Cookaholics Bulletin Board

This is for Lou, our Smoke King:

A few years ago, Cook's Illustrated announced that they would ask the members to test recipes before production. Many of us signed up to receive test recipes that were not to be discussed on the bulletin board. We received recipes, bought the ingredients (I had never purchased chicken stock until that first test!), and reported results.

A few of us came up with a wonderful idea that would be a present for Smoke King. We would ask him to test a recipe that was fully developed and sure to put a smile on his face.

I had a wonderful and simple recipe that was a family favorite. I spent some time actually documenting both the amounts of the ingredients and specific detailed procedures. I then formatted the recipe to replicate to the letter, the look and feel of a Cook's Illustrated recipe. I even specified that the two teaspoons of lemon juice come from only one lemon.

Eric, the Veal Boy had some finely tuned computer skills and began researching methods of sending an email that Lou would assume came from Cook's Illustrated. Eric came up with the procedure but was not quite able to pull off the trick; he was concerned about legality and risk issues.

Eric and I decided to call in the big guns for lobbying assistance with the corporate leadership. Crystal was more than happy to help and phoned her contact. Eric and I were hopeful that there would be lots of humorous banter in Brooklinene and they would be happy to provide our generous gift to Smoke King. I think Rebecca was the Moderator at that time and we were sad to hear that our modest request was being denied. We must have been naive to assume a corporate sense of humor; live and learn.

Finally you all know the reason that Smoke King never had the opportunity to make really excellent Cilantro Pesto. I still am certain that it would have become Judy's favorite dish and Lou's favorite story.

Tim

ps: That recipe is still available, Lou, although I have not brought the format up to today's standards.

It was just this kind of prank(or attempt) that made the old CI board so much fun. Hopefully, we can recapture some of that here as more and more of that old group sign on....I do miss it.
ilene

Tim,

I wish you'd asked me. Faking an e-mail header isn't hard; if it were, thousands of spammers wouldn't do it.

Anyway, if you want to do a prank on this board, just let me know ...

Is anyone still testing recipes? I haven't received any in a loooooooong time...are they even soliciting testers any longer?

They are still testing. After being unceremoniously dumped along with many of you and ignored for 2 more years I started receiving new recipes 8 months ago with no explanation as to why. I only do the ones that appeal. Also, I had my shoulder and elbow exposed to the light of day and closed again, recovery will be a few months, so I'm not doing any of what they send. However, just to confirm that they haven't gotten any more adventurous, the latest is for beef stroganoff - be still my heart...

Glad to see your posts

Well, I suppose I must have been on the dump list.

It's nice to "see" a lot of you again.

I've gotten several recipes in the last few months, the last was brownies. I haven't had the time to make them. Most of the recipes were things I wasn't interested in anyway so no loss on my part. Now that the fall is upon us I will have more time to do testing, my luck they will not send me any because of my lack of participation.

Laurie

Brownies again? I tested Turtle Brownies for them about 4 years ago. How does it look?

I have definitely been dumped. Tested one recipe about 4 years ago and never got another one.

I just reapplied and then was asked to test for CC and healthy recipes. I have 2 to test now. Chess pie and empanadas

Mary