(Above: Cook’s Country Milk Chocolate Truffle Hearts)
In case you haven’t noticed, we love food here at America’s Test Kitchen. With over a hundred tastings a week, a library full of 4,000+ cookbooks, and a fridge dedicated entirely to left-overs, who could blame us? In addition to our love for food, some of us are also fortunate enough to be in love with someone who loves food. And let’s be honest, it’s not very common to find a someone with a similar affinity (late-night cooking, driving 2 hours for lobster rolls, waiting in the cold for a freshly baked loaf of bread). But if you’re lucky enough to find compatibility in palate and personality, it can be a match made in culinary heaven.
CALLING ALL SWEETHEARTS: SHARE “YOUR DISH” & WIN A COOKBOOK
(Above: Cook’s Country Raspberry-White Chocolate Bombe)
As the common saying goes (that most of us hopefully follow), “The quickest way to a man’s/woman’s heart is through his/her stomach.” So let us tap into our inner romantic and re-live those magical moments of being in love with each other through food. Similar to “our story,” and maybe even “our song,” we want to hear your story about our dish.
Maybe you met at a friend’s dinner party and savored slices of homemade pecan pie together, or on the night of your engagement you shared an unforgettable plate of fried pickles that you both still dream about today. 
Whatever the story, whichever the dish, it’s time to re-live the moments you’ve savored together. Share the story of “your dish” in the comments below and one lucky person will win a copy of Cooking for Two autographed by Christopher Kimball.
If You Were Curious, Here are Some Love Stories from the Test Kitchen
(Photo Credit: Vratislav Darmek)
Just to heat things up, I asked around the Test Kitchen for some “our dish” stories. They’re cuter than a cupcake. (And sometimes, quite literally.)
“One of my early conversations with my last boyfriend (when we were friends) was about how he was convinced that a cupcake is the perfect gift to give a girl. My argument was, what if the girl doesn’t care for cupcakes? You can show just as much attention with a juice-laden burrito! I like to believe that the ‘boorish’ rebuttal was what won him over, and lo and behold, he surprised me with a trip to an awesome hole-in-the-wall burrito joint for our first official date.”
“Though we manage to have the time of our life in any hedonistic combination of snackage and booze, wings are probably the most constant running theme through our 3-year relationship. On average, we get Korean fried chicken delivered about once a week (half-half, soy and spicy). One time on ‘holiday,’ he surprised me with a trip to Buffalo, NY. After we landed, got to the hotel in Amherst, and I sobbed in that Marriott room for about 2 hours after looking out into the industrial abyss, he finally dried my tears, took out a scribbled-on piece of paper from his pocket, and outlined the details he had planned of our 3-day wing-eating spree in the city where it all began. We ate wings, and only wings, every night in a spicy and messy haze—getting takeout to enjoy back at the hotel, watching Paul Rudd movies and making hell later for the housekeeping.”
(Above: Cook’s Country Slow-Cooker Sticky Wings)
“I’m pretty sure my husband married me because of a little something called a ‘Jody-Mc-Muffy.’ Right when McDonald’s introduced their popular sandwich, I decided to re-create my version at home—he told me it was the best meal he ever had, especially because it was made with love.”
“Eight years ago, to woo my husband (then-boyfriend), I sent him conversation hearts from which I had wiped off the messages and written a message of my own. (I made sure he didn’t eat them, since I wrote in pen!) The rest is history…”
Giveaway! Share the story of “your dish” in the comments below and one lucky person will win a copy of Cooking for Two autographed by Christopher Kimball.
*All recipes linked from this post are free through February 26, 2013.
Winning Dish!
