Christopher Kimball as Self
Episodes 351
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We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.
We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.
Tomato Sauces for Pasta
America's Test Kitchen tackles tomato sauce.
Recipes: Pasta and Fresh Tomato Sauce with Onion and Bacon, Pasta and Fresh Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil, Pasta and Fresh Tomato Sauce with Chile Pepper and Basil, Rustic Slow-Simmered Tomato Sauce with Meat
Tasting Lab: Which Canned Tomatoes Should You Buy?
Science Desk: Taste
Read MoreThe Perfect Roast Turkey
The secret to really crispy, browned skin and moist, flavorful meat
Recipes: Roast Stuffed Crisped-Skin Turkey
Tasting Lab: Turkeys -- What's in a Name?
Equipment Center: Digitals Top Instant-Read Thermometer Ratings
Read MoreGreat Roast Chicken
Should you roast in a hot oven or a moderate oven? How do you get crisp skin and moist, tender breast meat? We answer these questions and more.
Recipes: Easy Roast Chicken
Tasting Lab: Kosher Bird Wins Chicken Tasting
Science Desk: What is the Difference between White and Dark Meat?
Read MoreBeef Stew
Why is stew often tough and flavorless? We explore how to buy the right cut of meat, how to sear it for flavor, and how to cook it until tender.
Recipes: Hearty Beef Stew, Carbonnade a la Flamande (Belgian Beef, Beer, and Onion Stew)
Equipment Center: Dutch Ovens
Read MorePerfect Pork
Do your pork roasts and chops come out dry and tasteless? Here's how to cook tender, juicy pork using some simple kitchen tricks.
Recipes: Garlic Studded Roast Pork Loin, Country Mustard-Shallot Sauce with Thyme
Equipment Center: Electric Knives, Updated
Science Desk: Why is Fat Important?
Read MoreHow to Cook Salmon
The America's Test Kitchen team cooks salmon in a saute pan, on a grill, and under a broiler, and we find that it takes 10 minutes or fewer to cook it right.
Recipes: Broiled Salmon with Mustard and Crisp Dilled Crust, Simple Pan-Seared Salmon, Herb-Poached Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce, Simple Grilled Salmon
Science Desk: Fibers and Fatty Acids
Read MoreStir Fry Made Easy
Throw out your wok! Stir-fries can be simple, quick, full of flavor, and, best of all, prepared without special equipment.
Recipes: Stir Fry with Ginger Sauce, Stir Fry with Curry Sauce, Stir Fry with Hot-and-Sour Sauce, Stir Fry with Lemon Sauce, Stir Fry with Orange Sauce
Tasting Lab: Patience Pays Off for Soy Sauce
Equipment Center: Skillets (Nonstick) - Do Electric Knives Really Work?—Archived
Read MoreSunday Dinner
Everyday foods like meat loaf and garlic mashed potatoes are popular for a reason; they're easy to make and they can taste great.
Recipes: Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Meat Loaf with Brown Sugar (Ketchup Glaze - Loaf Pan Variation)
Tasting Lab: Ketchup
Science Desk: Starch in Potatoes
Read MoreCooking Eggs
Want to fry, scramble, boil, or poach an egg? Cover eggs while frying, use high heat for scrambling, never add eggs to boiling water, and use a skillet, not a saucepan, for poaching.
Recipes: Foolproof Boiled Eggs, Fried Eggs for Two, Fluffy Scrambled Eggs, Poached Eggs
Equipment Center: Skillets, Nonstick
Science Desk: The Science of Cooking Proteins and Egg Coagulation
Read MoreCookie Jar Classics
Everyone loves cookies, but it's not easy to make cookies at home that taste and look as good as a bakery-made cookies.
Recipes: Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, Big, Super-Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies, Big Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
Tasting Lab: Unorthodox Chocolate Chips
Science Desk: How Baking Soda Works
Read MoreThe Perfect All-Purpose Cake
Learn how to make a simple-as-boxed-cake recipe that's virtually foolproof. Then frost and decorate the cake with ease.
Recipes: Rich and Tender Yellow Layer Cake
Equipment Center: Cake Pans
Science Desk: Protein Content in Cake Flour
Read MoreHoliday Pies
Make a foolproof pie crust that even a five-year-old could roll out. We also show you the secrets of pumpkin and pecan pies.
Recipes: The Best Pie Dough, Perfect Pecan Pie, The Best Pumpkin Pie
Read MoreCrisps, Cobblers, and Gratins
The test kitchen team focuses on marrying a lightly sweetened fruit base to different toppings.
Recipes: Fruit Crisp, Fresh Berry Gratin, Blueberry Cobbler
Tasting Lab: Chinese Cinnamon Tops
Equipment Center: Food Processors (Full-Size)
Read MoreThree Pureed Vegetable Soups
Making pureed soups is a balancing act. Small changes can have major effects. The test kitchen has worked out all the kinks and created three great soup recipes.
Read MorePesto, Carbonara and Salad
Spaghetti alla carbonara and pasta with pesto are quick and easy ways to put an outstanding pasta dish on the table. The test kitchen pairs the pastas with a simple green salad.
Read MoreSpaghetti and Meatball Supper
With the right techniques, a spaghetti supper can rival any fancy meal. The test kitchen reveals the secrets for success.
Read MorePizza Night
To satisfy everyone, the test kitchen developed two pizza recipes—a deep-dish pizza that bakes in a pan as well as a cracker-thin pie that’s in and out of the oven in just 10 minutes.
Read MoreSimple Sandwiches
Lunch is ready in the test kitchen. Two classics--tuna salad and grilled cheese--along with a fancy steak sandwich are being served.
Read MoreShrimp Classics
Shrimp is quick to prepare, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Step into the test kitchen and learn how to become the shrimp expert in your home.
Read MoreSteak Frites
The test kitchen explores how to properly sear a steak, make a flavorful pan sauce, and fry up hot, crispy french fries.
Read MoreFried Chicken and 'Fixens
The test kitchen shares our fried chicken recipe that is the result of five years work and incorporates many unusual techniques.
Read MoreChicken Cutlets 101
Although chicken cutlets can be delicious, they can also be tough or dry if cooked wrong. We take three classic preparations—Marsala, breaded, and stuffed—and explore ways to make these chicken dishes really good.
Read MoreAll-American Cookout
We move the test kitchen out back to make juicy hamburgers and grilled veggies.
Read MoreMiddle Eastern Barbeque
Shish kebab, rice pilaf, and baba ghanoush are perhaps three of the greatest dishes from the Middle East. The test kitchen discovers the best way to prepare each specialty.
Read MoreFajitas and Margaritas
The test kitchen unlocks the secrets for making fresh margaritas, flank steak fajitas and chunky guacamole.
Read MoreThanksgiving Dinner
The test kitchen figures out how to bring the most flavorful, most beautiful bird to the holiday table.
Read MoreChristmas Dinner
Christmas dinner is not the time to experiment with new recipes or techniques. The test kitchen gives you these foolproof recipes for holiday family favorites.
Read MoreWinter Supper
The test kitchen’s challenge is to cook short ribs until they are fall-off-the-bone tender while removing as much of the grease as possible.
Read MoreHam, Biscuits, and Greens
Southern food has a special place in the test kitchen. In this episode, the test kitchen shows you how to prepare roast fresh ham, cream biscuits, and greens.
Read MoreMuffins and Scones
We turn the test kitchen into the neighborhood bakeshop and make tender blueberry muffins and delicate cream scones.
Read MoreBacon, Eggs, and Homefries
Bacon, eggs, and potatoes are the classic components of an all-American breakfast. The test kitchen makes sure the bacon is crisp, the omelet is tender, and the home fries are perfectly browned.
Read MoreFrench Toast, Waffles, and Breakfast Strata
If you are going to spend the time making French toast and waffles, they better be good. The test kitchen gives the recipes that deliver.
Read MoreBar Cookies
Everyone loves bar cookies—especially the cook, because there's no need to form individual balls of dough. But baking dough in the pan, rather than balls on a cookie sheet, can cause problems. We show you how to avoid them.
Read MoreTwo French Tarts
The test kitchen turns out French tarts that put even the finest pâtisseries to shame.
Read MoreDiner Pies
Those cream-topped pies in the revolving case at the diner always look better than they taste. We show you how to prepare Chocolate Cream Pie and Key Lime Pie at home—with amazing results.
Read MoreApple Pies
The test kitchen has made hundreds of pie doughs. Learn how to make the resulting recipe, which is the culmination of years of kitchen work and testing.
Read MorePeach Pie and Cherry Cobbler
Nothing quite says summer like a slice of peach pie or a bowl of cherry cobbler. The test kitchen reports on the best ways to make these classic desserts.
Read MoreChilled Summer Puddings
Light summer desserts, made with or accompanied by fruit, are perfect for summer eating. The test kitchen tackles the problems of panna cotta, rhubarb fool, and summer berry pudding.
Read MoreChocolate Desserts
The test kitchen figures out how to make showy desserts with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of flavor.
Read MoreParty Foods
We turn soggy nachos and candy-sweet sangria into serious party food.
Read MoreHearty Soups
Less is more when it comes to hearty soups.
Read MoreDressing Up Vegetables
We rescue two favorite vegetable dishes from the clutches of the cafeteria.
Read MoreBistro Basics
A taste of real French cooking—without spending all day in the kitchen.
Read MoreSteak House Dinners
The perfect steakhouse dinner—salad with creamy blue cheese dressing and seared filet mignon—is often a fantasy. In the real world, the lettuce is limp, the dressing gluey or watery, the steak overcooked or not properly browned, and the sauce characterless. The test kitchen shows you how to solve each of these problems.
Read MoreChinese Takeout
Chinese food at home (without a laundry list of hard-to-find ingredients).
Read MoreChicken in a Flash
Quick and easy chicken dishes.
Read MorePasta Classics
We return two classic pasta sauces to their original glory.
Read MorePasta Quick and Easy
Simple ingredients are often the basis of special and uncommonly good dishes.
Read MoreBeef Burgundy
Skip the marinade and don't bother to sauté the aromatic vegetables.
Read MoreTexas Chili
The best chili: hearty, heavy on the meat, and spicy.
Read MoreAmerican Casseroles
The secret to great casseroles: keep the ingredients as fresh tasting as possible.
Read MorePork Chops, Two Ways
Finding flavor in today's leaner pork.
Read MoreBackyard BBQ
Big, juicy, smoky ribs and classic potato salad.
Read MoreBarbecued Salmon
We prepare an elegant salmon dish . . . on the grill.
Read MoreThanksgiving from the Grill
Free up your oven and grill a better tasting bird.
Read MoreHoliday Dinner
We turn meat and potatoes into something memorable.
Read MoreHam Dinners
Spiral-sliced ham and good green bean casserole. (Really!)
Read MoreWeekend Brunch
Brunch that's worth making, even when company isn't coming.
Read MoreQuick Breads
It takes more than speed to make the best quick breads.
Read MoreRustic Bread at Home
Hearth-quality bread from a home oven.
Read MoreCookie Jar Favorites
We take two cookie classics and make them great again.
Read MoreLemon Meringue Pie
We solve the problem of soggy crusts and mile-high meringue.
Read MoreShortcake and Cobbler
We perfect two classic summer American desserts.
Read MoreTwo Chocolate Cakes
One old-fashioned, moist and homely, the other elegant, dense and ethereal.
Read MoreNew York Cheese Cake
Restraint is key for the perfect New York-style cheesecake.
Read MoreSummer Tomatoes
Say goodbye to thick, bland gazpacho and soggy tomato tarts. It’s feast or famine when it comes to good tomatoes.
Recipes: Gazpacho; Quick Summer Tomato Tart
Tasting Lab: Mozzarella Cheese
Read MoreOne-Pot Wonders
The notion of dinner made in a single pot is certainly alluring. Two complete meals from a pot; one a classic, the other a surprise.
Recipes: Beef Chili with Kedney Beans; Indoor Clambake
Equipment Center: Crock Pots
Tasting Lab: Tomato Puree
Read MoreEast Coast Seafood
We solve the problem of porridge-like chowder and bready crabcakes. Clam chowder and crab cakes are available in most every seafood restaurant in the country. These dishes both have their origins along the East Coast and have been subjected to numerous changes (most not for the better) as they became more popular.
Recipes: New England Clam Chowder; Maryland Crab Cakes
Tasting Lab: Mayonaise
Read MoreNew Orleans Menu
We bring a taste of New Orleans into the home kitchen. Jambalaya and bananas Foster are two of our favorite dishes from New Orleans.
Recipes: Jambalaya; Bananas Foster
Equipment Center: Ice Cream Scoops
Tasting Lab: Vegetable Broth
Read MoreFreedom from Red Sauce
Skip the marinara and try these two vegetable sauces. Tired of the same old marinara sauce?
Recipes: Pasta with Mushrooms; Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Sausage
Equipment Center: Herb Choppers
Tasting Lab: Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Read MoreQuick Classic Pastas
Everyone knows pasta is quick. That's one of the reasons Americans (and Italians) love it.
Recipes: "Quick" Bolognese; Four Cheese Pasta
Tasting Lab: Tomato Paste
Read MoreMaple-Glazed Pork Roast
Say goodbye to dry, tough, candy-like roasts. The marketing of the “other white meat” would be amusing if today’s pork weren’t so lean and flavorless.
Recipes: Maple-Glazed Pork Loin; Wild Rice Pilaf
Equipment Center: Food Storage Containers
Read MoreTruck Stop Classics
We perfect two roadside classics: chicken-fried steak and coconut cream pie. Truckers often know where to find the best home cooking.
Recipes: Chicken-Fried Steak with Gravy; Coconut Cream Pie
Tasting Lab: Graham Crackers
Read MoreChicken in a Skillet
A skillet can turn out hundreds of chicken dinners. For most Americans, chicken breasts are the holy grail of weeknight cooking. (We think thighs are more flavorful, but that’s another story.)
Recipes: Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts; Almond-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Wilted Spinach
Equipment Corner: Traditional Skillets
Read MoreChicken in a Pot
Two French takes on an American promise. Herbert Hoover may have promised Herbert Hoover may have promised Americans a chicken in every pot, but no ne said that chicken couldn't be French.
Recipes: Chicken Provencale; Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Equipment Corner: Kitchen Shears
Tasting Lab: Vermouth
Read MoreSteak and Potatoes
We take the mystery out of properly grilled steaks. It’s hard to beat steak and mashed potatoes for both simplicity and flavor.
Recipes: Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onions; Grilled Steaks
Equipment Center: Kitchen Shears
Tasting Lab: Mail-Order vs. Supermarket Steaks
Read MoreSteak Tips
Steak tips and steak fries sound like bad menu offerings from your local low-rent steakhouse. We rescue steak tips and fries from low-rent steakhouses.
Recipes: Steak Tips; Steak Fries
Equipment Center: Grill Brushes
Read MoreStir Fry 101
Stir-fries at home that are better than takeout. Ordering Chinese takeout is like playing Russian roulette.
Recipes: Stir-Fired Pork with Eggplant; Stir-Fried Beef and Broccoli
Equipment Center: Electric Woks
Tasting Lab: Oyster Sauce
Read MoreAsian Noodles
Say goodbye to bad Americanized versions of pad Thai and sesame noodles. We no longer think of noodles as just Italian.
Recipes: Pad Thai; Cold Sesame Noodles
Equipment Center: Flat Bottom Woks
Read MoreItalian Classics
Americans love Italian food - and rightly so.
Recipes: Chicken Diavola; Frico; Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar
Tasting Labs: Balsamic Vinegar
Read MoreFrench Food in a Flash
We bring two classics into the home kitchen for great results in a fraction of the time.
Recipes: Simplified Cassoulet with Pork and Kielbasa; 30-Minute Tarte Tatin
Tasting Lab: Diced Canned Tomatoes
Read MoreTea Time
Say goodbye to leaden scones and pound cake. In the test kitchen, we think afternoon (or morning) tea is an excellent excuse to whip up a batch of scones or a golden loaf of lemon pound cake. Making these simple baked goods at home certainly yields better results than what you can buy.
Recipes: Lemon Pound Cake; Oatmeal Scones
Equipment Center: Citrus Juicers and Reamers
Tasting Lab: Supermarket Teas
Read MoreSunday Brunch
We solve the problem of rubbery omelets and dry, hockey puck muffins. Sunday brunch sounds so civilized.
