"Cooks Illustrated" for Vegans?

August 11, 2012 8:30 PM

Help me find a Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen magazine or website for vegans?

In my vegetarian days, I got enough value out of Cooks Illustrated that it was worth it to have a subscription. But now that I've gone vegan, it can be months between interesting recipes. (And I'm a good enough cook to substitute, but one of the large benefits of CI is all the explanatory science, a large part of which is rendered moot if you start subbing).

I've Googled, but am not getting much that meets my "cooking geek" needs. Hoping the hive mind can help!

posted by dotgirl to food & drink (7 answers total)

Bryanna Clark Grogan often goes into a lot of detail on her blog.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:36 PM on August 11, 2012

post punk kitchen the recipes are great and she explains how it all works together really well

also Sarah Kramer's books are excellent
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:47 AM on August 12, 2012

Vegan Feast Kitchen

Veggie Belly - Not everything is Vegan.

Tofu for Two Hasn't been update in two years, but there's good stuff there.

Taste Space Some vegan, updated pretty often.

Green Kitchen Stories Nice photographs, some vegan.
posted by Partario at 7:32 AM on August 12, 2012

Reporting what a vegan friend is telling me via IM:

"Isa Chandra Motzkowitz's books are normally illustrated. Her dessert books more than anything. I think Vegan with a Vengence has some illustrations but they are in one section and of select recipes. Idk about her Veganomicron though. I have this vegan holiday cookbook that has lots of illustrations too.
posted by Canageek at 8:03 AM on August 12, 2012

I haven't come across anything as exhaustively in-depth as Cook's Illustrated, but Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks (vegetarian, some vegan) generally discusses how she developed a recipe, sometimes at the "tried this, didn't work, tried that which did because [reason]" level.
posted by Lexica at 10:14 AM on August 12, 2012

A few months ago, former Cook's Illustrated cook/author Kenji Lopez-Alt (now editor at Serious Eats and running the amazing Food Lab series) tried a month of veganism and wrote about everything he cooked. It only totals 28 recipes, but if you like the methodology of Cook's, you'll probably like these.
posted by tulseluper at 1:18 PM on August 12, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's Veganomicon, and it's sparsely illustrated. Still completely awesome, though!

As for blogs, yes, my good friend who's been vegan for years (and is a good enough cook that multiple people have told her to go pro) loves Post Punk Kitchen. I'm liking their strawberry rhubarb crisp recipe, among other things. I love scanning Tastespotting, even though it's completely omni and I'm not, because I get ideas from how people put things together that I can work good substitutes for; there are a number of vegans who post to it as well.

Magazines? My friend subscribes to tons of good vegan ones and I know she likes CI, so let me see if I can ask her; if so I'll come back and update the thread.
posted by librarylis at 7:55 PM on August 12, 2012