. They really weren't any better than any other basic information we could find on the internet. too bland for our tastes.
We also like CI, but came to that after Fine Cooking...Like it, but it doesn't hold a candle to Fine Cooking with regard to presentation, pictures, features, etc, IMHO. The recipes and learning aspects are fine and we enjoy that, especially when they explain technique or reasons for certain methods.