Innholdsfortegnelse for February - March 2016 i Cook's Country

Green Cookies I substitute sunflower butter for peanut butter in recipes because my son cannot eat peanuts. But recently I made a batch of sunflower butter cookies, and they turned green! Are they safe to eat? –Joy Stabile, Litchfield, N.H. This was a new problem to us, so we made a batch of our Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, substituting sunflower seed butter to see if we got green cookies. The cookies looked fine, but after two days they started to develop green spots on their interiors, and by six days their insides were forest green. We reached out to our science editor for insight as to why this was happening. He explained that, while they may be unappetizing to look at, the green cookies are perfectly safe to…

EVER SINCE CLARENCE Birdseye invented flash-freezing in the early 20th century, people have harvested peas and carrots from the freezer case at the supermarket. Convenience aside, these freezer foragers are half right. Though freshly shelled peas, if they’re available, have bright pea flavor, sweet and tender flash-frozen peas are fine fare. But flash-frozen carrots? Not so much. Thawed and reheated, they tend to be flavorless and mushy. I wanted to reunite these two vegetables, make them equally good, add supporting ingredients to amplify their assets, and still keep the combination a convenient weeknight side dish. I found many existing recipes to test. Some had flavor problems, others were way too fussy for a simple side, and nearly all suffered from inconsistent doneness—because dense carrots take several minutes to cook completely…

THE TEST KITCHEN’S recipe for cabbage wedges roasted in a hot oven has converted many would-be haters into cabbage lovers. In that recipe, the wedges emerge from the oven beautifully (and flavorfully) browned, with a deep, earthy, sweetness and a soft yet firm texture. Could I achieve similar results without turning on the oven? Six wedges cut from a small head of green cabbage seemed like the right amount to fit in a 12-inch skillet. But when I browned the wedges on each of the two cut sides, the interiors never softened and cooked through. I knew that covering the pan would trap heat and steam to help the wedges soften, but the wedges were too tall to allow a lid to lay flat over the skillet. Through a series…

ARRACHERA EN ADOBO, a chili-like dish of steak slowly cooked—stewed, really—in a pungent adobo sauce, is a gem of Mexican American cuisine, popular in some corners of Texas but relatively unknown in other parts of the country. Spicy, garlicky, sweet, sour, meaty, fruity, rich—this complex dish, at once comforting and invigorating, is astonishingly good. As soon as I tasted it, I wanted to shout about it from the rooftops—or at least develop a recipe so home cooks across the country could create the dish for themselves. Ask 10 different cooks what makes an adobo sauce, and you’ll get 10 different answers. But an afternoon spent in our cookbook library revealed some common ground across both old and new recipes: garlic, onion, dried chiles, dried herbs and spices (oregano and cumin…

EGGS IN PURGATORY is a simple dish of quivering eggs poached directly in a spicy red sauce, equally good as a bracing breakfast or a satisfying meatless supper. At least, I thought this popular Italian American dish would be simple. And indeed, tests of existing recipes showed that making the tomato sauce was a breeze. But achieving eight perfectly poached large eggs (enough to serve four) with set whites and runny yolks? That was a different story. First, the sauce: In a 12-inch skillet, I cooked some garlic in oil; added grated onions, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, and dried oregano; and cooked it just until the tomato paste started to brown, about 5 minutes. I stirred in a can of crushed tomatoes and a few basil leaves. After a…

Beef Burgundy 101 Why Chuck-Eye Roast? Though it has an air of elegance these days, beef braised in wine is at its heart a rustic peasant dish that’s best suited to the relatively inexpensive chuck-eye roast (be sure to ask the butcher if you don’t find one in the case). This flavorful cut has rich marbling that benefits from long, slow cooking. Its only challenge is the thick line of fat that bisects the meat, which, if left in place, would produce a fatty sauce and inelegant slices. This is easily dealt with: Simply pull the two lobes of meat apart, trim the fat between them, and tie them into two neat roasts. Cooking with Wine Beef Burgundy gets its name from the region of France where it originated, as…

