Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2019 i Cook's Country

Can I use a single leftover rotisserie chicken carcass to make stock? –Chris Deer, Dallas, Texas Not everyone has the forethought—or freezer space—to save up pounds of raw chicken parts (backs, wingtips, etc.) to make a full-size batch of stock. Having found that an average rotisserie chicken carcass (including the skin and any jellied bits) weighs about 1 pound, we added it to a large saucepan with 5 cups of water, half an onion, and a bay leaf and simmered it for 30 minutes. The resulting quart of stock tasted flavorful and richer than stock we typically make from unroasted chicken parts. THE BOTTOM LINE: You can make about a quart of flavorful chicken stock from a single chicken carcass. Be sure to taste the stock before adding salt because…

TITO GONZALEZ WAS a firefighter until he retired in the 1960s. According to his grandson Travis Knight (above), Tito got bored about two weeks later. “He was in charge of cooking at the firehouse,” Travis says. “His natural progression was a restaurant, I guess.” Tito opened Mary & Tito’s Cafe soon thereafter. Today, his daughter Antoinette Knight owns and operates the restaurant; Travis and his brother Jordan serve as acting managers. “My grandparents never advertised. The whole idea was: You do something right and people will find out. It was a word of mouth thing.” Mary & Tito’s Cafe is housed in a simple building in an industrial area of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Outside, the gravel parking lot kicks up dust. Inside, you’re greeted with warm smiles: It feels like…

Vermouth is simply wine that’s been bolstered with extra alcohol and botanical flavorings. It’s best known stateside as an ingredient in martinis, but in the kitchen it adds a complex flavor and mild acidity to many dishes. Fortified wines such as vermouth have been around for thousands of years, and some varieties can be traced back to ancient China and Greece. Liquor cabinet powerhouse In the 16th century, German and Italian manufacturers began creating and selling a wine primarily flavored with wormwood (right), a shrubby plant with a strong herbal flavor. The German term for wormwood is wermwut; as this drink crossed into France it took on the name “vermouth,” and by the time the drink was popularized in England, the name had stuck. Today, wormwood is banned in many…

BOK CHOY, A member of the cabbage family, has been cultivated in Asia for thousands of years. Supermarkets sell both large heads of mature bok choy, which can measure over a foot long, and smaller heads of baby bok choy, which are more tender, milder in flavor, and typically measure about 5 inches long. I wanted to create a simple weeknight recipe for the quicker-cooking baby variety. Many recipes for this vegetable fail because the tender leaves cook much faster than the crisp white stalks. So instead of trying to cook the bok choy whole or halved, I began by removing the leaves from the spoon-shaped stalks before submerging them in water to clean them. Next, I snapped the stalks off the bases and thoroughly washed those, too (bok choy…

Keys to Diner-Quality Hash Browns at Home ORDER UP! HASH browns! Practiced short order cooks keep a mound of these crispy shredded spuds cooking on their flat-top griddles all through the breakfast rush. But a home cook has two options: using frozen supermarket hash browns (convenient but not very good) or shredding potatoes and cooking them in a skillet. Skillet hash browns are great, but you need to cook multiple batches to serve more than two people—not ideal. Could I find a way to make enough hash browns to feed four to six people in a single batch at home? In most home kitchens, a rimmed baking sheet is the closest thing in size to a flat-top griddle, so that’s what I decided to use. This meant I’d bake my…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Kielbasa Hash with Potatoes and Fried Eggs Serves 4 Other types of precooked sausage can be substituted for the kielbasa, if desired. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided 1 onion, chopped fine 1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ½-inch pieces 1½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, grated, and patted dry 1 pound kielbasa sausage, cut into ½-inch chunks ¾ teaspoon table salt ¼ teaspoon pepper 5 teaspoons minced fresh sage, divided 8 large eggs, divided 1. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in potatoes, kielbasa, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon sage and gently press…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Steak Salad with Carrot-Ginger Vinaigrette Serves 4 The vinaigrette can be refrigerated for up to 1 week; whisk before serving. 4 carrots (2 peeled and chopped, 2 peeled and cut into 2-inch matchsticks) ¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar 2 tablespoons water 1 (1½-inch) piece ginger, peeled and chopped coarse 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 1 teaspoon table salt, divided ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 1½ pounds skirt steak, trimmed and cut with grain into approximate 4-inch lengths (about 8 pieces) ¼ teaspoon pepper 3 romaine lettuce hearts (18 ounces), quartered and sliced thin ½ English cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced thin 4 radishes, trimmed and sliced thin 1. Process chopped carrots, vinegar, water, ginger, sesame oil, and ½ teaspoon salt in blender until finely ground,…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Shrimp and Orzo Risotto with Saffron and Lemon Serves 4 We prefer untreated shrimp—those without added salt or preservatives such as sodium tripolyphosphate. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 onion, chopped fine 2 garlic cloves, minced 1½ cups orzo 4 cups chicken broth 1¾ teaspoons table salt, divided ½ teaspoon pepper, divided ½ teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled 1½ pounds extra-large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound), peeled, deveined, and tails removed ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest plus 1 tablespoon juice 1. Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is softened, about 4 minutes. Add orzo and cook until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Stir in broth, 1¼ teaspoons salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and saffron and…

CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE is a welcome shake-up to your usual pecan pie—still traditional but with a fun twist. It’s not a complicated idea: Put some chocolate and pecans into a pie crust (usually prebaked); pour in a filling of eggs, brown sugar, and corn syrup; and bake. The nuts float to the surface to create a crunchy top layer while the filling (a translucent custard) firms up into a silky, sliceable texture. After making several recipes for this pie, the challenges were clear. Most fillings were much too sweet. Some contained only a sprinkling of nuts; others didn’t fully lean into the chocolate and had a just few chips thrown into the filling. A few became disappointing puddles of syrup, while others were too fudgy, like a brownie pie with…

IN THE PAST, home cooks didn’t have the luxury of buying their butter in sticks at the supermarket; for many, making butter was a tedious and labor-intensive household chore. Today, transforming cream into butter can be as easy as it is satisfying: The food processor removes the drudgery of churning and leaves only the fun parts of the process behind. In total, it takes about 10 minutes, and your butter will be as delicious and creamy as any you’ve ever had. What’s more, in that span of time you’ll learn loads about the dairy products that we tend to take for granted. When you blitz the heavy cream in the food processor, you’ll witness a multistep metamorphosis: First the cream puffs up into stiff whipped cream, and then it tightens…

7 Dishes 5 Tests Bake yellow cake and cut into 24 squares with paring knife Make Classic Macaroni and Cheese and portion and remove from baking dish with metal spatula Make One-Pan Salmon with Broccoli and Shiitake Mushrooms and portion and remove from baking dish with metal spatula Wash each dish 5 times according to manufacturer’s instructions Move dishes in and out of oven, using both dish towels and oven mitts Broiling is a direct-heat cooking method that can subject baking dishes to temperatures exceeding 550 degrees, which is too hot for our favorite glass baking dish as well as our winning 13_by 9-inch nonstick metal baking pan. Rather than give up broiling foods, we needed to find an alternative dish that could withstand the heat. We purchased seven widely…

A tiny version of this rooster has been hidden in a photo in the pages of this issue. Write to us with its location and we’ll enter you in a random drawing. The first correct entry drawn will win our favorite broiler-safe baking dish, and each of the next five will receive a free one-year subscription to Cook’s Country. To enter, visit CooksCountry.com/rooster by October 31, 2019, or write to Rooster ON19, Cook’s Country, 21 Drydock Avenue, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210. Include your name and address. Daniel Hicks of Goodlettsville, Tenn., found the rooster in the June/July 2019 issue on page 20 and won our favorite can opener. WEB EXTRAS Free for four months online at CooksCountry.com/nov19 Boneless Turkey Breast with Gravy Chocolate Cake Batter Easy Herb-Roasted Turkey with…

Cook It in Your Dutch Oven You can prepare dishes of all kinds in this multitasker, thanks to its cast-iron construction and heavy lid. Plus, the broad surface browns foods like a dream. This book contains 150 foolproof recipes tailor-made for your kitchen’s most versatile pot. It will have you reaching for your Dutch oven again and again. Order your copy at AmericasTestKitchen.com/dutchoven. Find us on Facebook facebook.com/CooksCountry Find us on Instagram instagram.com/CooksCountry Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/TestKitchen Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/TestKitchen…

