Innehållsförteckning för July/August 2020 från Cook's Illustrated

A blade of sunlight cuts through a gap between the shade and the window frame and lands on the couch cushion next to me; within minutes my cat, Miamo, has intercepted it with her left flank. All cats are expert solar trackers, intuitively migrating throughout the day to ensure an optimal angle of incidence with the sun’s rays. But black cats get the most bang for their buck. Miamo, who resembles a cast-iron Dutch oven in more ways than one, finds and absorbs light energy with aplomb. Over the past months of keeping distance, staying home, and looking out for loved ones, I’ve watched with adoration as Miamo spins her daily orbit around the house. She’s good at staying within these walls. I, on the other hand, need a lot…

Imagine the most flavorful bite of grilled chicken you’ve ever had: robustly seasoned, gorgeously charred, and crisp at the edges. That’s what you get with every bite of satay, one of the world’s proudest examples of meat on a stick and quintessential street-food fare all over Southeast Asia. The proteins and flavors vary from region to region, but the gist is more or less the same across the board: Small pieces of chicken, pork, beef, goat, or various types of seafood are coated in a flavorful liquid or paste; threaded onto skewers; and grilled hot and fast and very close to the coals so that almost every inch of their surfaces singes and picks up savory, smoky grill flavor. As soon as the food comes off the fire, it’s embellished…

Like most bakers, I typically have a hunk (or three) of stale bread lying around my kitchen. As such, I am well acquainted with the satisfaction that comes from breathing new life into a hardened loaf. A prime example is the outstanding Spanish dish known as migas (“migas” means “crumbs”). It involves moistening crumbs (and larger pieces of bread) with water and then frying them in fat along with lots of garlic, chorizo, and smoked paprika. Some of the water evaporates as the bread sizzles, but much of it is pushed into the bread starch, creating crisp and chewy morsels imbued with the flavors of garlic and pork. It’s great stuff. Some cooks include a second pork product such as pork belly, bacon, or Spanish ham for depth (and more…

When we think about ice cream, we usually think about flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, coffee, and strawberry. But what makes or breaks great ice cream is texture—how smooth, cold, and refreshing it feels in your mouth. Getting it right hinges on two main factors: controlling the water in the base and freezing that base as quickly as possible. MIX UP JUST THE RIGHT BASE Ice cream is mostly water, which freezes during the churning process and thickens the base so that it becomes solid and refreshing. The key is controlling the size of the ice crystals that form as the water freezes and that can continue to grow over time in the freezer. When ice cream is grainy, it’s because the crystals are noticeably large, while smooth, high-quality ice…

Clean Up Messy Spills with Salt If Rose Smythe of San Francisco, Calif., spills oil or accidently drops an egg, she cleans up the mess with salt. She covers the spill with a generous amount of table or kosher salt (for eggs, she removes any large shell pieces first) and lets the mixture sit until the moisture has been soaked up, about 5 minutes. Once a paste has formed, she scoops it up with a paper towel or dustpan before cleaning the area with soap and water. Slice Avocado with a Spoon Brandy Schneider of Boulder, Colo., always used to slice avocados by cutting the flesh inside the halved, pitted fruit with a paring knife, but it was difficult to keep the slices intact when she later scooped them out…

I was deep into recipe development for corn risotto when I started to wonder if the dish might be fundamentally flawed. There were hurdles to saturating the creamy rice with corn flavor that also seemed integral to risotto cookery. First, heat drives off many of the compounds we associate with the vegetable’s fresh, sweet taste. Second, chicken broth and wine obscure the flavor further. When I tried to overcome these challenges by adding handfuls of snappy peak-season kernels to the pot and infusing the rice with a concentrated broth I’d made by simmering the spent cobs, I failed to capture the vibrant, sweet corn flavor that is the raison d’etre of the whole dish. Happily, it all worked out in the end, and even better than I thought it would.…

Savory-sweet, juicy cherry tomatoes are typically enjoyed as a snack or in salads. But they have another application that may surprise you: They’re the perfect choice for a quick fresh tomato sauce. You can toss these little fruits directly into the pan without any prep, and they don’t need lengthy cooking to concentrate their flavor or thicken into a sauce. That’s because they’re more flavorful than the bigger varieties conventionally used for sauce and have more sugar in their flesh and more savory glutamates in their gel. They’re also full of soluble pectin that readily forms a pasta-coating consistency. To make my own version of the sauce, I sauteed 2 pounds of tomatoes (enough for 12 ounces of pasta) in olive oil in a skillet with slivered garlic. In just…

I would never argue that there’s a better way to enjoy a juicy, fragrant peach, plum, or nectarine than to devour it raw. But one of the great things about the abundance of fruit at this time of year is that you don’t need to limit yourself to just one way of eating it. So consider grilling: It might just be the next best use for peak-season stone fruit. Heating fruit draws out juices, takes aromas to new heights, and intensifies sweetness through caramelization—all of which pair perfectly with the hint of smoke the grill leaves behind. Grilling fruit is also a nice way to take advantage of the heat of your grill before or after you cook the main course. Before I continue with the mechanics of the recipe,…

KEY GOOD FAIR POOR METHODOLOGY • Test 7 models, priced from about $43 to about $230: 2 pager-style models and 5 smartphone-connected models • Set up all models according to manufacturers’ instructions and pair smartphone-connected models to iPhone • Monitor temperature of pork butt on gas grill for 4 hours • Monitor temperature of hamburgers cooking on stovetop • Monitor temperature of chicken roasting on charcoal grill for 1 hour • During Subhead all tests, walk away from probe noindent until receiver loses connection (up to 1,000 feet), then walk back paragraph. toward probe Story and body check for reconnection • Walk behind walls, up and down stairs, and in areas with low cell and Wi-Fiservice, checking connection • Test temperature accuracy at 130, 180, and 212 degrees Fahrenheit •…

Atagine is a North African earthenware pot with a tall, cone-shaped lid; it’s also the name for the wonderfully aromatic and complex fish, meat, or vegetable stews that are cooked inside it. But you don’t need to own this specialty vessel to enjoy the dish, because these days the next best thing—a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid—is also commonly used. I set out to create a light, fresh-tasting fish tagine. The type of fish used in a tagine depends on the region and its available seafood, though white-fleshed fillets are common in Morocco. Regardless of the type of fish, the fillets are typically marinated in chermoula, an extraordinarily flavorful mixture of fresh herbs, garlic, and heady spices that’s loosened with olive oil and lemon juice (see “Herb Paste, Meet…

Beer is the alchemical result of converting cereal grain starch to sugar (“malting”); steeping the grain in hot water (“mashing”); and then boiling, fermenting, and packaging the liquid. Malted barley is the most common form of malt; typically, brewers use a large proportion of pale, delicate “base malt” such as GERMAN PILS and complement it with darker, sweeter specialty malts such as CARAMEL or CHOCOLATE to add color and character. WHEAT and RYE, which are sold whole or flaked, are used in combination with barley as “adjunct grains.” The former brings lighter color and fuller body; the latter, distinct spiciness. Often, brews are seasoned with ORANGE PEELS (other citrus may also be used), COFFEE, VANILLA, or spices such as CORIANDER. During fermentation, YEAST consumes sugars from the strained liquid (“wort”)…