Innehållsförteckning för September/October 2023 från Cook's Illustrated

I was born with jaundice. Of course I don’t remember it, but when I was old enough to understand, my older sister Liz kindly filled me in on the details. She explained that jaundice meant that half of my liver was hanging outside of my body, and that the only way to cure me was to leave me on a windowsill in the bright sun… for a couple of months. You can imagine my chagrin (abject terror) when years later my pediatrician told my mom I was looking a little jaundiced. Liz’s passion for my education knew no bounds. While playing in our backyard, she told me that bumblebees were indeed as soft and fluffy as they appeared to be; firsthand reporting that day told otherwise. Beyond medicine and the…

Pat in the Pan with a Potato Masher When Timothy W. Haasken of Blacksburg, Va., is making a recipe that calls for a pat-in-the-pan crust, he reaches for his potato masher. He has found that the flat plate of the masher, its grid covered with foil, is an excellent tool for neatly pressing the crumbs into the bottom of the pie pan. Pack Cookies in Yogurt Containers Merrilee Brandt of Renton, Wash., has found the perfect vessel for transporting cookies: yogurt or sour cream containers. The round shape of the washed-out plastic tubs allows the cookies to stack neatly without giving them much space to jostle around and break. The Tidiest Way to Store Onions Tired of papery onion skins littering her pantry, Rita Ducharme of Brooksville, Fla., came up with a clever solution: She…

To make chiles en nogada (chiles in walnut sauce), a hallmark of Puebla and widely considered to be Mexico’s national dish, you start by blistering the poblanos. The idea is to char and loosen the skins so that they can be peeled away, leaving the bottle-green flesh tender but firm enough to be stuffed full of the dish’s signature late-summer picadillo. That filling is seasoned with not just a typical picadillo’s savory-sweet mix of garlic, raisins, olives, and warm spices but also with tomato and a bounty of seasonal fruits and nuts. You stuff the picadillo into each chile so that they brim like little cornucopias and then blanket them with velvety nogada—an ivory, delicately sweet walnut sauce that’s further enriched with tangy Mexican crema and maybe some fresh cheese. The…

“Chraime is home. When I miss my family, I cook chraime.” To Israeli-born Shay Lavi, chef-owner of The Third Space in Atlanta, Georgia, a bubbling skillet of the bright, earthy stewed fish is the best panacea for a wistful heart. Chraime (the Arabic word for “hot,” pronounced hraiy-may), originated in Libya on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea where Jewish settlers lived for more than 3,000 years until just after World War II when they were forced into exile (see “Why Libyan Jews Enjoy Chraime from Afar” to learn more). At that time, Libyan Jews left for Israel and Italy, bringing the treasured dish with them, where it continues to be a meaningful part of their cuisine. Growing up in Or-Yehuda, Israel, Lavi, whose father is from Libya, learned to make chraime…

If you do much baking, you know what an asset the freezer can be. In addition to preserving leftover breads, cakes, and cookies, as well as fat-rich perishables such as butter and nuts, it’s clutch for make-ahead projects when you want to bake day-of but don’t have time to do the start-to-finish leg-work. Fully assembled fruit pies, pizza dough, cookie dough, dinner rolls, and biscuits are all great candidates. My latest favorite from-the-freezer scenario is single-serving baking, where you mix up and freeze a full batch of something and bake off just a portion or two as needed. Drop cookies are a natural (lots of us ATK staffers keep frozen chocolate chip cookie dough balls on hand at all times), but recently I’ve been working on a muffin formula. It’s just…

Like a cross between a banana cream pie and a candy bar, the beloved British dessert known as banoffee pie beckons with sweet, creamy decadence: A crisp pastry shell overflows with a gooey, butterscotch-y filling; fresh sliced bananas; and clouds of coffee-infused whipped cream. The recipe originated in the 70s with Ian Dowding (author of Fish Bananas [2020]) and the late Nigel Mackenzie (who owned the now-shuttered Hungry Monk restaurant in Sussex, England). Dowding, the restaurant’s head chef, was eager to explain the pie’s provenance on a video call from his home in Sussex. As Dowding tells it, the cream, toffee, and coffee combination was inspired by the Coffee Toffee Pie from Blum’s, a bakery in San Francisco. After coming up with a preliminary recipe that incorporated those flavors, the pair experimented…