Recipes: Denver Omelet; Corn Muffins
Equipment Center: Rubber Spatulas
Tasting Lab: Baking Powder
Read MoreThe Pancake Show
Few recipes deliver so much pleasure for so little work as pancakes. The batter comes together in minutes, and the cooking time is brief. Why, then, do most Americans never make pancakes from scratch?
Recipes: Blueberry Pancakes; German Apple Pancakes
Equipment Corner: Electric Gridles
Tasting Lab: Fresh vs. Frozen Blueberries
Read MoreCookie Jar Favorites
Good cookies don’t really require any more work than bad cookies. Unless, of course, you are willing to consider dry, crumbly, tasteless packaged cookies from the supermarket - but we aren’t.
Recipes: Thin and Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies; Coconut Macaroons
Equipment Corner: Potholders
Tasting Lab: Refrigerator Cookie Dough
Read MoreSummer Berry Desserts
When local berries are in season, we like to showcase them in simple desserts. Two simple showcases for fresh summer berries.
Recipes: Summer Berry Pie; Berry Gratin with Lemon Sabayon
Equipment Corner: Ice Cream Makers
Read MoreEasy Sheet Cakes
We solve the problem of dry, sticky, flavorless cakes. A sheet cake is like a with training wheels--it's hard to fall off.
Recipes: Chocolate Sheet Cake; Carrot Cake
Equipment Corner: Milk Chocolate
Read MoreLemon Cheescake
Light, creamy, and great lemon flavor--neither too fleeting nor too harsh.
Recipe: Lemon Cheesecake
Equipment Center: Springform Pans
Read MoreShowstopper Deserts
Two desserts that pull out all the stops yet are easy to prepare.
Recipes: Chocolate Mousse Cake; Chilled Lemon Souffle
Tasting Lab: Unsweetened Chocolate
Read MoreAppetizers
We've chosen recipes that deliver big flavor without much work.
Recipes
- Spiced Pecans with Rum Glaze
- Pita Chips
- Creamy Spinach Dip
- Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
- Beef Satay
Equipment Corner
- Meat cleavers
Tasting Lab
- Store-bought Salsa
Read MoreSimple Soups
Have you ever been tempted to prepare a restaurant recipe only to be disappointed with the results? The recipe sounded great, but once you got to work you realized it was never tested in a home kitchen.
Recipes
- Quick Chicken Stock
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Pasta e Faigoli
Equipment Corner
- Fat separaters
Read MoreA Soup Supper
Soup for supper is an appealing concept, especially on a cold, snowy night. But for soup to work as a main course, it better be hearty. A light, clear broth simply won't do.
Recipes
- Quick Cheese Bread
- Hearty Lentil Soup
Equipment Corner
- Vegetable peelers
Tasting Lab
- Mail order bacon
Read MoreRegional Classics
On occasion local dishes become so popular that they transcend their region. Gumbo is a taste of Louisiana in a big old bowl. Its distinct aroma and flavor are like a quick trip to the bayous outside of New Orleans.
Recipes
- Creole-Style Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo
- Cincinnati Chili
Equipment Corner
- Useful kitchen gadgets
Tasting Lab
- Long-grain white rice
Read MorePork Chops and Gravy
It sometimes seems like the simplest recipes suffer the worst fate in modern cookbooks. Maybe it's because no one really cares enough about these dishes to get them right.
Recipes
- Stuffed Pork Chops
- All-Purpose Gravy
- Glazed Carrots
Read MoreTwo Roast Chickens
Despite its apparent simplicity, roast chicken is a hard recipe to get right.
Recipes
- Crispy Roast Lemon Chicken
- Chicken Under a Brick with Roasted Potatoes
Equipment Corner
- Countertop Rotisserie ovens
Read MoreFlash in a Pan
Dinner in less than 20 minutes is the holy grail of weeknight cooking. Many recipes make good on this promise, but most ultimately reflect the minimal effort exerted on the part of the cook. They are fine in a pinch but rarely worth making again. But it doesn't have to be this way.
Recipes
- Chicken Paillard
- Pan-Seared Shrimp with Garlic Lemon Butter
Equipment Corner
- Cookware cleaning products
Tasting Lab
- Chicken cutlets
Read MoreFamily Favorites
Cooking for a family isn't as easy as it was once. In Norman Rockwell pictures, the entire clan (with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents) is gathered around the table with a dozen different dishes in front of them. No one has soccer practice or is working late. No one is on a weird diet, and the kids seem to eat the same thing as the adults.
Recipes
- Sweet and Tangy Oven-Barbecued Chicken
- Classic Macaroni and Cheese
Equipment Corner
- Stain removal products
Tasting Lab
- Microwave popcorn
Read MoreRestaurant Cooking Comes Home
Have you ever been tempted to prepare a restaurant recipe only to be disappointed with the results? The recipe sounded great, but once you got to work you realized it was never tested in a home kitchen.
Recipes
- Flambéed Pan-Roasted Lobster
- Crab Towers with Avocado and Gazpacho Salsas
Read MoreTexas Rib House
In Texas, good beef ribs are the secret handshake between experienced grillers.
Recipes
- Texas-Style Barbecued Ribs
- Southern Cornbread
Equipment Corner
- Cast-iron skillet care
Tasting Lab
- Corn bread mixes
Read MoreGrill-Roasted Beef Tenderloin
We don’t part easily with money, but we will on occasion break the bank and buy a beef tenderloin. The tender, buttery interior is the big draw, and the combination of a healthy dose of seasoning and the flavor from the charcoal grill is a perfect solution to a rather mild-tasting (boring) piece of meat.
Recipes
- Grill-Roasted Beef Tenderloin
- Salsa Verde
- Broiled Asparagus
Equipment Corner
- Kitchen gadgets
Read MoreNew Flavors from the Grill
Even expert grillers can get in a rut. They make the same four or five recipes over and over again. Sure, the steaks are great, but isn’t there something a bit more exciting?
Recipes
- Thai Grilled Chicken with Spicy, Sweet, and Sour Dipping Sauce
- Grilled Salmon with Maple-Soy Glaze
Equipment Corner
- Portable gas grills
Read MoreMexican Favorites
There's a significant disconnect between real Mexican food (as prepared in Mexico) and the food served in "Mexican" restaurants in the United States.
Recipes
- Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chili Sauce
- Mexican Rice
Equipment Corner
- Spice grinders
Read MoreQuick Pasta
Pasta is usually quick, but all too often quick pasta dishes taste like little time or effort was expended during their preparation.
Recipes
- Farfalle with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta
- Campanelli with Asparagus, Basil, and Balsamic Glaze
- Pasta with Three Pestos
Tasting Lab
- Sun-dried tomatoes
Read MoreA Passage to India
Indian food has a reputation for being spicy (most of it is not) and hard to prepare at home (tell that to one billion Indians). However, it is true that many recipes require a long list of spices and other ingredients.
Recipes
- Chicken Biryani
- Mulligatawny Soup
Tasting Lab
- Curry powder
Read MorePissaladière
Pissaladière is Provençal street food, a fragrant, pizza-like tart prized for its contrast of salty black olives and anchovies against a backdrop of sweet caramelized onions and thyme.
Recipes
- Pissaladière
Equipment Corner
- Baking stones
- Pizza cutters
Read MoreIn an Italian-American Kitchen
In the test kitchen, we enjoy authentic Italian dishes such as pasta all'amatriciana (episode 18-Italian Classics) and osso buco and polenta (episode 19-Winter Supper). But we also like to prepare Italian-American dishes.
Recipes
- Eggplant Parmesan
- Pasta with Chicken and Brocoli
Read MoreItalian Classics
There seems to be an endless supply of "classic" Italian dishes. Just when we think we've mastered the canon, we realize there are more seminal Italian dishes to learn-recipes as important as pesto, steak fiorentina, or pasta with garlic and oil.
Recipes
- Pasta all'Amatriciana
- Mushroom Risotto
Equipment Corner
- Rotary cheese graters
Tasting Lab
- Jarred pasta sauces
Read MoreWinter Supper
Stew and starch is a familiar and comforting winter combination. Stew-and-starch pairings include everything from beef stew and mashed potatoes to chicken paprikash and egg noodles. Our favorite Italian stew-and-starch combo is osso buco and polenta.
Recipes
- Osso Buco
- Basic Polenta
Tasting Lab
- Bottled water
Read MoreBistro Classics
Who doesn't like bistro food? It offers the panache of fine French cooking but in a casual setting. The dishes are rustic, hearty, and satisfying.
Recipes
- Baked Goat Cheese Salad
- French Onion Soup
Equipment Corner
- Santoku knives
Tasting Lab
- Goat cheese
Read MoreUltimate Sticky Buns
Sticky buns are things of breakfast-time debauchery. In bakeries, they are often plate-size buns, warm and glistening, heady with brown sugar and spices. In our opinion, anything less than a great one is not worth its calories.
Recipes
- Sticky Buns with Pecans
Equipment Lab
- New-generation Coffee Makers
Tasting Lab
- Supermarket coffee
Read MoreBake-Sale Favorites
Every afternoon around three, editors come sniffing around the test kitchen looking for cookies fresh from the oven. Given how many cookies we make, our test cooks appreciate bar cookies.
Recipes
- Classic Brownies
- Congo Bars
Equipment Corner
- Baking Pans
Tasting Lab
- Boxed Brownie Mixes
Read MoreHoliday Cookies
Making cookies is a favorite holiday activity. Many people who bake infrequently during the year throw themselves into marathon cookie projects.
Recipes
- Glazed Butter Cookies
- Walnut Cresent Cookies
Equipment Corner
- Handheld verses standing mixers
Read MoreThere's a Hole in Your Cake
Cakes baked in Bundt pans and tube pans are popular for a variety of reasons.
Recipes
- Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
- Angel Food Cake
Equipment Corner
- Bundt Pans
Read MorePumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin cheesecake stands second to the traditional pumpkin pie as a holiday dessert. Those who suffer from pumpkin pie ennui embrace pumpkin cheesecake as "a nice change," but the expectations are low.
Recipes
- Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Brown Sugar and Bourbon Cream
Tasting Lab
- Cream Cheese
Read MoreFour-Star Desserts
When our test cooks eat in restaurants, they always come back to the kitchen and talk about the dessert. Dramatic and artful presentations rightfully garner a lot of attention.
Recipes
- Chocolate Volcano Cake with Espresso Ice Cream
- Caramelized Pears with Blue Cheese and Black-Pepper-Caramel Sauce
Equipment Corner
- Handheld Mixers
Read MoreEggs for Brunch
Hassle-free egg dishes to make when you're having company.
Recipes: Asparagus, Ham and Gruyere Frittata; Quiche Lorraine
Tasting Lab: Mail-order Bacon
Read MoreTex-Mex Favorites
Take a trip south of the border with ATK.
Recipes: Fresh Tomato Salsa; Quesadillas; Beef Tacos
Tasting Lab: Flour Tortillas
Read MoreSouth-of-the-Border Soups
With the help of the ATK team, these south-of-the-border soups are sure to please the whole family.
Recipes: Black Bean Soup; Tortilla Soup
Equipment Corner: Chefs Knives
Tasting Lab: Chicken Broth
Read MoreCooking with Squash
The America's Test Kitchen team chooses squash to create healthy and delicious risotto and soup recipes.
Recipes: Butternut Squash Soup; Butternut Squash Risotto
Equipment Corner: Nutmeg Graters
Read MoreDinner on a Dime
Which steaks offer the best value and how should you cook them?
Recipes: Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes; Pan-Seared Inexpensive Steaks; Mustard-Cream Sauce
Equipment Corner: Steak Knife Sets
Tasting Lab: Cheap Steaks
Read MoreOne Skillet Dinners
America's Test Kitchen answers the call for easy, one-skillet dinners.
Recipes: Skillet Lasagna; Skillet Jambalaya
Equipment Corner: Celebrity Skillets
Tasting Lab: Canned Diced Tomatoes
Read MoreMore American Classics
Nothing says American cuisine like these fully tested recipes with modern appeal.
Recipes: Chicken and Dumplings; Boston Baked Beans
Equipment Corner: Zipper-Lock Bags
Science Desk: How Acidity Affects Cooking Beans
Read MoreMeat and Potatoes II
Braised brisket and smashed potatoes make for a delicious, cold-weather meal.
Recipes: Onion-Braised Beef Brisket; Smashed Potatoes
Equipment Center: Electric Knives
Read MoreHigh Roast Chicken Dinner
America's Test Kitchen's novel approach to chicken on the grill – high-roast butterflied chicken – has delicious results, especially when served along with potatoes and asparagus.
Recipes: Crisp-Skin High-Roast Butterflied Chicken with Potatoes; Pan-Roasted Asparagus with Toasted Garlic and Parmesan
Equipment Corner: Remote Thermometers
Tasting Lab: Chicken
Read MoreLet's Talk Turkey
No one roasts a turkey or prepares the perfect side (sweet potato casserole) like the America's Test Kitchen team.
Recipes: Roast Turkey for a Crowd; Candied Sweet Potato Casserole
Equipment Corner: Turkey Gadgets
Read MorePork Chops and Tenderloins
Overcome the challenges of cooking thick-cut pork chops and learn the secrets of pork tenderloin.
Recipes: Pork Chops with Vinegar and Sweet Peppers; Pan-Seared Oven-Roasted Pork Tenderloins; Dried Cherry-Port Sauce
Tasting Lab: White Wine Vinegar
Read MoreFish Steaks 101
Avoiding the fish counter at the grocery store will be a thing of the past, thanks to these easy-to-master recipes.
Recipes: Pan-Seared Sesame-Crusted Tuna Steaks; Pan-Roasted Halibut Steaks; Chipotle-Garlic Butter with Lime and Cilantro
Equipment Corner: Oven Mitts
Tasting Lab: Soy Sauce
Read MoreSeafood Classics
Impressive dishes for company, easy enough to serve on a weeknight.
Recipes: Fish Meuniere with Browned Butter and Lemon; Pan-Seared Scallops with Winted Spinach, Watercress, and Orange Salad
Tasting Lab: Butter Alternatives
Read MoreItalian Classics
Flavorful recipes bring Italy into the test kitchen.
Recipes: Fettuccine Alfredo; Beef Braided in Barolo
Tasting Lab: Parmesan Cheese
Science Desk: Braising vs. Roasting
Read MoreTwo Curry Traditions
Rich, exotically spicy Indian curry and lighter, herbaceous Thai curry.
Recipes: Indian Curry; Thai Green Curry with Chicken, Broccoli, and Mushrooms
Tasting Lab: Coconut Milk
Read MoreAsian Chicken
Not-so-sweet versions of a Japanese classic and a Chinese take-out standby.
Recipes: Chicken Teriyaki; Orange-Flavored Chicken
Tasting Lab: Store-Bought Teriyaki Sauce
Read MorePaella Party
A Spanish classic: saffron rice loaded with seafood, meat, and vegetables.
Recipes: Sangria; Paella
Equipment Corner: Paella Pans
Tasting Lab: Olive Oil
Read MoreGrilled Pizza
The smoky flavor of a grilled pizza's crust can't be replicated in the oven.
Recipes: Grilled Tomato and Cheese Pizza; Spicy Garlic Oil
Science Desk: What is Yeast?
Read MoreGrill Roasted Pork Loin
Lightly dressed French potato salad perfectly complements this smoky roast pork.
Recipes: Grill-Roasted Pork; French Potato Salad
Equipment Corner: Kitchen Twine
Tasting Lab: Dijon Mustard
Read MorePulled Pork & Cornbread
Also called pulled pig and sometimes just plain barbecue.
Recipes: Barbecued Pulled Pork; All Purpose Cornbread
Equipment Corner: Plastic Wraps; Liquid Measuring Cups
Read MoreRethinking Barbecued Chicken
The America's Test Kitchen team cooks up some delicious home-cooked BBQ.
Recipes: Barbecued Pulled Chicken; Cabbage and Red Pepper Salad with Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette
Equipment Corner: Mini Food Processors
Tasting Lab: Barbecue Sauces
Read MoreSummer Fruit Desserts
Free-form fruit tart and blueberry cobbler, both easier than pie.
Recipes: Free-Form Summer Fruit Tarts; Blueberry Cobbler
Equipment Corner: Food Processors
Science Desk: Science Behind Great Pie Crust
Read MoreDeep-Dish Apple Pie
A demonstration of the absolute best recipe for deep dish apple pie. Creating a pie with a high filling-to-crust ratio poses challenges.