THE GOLDEN, STUFFED sopaipillas at Mary & Tito’s Cafe in Albuquerque, New Mexico (see “Chile Dreams”) come smothered in a lightly spicy, smoky green chile sauce that coats every bite. We knew that re-creating this local favorite at home would be a project, so we aimed to keep each element as simple as possible. The stuffed sopaipillas at Mary & Tito’s Cafe are made with a flour tortilla dough that puffs and browns when fried in oil. So we started our own version with a tried-and-true Cook’s Country recipe for flour tortillas. Adding baking powder helped the dough puff a bit when it hit the hot oil, and while shortening made for a fine and tender dough, lard gave the sopaipillas a much better flavor (see our lard tasting on…

FRANKS AND BEANS. Cassoulet. Sausage with lentils. These classic combinations prove that legumes and pork are a match made in heaven. But I like the last one best, with the savory, herby sausage elevating the earthy flavor of the tender lentils. This combination is both refined and homey—exactly what I’m looking for in a home-cooked meal. I set out to make a flavorful version of sausage and lentils that could be on the table in less than an hour. Before I could immerse myself in the nitty-gritty of the recipe development, I had to determine which type of sausage and which type of lentils I wanted to use. I love cooking with lentilles du Puy at home, but their thicker skins mean that they take longer to cook than other…

SPINACH-ARTICHOKE DIP IS an economical comfort food that easily feeds a crowd, making it an ideal holiday appetizer. But all too often, it’s overly cheesy and the spinach and artichokes get lost in the mix. I set out to create a more balanced version. I started by making seven existing recipes. The finished dips ran the gamut from thin to stodgy to grassy to overwhelmingly cheesy. To achieve what I sought—a smooth, creamy dip that showcased bright spinach and nutty artichokes—I’d have to make some adjustments. I began with some common ingredients: frozen spinach, canned artichokes, Parmesan cheese, melty Monterey Jack, a cream cheese/sour cream/mayonnaise binder, and garlic. I mixed everything together and baked it. The resulting dip looked the part, but the flavor fell flat. The biggest problem was…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Strip Steaks with Creamed Kale Serves 4 Be sure to wash the kale leaves well before cooking, as they can often be full of sand. 1½ pounds curly kale, stemmed, leaves cut into 2-inch pieces ½ teaspoon table salt, plus salt for cooking kale 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 1 shallot, sliced thin 4 garlic cloves, sliced thin 1½ cups heavy cream ½ teaspoon pepper, divided 2 (1-pound) strip steaks, 1 inch thick, trimmed and halved crosswise Lemon wedges 1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add kale and 2 tablespoons salt and cook until wilted, 2 minutes. Drain kale in colander, pressing with rubber spatula to remove excess water; set aside. 2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in now-empty pot over medium…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Sausage and White Bean Soup Serves 4 Serve with grated Parmesan cheese. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed 1 onion, chopped fine 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes 4 cups chicken broth 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed 1½ cups canned crushed tomatoes ½ teaspoon table salt ¼ teaspoon pepper 3 ounces (3 cups) baby spinach 1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add sausage and cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Add onion, garlic, and pepper flakes and cook until onion is softened, 3 to 5 minutes. 2. Stir in broth, beans, tomatoes, salt, and pepper and bring to boil, scraping up any browned bits.…

Keys to the Best Bird 1 Season with Salt Natural turkeys should be brined or salted in advance of cooking. Salt deeply seasons the meat and encourages it to hold on to more of its natural moisture during cooking. Kosher and self-basting birds come presalted and ready to cook. 2 Cook Meat to Correct Temperature This can be a challenge because the dark meat is done at 175 degrees, while the white meat (which is prone to drying out when overcooked) is done at 160 degrees. Our recipes employ various techniques—elevating the bird on a rack, adjusting the oven temperature during cooking, using an oven bag, and even braising—to help the dark and white meat be ready at the same time. 3 Rest Before Carving Once out of the oven,…

MANY OF OUR pie recipes call for blind baking—baking the crust either partially or completely before adding the filling. But without a filling to hold the raw dough in place, the bottom can puff up or the sides can slump during baking, resulting in misshapen pie shells with less room for filling. To prevent this, the test kitchen uses pie weights to hold the crust in place as it bakes. While bakers can use dried beans, raw rice, and granulated sugar as pie weights, we wanted to find the best product designed specifically for the job. We tested four models of pie weights: a set of ceramic balls, a set of aluminum beans, a 6-foot-long stainless-steel chain, and a steel disk ringed with soft silicone flaps. We had high hopes…

