Innholdsfortegnelse for April - May 2017 i Cook's Country

RESPLENDENT RACK OF pork—a rich, meaty roasted loin with the rib bones still attached—is just as worthy a holiday centerpiece as the celebrated prime rib roast of beef. But what makes it especially welcome at our table is its price: It costs about one-quarter as much as the beef. The bones aren’t just for show. Over the years we’ve learned that in the oven, heat travels more slowly through bone than through meat. In essence, the bones insulate much of the roast and keep it from cooking too quickly—a big deal considering that pork loin is so lean. Even a touch too much heat or a few too many minutes in the oven can render it unpalatably dry. So when I wanted juicy, deeply seasoned, rosy pork, along with some…

EVERY MAJOR CITY in the United States has at least one French bistro with a menu full of comforting and casual classics perfectly suited to the American palate. And no dish is more popular than steak frites. The components are simple: steak and French fries. So why don’t we ever make it at home? The answer: Restaurants employ several people at different stations—one person cooks the steak, another person cooks the fries. But at home, it’s often just me. I needed to find a way to make both components simultaneously and have them ready to be served at the same time, with no sous chef. First, I focused on the French fries, the tougher part of the equation. Most French fry recipes call for double-frying the spuds to ensure crispy…

I T’S AN AUTOMATIC reaction I can’t be blamed for. When a table next to me orders fajitas, the wafting smells of charred meat, garlic, and chiles, often served sputtering on a hot plate, tempt me. Before I know it, I’ve ordered a round of my own. But restaurant fajitas are almost always a letdown, with overcooked and underseasoned meat and limp, greasy vegetables. My eyes were opened when I made a fajita recipe inspired by the late Houston restaurateur Ninfa Laurenzo, a pillar of Tex-Mex cooking and an early champion of fajitas (see “Finding Fajitas”). Though “Mama Ninfa” never gave away her recipe, this facsimile produced tender strips of beef with charred vegetables in chewy flour tortillas. So this was what I’d been missing. I set out to make…

Fiddlehead Ferns GRASSY GOODNESS The young, coiled shoots of several species of fern are a prized early-spring foraged food. They can be found in either your local woods or your local supermarket in the spring. No matter the source, they are delicate and highly perishable. Fiddleheads have a “grassy, nutty” flavor similar to those of asparagus and green beans. Wash them carefully before blanching them in boiling water, shocking them in an ice bath, and briefly sautéing them in butter. Nettle VIOLENT OFFENDER Though the nettle genus is made up of about 500 species, the variety most commonly used for culinary purposes is the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). It’s not hype: A network of hollow hairs on the leaves and stems really does sting. Fortunately, soaking or cooking nettles in…

BACON AND POTATOES make a happy pair. For this simple side dish, I wanted to pair faintly browned potatoes and impossibly deep bacon flavor. After roasting, boiling, and frying my way through several existing recipes claiming to have strong bacon flavor, I determined that braising—cooking in a closed, moist environment—was the way to go. Those early tests also showed me that while Yukon Gold, fingerling, and russet potatoes had their merits, red potatoes gave me the best-tasting results. What’s more, they looked great, too. When we braise meat in the test kitchen, we usually begin by browning it over direct heat. We then add liquid, cover the pot, and finish it over a more modest heat. This method gives us soft, tender results with lovely brown edges. But when I…

IMAGINE EVERYTHING YOU love about carrot cake: warm spices, sweet raisins, toasted walnuts, and bright orange carrots. Now imagine these ingredients in a cookie. It sounded like a great idea until I pulled my first batch out of the oven and watched smiles transform into frowns. My tasters uttered descriptors including “healthy” and “muffin-like,” both of which are devastating to a pastry chef’s ears. What’s more, tasters were confused by this first batch’s cake-like texture. I know, “cake” is literally in the title of this recipe. But I wanted this to be unmistakably a cookie—with a discernible differentiation between a crispy edge and a yielding center—while maintaining the elements of carrot cake. My first remedy was switching from oil, the fat traditionally called for in carrot cake, to melted butter,…

