NUMBER 168 JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2021

No-Fail Popovers
Home Bartending 101
Ingredients, Gear, Recipes

Next-Level Egg
Sandwiches
Our Kimchi
Bokkeumbap
Cooking with Butter
Skordalia Is for
Garlic Lovers
Pillowy Gnudi
Browned Butter–Tomato Sauce

Ultracomforting
Chicken and Gravy
CooksIllustrated.com

Make the Most of $6.95 U.S./$8.95 CANADA

Your Multicooker
Plus: Our Favorite Model

How to Roast Fennel Display until February 8, 2021

 JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2021

PAGE 6

PAGE 4

PAGE 24 PAGE 26 PAGE 20 PAGE 14

2 Quick Tips 12 Kimchi Bokkeumbap 22 The Best Multicooker

Quick and easy ways to perform everyday tasks, This punchy, radiant fried rice is comfort food for Your Money
from drizzling oil to seeding chiles. on the fly in many Korean households. It’s also a
Two months. Thirteen models. Countless
COMPILED BY ANNIE PETITO junction of the cuisine’s two most fundamental
batches of food. Here’s what we learned.
staples. BY ELIZABETH BOMZE
BY RIDDLEY GEMPERLEIN-SCHIRM
4 Light and Tender Gnudi RECIPE BY ANDREW JANJIGIAN

Cobbled together from ricotta and greens, these
dumplings have long evoked rustic Italian cooking.
Yet precision is required to get their pillowy
texture just right. BY LAN LAM
6 My Favorite Egg Sandwich
24 Two Multicooker Meals
14 No-Fail Popovers The pressure-cook feature of this appliance
Crisp and toasty on the outside, custardy and delivers deeply complex flavors in record time.
lush within. With our easy and foolproof recipe, Here are two one-pot dinners to prove our
popovers are dependably magical. point. BY NICOLE KONSTANTINAKOS
BY ANDREA GEARY

A local bakery’s thoughtfully crafted sandwich 26 Home Bartending 101

featuring tender, creamy, custardy eggs inspired me 16 Cooking with Butter With the right ingredients, equipment, and recipes,
to create a version of my own. BY LAN LAM This stick of (mostly) fat is one of the most you can elevate your cocktails from simple to
versatile ingredients in any kitchen. sublime. BY MIYE BROMBERG
9 Skordalia Is for Garlic Lovers BY ELIZABETH BOMZE
29 Kitchen Notes
In this heady Greek condiment, the allium gets top
billing. BY STEVE DUNN 19 Why You Should Roast BY ELIZABETH BOMZE, STEVE DUNN,
ANDREA GEARY, ANDREW JANJIGIAN,
Fennel LAN LAM & ANNIE PETITO
10 Ultracomforting Chicken High heat turns this vegetable into an even better
version of itself. BY KEITH DRESSER
and Gravy 32 Equipment Corner
Spatchcock a bird and slide it under the broiler. BY CHASE BRIGHTWELL, MIYE BROMBERG,
While it cooks to juicy, crispy-skinned perfection, 20 Anzac Biscuits RIDDLEY GEMPERLEIN-SCHIRM &
use our novel method to whip up a luscious, Part patriotic icon, part everyday sweet, these KATE SHANNON
savory gravy. BY STEVE DUNN Antipodean biscuits are like my favorite oatmeal
cookie—but with a decidedly golden touch.
BY DAVID PAZMIÑO Join Our Community of Recipe Testers
Our recipe testers provide valuable feedback
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 E D I T O R I A L STA F F LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Chief Executive Officer David Nussbaum
Chief Creative Officer Jack Bishop
Editor in Chief Dan Souza
Editorial Director Amanda Agee
Deputy Editor Rebecca Hays
Executive Food Editor Keith Dresser
Managing Editor Elizabeth Bomze
Deputy Food Editor Andrea Geary
Senior Editors Lan Lam, Annie Petito
THE TREES FOR THE FOREST
Associate Editor Steve Dunn
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Photo Team Manager Alli Berkey
Lead Test Cook, Photo Team Eric Haessler

