Frequently Asked Questions - Web Memberships

What is the charge for online membership?
Why can't I log on to the site?
What is this charge on my credit card statement?
I can't find the 2008 Buying Guide for Supermarket Ingredients
How do I cancel my membership?
Why would a subscriber want to become a member?
Is a separate fee charged for access to each of your websites, or does one membership entitle me to access to all three?
What information is available online that is not in the magazine?
How do I change my billing information?
How do I renew my membership?
How do I change my e-mail address?
What is Cook's Live?
I am currently a member of CooksIllustrated.com. Is there an additional fee to watch Cook's Live videos?
When will new Cook's Live videos be posted on the website?
What is the difference between Cook's Live videos and America's Test Kitchen TV OnDemand videos?
Do you plan to make Cook's Live videos for recipes from older issues?
I am having technical problems. Who can I contact?
What is Cook's Extra?
Can I join the website without a credit card?
How do I change my password?
What makes CooksIllustrated.com different?
I can’t find the kitchen essentials PDF.
Can I give a web membership as a gift?
Can I download a gift card?
I forgot my password.
I can’t remember the e-mail address I used to sign up.
How do I view the e-Notes archive?
What are cookies and how do I know if they are enabled?
The screen message says that my password was sent, but I never got it.
How do you secure the privacy of our credit card numbers?
How do I access the Bulletin Board?
I have an older browser and I can’t access the recipes.
I put a space in my e-mail address and now I can't log in.
How do I contact you?

What is the charge for online membership?

A membership to our website is separate from a subscription to our magazine. Website memberships are $24.95 per year, and Cook's Illustrated subscribers receive a 20% discount when joining.

Unlike most websites, which are first and foremost about making money from advertisements, selling products, and selling your personal information to other companies, CooksIllustrated.com does not accept any sort of advertising or promotional revenue. We are 100 percent advertising-free and rely entirely on the support of our website members. Given the substantial investment required to create, maintain, and update our Web site, we have no choice but to charge a modest fee.

Cook's Illustrated magazine subscribers already know that only Cook's provides no-nonsense cookware reviews and food ratings as well as an in-depth approach to recipe development. In our test kitchen, we roasted 38 turkeys to develop the best recipe, sampled eight brands of turkey to find the one that tastes best, and tested eight brands of roasting pan to find the one that works best.  Of course, you can get hundreds of roast turkey recipes free elsewhere on the Web, but none will have been as extensively tested as ours.

With a membership to Cooksillustrated.com, you'll readily find all the recipes (more than 3,000!), equipment tests, supermarket ingredient ratings, and illustrated "how to" guides from the magazine's 14+ years of publication.

But our website is not just an archive of content from our magazine. We continually develop, add, and update content prepared only for website members. Here's some of what you'll get with your membership:

Additional recipes, equipment ratings, ingredient tastings, and other content never published in the magazine, including:

All of the Cook's Extras referenced in the magazine (additional recipes, expanded cookware tests and ingredient tastings, and cooking advice that we didn't have room to print in the magazine).  After six months, this content is available only to website members.

All Cook's Live videos, a new feature on our site, including 60-second video overviews of each new Cook's Illustrated Magazine recipe starting with the Cook’s Illustrated June 2007 issue. In addition, Video Tips demonstrate critical techniques and solutions to common cooking problems, and documentary segments take you behind the scenes of our equipment tests and supermarket ingredient tastings. All video segments feature the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen staff. 

All of the recipes, equipment tests, and ingredient tastings from every episode from all seven seasons of our highly rated public television show, America's Test Kitchen.
 
Up-to-date equipment ratings on more than 1,500 models of kitchen equipment, tools, and gadgets telling you what to buy…and what to avoid.
 
Up-to-date ratings on more than 1,000 brands of supermarket ingredients, from chicken stock and balsamic vinegar, to supermarket bacon and semisweet chocolate.

Selected recipes from our cookbooks.

Complete menus created by the editors of CooksIllustrated.com for every occasion.

Access to the My Favorites feature on our site, allowing you to organize your favorite recipes, testings, and tastings on your personal page, create your own menus, and print out complete shopping lists, organized by type of ingredient, for a recipe or menu.

Sign up for your 14-Day Free Trial Membership and you will have 14 days to sample all of the benefits of membership risk-free.  Click here to start your trial membership. 

Related link:
What can I find online that is not in the magazine?

Why can't I log in to the site?

