Indholdsfortegnelse for March - April 2017 i Cook's Illustrated

Squeeze Bottle for Dish Soap Gordon Delbrook of Bradenton, Fla., found that a clear plastic squeeze bottle makes an effective dispenser for liquid dish soap. What’s more, it’s better-looking than the original container. Storing Dry Goods Paper bags of flour and sugar are prone to tears and holes, so Ward Wood of Bardstown, Ky., transfers his dry goods from their original packaging into gallon-size zipper-lock bags, which he then labels. The plastic is sturdier than paper and more compact than a hard storage container. Plus, the bag’s large opening makes it easy to measure without making a mess. Spritz Cookie–Spaetzle Press Mark Brighton of Buffalo, N.Y., found that his cookie press can also produce spaetzle when he uses the disk with the smallest holes. Portion Savvy To divide a package…

I’ve always made mac and cheese the traditional way, and though the final product is comforting and delicious, getting there is a bit of a slog: I first cook flour in melted butter, whisk in milk, and simmer until the sauce, known as a béchamel, thickens. It’s this béchamel that allows me to then add flavorful aged cheeses, such as extra-sharp cheddar, which are prone to breaking down and separating into a greasy, lumpy mess when heated (more later on why some cheeses “break”). Sometimes I add eggs for an even richer, more custardy result. Finally, I combine the cheese sauce with cooked macaroni, transfer it to a buttered baking dish, top it with bread crumbs, and bake it until it’s bubbly. Creamy and cheesy? Yes. Fast? Definitely not. So…

Ask people what they think is the epitome of a deli sandwich, and I’d bet most would say pastrami on rye. I’d agree that it’s one of the best uses of rye out there, but deli rye is also great for grilled cheese or even just spread with butter and sprinkled with flaky salt. But a good loaf isn’t always easy to come by. Unlike German and Scandinavian rye breads, which are dark, crumbly, and dense, American deli rye relies on the addition of wheat flour to make a loaf that is lighter in both color and texture. A great loaf should have a fine, even crumb and a tender-yet-sturdy texture that will hold up under sandwich fillings. It’s usually a torpedo-shaped free-form loaf, but unlike the crust on a…

T o many American home cooks, bok choy, a mainstay in Chinese restaurants, is a bit mysterious. A member of the cabbage family, it’s an appealing two-fer. Its crisp, mild-tasting stalks retain some of their texture when cooked, while the leaves wilt and soften. But how do you cook a vegetable with two such disparate parts? When it comes to the larger heads of mature bok choy, cooking the leaves and stems separately is one solution. But with baby bok choy, it’s really a shame to separate the two parts since one of this smaller version’s assets is that it offers a lot of visual appeal on the plate when served whole or halved. The stalks of the younger variety are slightly more tender, but it’s still not a cinch…

E xtra-virgin olive oil, the lush, vibrant product of fresh olives, is premium by definition. At least, it should be. But as we reported in our story about supermarket olive oils (November/December 2015), most of what you’ll find doesn’t deserve that prestigious label. The oils are either mislabeled as a higher grade; mishandled so that their bright, complex flavor turns rancid; or even fraudulently blended with other, cheaper oils and passed off as the real deal. Only one of the oils we sampled in that tasting, from California Olive Ranch, was a cut above the rest—“rich” and “fruity,” with a “peppery aftertaste.” At $0.59 per ounce, it’s one of the pricier supermarket options but costs just a fraction of what you’ll spend on a bottle of premium extra-virgin. Which led…

