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Chris Kimball ’73 brings recipes that work from
America’s Test Kitchen to your kitchen
Cooking 101
B y Cl a i r e Lu i ’00
The titles of Chris Kimball ’73’s published
books, The New Best Recipe and More Best
Recipes, quite literally reflect his convictions
about cooking. Kimball believes
that there is an absolute best way to cook
anything and everything — and furthermore,
that with the right recipes, anyone
can be a great cook.
Kimball’s passion for well-made food
(and his zeal for didactic details in recipes)
is reflected in the magazines, television shows and books
that he oversees as the head of the America’s Test Kitchen empire
(www.americastestkitchentv.com), based in Boston. His official
title is founder of Boston Common Press, the company that owns
the various media that come out of America’s Test Kitchen. In
reality, Kimball is much more than just the founder, serving as
hands-on leader and cooking guru/taskmaster to more than three
dozen employees who create hundreds of recipes each year.
And to the public, Kimball, sporting a natty bow tie and his
signature red apron, is instantly recognizable as the face and
voice of the America’s Test Kitchen brand.
The brand began with a small, unassuming food magazine, Cook’s
Illustrated (www.cooksillustrated.com), which in terms of circulation
is now one of the biggest cooking magazines in the country and
is edited by Kimball. It has grown to include a spin-off magazine,
Cook’s Country (www.cookscountry.com); two shows on PBS, America’s
Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country (www.cookscountrytv.com), both
hosted by Kimball; a new radio show debuting this fall, also hosted
by Kimball; a bevy of cookbooks each year; and four successful websites.
The company is privately held and revenues are not publicly
disclosed, but the Boston Globe has estimated the gross revenue for
print and web subscriptions alone at more than $40 million a year —
and that’s not counting television, radio or book revenues.
Fusing science, analytical testing and commonsense tasting,
Kimball and his team have developed an approach to cooking
that is quite different from the celebrity chef phenomenon.
Though Kimball is featured as the face of America’s Test Kitchen
and Cook’s Illustrated, he and his team try to shift the emphasis to
where they think it belongs: the food.
Kimball is involved in every television and radio episode, sits in
on meetings for all the books and magazines, and tastes everything
in Cook’s Illustrated. His workday starts at 6:30 a.m., and the editorial
director at Cook’s Illustrated, Jack Bishop, says with a laugh,
“When Chris arrives on his motorcycle, wearing his bow tie, it is a
sight to be seen.” Kimball’s contrast of practical neckwear (chosen
for his ability to keep it out of the food he cooks) and daring transport
might seem unusual, but above all, Kimball’s approach to life
is about how to find the best, most enjoyable way to live it.
It’s a philosophy that’s reflected in Kimball’s fondness for simple,
unpretentious food, as well as in his personal passions, which
include driving fast, gorgeous cars (“Driving with Chris in his
Maserati in Boston is a death wish,” says Bishop, who says that
once was enough for him) and the Grateful Dead (Kimball plays in
a Grateful Dead cover band).
This combination of practicality and luxury might have had its
roots in Kimball’s childhood. Though he grew up in Westchester
County, N.Y., Vermont always has been at the heart of Kimball’s
self-identity. His parents owned a farm in Vermont, where the family
spent weekends and summers, and Kimball has written extensively
about Vermont in his Cook’s Illustrated editor’s letters and his
cookbooks. The original family farm was sold, but Kimball bought
a new farm in 1986 in southwest Vermont, which now includes
livestock, bees, an apple orchard and a maple syrup operation.
Kimball and his wife, Adrienne, and children, Whitney, Caroline,
Charles and Emily, divide their time between Boston and Vermont.
When speaking about his influences, it’s clear that the state is a sort
of talisman for Kimball. He reminisces about a local cook from
his childhood as the primary inspiration for his philosophy about
what to cook and how to eat: “The thing about Marie Briggs was
that her farmhouse was the center of town. So when people were
driving around, they would often stop by and get something to eat
and whoever was around would get dinner at noon. Food was the
center of that community and she was
the center of that community because she
was the cook. The food was simple, but
it was really good. I really liked that, and
that’s how I got started.”
Kimball’s upbringing reflected the
time (the ’60s) and place (the suburbs) of
his youth, where his love of fast cars and
Deadhead tendencies may have originated.
He attended Phillips Exeter Academy
before matriculating at Columbia in 1969,
in the middle of the anti-war activities and
protests that consumed the University and
the nation at the time. “There was a lot going
on,” he says. “We were always marching
and we had strikes every May Day. I
don’t think I took finals more than half the
time, because the school was on strike. The
College was under siege for that time, and
it was a really tough time.”
Chris Kimball ’73
is familiar to
millions as the
host of America’s
Test Kitchen. He
lets the kitchen
staff do most of
the cooking and
acts as a stand-in
for the viewer,
asking questions
about ingredients
and technique.
Photos: Daniel
Van Ackere
july/august 2010
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