Order of Operations For even cooking, it’s essential to layer the ingredients as shown below. I LOVE CHOWDERS of all kinds, whether they’re brimming with briny clams or studded with sweet corn kernels. But what is a chowder, anyway? As it turns out, a chowder is simply a thick soup enriched with dairy that usually contains potatoes and onions. Chowders typically include a pork product for flavor and are often thickened with a roux. I thought I was familiar with every kind of chowder until I heard a colleague reminisce about a corn and chicken version she grew up eating. It sounded great—and perfect for making in a slow cooker. My colleague’s mom made her version of the chowder with chicken pieces, but after a few tests, I decided to…

Once America’s everyday choice for frying and baking, lard went out of fashion in the 20th century. Crisco arrived in 1911, and it found success with the help of health reports—now mostly discredited—about the evils of animal fat. But a faithful few kept lard as a secret weapon for making extra-flaky pie crusts and biscuits, fried chicken, and dishes such as tamales and carnitas. To survey the lard landscape, we bought seven products, three from supermarkets and four online, to try in blind tastings. First, we swapped lard for butter in biscuits and pie crust. Then we prepared pork carnitas, for which the meat simmers in lard until it is meltingly tender. We scored each food for flavor, texture, and overall appeal. We first noticed flavor differences. Some lards made…

“CHICKEN PROVENÇAL” SOUNDS fancy, doesn’t it? But it’s just chicken cooked with the signature flavors and ingredients of Provence, the region of southeast France that borders Italy and the Mediterranean Sea. We’re talking herbs, wine, olives, tomatoes, and olive oil—ingredients that are just as common in the United States as they are in Europe. Having long seen recipes for this dish in cookbooks and cooking magazines, I set out to create a weeknight version that used common ingredients to elevate chicken to a new level of deliciousness. For a dish with such a clear geographic origin, the recipes I found for it were surprisingly all over the map. I had quite a few choices ahead of me: Should I opt for a whole chicken or chicken parts? Red wine or…

HAVING WORKED IN professional kitchens for many years, I o_ er this advice for cooking salmon: Slow down, and go big. Let me explain. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s easy to overcook a fillet of salmon—or any fish, for that matter—especially if you are trying to cook several pieces at once. Better to cook one big piece gently at a low temperature. The method is easy and foolproof: The window of optimal doneness is wider and the fish is harder to overcook. Plus, salmon flesh takes on a silky, buttery texture when cooked gently. And finally, there’s less splattery mess and fishy smell when you slow-roast salmon in the oven. That’s a lot of benefit for a little extra time. Knowing I wanted to work with a 2½-pound…

Hiroaki “Rocky” Aoki, a Tokyo native, came to the United States in the early 1960s on a wrestling scholarship, earned a restaurant management degree, and began to pursue his dream of opening a Japanese restaurant in New York. Aoki’s father agreed to help bankroll the project under one condition: It needed to provide entertainment. When his first Benihana opened in 1964, customers loved the showy “performance” cooking that included sleight-of-hand egg-cracking tricks and onion volcanoes. By 1972, there were six Benihana locations across the country, and Aoki’s success continued to grow. He encountered extreme highs and lows along the way, living lavishly but also coming under scrutiny for insider trading and nearly dying in a powerboat race under the Golden Gate Bridge. Aoki died in 2008, leaving behind dozens of…

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE a real bodega chopped cheese sandwich straight off a flat-top griddle in East Harlem. But once you’ve had one of these local favorites—ground beef, seasonings, and cheese piled atop a soft sub roll along with ketchup, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato—the cravings can be relentless. So we set out to create a recipe that would allow home cooks everywhere to enjoy this landmark sandwich. We started with a pound of ground beef to ensure we’d have enough filling for four hearty sandwiches. Early tests proved that 90 percent lean ground beef was too dry and 80 percent lean was just a tad too greasy; 85 percent lean was just right. In NYC bodegas, line cooks use the high heat of flat-top griddles to cook big batches of ground…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Chickpea and Poblano Quesadillas Serves 4 If your avocados are not yet ripe, you may need to add an extra 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the blender when processing the avocado sauce. 2 ripe avocados, halved and pitted 3 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon lime juice ¾ teaspoon table salt, divided 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed 8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (2 cups) 1 poblano chile, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine 3 scallions, sliced thin ¼ teaspoon pepper 4 (10-inch) flour tortillas 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 1. Process avocados, water, lime juice, and ¼ teaspoon salt in blender until smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl and stir in cilantro; set aside. 2. Using potato masher, mash half of chickpeas…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Sweet and Savory Chicken Stir-Fry Serves 4 Serve over rice noodles. 1 cup pineapple juice 3 tablespoons soy sauce 3 tablespoons Asian sweet chili sauce 2 tablespoons cornstarch 3 garlic cloves, minced 3 (6- to 8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced crosswise ½ inch thick 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 12 ounces broccoli florets, cut into 1½-inch pieces 1 cup 1-inch pineapple chunks ¼ teaspoon table salt ¼ cup water ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves 1. Whisk pineapple juice, soy sauce, chili sauce, cornstarch, and garlic in bowl until cornstarch is dissolved. Combine chicken and 3 tablespoons pineapple juice mixture in second bowl and let sit for 15 minutes. 2. Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add chicken and cook, without stirring, until…

