Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2022 i Cook's Illustrated

Culinary school can feel a lot like middle school: You get judged on everything you do. From how well you ironed your chef coat to the internal temperature of your steaks, it all matters. But there’s one place where the judging gets particularly intense: knife skills class. As you dice carrots and mince shallots, a chef instructor strolls through the kitchen with a ruler. Are your small-dice carrots ¼ inch on all sides? Sure hope so. They even check your scrap pile to make sure that you aren’t wasting food. I did pretty well when I took the class, but my knife work never competed with that of one classmate, whose slices, dices, and minces were flawless. Curious how he did it, I watched him work one day and figured…

The broiler is an unsung hero in the kitchen: It preheats quickly, transfers heat more efficiently than the ambient waves of the oven’s bake setting, and in certain applications requires less babysitting than the stovetop. Take shrimp, for example, which cook so rapidly in a hot pan that they must be constantly monitored. Spreading them out on a baking sheet and broiling them, I hoped, would be a more hands-off way to “sear” the pieces, since I could strategically distance them from the broiler’s fierce element. If I found that sweet spot, I could achieve a tray of snappy, lightly charred shrimp to top rice, noodles, or salads or swipe through cocktail sauce. When shopping for shrimp, I gravitate toward the extra-large size—they’re meaty but conveniently bite-size, perfect for everyday…

Even the cynics have to admit: Kale has range. Raw, its leaves are tenacious and hearty, but a brief stint on the stovetop renders the vegetable moist and tender, and a long, low period in the oven produces crispy, shattery chips. And as I recently discovered, roasting can capture the many faces of cooked kale on a single baking sheet. In just 10 minutes in a hot oven, the leaves turn a deep emerald color and take on a delightful mélange of textures: crunchy, browned edges; crisped centers; and still-tender wilted spots. It’s the most versatile of dishes, equally capable of accompanying a simple entrée and melding seamlessly into pastas, scrambles, or grain bowls when you’re clearing out the fridge. There are generally two widely available options when it comes…

Warm Your Coffee Mug When Mia Slotnick of Ithaca, N.Y., makes drip coffee, she sets her mug on top of the coffee maker so that it heats up as the coffee is being made. When the coffee is ready, her mug is perfectly warmed. A Space-Saving Way to Travel with Seasonings Shannon McClendon of Seattle, Wash., saves the small plastic containers that take-out condiments often come in and uses them to pack salt and pepper for camping trips and picnics so that she doesn’t have to pack bulky jars or boxes. Blind-Bake the Reusable Way In an effort to reduce waste when she’s blind-baking pie pastry, Robin Conley of Fort Collins, Colo., trades the usual aluminum foil or parchment paper for a silicone bowl cover. The cover neatly contains her…

My grandmother made rice-lover’s fried rice: a heap of steamed jasmine that she seasoned subtly and cluttered judiciously with mix-ins so as not to obscure the grains’ delicate fragrance and tender chew. It was strictly a leftovers dish, but she planned for it as deliberately as any other stir-fry, cooking a big batch of rice for our meal the day before so that there’d be plenty to cook with later. Along the way, she saw to it that I learned how to execute a proper pot. Perching me on a chair beside her, she’d swish and swirl my hand through the soaking grains until the water clouded, and she taught me to strain off the starchy liquid and repeat the rinsing process two more times so that the rice wouldn’t…

The genesis of yogurt was likely accidental: Historians envision a serendipitous union of raw goat’s, sheep’s, or cow’s milk and wild bacteria, left by happenstance to sour in the hot sun. The tart and creamy living food tasted great, kept longer without refrigeration than fresh milk, and could be consumed in many ways. That yogurt was a far cry from today’s commercial offerings. If you want full control over the finished product—pure, undoctored cultured dairy of the highest quality (no stabilizers, sweeteners, or additives)—as well as the ability to control the fat content, sourness level, and consistency, consider making yogurt at home. Our streamlined process demands little effort, just time, and our ingredient recommendations and oven incubation setup (as well as our sous vide variation) guarantee a milky, silky delight.…