If you are having difficulties logging in with your password and username:

1. First, close the current browser window, and open a new one

Open a new browser window, and type in "cooksillustrated.com" in the URL field. Then, log in with your email address and password. (Do not pull up the website from your favorites or from a bookmark.) If you still have problems, check the following:

2. E-mail user names and passwords are case-sensitive

Make sure to enter your email and password exactly as you entered themwhen you established your account. In order for our login screen to recognize your account, you must enter your e-mail and password with the same upper or lower case characters that you entered when setting up your account.

3. Make sure there are no spaces before your e-mail and password

Our login screen recognizes spaces as characters. Therefore, make sure that you do not have any spaces at the beginning of your e-mail or password when logging in.

4. Delete stored password information

If the log in page shows dots (*****) in the password field, delete the characters and type your password in again.

5. Cookies must be enabled to use our site

Go to our assessment page to verify that your cookies are enabled and receive instructions on how to enable them.

6. Check any firewall/anti-virus software

If your computer has firewall/anti-virus software installed such as Norton Firewall, ZoneAlarm, etc., be sure that CooksIllustrated.com is added as a trusted site.

7. The time and date on your computer must be correct

Check the clock on your computer. If it is not accurate, the website will not work properly.

8. If you are still experiencing difficulty, please call (617) 860-0188. Hours are 9 AM to 5 PM EST, Monday to Friday.

What is this charge on my credit card statement?
If your monthly or annual CooksIllustrated.com membership has renewed or if you have recently become a member of the website, the charge on your credit card statement will read: COOKS ILL WEBSITE.

I can't find the 2008 Buying Guide for Supermarket Ingredients

Click here to download it.

How do I cancel my membership?

Login to My Account and choose "Cancel my Membership" from the options on the right.

If you are still experiencing difficulties, please call (617) 860-0188. Hours are 9 AM to 5 PM EST, Monday to Friday.

Why would a subscriber want to become a member?

Are you thinking about joining the Cook’s Illustrated website and you’re already a subscriber to the magazine? If so, please read this note from Cook’s Illustrated founder and editor, Christopher Kimball, written just for you . . .

Dear Friend,

If I were in your shoes right now, I’d also be wondering: “Hmmmm. I already subscribe to Cook’s Illustrated. Do I really need to subscribe to the Web site as well?”

A few years back, when we first launched thewebsite, I wondered if I would use it. After all, I always had a bunch of copies of Cook’s lying around the house (hey, I am the editor) and I also had a set of the hardbound editions on hand. But after just a few weeks, I found myself clicking onto the Web site more and more frequently.

I couldn’t remember which brand of red wine vinegar was best, and I had to go out shopping (Tasting Lab). Or I wanted to buy a Christmas gift for my sister and wanted the best 12-inch skillet (Equipment Corner). Or, I had a bunch of asparagus left over from a stir-fry and needed a recipe. I think it was the one with the basil that we ran in ’94, but....

Or when I was visiting a friend in Portland, I hopped onto the site to find a recipe for dinner. After all, I couldn’t bring all my back issues with me.

Then I wondered about equipment updates. Is that winning electric knife still available? How about that Dutch oven that I liked, the one made by the company in South America? In fact, I asked the editors to constantly update our tastings and testings on the web so that I could shop with a bit more confidence. After all, model numbers and features seem to change every six months or so.

Then I started spending time on the bulletin board. (What is the best way to brine a 24-pound turkey?) And then I wanted to know where to order those big flat sheets of parchment paper and where to buy replacement parts for my food processor (Where to Shop). And what was that quick tip for using a hair dryer on chocolate icing (Quick Tips)?

I even found that science piece about why cheesecakes crack and how to solve the problem (Food Science).

And then, best of all, we started answering questions from website members (Ask Cook’s). Now members can actually get their questions answered by our editors and test cooks.

I love books. I love magazines. I like the feel of the paper. I like exploring pages one by one. But I also like convenience and up-to-date information. And I love searching thousands of pieces of information to find exactly what I was looking for. In just seconds.

If you’re like my Vermont neighbors, you don’t like slick marketing offers, so let me make a simple, no-nonsense suggestion. Try out our website. You can subscribe by the month or by the year. But I bet that cooksIllustrated.com will quickly become one of your top sites. Of course, you can always cancel at any time. No problems. No hassle.

Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you soon at our site. (You can even leave a question or comment for me -- even personal comments are welcome.)

Best regards,

Christopher Kimball

Founder and Editor, Cook’s Illustrated

Is a separate fee charged for access to each of your websites, or does one membership entitle me to access to all three?

We currently offer 3 premium membership services: CooksIllustrated.com, CooksCountry.com, and America's Test Kitchen TV OnDemand. We do not currently offer one membership that provides access to all 3 of our premium web services. Access to each site's premium content requires a membership to that service. You can sign up using the same username and password for each.