Test Cooks, Photo Team Hannah Fenton,
Jacqueline Gochenouer
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Copy Editors Christine Campbell, April Poole
Managing Editor, Web Mari Levine
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ILLUSTRATION: JOHN BURGOYNE
I
never thought much about trees. Sure, I’d method? For this issue, she opened the cold case and
notice the big stuff—leaves dramatically set about testing each and every variable until she
changing color in the fall, the time Hurricane arrived at her fail-safe formula on page 15.
Gloria toppled a huge speci- Steve Dunn’s inquisitiveness
men that knocked out our power runs throughout this issue, but my
for days. But for most of my life, favorite expression of it is tucked
trees were ubiquitous, ignorable. into his kitchen note about a vegan
Then I learned about a tree substitute for anchovies (page 30).
whose heart-shaped leaves emit a Anchovies—tiny preserved fish—
cotton candy–like aroma as they are one of the most complex ingre-
change from green to yellow in dients you’ll find in the kitchen,
October. It’s called a katsura tree, and by leaning on the Japanese
and when I smelled it firsthand, pantry and some smart flavor sci-
I realized just how much I was miss- ence, Steve created a deeply savory
ing. That experience jump-started paste that matches their depth.
a passionate curiosity, and I’ve been And Elizabeth Bomze dug
studying and appreciating trees ever DAN SOUZA deep into one of my favorite
since. (Another favorite of mine is Editor in Chief dinner-on-the-fly dishes: Kimchi
the sweet birch. Snap a small branch; Bokkeumbap (Kimchi Fried Rice).
breathe deep; and you’ll be hit with the smell of a She spoke with kimchi producers and Korean
freshly opened can of root beer, thanks to a high cooks and wove their perspectives into the story on
concentration of wintergreen oil in its inner bark.) page 12. In it she explores what this dish can teach
That path from curiosity to deep appreciation us about the very foundations of Korean cuisine.
is something I think about a lot, perhaps in part You’re a curious cook, too—that’s why you’re
because it’s so central to what we do at Cook’s here—so I hope you’ll take these recipes, techniques,
Illustrated. We’re a curious bunch. Here’s where and insights and make them your own. Oh, and if
that spirit took us this issue. you happen upon a sweet birch tree this winter, snap
I’d call Andrea Geary’s a simmering form of curios- a twig and breathe deep.
ity, one she put on the back burner for decades until it
boiled over into a full-on investigation. Andrea baked The COVID-19 crisis interrupted our production
popovers for her siblings after school for years and was schedule for this issue of Cook’s Illustrated. To make
always puzzled by the batches that just never popped. sure that you have a full package of excellent recipes,
Could it have been the type of milk she used? The we’ve curated a few of our favorites from our cowork-
oven temperature? Something hidden in her mixing ers on the ATK books team.
F O R I N Q U I R I E S , O R D E R S , O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N
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january & february 2021