KEY GOOD ⋆⋆⋆ FAIR ⋆⋆ POOR ⋆…

Compared with its cousins smoked salmon, lox, and nova, which are all usually brined and then smoked, gravlax relies on a one-step process. The name, derived from gravad lax (Swedish for “buried salmon”), alludes to covering the fish with a salt-and-sugar cure (and typically dill). We call for skin-on salmon because it makes slicing the cured fish easier. A splash of booze (we use brandy) adds flavor, helps the cure adhere, and assists in the preserving process. Most recipes use granulated sugar, but we opt for brown sugar because its flavor complements the salmon. Pressing the salmon under the weight of a few cans helps it release moisture and gives the fillet a firmer, more sliceable texture. We baste the salmon with the released liquid once a day to help…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MATFER Steel Non-Stick Fluted Tart Mold MODEL: 332225 PRICE: $27.00 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RÖSLE Fine-Mesh Strainer, Round Handle, 7.9 inches, 20 cm MODEL: 95260 PRICE: $45.00 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MARCATO ATLAS 150 Wellness Pasta Machine MODEL: 8845 PRICE: $69.25 RECOMMENDED MESSERMEISTER 16.75-Inch Bamboo Knife Magnet MODEL: KM-16/BB PRICE: $59.95 RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS FAGOR LUX Multicooker: Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker and Yogurt Maker All-in-One MODEL: 670041960 PRICE: $159.95 Tart Pans Shallow, fluted tart pans can give a home baker’s quiche or fruit tart a professional look. But does it matter which one you buy? To find out, we made a savory tomato tart with a pat-in-the-pan crust and a lemon tart with a pâte sucrée (traditional French sweet pastry) using five different models (some with traditional and some with…

A juicy, crisp-skinned roast chicken is always welcome in my house, but achieving it on a weeknight can seem like wishful thinking. A few years back, we made this goal more manageable with our Weeknight Roast Chicken (September/October 2011), which cut a good 40 minutes off the usual 21/2- hour preparation time. That recipe eliminates brining (and salting, which must be done overnight) and calls for starting the bird in a preheated skillet in a very hot oven and then turning off the heat midway through cooking. The hot skillet jump-starts the cooking of the thighs, while finishing the bird in a cooling oven ensures that the breast stays moist and tender. Though a roast chicken that clocks in at 1 hour and 50 minutes from start to finish is…

You could argue that poaching eggs is an ambitious goal from the start. Drop a delicate raw egg, without its protective shell, into a pot of simmering water in the hope that it will emerge perfectly cooked. That means a tender, fully set white—no ring of gelatinous, translucent goo surrounding the yolk—and a yolk that’s fluid but thickened, almost saucy. Equally important: The white must not be raggedy or wispy at the edges and must boast a plump, ovoid flying-saucer shape that’s ideal for nestling atop an English muffin or a bed of salad greens. Since a raw egg cooked in simmering water wants to spread out in all directions before it sets, it’s this latter issue that’s the trickiest to overcome. I was determined to figure out a solution,…

IIn Italy, Tuscans living in rural areas were once referred to as mangiafagioli, or “bean eaters,” a reference to their consumption of economical bean dishes. The most traditional preparation is an ultrasimple wintry one in which dried cannellini beans are simmered with herbs and garlic until tender and then drizzled with olive oil for serving. But recently I came across a dish making the rounds on cooking blogs that pairs cannellini with shrimp, a combination that adds up to a nice springtime stew. Most of the recipes go something like this: Warm several cups of cooked beans in olive oil with a little of their cooking liquid. Meanwhile, sear a pound of shrimp separately, saute some onion and garlic, and stir in chopped tomatoes. Add the shrimp and some shredded…

Determining the Age of Eggs The age of eggs doesn’t really matter when you’re frying or scrambling, but we prefer the freshest specimens possible for our Perfect Poached Eggs (page 11). To determine the pack date (which is typically the same day that the eggs were laid), check the end of the carton for a three-digit code known as the Julian date; this is often beneath or above the sell-by date when one is provided. The numbers run consecutively, starting with 001 for January 1, so 078 would indicate that the eggs were packed on March 19. (The Julian date may follow a set of numbers beginning with a “P”; this is a code indicating the packing plant.) While some sources suggest that you can check freshness by putting eggs…

Steak pie in Britain isn’t made with what Americans would call “steak” (British cooks use the word “steak” broadly, so it encompasses cuts like chuck and shank), and it often lacks a bottom crust. Some might argue that it’s not a pie. But if you get hung up on what steak pie isn’t, you’ll miss out on what it is: a powerful, delicious antidote to spring’s last chilly days. Here’s how most versions come together: Brown the meat, usually with onion and maybe bacon or mushrooms. Braise it in stock and perhaps beer for several hours, and then thicken the liquid to a gravy consistency. Transfer the filling to a pie plate and let it cool before topping it with pastry and baking it until the crust is crisp. You’ll…