What information is available online that is not in the magazine?

With a membership to Cooksillustrated.com, you'll readily find all the recipes (more than 3,000!), equipment tests, supermarket ingredient ratings, and illustrated "how to" guides from the magazine's 14+ years of publication—all available to be searched by name, ingredient, course, or category—then printed with just a click.

But our website is not just an archive of content from our magazine—we continually develop, add, and update content prepared only for website members. Here's some of what you also get with your membership:

Additional recipes, equipment ratings, ingredient tastings, and other content never published in the magazine, including:
      
All of the Cook's Extras referenced in the magazine (additional recipes, expanded cookware tests and ingredient tastings, and cooking advice that we didn't have room to print in the magazine).  After six months, this content is available only to website members.

All Cook's Live videos, a new feature on our site, including 60-second video overviews of each new Cook's Illustrated Magazine recipe starting with the Cook’s Illustrated June 2007 issue. In addition, Video Tips demonstrate critical techniques and solutions to common cooking problems, and documentary segments take you behind the scenes of our equipment tests and supermarket ingredient tastings. All video segments feature the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen staff. 

All of the recipes, equipment tests, and ingredient tastings from every episode from all seven seasons of our highly rated public television show, America's Test Kitchen.
 
Up-to-date equipment ratings on more than 1,500 models of kitchen equipment, tools, and gadgets telling you what to buy…and what to avoid.
 
Up-to-date ratings on more than 1,000 brands of supermarket ingredients, from chicken stock and balsamic vinegar, to supermarket bacon and semisweet chocolate.

Selected recipes from our cookbooks.

Complete menus created by the editors of CooksIllustrated.com for every occasion.

Access to the My Favorites feature on our site, which allowsyou to organize your favorite recipes, testings, and tastings, and print out shopping lists.

Sign up for your 14-Day Free Trial Membership and you will have 14 days to sample all of the benefits of membership risk-free.  Click here to start your trial membership.

How do I change my billing information?

Simply go to My Account. You can update it there.

How do I renew my membership?

To renew your membership, simply go to My Account, then click on the "Renew My Membership" hyperlink.

However, if you have any difficulty, please call (617) 860-0188. Hours are 9 AM to 5 PM EST, Monday to Friday.

How do I change my e-mail address?

To change your e-mail address, simply go to My Account.

What is Cook's Live?

Cook's Live videos are original, behind-the-scenes videos that bring new Cook's Illustrated magazine recipes to life. Starting with the May/June 2007 issue, each recipe published in Cook's Illustrated magazine now features a 60-second video overview. In addition, Video Tips demonstrate critical techniques and solutions to common cooking problems, and documentary segments take you behind the scenes of our equipment tests and supermarket ingredient tastings. All video segments feature the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen staff.

All Cook's Live videos are available to CooksIllustrated.com members. If you are not a member of CooksIllustrated.com and would like to start your 14-Day Free Trial, click here.

I am currently a member of CooksIllustrated.com. Is there an additional fee to watch Cook's Live videos?

No. Cook’s Live video is a new member benefit that is available, at no additional charge, to all CooksIllustrated.com members.

When will new Cook's Live videos be posted on the website?

What is the difference between Cook's Live videos and America's Test Kitchen TV OnDemand videos?

Cook's Live videos are companion videos to Cook's Illustrated magazine and are related to recipes, equipment tests, and tastings published in Cook's Illustrated magazine. Access to Cook's Live videos is available to all CooksIllustrated.com members.

America's Test Kitchen TV OnDemand is our video membership, available at AmericasTestKitchen.com, allowing members to watch complete episodes and individual segments of our America's Test Kitchen public television series. For more information on our America's Test Kitchen TV OnDemand membership, click here.

Cook's Live and America's Test Kitchen TV OnDemand are mutually exclusive; no videos are shared between the two services.

Do you plan to make Cook's Live videos for recipes from older issues?

No. Cook's Live video started with the May/June 2007 issue and will be a feature of each issue going forward.

I am having technical problems. Who can I contact?

To contact us regarding technical difficulties associated with watching Cook's Live video, click here.

What is Cook's Extra?

Cook’s Extra is a special feature for readers of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and members of CooksIllustrated.com. With Cook’s Extra you will find original recipes, sidebars, or related food and equipment ratings that we were unable to fit into the magazine. All of these articles were developed using the same stringent guidelines as those in the magazine—test, test, and re-test—in order to provide you with the best, most foolproof recipes.

