Buh-Bye Christopher Kimball

FOOD NEWS

Chris Kimball Leaves America's Test Kitchen Christopher Kimball, the bow-tied cooking guru who started the popular Cook’s Illustrated magazine and created a foodie media empire, is leaving the Brookline company amid a management shake-up, raising questions about the future of a venture so closely tied to its star founder. News that changes were afoot at the company first became public in September, when the board named a new chief executive, David Nussbaum, a one-time reporter turned online media and e-commerce executive. The board has been negotiating with Kimball since then on a future role for him at the company, but talks fell apart in recent weeks, according to people briefed on the conversations. While Kimball “will remain a minority owner of the company, he will no longer play a role” at America’s Test Kitchen, Nussbaum wrote in a letter to employees Monday. Kimball, 64, may be planning to start a new venture, according to people who know him. He declined to comment. Kimball’s wife, Melissa Baldino, a TV producer at the company, also is expected to leave, according to two people with knowledge of the situation [Full] I'm an avid fan of ATK and its twin sister Cook's Country.  Record every episode and reference them when I'm preparing to make it.  I do own up to date copies of ATC's cook books, but found that there are often important steps found on the televised making left out of the book instruction. I'm also an avid fan of the restaurant rescue venue, like Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant: Impossible.  If I had more gumption,  I believe I could make a nice living doing the same thing.  I would select perhaps a dozen recipes from ATC and teach the staff to make all of them precisely. As long as the place is clean, the staff attentive, nothing matters more than food reputation. Followed precisely, every client would offer an exquisite menu, done to perfection. Anyway, I'm not sure that me and Christopher Kimball could ever be friends; he's an old, smug, hippy and I'm sure he voted for Obama. But still .... I'll miss him.