SINCE THE EARLY 1900s, Americans have been cooking food in bags. Why? For the easy cleanup. Emma Paddock Telford’s 1912 book Standard Paper-Bag Cookery “revolutionized kitchen drudgery,” relieving home cooks of unending rounds of greasy pots and pans. Nowadays, while we’ve been warned against cooking in paper (additives that may be used in paper bag production might have health consequences), special plastic cooking bags approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration still promise to make quick work of cleanup and to yield tender and juicy meat. A gimmick, or was there more to it? We needed answers. The most ubiquitous bag-roasting recipes are for turkey and pot roast; we chose pot roast to test the method. Traditionally a tough cut of beef (we like the texture of chuck-eye best)…

COQ AU VIN (“chicken in wine”) is a fancy-sounding name for a very simple dish. Julia Child put it on the American food map in the early ’60s, when she introduced the American public to it through her television show, The French Chef. Her recipe is complicated, with the components (chicken, bacon, onions, mushrooms, and sauce) cooked separately and then reassembled. The result is a rich, comforting stew with long-cooked flavor. But I wanted an easier way—I wanted to make this iconic dish in the slow cooker. After testing a few slow-cooker recipes, I had my doubts. The chicken was dry and rubbery, the sauces watery and bland, the mushrooms spongy, and the bacon flabby and flavorless. Undeterred, I set out to fix this recipe so that I’d end up…

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. NEIMAN MARCUS (INSPIRED) DIP Makes about 2 cups “When I was growing up, I hated the shopping trips my mother made me go on— except to Neiman Marcus, where we…

Worth the Salt What exactly is kosher salt, and why do you call for it in some of your recipes? Marilyn Bergeron, Seaside, N.J. Salt is harvested from evaporated seawater and mined from underground salt deposits. Chemically, all salt is composed of sodium chloride. But the flavor of salt can differ slightly based on the types and amounts of minerals that attach to the salt crystals. The texture and size of the crystals are determined by how the sodium chloride is processed. Kosher salt is designed to have large, irregularly shaped crystals, which make the Jewish practice of koshering (applying salt to draw blood and juices out of just-butchered meats) more effective. Kosher salt manufacturing is done under rabbinical supervision. We often use kosher salt to season meat because it…

DON’T BE FOOLED by the Italian name. Though nonnas have likely been making something similar in home kitchens in Italy for centuries, what we now call pasta primavera (“springtime pasta”) was actually born in New York City. In 1975, Chef Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque put the dish—a toss of pasta, vegetables, cream, butter, and cheese—on his menu. In 1977, The New York Times called it “by far, the most talked-about dish in Manhattan.” With praise like that, we had to try the original. Thankfully, the newspaper published the recipe alongside its commentary. I set the Le Cirque recipe alongside four others for a blind tasting. The newspaper’s assessment held true: Le Cirque’s version was the favorite. But it was also the most complicated, requiring more than a dozen individual…

EVERYONE KNOWS STRAWBERRY shortcakes—light, fluffy biscuits split in half and served with sweet strawberry slices and billows of freshly whipped cream. But in the South, a version of this dessert boasts the ingenious addition of cornmeal to the biscuits. This not only gives them a sweet yet nutty flavor but also adds a delicate crunch, which nicely offsets the tender strawberry-and-cream filling. You may think (as I did) the addition of cornmeal a straightforward technique, accomplished by simply replacing some of the flour in your favorite sweet biscuit recipe with an equal amount of cornmeal. Not so. Doing this resulted in dense, crumbly biscuits—a far cry from the lofty shortcakes they once were. I then realized that cornmeal shortcakes weren’t just a variation on a classic recipe but required a…

I’VE LONG LOVED Greek spanakopita— layers of phyllo dough wrapped around a filling of eggs, spinach, and salty feta cheese. But until recently I’d never tasted its Albanian cousin, which features a similar look but a more subtle, creamier spinach filling. Albanian-style spinach pie is common at parties and street festivals in many towns with Albanian American communities, including Worcester, Massachusetts. It’s wonderful. I started with a handwritten heirloom recipe from a coworker’s collection. Following it closely, I made a dough of water, flour, and salt; rolled it out very thin; and spread on an even layer of softened butter. Then I rolled the buttered dough up into a tight log, trapping the fat inside, a process called “laminating.” I chilled it, rolled it paper-thin again, and wrapped it around…