CASSOULET, THE FRENCH country stew celebrated for its hearty, thick-enoughto-stand-a-spoon-in texture, is a coldweather favorite in America as well. The dish is typically made with white beans, lots of garlic and other aromatic vegetables, and an endless roster of meats, including garlic sausage, duck confit, pork shoulder, and sometimes game. It’s not short on flavor. But the problem with cassoulet is that you have to block off the better part of a week to make it, and then you need to invite over every neighbor in shouting distance to eat it. I wanted a fully flavored cassoulet-inspired dish for two that was easy to pull off for a weeknight dinner. To get there, I’d need to scale back and focus on just a few flavor-packed proteins. Duck confit had to…

SALSA RANKS AMONG America’s favorite dips—and nothing beats the jarred varieties for convenience, especially during the winter months when it can be hard to find high-quality fresh tomatoes to make salsa from scratch. But, jarred salsas can often be disappointing: mushy, bland, and overcooked. In the past, we’ve struggled to find medium and hot versions that we liked, though we’ve always managed to uncover a few good products. Still, many people prefer their salsa to be less fiery. Could we find a mild salsa that got the ratios of heat, salt, acidity, and sweet tomato flavor just right? To find out, 21 America’s Test Kitchen editors and cooks tasted seven top-selling mild salsas—first plain and then with tortilla chips. One problem emerged almost immediately: Some of the mild salsas weren’t…

WHEN OUR EXECUTIVE food editor, Bryan Roof, returned from a trip to Pittsburgh (see “On the Road”), he was unabashedly enthusiastic about the pierogi he’d eaten in that city’s historic Polish American quarter. The tender but chewy dumplings stuffed with potatoes, cheese, and sometimes sauerkraut won him over. I wanted to create a recipe for the rest of us. Pittsburgh, which rose to prominence as an industrial capital during the late 19th century, attracted thousands of Polish immigrants to work in steel mills and coal mines. By 1920, Polish Americans made up one-third of the city’s workforce. Many settled in a steep, winding, hillside neighborhood overlooking the Allegheny River, known as Polish Hill. There, Roof was invited into a Polish American home to make pierogi with Elaine Kitlowski, who generously…

CHICKEN SCARPARIELLO IS an Italian American dish of browned chicken and sausage bathed in a spicy, garlicky sauce chock-full of bell peppers, onions, and pickled cherry peppers. When done right, it’s a hearty weeknight supper, especially well-suited to folks who love strong flavors. Its exact origins are murky, but it first became popular stateside in the early 1900s among New York City’s burgeoning Italian population, particularly those immigrants from Naples. Some say that the name “scarpariello,” which loosely translates to “shoemaker-style,” was bestowed upon this dish because it features ingredients inexpensive enough for a poor cobbler to afford. Others say the name came about because, much like a shoe, this dish is something you “cobble” together. Whatever the story, I wanted to perfect my own version. I spent a few…

THE KITCHEN WAS stuffy and hot, a pot of oil sizzled on the stove, and dough stuck in clumps to my fingers as I fumbled with a pastry bag. An acrid smell filled the air as one churro started to burn while I was still trying to pipe out the rest of the batch. It was a stressful scene that challenged my will. Was this the end of my churro trail? Were my California dreams—of breezy Pacific seaside evenings eating fluted, fried fritters coated in sweet cinnamon sugar and dunked in chocolate sauce—at a disappointing end? No way. I don’t go down that easily. I was determined to succeed. People often think of churros as Latin American doughnuts, but they are actually more closely related to French cream puffs. Both…

THE PERFECT HAPPY-HOUR meatball is bite-size, packed with flavor, and cloaked in a glossy sauce that clings to the meatball rather than dripping onto your little black dress. It’s sweet and salty, complementing any cocktail in the bartender’s canon. And it’s good enough to make you spoil your dinner. I set out to create a meatball that was worthy of any fancy toothpick I stuck into it. I targeted teriyaki. Traditionally a glazy Japanese sauce consisting of soy sauce, mirin (cooking wine), and sugar, teriyaki comfortably straddles sweet and savory. At least, it should. But ever since its first widespread flirtation with midcentury American palates, the sauce has taken countless wrong turns, evolving into a sugary, cloying, one-note wonder. It didn’t take much to bring the sauce back into balance.…