Recipes: Deep-Dish Apple Pie
Equipment Corner: Rolling Pins
Tasting Lab: Premium Butters
Read MoreOld-Fashioned Birthday Cake
Perfect the ultimate birthday treat with this recipe for classic layer cake.
Recipes: Classic White Layer Cake with Butter Frosting and Raspberry-Almond Filling
Equipment Corner: Cake Pans
Tasting: Raspberry Preserves
Read MoreGerman Chocolate Cake
The ATK team creates a German chocolate cake destined to impress. Our less sweet version has a more intense chocolate flavor than most.
Recipes: German Chocolate Cake with Coconut-Pecan Filling
Science Corner: Butter Temperature and Baking
Tasting: Cocoa Powders
Read MoreMeatloaf Dinner
Meat loaf is as synonymous with good old-fashioned American cooking as apple pie. While some may prefer meat loaf made with meat loaf mix, a combination of beef, pork, and veal, there’s something to be said for an all-beef loaf.
An all-beef loaf can have terrific meaty flavor and it’s convenient to boot, especially when you can’t find meat loaf mix, or just don’t want to fuss with buying three kinds of meat. However, a meat loaf made with all beef does require some special handling so that it doesn’t taste like a dry, loaf-shaped hamburger. We set out to make a loaf with well-seasoned meat and just enough binder to give the loaf a tender, not tough, texture. In choosing a side dish to partner with our meat loaf, we turned to another old-fashioned dish—skillet-roasted potatoes. Skillet-roasted potatoes are cooked on the stovetop, thus allowing the cook to free up the oven for the main course. We wanted potatoes that are creamy on the inside and crusty on the outside. Some skillet-roasted potatoes can be soggy and greasy—a pitfall we’d need to avoid in developing our recipe.
Recipes:
Glazed Meat Loaf or All Beef Meatloaf
Skillet-Roasted Potatoes
Skillet-Roasted Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary
Skillet-Roasted Potatoes with Lemon and Chives
Spicy Skillet-Roasted Potatoes with Chili and Cumin
Tasting Lab: Ground Beef
Equipment Center: The Tong Show—Kitchen Tongs
Science Desk: How Gelatin Mimics Veal
Read MoreStreamlined Chicken Skillet Suppers
Dinners prepared entirely in one skillet are perfect for weeknight cooking. Less cleanup is one obvious benefit. A skillet also gives the cook a bit more control over cooking multiple elements. In the oven, dishes such as chicken and rice—ingredients with disparate cooking times—can cook unevenly, so that when the dish comes out of the oven, you end up with mixed results, such as tender rice and dry chicken—or conversely, crunchy rice and moist chicken. A skillet gives you the freedom to move items in and out of the skillet accordingly so that everything comes out perfectly cooked. We have also discovered that a skillet comes in handy in some pasta dishes. Take the restaurant favorite, chicken, broccoli, and ziti. Typically, the pasta is boiled in one pot and then one or sometimes two more pans are required to cook the chicken, broccoli, and sauce. We condensed all the elements into a skillet—even the pasta—which cooks right in the sauce, soaking up maximum flavor for an exemplary version of this favorite dish.
Recipes:
Skillet Chicken and Rice with Peas and Scallions
Skillet Chicken with Broccoli, Ziti, and Asiago Cheese
Tasting Lab: White Wines for Cooking
Equipment Center: Inexpensive Knife Sets
Read MoreBest Beef Stew
Join us as we uncover the secrets behind a favorite beef stew and streamline a hearty side dish.
A basic beef stew can be altered in dozens of ways, usually by adding more ingredients to the pot. But can you go the other way and strip beef stew down to its bare bones (or, to be more precise, to its beef)? If you trade the carrots and potatoes for a mess of onions and add a good dose of beer (instead of red wine) as part of the braising liquid, you’ve created a simple Belgian beef stew called carbonnade à la flamande. Beef, beer, and onions have a natural affinity—think burger, onion rings, and a beer. In a carbonnade, the heartiness of beef melds with the soft sweetness of sliced onions in a lightly thickened broth that is rich, deep, and satisfying, with the malty flavor of beer. We aimed to create the very best version of this cold-weather favorite. Sweet acorn squash makes a worthy partner alongside carbonnade or with many other dishes during the cold weather season, but too often this squash turns out dry and stringy. We wanted to devise a method that ensured sweet, tender squash, without a lot of hassle.
Recipes:
Carbonnade a la Flamande—Belgian Beef, Beer, and Onion Stew
Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar
Acorn Squash with Rosemary-Dried Fig Compote
Tasting Lab: Beer for Carbonnade
Equipment Center: Paring Knives—Updated
Science Desk: Are All Microwaves Created Equal?
Read MoreSunday Roast Chicken and Stuffing
We wanted a streamlined version of roast chicken with plenty of stuffing to go around—and to solve the problem of cooking the stuffing to a safe temperature without drying out the delicate breast meat of the chicken.
The idea of roast chicken and stuffing is very appealing—moist, well-seasoned meat and plenty of flavorful stuffing to satisfy everyone at the table. But in reality, a chicken, even one upwards of 5 pounds (serving 4 to 6 people), doesn’t contain a cavity large enough to accommodate the amount of stuffing you’d need to serve everyone at the table. Sure, you can bake the stuffing separately in a baking dish, but you miss out on all the flavorful juices imparted from the chicken. Our aim, therefore, would be to develop a recipe for roast chicken and stuffing where we could somehow still mimic the flavorful benefits of cooking the stuffing inside the bird. A quick sauté of spinach, especially one with garlic and lemon, goes well alongside roast chicken (in addition to many other dishes). But this simple approach can often go wrong—overcooked spinach, burnt garlic, too much oil—the list goes on. We would focus on avoiding these pitfalls to turn out a tasty side dish you can rely on again and again.
Recipes:
Stuffed Roast Butterflied Chicken
Mushroom-Leek Bread Stuffing with Herbs
Currant-Pecan Bread Stuffing with Shallots and Herbs
Couscous Stuffing with Fennel, Dried Apricots, and Cashews
Sauteed Garlic-Lemon Spinach
Equipment Center: Kitchen Shears—Update
Read MoreTwo Ways with Pork
New dinner options abound with recipes for pork medallions and glazed pork chops.
Recipes: Glazed Pork Chops (Asian & German), Thick-Cut Pork Tenderloin Medallions, Maple-Mustard Sauce, Hoisin-Sesame Sauce for Pork, Apple Cider Sauce
Tasting: The Cider Vinegar Rules
Equipment: Should You Buy a Bargain Saute Pan?
Read MoreFaster Family Favorites
With these quick recipes, you’ll be able to get dinner on the table in a reasonable amount of time—and they’ll taste good too.
In theory, quick recipes sounds terrific—but we’ve found most streamlined recipes end up sacrificing flavor for speed and convenience. Take chicken pot pie. Most recipes for quick chicken pot pie are a far cry from the classic comfort food. The filling is not much more than leftover chicken stirred into canned cream of chicken soup and a paltry amount of vegetables—sometimes even canned. These versions are far from the comforting dinner that’s always been a family favorite. We aimed to do better. We wanted a really flavorful chicken stew topped with a biscuit crust, and, yes, we wanted it fast. Tamale pie, an already quick dish, has fallen victim to the dump-and-bake approach: combine a can of chili and a can of creamed corn; top with cornbread mix and bake. Tossing cans aside, we set out to make a fresh-tasting, quick tamale pie with a juicy, spicy mixture of meat and vegetables with a quick, homemade cornbread topping.
Recipes:
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuit Topping
Skillet Tamale Pie
Tasting Lab: Bottled Italian Dressing
Read MoreLighter Family Favorites
With these lightened recipes, your favorites will be able to appear on the table as often as you crave them.
Whether we like to admit it or not, there are some dishes that while tasty, are just too high in fat and calories to be enjoyed on a regular basis. Even a modest portion of these dishes such as macaroni and cheese and chicken Parmesan is prohibitive. But do they need to be? What if we could create lighter versions of these dishes so we could enjoy them more often? In our research we tried dozens of versions of “light” macaroni and cheeses, and again and again we were met with disappointing dishes. Gluey sauces full of tasteless, rubbery nonfat cheeses were the norm. Versions made with ricotta and cottage cheese also showed up. We wanted a creamy macaroni and cheese with real cheesy flavor. Light recipes for chicken Parmesan often fall short too. Again and again we were met with soggy crusts and that culprit, nonfat cheese. We wanted a really crisp crust for our chicken and we wanted great flavor.
Recipes:
Everyday Lighter Macaroni and Cheese
Everyday Lighter Macaroni and Cheese with Ham and Peas
Lighter Chicken Parmesan with Simple Tomato Sauce
Tasting Lab:
Alternative Pastas
Whole Wheat Pasta
Equipment Center: Indoor Grills
Read MoreFish and Chips at Home
The problem with English-style fish and chips is that you’ve got to hop a plane across the Atlantic to enjoy the dish. We wanted to be able to serve English-style fish and chips—large pieces of moist and delicate cod in a crisp and tender coating with thick-cut fries—at home.
Most American restaurants that tackle England’s most popular fast food do so poorly—turning out a greasy mess of fish and potatoes. We aimed to create a home-cook friendly recipe for the real thing: large pieces of moist cod coated in a delicate, crisp batter and chips cut thick and served up crispy, with soft interiors. To start, we’d first need to tackle frying for the home cook. While most restaurants have dedicated frying workstations, deep-frying in a home kitchen is a different matter. Cramped space, spattering oil, and inappropriate equipment all conspire to take the fun out of the job. But it needn’t be an onerous task: With a bit of organization and some basic working knowledge, you’ll be turning out fish and chips that will rival those in England. Along the way, we’d also needed to figure out how to organize the process so that everything made it to the table at once—meaning that both fish and chips are served piping hot. Anything less just wouldn’t be acceptable.
Recipes:
Fish and Chips
Tartar Sauce
Tasting Lab: Mayonnaise
Equipment Center: Candy Thermometers—Update
High-End Deep Fryers
Read MoreChicken Kiev
The hallmark of great chicken Kiev is the rich butter filling that melts into a sauce inside the chicken bundles and contrasts perfectly with the crisp bread crumb crust.
Popularized during the heyday of Manhattan’s now-shuttered Russian Tea Room, chicken Kiev became one of the restaurant’s premier offerings in the 1960s. The well-heeled were quite familiar with this elegant dish of pounded, breaded, and fried chicken breast stuffed with an herb butter that melted into a sauce. Although chicken Kiev’s Ukrainian roots remain unclear, its current fate is hardly in dispute: It has become a greasy bundle of poultry with a sandy, disconcertingly peelable exterior and a greasy, leaky center. Commonly found in banquet halls and at catered events, this once highbrow dish has become a self-parody. But after preparing several cookbook versions, we realized that pairing a crisp-fried coating with a delicately flavored butter sauce was a great idea that deserved a revival. A dish as special as chicken Kiev deserves a side dish with equal dazzle. We settled on broccoli and turned to pan-roasting, because it works well with many vegetables, imparting a toasty, caramelized flavor. Broccoli, however, can be fussy because the hardy stalks and delicate florets require different handling. We’d need to find a way to get around those issues.
Recipes:
Chicken Kiev
Pan-Roasted Broccoli
Pan-Roasted Broccoli with Lemon Browned Butter
Pan-Roasted Broccoli with Spicy Southeast Asian Flavors
Pan-Roasted Broccoli with Creamy Gruyêre Sauce
Tasting Lab: Sandwich Bread
Equipment Center: Cookbook Holders
Read MoreMeat and Potatoes for Company
We found a unique way to tame the bite on our pepper-crusted filet mignon.
Few main courses are as impressive as filet mignon, but such cachet comes with a hefty price tag. The hallmark of this luxury cut is its buttery, tender texture, but some argue that the beefy flavor is too mild, lacking the oomph of fattier (albeit chewier) cuts like the rib eye. So we aimed to boost the meat’s flavor with a lively peppercorn crust and a rich pan sauce. Peppercorn crusts, however, have their issues. They can be overwhelmingly spicy, masking, rather than enhancing, the flavor of the meat. We’d need to strike just the right balance. Getting the crust to evenly adhere to the meat would be a challenge too. In looking for a potato dish to serve alongside our steak, we quickly settled on the simple, but elegant, potatoes Lyonnaise—sautéed slices of buttery potato sweetened with caramelized strands of onion. But getting this dish just right can be a challenge. Buttery potatoes can easily turn greasy. And caramelizing the onion alongside the potatoes is difficult to do without steaming them. We’d need to find a way to get these two ingredients in sync. When you’re aiming to impress and willing to splurge a bit, you can be confident that these dishes will deliver.
Recipes:
Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon
Port Cherry Reduction Sauce
Blue Cheese Chive Butter
Potatoes Lyonnaise
Tasting Lab: Filet Mignon
Equipment Center: Cocktail Shakers
Science Desk: Taming Peppercorn Heat
Read MoreStaying in For Chinese Take-Out
Try serving a saucy stir-fry over an Asian-style noodle cake instead of the usual rice.
We love a good stir-fry served with rice, but sometimes a change of pace is welcome. A noodle cake, a savory round of tender noodles sautéed in a skillet until the exterior is crisp, is the perfect base for a saucy stir-fry. We’ve enjoyed noodle cakes in restaurants, but never at home. We set out to find the best way to make one. While we were at it, we also aimed to develop a chicken stir-fry with really juicy chicken in a fresh-flavored sauce. Too often, chicken can turn dry and stringy in a stir-fry and no amount of sauce can rescue dry meat. Another Asian classic, also more familiar at the restaurant table than in the average American home kitchen, is hot and sour soup—a spicy, bracing broth filled with pork, tofu, and wisps of egg. But is visiting your local Chinese restaurant the only way to enjoy this soup? We wanted to enjoy this complex-flavored soup at home. But with a host of hard-to-find ingredients and a long simmering time, we had our work cut out for us. We’d need to strategically choose our ingredients and find reasonable substitutions for those that are just too difficult to find at the supermarket. At the same time, we’d need to take a hard look at streamlining the soup’s lengthy preparation. And, we wouldn’t settle for a pale imitation of this heady soup—it would need to stand up to the authentic versions we often crave.
Recipes:
Stir-Fried Chicken with Bok Choy and Crispy Noodle Cake
Hot and Sour Soup
Equipment Center: The Little Nonstick Saucepan That Could
Science Desk: Mysterious Powers of Cornstarch
Read MoreNot Your Average Stir-Fry
We wanted a complex dish with carefully balanced flavors—without an extensive list of hard-to-find ingredients and hours in the kitchen.
Thai-style stir-fries are a refreshing alternative to Chinese stir-fries. Spicy, sweet, sour, and salty, the flavors are well-balanced and complex. But who has the ingredients often required, such as shrimp paste, tamarind pulp, galangal, and palm sugar? And while the more familiar Chinese stir-fry is fairly quick to prepare, a Thai stir-fry can take hours. For our starting point, we looked to a restaurant favorite—Thai chile beef—and set out to streamline this dish without compromising its interesting combination of flavors. Potstickers are another Asian favorite we wanted to enjoy at home. At their best, potstickers are light dumplings filled with a well-seasoned mix of pork and cabbage. Dunked into a soy dipping sauce, they make a terrific start to a meal. Unfortunately, we’ve eaten more than our share of truly awful potstickers—leaden balls of pasty meat in a doughy wrapper. All it took was one bite for us to put our chopsticks down. We wanted to find out the secret to making great potstickers—the right filling, the right wrapper, and a method of assembly that wasn’t overly complicated and didn’t take all day. Most of all we wanted these potstickers to be so good, we’d rather make them ourselves than call for our favorite takeout.
Recipes:
Stir-Fried Thai-Style Beef with Chiles and Shallots
Potstickers
Scallion Dipping Sauce
Equipment Center: Nonstick Skillets, Update
Read MoreMore Tex-Mex Favorites
We love good Tex-Mex, but depending on which part of the country you live in, chances are you’d be better off preparing it yourself at home. We wanted to take a look at two Tex-Mex favorites, chicken fajitas and huevos rancheros, and create authentic, tasty versions we could stand behind.
