• The Boston Globe, Monday, August 3, 2009 10:14 PM

Exhaustively tested recipes have made Cook's Illustrated, the flagship of Christopher Kimball publishing empire, wildly successful despite the recession. The privately held company also includes America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country public television programs as well as a cookbook publishing division.

Boston Common Press, which owns Kimball's and his partners publishing activities, is reportedly very profitable. Unlike its rivals, it earns all revenue from readers, not advertisers. Gross annual revenue for print and Web subscriptions is estimated at more than $40 million. The six-issues-a-year Cook's Illustrated is $35.70 a year on the newsstand, $24.95 for an annual print subscription, and $34.95 for an online subscription. No discounts. Renewal rates are about 78%, more than double the average across all consumer magazines -- and circulation has increased every year.

The idea is that every recipe that appears in Kimball's publications and on his TV shows must represent the single best way to make a dish. While arduous and expensive, the work seems worth it. The Cook's Illustrated recipes are openly recycled again and again in the company's TV shows, cookbooks, and ancillary publications.

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