Innehållsförteckning för January/February 2024 från Cook's Illustrated

BEST PRACTICES FOR PANCAKES From mixing to flipping, these tips will help you produce consistently lofty, golden hotcakes. 1. Weigh Your Flour Pancake loft and tenderness relies on a precise ratio of ingredients, which is why we recommend measuring flour by weight instead of volume. 2. Leave the Batter Lumpy Mixing the batter until it’s barely combined makes for loftier pancakes. The lumps obstruct the flow of the batter so that it sits tall in the pan and retains more air instead of spreading out. 3. Fold In Mix-Ins Folding additions such as chocolate or fresh fruit into the batter rather than dropping them onto the top of the portioned pancakes ensures that they’re embedded in the fluffy crumb rather than simply sitting on the surface where they’re vulnerable to…

Agreat peeler makes short work of prepping vegetables and fruit. The best are light and comfortable, with a sharp, maneuverable blade that peels neatly without waste and keeps its edge. There are two main types: Y-shaped and straight. We tested models in both styles and chose favorites in each category. The Kuhn Rikon Original Swiss Peeler is our top Y-shaped choice, with its smoothly gliding, very sharp carbon-steel blade. If you prefer straight peelers, we suggest the OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler, with its sharp stainless-steel blade. A good peeler should shave off just enough to avoid the need for repeat trips over the same section but not so much that the blade digs too deeply and wastes food. Whatever the task, the peeler should handle bumps and curves without…

It wasn’t until I started cooking professionally that I considered the origins of the foods of my childhood. Ethnically, my family is predominantly Chinese, but we identify as Vietnamese—my parents and I were born in Vietnam and speak Vietnamese, and I attended Vietnamese school. My parents understand Teochow, the Chinese dialect my grandparents spoke, but aren’t fluent; I recognize only a handful of words. Growing up, I thus assumed the dishes my grandmother regularly prepared—fried rice, pickled mustard greens soup, wonton noodle soup—were Vietnamese. I noticed the phonetic similarity between the Vietnamese word “hoành thánh” and the Chinese word “wonton,” but I didn’t make the connection that, like our family, those recipes are multicultural: They had been made and customized by Vietnamese cooks for generations, but they contained ingredients and…

Cabbage, a member of the botanical species Brassica oleracea, is usually dismissed as the frumpy cousin of its more fetching and culinarily successful relatives brussels sprouts and cauliflower. But this large green sphere has much to offer: It’s nutritious; costs next to nothing; is readily available year-round; can be held for long periods in the refrigerator; and, just like its species mates, has the potential for extreme deliciousness. Certainly cabbage is a worthy and dependable denizen of the crisper drawer, and I suspected that—given a chance—it could be downright glamorous. It was one of cabbage’s kin that inspired the notion. Years ago, I’d developed a simple and effective method for roasting brussels sprouts: I halved each one and tumbled them with oil and seasoning; spread them on a baking sheet…

In Catalonia, a “zarzuela” can be one of two things: a type of Spanish musical theater production that involves storytelling, song, and dance or a hearty stew loaded with seafood in a spiced tomato broth. The latter took its name from the former, and it’s easy to understand why: Like a theatrical spectacular, a pot of zarzuela is vibrant, exciting to behold, and downright applause-worthy. On the eastern coast of Spain, zarzuela is cobbled together from whatever seafood is freshest at the market that day—from monkfish to clams to prawns to scallops—and served as a festive centerpiece for gatherings or special occasions. An abundance of seafood feels undeniably celebratory, but it presents a challenge for the cook: When all the fish are cooked in the same pot yet each has…

We love premium extra-virgin olive oil to dress salads and grains and to finish dishes—including pasta, steak and fish, vegetables, beans and hummus, soup, pizza, and even ice cream—with a drizzle of flavor-enhancing goodness. While supermarket extra-virgin olive oil can do all of those things, we think it’s worth getting your hands on a bottle of premium extra-virgin olive oil, because it offers exponentially fuller, fresher, more delightful flavor. “People should think of olive oil the way they think of salt and pepper; it helps the food realize its full potential.”–Brad Hedeman, Zingermans.com We bought and tasted samples of nearly three dozen premium and supermarket extra-virgin olive oils (EVOO). While we liked supermarket oils, we loved premium versions. Our tasters repeatedly described the premium oils as significantly more aromatic and…

Slow Cookers A well-designed slow cooker excels in covered, moist-heat cooking, a technique beneficial for tough, cheap cuts of meat that tenderize through long, gentle cooking and for developing deep, complex flavors in soups, stews, and sauces. The best slow cookers offer reliable set-and-forget home cooking. Previous testing taught us that glass lids were a must for checking progress without opening the lid, which would let heat escape and hinder cooking. Six - to 7-quart capacity was also a must—the same size as the Dutch oven we’d use for similar tasks. We chose three models as co-winners. Each produced delicious meals, with different features that made it stand out. The KitchenAid 6-Quart Slow Cooker with Solid Glass Lid (model KSC6223SS) remains a favorite. Its intuitive control panel made it easy…

Ground turkey can be your staple protein. Give it 10 minutes of your time and a few additions that you probably have on hand, and it’ll become a juicy, tender, and versatile base for countless quick meals. A few inherent perks: Ground turkey’s mild flavor seamlessly blends with all sorts of seasonings, and because it’s both ground and naturally tender, it can be cooked quickly. When it’s sold in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), the cocktail of gasses under its taut plastic seal stave off spoilage and discoloration, dramatically extending the meat’s fridge life. The fastest way to ensure that ground turkey is fully cooked through is to roast or sear it, which usually causes the surface of the delicate meat to dry out by the time the middle is cooked.…

Iwas a Grand Diplôme student at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris when I first tried (and failed) at making macarons (mah-kah-ROHNS). For more than a century, these dainty confections of two almond meringues sandwiched around a luscious filling were sold only in patisseries. Then, in the 1990s, chef Pierre Hermé ignited a global frenzy over the cookie. While at the helm of famed Paris bakeries Fauchon and Ladurée, he tinted the meringues vibrant colors and filled them with gloriously sophisticated flavors. (Think rose-lychee-raspberry or grapefruit-orange-Campari.) Suddenly, everyone from London to Tokyo wanted to eat macarons—and professionals and home bakers alike wanted to master them. From that point on, their allure has never abated. It’s not hard to understand why. The perfect specimen is a wonder: Utterly smooth, elegantly puffed meringues…

Are These Instagram-Famous Olive Oils Any Good? Olive oil is supertrendy right now, if such a thing can be said of a truly ancient food. Hot new brands have been popping up on social media with plenty of sponsored content. Their eye-catching bottles and names such as Brightland “Awake” and Graza “Drizzle” show up on the shelves of celebrity chefs. Drama between these two brands was covered in The New York Times and watched like Wimbledon. These newcomers are working the angle that there’s something you can’t trust about traditional olive oil. They promise their oils are superior not only in flavor and production quality but also traceability to their sources. Brightland calls itself “Drizzled in sunshine. Dipped in truth.” Graza’s claim is “Always fresh, never blended, (real) EVOO.” Kosterina’s…