1
Keeping Cookie
Dough Round
Leslie Saltsman of Potomac, Md.,
uses cardboard paper towel rolls
to store her cookie dough in the
refrigerator. Once she’s formed the
dough into a log, she rolls it in plas-
tic wrap and slides the dough inside
the cardboard (slit lengthwise) to
protect it in the fridge and keep it
perfectly round.
Slow-Flow Oil
A drizzle of deeply flavorful truffle
oil or toasted sesame oil can add
character and complexity to a dish,
but if too much accidentally gushes
from the bottle, it can also ruin the
dish. To prevent this, Ning Zhou of
Brooklyn, N.Y., holds a chopstick
across the bottle opening with its
tip pointed toward the food as she
pours—the oil travels along the
length of the chopstick in a thin
stream, making it easier to control
the flow.
SEND US YOUR TIPS We will provide a complimentary one-year subscription for each tip we print. Send your tip, name, address, and
telephone number to Quick Tips, Cook’s Illustrated, 21 Drydock Avenue, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210, or to QuickTips@AmericasTestKitchen.com.
Seeding Small Chiles
Jo Ann Weiner of Meadowbrook,
QUI C K TI P S Pa., uses the following method to
seed small chiles.
Some of the best tips you’ve shared
with us aim to make food preparation
easier, cleaner, and more convenient.
Here are a few of our favorites.
1. Remove stem and halve
chile crosswise.
j COMPILED BY ANNIE PETITO k
Quick-Trim a Whole
Bunch of Herbs
Plucking the individual leaves from
fresh herbs such as parsley and
cilantro can be time-consuming,
especially when you need a large
amount. Eric Scalavino of North 2. Roll chile gently, breaking off ribs
Providence, R.I., has a quicker and forcing ribs and seeds out cut end.
method: He holds the bunch with
one hand and, in a downward
stroke, shaves what he needs
from the stems. (He discards
any large, woody stems that get
cut off before proceeding with
the recipe.)
Making Sure to Season
If you don’t like to add salt to pasta
water before it comes to a boil for fear
of pitting your pots but want to make 3. Slice seed-free chile into rings.
sure that you remember to add the salt
by the time the water does come to a
boil, try this tip from Audrey Hunter A Banana’s Built-In
of Glendive, Mont. Add the salt to the Cutting Board
opened box of pasta (we recommend To avoid dirtying a cutting board
1 tablespoon of table salt per pound when slicing bananas for a morning
of pasta), and then simply dump the bowl of cereal, Michael Bibeault of
contents into the boiling water. Austin, Texas, uses this trick: Partially
peel the banana, leaving a strip of peel
running down its length. Then place
Pitting Olives the Fun(nel) Way the banana peel side down on the
A common way to remove pits from olives counter and slice the banana.
without an olive pitter is to smash them
on a cutting board. For a more elegant—
and equally effective—alternative, Marci
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN BURGOYNE
Abbrecht of Wellesley, Mass., places a funnel
upside down on the counter; stands one end
of the olive on the spout; and presses down,
allowing the pit to fall through the funnel.
cook’s illustrated
2
Better Flour Duster
When rolling out biscuits, pie pastry,
or pizza dough, Latrice Gainey of
Timmonsville, S.C., was covering
her counter with drifts of wasted
flour until she figured out a better
method. She now keeps a clean, dry
cheese shaker filled with flour and
sprinkles just what she needs.
An Easier Way to
Grate Ginger
John Messina of Tualatin, Ore., finds
that when he’s grating ginger on a
rasp-style grater, a brief stint in the
freezer makes the juicy, fibrous root
easier to grate.
1. Place peeled ginger in zipper-lock
bag and freeze for 30 minutes.
2. Neatly grate ginger.
Skinning Hazelnuts with a Good Shake
Rather than dirty a clean dish towel to rub the skins from toasted hazelnuts, Ashley
Butkovic of Seattle, Wash., has found that she can remove the skins by putting the
nuts in a small plastic container and shaking it really hard. She then dumps the nuts
into a spider skimmer or slotted spoon and shakes off the skins.
Quickly Measuring Salad Bag Cutlets Before
Dressing Flattening Them
Instead of dirtying her measuring cups, Before pounding cutlets, Dorothy
spoons, and whisk every time she wants Annibal of Towaco, N.J., places the
to make her favorite vinaigrette, Elizabeth meat in an empty plastic bag from a
Zeller Montgomery of Brooklyn, N.Y., box of cereal, which is sturdier than
came up with this practical solution. plastic wrap and thus does a better
Separately measure out the oil and vinegar job of shielding her counter and cut-
(we like a 3:1 ratio), and then pour them ting board from cross-contamination.
into a clear plastic bottle, using a per-
manent marker to mark the level of the
mixture after you’ve added each ingredi-
ent. As long as you keep the bottle, you’ll
never again have to dirty a measuring cup
or spoon for these components. Add any
solid ingredients (such as garlic, herbs, or
mustard), close the bottle, and shake it
until the dressing is thoroughly mixed.
The French (Press) Way An Ice Bath That
to Hydrate Mushrooms Doesn’t Need a Refill
Dried mushrooms are so light that When blanching and shocking large
they often bob to the surface of the batches of vegetables, George
water being used to hydrate them, Stone of Colfax, Wis., finds that his
1. Place 1 cutlet inside empty plastic
causing the pieces to ice maker can’t keep up with the
cereal bag.
soften unevenly. To demand for ice baths. His solution:
keep the pieces freezing water in pint-size plastic
submerged, Georgia storage containers, which produces
Spaulding Edwards of large disks of ice that melt more
Santa Barbara, Calif., gradually than those his ice maker
uses a French cranks out yet keep the bath cold
press coffee enough to shock vegetables.
maker. She
places the
mushrooms in
the clean carafe,
fills it with hot
water, and uses
the press to
submerge the
mushrooms. 2. Pound cutlet to desired thickness.
january & february 2021
3
 Light and Tender Gnudi
Cobbled together from ricotta and greens, these dumplings have long evoked rustic
Italian cooking. Yet precision is required to get their pillowy texture just right.
j BY LAN LAM k