“I met my partner over 8 years ago. He lived across the street from me. After seeing him several times, I wanted to meet him and be friends. Seems like we never really could ever meet each other, kept missing one another. After some thought on how we were going to meet, I decided I should throw a potato on his balcony with a note attached to it! After the 5th day and three potato’s later, he found the note and emailed me with the subject, “Hot Potato”. We’ve been together ever since. The best part is that we used the potato’s as a starter for making bread. From this day on, potato’s have a very special place in out hearts. From scalloped potatoes with Gruyer cheese, to smashed potatoes, or potato’s found in the garden. This has been the best potato recipe yet. My Grandmother loves this story and tells people: If you want to meet someone, you have to throw a potato.” —Lucky James
About the Author: Jill Danielle Fisher
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I proposed to my husband after he cooked a jambalaya for me.
Now that our kids are grown, my husband and I love to use our on-line subscription for new recipes, ingredients and techniques to try. We enjoy cooking together. Well, most of the time. Sometimes, one of us gets a bit bossy. After 26 years of marriage, I told him no flowers or candy for me this year…I asked him to make rack of lamb for a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner. He was thrilled for a new challenge!
My husband just told me that when I irritate him he thinks of his favorite meal that I make him – which is (don’t laugh!) Shake-n-Bake pork chops, instant mashed potatoes, frozen mixed vegetables and a bagged Light Cesar Salad. He says this gets him over being mad at me because he loves this meal so much!
Homemade Pizza! Every Friday night, my husband and I make the pizza dough (Cooks Illustrated – my favorite recipe) and a quick sauce. The ingredients are always the same – mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. The reason why pizza is “our dish” is because no matter how chaotic the week is or how busy we both get, we know that Friday night we relax, bake pizza, drink wine, and watch a movie – together.
My husband proposed to me in his kitchen two years ago on Valentine’s day. I was preparing a risotto and champagne dinner, facing the stove with my back to him. When I turned around he was on one knee, pulling a ring out of his sock (he was worried I’d have felt it in his pocket) and asking me to spend my life with him. That kitchen is both of ours now, and will always be the most romantic room in the house.
We didn’t have a typical path to romance, we had known each other for years — even lived together with a few other friends one winter. It was during that particular winter that he worked on perfecting his secret pizza dough recipe and we enjoyed making eggplant parm together, though that was not the time where I fell in love.
Fast forward 2 or 3 years — he was living with friends and I was just back in the area after a traveling spree. It was just before New Year’s so our friends were off visiting family when I stopped by his house to pick up my guitar and found him elbow deep brewing a batch of beer: a Geary’s clone recipe, if I remember correctly. Having nothing in particular to do (the bliss of life after travel, before finding another job) I offered to help. He offered to share his dinner. What a dinner he had planned! Lobster and steamers, how could I say no? Since it was winter in the Northeast, I contributed leftover clam chowder that had remained frozen in the roofbox of my car.
I didn’t realize at the time that I had fallen in love, but I did know that anyone who would share their seafood feast with me (even sharing one of the lobster claws!) was definitely special.
That was over 8 years ago, we have been married now for almost 2. Though we have moved inland, we love to eat seafood whenever we can and often celebrate the winter holidays with seafood. Most importantly, we still love to cook with and for each other.
I met my partner over 8 years ago. He lived across the street from me. After seeing him several times, I wanted to meet him and be friends. Seems like we never really could ever meet each other, kept missing one another. After some thought on how we were going to meet, I decided I should throw a potato on his balcony with a note attached to it! After the 5th day and three potato’s later, he found the note and emailed me with the subject, “Hot Potato”. We’ve been together ever since. The best part is that we used the potato’s as a starter for making bread. From this day on, potato’s have a very special place in out hearts. From scalloped potatoes with Gruyer cheese, to smashed potatoes, or potato’s found in the garden. This has been the best potato recipe yet. My Grandmother loves this story and tells people: If you want to meet someone, you have to throw a potato.
Your Lattice-top Peach Pie helped me win my husband’s heart! After he licked the crumbs off the pie plate, he immediately devised a plan enabling him to try more of your recipes.
My mother is a thrifty Yankee (similar to Christopher Kimball) and I lean toward her thrifty ways; I have many of your recipe books, but had never gotten into the electronic versions offered. I was always too tight with my money to spend on things which are not physically present in my hands.