Chicken fajitas aren’t as easy a proposition as beef fajitas. Beef, by nature, packs a lot more flavor, while chicken fajitas seem to rely on a host of condiments to mask its lack of flavor, or worse, its dry texture. We wanted tender, juicy chicken, and we wanted it well seasoned. We wanted the same for our vegetables—too many vegetables in fajitas are treated as a bland afterthought. As for the tortillas, we wanted warm, soft tortillas, not the brittle tortillas we’ve often encountered in restaurants due to poor heating methods. Huevos rancheros are the answer to a hungry man’s (or woman’s) breakfast. But too often we’ve stared at what looks like a dish of fried eggs crossed with nachos. First, we wanted to get rid of all the unnecessary entrapments, paring back this breakfast classic to its tasty essentials. We’d need to focus on the fiery roasted salsa that typically is part of this dish, but making salsa with out-of-season tomatoes is a gamble. And without access to fresh corn tortillas, we needed to find a way to turn rubbery supermarket corn tortillas into a crisp, not greasy, base for our eggs. Last, we needed to figure out how to coordinate cooking the eggs with the other elements, so that everything comes together simultaneously—hot and fresh.
Recipes:
Chicken Fajitas for Charcoal Grill
Chicken Fajitas for Gas Grill
Chicken Fajitas Indoors
Chunky Guacamole
Huevos Rancheros
Refried Beans
Tasting Lab: Supermarket Refried Beans
Equipment Center: Do Grill Pans Really Grill?
Read MoreEven More Italian Classics
Just when we think we’ve become familiar with every Italian dish under the sun, we’re pleasantly surprised to come across a dish we’d somehow overlooked. Join us as we resurrect one Italian classic and streamline another.
Take chicken francese. It’s true that this Italian-style chicken cutlet dish isn’t as well known as chicken parmigiana or chicken Marsala, but it’s no less delicious. Coated with a thin eggy crust, the cutlets are served in a light, lemony white wine sauce. With just a few simple elements, it’s hard to believe that such dish can go wrong, but versions we tried proved otherwise. In some recipes, the egg crust was unappetizingly thick and tough, or turned soggy once coated with the sauce. The sauces we tried weren’t much better. While we couldn’t detect lemon in some, others made us pucker, or the wine was too overpowering, giving the sauce an unpleasant boozy flavor. We aimed to conquer these issues and turn out a lemony cutlet dish that we’d want to incorporate into our Italian classics repertoire to make again and again. Another Italian classic, the rich tomato sauce marinara, is not a new discovery, but it’s one worth a second look in terms of simplifying. The hallmark of this sauce is a depth of flavor achieved by hours of cooking, but what if we didn’t have all day? After all, for the modern cook, an all-day marinara, just isn’t a reasonable option. We set out to create an authentic marinara with complex flavors without the hours of work involved.
Recipes:
Chicken Francese
Chicken Francese with Tomato and Tarragon
Marinara Sauce
Tasting Lab: Sleuthing Canned Whole Tomatoes
Equipment Center: Hand (Immersion) Blenders—Updated
Read MoreFlambé at Home
We came up with a foolproof flambé method that doesn't intimidate the home cook.
Fifty years ago, steak Diane, pan-seared steak in a rich, peppery pan sauce, was a hot menu item at fancy restaurants. Prepared tableside, it included a burst of pyrotechnics supplied by a match and some cognac. Sure, such theatrics might seem a bit dated and silly, but who can resist having a little fun—especially when entertaining? To give this old-school dish a modern twist, we wanted to find a more reasonable substitute for the laborious veal stock that is the traditional basis for the pan sauce. While we were at it, we wanted to slim down the sauce a bit—yes, we love butter and cream, but many of the recipes we tried were just too rich tasting. And, as for the flambé method, we'd need to come up with a foolproof process that wouldn’t intimidate the home cook. While we were on the flambé bandwagon, it occurred to us we could continue the theme with dessert in the form of crêpes suzette, a stunning dessert consisting of warm tender crêpes served in a bright orange-flavored sauce. But most restaurants that prepare this dish do so for just two. Could we adapt this classic to serve a tableful of hungry guests? We were ready to find out.
Recipes:
Steak Diane
Sauce Base for Steak Diane—Demi-glaze
Crepes Suzette
Tasting Lab:
Veal Stock
Beefing Up Beef Broths
Orange Liqueurs for Cooking
Science Desk: Is Flambé Just For Show?
Read MoreHearty Eggs for Breakfast
With these foolproof recipes, you just might find yourself making time to enjoy eggs a bit more often.
Most of us might not have time to prepare (and enjoy) egg dishes during the week, but come the weekend, eggs are a terrific way to begin a leisurely day. In this chapter, we wanted to take a look at a couple of our favorite egg dishes—scrambled eggs and omelets—and see how we could make the most of them. Sometimes you want something heartier than simple scrambled eggs. But adding meats, cheeses, and vegetables weighs down the eggs’ fluffy texture and, worse, turns the eggs watery. We wanted to solve these problems and turn out scrambled eggs that could stand up to the addition of hearty ingredients. And we also wanted an interesting mix of additions, so maybe we’d be inclined to make these eggs for dinner too. Omelets made for one or two aren’t difficult to prepare. But what if you’re making omelets for the whole family? You don’t want to be standing at the stove playing the part of short-order cook, right? We wanted to create one big omelet, big enough to serve 4. Working with such a large omelet wouldn’t be easy—we’d need to figure out how to cook through such a large omelet without it drying out, how to add the fillings (and heat them through), and how to turn the omelet out of the pan without it breaking apart.
Recipes:
Scrambled Eggs with Bacon, Onion, and Pepper Jack Cheese
Scrambled Eggs with Sausage, Sweet Peppers, and Cheddar
Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus, Prosciutto, and Parmesan
Eggs in a Hole
Family-Sized Cheese Omelet
Family-Sized Tomato, Bacon, and Garlic Omelet
Tasting Lab: Is Fresh Breakfast Sausage Best?
Equipment Center: Plastic Nonstick Spatulas
Science Desk: How Scrambled Eggs Work
Read MoreSummer Cooking
We tackle the best way to grill delicate shrimp as well as chicken destined to be served cold for a picnic.
Grilling imparts a smoky dimension to foods that is just about impossible to replicate indoors. So it’s no wonder that once the weather turns warm, we’re eager to get our favorites foods like steaks and burgers onto the grill. But delicate foods, such as shrimp, are trickier to cook over the grill’s intense, dry heat. We wanted to find the best way to grill shrimp so that it’s tender, moist, and flavorful, not dry and rubbery. And we wanted to do so without grilling shrimp in their shells. It’s true that the shells act as a protective barrier, but peeling shells at the table is cumbersome and messy, not to mention that with the discarded shells, the flavorful spice rub is also lost. Warm weather isn’t always about cooking outdoors—it’s about eating outdoors too. Cold barbecued chicken is a classic whether you’re planning a picnic or packing for a road trip. But once chilled, the meat can become very dry and the skin, once thin and crisp, can turn tough and flabby. We wanted to solve these problems and turn out moist chicken with spicy flavor and to boot, we wanted to make it easier to eat, so we didn’t have to use a knife and fork or rely on a wad of napkins to wipe our hands of sticky barbecue sauce.
Recipes:
Charcoal-Grilled Shrimp Skewers
Gas-Grilled Shrimp Skewers
Spicy Lemon-Garlic Sauce for Shrimp Skewers
Fresh Tomato Sauce with Feta and Olives for Grilled Shrimp Skewers
Charmoula Sauce for Shrimp Skewers
Spice-Rubbed Picnic Chicken
Broiled Shrimp Skewers
Tasting Lab:
Supermarket Veggie Burgers
Lemonade—Updated
Equipment Center: Skewers
Science Desk: Salting: Better Than Brining?
Read MoreBarbecued Brisket and Corn Fritters
When you’re looking for a main course to serve a summertime crowd, or want to give a new twist to a summertime vegetable, we hope you’ll turn to these recipes.
Summertime entertaining can often mean preparing food for groups larger than 6 to 8—school graduations, Fourth of July, the neighborhood block party—the list goes on. For those times, hamburgers just aren’t practical—unless the cook plans on standing at the grill until everyone is fed. Instead, think brisket. This hefty piece of meat (a full cut can weigh 13 pounds) turns smoky and tender on the grill and leftovers, if there are any, are terrific. Best of all, brisket doesn’t require constant attention, so the cook can enjoy the party too. Brisket isn’t without its challenges, however. On the grill, the meat can take about 12 hours to become fully tender. We wanted to find not only the best way to barbecue brisket, but a way do so more quickly. Summertime also calls for corn. And while we love corn on the cob, we also enjoy other preparations. Take corn fritters. These savory cakes are pan-fried and served hot. They make a terrific side dish or hors d’oeuvres, served as is, or sprinkled with hot sauce. Some recipes are short on corn flavor, but we wanted a recipe that brings the corn front and center.
Recipes:
Barbecued Beef Brisket For a Charcoal Grill
Barbecued Beef Brisket for a Gas Grill
Spicy Chili Rub
Farmstand Corn Fritters
Corn Fritters with Cheddar and Chives
Out-Of-Season Corn Fritters
Tasting Lab: Hot Sauces
Equipment Center: Charcoal Grills—Update
Read MoreBeer Can Chicken Dinner
With our recipes for Beer Can Chicken and Pasta Salad with Pesto, we show you how sometimes the strangest-sounding methods are the most rewarding and how a few easy tricks can give an old standby new lift.
Recipes:
Grill-Roasted Beer Can Chicken for a Charcoal Grill
Grill-Roasted Beer Can Chicken for a Gas Grill
Pasta Salad with Pesto
Equipment Center: Essential Grilling Gadgets
Read MoreRainy Day Barbecue
If you’re a fan of barbecue but never thought it could be replicated indoors, our menu should change your mind.
For many of us, it doesn’t seem fair that we can only enjoy barbecue during the short summer months. What about year-round cravings? Take barbecued ribs. If it’s February and a hankering for ribs strikes, does that mean a trip to a local barbecue joint or could we find the answer in our home kitchen? We wanted to develop a recipe for oven-barbecued ribs, so even in the darkest, coldest winter months, we could satisfy our barbecue urges. And these ribs would need to stand up to their outdoor counterparts: tender, fall-off-the-bone meat infused with smoky flavor. Rich, meaty ribs are best enjoyed with a side of tangy coleslaw—specifically buttermilk coleslaw. But while buttermilk provides a trademark tang, it can also make a dressing so thin that it sinks to the bottom of the bowl instead of clinging to the shreds of cabbage. Cabbage poses its own challenges too. We wanted even shreds that were easy to fork and toss with the dressing. And, we wanted crisp cabbage that won’t leach moisture into our dressing, diluting its flavor and turning our coleslaw bland.
Recipes:
Oven-Barbecued Spareribs
Quick Barbecue Sauce
Creamy Buttermilk Coleslaw
Buttermilk Coleslaw with Green Onions and Cilantro
Creamy Buttermilk Coleslaw with Lemon and Herbs
Tasting Lab: Is There a New King of Ketchup?
Read MoreStrawberry Cream Cake
For our Strawberry Cream Cake, we wanted lots of strawberry flavor, a buttery sturdy cake that could stand up to them, and a lush whipped cream filling that would stay put, so even when cut this cake would be a stunner.
Looking for a drop-dead gorgeous summer dessert? Look no further than strawberry cream cake—a snazzier, more presentable version of strawberry shortcake. The components are almost identical—juicy strawberries, sweetened whipped cream, and layer cake (in place of biscuits). The cake, cream, and strawberries are layered, chilled, and served in tall wedges. It’s a terrific way to celebrate summer. We wanted to find the ultimate version of this dessert and solve the problems that often plague it. Because the cake, cream, and strawberries are all layered, cutting this cake can be tricky—the whipped cream can squirt out the sides or the strawberries will ooze out. The strawberries pose other problems too—their juices can soggy a cake that’s too delicate. Some recipes get around this pitfall, by using fewer strawberries, but this results in muted fruit flavor. We wanted those strawberries front and center.
Recipes:
Strawberry Cream Cake
Equipment Center: Mix Masters—Standing Mixers—Updated
Science Desk: Heavy Cream versus Whipping Cream
Read MoreDark Chocolate Desserts
When you're looking to satisfy a serious chocolate craving, these recipes deliver.
No matter the dessert—cookie, pudding, cake, or pie—there’s nothing like the flavor of chocolate to make it truly irresistible. In this chapter, we set out to develop ultimate versions of two favorite chocolate desserts: chocolate mousse and chocolate cupcakes. Rich, frosting-like mousse is utterly delicious—for about two spoonfuls. Yet light and silky versions often lack decent chocolate flavor. Once you start adding more chocolate, texture suffers and becomes heavy. We wanted the best of both worlds—a light and silky texture with big chocolate flavor. Chocolate cupcakes are another treat that suffer from faint chocolate flavor. Ever try a mix? Sure they’re easy, but the flavor often falls short. And most homemade chocolate cupcakes aren’t much better. Some may have good chocolate flavor, but the crumb turns dense and confection-like. We aimed to develop a moist, feathery cupcake infused with chocolate flavor. And for such a homey treat, we didn’t want to spend all day, so these cupcakes would need to be almost as easy as using a boxed mix.
Recipes:
Dark Chocolate Mousse
Chocolate-Orange Mousse
Chocolate-Raspberry Mousse
Premium Dark Chocolate Mousse
Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream
Easy Chocolate Buttercream
Easy Coffee Buttercream
Easy Peppermint Buttercream
Tasting Lab: Just What Is Dark Chocolate, Anyway?
Equipment Center: Muffin Tins, Updated
Read MoreOld-Fashioned Chocolate Cake
We wanted a towering layer cake of childhood, moist and chocolaty and slathered with thick, billowy frosting.
Remember old-fashioned chocolate layer cake—the kind moms everywhere baked? Each towering slice had a tender, airy, open crumb and was frosted with silky-smooth wisps of chocolate heaven. These homespun cakes were tall, sweet, and chocolaty, not dense, dark, and bitter, and they were eaten with an ice-cold glass of milk, not a demitasse of espresso. Admittedly, many of those birthday party chocolate cakes were made with a boxed mix. While those mixes deliver a pleasantly spongy, moist texture and guaranteed height, they were also full of artificial flavors—which as kids, we did not find objectionable. But, as adults with grown-up palates, we wanted real chocolate flavor in our cake. Therefore our goals were two-fold: create an old-fashioned chocolate layer cake with the same moist, tender crumb we so fondly remember and infuse this cake with true chocolate flavor—chocolaty enough to please adults, but not so dense that it might scare away the kids at the table.
Recipes:
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake
Tasting Lab: Chocolate Chips
Equipment Center: Revolving Cake Stands
Science Desk: Enhancing Chocolate Flavor
Read MoreEasy Apple Desserts
For a not-too-sweet apple dessert, pair a tart apple such as Granny Smith with a sweet apple like Golden Delicious or McIntosh, as we did in Skillet Apple Brown Betty and Easy Apple Strudel.
When it comes to apple desserts, apple pie may be the most popular, but it’s also the most involved. When you don’t want to fuss with pie, but you still want that warm and comforting combination of apple and pastry, there are other options. Take apple brown betty—apples, sugar, and buttered bread crumbs. This baked fruit dish is decidedly humble, but delicious nonetheless—especially when served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. But this often-overlooked dessert needs a serious makeover—too many versions are a soggy mess with muddied flavors. Classic apple strudel, a European specialty, consists of lightly sweetened apples, raisins, and nuts wrapped in paper-thin pastry. Traditional recipes involve hours of preparation, rolling and pulling the pastry dough until it is so thin you can read a newspaper through it. We reasoned that there must be an easier (and quicker) way. Determined to find out, we set about streamlining this sophisticated dessert, without compromising its flaky texture and sophisticated flavors. Join us as we resurrect one humble apple dessert and streamline another.
Recipes:
Skillet Apple Brown Betty
Skillet Apple Brown Betty with Golden Raisins and Calvados
Skillet Apple Brown Betty with Pecans and Dried Cranberries
Easy Apple Strudel
Tasting Lab: The Scoop on Vanilla Ice Cream—Updated
Equipment Center: Pastry Brushes—Updated
Science Desk: Overrun and Ice Cream
Read MoreFavorite Citrus Desserts
Join us as we infuse one citrus dessert with bright lemony flavor and make another dessert easier than ever to enjoy.