I
talian cooks came by gnudi the way tack on both: I “towel-dried” the ricotta on
other cooks in that part of the world a rimmed baking sheet for 10 minutes and
came by panzanella and pappa al used frozen spinach, which simply needed to
pomodoro—which is to say by neces- be thawed and dried in a single batch (see
sity more than by design. They patched “Fast Track to Water Management”).
together the soft, fresh cheese and greens From there, I chopped the spinach in a
(usually chard or spinach) that were abun- food processor and transferred it to a bowl
dant in pastoral pockets of Tuscany, bind- with the drained ricotta. Then I seasoned
ing them up with egg, flour and/or bread the mixture with Parmesan, salt and pepper,
crumbs, grated Parmesan or pecorino, and lemon zest and started experimenting
and seasonings. When the dough was ade- with binders. I needed just the right balance
quately cohesive, they molded small por- of eggs and starch: Egg proteins hold the
tions into round or cylindrical dumplings; dough together as it cooks, but eggs also
gently poached them in salty water; and add water; starch from flour and/or bread
sauced them with something simple, such crumbs absorbs water, firming the dough
as tomato sugo or browned butter. and making it easy to manipulate, but too
This was cucina povera at its best: a much can lead to dense results.
couple of naturally paired provisions deftly Case in point: I made a beautifully work-
worked into something substantial and able dough with a pair of egg whites (more
satisfying. And while the name of the dish valuable than yolks for their preponderance
suggests a certain deficiency, the dumplings’ of binding proteins) and a little more than
appeal is arguably thanks to—not in spite ½ cup of flour. I rolled it into tidy ropes and
of—the absence of pasta dough. (“Gnudi” cut the ropes into small pieces as I would
literally means “nudes,” referring to the gnocchi—the shaping approach I’d seen in
way they seem like ravioli filling without several recipes. But the cooked dumplings
the wrapper. They’re also known as malfatti were dense and tight.
and strozzapreti; for more information, see I could have kept fiddling with the ratios,
“What’s in a Name?”) In fact, Italian food but instead I solicited ideas from Lydia
scholars such as Oretta Zanini De Vita have Reichert, a friend of mine who is the former
traced praise for gnudi as far back as the 13th chef at Sycamore in Newton, Massachusetts.
century. In her Encyclopedia of Pasta (2009), She offered a clutch suggestion: Instead of
Zanini De Vita notes that the Franciscan making a dough that’s firm enough to roll,
friar and chronicler Salimbene da Parma make one that’s just cohesive enough to
“. . . tasted gnudi for the feast of Saint Clare scoop and roll into rounds (see “The Scoop
and considered them a true delicacy.” on Scooping”).
At the same time, it must have taken Our quick sauce combines bright fresh tomatoes with rich browned butter. To do that, I had to cut back on some
practiced hands to turn out the tender, of the flour without removing so much
verdant dumplings that still make up the dish today. “[There’s a] physical challenge to getting it starch that the dough became sticky. And as it turned
I stumbled through my first batches as I confronted right,” she said of the dough. “[There should be] out, that was a perfect job for the bread crumbs I’d
the dish’s universal challenge: water management. just enough firmness that it doesn’t disintegrate . . . seen in some gnudi recipes: Just 1 tablespoon of
Both the ricotta and the greens are loaded with but [it should be] really airy.”
moisture, much of which must be removed lest the What’s in a Name? PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE
dough be too difficult to handle or require so much Making Light of the Dough Italian dumplings go by a variety of names depend-
binder that the dumplings are leaden instead of light. To tackle the water issue, most recipes suggest drain- ing on the preparation and the region—and which
Michael Pagliarini, chef-owner of Giulia and ing the ricotta in a paper towel–lined strainer and legend you prefer. The kind made from ricotta and
Benedetto restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts, blanching the greens (I was using fresh spinach) greens are variously called gnudi, referring to their
underscored the latter risk for me, noting that cooks before squeezing out as much water as possible. I had appearance as “naked” ravioli filling; malfatti, a nod
must tread carefully when it comes to binders if they no trouble with either technique, except efficiency. to their inconsistent, “badly formed” shape; and
don’t want dense results. Jody Adams, a Boston-area It took hours for the cheese to drain sufficiently and strozzapreti, or “priest stranglers”—a title some
chef best known for her restaurants Porto, Trade, multiple batches of blanched spinach to yield enough link to a tale about a hungry priest who ate them
and (now-shuttered) Rialto, echoed that sentiment. for four servings of dough. Ultimately, I changed so voraciously that he choked.

