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HAL cooks up dynamic seagoing shows with America's Test Kitchen

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HAL president Orlando Ashford joins America's Test Kitchen pros at New York unveiling (Photo: Holland America Line)
Holland America Line is introducing dynamic cooking shows at sea in a new partnership with America's Test Kitchen.

The shipboard Culinary Arts Centers will be transformed to replicate the television set where the shows are recorded for broadcast by more than 350 public television stations across the US.

Designed specifically for Holland America, the shipboard programs will be hosted by HAL chefs trained by America’s Test Kitchen experts. Cooking demonstrations and hands-on workshops—with topics ranging from shaping Asian dumplings to making the perfect pie crust—will combine foolproof, accessible recipes and cooking techniques that are rooted in the rigorous testing and science-based approach of America’s Test Kitchen.

In addition, episodes of 'America’s Test Kitchen' and 'Cook’s Country' will be aired 24/7 on cabin television.

HAL president Orlando Ashford, who announced the new program Tuesday at New York City's Institute of Culinary Education, said the shows are a new take on cooking classes at sea that span not only recipes but also the science of cooking.

The 45-minute demonstration courses will feature a mix of video content, live instruction, taste tests and recipe samples. Some of the courses in development include Asian dumplings, cooking for two, we love chocolate, everything salmon, getting to know chiles, flavors of the Mediterranean, meatless Monday meals and new Italian favorites.

Also planned are 90-minute workshops that focus on teaching a specific skill set. Proposed workshops include cake decorating and homemade pasta.

America’s Test Kitchen demo courses and workshops will begin aboard Westerdam Oct. 18 for the ship’s Mexico season and on Nieuw Amsterdam Nov. 13 for the Caribbean season. The program is expected to roll out fleetwide by June 2017.

There is no charge to attend the demonstrations, while workshops will cost $39.

'This is an incredible opportunity for fans of "America’s Test Kitchen," and food lovers in general, to immerse themselves in the Test Kitchen experience,' said David Nussbaum, ceo, America’s Test Kitchen.

America’s Test Kitchen is a real place: a fully equipped, 2,500-square-foot facility in Brookline, Massachusetts. There, more than 50 highly qualified cooks perform thousands of tests every year. The goal is to develop the best recipes and cooking techniques, to review and rate the best cookware and equipment, and to taste-test and recommend brand-name supermarket ingredients for the home cook.

Recipes are tested 30, 40 and sometimes as many as 70 times to arrive at the best combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time and equipment.

Recipes and reviews are published in Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country magazines, in a growing line of cookbooks and special interest magazines, and on America’s Test Kitchen websites and through an instructional online Cooking School. They also are featured on two public television series: 'America’s Test Kitchen' and 'Cook’s Country.'

HAL has been a sponsor of the long-running public television program that's the most popular how-to-cook show on the air.

The line's relationship with Food & Wine magazine continues. A further program is in development to be announced in early 2017.