We take America's Test Kitchen's inquisitive and relentless approach to telling unexpected, funny, and thought-provoking narratives about food and drink. This is not a recipe show. And this is not a show about celebrity chefs or what they like to eat. Proof plunges into history, culture, science, and the psyche to uncover the hidden backstories that feed your food-obsessed brain. A production of America's Test Kitchen.
For far too long, the art of barbecue and grilling have been considered “men’s work.” But women were cooking with fire since the earliest days of American history, too. In our next miniseries on Proof, hosted by Cook's Country magazine's Toni Tipton-Martin and Morgan Bolling, we profile four women who have been stoking embers and bringing the heat to Southern cuisine. The first episode drops Thursday, August 1!
This series is also an audio companion to a forthcoming book from America’s Test Kitchen called Women Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes from Every Corner of the American South. You can preorder the book where books are sold:
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The cocktail emerges from the dark ages and enters the modern era. In this episode: We meet more innovative mixologists pushing the bounds of what a cocktail can be. And we'll explore the latest installment in the cocktail's long evolution: the zero proof movement.
What should you be looking for when buying non-alcoholic beverages and cocktails? Check out our review of Non-Alcoholic Spirits and Cocktails.
Further Reading:
"After DUI, she quit drinking and opened a bar" by Alexa Juliana Ard, Washington Post
"AN INTERVIEW WITH AQXYL STORMS, OWNER OF MINUS MOONSHINE" by Sam Bail, Third Place Bar blog
A Proper Drink by Robert Simonson
The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum)
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The 1950s to the 1990s are often dubbed as the cocktail's Dark Ages where drinks like Long Island Iced Teas and Midori Sours reined supreme. The drinks from this time are often reviled or ridiculed, but they made important contributions to cocktail history, too. In this episode: How TGI Fridays, Madonna, and the Cosmopolitan helped define this era of the American cocktail.
Further Reading:
A Proper Drink by Robert Simonson
"1970s Ockctails & Disco Drinks" Difford's Guide
"History of the Nightclub" American Nightlife Association
"How TGI Fridays Has Influenced Modern Craft Cocktail Culture" in The Thrillist by Kevin Alexander
Spirits, Sugar, Water, Bitters by Derek Brown with Robert Yule
Straight Up or on the Rocks: The story of the American cocktail by William Grimes
"TGI Fridays Was Once The Hottest Bar In America—What Happened?" in Delish by Hannah Selinger
"The Legacy of Joe Baum" in Edible Manhattan by Nancy Matsumoto
The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum)
"The Soviet Union Paid Pepsi With Vodka and Warships in Decades-Long Barter" in Vinepair by Ashlie Hughes (Illustrated by Gerry Selian)
"This is the Story of the Rainbow Room" in Punch by Joshua David Stein
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Was Prohibition really the Gilded Age utopia that it's made out to be? In this episode: Cocktail innovation happening in unlikely places under unlikely circumstances. We feature the Bees Knees and the Bloody Mary.
Further Reading:
A Spiritous Journey by Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller
"A Study of the Great Immoralities: Saloons in Chicago Before WWI" Ohio State University
"Bootleggers and Bathtub Gin" The Mob Museum
Lost Recipes of Prohibition: Notes From a Bootlegger's Manual by Matthew Rowley
Prohibition's Greatest Myths: The Distilled Truth About America's Anti-Alcohol Crusade, Edited by Michael Lewis & Richard F. Hamm
Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition by Mark Lawrence Schrad
"The Dangers of Common Ownership in an Uncommon Industry" by Jessica Starns Attorney At Law, LLC
"The FBI and the American Gangster, 1924-1938" The Federal Bureau of Investigation
"The Man in the Green Hat" The United States Senate
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How did the Industrial Revolution, immigration--and maybe Winston Churchill's mother--give rise to the Golden Age of cocktails in America? We explore the story of the Martini, the Manhattan, and the Daiquiri.
Make yourself a cool Gin Martini with our customizable recipe.
