Season 1 (2008)

1. Forgotten Cakes

Join us as we re-create two classic cakes from the 1960s. Christopher Kimball shares tips for error-proof baking, and Jack Bishop reveals which milk chocolate won our taste tests.

2. Sunday Dinner

3. Feeding a Crowd, Italian-Style

Everyone loves Italian food. We share the secrets to making extraordinary meatballs and marinara and the perfect “Sunday gravy”—a slow-simmered sauce with several kinds of meat.

4. Southern Regional Recipes

We share the test kitchen’s method for simplifying Lexington-style pulled pork, and explain how to make the perfect Memphis coleslaw—a barbecue-joint staple.

5. Autumn Supper

Making pork roast is tricky. Which cut is best and how do you keep the meat moist? Our unique seven-hour recipe will change the way you think about the other white meat.

6. All-American Picnic

Learn to make super-crunchy fried chicken. Pair it with our classic potato salad, or with the potato chips that won our taste test of top brands.

7. Easy As Pie

8. Steakhouse Favorites

Learn the technique for perfectly broiled steaks, and discover the secret to super-stuffed potatoes. Adam Ried tells us which steaks knives make the cut.

9. Barbecued Chicken

10. Regional Chops

Learn to grill double-thick chops and how to give them authentic smoke flavor. The test kitchen also perfects a recipe for whiskey-glazed pork chops.

11. Midwestern Favorites

12. California Grilling

Bridget Lancaster teaches Christopher Kimball how to cook a garlicky tri-tip roast on the grill. She also prepares California barbecued beans and Santa Maria-style salsa.

13. Diner Favorites

Enjoy a diner-style brunch at home with impossibly tall and fluffy omelets, crusty, deeply browned home fries, and the best store-bought orange juice as judged by our tasters.