Innehållsförteckning för May - June 2017 från Cook's Illustrated

Savory Thai curries are often categorized by the color of the spice paste used to flavor and thicken them. Green is hot and pungent, mild yellow is sweet-spiced, orange is pleasantly sour, and salty-sweet red features a lingering burn. And then there is panang—a sweeter, more unctuous derivative of red curry that’s enriched with ground peanuts and seasoned with sugar, fish sauce, deeply fragrant kaffir lime leaves, and a touch of fiery Thai chile. Panang curries are often made with beef—usually a flavorful but tough cut, such as chuck roast, shank, or brisket, that needs to cook for a long time to turn tender. And unlike those other more familiar curries, which are typically brothy, panang is a drier style curry that contains a judicious amount of coconut milk, giving…

I love the delicate, briny flavor that shrimp brings to a stir-fry, as well as the contrast between crisp vegetables and the shrimp’s juicy, tender flesh. And if you use shelled, deveined shrimp, few dishes can be faster. That said, because shrimp cook in a flash, avoiding rubbery results takes some care. I wanted to figure out the best way to preserve a plump, tender texture in a few simple stir-fries. I’d add one or two vegetables to each, along with a potent sauce. I started by letting the shrimp sit for 30 minutes in a combination of salt and sugar. Both would be drawn into the flesh, thanks to shrimp’s loose protein structure. Salt would add seasoning while sugar would add complexity without noticeable sweetness; both would also help…

Anyone who has simply thrown a pork tenderloin over a hot fire knows that its exterior will quickly overcook before its interior comes up to temperature, guaranteeing a thick gray band of dry meat between the tenderloin’s crust and its thicker center. That’s why many pork tenderloin grilling recipes call for setting up a half-grill fire, where the hot coals are spread evenly over just half the bottom of the grill. That way, there’s a hotter side for searing the meat to develop flavorful browning and a cooler side for cooking it gently so that it stays tender and juicy. But does it matter if you sear the meat before or after it cooks on the cooler side? To find out, I seasoned four pork tenderloins with salt and pepper,…

While traditional green cabbage has long been the favorite for making coleslaw, napa cabbage is a great alternative. Its crinkly, thin leaves have a more tender texture and a sweeter flavor that can put a new spin on the picnic classic. While our traditional slaw recipes call for salting the cabbage to draw out excess liquid and soften the dense leaves, I wanted to retain napa cabbage’s delicate texture. I found that even a brief salting made the shreds too limp, so I decided to skip it. But simply tossing the shredded cabbage with dressing didn’t work either; I ended up with a waterlogged, bland slaw. It turns out that what gives napa cabbage its appealing tenderness— thinner, weaker cell walls—is also a liability. It will leach twice as much…

Pouring Boxed Broth Without Splashing Boxed broth sometimes glugs and splashes out of the container, which can cause a bit of a mess. Dan Messier of Beacon, N.Y., found that by simply rotating the box so the spout is at the top of the container instead of the bottom, he can pour the broth without any splashing. Easy Cake Rotating To rotate cakes halfway through baking, Christa Lucas of Medford, Mass., forgoes a potholder (which can accidentally touch the cake) and instead uses a large, sturdy spatula or a small pizza peel, which can easily slide under the baking pan. How to Contain Sandwich Fillings When piling hearty sandwich fillings such as meatballs or chicken salad into sub rolls, the filling often falls out. To keep the filling contained, Janice…

Though I didn’t grow up in an Italian family, I can still appreciate the appeal of a bowl of pasta dressed with tomatoey meat sauce. The sauce is rich and savory, clings well to just about any noodle shape, and can be thrown together quickly with basic ingredients such as ground beef, canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, and seasonings. That’s why I make it so often. The thing is, sometimes I want a meatless version instead, either because I’m hosting vegetarian guests or, increasingly, because I’m trying to eat less meat. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that what I crave most about a quick meat sauce like this isn’t the flavor of the meat itself, since this type of sauce doesn’t taste particularly beefy. It’s…

The German pancake, sometimes called a Dutch baby, is a study in contrasts: The edge of the skillet-size breakfast specialty puffs dramatically to form a tall, crispy rim with a texture similar to that of a popover while the base remains flat, custardy, and tender, like a thick crêpe. Luckily, this entertaining treat is far easier to prepare than its pomp and circumstance would suggest. A stir-together batter of flour, egg, and milk is simply poured into a skillet and baked. Sometimes sautéed apples are incorporated into the batter. The pancake may also be served with a fruit topping, drizzled with syrup, or sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice. Ballooning Up After auditioning a number of recipes, I settled on a routine: Caramelize sliced apples with sugar in a skillet…

Venetians have a centuries-old tradition of dishing up risi e bisi (rice and peas) every April 25, St. Mark’s Day, to celebrate spring’s first peas and to honor the importance of rice production in the Veneto region. Thinner than a traditional risotto yet thicker than soup, the dish’s unique consistency and fresh flavors make it the ideal ambassador for the season: a light and vibrant—yet still satisfying— escape from heavier winter fare. The classic version is made with arborio rice and fresh spring peas along with onion, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and pancetta. Most recipes adhere to the long-established risotto method of vigorously stirring broth into the rice in multiple additions. Extra broth is then poured in at the end to create something looser than a creamy risotto. Since my goal…

