Cook's Illustrated

Frequently Asked Questions - Web Memberships

Membership Information

What is the charge for online membership?

A membership to our website is separate from a subscription to our magazine. Website memberships are $34.95 per year, and Cook's Illustrated subscribers receive a discounted rate of $29.95 per year.

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 website, we have no choice but to charge a modest fee.

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Why would a subscriber want to become a member?

Cook's Illustrated magazine subscribers already know that only Cook's provides an in-depth approach to recipe development, no-nonsense cookware reviews and food ratings, and comprehensive explanations of kitchen techniques and science. . 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. Plus we developed a no-brining technique for those with limited refrigerator space. 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!) from the magazine's 17 years of publication along with up-to-date versions of the equipment tests, supermarket ingredient ratings, and kitchen tips we've published over the years. But our website is not just an updated archive of content from our magazine. We continually develop and add content prepared only for website members. Here's some of what you'll get with your membership:

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

  • Video overviews of each new Cook's Illustrated recipe starting with the June 2007 issue. We are also adding new videos for favorites from prior issues.
  • Video tips demonstrating critical techniques and solutions to common cooking problems.
  • Documentary segments that take you behind the scenes of our equipment and taste tests.
  • Every Online Extra referenced in the magazine, including additional recipes, expanded equipment tests and ingredient tastings, as well as cooking advice that we didn't have room to put in print. After four months, this content is available only to website members.
  • Every recipe, equipment test, and ingredient tasting from all eight seasons of our highly rated public television show, America's Test Kitchen, and all the recipes, testings, and tastings from our newest show, Cook?s Country from America?s Test Kitchen.
  • Selected recipes from our cookbooks.
  • Complete menus created by the editors of CooksIllustrated.com for every occasion, and new, seasonal menus sent regularly to website members.
  • Speciality topic pages including light recipes, cooking for two, seasonal guides such as our annual Thanksgiving survival guide, and much more.
  • Access to the enhanced My Cookbook feature on our site, allowing you to organize your favorite recipes on your personal page. Plus you can print out complete shopping lists for every recipe.

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.

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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 three 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 three 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.

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

Our website is not just an updated archive of content from our magazine. We also develop and add content prepared only for website members. Some of the added features you'll get with your membership include:

  • Video overviews of each new Cook's Illustrated recipe starting with the June 2007 issue. We are also adding new videos for favorites from prior issues.
  • Video tips demonstrating critical techniques and solutions to common cooking problems.
  • Documentary segments that take you behind the scenes of our equipment and taste tests.
  • Every Online Extra referenced in the magazine, including additional recipes, expanded equipment tests and ingredient tastings, as well as cooking advice that we didn't have room to put in print. After four months, this content is available only to website members.
  • Every recipe, equipment test, and ingredient tasting from all eight seasons of our highly rated public television show, America's Test Kitchen, and all the recipes, testings, and tastings from our newest show, Cook?s Country from America?s Test Kitchen.
  • Selected recipes from our cookbooks.
  • Complete menus created by the editors of CooksIllustrated.com for every occasion, and new, seasonal menus sent regularly to website members.
  • Speciality topic pages including light recipes, cooking for two, seasonal guides such as our annual Thanksgiving survival guide, and much more.
  • Access to the enhanced My Cookbook feature on our site, allowing you to organize your favorite recipes on your personal page. Plus you can print out complete shopping lists for every recipe.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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:

Cook's Illustrated
PO Box 8495
Red Oak, IA 51591-1495

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.

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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.

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Manage Your Account

How do I change my password?

Log in 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.

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How do I change my billing information?

Log in to My Account. You can update it there.

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How do I renew my membership?

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

However, if you have any difficulty, please call 800-526-8442. Hours are 8 AM to 7 PM CST, Monday to Friday.

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How do I cancel my membership?

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

If you are still experiencing difficulties, please call 800-526-8442. Hours are 8 AM to 7 PM CST, Monday to Friday.

