Innholdsfortegnelse for June - July 2015 i Cook's Country

Dear Country Cook, When I lived in Connecticut, I often lunched at Rawley’s in Fairfield—a henhouse-size shack selling hot dogs that are deep fried and finished on the griddle. Cheese dogs, chili dogs, bacon—nothing fancy but everything delicious. Even Martha Stewart is a fan. I am also fond of the classic Chicago dog, with bright green relish, onions, and tomato wedges, plus a hot pepper or two. Per fect pairings for a soft bun and a beefy dog. I remember the dogs of my youth—the ones on buttered, toasted buns, the dogs split and griddled—and have also had hot dogs in Copenhagen—bright reddish-orange with a nice snap Fast food used to be good food. Diners, shacks, and roadside stands. It was local, but you always knew that you might meet…

WHEN I PICTURE pulled pork, I imagine ropey, tender strands of smoky meat studded with savory-sweet “bark,” the crunchy bits from the exterior of the meat. But when our executive food editor described a style of pulled pork he’d had at Papa KayJoe’s barbecue restaurant in central Tennessee—bark-less and shredded so fine it almost resembled pâté—I was intrigued, if skeptical. “I promise,” my editor assured me, “it’s great.” Lacking the custom setup that proprietor Devin Pickard built at Papa KayJoe’s (see “On the Road”), I started a well-seasoned, bone-in pork butt on the grill, adding wood chip packets to mimic the smokiness Pickard draws from his hickory wood. After about 2 hours, I brought the pork inside to finish it in the even heat of the oven. I can’t say…

BRISKET AND RIBS hog the attention on the barbecue competition circuit, while chicken thighs take second billing. But aficionados spare no amount of creativity in creating stunning versions. Barbecue champ Myron Mixon’s winning recipe involves “smoke-braising” spice-rubbed thighs in chicken broth in a customized muffin tin (he drills a hole in each cup) and then removing them from the tin, smoking them, and glazing them with a sticky-sweet sauce. The recipe requires specialty equipment and a lot of time, but the results are remarkable. Much of the skin’s thick layer of fat renders during the braising process and the combination of moist and smoky dry heat ensures that the dark meat is as juicy as can be and tastes terrific. Mixon proves that chicken thighs—spicerubbed, smoke-tinged, moist and juicy inside,…

I’VE TRIED A lot of potato salads, but Creole potato salad was a new one for me. I was expecting bold flavors and some subtle heat, but most of the recipes I found were underwhelming. These recipes shared a common set of ingredients: mayonnaise, Creole mustard (a spicy brown variety), pickle relish or dill pickles, hard-cooked eggs, and the classic Louisiana trinity of green peppers, onions, and celery. This combination lacked the bold flavor I associate with Creole dishes like étouffée or gumbo; in fact, it tasted like regular old potato salad. A few recipes included more regional ingredients like andouille sausage or Creole seasoning, but they tended to overpower the salad. Thinking of other ingredients or recipes that seemed representative of Creole cooking, I made my way to rémoulade,…

TAKE A TRIP to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, or “Woonie” as locals call it, and you’ll likely come across a dynamite sandwich, which bears a resemblance to the more widely known Sloppy Joe. Restaurants and convenience stores in town sell the sandwiches—a sweet-spicy ground beef and tomato filling on a soft torpedo roll—every day of the week. In the 1920s, Woonsocket was a booming New England mill town with a thriving textile industry. Dynamites, easy to wrap up and carry, were a popular lunch for the laborers; before long, passengers on the New Haven Railroad, which stopped in downtown Woonsocket, discovered them, too. The test kitchen is only about an hour away from Woonsocket, so a colleague and I took a drive down to see this sandwich in its natural habitat…

SMALL AND DELICATE, the humble lemon thin doesn’t cut an especially imposing figure. But in days past, teatime cookies like this had legions of fans—grocery store shelves, particularly in the South, were crowded with regional versions and even Nabisco marketed a lemon thin until the early 1980s. But the cookie zeitgeist now favors bigger, bolder biscuits, and lemon thins are hard to find. So we decided to make our own. Tests of a half-dozen existing recipes for lemon thins (all using a similar list of ingredients like flour, butter, sugar, and lemon juice and/or zest) delivered cookies that didn’t satisfy. They were too thick, too soft, too crumbly, or too chewy. And all were desperately short on lemon flavor. Texture was the first puzzle to solve. After flirting with icebox-style…