cook’s illustrated
4
 Fast Track to Water
Management
The two key components in gnudi, greens (usually
spinach or chard) and ricotta, contain loads of
water that must be removed so that the dough
isn’t too wet and sticky to handle or too loose
to form cohesive dumplings. All told, our tech-
niques eliminate nearly a cup of water.
“TOWEL-DRY” RICOTTA
Letting the ricotta sit in a paper
towel–lined fine-mesh strainer is
a common method for remov-
ing its whey, but it can take up
to 10 hours to drain off just a Liquid Removed
3 Tablespoons
few tablespoons. “Towel-drying”
the cheese in a thin layer on a paper towel–lined
rimmed baking sheet creates more surface area to
remove just as much liquid in about 10 minutes.
METHOD: Line rimmed baking sheet with
double layer of paper towels. Spread ricotta in
even layer over towels and set aside for 10 min-
utes. Grasp paper towels and fold ricotta in half;
peel back towels. Rotate sheet 90 degrees and
repeat folding and peeling 2 more times to con-
solidate ricotta into smaller mass. Using paper
towels as sling, transfer ricotta to bowl.
USE FROZEN SPINACH
Ridding raw spinach of excess
moisture is often done by
blanching the leaves, which
damages their cells and releases
their water. But there’s a much Liquid Removed
½ to ⅔ cup
simpler way to get this result:
using frozen spinach. Freezing spinach turns its
water into jagged ice crystals that break the cells
open; when the spinach thaws, the water practi-
cally pours from the leaves and can be easily
wrung out with your hands.
ILLUSTRATION: JAY LAYMAN
METHOD: Divide spinach (frozen whole leaf,
thawed) into 3 or 4 portions. Gather 1 portion
in your hands and squeeze out as much liquid as
possible. Repeat with remaining portions.
conventional crumbs in place of an equal amount
of flour produced a light but cohesive dough and
noticeably airier gnudi, since they made the dough
heterogeneous, much as they would in a meatball
mixture. The results were even better with panko;
these coarser crumbs are more absorbent and made
the raw dough easier to handle.
Two Traditions Become One
Bright tomato sugo and rich browned butter are
classic gnudi sauces, but I was intrigued by the
thoughtful, less traditional riffs I’d seen and ended
up making something of a hybrid. I browned some
butter, toasting thinly sliced garlic in it as I swirled
the pan, and then added halved cherry tomatoes
along with a splash of cider vinegar. I cut the heat and
covered the pan so that the tomatoes collapsed and
spilled their bright juices into the butter—almost like
tomato confit. Fresh basil and grated Parmesan over
the top made the whole ensemble pop and placed my
take on this dish just where I wanted it: comfortably
wedged between traditional and personal.
SPINACH AND RICOTTA GNUDI
WITH TOMATO-BUTTER SAUCE
SERVES 4 AS A MAIN DISH OR 6 AS A FIRST COURSE
TOTAL TIME: 1 ¼ HOURS
Ricotta without stabilizers such as locust bean, guar,
and xanthan gums drains more readily. You can sub-
stitute part-skim ricotta for the whole-milk ricotta.
Frozen whole-leaf spinach is easiest to squeeze dry,
but frozen chopped spinach will work. Squeezing the
spinach should remove ½ to ⅔ cup of liquid; you
should have ⅔ cup of finely chopped spinach. Our
tomato-butter sauce isn’t strictly canonical; if you’d
prefer a more traditional accompaniment, substitute
our Simple Tomato Sauce (available for free for four
months at CooksIllustrated.com/feb21) or browned
butter and fresh sage. Serve with a simple salad.
Gnudi
12 ounces (1½ cups) whole-milk ricotta cheese
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (½ cup),
plus extra for garnishing
1 tablespoon panko bread crumbs
¾ teaspoon table salt, plus salt for cooking gnudi
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon grated lemon zest
10 ounces frozen whole-leaf spinach,
thawed and squeezed dry
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
Sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
12 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil
january & february 2021
5
The Scoop on
Scooping
The texture of cooked gnudi
can mostly be predicted
by the consistency of the
raw dough. A mixture
that is firm enough to
be rolled into ropes
and cut into pieces (like
gnocchi dough) tends to
contain more binder and
cook up rather dense.
This dough, which is just
cohesive enough to scoop
and roll into balls, cooks up
light and pillowy.
1. FOR THE GNUDI: Line rimmed baking
sheet with double layer of paper towels. Spread
ricotta in even layer over towels; set aside and let sit
for 10 minutes. Place flour, Parmesan, panko, salt,
pepper, and lemon zest in large bowl and stir to com-
bine. Process spinach in food processor until finely
chopped, about 30 seconds, scraping down sides of
bowl as needed. Transfer spinach to bowl with flour
mixture. Grasp paper towels and fold ricotta in half;
peel back towels. Rotate sheet 90 degrees and repeat
folding and peeling 2 more times to consolidate
ricotta into smaller mass. Using paper towels as sling,
transfer ricotta to bowl with spinach mixture. Discard
paper towels but do not wash sheet. Add egg whites
to bowl and mix gently until well combined.
2. Transfer heaping teaspoons of dough to
now-empty sheet (you should have 45 to 50 por-
tions). Using your dry hands, gently roll each portion
into 1-inch ball.
3. FOR THE SAUCE: Melt butter in small sauce-
pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, swirling
saucepan occasionally, until butter is very foamy and
garlic is pale golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat,
add tomatoes and vinegar; cover and set aside.
4. Bring 1 quart water to boil in Dutch oven. Add
1½ teaspoons salt. Using spider skimmer or slotted
spoon, transfer all gnudi to water. Return water to
gentle simmer. Cook, adjusting heat to maintain gen-
tle simmer, for 5 minutes, starting timer once water
has returned to simmer (to confirm doneness, cut
1 dumpling in half; center should be firm).
5. While gnudi simmer, add salt and pepper to
sauce and cook over medium-high heat, stirring
occasionally, until tomatoes are warmed through
and slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Divide sauce
evenly among 4 bowls. Using spider skimmer or slot-
ted spoon, remove gnudi from pot, drain well, and
transfer to bowls with sauce. Garnish with basil and
extra Parmesan. Serve immediately.
FOR NUTRITION
INFORMATION AND MORE
Visit CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
 My Favorite Egg Sandwich
A local bakery’s thoughtfully crafted sandwich featuring tender, creamy,
custardy eggs inspired me to create a version of my own.
j BY LAN LAM k