Unattended cooking is the primary source of fire-related injuries and household fires in America; more than $1.1 billion in property damages are claimed each year. Neglecting a pan of hot oil or leaving a dish towel too close to a burner are all-too-easy ways to find yourself suddenly facing fire. And fire spreads fast—experts say you have less than 2 minutes before a fire will be out of control. That’s why it’s wise to always keep a fire extinguisher within easy reach of your stove. But the big trouble with most fire extinguishers is that you can’t practice with them or give them a test run in the store; once the trigger punctures the pressurized canister, they can’t be used a second time. So how do you know which one…

What to Do with Pea Greens Pea greens, also known as pea shoots or pea tendrils, are the tender tips of pea plants. You’ll _ nd them during spring and early summer at farmers’ markets and some supermarkets. Both the rounded, bright green leaves and the thin, hollow stems topped with tendrils are edible, although the stems from older plants can be tough. We recommend discarding stems that are wider than ¼ inch in diameter (you can still eat the leaves). Our tasters described the plain leaves and stems as grassy and faintly bitter—“like peas but not sweet.” When using them in a salad, we found it best to pair them with delicate vinaigrettes instead of rich and creamy dressings, which muted their _ avor and weighed them down. They…

Troubleshooting a Weak Flame on a Gas Grill We’ve occasionally fired up our gas grills only to have the burners emit a tepid flame no matter how high we set the knobs. This does not mean it’s time to get a new tank of gas. Instead, we learned that a weak flame can be a signal that the safety regulator on the propane line—that aluminum device that sits near the end of the hose that attaches to the tank—has been tripped, slowing the flow of gas to a trickle. This regulator is designed to respond to low gas pressure inside the hose, a sign that there’s a leak, but it can also be tripped accidently if you turn on the grill burners before you open the valve on the tank.…

There’s no consensus on what makes a good guacamole. Case in point: As soon as I set out different versions of the dip, the arguing began. Some of my colleagues pounced on a minimalist mash of avocados, salt, and onion as their favorite. Others cast their votes for batches featuring additional ingredients such as chiles, fresh lime juice, garlic, diced tomato, fresh cilantro, and spices. Further debate ensued about what the texture should be: thick and chunky, creamy and smooth, or something in between. That said, the favorite recipes did have one thing in common: In each, the aromatics were thoroughly incorporated into the mashed avocado so that every bite featured a cohesive balance of flavor—not just a bland, unseasoned bite of avocado here and a sharp pop of onion,…

Chicken breasts have been the most popular part of the chicken for decades, thighs are currently trendy, and wings are a sports-bar standby. Drumsticks, on the other hand, have been neglected. Maybe that’s because when you eat them as part of a whole chicken, they don’t seem that special. In fact, they can be chewy and tough. Nevertheless, with their built-in handles and conveniently small size, they are tailor-made for a cookout. They also happen to be the most economical part of the bird (for more information, see “Pricing Chicken Parts” on page 29). I decided to devise a foolproof way to grill drumsticks to perfection. In my book, that means fully rendered, nicely browned skin and moist, flavorful meat. And if I really wanted to start a drumstick fad,…

New England, where I’ve lived for most of my life, is not known for its vast and fruitful olive groves. Maybe that’s why I only recently learned about olive oil cake, which is commonplace in most traditional olive-producing regions of the world. That said, I’ve made plenty of cakes with neutral-flavored vegetable oil. Though most people associate cake with butter, oil is a good choice for simple snack cakes and quick breads because it provides moisture, tenderness, and richness without calling attention to itself. It also makes the mixing process simpler (more on this in a minute). But extra-virgin olive oil, the type I kept seeing called for in recipes for olive oil cake, can be noticeably grassy, peppery, and even a little bitter. That’s welcome in a salad, but…

We tested eight fire extinguishers, including four traditional pressurized canisters, two aerosol sprays, one fire blanket, and a self-operating canister that attaches to the hood over a stove. In two separate rounds of testing, we allowed vegetable oil to catch fire in a hot skillet and a dish towel to ignite from touching a lit burner. We used the extinguishers to put out these fires, timing the results and rating the extinguishers on ease of use, performance, and, to a lesser extent, cleanup. Scores from both tests were combined to reach our final ranking. Information about fire suppressant material in extinguishers was provided by manufacturers. Models were purchased online and appear in order of preference. TIME TO UNDERSTAND OPERATION Time elapsed between when we picked up the product and when…

Coconut milk is made by shredding fresh coconut meat and pressing it to extract liquid, sometimes adding a little water to help the process. We tasted seven products plain (to get a sense of their di_ erences) and then in coconut rice pudding and Thai-style chicken soup. Coconut milk is an emulsion of coconut oil, coconut protein, and water. Because coconut oil solidi_ es into coconut cream at room temperature, canned coconut milk generally separates into two layers: liquid water at the bottom, cream at the top. The cream in some cans was as dense as Crisco, while others had a loose consistency. The liquid in some cans was opaque and smooth; in others, it was cloudy, with little specks of cream. And the ratio of cream to liquid ranged…

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