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I've been Cook's Illustrated subscriber for many years and usee to really enjoy it. Even if I only cooked a few recipes, I still liked reading about all the experiments and science behind the recipes. Few years ago I took a break from subscription for various reasons. Cost was one, also their recipes gravitated towards "just add more sugar and fat" and it didn't fit our changing lifestyle. They had too many meat recipes as well.
This year I got a good price on subscription plus they were giving away a cutting board (which turned out tiny ), so I thought I'd give them another chance. Even though it's December, they sent me 2 old issues (really unnecessary but ok), I looked through them and just feel like I couldn't care less for any of the recipes.
It seems that there are fewer recipes than before. I found pages and pages of tips and "best supermarket cheese", "best skillet", etc. Thanksgiving issue is same boring stuff.
Are there any Cook's Illustrated fans here? Do you feel the same or is it just me? I know their editor left and am wondering if they just did not recover from that.
Yes. I have been thinking the same thing. I subscribe to them online and follow on Facebook. I wish Christopher Kimball hadn’t left.
I think it goes without saying, all magazines are going down hill. I can't believe how small my husbands Sport Ill is and a few of the cook magazine I get. It is the changing of the times and I don't like all the changes but I bet our parents said the same thing about all the changes when they watched what was happening
It seems that there are fewer recipes than before. I found pages and pages of tips and "best supermarket cheese", "best skillet", etc. Thanksgiving issue is same boring stuff.
Are there any Cook's Illustrated fans here? Do you feel the same or is it just me? I know their editor left and am wondering if they just did not recover from that.
I quit buying MOST magazines and newspapers that use the "best of ____" articles to sell subscriptions.
MOST publications have sacked most of their experienced writers and are now hiring freelancers and bloggers to take their place. Many of them are honestly unqualified and being published feeds their massive egos.
I would like to give a couple of good examples BUT I am sure that they would be deleted by the moderators.
I love CI’s equipment reviews and taste tests, they rarely have steered me wrong but several months ago they did a review on Instant Pots and it was clear they hadn’t even read the directions. They were pretty sneeringly dismissive of them and the readers really let them have it. The comments on Facebook were harsh.
I had a subscription recently, and I still always found a new tip in them that I would never have thought of otherwise. One that I remember is to use a lemon squeezer to crush a few walnuts.
Anyway, I totally agree that magazines in general have become rather repetitive and mostly ads, but if I subscribed to any, that would still be in contention. Cooks Illustrated may have gone from an A to a B, but most of the others have gone from A to D.
I have subscriptions to about 10 mainstream magazines, all free. I think they give them away free to boost their numbers, so they can charge more for ads. No way I would ever pay for one. They are all getting smaller.
My sister got me a subscription for the online version. I renewed it because they gave me a special deal and then last year they renewed it at full price - $39.95! They had my CC so they automatically billed it. I really need to cancel before they do it again - I'm a pretty experienced cook and I can't see paying that much for information you can usually find via an internet search. I don't know why they think so highly of themselves. Thanks for the reminder - I'm going to make a note to cancel them tomorrow.
It's true, the magazines are not doing as well as they used to overall. But Cook's Illustrated was always ad free and the recipes are basically all they have. That's why I was surprised to find so little content in the recent issues.
And what bugs me about their "best supermarket something" reviews is - where do they even find those brands? Just looked again at their "best turkey" (not that I care, really) and I've never even heard of all of their winners. What's the value of such reviews?
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), so I thought I'd give them another chance. Even though it's December, they sent me 2 old issues (really unnecessary but ok), I looked through them and just feel like I couldn't care less for any of the recipes. 
They had my CC so they automatically billed it. I really need to cancel before they do it again - I'm a pretty experienced cook and I can't see paying that much for information you can usually find via an internet search. I don't know why they think so highly of themselves. Thanks for the reminder - I'm going to make a note to cancel them tomorrow.
