Christopher Kimball moving on from America's Test Kitchen

May 31, 2016·Darcie

Whether you loved him or hated him, there is no denying that for many years, Christopher Kimball was the driving force - not to mention the face - of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Illustrated. In a move that shocked many people, the board of ATK essentially demoted him last fall when they hired the organization's first CEO, and later announced that he would be leaving ATK altogether. Now Kimball explains to The New York Times how he is moving on from America's Test Kitchen.

Kimball is not planning to retire - far from it. In fact, he has a number of brand-new ventures in the works. One such project is called Milk Street Kitchen. According to The Times, Kimball has already received $6 million from investors, and he is remodeling the ground floor of the Flour & Grain Exchange building on Milk Street in Boston's financial district.

The inspiration for Milk Street Kitchen came from Kimball's travels, a newfound interest in spices, and by authors like Yotam Ottolenghi. According to the project's website, Kimball promises to "elevate the quality of your cooking far beyond anything you thought was possible." He continues, "I still love the cooking of New England - apple pie is still my favorite recipe of all time - but the American repertoire is only part of the story. The rest of the world has created flavor by using spices, textures, fermented sauces, chiles, and fresh herbs. This new style of cooking is more about layers of flavor, about contrast, about combining ingredients in new ways."

But Milk Street Kitchen is not all that is on Kimball's agenda. Later this year, he plans to publish a new magazine and begin writing more cookbooks. He is also starting a cooking school, which he will promote in live road shows. He's even designing a chef's knife for the retail market.

3 comments

Aggie92June 1, 2016

The international recipes from Cook's Illustrated/ATK that I've tried in the past have been hit or miss in terms of flavor and spiciness. Some are so deadly boring and bland you have to wonder who decided they were good enough to print. Hopefully he will take a more authentic approach to his new endeavor. It will be tough though, the world of cooking is pretty much saturated with websites and magazines. And lets hope he doesn't lock everything behind a pay wall like Cook's Illustrated does with their content. That right there will be a deal breaker for me and Mr. Kimball.

sir_ken_gJune 1, 2016

"The rest of the world has created flavor by using spices, textures, fermented sauces, chiles, and fresh herbs. This new style of cooking is more about layers of flavor, about contrast, about combining ingredients in new ways."
Judging from all the international cookbooks out there he is way behind the times.
The best international cookbooks are usually written by natives who are familiar with Western food names and product availability.

RinshinJune 5, 2016

He is the one that made Cook's empire to me. I will certainly miss him and will watch how the remaining mags and staff will handle in coming months. If the quality goes down or the fun factor of him hosting goes down, I will be discontinuing my magazine sub as well as online subscription to all their mags. If he starts a new magazine/online venture, I will certainly be joining that one. I have been 80% happy with Cook's group of recipes except the Asian recipes. Those have been very boring and not up to par. They do really well with American and some South of the border recipes. I also like Cook's Country because they introduce unusual and not widely known regional American recipes and they have been fun to make.