Topic: America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Blogging

[NWR_DrewMG]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=22885

  I recently received a review copy of America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking.   I started to think about whether or not this game should get a full blown review, or something a little different.    

After I booted up the software and looked a little closer, I noticed that the game was incredibly similar to Personal Trainer: Cooking, a game that had already been given the "Blog Review" treatment by fellow staffer Neal Ronaghan back in February of 2009.    

With that in mind, and considering how identical the interfaces were for these two games, I decided that a video blog might be the best way to show off what this game was all about.    

Without further ado, here is my video blog for America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking.    

   

To elaborate on something that I touched on in the video:  The voice control in America's Test Kitchen is quite poor, in exactly the same way as Personal Trainer: Cooking.  If you were hoping that this game would polish up that particular flaw from the original game, then unfortunately, I bring bad news.    

All in all, the software is pretty impressive.  The ability to track multiple profiles, and to let several of them partake in the cooking, is a good way to let an entire family take advantage of the title.      

I was also pretty impressed by the amount and variety of recipes in the title.  The shopping list functionality from Personal Trainer: Cooking remains.   The game allows you to pull up a recipe, and check all of the ingredients that you need to buy at the store, so that you can bring your DS with you and get everything you need.    

All in all, America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking is a lot of fun for someone looking to polish up their cooking skills, and try out some new recipes.  On top of that, the price is hard to beat at $19.99.  If you're looking to expand your culinary horizons, check this program out.    

Music provided courtesy of Jonathan Coulton via Creative Commons licensing.

[Jonnyboy117]

Nice video, Andy! Any comments on how your meal tasted in the end? It looked very good. I will probably nab this non-game very soon, as I have gotten plenty of use from the predecessor. Regarding the new one, I'm most interested in the recipe selection -- are they all American-style dishes? Are they organized by region? Are local cuisines such as Cajun, Coastal, Soul Food, Tex-Mex, and Southwestern all represented with multiple dishes? (That was my main complaint about Personal Trainer: Cooking.)

Protip: You could have saved a plate by transferring the meat directly from one pot to the other. And don't spoon out food over a handle -- you might want to hold that handle later!

[NWR_DrewMG]

I need to dig a little deeper, but I didn't see any way to group recipes by region or anything other than a very broad type like "Meat dishes" which was disappointing.  I'll take a closer look at the interface and report back, though.   It doesn't have the map that PT:C had, as far as I can tell.

As far as the quality of the meal, it wasn't too bad, but my wife commented that the meat tasted funny.  It'd been in our deep freezer for a good long while, and it wasn't the exact cut of meat that the recipe called for (it was a Chuck steak, and the recipe called for a Flank steak) but I thought it tasted pretty good.   We had to slightly modify the stir-fry sauce because we were a quarter cup short of Oyster sauce.  We compensated with extra chicken broth, and a tablespoon of teriyaki sauce to give the flavor a little kick. 

[ShyGuy]

Hmm I'm a big fan of America's Test Kitchen the TV show.  Are there going to be more of these?

[greybrick]

I am not going to buy one of these until the voice recognition is improved. If I am working with raw meat or moist foods I am not going to want to have to touch my DS, or go wash my hands in the middle of something because it skipped a step. I suppose that since I already can cook well enough that I don't feel like I am missing out, it just seems that these "games" have a great potential for exposure to foreign dishes.

[AV]

no repeats from ptc ? It's all new recipes ?

[NWR_DrewMG]

I don't know for sure that it's all new recipes, but given that this new game is based off of an existing cookbook, whereas the first game was not, I would assume that all of the recipes in ATK come from that cookbook.

[Caliban]

my wife commented that the meat tasted funny.  It'd been in our deep freezer for a good long while

The first thing I noticed when raw was its colour...

[NWR_DrewMG]

It didn't look quite that brown on my counter as it did on the video.   And once again, I thought it tasted fine, but maybe was perhaps the wrong type of steak for a stir fry.   

We tend to get large quantities of frozen beef from my in-laws, and they'll stay in my deep freeze for awhile before we get to all of it.   Sometimes it's a blessing.  Perhaps, last night, it was a curse.   

Anyways, the sauce tasted great, and following the instructions in the game gave me a stir fry with veggies that weren't over or underdone, which is always a bit of a trick.

[Peachylala]

It America's Test Kitchen similar to Personal Trainer Cooking in build?