Innehållsförteckning för January - February 2016 från Cook's Illustrated

Our house in Vermont was built in 1827. It’s still upstanding with four-pane vertical windows, white clapboards, a steep roof, marble mounting blocks in front for horses, and a narrow porch around three sides. It has a large mudroom, claw-footed bathtubs instead of showers, and a small railroad kitchen. The attic contains a brick cistern, originally fed by gutters, with the water drawn down to the rest of the house by gravity. It sits next to Sherman’s Country Store, a local institution stocked with Labatts and Papps, cold cuts, and a wheel of Vermont cheddar (the cat sleeps on the scale). A coffee booth sits next to the front window and there are stuffed animals, including woodchuck, wild boar, and a jackalope for the tourists. Our house has one other…

A few times a year, I labor over a great beef stew. Based on a classic French approach to braising, the recipe I follow calls for batch-searing pieces of beef chuck—a step that splatters grease on my stovetop but generates valuable savory browning. From there, I sauté vegetables, aromatics, and flavor boosters like minced anchovies and tomato paste in the rendered fat, followed by a little flour to thicken the cooking liquid; deglaze the pot with wine and scrape up the flavorful browned bits of fond on the bottom of the pot; add broth, water, and a chunk of salt pork for even more meaty flavor; and then braise the stew in the oven for a few hours, just enough time to turn the tough pieces of chuck roast fork-tender.…

Arrabbiata means “angry” in Italian, and one bite of this peasant-style pasta sauce will confirm that it was aptly named. The simplest versions blend tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and, of course, red pepper flakes to create the dish’s signature fiery kick. While I appreciate the simplicity, this barebones template produces a thin, one-dimensional sauce that’s dominated by mouth-searing heat. Recipes that look beyond this short ingredient list—to additions like onion, fresh hot chiles, tomato paste, fresh herbs, and grated cheese— seemed much more promising. After all, heat is much more enticing when it’s one element of a more complex dish and not the sole attraction. Crafting a better version of this classic would require enhancing its body and boosting its complexity and depth of flavor while being careful to maintain…

P ears are sometimes referred to as the queen of fruit, but you’d never know it from a baking standpoint. Their popularity in desserts has always been a distant second to apples, perhaps because there’s a lack of good information about them. Pear recipes tend to offer few guidelines, often not naming a variety and suggesting that the pieces be “firm but ripe”—a description that I’ve never been entirely clear on. With pear season well under way, I figured it was a great time to explore pear upside-down cake, which requires a fair amount of fruit and would be a perfect way to showcase pears’ subtle floral flavor and graceful shape. To make the best version, I would have to learn more about determining pear ripeness and how different varieties…

Here in the test kitchen, we demand a food processor that can handle lots of chopping, slicing, and shredding while delivering professionalquality results, and we think home cooks deserve the same. It had better be able to not only puree a dip and whip up creamy mayonnaise but also cut fat into a pie crust in seconds, grind beef into hamburger, and knead heavy pizza dough. And of course we want our food processor to be simple to use and quick to clean. We bought eight full-size food processors, priced from $59.99 to $299.99, with capacities of 11 to 14 cups, a size we deemed big enough to handle most recipes. (We also tested two professional-style food processors with suggested retail prices of more than $400.00; see “Overpriced, Underperforming” on…

WHAT IS IT? While this instrument might look like something from a woodworker’s bench or even an antique doctor’s bag, it is in fact a champagne tap. Taps such as this were first patented in France in 1828. Back then, champagne was often prescribed as a medicinal, and the tap allowed just a small “dose” to be dispensed by penetrating the cork of a bottle so some champagne could be poured out without having to remove the cork. To use, the tap is screwed into the cork until the tip of the spike has penetrated the cork and is visible inside the bottle. Pulling up on the handle withdraws the spike, allowing the liquid to flow out through the hollow worm. The tap is then closed off with a side…

No-Mess Nut Chopper Whenever Chris Wilson of Laurel, Miss., chops nuts, they scatter all over the counter. To contain them, he loads the nuts into the bowl of a manual citrus juicer, squeezes to break them up, shakes to redistribute the contents, and repeats the method until all the nuts are evenly chopped. Corralling Eggs on the Counter Louise Oates, of Grass Valley, Calif., keeps eggs from rolling off the counter by “corralling” them with the joined plastic rings that hold together two large bottles of juice. Grating over Parchment Paper When grating chocolate or hard cheese, Bonnie Stern of Monroe, Conn., works directly over a sheet of parchment paper, which is nonstick and easily catches all the shavings. When finished, she rolls up the sides of the parchment to…

Shrimp scampi is rarely awful—it’s unusual for things to go terribly wrong when garlic, wine, and butter are involved—but restaurant versions always make me wish I’d ordered differently. I have never been presented with the ultimate scampi, the one that I can almost taste when I peruse the menu: perfectly cooked, briny beauties in a garlicky, buttery (but not greasy) white wine sauce. When I last made my way through a mediocre rendition, I decided it was time to realize this ideal scampi vision at home. Since shrimp are susceptible to overcooking, which can make them dry and tough, I gave my shrimp (11/2 pounds, enough to serve four) a short dunk in a saltwater solution to season them and help preserve moisture. I then heated extra-virgin olive oil in…