The recipes are designed to stand alone, meaning you don’t need anything from the magazine to make them, and all the recipes are free of charge for 6 months, starting with the date of the current issue. All past Cook’s Extra articles are archived for members of CooksIllustrated.com.

To access both current and past Cook’s Extra recipes and stories, simply click on the link in the Cook's Extra box in the left column of the CooksIllustrated.com home page.

Can I join the website without a credit card?

If you would like to subscribe to the website with a check or money order, send your request to:

America's Test Kitchen
Attn: Customer Service
17 Station St.
Brookline, MA 02445

Be sure to include your complete mailing address, your e-mail address, and a password you would like to use to log on to the website. Once we have received your order with payment, we will send you an e-mail confirming that your membership has been started.

How do I change my password?

Go to My Account. You will have access to all of your account information and can enter and confirm a new password in the password fields. Remember to click "Save Changes" when you have finished changing your information.

What makes CooksIllustrated.com different?

Cook's Illustrated accepts no advertising making it possible to provide completely unbiased, no-nonsense cookware reviews and food ratings as well as an in-depth approach to recipe development. In our test kitchen, we roast 38 turkeys to find the best cooking method, sample eight brands of turkey to find the one that tastes best, and test 12 roasting pans to find the one that performs best. Of course, you can get hundreds of roast turkey recipes free elsewhere on the web, but none will have been as extensively tested or as honest as ours.

I can't find the Kitchen Essentials PDF.

You have to be a member, and if you are, simply click here to download it.

Can I give a web membership as a gift?

Of course. We'd love it. Just click here.

Can I download a gift card?

Yes. Click here to download a gift card.

I've forgotten my password.

Click here to have your password e-mailed to you.

I can't remember the e-mail address I used to sign up.

If you can't remember the e-mail address you used for cooksillustrated.com, you have two options:

1. Try all your e-mail addresses and old e-mail addresses and see if any of them work.

2. Call customer service at (617) 860-0188 between 9 AM and 5 PM EST, Monday to Friday.

How do I view the e-notes archive?

The e-notes archive is here.

What are cookies and how do I know if they are enabled?

When logging in we attempt to place a cookie on your browser.

But, some users have their browsers configured to reject cookies or have cookies turned off.

You need to check the settings of your browser and either: turn them back on or, stop rejecting them.

Each browser is different, but, for example, in Internet Explorer, you go into the "TOOLS" menu and click on "INTERNET OPTIONS." In here you may need to click on the "PRIVACY" tab and adjust the settings.

To view our cookies assesment page, click here.

The screen message says that my password was sent, but I never got it.

There are a few reasons why this might happen:

1. It's possible that we don't have that particular email address in our database. Make sure you are using the same email address that you used when you first became a customer or member.

2. Make sure you typed the email address correctly.

3. If you are running spam blocking software, such as Earthlink spam blocker, please be sure to add support@americastestkitchen.com to your list of allowed senders.

For more help logging onto our Web site, please see our FAQ topic, Why can't I log in?

How do you secure the privacy of our credit card numbers?

Cooksillustrated.com uses SSL technology to keep your information safe. Whenever you access credit card information, either during checkout or when viewing your account, you are put into a "secure session." In Internet Explorer, you will see a "lock" icon in the bottom right of your screen to indicate that all communications between you and the cooksillustrated.com web site are encrypted.

How do I access the Bulletin Board?

To log into the Bulletin Board you need to create a new Bulletin Board identity. We do not use your Cook's Illustrated username in order to protect your privacy.

To register for the Bulletin Board, access the board from the Bulletin Board link at the top of the page and follow these instructions:

Click the "New Account" button on the lower left hand corner. You will be asked to set-up a user name and password and enter your e-mail address. Your chat/forum login should be an online name that protects your privacy, not your email address. It is also recommended when posting to the forum that you select the option "Do Not Show my E-mail Address."

I have an older browser and I can’t access the recipes

You will need to upgrade your browser to a new version. To get a recent version of Microsoft Inernet Explorer, click here to go to the IE homepage.

I put a space in my e-mail address and now I can't log in

To get back in, try logging in with the erroneous space in the email. If you get in, go to "Your Account" and update your email address.

If you still can't log in, call customer service at: (617) 860-0188. Hours are 9 AM - 5 PM EST, Monday to Friday.

Contact us

For questions regarding the Web site or your membership, please e-mail webinquiry@americastestkitchen.com, or call Customer Service at (617) 860-0188. Our office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM EST.

If you have a question regarding the Bulletin Board, please e-mail ci.webeditor@americastestkitchen.com.

If you are a web member and have a cooking question, please e-mail cooks@americastestkitchen.com.