Make a German Farmer’s Breakfast In Germany, the smoky fried potatoes known as Bratkartoffeln (page 15) are often combined with eggs to create a hearty farmer’s breakfast, Bauernfrühstück, that can be sliced and shared. –E.T. METHOD Follow steps 1–3 of Bratkartoffeln recipe (page 15). Gently stir bacon and onion into potatoes. Add 1 tablespoon butter to skillet and swirl so that butter melts in between potatoes. Meanwhile, whisk 6 large eggs in bowl and season with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Pour eggs over potatoes and cook, without stirring, until eggs begin to set, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Using rubber spatula, a, lift edge of cooked egg, then tilt pan to 1 side so that uncooked oked egg runs underneath. Repeat process, working around pan edge, using spatula to gently scrape uncooked egg…

Countertop Ice Makers If you’re not getting enough ice from your freezer ice maker or trays, a countertop ice maker could be a good option for you. They’re also well suited for home bars, dorm rooms, and boats or RVs. It’s important to note that these machines do not keep ice cold indefinitely because they’re not circulating frigid air as a freezer does. However, as unused ice in the collection bins melts, that water is recirculated to make more ice. Our favorite models produced ice quickly after start-up and continued to efficiently churn out cubes. They also effectively sensed when ice had melted or been removed and kicked into ice-making mode without delay. We prized uncluttered displays with clearly marked buttons, and we preferred models with conveniently placed drain plugs for…

Pat in the Pan with a Potato Masher When Timothy W. Haasken of Blacksburg, Va., is making a recipe that calls for a pat-in-the-pan crust, he reaches for his potato masher. He has found that the flat plate of the masher, its grid covered with foil, is an excellent tool for neatly pressing the crumbs into the bottom of the pie pan. Pack Cookies in Yogurt Containers Merrilee Brandt of Renton, Wash., has found the perfect vessel for transporting cookies: yogurt or sour cream containers. The round shape of the washed-out plastic tubs allows the cookies to stack neatly without giving them much space to jostle around and break. The Tidiest Way to Store Onions Tired of papery onion skins littering her pantry, Rita Ducharme of Brooksville, Fla., came up…

When it comes to summer produce, sweet corn and ripe, juicy tomatoes get all the love. But I’m here to advocate for zucchini: When you strip away the ingredients that are typically paired with the slender green squash—feta cheese, warm spices for quick bread, and so on—and prepare it in a way that accentuates its assets, a remarkable range of appealing qualities is revealed. When barely cooked—just enough to slightly soften the flesh and get the juices flowing—zucchini bursts with the cool, floral fruitiness of fresh melon and cucumber. Cooked more fully, the vegetable turns dense and tender, and a mild, nutty sweetness that evokes its butternut brethren is coaxed forth. I was looking to highlight both of these attributes in a quick, summery side dish. Smash Hit I got…

Like a cross between a banana cream pie and a candy bar, the beloved British dessert known as banoffee pie beckons with sweet, creamy decadence: A crisp pastry shell overflows with a gooey, butterscotch-y filling; fresh sliced bananas; and clouds of coffee-infused whipped cream. The recipe originated in the 70s with Ian Dowding (author of Fish Bananas [2020]) and the late Nigel Mackenzie (who owned the now-shuttered Hungry Monk restaurant in Sussex, England). Dowding, the restaurant’s head chef, was eager to explain the pie’s provenance on a video call from his home in Sussex. As Dowding tells it, the cream, toffee, and coffee combination was inspired by the Coffee Toffee Pie from Blum’s, a bakery in San Francisco. After coming up with a preliminary recipe that incorporated those flavors, the…

To make chiles en nogada (chiles in walnut sauce), a hallmark of Puebla and widely considered to be Mexico’s national dish, you start by blistering the poblanos. The idea is to char and loosen the skins so that they can be peeled away, leaving the bottle-green flesh tender but firm enough to be stuffed full of the dish’s signature late-summer picadillo. That filling is seasoned with not just a typical picadillo’s savory-sweet mix of garlic, raisins, olives, and warm spices but also with tomato and a bounty of seasonal fruits and nuts. You stuff the picadillo into each chile so that they brim like little cornucopias and then blanket them with velvety nogada—an ivory, delicately sweet walnut sauce that’s further enriched with tangy Mexican crema and maybe some fresh cheese.…