J
ust down the promenade from
our office is an outpost of Joanne
Chang’s Flour Bakery, whose
offerings have inspired a number of
recipes for this magazine, includ-
ing Andrea Geary’s Chocolate-Espresso
Dacquoise (November/December 2012)
and my Best Lemon Bars (March/April
2018). But my favorite item on the menu,
my go-to lunch when I can’t scavenge
something from the test kitchen, has
always been the egg sandwich.
What makes it so special? Instead of
a runny fried egg that drips and oozes
with every bite, a scramble that tumbles
out from between the bread, or—the
worst scenario—a microwaved slab that’s
rubbery and dense, it features an “egg
soufflé.” While the food nerd in me isn’t
quite on board with this term (there’s no
air beaten into the egg mixture), I love
everything else about it. It’s soft, creamy,
custardy, and delicately seasoned, and
it stays neatly in place while I devour
the sandwich.
Chang tucks a portion of the egg into
a house-made focaccia roll along with
bacon, cheddar, tomato, and mesclun for a
supremely satisfying package of flavors and
textures. After months of working from
home, I really missed that sandwich. So
I looked up Chang’s method for the eggs
(find it, along with many other excellent
recipes, in her 2013 cookbook Flour, Too)
and set out to make a version of my own.

Good Eggs
Chang’s recipe turned out to have a couple We spread basil mayo onto a toasted bulkie roll before loading it with a square of baked egg, salami, and tomato.
hidden benefits that I wasn’t aware of: It
produces four portions at a time and can be made As good as this recipe was, as a professional cook which results in tender, silky eggs (see “Dilution Is the
ahead. She starts by whisking ¾ cup of half-and-half myself, I couldn’t help finding a few things I wanted Solution”). This being the case, I wondered if I should
into nine eggs along with a touch of salt. The mix- to change that would make the dish my own. First, the just use water. If the eggs were even leaner, I could pair PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE
ture is poured into a round cake pan that’s been inclusion of half-and-half. Since I don’t typically keep them with rich toppings and still make them a regular
coated with vegetable oil spray and then baked (cov- it on hand, I tried swapping in whole milk instead. part of my lunch (or breakfast or dinner) routine.
ered with foil for the first half of the cooking time) in The resulting eggs tasted a little less rich—and more After a bit of fiddling, I settled on eight eggs
a water bath in a 300-degree oven. Partway through eggy—and that was great. They were destined for egg beaten together with ⅔ cup of water and just ¼ tea-
cooking, after the eggs have begun to set, fresh sandwiches, after all. And milk still made their texture spoon of salt. This small amount of salt was adequate
thyme and ground black pepper are added. Once as velvety and smooth as half-and-half had. That’s because the other components in my sandwich
the eggs are baked, they can be cut into sandwich because dilution is the key here, not the type of liquid. would be highly seasoned. I also omitted the pepper
portions and served right away or cooled completely As eggs cook, they form a tight mesh. Adding liquid and thyme, since a neutral base would allow me to
and later reheated in the microwave. puts space between the proteins, opening up the mesh, experiment with a variety of toppings.