30-MINUTE SUPPER Pan-Roasted Chicken Thighs with Fennel-Apple Slaw Serves 4 We developed this recipe with Honeycrisp apples. 3 tablespoons sour cream 2 tablespoons maple syrup 1½ tablespoons lemon juice 1¼ teaspoons table salt, divided ½ teaspoon pepper, divided 1 large fennel bulb, 2 tablespoons fronds chopped, stalks discarded, bulb halved, cored, and sliced thin 1 large red apple, halved, cored, and sliced thin 8 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon vegetable oil ¼ cup torn fresh basil leaves 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk sour cream, maple syrup, lemon juice, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Add fennel bulb and apple and toss to combine; set aside. 2. Pat chicken…

CORN TORTILLAS Makes 18 tortillas Using a clear pie plate to press the ball of dough into a 5½-inch circle in step 3 makes it easy to see the size of the circle as it expands. You can also use a tortilla press or a flat-bottomed skillet. You can find masa harina at your grocery store in the international aisle or near the flour. We recommend stacking the cooked tortillas in a damp dish towel and microwaving them, still wrapped, for 2 minutes before serving. You can also store them in a tortilla warmer (see “Tortilla Gear”). 3 cups (12 ounces) masa harina2 teaspoons table salt2–2½ cups warm water2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, divided 1. Whisk masa harina and salt together in medium bowl. Stir in 2 cups…

I LOVE INDIAN food, but I don’t cook many Indian-inspired dishes at home. So to expand my repertoire, I looked to an icon of Indian cuisine, Madhur Jaffrey—and specifically to her recipe for Durban-style roast chicken. My goal was to take some seasoning cues from her recipe (she calls for coating a whole bird with a puree of garlic, ginger, lemon juice, and spices) but add a starch and vegetables for a flavorful one-pan dinner. While Jaffrey’s recipe calls for a whole chicken, I chose bone-in chicken pieces for ease (no carving!) and a quicker roasting time. Knowing that chicken parts take about 45 minutes to cook in the oven, I started looking for a vegetable and a starch that would cook at roughly the same rate. I chose potatoes…

WHEN MOST PEOPLE think of chili, they think of a large pot of rich, spicy meat and (sometimes) beans simmering for hours on the back of the stove. It’s quintessential weekend food: easy to prepare, feeds an army, and makes great leftovers. While a big batch of chili is the norm, sometimes I want a faster, more contained option that is doable on a weeknight—a small pot of chili for two. But here’s the catch: I wanted my chili with chunks of beef, not ground meat. Could I still make it weeknight friendly? While we love the beefy flavor and silky texture of well-marbled chuck-eye roast, I didn’t want to buy a giant hunk of meat for just two servings of chili. I chose beef blade steaks instead, which are…

When my sisters and I were little, my mom would make this snack cake; we got excited about the chocolate chips! When we got older, she would send us off to college every fall with a few pieces in a wax paper bag. —CECELIA JENKINS, Senior Editor PUMPKIN-CHOCOLATE CHIP SNACK CAKE Serves 16 We prefer mini chocolate chips here, but you can substitute standard-size semisweet chocolate chips, if desired. 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice1 teaspoon baking powder½ teaspoon baking soda¼ teaspoon table salt1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree1 cup (7 ounces) sugar½ cup vegetable oil2 large eggs½ cup (3 ounces) mini semisweet chocolate chips 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 8-inch square baking pan. Whisk flour,…