Roasting cauliflower is a good way to caramelize its sugars and transform this mild vegetable into something sweet and nutty-tasting. But between preheating the oven and the actual roasting time, the process can take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Could a stovetop method deliver the same results in a time frame more suitable for a busy weeknight? Following a standard sautéing method, I heated olive oil in a skillet until it started to shimmer and then added a head of cauliflower divided into florets. Cauliflower’s dense texture means it can take a while to cook through, so it was no surprise when the craggy exteriors browned before the interiors had a chance to soften. I made another batch, this time pouring a little water into the pan and covering it.…

I used to think that the Old Testament adage “There is nothing new under the sun” could be applied to bread baking. Most “new” bread recipes are actually just modern twists on established recipes or resurrections of bygone techniques. So I was intrigued when I read about tangzhong, an oddball breadmaking technique that originated in Japan and was popularized by pastry chef Yvonne Chen in the early 2000s. Instead of simply combining the dry and wet ingredients and kneading as you would to make a conventional loaf, you begin by cooking a portion of the flour and liquid to form a pudding-like paste that you then let cool and mix into the dough. Fans of the method claimed not only that it produced bread with a particularly moist, airy, feathery…

I t’s hard to beat the convenience of storebought broth. Truth be told, we turn to it often when making soups, stews, and gravies. Our winning commercial chicken broth is a pretty good stand-in for the real thing, but we’ve had less luck finding a decent beef broth. Part of the reason is that we expect more of beef broth. We typically rely on chicken broth to bolster the savory backbone of a recipe. But when we turn to beef broth, we want it to literally beef up the flavor of a dish. A slew of new products have hit the beef broth market since our last tasting, and not just the mainly liquid contenders we’ve seen in the past. Hopeful that a better, truly beefy broth had come along,…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED CHEF’N FreshForce Citrus Juicer Model: 102-159-017 Price: $23.04 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THERMOWORKS TimeStick Model: TX-4200-GR Price: $25.00 RECOMMENDED WARING PRO Double Belgian Waffle Maker Model: WMK600 Price: $89.99 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED CHICAGO METALLIC Set of 4 Mini Loaf Pans Model: 59400 Price: $11.99 UPDATE Manual Citrus Juicers After replacing our favorite manual citrus juicer every few months because of worn enamel, we decided that it was time to revisit the category. We tried 12 models (priced from $5.99 to $23.04) in three styles: countertop reamers, handheld reamers, and presses. Handheld reamers performed the worst, spraying juice and letting seeds drop into the bowl. Worse, they collected on average 30 percent less juice than the top-performing model. Tabletop reamers fared somewhat better, but their built-in collection bowls and seed grates meant…

The idea of roasting a whole chicken with an abundance of root vegetables—think potatoes, carrots, parsnips—has a lot of appeal. Not only do you get a twofer of entrée and side dish from a single pan, but the result promises to turn everyday ingredients into something greater: a delicious, bronzed centerpiece and a side of vegetables that are beautifully caramelized and infused with deep, savory chicken flavor. That said, I’ve always found it challenging to roast both components in the same pan without compromising the results. Surrounding the chicken with vegetables slows down the cooking of the thighs, the part of the bird you actually want to cook more quickly (it’s the delicate breast meat that needs to cook slowly). This arrangement also prevents the skin on the lower portion…

B oneless pork loin is a popular cut for good reason. It’s widely available and affordable, and its uniform shape lends itself to even cooking and easy serving. But it has its flaws, too. Pork loin is lean and mild, and it’s prone to overcooking. That’s why I recently became intrigued by a classic Tuscan roast pork dish, arista, which derives its name from the Greek word aristos, meaning “the best.” It promises to transform the loin into a flavorful roast with a deeply browned crust and plenty of rosemary and garlic in every bite. Though it can be made with a bone-in or boneless roast, I was drawn to the simplicity of using a boneless loin and the opportunity to turn this everyday cut into something more special. Despite…

B aking a potato is about as basic as cooking gets—so basic, in fact, that it doesn’t even seem to require a recipe. Simply stick a russet in a moderately hot oven directly on the rack, and after about an hour, give it a squeeze. If it’s still firm, bake it longer; if it gives to pressure, it’s done. The beauty of that method is its simplicity, but how often does it produce a truly great baked potato? In my experience, almost never. Whether the center is dense and gummy or the skin is soggy, shriveled, or chewy, the best I can do is slather on as much butter or sour cream as possible to cover up the flaws. I want more from a baked potato than a dense or…

If you’d like to cook more beans but are unsure of where to begin, red lentils are the ideal gateway legumes. For one thing, they’re quick to prepare. Unlike green and brown lentils, the red ones have had their skins removed; as a result, they split in two during processing, which leaves them so tiny that they cook in less than 20 minutes, with no presoaking or brining required. But the best thing about cooking red lentils is that you get to sidestep the biggest challenge of bean cookery: getting the interiors of the beans to soften before the skins rupture. With no skins to contain them, red lentils disintegrate when you cook them. No amount of vigilance or technique can prevent it. In countries like Egypt and Morocco, cooks…

Tasting Harissa Harissa is a North African chili paste that’s used as a condiment and as an ingredient. It’s potent, so just a dollop adds a jolt of bright, spicy flavor to everything from soups and stews to sautéed vegetables and fried eggs. Harissa is always made with some combination of hot and/or mild chiles, garlic, and oil and often includes aromatic spices like cumin, coriander, and caraway. To find the best packaged version, we scooped up four nationally available products, priced $0.45 to $2.00 per ounce, and sampled them plain and stirred into a North African vegetable soup. The consistencies of the products varied considerably: Straight from the container, they ranged from loose and spreadable to coarsely chopped, with visible pieces of garlic and chile seeds. Although we generally…