"It's Cooks'"

Any time my husband or I makes a dish that is really good and the other comments on that fact, the usual reply is, "It's Cooks'." Cooks Illustrated is a fantastic cooking magazine. It has no ads, it comes out every month, and the recipes are great.
Christoper Kimball, the founder, hosts a TV show on public television and writes the editor's letter each month. Almost every letter is about how strange and wonderful it is to live in New England. I can only imagine that the magazine is profitable because of his New England thrift. That would be a great article, a profile of him and his magazine.
In addition to publishing recipes that the authors test and tweak dozens of times, the magazine tests cooking equipment and ingredients too. Before I buy anything for the kitchen, I look up their recommendations on their web site. You have to subscribe to that in addition to the magazine, but it's worth it. Just yesterday I bought a electric knife for my dad based on their recommendation.
Their December issue had a new pie crust recipe in it and it called for vodka. I had never bought vodka before and although they recommended Grey Goose, I didn't really want to spend that much. The cheapest bottle had this huge black cap that I assume was an anti-theft device. That made me laugh and I figured I would feel silly buying that one. Although the thought of someone stealing it also made me feel sad.
ANYWAY, I jumped up one price level in the vodka selection and use dit to make the double crust recipe. Using another Cooks' recipe, I made a sweet potato pie that was devoured at my in-law's house. It has bourbon in the pie and a layer of brown sugar on between the crust and the pie. Mmmmmmm.
I needed only half the dough for my sweet potato pie and the other disk of dough has been in my fridge since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
I made this spiked apple tart last night with the other half of the dough and the crust was spectacular. I couldn't believe it was flaky and gorgeous after sitting in the fridge all that time.
It even rolled out better than the first one did. The tart has Calvados in it and it was delicious too. I had never made a free-form tart before and it was fun and easy. Another Cooks' victory.