Aside from Bon Appétit, I have no thoughts. Cooks Illustrated def does not fit the bill. Here is a link to the cooking forum. Those folks will probably know the answer. Good luck.

I love having a child into cooking ;-)

There is no link to the cooking forum :( Is it just gone?

Bon Appétit might work. I don't think it has quite the articles he would like, but it doesn't seem any of them have that.

Look at Milk Street

I don't think Milk Street is quite what you want - it is mostly very technical. Reads very much like Cook's Illustrated, only with a slightly more international bend. Saveur would really be perfect, and as a long-time subscriber I am sad to know that their run might be coming to an end. Gourmet, which has been gone for several years now, could also have fit the bill. Bon Appetit has devolved into a sad collection of thinly-veiled advertisements for restaurants, hotels, cookware and gourmet food products, disguised as "travel" articles or "interviews" with chefs/restauranteurs. It really is too bad for those of us who like to read rather than watch!

So sorry I didn't post the link yesterday. Here it is https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/cooking