Even after the heartiest meal, we find the bracing bite of a citrus dessert welcome. Lemon Bundt cake, glazed with a snowy white icing, is a simple, elegant dessert. But time and again, we are disappointed in its often elusive lemon flavor. Some recipes soak the cake in a sugar syrup flavored with lemon, but we find this makes the cake soggy, ruining its springy fine crumb. We wanted to find a way to infuse Bundt cake with the assertive tang of lemon without marring its texture. Key lime pie is another favorite citrus dessert, but transporting this pie, which has a delicate, wobbly filling, can be difficult. We wanted to find a way to transform this pie into a bar cookie. Not only would a Key lime bar be more portable, it could also be eaten out of hand, making it a far easier dessert to serve—and eat.
Recipes:
Lemon Bundt Cake
Key Lime Bars
Triple Citrus Bars
Tasting Lab: Are Key Limes Really Key?—Updated
Equipment Center: Are Nonstick Baking Sprays Better Than Butter?
Science Desk: The 'Magic' of Sweetened Condensed Milk
Read MoreLighter Cheesecake
Join us as we uncover the secrets to low-fat desserts that you'll really want to eat.
While a crisp apple or bowl of juicy berries makes an admirable end to a meal, there’s an allure to baked desserts that is hard to resist. But many desserts carry a lot of fat and calories; for most of us, they should be more the occasional indulgence than regular weeknight fare. We wanted to come up with recipes for two classic desserts, carrot cake and cheesecake, that would make them both light enough and good enough to enjoy most any day of the week. Many light carrot cakes look like the real thing, but one bite quickly dispels the notion. Not only dry but also heavy and dense, these cakes may be "light" when it comes to fat and calories but not when it come to texture. We wanted tender cake, sweet and lightly spiced. And we wanted our cake to be slathered in a thick, creamy frosting. The recipes we tested for light cheesecake were no better than the carrot cakes — in fact, they were worse. Most were plagued by a rubbery texture and pasty, Spackle-like consistency. And in place of the lightly sweetened, tangy flavor of a full-fat cheesecake, these lightened cakes were tinged with off, artificial flavors. We would have to do some serious testing to come up with a lightened cheesecake that would pass muster among tasters.
Recipes:
Light Carrot Cake
Light Cream Cheese Frosting
Light New York Cheesecake
Light Fresh Strawberry Topping
Tasting Lab: Coffee--Tasting Supermarket Whole Bean Coffee
Read MoreRainy Day BBQ Pork Chops
We wanted juicy pork chops slathered with a smoky, tangy barbecue sauce. But how would we replicate the savory crust of a grilled pork chop indoors? We set out to solve this puzzle. We also make a cool, creamy macaroni salad with the perfect ratio of macaroni to dressing.
Recipe: Skillet-Barbecued Pork Chops, Cool and Creamy Macaroni Salad
Equipment: Chef's Knives
Science: The Science of Brining
Read MoreLemon Layer Cake
Layer cakes are desserts to be savored at birthday parties, holidays, and other celebrations. Ideally, the cake’s tender layers offset the bracing, citrusy filling, and the whole is swathed in a glossy, pale frosting. We’ll show you how to make a version that tastes as great as it looks.
Recipe: Lemon Layer Cake
Taste test: Yellow Cake Mixes
Read MoreItalian-American Classics
Stuffed manicotti makes a hearty and delicious main course, but in most cases its preparation is best left to a practiced and patient Italian grandmother. We wanted a simpler, easier method for making manicotti.
Recipe: Baked Manicotti, Cheesy Garlic Bread
Equipment: Garlic Presses
Taste test: Supermarket Parmesan Cheese
Read MoreCookie Jar Favorites
We turn our attention to two favorite cookies: a triple chocolate cookie so chocolaty it’s almost a brownie, and the humble brown sugar cookie, moist, chewy, and packed with butterscotch flavor.
Recipe: Brown Sugar Cookies, Triple-Chocolate Cookies
Equipment: Coffee Makers (Inexpensive)
Read MoreKansas City BBQ
It’s hard to choose a best-loved style of ribs, but we’d be willing to bet that smoky, sweet Kansas City ribs are a top contender. These meaty ribs are slow-smoked for their trademark flavor—and in traditional recipes they truly do take all day to cook. We wondered if there was a faster way.
Recipe: Kansas City Sticky Ribs on a Charcoal Grill, Smoky Kansas City BBQ Beans
Equipment: Barbecue Thermometers
Taste test: Pickles
Read MoreFrench Classics
Coq au vin’s appeal is timeless, but its preparation can be intimidating for the home cook. We set out to make this dish a little less overwhelming—but just as delicious as we remembered. We also simplify the process of making pot de crème without compromising this decadent dessert’s rich flavor or ethereal texture.
Recipe: Modern Coq au Vin, Chocolate Pots de Creme
Equipment: Dutch Ovens
Science: Cooking with Alcohol
Read MoreCoffeehouse Treats
In this episode, the test kitchen perfects two breakfast treats: blueberry scones and rich bran muffins.
Recipe: Blueberry Scones, Better Bran Muffins
Equipment: Commuter Coffee Mugs
Taste test: Strawberry Preserves
Read MoreAsian Take-Out at Home
We develop a Thai-style chicken soup that uses supermarket ingredients without sacrificing authentic flavors, and we make a vegetarian stir-fry so hearty even carnivores will be satisfied.
Recipe: Stir-Fried Portobellos with Ginger-Oyster Sauce, Thai Chicken Soup
Equipment: Ladles
Taste test: Soy Sauce
Read MoreHoliday Beef Tenderloin Dinner
Holiday Beef Tenderloin Dinner
Add a rich stuffing to beef tenderloin, and you’ve got the ultimate main course, at least in theory. But making a tenderloin through can be a challenge—this is an expensive piece of meat, so you don’t want to risk overcooking it. We also wanted mashed potatoes so rich and decadent, not a drop of gravy would be necessary to enjoy them.
Recipe: Roast Beef Tenderloin with Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Stuffing, Creamy Mashed Potatoes
Equipment: Electric Knife Sharpeners
Read MorePasta and Tomatoes, Reimagined
We don’t have anything against spaghetti and meatballs or pasta with marinara, but the world of pasta and tomatoes extends far beyond these popular standbys. Enter Penne alla Vodka and Pasta Caprese.
Recipe: Penne alla Vodka, Pasta Caprese
Equipment: Stockpots
Taste test: Penne
Read MoreA New Way with Turkey
Brining is the best way to guarantee a moist turkey, but it isn’t always the most practical way. We rethink our brine-at-all-costs philosophy and find that salting, a kind of “dry-brining” in which we rub the bird with salt and let it rest in the refrigerator for several hours, not only seasons the meat but also helps keep it moist.
Recipe: Roast Salted Turkey, Roasted Green Beans with Red Onion and Walnuts
Equipment: Roasting Pans
Taste test: Turkey
Read MoreWhite Chicken Chili Supper
Chicken chili might sound like heresy—after all, isn’t chili supposed to be made with beef?—but this Southwestern dish is a light, bright alternative to tomato-rich beef chili. The key to chicken chili is finding the right cooking method so that the white beans become tender and the chicken doesn’t dry out and turn rubbery.
Recipe: White Chicken Chili, Double-Corn Cornbread
Equipment: Cast-Iron Skillets
Taste test: Tortilla Chips
Read MoreFrench Apple Tart
A tart should be easier to prepare than the typical double-crust American pie. But developing a flaky crust sturdy enough to support the fruit is a bit tricky. And getting the apples to caramelize by the time the crust is baked is also a challenge.
Recipe: Apple Galette
Equipment: Bakeware Basics
Science: Flour Types
Read MoreChicken in a Skillet
It’s not a surprise that so many cooks turn to chicken breasts for dinner. They’re convenient, low in fat, and, when made right, juicy and satisfying. To keep boredom at bay, one of our simple skillet recipes features a flavorful drizzling sauce, another a golden Parmesan crust.
Recipe: Parmesan-Crusted Chicken Cutlets, Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Potatoes
Equipment: Inexpensive Instant-Read Thermometers
Read MorePizza Party
We set out to develop a better-than-takeout pizza in which the crust gets equal billing with the toppings and each is full of flavor—not grease.
Recipe: Pepperoni Pan Pizza, Antipasto Pasta Salad
Equipment: Toaster Ovens
Taste test: Frozen Pizza
Read MoreOld-Fashioned Breakfast Cakes
Bakery versions of crumb cake often fall short. The crumb topping can be skimpy or dry and brittle. And the cake can suffer too, baking up too dry or not sturdy enough, so that the crumb topping simply sinks into the cake. We tackle these issues to develop the ultimate crumb cake.
Recipe: New York-Style Crumb Cake, Blueberry Boy Bait
Equipment: Square Cake Pans
Taste test: Hot Cocoa Mix
Read MoreBistro Steak Dinner
Cutting into a steak to find that the rosy meat is confined to a measly spot in the center—with the rest a thick band of overcooked gray—is a great disappointment. Our surefire method for pan-searing thick-cut steaks delivers both a flavorful crust and juicy, rosy meat throughout.
Recipe: Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Strip Steaks, Garlic and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes
Equipment: Slotted Spoons
Science: Tender Steaks
Read MoreLightening Up Chocolate Desserts
Skipping dessert or eating a piece of fruit is an obvious way to cut calories, but where’s the fun in that? We set our sights on lowering the fat and calories in two favorite chocolate desserts—chocolate mousse and brownies.
Recipe: Low-Fat Chocolate Mousse, Fudgy Low-Fat Brownies
Taste test: Light Vanilla Ice Cream
Read MoreFish on the Grill
Fish fillets might look innocent, but once their delicate flesh hits the grill, there’s no getting them off without a fight—simply put, fish sticks. And because fish is delicate, in comparison to meat, the flesh easily dries out. We decided to take the fear out of grilling fish by tackling these two recipes: blackened grilled snapper and glazed salmon.
Recipe: Charcoal-Grilled Blackened Red Snapper, Sweet and Saucy Charcoal-Grilled Salmon with Lime-Jalapeno Glaze
Equipment: Barbecue Mitts
Read MoreIndian Favorites, Simplified
We develop home-cook-friendly versions of two Indian favorites: vegetable curry and chicken tikka masala.
Recipe: Indian-Style Curry with Potatoes, Cauliflower, Peas, and Chickpeas, Chicken Tikka Masala
Taste test: Crushed Tomatoes
Read MoreGrilled Cornish Game Hens
We’ve always enjoyed roasting game hens and thought the grill might deliver even more flavor to the tender meat, grilling poultry is full of challenges—especially whole birds.
Recipe: Grill-Roasted Cornish Game Hens on a Charcoal Grill, Rice Salad with Oranges, Olives, and Almonds
Equipment: Chimney Starters
Taste test: Basmati Rice
Read MoreEasy Skillet Suppers
Easy Skillet Suppers
Streamlined methods for Beef Stroganoff and Baked Ziti condense all the steps into one skillet—yes, even the noodles.
Recipe: Skillet Baked Ziti, Skillet Beef Stroganoff
Equipment: Can Openers
Taste test: Supermarket Extra-Virgin Olive Oils
Read MoreFour-Cheese Lasagna
The problem with four-cheese lasagna? Too often it’s heavy, greasy, and bland. Watch as we create an elegant lasagna with the right combination of cheese and a smooth and creamy sauce.
Recipe: Four-Cheese Lasagna, Spicy Salad with Mustard and Balsamic Vinaigrette
Equipment: Box Graters
Taste test: Balsamic Vinegar
Read MoreTwo Ways with Shrimp
We explore two elegant approaches to shrimp—one hot dish and one cold—and find the best way to prepare each.
Recipe: Garlicky Shrimp with Bread Crumbs, Shrimp Salad
Equipment: Kitchen Timers
Taste test: Tuna
Read MoreDrive-In Specials
Food safety concerns have many of us now grilling burgers to medium-well and beyond. Unfortunately, grilling burgers for so long results in disappointingly dense, dry meat. We weren’t yet ready to omit burgers from our backyard menu, so we set out to solve the problem.
Recipe: Oven-Fried Onion Rings, Well-Done Hamburgers on a Charcoal Grill
Taste test: Cheddar Cheese
Science: All About Panades
Read MoreFavorite Slow Cooker Classics
Most of us think of the slow cooker as a kitchen workhorse best reserved for weeknight simple stews, hearty soups, and the like. But what about pulling the slow cooker out for entertaining?
Recipe: Beef Burgundy, Beer-Braised Short Ribs
Equipment: Slow Cookers
Read MoreBest Blueberry Pie
Our sure-fire recipe makes a sliceable pie with bright, fresh berry flavor.
Recipes
- Blueberry Pie
- Foolproof Pie Dough
Equipment Center
- Baking Sheets
Science Desk
- Pie Crust
Read MoreFrench Classics Reimagined
We demystify French cooking by streamlining two classic—and often poorly executed—recipes.
Recipes
- Best French Onion Soup
- Quicker French Onion Soup
- French Chicken in a Pot
Tasting Lab
- Gruyere
Equipment Center
- Mandolines
Read MoreDinner with a Spanish Accent
Great Arroz con Pollo, or “chicken with rice,” can take the better part of a day. We developed one that is small on time but big on flavor, and paired it with another quick and flavorful recipe: Sizzling Garlic Shrimp.
Recipes
- Latino-Style Chicken and Rice aka Arroz con Pollo
- Latino-Style Chicken and Rice with Ham, Peas, and Orange
- Latino-Style Chicken and Rice with Bacon and Roasted Red Peppers
- Sizzling Garlic Shrimp
Read MoreThe Crunchiest Pork Chops Ever
Flavorless bread-crumb coatings ruin many pork chops. We show you how to achieve that elusive combination of juicy chop and crunchy coating.
Recipes
- Crunchy Baked Pork Chops
- Crunchy Baked Pork Chops with Prosciutto and Asiago Cheese
- Simple Applesauce
Tasting Lab
- Dijon Mustard
Equipment Center
- Nonstick Skillets
Read MorePerfecting Pasta Sauces
Join us as we fix two flexible pasta toppings: a quick meat sauce with a lush texture and depth that tastes like it’s been simmering all day, and a creamy tomato sauce that’s enriched, not overwhelmed, with cream.
Recipes
- Pasta with Creamy Tomato Sauce
- Simple Italian-Style Meat Sauce
Tasting Lab
- Supermarket Extra-Virgin Olive Oils
Science Desk
- Panades
Read MoreEasy Apple Deserts
With our no-frills approach to apple pie, you can convert this special-occasion dish to an everyday dessert. And our technique for making moist, rich applesauce cake produces a tender crumb with pronounced apple flavor.
Recipes
- Skillet Apple Pie
- Ginger-Cardamom Applesauce Snack Cake
- Applesauce Snack Cake with Oat-Nut Streusel
- Applesauce Snack Cake
Equipment Center
- Drip Coffee Makers
Read MoreOne Great Thanksgiving
By tweaking our traditional Thanksgiving bird, we created a recipe for moist roast turkey that’s packed with bright herb flavor in every bite. As for the potatoes, we focused on a new technique to make creamy, fluffy potatoes even easier.
Recipes
- Herbed Roast Turkey
- Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
- Best Turkey Gravy
Equipment Center
- Potato Ricers
Science Desk
- Mashed Potatoes
Read MoreSoups of the Day
Think it takes all day to make a flavorful soup? Think again. We set out to disprove this misconception with our intense, meaty-flavored beef and vegetable soup that’s on the table in under an hour. And if you’d like to take more time cooking, our classic Tuscan bean soup is a rustic stew worthy of the effort.
Recipes
- Beef and Vegetable Soup
- Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew
- Quick Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew
- Vegetarian Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew
- Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew with Sausage and Cabbage
Tasting Lab
- Beef Broth
Science Desk
- In Search of Glutamates
- Brining Beans
Read MoreBringing Home Italian Favorites
Saltimbocca and tiramisu are two Italian restaurant favorites that are rarely served at home. Here we prepare our saltimbocca with chicken rather than the more traditional veal and streamline its preparation to make it a welcome weeknight meal. For dessert, we developed a tiramisú that highlights the luxurious combination of flavors and textures that makes this dish so popular.
Recipes
- Tiramisu
- Tiramisu Without Raw Eggs
- Chicken Saltimbocca
Tasting Lab
- Prosciutto
Equipment Center
- Refrigerator and Freezer Thermometers
Read MoreEveryone's Favorite Cake
Leave that boxed cake mix on the shelf. We prove that you can create an extremely fluffy yellow cake with entirely natural ingredients.