HEARTY GREENS, SUCH as escarole or kale, cooked down until tender in a flavorful broth and tossed with tender white beans—this is beans and greens, a staple menu item in restaurants in and around Pennsylvania’s Western Valley. We wanted a version for cooks around the country to make at home. Before picking up a pan, I picked up the phone. Denese Colangelo, co-owner of Colangelo’s Bakery in Pittsburgh, was kind enough to talk me through how she makes her famous beans and greens. She does a quick sauté of olive oil, sliced cooked red potatoes, garlic, and oven-roasted tomatoes. Colangelo then adds white beans (cannellini or great Northern), white wine, baby spinach, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. After a brief steam, she piles the warm beans-and-spinach mixture on a…

THE MENTION OF pasta salad brings to mind bland bowls of pasta tossed with bottled salad dressing or mayo and maybe, just maybe, a few sad chunks of vegetables. But why? We love each component, so why shouldn’t the sum of these parts be equally great? I set out to make it so with five fresh takes on this oft-neglected dish. I took nothing for granted, starting with the pasta. The usual suspects of the pasta salad syndicate are elbow macaroni, spiral-shaped rotini, or bow-tie farfalle, but I wanted a more delicate pasta, one that would support other ingredients but not weigh them down. In our test kitchen pantry we keep penne, rigatoni, and spaghetti on hand, but these all seemed too big, too awkward, or too starchy. After a…

THE PROMISE OF a one-pan dinner is simple: a full meal of protein, starch, and vegetables cooked all together in one pan. But try this with salmon, potatoes, and broccoli, and you’re likely to get rubbery fish, undercooked potatoes, and overdone broccoli. I set out to finesse the technique and make it work. THE PROMISE OF a one-pan dinner is simple: a full meal of protein, starch, and vegetables cooked all together in one pan. But try this with salmon, potatoes, and broccoli, and you’re likely to get rubbery fish, undercooked potatoes, and overdone broccoli. I set out to finesse the technique and make it work. To cook everything on the same pan, I looked to existing test kitchen recipes for inspiration. We’ve found that broccoli with nicely browned edges…

We’re looking for recipes that you treasure—the ones that have been handed down in your family for a generation or more; that always come out for the holidays; that have earned a place at your table and in your heart, through many years of meals. Send us the recipes that spell home to you. Visit CooksCountry.com/magazines/home (or write to Heirloom Recipes, Cook’s Country, P.O. Box 470739, Brookline, MA 02447); click on Heirloom Recipes and tell us a little about the recipe. Include your name and mailing address. If we print your recipe, you’ll receive a free one-year subscription to Cook’s Country. CHIPPED CHOPPED HAM SANDWICHES Serves 8 “Growing up in Pittsburgh, this sweet-salty sandwich was a lunchtime favorite, both at home and in the school cafeteria.” Kendra Johnson, Leetsdale, Pa.…

BACON MAKES A tasty wrapper for many foods, but when it comes to pork loin, bacon’s flavor is just part of its appeal. Pork loin is very lean, so when it overcooks, as it often does, you’re left with dry, flavorless meat. Wrapping the pork in (what else?) bacon shrouds this finicky cut in a layer of tasty fat that renders slowly during cooking, basting the roast and protecting it from drying out. I started with a center-cut pork loin roast (not to be confused with the slimmer, leaner tenderloin), about 5 inches in diameter. At about 3½ pounds, this is just the right size for eight people (or four people and sandwich leftovers) and, conveniently, this was also the perfect size to accommodate a wrapping of packaged bacon slices.…

ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED IN the 19th century as an homage to Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, Steak Diane was first made with thin cutlets of venison cloaked in a rich, labor-intensive sauce based on veal stock. By the 1950s, the dish had become culinary dinner theater in restaurants from New York to Hollywood; tuxedoed waiters would wheel a cart up to your table, warm up thinly pounded beef filets in a chafing dish of cognac sauce, and set the whole thing aflame. Patrons were thrilled but, more often than not, the show overshadowed the supper. I set out to reclaim the essence of Steak Diane—heavily peppered steaks under a cognac-rich sauce—with a contemporary version I could make at home. I found many recipes in our cookbook library calling for…

SHRIMP DE JONGHE, a casserole of plump shrimp tossed in garlic and sherry and topped with crunchy herbed bread crumbs, first appeared in the dining room at Chicago’s De Jonghe Hotel around the turn of the century. Locals and visitors embraced it wholeheartedly, and it quickly became an iconic Chicago dish. An iconic dish of seafood? In Chicago? It’s an unlikely origin story, but it’s true. A confluence of factors led to Shrimp De Jonghe: the need for a signature dish (every hotel had one), the contemporary vogue for gratins, and the rise of refrigerated rail cars, which meant that meat from Chicago’s processing plants could be distributed throughout the country—and that the trains coming back could be loaded with seafood. I found a handful of recipes for Shrimp De…

Cottage Cheese FRUIT’S FRIEND This creamy cow’s-milk cheese is curdled and drained but is not pressed like most other cheeses. Cottage cheese has a fresh dairy flavor and little tang. We’ve found it to be a solid substitute for ricotta in high-heat dishes like baked ziti and lasagna. We also use it as the surprising creamy cheese base in our Breakfast Pizza (CooksCountry.com/breakfastpizza). Mascarpone RICH SCOOP Mascarpone is the rich, creamy cow’smilk cheese that gives tiramisù its velvety texture. It has a “sweet and fatty” flavor and a texture similar to Greek yogurt. Dollop it on a dish of fresh berries or a tangy fruit pie, or try it atop boiled, roasted, or baked potatoes. Mascarpone is usually sold in small containers due to its short shelf life. Queso Fresco…

CRISPY. CHEESY. POTATOES. Three words that, put together, have to mean good, right? While none of the existing recipes we tried were inedible, some produced overcooked potatoes, while others offered cheese that refused to cling to the oily potatoes. I wanted creamy potato slices (rather than thick wedges) with crispy, flavorful Parmesan cheese adhering to each slice. After my initial tests, I settled on 2 pounds of creamy Yukon Gold potatoes (enough for four people), sliced ½ inch thick and tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper for maximum flavor. I knew that roasting the potatoes at a high temperature would achieve the best color and flavor: 500 degrees on the lower-middle rack was just right. Two teaspoons of cornstarch added to the preoven toss helped them get crunchy. Now…

FOR YEARS, FRIENDS from Alabama have been telling me about the famous orange rolls served at All Steak restaurant in Cullman, Alabama (see “On the Road”). Crowds go crazy for the sweet spirals that deliver an outsized punch of citrus flavor. Small and spiraled, like baby cinnamon rolls, these glazy rolls filled with orange-flavored sugar and topped with a citrusy icing filled the room with aromas of yeast, butter, and orange. I loved them, but I couldn’t help wondering what they’d smell like while baking and what they’d taste like straight out of the oven. I determined right then to create a version to make at home. Their soft, chewy texture indicated that these rolls were leavened with yeast, like the doughs we use for cinnamon rolls and other similar…

SPLIT PEA SOUP is a cold-weather favorite, appreciated for its stick-to-your-ribs richness, meaty flavor, and frugality. It’s typically made a couple of days after a bone-in ham has been served for Sunday supper or a holiday celebration, once the prized slices have been made into sandwiches. The ham bone, with lots of meat still stubbornly clinging to it, is tossed into a pot with aromatics (celery, carrot, onion) and covered with broth or water and a bag of inexpensive dried split green peas. A few hours of simmering later, you’re rewarded with a filling pea soup studded with tiny bits of smoky ham. I wanted to put my slow cooker to work and make a hammy split pea soup without the advantage of a leftover ham bone and with minimal…