cook’s illustrated
6
 PRINCIPLES FOR EGG
SANDWICH PERFECTION

INGREDIENT SELECTION
(Anchor the flavor: Build the
sandwich around a well-seasoned,
savory ingredient such as ham,
smoked salmon, kimchi, or salami.

(Add richness: Mayonnaise, cheese,

Greek yogurt, or avocado contributes
fat and creaminess.

(Layer in accents: Acidic, pungent,

and/or fresh choices such as herbs,
tomatoes, onion, and jam work well.

ASSEMBLY
(Mitigate moisture: Excess
juices don’t just drip; they also
lubricate the other ingredients,
making them prone to slipping out
with every bite. Pat wet ingredients
dry and avoid superjuicy ones in
the first place.

(Don’t stack slippery ingredients:

Items such as multiple tomato
slices will slide around and fall out
of the sandwich.

(Toast bread lightly: Crunchy,

heavily toasted bread will cause
ingredients to slide out when bitten.

(Use creamy ingredients as glue:

They will hold lighter ingredients
clockwise from upper left: Egg, Kimchi, and Avocado Sandwiches; Egg, Smoked Salmon, and Dill Sandwiches;
such as chopped herbs in place.
and Egg, Ham, and Pepperoncini Sandwiches

I chose to bake the mixture in an 8-inch square
metal baking pan. Its sharp, clean edges would let me
divide the eggs into four neat squares that would fit
tidily on bread, without any of the waste that comes
PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE; ILLUSTRATION: JAY LAYMAN
it still prevented the edges from overcooking by low- sandwich. (Read: no bagels.) Third, light toasting cre-
ering the temperature surrounding the pan. Because ated a thin, crisp crust, whereas an aggressive approach
the bath was so shallow, it was easy to transfer the resulted in a hard shell that required a lot of force to
sheet to the oven without much sloshing. bite through, thus squeezing out the filling. Ultimately,

from trimming quadrants cut from a round pan. And
unlike glass or ceramic, the metal would heat up and
cool down quickly, keeping the baking time to about
40 minutes and helping prevent carryover cooking.
I placed the baking pan on a rimmed baking sheet
and poured 1½ cups of water around the pan before
setting the assembly on the middle rack of the oven.
The shallow bath didn’t reach even halfway up the
sides of the pan, but the egg mixture wasn’t deep, so
Dilution Is the Solution
The proteins in raw eggs are coiled and don’t inter-
act with each other. But as eggs cook, the proteins
unwind, entangle, and form a mesh. The tighter that
mesh becomes, the firmer the eggs will be. But add-
ing liquid puts space between the proteins, opening
up the mesh. The result: tender, silky eggs.
Getting My Fill
With the smooth, custardy squares under way for
now or later (see “The Benefits of Baking Eggs for
Sandwiches”), I considered the bread. There were a
few points to keep in mind. First, I needed something
large enough to support a 4-inch square piece of egg.
Second, thick breads needed to be airy and easily
compressed; otherwise, I had trouble biting into the
egg protein
strands
water
I had success with English muffins, kaiser rolls, bulkie
rolls, hamburger buns, and sandwich bread.
For the fixings, I mimicked Chang’s style, com-
bining contrasting yet complementary flavors and
textures. I started with a classic ham and cheddar
cheese combo and then turned it on its head with a
spread of sweet apricot jam and a smattering of spicy,
crunchy pepperoncini. My next creation paired gutsy
kimchi with cool, creamy avocado; another com-
bined lightly peppery salami with fresh tomato and
basil; and a third highlighted silky smoked salmon
with fresh dill and crisp slices of pungent red onion,
all held in place by slices of toasted rye.
Along the way, I came up with my own mandates
for successful sandwich combinations (see “Principles
for Egg Sandwich Perfection”). Whether you try one
of my riffs or create your own, I know you’ll fall in
love with this approach.

