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America's Test Kitchen (originally America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated Magazine) is a half-hour long cooking show broadcast by public television stations and Create and distributed by American Public Television. Originally hosted by Christopher Kimball, the program currently is co-hosted by Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster.
On the show, a handful of test cooks are filmed in a real, working test kitchen, including hosts Davison and Lancaster and chefs Keith Dresser, Becky Hays, Lan Lam, Erin McMurrer, Elle Simone Scott, and Dan Souza. Also, Bryan Roof, Christie Morrison, Ashley Moore, Lawman Johnson, and Morgan Bolling prepare recipes as they discuss what works, what doesn't, and why, highlighting the rigorous recipe testing process at the core of the test kitchen's mission. Equipment expert Adam Ried, gadget critic Lisa McManus, and tasting expert Jack Bishop help viewers understand what to look for when buying gear and ingredients.
The show is affiliated with America's Test Kitchen, publishers of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, and beginning in Season 19, the show is recorded at ATK's test kitchen facility at the Innovation and Design Building in Boston, Massachusetts.
On February 2, 2023, Marquee Brands became a majority owner of ATK (America's Test Kitchen Limited Partnership) and its associated brands, including Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country.
On March 24, 2023, America’s Test Kitchen laid off 23 workers or about 10 percent of its staff. That included the entire team that worked on the ATK Kids brand.
A typical episode of the show consists primarily of two or three recipes that are consistent with the theme of the episode. Each recipe is tested 40-60 times before appearing on the show or in the books, at an average cost of $10,000; they also have a network of 35,000 people who have volunteered to test them. For broadcast, each recipe is presented by a test cook to one of the hosts, Julia Collin Davison or Bridget Lancaster, who walk through recipe steps, explain common problems that can occur when cooking it, and explain how to cook it the right way by sharing discoveries made during the testing and the science behind the recipe using instructional graphics. Periodically throughout the episode, other segments are inserted, usually consisting of two or more of the following:
Through season 6 the show was taped in standard definition, 4:3 video; season 7 saw the show switch to widescreen 16:9 video. The high definition version of the show is broadcast as part of PBS HD's master digital schedule, and by some PBS affiliates as part of their normal schedules.
During recording, 26 episodes are videotaped during a three-week period. Six recipes are recorded per day, and there are two recipes demonstrated per episode.
America's Test Kitchen features several recurring cast members, although not every cast member appears in each episode.
Julia Collin Davison (identified on-screen before season 7 as "Julia Collin"), Bridget Lancaster, Kay Rentschler, Rebecca "Becky" Hays, Sandra Wu, Yvonne Ruperti, J. Kenji Alt (now J. Kenji Lopez-Alt), Erika Bruce, Bryan Roof and Dan Souza are the chefs who explain and prepare the recipes in each episode as Kimball watches and comments.
Yvonne Ruperti and J. Kenji Lopez-Alt departed the company in 2009 and 2011 respectively; Christopher Kimball, ATK co-founder, editor and publisher, who appeared from the show's inception through 2016, parted ways with the company and the show in the fall of that year over a contract dispute.
Usually only one or two of the chefs will appear in an episode. Collin Davison, Lancaster and Rentschler appeared as regular cast members on season 1. Since, Rentschler moved to the positions of Culinary Producer and Executive Chef by season 2 and appeared in only one episode that season, before leaving the show by Season 3. Hays joined the permanent cast in season 5, Bruce, Wu, and Ruperti each appear for a single season (seasons 5, 6, and 8, respectively), and Alt appears in seasons 7 and 8. All are prominent recipe testers or editors in Cook's Illustrated.
Beginning in season 5, Cook's Illustrated staff chefs Hays, Bruce, Jeremy Sauer, and Matthew Card appeared in segments answering common viewer mail questions. Hays, Bruce, and Sauer joined the on-camera cast for season 6; Hays moved into credited cast member status beginning in season 7. Roof and Souza were added to the regular cast starting season 15.