When beaten eggs and fresh lemon juice are whisked together with a little hot chicken broth, the duo is transformed into the classic Greek sauce known as avgolemono (egg-lemon). Increase the amount of broth (homemade if you’ve got it) and throw in a handful of rice, and avgolemono becomes a creamy, comforting first-course soup punctuated with lemony tang. The chicken from which the broth is made, along with an assortment of vegetables, typically follows as the main course. As lovely as the classic version of avgolemono is, it’s a more practical variation that interests me: Simply shredding the chicken and adding it to the soup, along with increasing the amount of rice, turns this starter into a light yet satisfying meal. I wanted a savory, citrusy soup, velvety with egg…

Hash browns make people crazy, at least according to esteemed 19th-century domestic science expert Mrs. Sarah Tyson Rorer. In an 1892 lecture, she recounted her research visits to psychiatric hospitals, where the patients appeared to be addicted to the fried potato patties they were served, leading her to conclude that the hash browns had caused the inmates’ madness. There’s an obvious flaw in Mrs. Rorer’s logic, but she wasn’t completely mistaken: Hash browns do have the power to unhinge. There’s not even consensus on what hash browns are. Some insist the potatoes are diced; others say shredded. Some claim the potatoes go into the skillet raw, while others say they’re cooked first. Hash browns must be fried in a large disk. No, they’re formed into individual patties. They never contain…

S heet cakes don’t require the work that goes into making layer cakes; they are simply spread with a thick coat of frosting and served straight from the pan. When the results are good, a sheet cake yields great reward for the effort. But most versions I’ve made are dry and crumbly, have barely a whisper of chocolate flavor, or are so dense that they verge on brownie territory. Loose, drippy frostings make cakes too messy to eat out of hand, while stiff, fudgy ones weigh down the crumb; more often than not, they’re cloyingly sweet, too. The kind of chocolate sheet cake I could turn to again and again would boast a tender, moist, sturdy crumb that was seriously chocolaty and a silky chocolate frosting just sweet enough to…

Whether we’re baking or cooking, scrambling or sautéing, flipping or folding, a heatproof silicone spatula is one of the busiest tools in our kitchen. Nine years ago, we gave top honors to a heatproof model that is ubiquitous in restaurant kitchens but can sometimes feel too big and unwieldy at home. So we rounded up 10 spatulas priced from $6.95 to $18.67 from the dizzying array available, including our previous winner and a retooled version of our old runner-up. We subjected each to a slew of recipe tests, as well as evaluations of cut resistance, stain and odor resistance, heat resistance, and durability to see which stood out from the pack. With some products, comfort was an issue. Performance was also an issue, with some spatulas failing to reach into…

Tofu is trending upward in the United States; Americans spent $274 million on this mild-tasting soybean product in 2013, and sales are increasing annually. To find the best tofu for the home cook, we set our sights on firm tofu—it’s the type we call for most often. We tasted five nationally available products, priced from $0.08 to $0.40 per ounce, three ways: plain, coated with cornstarch and fried, and chopped and stir-fried in a filling for Thai basil lettuce wraps. Our panel rated each sample on texture, flavor, and overall appeal. We liked the flavor of every tofu. Plain and in our recipes, the samples tasted “neutral” and “clean,” with subtle “sweet,” “nutty” notes. We liked the textures of all the samples, too—save one. Tasted plain, this tofu was so…

WHAT IS IT? BEL JUBILEE CREAM MAKER From double to single to clotted, the British love cream. Imagine their delight, then, when this simple gadget was introduced in 1935: the BEL Jubilee Cream Maker. (“Jubilee” refers to the model produced from 1935 to 1939 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee Celebration of King George V). This tool uses pressure to force melted butter and milk together to re-form cream. One reported advantage to owning one was that it allowed the owner to control the amount of fat in the cream. Putting the cream maker to work, we tried making double cream (which is 48 percent butterfat versus standard heavy cream’s 36 percent) according to the manual’s instructions. We heated 3 ounces of unsalted butter with 4 ounces of whole milk until…