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How do I change my e-mail address?

To change your e-mail address, log in to My Account.

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I forgot my password

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

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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 800-526-8442 between 8 AM and 7 PM CST, Monday to Friday.

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

Try logging in with the erroneous space in the e-mail. If you get in, go to "My Account" and update your e-mail address.

If you still can't log in, call customer service at: 800-526-8442. Hours are 8 AM to 7 PM CST, Monday to Friday.

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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 website are encrypted.

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Contact us

For questions regarding the website or your membership, please e-mail webinquiry@americastestkitchen.com, or call Customer Service at 800-526-8442. Our office hours are Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 7 PM CST.

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

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

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Technical Questions

Why can't I log in to the site?

If you are having difficulties logging in with your password and username (Please note that a website membership is a separate fee from your magazine subscription):

  1. First, close the current browser window, and open a new one
    In the new browser window, type in "www.cooksillustrated.com" in the URL field. Do not pull up the website from your favorites or from a bookmark. Then, log in with your e-mail address and password. If you still have problems, check the following:
  2. E-mail user names and passwords are case-sensitive
    Make sure to enter your e-mail and password exactly as you entered them when 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
    For instructions on how to enable cookies, please visit our cookies page.
  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.

If you are still experiencing difficulty, please call 800-526-8442. Hours are 8 AM to 7 PM CST, Monday to Friday.

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Why do some areas of the site appear broken?

Our site is designed to be viewed in a browser using Javascript. Many of the site's features such as videos, My Cookbook, search by ingredient, and more, may not function as intended if Javascript is not enabled.

To experience CooksIllustrated.com as intended, please verify that Javascript is enabled on your computer and that you have installed the most current version of your Web browser. (Our preferred browsers are Firefox 3.0, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3.1).

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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 ILLUSTRAT.COM.

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I am having technical problems. Who can I contact?

To contact us regarding technical difficulties associated with watching Cook's Live video, send an e-mail to webinquiry@bcpress.com.

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

Cookies are small pieces of information stored in your browser that allow CooksIllustrated.com to verify your account information and sign you in to our site. You can test your cookies and find information for enabling them in your preferred browser by visiting our cookie test page.

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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 e-mail address in our database. Make sure you are using the same e-mail address that you used when you first became a customer or member.
  2. Make sure you typed the e-mail 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.
  4. For more help logging onto our website, please see our FAQ topic, Why can't I log in?

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Can I give a web membership as a gift?

Of course. We'd love it. Click here to give a gift.

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Can I download a gift card?

Yes. Click here to download a gift card from our bookstore.

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Navigating the Site

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

Starting with the May/June 2007 issue, every major recipe, equipment test, and ingredient tasting in Cook's Illustrated magazine, now features Cook?s Live video. Content from new magazine issues, including Cook's Live videos, appears on CooksIllustrated.com at the beginning of the month preceding the magazine issue's cover date.

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

Yes. Cook's Live video started with the May/June 2007 issue and will be a feature of each issue going forward. In addition, we are adding videos of some of our most requested recipes.

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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 includes an overview featuring the test cook who developed the recipe demonstrating each recipe step. In addition, Video Tips demonstrate critical techniques and solutions to common cooking problems or special problems relating to a highlighted recipe, and documentary segments take you behind the scenes of our equipment tests.

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.

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What are Online Extras (Cook's Extras)?

Online extras is the new name for Cook?s Extras. It is a special feature for readers of Cook's Illustrated magazine and members of CooksIllustrated.com. With Online Extras 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?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, you'll find a special section on each magazine index page titled "online extras" that will link you to a lists of each extra associated with that issue.

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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. Also, the Bulletin Board is free and does not require a membership on CooksIllustrated.com.

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 e-mail address. It is also recommended when posting to the forum that you select the option "Do Not Show my E-mail Address."

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I have an older browser and I can't access the recipes.

You will need to upgrade your browser to a new version.

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