CHILAQUILES, A MEXICAN comfort-food dish of fried tortilla wedges tossed in chili sauce, is all about contrasts: chewy chips with crisp edges, spicy sauce with cooling sour cream and cheese, smoky chiles with fresh cilantro and lime. Sometimes constructed with leftovers, other times made from scratch, it’s often served on the side at breakfast or lunch. I wanted to turn it into a main course while keeping the ease that’s part of the dish’s appeal. Sorting through and cooking a number of chilaquiles recipes revealed that using store-bought tortilla chips, though a convenient plan, was a bad idea. The texture of the chips varied wildly from brand to brand and yielded chilaquiles that either turned to mush or never adequately softened. For better control, I’d have to make my own…

There are two types of shredded coconut—sweetened and unsweetened. We save the sweetened stuff to use as a form of added sugar in desserts like macaroons or coconut cake and use the unsweetened variety when we want to maximize coconut flavor without making the recipe too sweet. We focused on unsweetened coconut for this tasting. To find the best unsweetened shredded coconut, 21 America’s Test Kitchen staffers tasted four products plain, in toasted coconut icing, and in our French Coconut Pie. Flavor was hardly an issue. Coconut has plenty of natural sugar, and all the products were slightly sweet with tropical, nutty notes. There was a larger disparity in texture. Tasters preferred shreds that were visibly larger, especially when used in recipes. Top-ranked shreds weren’t just larger; they were also…

SLOW COOKERS WERE once relegated to long-cooked braises and stews, but we’ve found that this handy appliance can be used for cooking virtually everything. So we decided that it was time to try our hand at a slow-cooker version of brunch casserole (also known as strata), a kind of savory, eggy, creamy bread pudding. After all, what would be better than a brunch dish you could put in the slow cooker at breakfast time and forget about until your guests arrive hours later? The Internet is peppered with recipes for this dish, so I collected a handful of the most promising and got to cooking. These test recipes all followed the same basic blueprint: Add toasted or staled bread to the cooker, pour in a mixture of beaten eggs and…

To get maximum lemon flavor into a quick dinner for two, we gave bone-in breasts a double dose of zest and juice. WE’VE ROASTED THOUSANDS of chickens over the years, many of them infused with lemon. But when it came to a weeknight meal for two that achieved moist meat, crisp skin, and vibrant lemon aroma and flavor using just chicken breasts, we had to start from scratch. Our favorite method for roasting chicken breasts is to first sear them skin side down on the stovetop to give the skin a head start on crisping and then flip them over before finishing them off in the more even heat of the oven. Though I considered using boneless, skinless breasts, past experience has shown us that bone-in breasts are best for…

AMERICAN CHEESE IS polarizing. A good American cheese is mild, but not bland, and melts like a dream in grilled cheese sandwiches and atop burgers. But in this age of slow food, plasticwrapped cheese slices have become a symbol of hyperprocessing. Could we find a product that we actually liked? To find out, we asked 21 America’s Test Kitchen staffers to sample seven nationally available American cheeses plain and in grilled cheese sandwiches. Tasters didn’t like bland cheeses, so we examined salt levels, but we saw no clear trend. Instead we noticed a different pattern: The shorter the ingredient list, the better-tasting the cheese. Our top product listed just five ingredients— cheese, water, cream, sodium phosphates, and salt—and was praised by tasters for its cheddar-like sharpness, while the bland bottom-ranked…

Our refreshing, frozen “watermelon” cake features raspberry sorbet studded with chocolate “seeds,” tender white cake, and tangy lime frosting. To make this cake, you will need: 1 (9-inch) round white cake* 2½ cups raspberry sorbet 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped fine 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 3 tablespoons lime juice (2 limes) ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ⅛ teaspoon salt 2 cups (8 ounces) confectioners’ sugar Green food coloring FOR THE CAKE: Line 6-cup-capacity mixing bowl with plastic wrap. Using serrated knife, cut off domed top of cake so that remaining cake measures ¾ inch thick (reserve top for another use). Cut remaining cake into 8 wedges and line bowl with wedges, arranging as closely as possible to achieve snug fit. Scoop raspberry sorbet into separate bowl and mash with wooden…

Microgreen Primer What are microgreens? Are they the same as sprouts? Eric Williams, Palmdale, Calif. Microgreens, once found primarily on fancy restaurant plates, have recently become more widely available in specialty stores and supermarkets. They are the first early, tiny shoots of herbs, lettuces, or other greens. Some of the most common options are arugula, beet greens, cilantro, basil, mustard greens, or salad mix varieties. These young greens are not the same as sprouts. Most sprouts, such as alfalfa, are grown hydroponically in water and take just a couple of days to grow. Microgreens are grown in soil, often in greenhouses. They can be harvested between seven and 14 days old, when they’re 1½ to 2 inches tall and their leaves have spread open. Most varieties have to be cut…

