The America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook

The America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook replaces guesswork with recipes that work. These are practical menus (we know, since we prepared each menu in its entirety to make absolutely sure that each and every one is practical and appealing) composed of the sorts of recipes that real cooks want to make at home.

Unlike other cookbooks that are simply recipe compilations, America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook offers easy-to-follow strategies for successfully creating more than 50 complete menu ideas. We've cooked through every menu from start to finish keeping things manageable and spelling out when and how to make dishes in advance.

In all, you'll have more than 250 recipes from which to choose. Each seasonal chapter includes ten complete menu ideas (plus a bonus chapter focused exclusively on holiday entertaining).

At the heart of the book are, of course, the menus, more than 50 kitchen-tested groups of recipes with all the logistic nightmares solved. We explain what can be done the day before including brining, salting, marinating, and baking. We provide the total preparation time for each recipe and explain which recipes can be cooked together. We also make sure that there is a minimum amount of last-minute preparation and cooking, the death knell of most badly organized dinner parties.

With the America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook, you can plan your next party with confidence. The 51 menus and 250 recipes in this collection have been thoroughly vetted, with all the chilling, brining, marinating, and make-ahead instructions spelled out so you won't find yourself on the day of the party suddenly realizing that the roast, stew, dessert, or sauce that you're about to make should have been made the day before. So go ahead and send the invitations - we've already done all the planning.