We were only newly dating at the time and in a long distance relationship. It was too much of a burden to travel with my cookbooks commuting to see him every other weekend. So, he came up with a solution for my recipes to be in both locations. He immediately gave me his iPad (which he lovingly calls my ‘cookbook’). He had installed your app along with my very own membership to your website and had subscribed me to your podcast (so I could listen while on the road driving back and forth). We have both been reaping the benefits of his investment ever since.
We were married in December and live together, now. We try one or two new recipes each week and he ALWAYS gives me hard time if they are not “test kitchen approved”.
Last night, I made him your Ultimate Fudgy Brownies for Valentine’s day; he was, as always, a very happy camper!
Thank you, ATK!
Soon after I met my (now) husband (20y ago this month)! I was over his place – there was something going on and he asked if I’d make him something to bring as a dish (his idea of cooking was either a hotdog in the microwave – or a very well done steak on a grill). I made a loshken kugel… we hadn’t dated very long at this point – and the look on his face was hysterical (I can still see it in my head)
I warned him it would taste better than it looked and somethings didn’t always look that lovely raw but taste amazing…
he ate it and loved it and proposed about a week later. He said if I could make that – he’d never want to risk ‘loosing out’ by not proposing early on! (we dated only a month before he proposed!)
My husband and I had a quick “meeting-to-marriage” time frame, but in that short space, we both realized that we shared the same affinity for fresh, homemade pasta. We always found time to make different doughs and sauces and try them out together. It was (and is) a great way to bond and a great way to try new recipes! Even almost 10 years later, we still enjoy getting in the kitchen and making delicious pastas and sauces (especially now that we have discovered ATK)!
the first trip i took away from my husband was about a year after we were married. when he picked me up from the shuttle after the trip, he brought me home and i immediately smelled something delicious when i walked in the door. he had picked us up two huge calzones from our favorite local pizza joint and had them warming in the oven so they would be hot when i got home. i was so happy to be home and be with him again, and the calzone was the icing on the cake!
My husband and I were on a trip to San Diego just after we got married. It was late at night, we were both starving and, not knowing the city well enough, drove around aimlessly looking for somewhere that would suit our tastes (he prefers a fast food chain since it is cheap and reliable, but in a new town, I want to try something local). As we drove by a Burger King, I silently hoped he wouldn’t suggest it. He didn’t see it, and to my relief, drove past it. As the familiar scent of a BK burger filled the car, howeverm, he said that whatever that place was smelled good and suggested we make it our dinner stop. I rolled my eyes and told him what he was smelling. He immediately (and kindly) took back the suggestion.
Now, any time we drive pass Burger King, we always joke about it. And sometimes I even let him stop there for dinner.
When I first met my husband I was horrified when he told me that he “didn’t really like baked goods” and would gladly take a bag of greasy potato chips over fresh baked cookies! For the first few months we dated we lived in sumer stock housing in Indiana – no chance to wow him with baking skills, but in the two years of long distance dating that followed I slowly won him over with care packages of cookies, brownies, and one messy but overall successful batch of cupcakes!
I knew I had done well when this year for his birthday he requested the Tripple Chocolate Pecan Pie with homemade crust (he sighed heavily as he informed me he can now tell the difference between that and store bought) from the Test Kitchen’s Family Baking Book. I happily made two pies, one to share with friends and another just for him!
My husband of 13 years and I don’t make a big deal about Valentine’s Day. Once, I got up before him to make pancakes. I thought about making them heart-shaped, and then rejected the idea in favor of something less traditional. I got some prunes, sliced them thin, and then used the strips to spell out “I love you” and make smiley faces and hearts in the rounds of pancake batter. This is quite literally the only Valentine’s Day “gift” we both remember.