“Chraime is home. When I miss my family, I cook chraime.” To Israeli-born Shay Lavi, chef-owner of The Third Space in Atlanta, Georgia, a bubbling skillet of the bright, earthy stewed fish is the best panacea for a wistful heart. Chraime (the Arabic word for “hot,” pronounced hraiy-may), originated in Libya on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea where Jewish settlers lived for more than 3,000 years until just after World War II when they were forced into exile (see “Why Libyan Jews Enjoy Chraime from Afar” to learn more). At that time, Libyan Jews left for Israel and Italy, bringing the treasured dish with them, where it continues to be a meaningful part of their cuisine. Growing up in Or-Yehuda, Israel, Lavi, whose father is from Libya, learned to…

When it comes to summer produce, sweet corn and ripe, juicy tomatoes get all the love. But I’m here to advocate for zucchini: When you strip away the ingredients that are typically paired with the slender green squash—feta cheese, warm spices for quick bread, and so on—and prepare it in a way that accentuates its assets, a remarkable range of appealing qualities is revealed. When barely cooked—just enough to slightly soften the flesh and get the juices flowing—zucchini bursts with the cool, floral fruitiness of fresh melon and cucumber. Cooked more fully, the vegetable turns dense and tender, and a mild, nutty sweetness that evokes its butternut brethren is coaxed forth. I was looking to highlight both of these attributes in a quick, summery side dish. Smash Hit I got to thinking about…

If you do much baking, you know what an asset the freezer can be. In addition to preserving leftover breads, cakes, and cookies, as well as fat-rich perishables such as butter and nuts, it’s clutch for make-ahead projects when you want to bake day-of but don’t have time to do the start-to-finish leg-work. Fully assembled fruit pies, pizza dough, cookie dough, dinner rolls, and biscuits are all great candidates. My latest favorite from-the-freezer scenario is single-serving baking, where you mix up and freeze a full batch of something and bake off just a portion or two as needed. Drop cookies are a natural (lots of us ATK staffers keep frozen chocolate chip cookie dough balls on hand at all times), but recently I’ve been working on a muffin formula. It’s…

Make a German Farmer’s Breakfast In Germany, the smoky fried potatoes known as Bratkartoffeln (page 15) are often combined with eggs to create a hearty farmer’s breakfast, Bauernfrühstück, that can be sliced and shared. –E.T. METHOD Follow steps 1–3 of Bratkartoffeln recipe (page 15). Gently stir bacon and onion into potatoes. Add 1 tablespoon butter to skillet and swirl so that butter melts in between potatoes. Meanwhile, whisk 6 large eggs in bowl and season with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Pour eggs over potatoes and cook, without stirring, until eggs begin to set, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Using rubber spatula, a, lift edge of cooked egg, then tilt pan to 1 side so that uncooked oked egg runs underneath. Repeat process, working around pan edge, using spatula…

Countertop Ice Makers If you’re not getting enough ice from your freezer ice maker or trays, a countertop ice maker could be a good option for you. They’re also well suited for home bars, dorm rooms, and boats or RVs. It’s important to note that these machines do not keep ice cold indefinitely because they’re not circulating frigid air as a freezer does. However, as unused ice in the collection bins melts, that water is recirculated to make more ice. Our favorite models produced ice quickly after start-up and continued to efficiently churn out cubes. They also effectively sensed when ice had melted or been removed and kicked into ice-making mode without delay. We prized uncluttered displays with clearly marked buttons, and we preferred models with conveniently placed drain plugs…

In Italy, October marks the beginning of the annual olive harvest, when the fruits are plucked by hand or shaken from their trees and collected in vast nets. The FRANTOIO, primarily grown in Tuscany, is robust and fruity—it, along with the delicately flavored LECCINO, are two of the primary olives used in Italian olive-oil production. Meaty, buttery CASTELVETRANO olives pair beautifully with pungent cheeses and crisp white wines; they retain their bright green hue because they are salted and packed without fermentation. PENDOLINO olive trees can grow to astonishing heights; their weeping branches are often used to fertilize the trees of other olive cultivars. Plush, citrusy GAETA olives can be found either plump and preserved in brine or dry-cured and shriveled. CELLINA DI NARDÒ is a petite variety grown largely…