ROAMING AROUND THE French Quarter in New Orleans, you’re almost certain to come across Arnaud’s Restaurant, a sprawling establishment spanning almost a full block and housing an extensive collection of Mardi Gras costumes alongside the main dining room. Arnaud’s is legendary for many reasons, including its iconic version of one of the city’s most beloved dishes: shrimp rémoulade, an appetizer of poached shrimp tossed with a creamy, zesty sauce and perched on a bed of lettuce. But since I can’t get to New Orleans as often as I’d like, I wanted an easy version to make at home. I started by trying out six recipes from a mix of New Orleans greats, including Paul Prudhomme and John Folse. They were delicious, but they had mile-long ingredient lists and time-consuming steps…

Cream cheese has a surprisingly interesting backstory. In the 19th century, Americans were hungry for European cheeses, but the trip across the Atlantic was expensive and the cheeses often spoiled in transit. A New York farmer named William Alfred Lawrence saw an opportunity. Mimicking creamy French Neufchâtel, he developed a smooth, rich block of cheese with more cream and salt than the original. He skirted aging by emphasizing his cheese’s farm-fresh flavor and branded it “Philadelphia Cream Cheese” after a city then associated with dairy farming. Lawrence’s invention became hugely popular and is still the number-one cream cheese today. But how do its imitators stack up? To find out, we gathered four nationally available full-fat cream cheeses. Three come in bricks, and one is packaged in a plastic tub. We…

The first thing I learned was that I needed to use two leaveners—baking soda and baking powder—to create airy, golden-brown pancakes. For flavor, I found that a mix of buttermilk and sour cream resulted in a pleasant tang. Another crucial discovery: Do not overmix the batter. Doing so activates the flour’s gluten, and too much gluten development leads to tough pancakes. For further insurance, I let the batter rest after mixing it. This gave the gluten time to relax, which in turn helped keep the pancakes tender. Finally, I found that cooking the pancakes at the right temperature is essential; otherwise they will be pale and blond or covered in uneven marks. The best time to add batter to the skillet is right after the oil starts to shimmer. Buttermilk…

THE TEST KITCHEN GAUNTLET 10 Muffin Tins 6 Tests 1. Make one batch of Basic Muffins 2. Make one batch of Easy Birthday Cupcakes 3. Make one batch of Muffin Tin Frittatas 4. Wash by hand 10 times 5. Scrub each individual cup 25 times with an abrasive sponge 6. Run a paring knife around side of each cup 25 times DO YOU KNOW the muffin man? Well, forget him. Around these parts it’s the muffin woman. Or at least that’s what I’ve been calling myself after making 10 batches of muffins, 10 batches of cupcakes, and 10 batches of single-serve frittatas in a single week. I was testing muffin tins. Our top two models had been discontinued, so it was time for a fresh look. We also wanted to…

TO MAKE THIS CAKE, YOU WILL NEED: 6 egg whites, room temperature 1 cup champagne, room temperature 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 6 drops red food coloring 2¼ cups (9 ounces) cake flour 1¾ cups (12¼ ounces) sugar 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool 3 cups pastry cream* 3 cups vanilla buttercream frosting* Pink Chocolate Curls (recipe follows) FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Whisk egg whites, champagne, vanilla, and food coloring together in bowl. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer running,…

FOR SUCH A simple yet promising idea—chicken breast stuffed with creamy ricotta cheese and topped with bread crumbs before being baked and served with a flavorful tomato sauce—so much can go wrong. I learned this after testing out a few existing, laborious recipes for ricotta-stuffed chicken that resulted in a range of disasters: broken, watery cheese oozing unappetizingly from the chicken breasts into a bland marinara sauce, for example. After all the work that was involved in carefully stuffing that cheese into the chicken, what was the point? To get my bearings, I stepped back and looked at my list of ingredients. Nothing wrong there: chicken breasts, ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, bread crumbs, tomato sauce, and herbs and seasonings. Then it hit me: Would this lineup be any less delicious…

