Cooking with Nintendo - America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking

There are video games that let you pretend you're a hero, a villain, or a star athlete, but only a few that can turn you into a better cook. I'm not talking about those simulations that let you use your finger to perform different kitchen tasks; I'm talking about making a meal with actual food in your kitchen. These interactive cooking aids were popular on the DS, the first handheld game console developed and released by Nintendo, with one of the more popular ones being America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking. Released in 2010, the application gives step by step instructions on how to cook from a range of 300 dishes from the people behind the PBS show,  hosted by Cook's Illustrated editor-in-chief Christopher Kimball. It guides the user through the preparation and cooking process via audio narration and instructional video clips, using the Nintendo DS's voice recognition to proceed through each step (it's no Siri or Google Now, but it's pretty good for decades year-old technology).  It even makes suggestions based on the calendar, offering recipes such as roast beef tenderloin; a wilted spinach salad with bacon and onion; and a classic shrimp cocktail (recipe below) for Christmas dinner. America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking also keeps a record of what dishes you've already made, and allows you to take notes, compile a shopping list, and exclude undesired ingredients from the recipes. It's hard not to like this video cookbook, it's fun for all ages and levels of cooking. Check out this game if you still have a DS game system, or if you're looking for something different for your DS the next time you're at the local used game emporium or video game bargain bin.

Also recommended:

• What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver - From shopping to chopping the fun way to cook with Jamie Oliver
• Personal Trainer: Cooking

Ingredients: Shrimp cocktail

454 g extra-large shrimp
10 mL fresh lemon juice
2 bay leafs
5 g black peppercorns
5 g Old Bay seasoning
5 g salt

Sauce
237 mL ketchup
30 mL fresh lemon juice
30 g prepared horseradish, or to taste
10 mL hot sauce, plus extra if desired
2.5 g salt
1.25 g pepper

1. After removing the shell, use a paring knife to make a shallow cut along the back of the shrimp so that the vein is exposed. Use the tip of the knife to lift the vein out of the shrimp. Discard the vein by wiping the blade against a paper towel.
2. Bring 10 mL lemon juice, 2 bay leaves, 5 g salt, 5 g peppercorns, 5 g Old Bay, and 950 mL water to boil in a pan for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the shrimp. Cover the pot and steep off the heat until the shrimp are firm and pink, about 7 minutes.
3. Drain the shrimp and immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Chill for several minutes. Drain the shrimp and refrigerate them until thoroughly chilled, about 1 hour.
4. As the shrimp chill, stir the ketchup, horseradish, hot sauce, and the remaining lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Season with additional horseradish and hot sauce as desired and transfer the sauce to a small serving bowl. Arrange the shrimp on a serving platter along with the bowl with the sauce. It's ready to eat.