About five years ago in late-afternoon, I married my farmer on a beautiful Kentucky farm. We said our vows in the barn, then mingled with guests until it was time for us to go to our little cabin hideaway several miles away. Instead of the traditional wedding cake, we’d served New York style cheesecake with tons of different toppings available. Fortunately, my sweet mother realized right before we left that we had spent all our time with guests and not even had one piece of the delicious cheesecake. She hurriedly grabbed a couple of pieces on a plate, drizzled caramel sauce and sprinkled nuts over the top, and hastily passed it to me in our old farm truck bedecked with egg shells and streamers. I held the cheesecake on my lap as we drove to our honeymoon location. That evening, in our quaint country cabin, we remembered the turtle cheesecake tucked away in the fridge and decided to sample it. We shared it together on the same plate, savoring each mouth-watering bite together and twinkling at each other with our eyes. That wonderful memory remains our “sweetest” supper together, the ending to the best day of our lives!!
My fiance says that we would’ve never gotten together had it not been for the chocolate chip cookies. When we were classmates, he lent me a book, and when I returned it, I thanked him with a batch of Silver Palate chocolate chip cookies. He says that he knew he had to keep me around after that. In turn, I knew I had to keep him around after I found out that he made homemade bread weekly. We now joke that I’m not allowed to bake sweets for other men, and he’s not allowed to make bread for other women.
I met my boyfriend at work. We were both the shy type, so I brought him a piece of cake to give us an excuse to talk. I carried that cake around for three days before I plucked up the courage to give it to him. He loved it, and now I make it for him all the time. It was a Lazy Daisy Cake, yellow cake with a broiled pecan-coconut topping.
My boyfriend and I don’t have any one dish that’s particularly special to us, but it’s the time in the kitchen together that we enjoy. His mother never really let him do anything in her kitchen, she’d rather be the one to fix everything for the family, so when I let him grate cheese for me for tacos or something, his love of helping me cook took off. The one dish that we’ve made over and over together is your creamy chicken bake. It’s so easy and he loves to grate the cheese for the biscuits and then stir the chicken and cheese while I make the biscuits. My teenage daughters think we’re a little nuts for cooking together, I think, but it’s one of those things neither one of us would trade for anything.
This boy that I had a crush on in middle school was THE soccer kid in the school. One Valentine’s I decided to tell him how I feel, so since new year’s, I’ve been saving money by cutting my meal allowance in half (our school had a cafeteria that specialized in wings, stuffed eggplants, etc) and only had broccoli and tofu with rice (still not bad, they must use a chicken stock base for the thick, gravy like sauce because it was quite tasty!) for lunch, for 2 months! By then I’d had enough money saved to buy him a brand new soccer ball. He was mine since then! (well, for until we graduated from middle school anyway, lol)
I met my boyfriend while on vacation in the Virginia Beach area. We spent almost an entire week together. On two different occasions that week, in two different restaurants, we had mussels. We stayed in close contact, and about a month later, he came to New York to stay with me. The day he arrived, we went to one of my favorite French restaurants in Greenwich Village, A.O.C. L’aile ou la Cuisse, where we had soupe a l’oignon and, you guessed it, mussels.
Before my boyfriend and I got really serious, we’d gone on a few dates to restaurants and such, but I decided it would be fun to have him over and I’d cook dinner. Its was kind of a disaster, but in a fun way – my herb-crusted chicken was really not very good at all, but he ate it with me anyway, and it ended up being one of the best nights we ever had together. My cooking has improved a lot since then, and I can make decent chicken now, but we still joke about how my awful, over-flavored chicken was one of the best things that ever happened to us.
On one of our first dates, he brought me a rose-flavored macaron (citing a real rose as far too cheesy).