Recipes
- Foolproof Chocolate Frosting
- Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake
Tasting Lab
- Dark Chocolate
Read MoreResurrecting The Roast Beef Dinner
Join us as we uncover the secret to turning an inexpensive cut of beef into a tender roast worthy of Sunday dinner.
Recipes
- Horseradish Cream Sauce
- Mashed Potatoes and Root Vegetables with Bacon and Thyme
- Mashed Potatoes and Root Vegetables
- Mashed Potatoes and Root Vegetables with Paprika and Parsley
- Slow-Roasted Beef
Equipment Center
- Meat-Probe Thermometers
Science Desk
- Salting Meat
Read MoreSouth Of The Border Supper
We demonstrate how to make two Mexican restaurant classics—Enchiladas Verdes, and Steak Tacos—in your home kitchen.
Recipes
- Steak Tacos
- Enchiladas Verdes
- Sweet and Spicy Pickled Onions
Tasting Lab
- Jarred Hot Salsas
Equipment Center
- Silicone Spatulas
Read MoreLunchtime Specials
Our Pizza Bianca, with its crisp exterior and chewy, bubbly middle, pairs perfectly with the velvety smoothness and bright tomato flavor of our Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup.
Recipes
- Pizza Bianca with Tomatoes, Sausage, and Fontina
- Croutons
- Pizza Bianca with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup
- Pizza Bianca
Equipment Center
- Digital Scales
Read MoreFish Made Easy
Discover our alternative method for poaching salmon and the test kitchen’s secrets for moist and flavorful oven-baked, crunchy-coated fish fillets.
Recipes
- Poached Salmon with Herb and Caper Vinaigrette
- Poached Salmon with Bourbon and Maple
- Crunchy Oven-Fried Fish
- Poached Salmon with Dill and Sour Cream Sauce
- Sweet and Tangy Tartar Sauce
Equipment Center
- Fish Spatulas
Read MoreA Grand, Sweet Finale
We take the fear out of soufflés and show you our foolproof methods for making this showstopping dessert.
Recipes
- Make-Ahead Chocolate Souffle
- Grand Marnier Souffle
- Grand Marnier Souffle with Shaved Chocolate
Equipment Center
- Balloon Whisks
Science Desk
- Souffles
Read MoreHoliday Ham And Biscuits
We reveal the test kitchen’s technique to make a holiday ham that’s moist and tender, with a glaze that complements but doesn’t overwhelm the meat. We then pair it with the perfect drop biscuits—simple, no-fuss, but as buttery and satisfying as their rolled-out counterparts.
Recipes
- Cheddar and Scallion Drop Biscuits
- Black Pepper and Bacon Drop Biscuits
- Rosemary and Parmesan Drop Biscuits
- Best Drop Biscuits
- Glazed Spiral-Sliced Ham
Tasting Lab
- Orange Marmalade
Equipment Center
- Cutting Boards
Science Desk
- Bacteria on Board
Read MoreLet's Do Chinese
Prepare your own version of Chinese take-out classics using our recipes for great stir-fries.
Recipes
- Tangerine Stir-Fried Beef with Onions and Snow Peas
- Stir-Fried Red Curry Beef and Eggplant
- Teriyaki Stir-Fried Beef with Green Beans and Shiitakes
- Pork Stir-Fry with Noodles (Lo Mein)
- Stir-Fried Beef with Snap Peas and Red Peppers
Equipment Center
- Rice Cookers
Read MorePork on the Grill
We found a sure-fire method to keep a grilled, stuffed pork loin moist without brining. And we paired the pork with a host of great sautéed spinach recipes.
Recipes
- Sautéed Spinach with Chickpeas and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Sauteed Spinach with Almonds and Golden Raisins
- Sauteed Spinach with Pecans and Feta
- Sautéed Spinach with Leeks and Hazelnuts
- Grilled Pork Loin with Apple-Cranberry Filling on a Charcoal Grill
- Grilled Pork Loin with Apple-Cherry Filling with Caraway on a Gas Grill
- Grilled Pork Loin with Apple-Cranberry Filling on a Gas Grill
- Grilled Pork Loin with Apple-Cherry Filling with Caraway on a Charcoal Grill
Tasting Lab
- Artisanal Bacon
Read MoreOld Fashioned Snack Cakes
We give two classic snack cakes moist, flavorful makeovers.
Recipes
- Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Oatmeal Cake with Broiled Icing
- Spice Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment Center
- Dry Measuring Cups
Science Desk
- Goodbye to Gumminess
Read MoreBackyard Steak and Potatoes
Our recipe for marinated flank steak is packed with flavor but still retains is beefy chew, and our grilled potatoes are enlivened with the bold tastes of garlic and rosemary.
Marinating steak in bottled Italian dressing ruins its rich, full beefy flavor. Our fresh marinade is easy to prepare and boosts flavor without over-tenderizing the meat. We also reveal our secrets for achieving potent garlic and rosemary flavors in grilled potatoes without bitterness and charring.
Recipes
- Grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary on a Gas Grill
- Charcoal-Grilled Flank Steak
- Gas-Grilled Flank Steak
- Grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary on a Charcoal Grill
- Mediterranean Marinade
Tasting Lab
- Mail-Order Porterhouse Steaks
Science Desk
- Salting Meat
Read MoreGrilled Rack of Lamb Dinner
At $20 a pound, rack of lamb had better be good. We show you how to make the most of this prime piece of meat, and reveal a foolproof version of the French casserole Vegetable Gratin.
Recipes
- Gas-Grilled Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Herbs
Summer Vegetable Gratin
- Charcoal-Grilled Rack of Lamb with Garlic and Herbs
- Summer Vegetable Gratin with Roasted Peppers and Smoked Mozzarella
Equipment Center
- Broiler-Safe Gratin Dishes
Read MoreFour-Star Stuffed Chicken Breasts
The French technique of stuffing a chicken breast yields four-star results — but requires hours of labor. Our take uses a much simpler procedure with the same results. When matched with another French classic, green beans amandine, it’s a great menu for entertaining guests.
The French technique of stuffing a chicken breast with forcemeat is a labor that includes skinning and boning a whole chicken, stuffing the breasts with the leg meat, and then wrapping them up in the skin. We’ll show you an abbreviated version of this French dish and teach you our foolproof version of green beans amandine, to accompany it.
Recipes
- Stuffed Chicken Breasts
- Green Beans Amandine
Tasting Lab
- Black Peppercorns
Equipment Center
- Meat Pounders
Read MoreBreadmaking Simplified
We’ve taken the trouble out of breadmaking with our Almost No Knead Bread and Soda Bread recipes.
A no-knead approach to bread baking produces loaves that look like they’ve been baked in a professional bakery, but the bread varies in size and shape and the crumb lacks the complex yeasty, tangy flavor of a true artisanal loaf. We loved the ease of this approach—and the extraordinary crust on the bread—but we wanted our loaves to have a consistent shape and deeper flavor. The result is a tasty bread that rises high each time. We also reveal our Irish Soda Bread recipe, which is less sweet and easier to make than most American versions.
Recipes
- Almost No-Knead Bread
- Skillet Soda Bread
Equipment Center
- Serrated Knives
Science Desk
- Kneading and Autolysis
Read MoreWeeknight Summer Supper
A lot can go wrong with grilled bone-in chicken breasts. Join us to learn our technique for perfect grilled chicken breasts with tender meat and crisp skin. We also show you the method for making an intensely flavored, not waterlogged, tomato salad.
Recipes
- Greek Cherry Tomato Salad
- Gas-Grilled Bone-In Chicken Breasts
- Charcoal-Grilled Bone-In Chicken Breasts
Equipment Center
- Solar Cookers
Read MoreFrench Country Cooking
With our flavorful beef stew, we translate the bold, robust flavors of Provence to the home kitchen. And as a finale, we balance the richness of the stew with our light, airy, melt-in-your-mouth meringues.
Recipes
- Meringue Cookies
- Daube Provencal
- Orange Meringue Cookies
- Chocolate Meringue Cookies
- Toasted Almond Meringue Cookies
Equipment Center
- Pastry Bags
Science Desk
- Twin Stabilizers—Sugar and Cornstarch
Read MorePuddings—from Simple to Spectacular
Uncover the test kitchen’s secrets to achieving a creamy crème caramel and subtly sweet stovetop rice pudding.
Recipes
- Classic Crème Caramel
- Espresso Creme Caramel
- Simple Stovetop Rice Pudding
Equipment Center
- Electric Kettles
Read MoreTriple-Chocolate Mousse Cake
Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cake
The most important ingredient in our ultimate triple-chocolate mousse cake is, well, chocolate. But not all varieties are created equal. Watch as we discuss chocolate types and reveal which ones take the cake.
RecipesTriple-Chocolate Mousse Cake
Tasting LabWhite Chocolate
Equipment CenterInnovative Teapots
Read MoreChicken Classics, Reinvented
Perfectly cooked chicken doesn’t need to be gussied up with unnecessary additions. We uncover the secrets to quick, hearty chicken noodle soup and roast chicken with extra-crispy skin.
Read MoreBest Weekend Breakfast
Best Blueberry Muffins with Orange Glaze
Best Blueberry Muffins with Almond Crunch Topping
Best Blueberry Muffins with Frozen Blueberries
Best Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
Perfect French Omelets
Best Blueberry Muffins
Read MoreClassic Beef Braises
Hungarian Beef Stew
Braised Beef Short Ribs
Braised Beef Short Ribs with Guinness and Prunes
Read MoreTwo Ways with Pork
Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Smoked Paprika and Ginger
Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Orange and Chipotle
Maple-Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Read MoreThe Cookie Jar
French Butter Cookies—Sables
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Toasted Coconut Sables
Almond Sables
Chocolate Sables
Lemon Sables
Read MoreSaucy Italian Favorites
Hearty Italian Meat Sauce - This over-the-top Italian-American tomato sauce typically calls for six cuts of meat and half a day at the stove. We wanted the same flavor with a lot less work.
Pasta with Tomato and Almond Pesto -Not all pesto is basil, pine nuts, and Parmesan. In Sicily, tomatoes and almonds take center stage.
Equipment - Blenders
Read MoreMeat and Potatoes for Company
Roast Beef Tenderloin -The classic approach to roasting this prime cut sacrifices juiciness for crust. Why settle for anything less than perfection?
French Mashed Potatoes - French cookery’s intensely rich, cheesy take on mashed potatoes flouts the rules. To Americanize the dish, we ignored a few more. Vive la résistance!
Equipment - Slicing Knives
Read MoreRolls and Loaves
Rustic Dinner Rolls - Turning flour, water, and yeast into crusty, airy rolls is one of the hardest bits of kitchen wizardry around. We wanted to make the process foolproof.
Multi-Grain Bread - Some multigrain bread is better suited to propping open a door than making a sandwich. We wanted a light but flavorful loaf--and we didn't want to spend all day making it.
Read MoreEgg Dishes With an Accent
French Onion and Bacon Tart - French Onion Tart is similar to quiche but delivers a more refined slice of pie, with more onions than custard. The problem? Rolling and fitting the dough into a tart pan.
Spanish Tortilla with Roasted Red Peppers and Peas - This tapas bar favorite boasting meltingly tender potatoes in a dense, creamy omelet would be the perfect simple supper—if it didn’t cook in an entire quart of olive oil.
Equipment - Electric Wine Openers
Read MoreSensation Skillet Recipes
Stovetop Roast Chicken with Lemon-Herb Sauce - One skillet and a trick from Chinese cookery were all we needed to produce the speediest crisp and juicy roast chicken that never saw the inside of an oven.
Skillet Lemon Soufflé - Swapping the ramekin for a skillet took some of the fuss out of this finicky dessert. But for brighter lemon flavor, we had to fudge another French technique.
Equipment - Inexpensive juicers
Read MoreAn Austrian Supper
Breaded Pork Cutlets (Pork Schnitzel) - The hallmark of wiener schnitzel is its light, puffy bread-crumb coating. So why is it typically so soggy and greasy?
Austrian-Style Potato Salad - For potato salad that’s both creamy and light, do as the Austrians do: Ditch the mayo and look to the soup pot.
Equipment - Traditional Skillets
Read MoreWho Wants Pasta?
An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
Coconut Layer Cake
Salmon—Indoors and Out
Recipes :
Charcoal-Grilled Salmon Fillets
Oven-Roasted Salmon
Gas-Grilled Salmon Fillets
Orange and Mint Relish
Grapefruit and Basil Relish
Olive Vinaigrette
Tangerine and Ginger Relish
Fresh Tomato Relish
Spicy Cucumber Relish
Almond Vinaigrette
Tasting Lab : California Olive Oils
Science Segment : Why Fish Sticks
Read MoreItalian Bread and Sauce
Great Glazed Chicken
Recipes :
Roasted Broccoli with Optional Garlic
Roasted Broccoli with Shallot, Fennel Seeds, and Parmesan
Roasted Broccoli with Optional Garlic for Two
Glazed Roast Chicken
Roasted Broccoli with Olives, Garlic, Oregano, and Lemon
Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Anchovies
Equipment Corner :
Vertical Roasters
Mini Prep Bowls
Read MoreChicken and Rice—Indian-Style
Recipes :
Basic Rice Pilaf
Tandoori Chicken
Yogurt Sauce
Onion Relish for Curry
Cilantro-Mint Chutney
Equipment Corner : Boning Knives
Read MoreAll-Time Cookie Favorites
Recipes :
Thin and Crispy Orange-Almond Oatmeal Cookies
Chewy Chocolate Cookies
Salty Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
Thin and Crispy Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment Corner : Portion Scoops
Tasting Lab :
Stone-Ground Oats
Quick Oats
Steel-Cut Oats
Rolled Oats
Read MoreSouth-of-the-Border Supper
Recipes :
Mexican-Style Charcoal-Grilled Corn
Mexican Pulled Pork (Carnitas)
Mexican-Style Gas-Grilled Corn
Equipment Corner : Corn Strippers
Read MoreBest Burgers and Fries
Recipes :
Easier French Fries
Best Old-Fashioned Burgers
Classic Burger Sauce
Belgian-Style Dipping Sauce
Chive and Black Pepper Dipping Sauce
Equipment Corner : Electric Deep Fryers
Science Segment :
Handling Meat
Cold Oil Frying
Read MoreThe Italian Grill
Recipes :
Grilled Stuffed Flank Steak with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Capers
Gas-Grilled Stuffed Flank Steak
Italian-Style Charcoal-Grilled Chicken
Grilled Stuffed Flank Steak with Spinach and Pine Nuts
Charcoal-Grilled Stuffed Flank Steak
Italian-Style Gas-Grilled Chicken
Tasting Lab : Provolone
Read MoreClassic Asian Appetizers
Recipes :
Shrimp Tempura
Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps
Teppanyaki Mustard Dipping Sauce
Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce
Scallion Dipping Sauce
Chile Aioli Dipping Sauce
Equipment Corner : Mortars and Pestles
Tasting Lab : Mirin
Read MoreTurkey on the Grill
Recipes :
Gas Grill-Roasted Boneless Turkey Breast
Grill-Roasted Boneless Turkey Breast with Olives and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Crisp Roasted Potatoes
Grill-Roasted Boneless Turkey Breast with Herb Butter
Charcoal Grill-Roasted Boneless Turkey Breast
Equipment Corner : Grill Cookware
Read MoreOld-Fashioned Fruit Desserts
Recipes :
Apple Upside-Down Cake with Almonds
Individual Fresh Berry Gratins
Apple Upside-Down Cake with Lemon and Thyme
Apple Upside-Down Cake
Individual Fresh Berry Gratins with Lemon Zabaglione
Individual Fresh Berry Gratins with Honey-Lavender Zabaglione
Equipment Corner : Apple Slicers
Tasting Lab : Vanilla Extract
Read MoreOld-Fashioned Sunday Dinners
Straightforward comfort foods take the spotlight in these classic Sunday night meals. Our Simple Pot Roast cooks up tender and moist, and our Chicken Pot Pie with Savory Crumble Topping is on the table in 90 minutes—without sacrificing the tender, juicy chicken and bright vegetables.
recipe:
Classic Pot Roast, Chicken Pot Pie With Savory Crumble Topping
equipment:
Plastic Food Storage Containers
science:
Brining
Read MoreDesserts with an English Accent
Taking a cue from our neighbors across the pond, we uncover the secrets to Classic Bread Pudding and shortbread.
recipe:
Classic Bread Pudding, Best Shortbread
equipment:
The Best Small Appliances
science:
The Science of Stale Bread
Read MoreTostadas and Empanadas
We venture to Chicago to learn about Rick Bayless’s famous empanadas, then create our own recipe. Next, we investigate another Latin favorite: pork tostadas.
recipe:
Beef Empanadas, Spicy Mexican Shredded Pork Tostadas (Tinga)
Read MoreChewy Brownies and Chocolate Cupcakes
We take a look at boxed and homemade brownies, then share our secrets to getting the best of each. For cupcake fans, we demonstrate how to make our Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes.
recipe:
Chewy Brownies, Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling
equipment:
Best Baking Gadgets
Read MoreItalian Comfort Classics
We take two classic Italian dishes and streamline them for the home cook. Our Italian Braised Chicken is easy to prepare but special enough to serve company, and our recipe for Creamy Polenta keeps the creaminess but shortens the cooking time.
recipe:
Chicken Canzanese, Creamy Parmesan Polenta
equipment:
Best Kitchen Gadgets
Read MoreFall Favorites
Most modern-day cooks know roast pork as the lean, bland loin. To return rich, old-fashioned flavor to slow-roasted pork shoulder, we started by taking a closer look at the choices in the butcher’s case. Our recipe for Baked Apples provides a sweet ending.
recipe:
Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder with Peach Sauce, Best Baked Apples
equipment:
Inexpensive Instant-Read Thermometers
Read MoreSeafood in a Skillet
We show you how to shop for and cook perfect Pan-Seared Scallops, then reveal the test kitchen’s secrets to Skillet-Roasted Fish Fillets.
recipe:
Pan-Seared Scallops, Skillet-Roasted Fish Fillets
equipment:
Inexpensive Nonstick Skillets
science:
Caramelizing vs. Browning
Read MoreCoffee Break Sweets
Snack cakes are always a welcome treat. Join us as we whip up two of the best: banana bread and cream cheese coffee cake.
recipe:
Ultimate Banana Bread, Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
equipment:
Adjustable Electric Kettles
Read MoreDutch Oven Classics
Host Christopher Kimball demystifies wine varieties and reveals which brands the test kitchen recommends. He then takes this knowledge to test cook Bridget Lancaster, who whips up the Best Beef Stew. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of beef broth. And finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison shows Chris how to create the ultimate Chicken and Dumplings.