LUXURIOUS AND GRAND, beef tenderloin is best for special occasions. Its expense calls for careful attention, but don’t sweat it: Because it has a relatively uniform shape once trimmed and tied, this pricey cut is a cinch to cook evenly. It’s also easy to carve, since there are no bones to navigate. These are significant advantages for a cut of meat that, as fans of filet mignon know, has a buttery texture that is as tender as it gets. So, what’s its downside? Flavor. Beef tenderloin is a mild-tasting cut (and that’s putting it mildly). My move this round: to ramp up the flavor by smoking the roast on the grill. The test kitchen has grilled whole tenderloins before, but adding smoke was uncharted territory. Drawing on past test kitchen…

WHEN OUR EXECUTIVE food editor, Bryan Roof, returned from a research and tasting trip to Tennessee with tales of an iceberg lettuce slaw he’d tried and enjoyed—surreptitiously, behind the scenes at a local food festival—I wondered whether he’d been dipping too deeply into the local moonshine. Iceberg lettuce slaw? One of the hallmarks of traditional coleslaw, made with shreds of relatively rigid cabbage, is its crunch, which holds firm even in a creamy dressing. I just couldn’t picture iceberg lettuce doing the same—and the image of soggy, watery slaw is not appealing. I hit the books and, to my surprise, found a slew of slaw recipes that centered on iceberg. They all warned against the water that the lettuce exudes when shredded. Some called for salting the shredded leaves to…

TODAY THE SAVORY Southern dish known as shrimp and grits is ubiquitous on restaurant menus and, increasingly, in home kitchens around the United States. But until recently, it was unknown outside a small swath of the southeastern U.S. coast. There, the entrenched combination was an inevitable outcome of abundance— the Carolina shores teemed with shrimp, and grits were plentiful and cheap. Together, they’ve been known locally for generations as “breakfast shrimp.” Early versions of this dish, including the first known published recipe in Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking (1930), called for little more than butter, shrimp, and grits. Though countless adaptations have been explored over the years (see “Shrimp Jumps the Shark”), I planned to keep it simple. I prepared five existing recipes, including the Charleston Cooking version. Some…

PANZANELLA, THE CLASSIC summertime salad with roots in Tuscany, is traditionally a marriage of stale bread and vegetables at their peak, tossed together with vinaigrette for a colorful, multitextured side dish or light lunch or supper. It’s important that the bread be stale so that it doesn’t go completely soggy when dressed. The problem with stale bread, of course, is that you have to have it on hand. But I’m not the type to set out bread today for a salad later in the week. The answer? My grill. By slicing a fresh baguette into 1-inch-thick slices, brushing the slices with extra-virgin olive oil with a little minced garlic whisked in, and grilling them, I had bread that could stand up to dressing and had a bonus layer of summery,…

KING’S HAWAIIAN STARTED in the 1950s as a family bakery in Hilo, on the big island of Hawaii, where sweet bread was already popular thanks to Portuguese immigrants (see “A Hawaiian History of Sweet Breads”). King’s breads, a perfect accompaniment for Hawaiian-style pork and other local dishes, found fans across the archipelago and the company soon expanded to California in the 1970s; after all, why should mainlanders be deprived of the breads they fell in love with while on vacation? Today the rolls—their signature product—have an almost cult-like following across the United States. King’s rolls are soft and fluffy—not as eggy as challah bread, not as buttery as brioche. They are decidedly sweet but not cloying, and the flavor is distinct but elusive: tangy, fruity, almost earthy. Always game for…

ZUCCHINI STICKS ARE common in pubs and family restaurants as an irresistible way to consume summer’s most abundant vegetable. But the recipes I found for fried zucchini sticks all produced results that were entirely resistible: “Bland,” “limp,” and “mushy” were a few of my tasters’ complaints. I set out to solve each of these problems. For the breading, I found that a simple beer batter of flour, cornstarch (for extra crispness), and lager, plus granulated garlic and cayenne (for flavor), produced a better coating than bread crumbs (too stiff) or plain flour (not enough crunch). And for firmer zucchini inside, a few tests showed that removing the watery seedbeds was more effective (and took less time) than salting and resting the zucchini to draw off its moisture. A vegetable peeler…

BUTTERMILK PANCAKES Makes sixteen 4-inch pancakes; serves 4 to 6 The pancakes can be cooked on an electric griddle. Set the griddle temperature to 350 degrees and cook as directed. 2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 2 cups buttermilk ¼ cup sour cream 2 large eggs 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly 1–2 teaspoons vegetable oil 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Spray wire rack set inside rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil spray; place in oven. 2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, whisk buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and melted butter together. Make well in…

