I have a question about Cook Illustrated digital all access

Hi- I have probably subscribed to Cook's Illustrated for four years. I get frustrated though because I get emails from them regularly where they they mention that they have tested eight different brands of toasted sesame oil, and here is the winner. When you click on the link you end up at Amazon. I am sure they do that because they get a commission if you purchase it at Amazon. They let you read the article that they have written about sesame oil, but when it comes time for the reviews, you are asked to join digital all access to see them. Are there any public libraries that I could access all this information instead of spending $30 a year to subscribe to it? Since I already subscribe to the magazine I should be able to look it up online. Also is there anyway to try and figure out what issue has the ratings for sesame oil without going through all of them. The sesame oil they like the best I am not sure if Whole Foods has it. I know I can go to an Asian store and get it. There are several brands that Whole Foods does carry that they reviewed, but I cannot determine if they like those brands, and I have not been able to find the review for sesame oil in any of my Cook's Illustrated that I have saved.

The printed magazine would be much more helpful if they contained a yearly index like Nutrition Action does. I know you can get digital all access for free for two weeks, but can you get it free for two weeks, and then a few months later get another free offer. Thanks, Nancy

I have pm’d the order of the oils they tested, which I think is your question.

Thanks for the info. What I was really hoping was that there would be a public library where I could access the digital all access for free. I checked the Evanston library website, and it looks like that is not an option there. Also I wish there was some way I could find out in what issue I can find a review for something. The digital all access is $35 a year, and I just renewed my print subscription for two years. Apparently if you sign up for the ATK show website, you can access any of the info for the individual shows for four months, and so I might do that. Thanks, Nancy

Nancy, my guess is that you'll only have digital access to publications that the library of the district to which you belong (i.e., the district to which you pay taxes) subscribes.

Based on my address, I pay taxes to the Cook library district, which covers parts of Libertyville, Vernon Hills, and Mundelein. I have also registered my library card at the Fremont library in Mundelein and the Highland Park library, so I can check out print materials from there, but I am not able to access their online materials. The (predominantly Libertyville) Cook library subscribes to a set of online magazines and other digital resources that is somewhat different from what the Fremont (predominantly Mundelein) library subscribes to. Cooks Illustrated is not among the online magazine subscriptions I have access to.

So my guess is that you are limited to the set of digital subscriptions paid for by whatever library corresponds to the district that you pay your taxes to. If that library does not subscribe to Cooks Illustrated, I fear you are out of luck, unless you can badger the library's suggestion box and board members into adding Cooks Illustrated to their subscription package. But given how profit-focused (shall we say) Cooks Illustrated is, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't make online access available to public libraries at a reasonable price.

May I suggest, Nancy, that you do what I did and switch from a paper Cooks Illustrated subscription to a digital subscription. The latter gives you access to the archive of all previous editions.

I hope this is helpful.

Edited to add: I mean digital subscription specifically to Cooks Illustrated only, not the all-access option, unless you know for sure that you also want digital access to Cooks Country and ATK in addition to CI.

ATK/CI/CC has drastically changed their website, and I absolutely hate it.

After a LOT of searching, I finally found (and bookmarked, or I'll never find it again) the page for browsing the current and past magazine issues. Here it is, as a tiny public service:

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/magazines