Read MoreAsian Favorites at Home
Join us as we prepare a different kind of stir-fry—Thai Chicken with Basil—and prove that, with a few recipe modifications, you don’t have to be a Cantonese chef to make great shu mai.
Recipe:
Thai-Style Chicken with Basil, Steamed Chinese Dumplings (Shu Mai)
Equipment:
Large Saucepans
Read MoreSouthern Fare Reinvented
We re-create delicious pulled porksans grillthen prepare our Easier Fried Chicken recipe, which achieves that signature super-crisp crust and juicy meat without requiring quarts of oil.
Recipe:
Indoor Pulled Pork with Sweet and Tangy Barbecue Sauce, Easier Fried Chicken
Equipment:
Electric Pressure Cookers
Science:
Salting the Milk
Read MoreStuffed Beef Tenderloin
Our Horseradish-Crusted Beef Tenderloin is the centerpiece of a five-star meal, which we complete with a side of Roasted Carrots.
Recipe:
Horseradish-Crusted Beef Tenderloin, Roasted Carrots
Equipment:
Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker
Taste Test:
Horseradish, All-Purpose Vegetable Oils
Read MoreSweet Endings
Satisfy your sweet tooth with our recipes for Chewy Sugar Cookies and foolproof Berry Fool.
Recipe:
Chewy Sugar Cookies, Berry Fool
Equipment:
Innovative Mixing Bowls
Read MoreWeeknight Workhorses
Weeknight dinners should be quick to make and satisfying. We show you how to perfect two recipes that are both: Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts and Sautéed Pork Cutlets.
Recipe:
Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts, Sautéed Pork Cutlets with Mustard-Cider Sauce
Equipment:
Fire Extinguishers, Meat Pounders
Read MoreThanksgiving Turkey
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows how to make the perfect Old-Fashioned Stuffed Turkey.
Equipment Corner: Hybrid Chef's Knives
Read MoreEasier Italian Favorites
Recipes for Hearty Minestrone and Almost Hands-Free Risotto are shared.
Read MoreSteak Frites
Christopher Kimball searches for the best steak frites in Paris. Foolproof Vinaigrette is featured.
Read MoreShrimp in a Skillet
We show you how to buy the freshest shrimp on the market in order to create Greek-style shrimp and shrimp stir-fries, taking into account the crustacean’s unique cooking qualities.
Recipe:
Stir-Fried Shrimp with Snow Peas and Red Bell Pepper in Hot and Sour Sauce, Greek-Style Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta
Taste Test:
Feta Cheese
Science:
Muscle in Fish vs. Muscle and Meat
Read MoreDeep Dish Pizza
Venturing to Chicago for the real deal, we return to the test kitchen to make our own pie worthy of its namesake, as well as a chopped-salad accompaniment.
Chicago-Style Deep-Dish Pizza
Deep-dish pizza was born in Chicago, where it boasts a distinctively rich, flaky, biscuit-like crust. The problem? No pizzeria in Chicago would tell us how to make it.
Mediterranean Chopped Salad
We wanted complementary flavors and textures in every bite—not a random collection of bland, watery produce from the crisper drawer.
Read MoreAll-American Fruit Desserts
In a world overshadowed by blueberry, apple, and pumpkin fillings, cherry pie is a vividly fruity pastry worthy of revival. We perfect our own recipe, then move to the stovetop, where we prepare the ultimate Skillet Apple Crisp.
Sweet Cherry Pie
Cherry season is a mere blip on the summer-produce radar. For a juicy pie with the best fruity flavor, we’d have to look beyond the cherry tree.
Skillet Apple Crisp
Apple crisp invites a devil-may-care attitude: Slice up any old fruit, sprinkle on a topping, and bake. Perhaps that’s why it’s never on anyone’s A-list.
Ice Cream Scoops
Almost every ice cream scoop can do the job—but we demanded ease and comfort.
Supermarket Vanilla Ice Cream
Twenty-one Cook’s Illustrated staff members sampled eight national and regional brands of vanilla ice cream plain in a blind tasting, rating each on vanilla flavor, texture, and overall appeal.
Read MoreGrilled Pork Chops and Ribs
We visit Boston’s famous East Coast Grill to learn about ribs, then return to the test kitchen to make our own version of Memphis-Style Barbecued Spareribs and the Best Charcoal Grill–Smoked Pork Chops.
Memphis-Style Barbecued Spareribs on a Charcoal Grill
Memphis pit masters pride themselves on pork ribs with dark, crusty bark and distinctive chew. We wanted the same bragging rights from our own backyard.
Best Charcoal Grill-Smoked Pork Chops
To achieve juicy glazed pork infused with deep smoky flavor without a smoker, we couldn't let the chops lie down on the job.
Best New Grill Gadgets
Here are our favorite grill gadgets that make grilling easier, more fun, and more productive.
Read MoreSimply Italian
Our light and chewy Rosemary Focaccia can compete with any bakery’s, and it makes a pleasant pairing with our authentic Cacio e Pepe, or spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and black pepper.
Rosemary Focaccia
The dense, greasy bread bricks populating most bakery shelves don’t deserve their hearth- inspired name. Could a little patience—and a hands-off approach—lighten the loaf?
Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and Black Pepper (Cacio e Pepe)
Whole-Wheat Pasta
Whole-wheat pasta used to be awful, with mushy texture an a cardboard taste. Have manufacturers finally figured out how to make it rival white pasta?
Read MoreGreat Grilled Roast Beef
We uncover the secrets to injecting flavor into a less-than-perfect cut of beef in our recipe for Inexpensive Charcoal Grill–Roasted Beef, and then serve it alongside Roasted Smashed Potatoes.
Inexpensive Charcoal Grill-Roasted Beef with Garlic and Rosemary
Grill-roasting seems like an easy way to flavor a less-than-perfect cut of beef—but not if the roast comes out chewy and dry.
Smokers
Though plenty of rib and brisket enthusiasts convert their grills into makeshift smokers, proper lower-temperature smoking is best achieved with a designated appliance. Right?
Read MoreSummertime Supper Fare
We reveal the keys to two grilled dishes: Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Prosciutto and Fontina, which has a stuffing that stays put inside moist and smoky chicken, and Grilled Tuna Steaks, which have hot exteriors and cool centers.
Charcoal-Grilled Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Prosciutto and Fontina
Taking a stuffed chicken breast recipe and adding the smoky flavor of the grill sounds like a good idea—if you can get past the leathery exterior and oozing, flammable filling.
Charcoal-Grilled Tuna Steaks with Red Wine Vinegar and Mustard Vinaigrette
Ideally, grilled tuna should combine a hot, smoky, charred exterior with a cool, rare, sashimi-like center. So how do you make fish that’s both very hot and very cool?
The Best Summer Gadgets
Here are some of our favorite gadgets to keep you cool on hot summer days.
Read MoreGrilled Steak and Gazpacho
As the beef capital of the world, Argentina boasts mouthwatering steak dishes in its cuisine. We replicate one dish, Grilled Argentine Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce, and then look eastward to Spain and demonstrate our recipe for Creamy Gazpacho Andaluz.
Charcoal-Grilled Argentine Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce
With Argentine beef and a wood fire, cooking churrasco in the backyard would be easy. We were stuck with American supermarket steaks and a Weber kettle.
Creamy Gazpacho Andaluz
Most Americans know gazpacho as a chunky liquid salsa. In Spain, the most famous version is a creamy puree. But to get it right, we’d need more than just a good blender.
Canned Diced Tomatoes
When most brands garner comments like “sour, old, sad,” we just had to ask: What does it take to produce good canned diced tomatoes?
Read MoreLazy Day Breakfast
We prepare two breakfast dishes worth getting out of bed for: buttermilk waffles that come out crisp yet fluffy every time, and French toast that’s crisp on the outside and soft—not soggy—on the inside.
Buttermilk Waffles
How do you get waffles to come out crisp yet fluffy every time? Step one: Stop treating them like bumpy pancakes.
French Toast
For French toast that’s crisp on the outside and soft—not soggy—on the inside, you need to do more than just throw milk, eggs, and bread into a bowl.
Waffle Irons
Our old favorite model has been discontinued, so we reopened our search for the most efficient performer.
Read MoreSimply Chicken
Chicken fricassee is a classic French dish that could benefit from a modern makeover. We turn it into a weeknight meal with a bright, complex sauce and still have time to share the secrets to our Best Simple Roast Chicken.
Read MoreFall Classics
This episode features two fall favorites. First, we eke out juicy, tender, savory results from a bland roast in our Pot-Roasted Pork Loin recipe. Then we prepare our moist Classic Gingerbread recipe, which uses a surprising technique to get the perfect texture.
Read MoreRise and Shine Breakfast
Scrambled eggs are easy to cook but hard to cook well. We nail down an approach that guarantees fluffy, tender scrambled eggs every time. Then we serve them alongside our foolproof Cranberry Nut Muffins for a breakfast worth waking up for.
Read MoreChocolate Torte
To learn more about the rich, multilayered cakes known as tortes, we went straight to the source: the Hotel Sacher Vienna, home of the world-famous Sachertorte. Then we brought what we learned back to the test kitchen, where we created our elegant Chocolate-Raspberry Torte.
Read MorePasta, Please
Join us as we make over two Italian classics. First, we minimize the fuss and the mess of cooking spaghetti and meatballs for a crowd. Then we use a few thoughtfully chosen vegetables and a light but full-bodied sauce to make our modern Spring Vegetable Pasta.
Read MoreA Slow and Easy Thanksgiving
We take unconventional approaches to two traditional Thanksgiving staples: super-moist and tender Braised Turkey with Gravy and our crowd-pleasing Bread Stuffing with Sausage, Dried Cherries, and Pecans, which is cooked outside of the bird—but doesn’t taste like it.
Read MoreA Latin Celebration
Peruvian chicken joints are becoming popular in the United States, thanks in part to their roast chicken with garlic and lime. We use supermarket staples and a vertical roaster to replicate this phenomenal dish and then show you how to make our perfect Black Beans and Rice to serve with it.
Read MoreNew York-Style Pizza at Home
After venturing to Brooklyn for the real deal, we return to the test kitchen to develop our own Thin-Crust Pizza recipe. We’d gladly pit it against that of any New York pizza joint.
Read MoreShake and Bake Reinvented
First, we reveal how using fewer nuts actually brought out the almonds’ flavor in our Nut-Crusted Chicken Cutlets. Then we demonstrate our foolproof method for the ultimate Crisp Pan-Fried Pork Chops.
Read MoreHere's the Beef
We researched the fanatical world of chili devotees and used the best of what we learned to develop a recipe for Our Favorite Chili. Then we demonstrate another beefy favorite: Juicy Pub-Style Burgers.
Read MoreCrepes and Croissants
To learn how the French make their croissants so delicate and rich, we traveled to Paris. Then we came back to the test kitchen and used what we learned to develop our own foolproof recipe. We also introduce our flawless version of another brunch favorite: crêpes.
Read MoreSalmon and Sole
Fish dishes make the perfect weeknight meal—if you can avoid cooking them improperly and losing their crust in the process. We manage to dodge both problems in our recipes for Glazed Salmon and Baked Sole Fillets.
Read MoreSoup and Bread From Scratch
Most of the time, whole-wheat sandwich bread and broccoli-cheese soup recipes don’t taste enough like the ingredients they advertise. Our versions really taste like wheat and broccoli, respectively—and are better than anything you can buy at a supermarket.
Read MoreA Moroccan Feast
Fussy techniques and esoteric ingredients make cooking authentic Moroccan chicken a daunting proposition. Our simple Chicken Tagine and foolproof couscous take the anxiety out of preparing a Moroccan meal.
Read MoreVegetarian Pasta Night
Even the most fervent meat eaters will love our versions of these two vegetarian favorites: full-flavored Vegetable Lasagna and bright, citrusy Spaghetti al Limone.
Read MoreCool and Creamy Desserts
Grab your spoons and join us as we demonstrate fail-safe methods for making our perfect Chocolate Pudding and our Homemade Ice Cream, which could rival even the best in your supermarket’s freezer section.
Read MoreBackyard Chicken Dinner
First, we move the test kitchen outdoors to reveal the secrets to our Grill-Smoked Chicken, which has tender, juicy meat and clean, full-bodied smoke flavor. Then we go back inside to produce the ultimate Salt-Baked Potatoes.
Read MoreSlow-Cooker Revolution
We demonstrate the slow cooker’s versatility by using it to prepare three of our favorites: Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup, Pork Loin with Cranberries and Orange, and Chocolate-Hazelnut Bread Pudding.
Read MoreMediterranean Specials
Our Beef Kebabs and Greek Spinach and Feta Pie recipes take two often lackluster Mediterranean staples and elevate them to the mealtime favorites they once were.
Read MoreCold-Weather Comfort
Join us as we share two recipes that will heat up any cold day: our Split Pea and Ham Soup, which features a rich broth studded with sweet-smoky meat, and our Easy Caramel Cake, whose foolproof caramel icing is sure to reclaim its place in every baker’s repertoire.
Read MoreGnocchi and Panzanella
Think that all potato and bread recipes have to be heavy? We prove otherwise with our light-as-air Potato Gnocchi and our bread and tomato Panzanella salad.
Read MoreTime to Grill
In the summer, it’s easy to get into a grilled-burgers-and-chicken rut. Our flavor-packed Grilled Bone-In Pork Roast and tender Grilled Scallops provide the perfect change of pace.
Read MoreSweet Summer Endings
When they’re good, summer pies and cakes are a great way to highlight fresh produce. But when they’re bad, they’re a great way to waste it. Our Strawberry Pie and Summer Peach Cake are the former.
Read MoreSoutheast Asian Favorites
Join us as we travel to New York City to learn the secrets of Thai cooking. We return to the test kitchen to use our newfound knowledge in two Southeast Asian classics: Thai Grilled Beef Salad and Indonesian-Style Fried Rice.
Read MoreSummertime Supper
A foolproof cooking method ensures that our Grilled Stuffed Pork Tenderloin stays tender and moist, while a rich-tasting filling gives the mild cut big flavor. Our Lighter Corn Chowder, which actually tastes like crisp, sweet corn, rounds out the meal.
