America's Test Kitchen

Publish date: 2024-05-02
 
September Issue
America’s Test Kitchen For The Next Generation
I’m Molly Birnbaum, Editor in Chief, and I’m so excited to be here. I’ll be writing the America’s Test Kitchen Kids newsletter and therefore arriving in your inbox every month with news about what we’re up to, ideas for recipes and hands-on activities for your kids, and other fun (and hopefully useful) stuff such as food trivia, dinnertime conversation starters, and simple DIY projects that will make you look like the coolest grown-up on the block.
 
In This Newsletter
 
 
A bit about me: I’m a science journalist, food editor, and passionate home cook. I’ve been an editor at America’s Test Kitchen for 7 years now and have worked on everything from Cook’s Illustrated to Cook’s Science to books including The Science of Good Cooking and Sous Vide for Everybody.
 
I’ve always considered America’s Test Kitchen to be primarily an education company. After all, we teach people how to cook! And I’ve spent most of my time here thinking about how to teach adults about the science behind their food. About a year and a half ago, I had my first kid, Olive, and—just like that, just like they say—my priorities shifted. I started thinking about how we could educate the next generation. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one over here with that in mind.
 
At America’s Test Kitchen Kids, our goal is to help create a new generation of empowered cooks, engaged eaters, and curious experimenters.
 
We are starting by publishing cookbooks for emerging cooks (ages 8 to 13) and board books for future foodies (ages 0 to 3). Our brand-new website is filled with kid-tested recipes, hands-on activities, and fun quizzes, all designed to teach kids about STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) through the lens of food and cooking!
 
And we want to hear from you, too! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, concerns, ideas, or feedback.
 
Sincerely,
 
Molly's Signature
 
Molly's Headshot
Molly Birnbaum
 
Editor in Chief
 
 
 
You Want A Pizza Me?
 
Pizza is one of the most iconic examples of “kid food”—and grown-up food, if you’re asking us. It’s also tons of fun, and easier than you might think, to make at home. For ours, you can use store-bought dough or make your own from scratch—we have instructions for both.
 
This recipe, like all of our recipes, is kid-tested and kid-approved. What does that mean? Every recipe that we are publishing for kids has gone through the classic America’s Test Kitchen treatment: sent out to a large panel of testers (in this case, kids between the ages of 8 and 13) and made at home. Testers send us their feedback, and we use it to help make every recipe as usable and delicious as possible. But we’ve taken it one step further for our kids’ recipes: We actually bring kids into our kitchen and watch them cook our recipes. With all this feedback, we’ve revised the way we write recipes to make them easy for kids to read and execute. I’ll save exactly what we changed, and why, for another newsletter. (Want your kid to be a recipe and activity tester? Sign up here.)
 
So, if you’re looking for a tasty project this weekend, give our Sheet Pan Pizza a shot. Learn about how to make pizza dough and how yeast works. And let your kids make it their own ways. Pepperoni? Onions and peppers? Hawaiian? Anything goes!
 
And be sure to check out one of our first kids’ videos, right at the top of the recipe. We have a whole new cast of characters that I’m excited for you (and your kids) to meet. This video features 15-year-old Victoria. Her pizza game is strong.
 
Explore the Recipe
 
watch the video
 
 
The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs
This recipe is one of more than 100 in our first cookbook for kids: The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs. Learn more →
 
 
The Nose Knows
 
If you want to impress your friends at an adult dinner party, you can talk about how flavor is made up of so much more than just what happens in your mouth. It’s part taste: the perception of salt, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami from the taste buds on your tongue and in your mouth. It’s part sight (color!), part touch (smooth! squishy! cold!), and part sound (crunchy! sloshy!). But it’s mostly smell.
 
If you want to impress your kids at home, try one of our easiest—and most shocking!—experiments. It’s a simple way to prove the importance of smell when it comes to flavor. All you need is 5 minutes and a bag of jelly beans. (Who are we kidding? This is fun for an adult dinner party, too.)
 
TRY THE EXPERIMENT
 
 

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