When I first met my husband, he was the pastor of a church and I was interviewing to be the pastor of the neighboring church, which was 40 miles away. This was in July, they offered me the position, and I started in November. By May, I had been thinking for a few months, “Why isn’t he asking me out?” He came to my town (the big city, compared to the small town where he lived) and dropped by my office. Finally, he said “I guess I should buy you dinner sometime.” Instead of buying me dinner, he decided to make me dinner at his place the following Friday. But after he invited me, he was asked to lead a funeral that same Friday afternoon. I assured him I would understand if he wanted to reschedule, but he insisted. Dinner that night were rib-eye steaks cooked to medium rare, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, corn, real mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, and for dessert, Oreo cheesecake bars. He had me at the perfectly cooked rib-eyes. Then, he sent me home with some of the cheesecake bars, which I had for breakfast the next morning. I knew he was a keeper. 6+ years later, he still is. He does 95% of the cooking, and he does it fabulously. He still makes me that exact same meal on the anniversary of our first date.
I met my wife-to-be on a blind date. I was 37 and had given up hope of ever marrying. During the years of being single, I had learned to cook and began to really enjoy it. After 5 weeks of dating, I told her at a restaurant that I believed that there was potential of marriage in this…and almost received her mouthful of salad! Seven months later we were married. For her birthday that year I made ATK’s Flourless Chocolate Cake. Eleven years later, I still get to cook for her and our kidlets.
When our relationship first started, I was the one who’d venture into the kitchen to make meals for us. Then one day, he made dinner – and it was fabulous. He didn’t follow a recipe, just went on instinct and following his taste buds for the flavoring. I knew I had the right guy then.
My husband and I met on an online forum about cars. Two years later, he worked up the nerve to ask me to be his girlfriend-I happily accepted. We planned to meet each other the next summer at a meet for forum members which would make us wait for 8 whole months. Well, to help him get to know me better I made a cooking video for him. I was so camera shy and nervous, I forgot to set up my mise en place so throughout the looong and boring video I’m just zipping around the kitchen getting everything ready to make French toast from Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook. (I used Challah and they looked like adorable little clouds at sunset.) After watching the video he told me he couldn’t wait those eight months and flew me out a few weeks later to Augusta where he was stationed in the Air Force. When I landed he already had a ring and proposal waiting for me!
When my husband and I first started dating he had planned an intimate dinner for two at his apartment to celebrate my birthday. He had prepared the entire meal himself which included the birthday cake. I was amazed by his efforts. Upon finishing the meal, I waited patiently for the piece de resistance (the cake). I had imagined a chocolate cake accompanied by mounds of butter cream frosting. Instead he approached the table with a casserole dish in hand, singing happy birthday with his heavenly Slovak accent. He had prepared a yogurt cake, the first for me but traditional for him. A stratum of yogurt and fruit blended the novice and the traditionalist. The best cake I have ever had was prepared, from the heart, by my husband.
Does love include, making homemade chicken fingers for my son, because he won’t eat anything else? I refuse to serve him yogurt and cereal for the 10th night in a row. Maybe it’s making sure my 1 year old daughter has freshly steamed carrots and bite sized morsels of cheese, for a fun playful dinner. Sure, most of it ends up on the floor, but it came from the heart. I quickly throw my husband’s favorite crock pot dish , chicken tortilla soup, together in the morning as we hustle around the house looking for socks and pacifiers, before I take the kids to school and my husband hurries to work. Oh, and this time I actually remembered to pick up an avocado on my way home. It really is the perfect accompaniment to the soup. The kids fall asleep later then I would like and the husband grabs 2 cold Spotted Cows ( beer) , walks over to the couch and we enjoy a few moments together before I’m too tired and go to sleep. Sure, he stays away and watching Zombie shows like the Walking Dead, but overall, that’s a day of love and food in our house.
I remember the first meal I made for my now-husband: Honey Mustard Chicken, his mother’s recipe. At the time we dating long-distance, and he was living in this remote cabin in the woods. So I made the dish in my little college apartment (which I share with four girls) and drove it two hours to his cabin, where we warmed it up in the oven and devoured it. It’s such a saucy, sloppy dish – I can’t believe I got it there without spilling!