Coating a muffin tin, a skillet, or a baking sheet with a spritz of our winning vegetable oil spray, PAM Original, is quick and easy. But PAM costs about $0.45 per ounce, compared with $0.07 per ounce for plain old canola oil. Refillable, manual-pump oil misters present an alternative for those who would like to avoid aerosol and additives, and you can fill them with whatever type of oil you like. Like aerosol sprays, a good oil mister should dispense oil in a steady, fine stream that provides even coverage. We gathered seven models, priced from $9.90 to $25.99, including our former winner from Mastrad. All but one model featured a manual pumping mechanism to build the pressure that forces the oil out. The outlier looked like a bottle of…

IN ITALIAN AMERICAN restaurants, chicken, pork, or veal cutlets that are served Milanese-style are generally floured, coated with bread crumbs, and then fried until the crumbs are crispy and golden brown. The test kitchen’s tried-and-true method for breading cutlets begins with a dredge in flour and a dunk in some lightly beaten eggs before a coating of bread crumbs that have been seasoned with salt and pepper. We then shallow-fry the cutlets in a bit of oil until they’re golden brown. For our Pork Milanese recipe, I added parsley, lemon zest, and Parmesan cheese to the bread-crumb mixture to give our cutlets freshness, brightness, and a bit of that unmistakable Parmesan savoriness. I wanted pork that was easy to cut through, not the tough and leathery cutlets I have encountered…

PINACH AND STRAWBERRY salad has been popular for generations, served in various forms in high-end restaurants and fast food drive-throughs alike. But when I made a few versions in the test kitchen following existing published recipes, my tasters and I had a hard time understanding why. Baby spinach leaves and sliced strawberries on their own are just fine, of course, but once paired and tossed with a thick, viscous, sweet poppy seed dressing, the pairing becomes a clumpy, cloying mess. This dish needed a facelift. To start my salad reboot, I decided to cut back on the spinach, which can verge on chalky when the leaves are eaten raw. Instead I swapped crisp, fresh chopped romaine for half the spinach. I then looked at different ways to prepare the strawberries—quartered,…

A WELL-MADE CHEESECAKE should be scented with vanilla and bolstered with a hint of tang. But when it comes down to it, the most alluring part of a perfect slice isn’t really its flavor. Instead, great cheesecake is about a texture that’s easy to imagine but hard to produce: a rich, dense filling that is luxuriously silky on the tongue, contrasted by a crisp, cookie-like crust. Most recipes call for a stand mixer to whip the batter and a food processor to grind the graham crackers for the crust, but I committed to using a food processor alone. After making the crust (mixing in some flour was key to preventing sogginess) and giving the workbowl a quick rinse, I found that the blades deftly cut the cream cheese (along with…

NO RECIPE IS easier than calling up a local pizza parlor and ordering a pie. But on a recent evening, I wanted to go one better and make a quick pizza for two at home, and I didn’t want to bother heating up a pizza stone. I wanted to make this on the stovetop. A 12-inch pizza is just about the right size to serve two, so I eyed my trusty 12-inch skillet. I rounded up a few existing recipes, but none gave me the pie I wanted. Some were still raw, others beyond burnt. Plus, most were unevenly cooked, and there was no evidence of the crisp-chewy crust I sought. What’s more, some of the recipes called for pressing the dough into a hot pan, a process that left…

MOZZARELLA CONJURES UP images of Italian food, but most of what’s sold as mozzarella in this country isn’t actually Italian at all—it’s an American invention. Traditional Italian mozzarella is made by acidifying whole buffalo milk and heating the mixture in hot water until the solid curds separate from the liquid whey. The curds are then stretched and pulled, by hand or machine, until they form elastic balls of cheese. This type of mozzarella is packed in brine and labeled “fresh” mozzarella; we like it in uncooked applications, where its milky flavor and soft texture shine through. The rest of the mozzarella you find in supermarkets—blocks, shredded, string cheese, and slices—is American mozzarella, invented in the early 1900s by Italian immigrants who wanted to make a cheese with a longer shelf…