There are more than 30,000 varieties of beans in the world, but only a handful are cultivated using commercial farming techniques on an industrial scale. In the past 200 years, bean breeders identified certain varieties of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) that were easier to grow, transport, process, and sell than others. Black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, and even green beans are part of this “commodity bean” monoculture that can be easily found at your local supermarket. They are low-cost and consistently available and can be delicious. The downside: Most consumers are missing out on other unique varieties. What Makes a Bean an “Heirloom”? When the commodity bean industry zeroed in on a handful of beans and ignored the rest, a few things happened. Most bean varieties were lost…

Professional cooks learn early to taste as they work, checking a dish at various points for balance and seasoning. It’s a critical skill. We also come to understand that some morsels of food are best kept as a secret treat. My favorite solo snack? The chicken wings plucked from a freshly roasted bird. These small packages deliver the very essence of poultry—rich, succulent meat wrapped in bronzed, well-rendered skin—in a couple glorious bites. That’s because the bony appendages peek out just enough from under the body of the bird to turn deliciously brown and savory in the heat of the oven. Too bad there are only two per chicken. Wouldn’t it be great if you could produce an entire platterful of wings that tasted just like two delectable noshes snuck…

My mother, Meera Marathe, is the most accomplished Indian bread maker I know. No one’s chapatis, puris, or sweet stuffed griddled breads such as puran poli and gulachi poli are as good as hers. And her alu parathas? They’re exceptional. These potato-stuffed flatbreads hail from Punjab and are a staple across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. “One of the most delicious foods a human could eat.”–Meera Sodha Alu parathas are made by wrapping circles of dough around a boldly spiced potato stuffing, rolling the stuffed balls into slim disks, and browning the disks (brushed with ghee) until crisp brown patches develop. The steamy, pliable breads are typically enjoyed as the center of a meal rather than as an accompaniment, and frankly, there is no more satisfying breakfast, lunch,…

The ingredients are familiar—al dente pasta, meaty canned tuna, sweet tomatoes, heady garlic, and plenty of extra-virgin olive oil to round things out—but the resulting tangle, known as pasta al tonno, is anything but pedestrian. The provenance of this satisfying Italian staple is unknown, but I do know that it delivers big flavor and practicality, making it ideal to keep on file for midweek suppers. The formula is loose—every family has its own routine for seasoning a simple tomato sauce with aromatics, folding in tuna, and combining it with pasta—so I ran a series of tests to crystallize my wish list. I wanted a tuna-forward sauce accented by tomato, not the inverse, as presented in some recipes. That would mean two jars (or cans) of fish to a pound of…

If you’ve ever wanted another way to harness the transformative power of butter or schmaltz, you should make matzo brei. If you’re always on the lookout for quick, comforting meals, you should make matzo brei. If you’ve ever eaten scrambled eggs and thought, “These could be better,” you should make matzo brei. If you think anything made with matzo tastes bland and lean, you should make matzo brei. I’ll stop there, since there are as many reasons to make matzo brei as there are ways to make it. “Matzo brei” is Yiddish for “fried matzo.” (The “brei” conveniently rhymes with “fry.”) This simple Ashkenazi dish of eggs, matzo (unleavened flatbread made from flour and water), and fat is eaten during Passover, the Jewish holiday during which observers avoid eating leavened…

NORTH BAY TRADING CO. Christmas Lima Beans PRICE: $12.95 for 1-lb bag ($0.81 per oz) ORIGIN: United States COMMENTS: Lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) belong to a different species than the common beans we tasted, but they are prepared and used similarly. These lima beans, which have stunning, undulating reddish markings, were meaty yet had a “melt-in-your-mouth” texture and a “mushroomy,” “vegetal” grassiness that tasters loved. Serve Christmas lima beans on their own as a side dish or in a salad. RANCHO GORDO Chiapas Black Beans (Frijoles Negros de Vara) PRICE: $6.95 for 1-lb bag ($0.43 per oz) ORIGIN: Chiapas, Mexico COMMENTS: These heirloom black beans had a complex depth of flavor that was “smoky” and reminiscent of chipotle chiles, with an earthy touch and a piquant, “mild astringency.” They held their…