Innehållsförteckning för July/August 2024 från Cook's Illustrated

I thought I knew poppy seeds. But then I traveled to Hungary. At a tiny bakery in a subway station deep below Budapest, a small flaky pastry swaddling a generous expanse of thick, dark filling caught my eye. The sign read mákos retes, Hungarian for poppy-seed strudel, but the center looked so rich and lush, I would have sworn it was chocolate. Curious, I bought a piece. The filling, made of just the seeds ground with sugar, flooded my palate at first bite with sweet, fruity, and lemony flavors. I promptly bought half a dozen more. Rambling about the Hungarian countryside over the ensuing weeks, I was stunned again and again by how poppy seeds trans- formed everything from cakes to bread pudding to pasta. An ingredient that I’d once…

In Indonesia, gado gado is everywhere. The nation’s famous vegetable salad can be found at restaurants and in home kitchens, as well as at the bustling food stalls that line city streets, where you can watch the dish materialize at the vendors’ expert hands. First is the sambal kacang, a sauce made to order. A few handfuls of ingredients—fried peanuts, some garlic cloves and chiles, palm sugar, the pungent shrimp paste called terasi—are tossed into a wide stone vessel and pounded into a marvelously complex mash that is then transformed into a sauce with a few splashes of water. Atop that comes a deluge of vegetables, from cucumbers to green beans to bitter melon, sliced to bite-size with a paring knife. Next, some boiled eggs or perhaps boiled potatoes, leafy…

Cooking eggplant over an open flame until it collapses into a silky, smoke-tinged heap is a tradition that dates back millennia and spans cuisines throughout the Mediterranean, the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa—particularly Morocco, where zaalouk is everywhere. To make the ubiquitous meze, Moroccan cooks slow-cook whole eggplant until the skin lightly chars and the flesh softens. Then they mash and sauté it with tomatoes; garlic; spices such as cumin, paprika, and cayenne; cilantro; lemon juice; and plenty of olive oil. The consistency of zaalouk—one of the world’s greatest expressions of eggplant’s velvety potential—makes it incredibly versatile. There’s nothing more satisfying to scoop up with crusty bread or sink a fork into. Nowadays cooks use a variety of methods to coax eggplant into that custard-like state, but grilling…

Unlike winter squashes, summer squashes are selected to be harvested before they have reached full maturity, when their rinds are tender and seeds are small. These prolific plants have been crossbred to give rise to an astonishing number of varieties—for example, the EIGHT BALL, a billiard ball–shaped hybrid first cultivated in California in the 1990s (the yellow-skinned version is known, of course, as the one-ball). Zucchini-shaped squashes abound in Italy, including the LUNGO BIANCO and COCOZELLE, both of which might be sliced and fried, shredded and frittered, or folded into scrambled eggs. OPO, also known as calabash, is mild and faintly cucumber-flavored; it appears in soups and stir-fries in China. GRAY ZUCCHINI is particularly beloved in Lebanon, where it is hollowed out, stuffed with rice and lamb, and braised in…

Freeze Ground Meat in Portions Bob Kochersberger of Raleigh, N.C., likes to make stir-fries and other recipes that call for just a small amount of ground meat. Rather than defrosting a whole pound of meat for the recipe, he divides his packages of meat into equal-size balls, freezes them in a muffin tin, and then transfers them to a food storage bag. This allows him to thaw one or several balls at a time, depending on how much his recipe calls for. Measuring Spoon Organization To keep her measuring spoons organized and easily accessible, Cindy Gay of Morgantown, W.V., hangs them on a countertop mug tree. A Personal, No-Tip Strainer When Vicki Robb of Skillman, N.J., needs to juice citrus halves for cooking or making cocktails, she squeezes the juice…

Fifty-five nautical miles southwest of Sicily sits Pantelleria. The windswept volcanic island, which is governed by the Sicilian province of Trapani but is geographically closer to Tunisia, was historically difficult to access by boat or plane, so the inhabitants ate almost exclusively what they grew or produced themselves. “In general, the food in Pantelleria depends on creativity rather than variety,” said Mary Taylor Simeti, an American-born author who has lived in Sicily for decades and written about the culture and cuisine. “Doing imaginative things with a fairly limited list of ingredients.” Pesto pantesco is precisely that. The island’s version of Italy’s iconic mashed sauce (“pantesco” is the adjective form of “Pantelleria”; “pesto” means “crushed”) is made by pulverizing locally grown staples such as tomatoes; garlic; basil and/or parsley; almonds; and,…

We Tried 11 Ways to Keep Cut Avocados Green. Here’s What Worked An avocado gone brown is safe to eat, but there’s no disputing its lack of appeal. This discoloration occurs when an avocado’s cut surfaces are exposed to air, triggering the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) to catalyze reactions that eventually produce the brown pigment melanin. Broadly speaking, you can prevent the fruit from browning by limiting its exposure to air or by inhibiting the ability of PPO to react. We tried 11 methods that did one or the other, including—to be thorough—some that were wildly impractical. (Who would make onion juice to keep an avocado green? For the sake of science, we would!) The most effective methods limited oxygen exposure and only one—vacuum sealing—prevented browning entirely and without unwanted…

No other country does bar food like South Korea. Alongside the cuisine’s robust drinking culture exists the equally rich tradition of crispy, creamy, chewy, salty, spicy anju (drinking snacks) for soaking up a night’s libations. Depending on what’s being poured, these might include fried bites such as dakgangjeong (fried chicken) and the vast array of jeon (savory fritters); grilled meats like samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly); belly‑warming bowls of kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) and jogaetang (clam soup); or gooey, stretchy corn cheese. That last one is a dream for cheese-pull enthusiasts and anyone looking to throw together a low-fuss, crowd-pleasing snack or side dish. (Corn cheese is also a classic side dish with Korean barbecue.) Toss corn kernels (traditionally canned) in a hot, butter‑slicked skillet with salt and a dash of…

America’s appetite for sweet corn is staggering. More than 6 billion pounds are grown here each year (that accounts for just 1 to 2 percent of domestic corn production, the vast majority of which is field corn that’s dried and used for livestock feed and other products), and there is ongoing extensive research aimed at perfecting the sweetness, creaminess, and juicy snap that defines an ideal kernel. “Corn is better than it has ever been,” said Dr. William Tracy, professor of plant and agroecosystem sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, whose research focuses on improving sweet corn. With that in mind, we’ve compiled three of our simplest approaches to cooking fresh corn. Each employs smart science and techniques to spotlight the kernels’ naturally sweet flavor and plump texture. We’ve also…

Manual Espresso Makers Manual espresso makers are typically lightweight, compact, and not as pricey as electric versions. They’re especially appealing to people who want to tinker with variables according to their espresso preferences. Lever-style models sit on the counter and have one or two levers that you pull down. Pump-style models are roughly the size of a soda can; you hold them in the air as you press a pump on their sides. With each, you fill a porta filter with coffee grounds, tamp it into an even layer, and then add hot water. Pulling the lever(s) or pressing the pump, respectively, causes pressure to build and move the water quickly through the tightly packed grounds. The best models generate 9 or more bars of pressure, which the Specialty Coffee…