Read MoreBistro-Style Steak and Potatoes
We give you the know-how to prepare this five-star meal at home. Our Pan-Seared Steaks with Herb Sauce achieves the richness and consistency of a classic French demi-glace in a fraction of the time, and our crisp, earthy Potato Galette makes the perfect side dish.
Read MoreMeat and Potatoes à la Francaise
Host Christopher Kimball goes into the test kitchen to update a classic recipe for French-Style Pot-Roasted Pork Loin with test cook Bridget Lancaster. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews knife sets in the Equipment Corner, and test cook Becky Hays shows Chris how to make Potato Casserole with Bacon and Caramelized Onion. And finally, gadget guru Lisa McManus reveals her top pick among mandolines.
Read MoreGreat American Classics
Host Christopher Kimball heads into the test kitchen with test cook Bridget Lancaster to uncover the secrets to the ultimate Carrot Layer Cake. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried tests springform pans in the Equipment Corner. And finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison reveals how to make the best Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies.
Read MoreA Taste of Spain
Host Christopher Kimball goes into the kitchen with test cook Bridget Lancaster to learn the secrets to making perfect Catalan-Style Beef Stew with Mushrooms. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of spaghetti. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison shows Chris how to make classic Spanish-Style Toasted Pasta with Shrimp.
Read MoreSimple & Satisfying Vegetable Mains
Man on the Street John “Doc” Willoughby ventures to New York City to learn about vegetarian cooking from Amanda Cohen at Dirt Candy. Back in the test kitchen, test cook Becky Hays shows host Christopher Kimball how to make a great Mushroom and Leek Galette with Gorgonzola at home. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews his favorite vegetable cleavers in the Equipment Corner. And finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to the ultimate Farmhouse Vegetable and Barley Soup.
Read MorePork Chops and Lentil Salad
Test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to perfect Red Wine-Braised Pork Chops. Next, host Christopher Kimball reveals the test kitchen’s best tips for storing, chopping and handling fresh herbs. Then, science expert Guy Crosby explains the science of braising. Next, Chris answers questions from viewers. And finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster shows Chris how to make the best Lentil Salad at home.
Read MoreUltimate Italian
Man on the Street John “Doc” Willoughby ventures to New York City to learn secrets of homemade pasta from the pros. In the test kitchen, test cook Dan Souza shows host Christopher Kimball how to make Fresh Pasta Without a Machine. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of Mozzarella Cheese. And finally, test cook Bryan Roof uncovers the secrets to the ultimate Ragu alla Bolognese.
Read MoreIrish Comfort Classics
Host Christopher Kimball heads into the test kitchen with test cook Julia Collin Davison to update a classic recipe for Shepherd’s Pie. Next, gadget guru Lisa McManus reveals her favorite quirky kitchen gadgets. Then, Chris answers questions from viewers. And finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to making New England–Style Home-Corned Beef and Cabbage.
Read MoreTwo Ways with Fish
Test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to perfect Poached Fish Fillets with Sherry-Tomato Vinaigrette. Then, science expert Guy Crosby explains the science of poaching in oil. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges host Christopher Kimball to a tasting of oyster crackers. Then, test cook Julia Collin Davison shows Chris how to make foolproof Easy Salmon Cakes at home. And finally, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews oyster knives in the Equipment Corner.
Read MoreBig, Bold Chicken Braises
Test cook Bridget Lancaster updates the recipe for a Silver Palette classic, Chicken Marbella. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges host Christopher Kimball to a tasting of whole roasted chickens. Next, Man on the Street John “Doc” Willoughby learns about authentic Filipino cooking at the Purple Yam in Brooklyn. And finally, Chris heads into the test kitchen with test cook Bryan Roof to make perfect Filipino Chicken Adobo.
Read MoreSpicy Fall Sweets
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the best Pumpkin Bread. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of molasses. Next, science expert Guy Crosby explains the science of baking soda. And finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to perfect Gingersnaps.
Read MoreCompany’s Coming
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the Best Prime Rib and perfectly Roasted Brussels Sprouts at home. Finally, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of premium butters.
Read MoreBreakfast Standbys
Man on the Street John “Doc” Willoughby challenges viewers to a blind oatmeal tasting to see if steel-cut really is better than instant. Then, host Christopher Kimball goes into the test kitchen with test cook Bridget Lancaster to learn how to make the best bowl of 10-Minute Steel Cut Oatmeal. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried is in the Equipment Corner reviewing his favorite moka pots, and Chris answers questions from viewers. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to making perfect Home Fries.
Read MoreTurkey on the Grill
Test cook Bridget Lancaster shows host Christopher Kimball how to make a Simple Grill-Roasted Turkey and serves it with Cranberry Chutney. Next, Chris reveals the Test Kitchen’s best tips for taking the temperature of a turkey. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his top pick for All Purpose Cleaners in the Equipment Corner.
Read MoreChicken Classics, Improved
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the ultimate Skillet Chicken Fajitas. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of tortillas, and test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to the best Classic Chicken Salad. And finally, gadget guru Lisa McManus reviews her favorite new kitchen gadgets.
Read MoreGreat Italian Pasta Sauces
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make perfect Pasta all’Amatriciana. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his top pick for box graters in the Equipment Corner, and tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of canned whole tomatoes. And finally, test cook Bryan Roof uncovers the secrets to making the best Quick Mushroom Ragu with lots of mushroom flavor.
Read MoreAsian Takeout Favorites
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the ultimate Sichuan Stir-Fried Pork in Garlic Sauce. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his pick among blenders in the Equipment Corner. And finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to making perfect Thai-Style Stir-Fried Noodles with Chicken and Broccolini right at home.
Read MoreSpicing Up the Grill
Test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to making the best Spicy Pork Tacos on the grill. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his favorite grilling tools in the Equipment Corner, and test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Chris Kimball how to make perfect Jerk Chicken at home. And finally, gadget guru Lisa McManus reveals her favorite mortar and pestle.
Read MorePerfecting Summer Classics
Test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to making the best Grilled Steak with New Mexican Chile Rub. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges host Christopher Kimball to a tasting of hot sauces. Next, test cook Becky Hays shows Chris how to make perfect Raspberry Sorbet at home, and science expert Guy Crosby explains the science behind great sorbet. And finally, gadget guru Lisa McManus reveals her favorite ice cream machine and cone maker.
Read MoreRethinking Seafood Classics
Test cook Bridget Lancaster shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the Best Crab Cakes. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of crabmeat. Then, test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to perfect Grill-Smoked Salmon with lots of smoke flavor. And finally, gadget guru Lisa McManus reveals her top pick for seafood scissors.
Read MoreSkewered and Wrapped
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the best Grilled Beef Satay. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews his top picks for sauté pans in the Equipment Corner. And finally, test cook Becky Hays uncovers the secrets to making quick Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps at home.
Read MoreShort Ribs and Chops Hit the Grill
Test cook Julia Collin Davison show host Christopher Kimball how to make Easy Grilled Boneless Pork Chops. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his top pick for pressure cookers in the Equipment Corner. And finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster shows Chris how to make the best Grill-Roasted Beef Short Ribs, and gadget guru Lisa reviews her favorite knife accessories.
Read MoreIndian Classics Made Easy
Man on the Street John “Doc” Willoughby learns about Indian cuisine from Chef Floyd Cardoz. Then, test cook Becky Hays teaches host Christopher Kimball how to make two classic Indian recipes: Indian Flatbread and Indian-Style Spinach with Fresh Cheese. And finally, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his top pick for juicers in the Equipment Corner, and gadget guru Lisa McManus reviews some of her favorite kitchen gadgets.
Read MoreUltimate Grilled Turkey Burgers
Test cook Becky Hays shows host Christopher Kimball how to make the best Juicy Grilled Turkey Burgers. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of cheddar cheese. Next, gadget guru Lisa McManus reviews Oil Misters. And finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster reveals the secrets to making foolproof Potato Burger Buns.
Read MoreChili and Stew Go Vegetarian
Host Christopher Kimball travels to Foxy Farms in the Salinas Valley to see where the nation’s produce is grown. Then he heads into the test kitchen with test cook Becky Hays to learn how to make the Best Vegetarian Chili. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried reveals his top pick for vegetable peelers in the Equipment Corner. And finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison reveals the secrets to the ultimate Italian Vegetable Stew.
Read MoreFrench Sweets, Refined and Rustic
Man on the Street John “Doc” Willoughby heads to the Mast Brothers Chocolate Factory in Brooklyn to learn all about the art of chocolate making. Next, test cook Bridget Lancaster shows host Christopher Kimball how to make perfect Chocolate Truffles at home. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of cocoa powder. And finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison reveals the secrets to making the best French Apple Cake.
Read MoreSunday Brunch
Test cook Julia Collin Davison shows host Christopher Kimball how to make foolproof Cinnamon Swirl Bread. Then, gadget guru Lisa McManus reveals her favorite pancake dispenser, and Chris answers questions from viewers. Next, test cook Bridget Lancaster shows Chris how to make perfect Baked Eggs Florentine at home, and science expert Guy Crosby explains the science behind perfect baked eggs.
Read MoreFrench Bistro Favorites
Recipes for simple pot-au-feu, and raspberry charlotte.
Read MoreNew York Natives
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A Hearty Start to the Day
Recipes for eggs pipérade, chocolate hazelnut spread, and 100 percent whole-wheat pancakes. Featuring a Tasting Lab on maple syrup.
Read MoreA Hearty Fall Feast
Recipes for roasted brined turkey, roasted rack of lamb with sweet mint-almond relish, and root vegetable gratin. Featuring a Tasting Lab on Dijon mustard.
Read MoreSpanish Chicken and Israeli Couscous
Recipes for Spanish braised chicken with sherry and saffron (pollo en pepitoria); and Israeli couscous with lemon, mint, peas, feta, and pickled shallots. Featuring a Tasting Lab on Israeli couscous.
Read MorePass the Pasta
Recipes for sausage meatballs and spaghetti, and tagliatelle with prosciutto and peas. Featuring an Equipment Corner covering insulated shopping totes.
Read MoreChocolate-Caramel Layer Cake
A recipe for chocolate-caramel layer cake. Featuring an Equipment Corner covering large ice cream makers and ice cream scoops.
Read MoreWhy Not Add Wine?
Recipes for Tuscan-style beef stew, and coq au riesling. Featuring an Equipment Corner covering corkscrew wine openers.
Read MoreSaucing Up Chicken and Roasting Mushrooms
Test cook Bryan Roof demonstrates how to make the best Quick Sauces for Sautéed Chicken. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews serrated paring knives in the Equipment Corner. Next, gadget expert Lisa McManus reviews her favorite kitchen gadgets. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to the ultimate Roasted Mushrooms with Parmesan and Pine Nuts.
Read MoreSweet and Spicy Asian Specialties
Man on the street Doc Willoughby visits Joanne Chang at Myers + Chang to learn about shell-on shrimp. Then, test cook Becky Hays demonstrates how to make the best Crispy Salt and Pepper Shrimp at home. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop conducts a tasting of Sichuan peppercorns. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison reveals the secrets to making Vietnamese-Style Caramel Chicken with Broccoli.
Read MoreA Roast for the Holidays
Test cook Bridget Lancaster demonstrates how to make the ultimate Fennel-Coriander Top Sirloin Roast. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews carving boards in the Equipment Corner. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to making the crispiest Duck Fat–Roasted Potatoes.
Read MorePork and Pears
Test cook Bridget Lancaster reveals the secrets to making the best Milk-Braised Pork Loin. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop conducts a tasting of apricot preserves. Next, gadget expert Lisa McManus uncovers the best apple corers. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the ultimate Roasted Pears with Dried Apricots and Pistachios.
Read MoreRoast Chicken and Potatoes Revisited
Test cook Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the ultimate Slow-Roasted Chicken Parts with Shallot-Garlic Pan Sauce. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews carbon-steel chef’s knives. Finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to the perfect Boiled Potatoes with Black Olive Tapenade.
Read MoreDinner in Italy
Man on the street Doc Willoughby learns all about Sicilian-style pizza from the Barbati family of L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn. Then, test cook Bridget Lancaster demonstrates how to make the ultimate Thick-Crust Sicilian-Style Pizza at home. Next, test cook Becky Hays uncovers the secrets to Homemade Ricotta Cheese. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the best Pasta with Cauliflower, Bacon, and Bread Crumbs.
Read MoreServing Up Noodles and Rice
Test cook Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the best Japanese-Style Stir-Fried Noodles with Beef at home. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews knife sharpeners in the Equipment Corner. Finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster reinvents a classic, Fried Brown Rice with Pork and Shrimp.
Read MoreItalian with Ease
Test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to making Semolina Gnocchi at home. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop conducts a tasting of balsamic vinegar. Finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster demonstrates how to make the best Italian Sausage with Grapes and Balsamic Vinegar.
Read MoreFrench Pork Chops and Bisque
Test cook Bridget Lancaster demonstrates how to make the best French-Style Pork Chops with Apples and Calvados. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop conducts a tasting of Brie. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison reveals the secrets to making the ultimate Mushroom Bisque.
Read MoreUltimate Chinese
Test cook Bridget Lancaster demonstrates how to make the ultimate Mu Shu Pork at home. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews rice cookers in the Equipment Corner. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to making the best Crispy Orange Beef.
Read MoreVegetarian Essentials
Test cook Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the ultimate Black Bean Burgers at home. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop conducts a tasting of vegetable broth. Then, test cook Becky Hays demonstrates how to make the freshest Super Greens Soup with Lemon-Tarragon Cream. Finally, test cook Dan Souza reveals the secrets to making Homemade Vegetable Broth.
Read MoreBraised to Perfection
Test cook Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the ultimate Braised Halibut with Leeks and Mustard at home. Next, tasting expert Jack Bishop conducts a tasting of smoked salmon. Then, gadget expert Lisa McManus uncovers the best warming trays. Finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster reveals the secrets to making perfect Slow-Cooked Whole Carrots.
Read MoreDinner in Cuba
Man on the street Doc Willoughby learns all about Cuban cuisine at La Carreta in Miami, Florida. Then, Dan Souza demonstrates how to make the best Cuban Braised Shredded Beef at home. Next, test cook Becky Hays uncovers the secrets to making Fried Sweet Plantains. Then, testing expert Adam Ried reviews grapefruit knives in the Equipment Corner. Finally, test cook Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the ultimate Mango, Orange, and Jícama Salad.
Read MoreCountry Ribs and Corn Muffins
Test cook Bryan Roof uncovers the secrets to making the ultimate Sweet and Tangy Grilled Country-Style Pork Ribs. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews laundry stain removers in the Equipment Corner. Finally, test cook Dan Souza shows Chris how to make the best Savory Corn Muffins at home.
Read MorePork Kebabs and Steaks Hit the Grill
Test cook Dan Souza demonstrates how to make the Ultimate Charcoal-Grilled Steaks at home. Next, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews steak knives in the Equipment Corner. Then, gadget expert Lisa McManus uncovers the best jar spatulas and jar openers. Finally, test cook Bryan Roof reveals the secrets to making perfect Grilled Pork Kebabs with Hoisin and Five-Spice.
Read MoreMexican Mole and Drunken Beans
Julia Collin Davison demonstrates how to make the best Chicken Mole Poblano at home. Then, tasting expert Jack Bishop challenges Chris to a tasting of Mexican lagers. Finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster reveals the secrets to making the ultimate Drunken Beans.
Read MoreGrilled Chicken and Salad with a Kick
Test cook Becky Hays demonstrates how to make the perfect Peri Peri Grilled Chicken. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews the latest grill gadgets in the Equipment Corner. Next, Chris answers cooking questions in Letters to the Editor. Finally, test cook Bridget Lancaster uncovers the secrets to making the best Pita Bread Salad with Tomatoes and Cucumber.
Read MoreRevolutionizing Classic Fruit Desserts
Test cook Julia Collin Davison reveals the secrets to making the perfect Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Then, equipment expert Adam Ried reviews cold brew coffee makers in the Equipment Corner. Next, gadget expert Lisa McManus uncovers the best tea gadgets. Finally, test cook Dan Souza demonstrates how to make the best Cherry Clafouti.
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