Further Reading:
A Spirituous Journey: A History of Drink by Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller
Difford's Guide for Discerning Drinkers
Imbibe! by David Wondrich
Rise of Industrial America, 1876 to 1900, Library of Congress
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY DIGITAL EXHIBITS
Spirits, Sugar, Water,Bitters: How the Cocktail Conquered the World by Derek Brown with Robert Yule
"The First American Hotels," JSTOR by Livia Gershon
The Manhattan: The Story of the First Modern Cocktail with Recipes by Philip Greene
The New Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff
The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum
"This influential Cuban bartender wants to preserve the elegant tradition of the island’s cantineros" Washington Post by M. Carrie Allan
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The Cricket World Cup started this week, and fans in New York are celebrating the wickets, the fast bowlers, and biryani. How did the rice dish become the meal of the match? Journalist Kunwar Khuldune Shahid reports. (100 Proof will be back on June 20.)
Make Biryani at home with our tested recipe.
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Where does the word "cocktail" come from? Who invented it? We explore these questions and the backstories of two drinks from America's early days as a nation: The Mint Julep and the Sazerac. (Special thanks to Joe Gitter and Yiorgos Tsivranidis for their voice acting in this episode.)
Try making our Mint Julep and Sazerac recipes at home!
Further Reading:
"A Brief History of Bitters" Smithsonian Magazine by Peter Smith
Difford's Guide for Discerning Drinkers
"The Ice King was a Tudor" Wall Street Journal by Eric Felten
"NEW ORLEANS: A TIMELINE OF ECONOMIC HISTORY" Tulane University by Richard Campanella
The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum)
Travels of four years and a half in the United States of America by John Davis
Whenham Great Pond by John C. Phillips from The Peabody Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
"Who Is the Real Father of the Cocktail?" The Daily Beast by Philip Greene
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This week, we kick off Proof's first-ever miniseries. Episode 1 explores how we got to our modern cocktail renaissance. Why were cocktails in the 90s and early 2000s shells of the well-crafted drinks we see today? It took a renegade group of bartenders and cocktail enthusiasts to resurrect drinks from the cocktail's heyday. Hosted by Cook's Country Editor-in-Chief Toni Tipton-Martin, and reported by Proof's managing producer, Yumi Araki.
Looking for a new cocktail shaker? We've tested over a dozen types to find the best options that will fit your home bar.
Further Reading:
A Proper Drink by Robert Simonson
Difford's Guide for Discerning Drinkers
Straight Up or On the Rocks - The Story of the American Cocktail by William Grimes
Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up - Ted Saucier
"The born-in-Detroit cocktail that has spawned countless variations," Washington Post by M. Carrie Allan
The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails (Edited by David Wondrich & Noah Rothbaum)
Special thanks to the following recording studios:
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Even before the Stone Age, our ancestors were thinking about what happens when we combine one flavor with another, both in the primordial kitchen and behind the prehistoric bar. Fast-forward to today, and the carefully crafted cocktail is all around us. But what if we told you it wasn’t always this way?
Welcome to Proof's first-ever miniseries: 100 Proof: The Journey of the American Cocktail. Over six episodes, we’ll look at the rise and fall--and subsequent resurgence--of the American cocktail, and contemplate what forces led to our modern cocktail renaissance. We'll also share some recipes along the way. Hosted by Cook's Country Editor-In-Chief Toni Tipton-Martin, and reported by Proof's managing producer, Yumi Araki.
Episode 1 drops May 23.
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Can saliva change the way our food tastes? Does it affect our cooking? In our Season 16 finale, reporter Jacklyn Kim digs into the unexpected ingredient that we end up adding to every meal.
Proof will be back later in May with a 6-part miniseries on the history of cocktails!
Until then, stimulate your taste buds and break out the cast iron with the Test Kitchen recipe for Cast Iron Margherita Pizza.
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In 1951, the Explorer's Club hosted an extravagant banquet that had 250,000-year-old woolly mammoth on the menu. The dinner raised eyebrows back then as it does now. What does it mean to seek out "exotic" foods? Why do we do it? And was it really wooly mammoth that was on the menu? Reporter Doug Mack digs in.
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