I met my now-husband in college. We shared an interest in sports, and through our friendship, I came to learn of his childhood and college eating habits with limited variety and veggies. I will forever remember one of the first meals I ever cooked for him which included broccoli sauteed with oil, garlic and a bit of lemon juice. He mentioned he wasn’t a fan of broccoli, and I told him this way made it taste different. He ate it! and liked it! Aside from making his mom extremely happy, this was a turning point for my husband — he began to gain an interest in food, and healthy cooking (hard NOT to do when my family is Italian!). At our wedding, the priest’s advice to us was to take time to “dance in the kitchen”, as it would be a way to keep our relationship genuine and happy. Everyone laughed quietly, because little did he know — we had just bought a home a few weeks before and were in the middle of gutting the kitchen… so our “kitchen” was simply a tile floored room! It has since turned into my dream kitchen that I never thought I’d have in my first home….and YES- we ‘dance party’ all the time while we cook! haha
Long story short – food and healthy recipes are a huge part of our lives. Our favorite hobby is coming up with new things to try, and sharing the successes with friends around the dinner table. Of course….. I will always prepare broccoli in that one specific way! =)
I met my husband in High School. Classic High School Sweethearts. At the time my mom had started subscribing to Cooks Illustrated and becoming more adventurous with her cooking. Well, I assumed I too was a gourmet and decided for our 1 year anniversary we would make a roast duck! We spent the evening attempting to thaw out the semi-frozen duck and pull out the giblets and of course the “l’orange” packet inside. I remember the dish being good and we felt very grown up eating such a sophisticated meal. Now eleven years later, married with two kids, I love cooking and think it is one of the best ways to express your love. Grown up or not.
My husband and I met in 6th grade (scary, I know) and started dating senior year in high school. While I loved to cook even back then, it wasn’t until our honeymoon in Italy that our love story ignited an obsession with one food item in particular: brioche. We first discovered brioche in Capri at a hole-in-the-wall trattoria/bakery/deli/gelateria of heaven. They made everything from scratch. Even the cones for the gelato were cooked and rolled before your eyes. During our 3-day stay in Capri, we visited that trattoria at least 6 times and consumed more gelato than I’d care to admit. On our last day, before hopping on the boat to Ravello, we stopped there one last time and bought some funny looking rolls for the road. As the ship sailed away from Capri, we had our first taste of brioche’s slightly sweet, fluffy, airy, flaky perfection. As luck would have it, we were stuck in Ravello with nothing but a napkin with an address and no way to get more.
When we returned home, we spent months looking for anything that remotely resembled that brioche. We became obsessed. We scoured NYC until we found a worthy comparison. Then, we ventured all the way to Paris where we sampled brioche from countless cafes until landing on one classic treat that lived up to our Capri fantasy. We are still obsessed to this day. Brioche has become that one food that will always remind us of our honeymoon, but more importantly, how much fun it is to embark on these little adventures together.
One of our very first dates was a night in where I cooked an array of dumplings for my now-fiance. Having grown up in Japan and Malaysia, I wanted to share my love for food with him, and what better way than to cook tastes from countries that I called home and that he had never been to. I made for him my mother’s Malaysian spring rolls, curry puffs and Japanese gyoza. He told me later that as soon as his bit into his first dumpling, he knew I held the secret weapon to his belly (and heart). Being a midswestern boy with Polish/Austrian roots, he had never traveled outside the USA. So not long after, I took him home to Malaysia and Japan, where we gorged our way through authentic dumplings and food. I knew he was the one when he did not hesitate to try anything I put in front of him, from dim sum to street food from hawker stalls to durian (Malaysia’s stinkiest fruit in the world). Since then, we have gone on to travel around the world together. One of favorite trips was traveling to Europe with his grandmother and meeting his Austrian and German cousins for the first time and feasting on Sachertorte, knodel and sausages. Our mission is to try eat as many dumplings and pastries around the world, and recreate them in our own kitchen!
Who won?