The Bon Appetit Test Kitchen Needed a Reboot

The BA Test Kitchen was a happy place before, and it can be that once again. This time, though, it will be for real

It’s a late summer day somewhere in the coastal north, and eight chefs fill a bustling home kitchen. Carla pushes her pan of potatoes into an overworked oven, next to the unfinished turkey. Brad and Andy bicker bitelessly about their cranberry sauce while Claire and Christina chop up the rest of their salad. In the backyard, Rick and Chris sip cocktails and coolly make fried rice, their main project (Thanksgiving stuffing) abandoned. Molly passes around impromptu lobster rolls, gratefully received by the other chefs — they’ve all just been on a spontaneous clamming trip. A small brown dog (her name is Tuna) ambles around, barking at the trees. It’s a testament to the BA staff that the video, titled Making Perfect: Thanksgiving Finale, brings alive the spirit of the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen — hundreds of miles away from the real test kitchen, with a sense of reverent community, family humor, and purpose.

This is the magic of Bon Appétit, a dreamland fantasy of a workplace where every video feels a little like coming home. The cast (and crew) are undeniably…