THERE’S SOMETHING BEYOND comforting about a plate of hot, cheesy chicken noodle casserole. Whether it’s the flavor itself or the memories it invokes, it’s just plain good food. But with a whopping 530 calories and 23 grams of fat per serving, this casserole can leave you needing a nap. Since we had been able to upgrade this dish from a repository of canned products to a fresher, homemade (if calorie-dense) casserole, it seemed like we could make it healthier, too. I was ready to give it a try. Chicken noodle casserole comprises five components: chicken, egg noodles, vegetables, sauce, and topping. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were the natural starting point for a makeover. While rotisserie chicken promised a shortcut, it meant a mix of light and dark meat that was…

EVERY HOME KITCHEN should have a few good potholders. We saw several new designs trying to improve on the classic cotton square, and wondered: Could any raise the bar for protection and ease of use? To find out, we pitted five new potholders against new copies of our old winner, a classic terry-cloth square called the Ritz Basic Potholder; the six ranged in price from $7.99 to $19.98 for a set. The new designs included two all-silicone models: One had a special woven grid pattern designed to improve flexibility and strength, while the other was a set of dainty pinch grips that covered just the tips of your fingers. The third and fourth potholders used both silicone and cotton; one was a standard size and the other a slimmer hourglass…

OZARK PUDDING Serves 4 to 6 Verna Lawrence of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, writes: “Although this comforting dessert is usually served warm, my family used to make it year-round. Family legend has it that someone on our family tree got the recipe directly from Bess Truman. I don’t know for sure, but it’s fun to think about when digging into this pudding.” Ben & Jerry’s is our favorite supermarket brand of vanilla ice cream. ½ cup (2½ ounces) all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, halved, and cut into ½-inch pieces 1½ cups pecans, toasted and chopped 2 cups (14 ounces) plus 1 teaspoon sugar 4 large eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla extract Vanilla ice cream 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and…

COMBINING PEACHES AND tomatoes into a salty-sweet salad is not a new idea. But judging by the recipes for this salad that I found and prepared, it is an idea that could use improving. The versions I made and tasted with my colleagues in the test kitchen were by turns watery, bland, mushy, or —worst of all—overloaded with everything from nuts to distracting vegetables like corn, zucchini, and green beans. I wanted to keep the salad simple to let the fresh flavors of the peak-season peaches and tomatoes shine. The first step was ridding the tomatoes of excess liquid that would water down the salad. I cut the tomatoes into chunks and tossed them with salt before letting them drain in a colander. In just 30 minutes the tomatoes released…

Shelling shrimp and removing their veins can be laborious. We typically use a knife to remove the shell and fish out the vein. But we found a handful of new tools that promised to make this chore easier. We tested these five, priced from roughly $6 to $17, against our winning seafood scissors, The RSVP International Endurance Seafood Scissors (about $8; these are also helpful with crab and lobster). We also included our winning paring knife, the Wüsthof Classic with PEtec, 3½-inch ($39.99): To earn our favor, a tool had to be significantly faster, easier, and better than the knife. We shelled piles of small, medium, and large shrimp, removing the shells and veins and leaving the tails on. We timed how long it took each tool to shell 10…

FRENCH COCONUT PIE, sometimes called Tennessee coconut pie or Florida Everglades coconut pie, is a delicious coconut-custard pie that has been popular in the American South for generations. A survey of existing recipes for this pie showed that most use the same basic ingredients: coconut (usually sweetened), eggs, sugar, melted butter, dairy, vanilla, and vinegar or buttermilk. You whisk the ingredients together, pour the mixture into a prepared pie crust, and bake for up to an hour. I made a counterful of pies; I knew my tasters wanted to like them, but they complained that the pies were too sweet or too eggy or lacked coconut flavor. But they held promise, so I set to work. Most pies called for two to four eggs to give the custard the proper…

MILKSHAKES ARE RIDICULOUSLY easy to make, right? You put some ice cream and a bit of milk in a blender, give it a whirl, and boom—it’s done. But after making dozens of milkshakes with a variety of ingredients, I was consistently getting a thick, icy milkshake that required a spoon to consume. My tasters gladly gobbled them down, but what I really wanted was an old-fashioned soda fountain–style milkshake that I could suck through a straw. I assembled a handful of milkshake recipes and fired up the blender. But my milkshakes were coming out with an inconsistent texture every time: Pockets of thick ice cream surrounded by liquid. Simply adjusting the ratios of ice cream to milk didn’t solve the problem. Experiments with gelato and ice milk also failed. I…