january & february 2021

7

The Benefits of Baking Eggs
for Sandwiches
CREAMY, CUSTARDY TEXTURE
Beating some water into the eggs and baking them
slowly in a water bath produces a luxuriously
smooth consistency that pairs beautifully with
crisp toast and multitextured sandwich fixings.
MAKE-AHEAD POTENTIAL
Because the egg squares are relatively thin, they
warm up quickly in the microwave and thus
maintain their moisture and delicate texture.
If you’d like to plan for a meal on the go, prepare
the eggs in advance, cut them into squares, and
let them cool completely. Stack the squares in an
airtight container and refrigerate them for up to
three days.
To reheat, arrange the egg square(s) on a plate
and microwave at 50 percent power until they’re
warm (about 45 seconds for a single square or
2 to 3 minutes for four squares).
BAKED EGGS FOR SANDWICHES
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR
This recipe requires an 8-inch square metal baking
pan. Avoid using a ceramic or glass dish, which will
increase the cooking time and could cause the eggs
to overcook during cooling. Each of our sandwich
recipes calls for a salty component; if you omit it,
you may want to season the eggs with additional salt
after baking. For maximum efficiency, prepare your
sandwich fillings while the eggs cook, and toast the
bread while the eggs cool. Alternatively, let the eggs
cool completely after cutting them, stack them in
an airtight container, and refrigerate them for up to
three days. To reheat, arrange the egg squares on a
large plate and microwave at 50 percent power until
they’re warm (about 45 seconds for a single square
or 2 to 3 minutes for four squares).
8 large eggs
¼ teaspoon table salt
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat
oven to 300 degrees. Whisk eggs and salt in large
bowl until well combined. Whisk in ⅔ cup water.
Spray 8-inch square baking pan with vegetable oil
spray. Pour egg mixture into prepared pan and set
pan on rimmed baking sheet. Add 1½ cups water
to sheet. Transfer sheet to oven and bake until eggs
are fully set, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway
through baking. Remove pan from sheet, transfer to
wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes.
2. Run knife around edges of pan and, using dish
towel or oven mitts, invert eggs onto cutting board
(if eggs stick to pan, tap bottom of pan firmly to
dislodge). Cut into 4 equal squares.
EGG, KIMCHI, AND AVOCADO SANDWICHES
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 ¼ HOURS
We like the flavor and texture of kaiser rolls for these
sandwiches, but you can substitute 4-inch bulkie
rolls, English muffins, or burger buns, if desired.
Blot the kimchi dry while the eggs bake.
¼ cup mayonnaise
4 kaiser rolls, halved and lightly toasted
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 recipe Baked Eggs for Sandwiches
1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, and sliced thin
¾ cup cabbage kimchi, drained, chopped coarse,
and blotted dry with paper towels
Spread mayonnaise on roll bottoms. Sprinkle
cilantro over mayonnaise. Using spatula, transfer
1 egg square to each sandwich. Top each egg square
with avocado and then kimchi. Set roll tops over
kimchi and serve.
FOR NUTRITION
INFORMATION AND MORE
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cook’s illustrated
8
EGG, SMOKED SALMON,
AND DILL SANDWICHES
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 ¼ HOURS
We like the flavor and texture of rye bread for these
sandwiches, but you can substitute 4-inch bulkie
rolls, kaiser rolls, English muffins, or burger buns,
if desired. Soak the onion while the eggs bake.
½ small red onion, sliced thin
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
8 slices hearty rye sandwich bread, lightly toasted
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 recipe Baked Eggs for Sandwiches
4 ounces smoked salmon
1. Place onion in bowl, cover with ice water, and
let sit for 15 minutes. Drain onion well and pat dry.
2. Spread yogurt on 4 slices of toast. Sprinkle dill
over yogurt. Using spatula, transfer 1 egg square to
each sandwich. Top each egg square with smoked
salmon and then onion. Set remaining 4 slices of toast
over onion and serve.
EGG, HAM, AND PEPPERONCINI
SANDWICHES
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 ¼ HOURS
We like the flavor and texture of English muffins
for these sandwiches, but you can substitute 4-inch
bulkie rolls, kaiser rolls, or burger buns, if desired.
¼ cup apricot jam
4 English muffins, split and lightly toasted
1 recipe Baked Eggs for Sandwiches
4 slices deli cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
4 slices deli ham (4 ounces)
¼ cup pepperoncini, sliced and blotted dry
Spread jam on muffin bottoms. Using spatula,
transfer 1 egg square to each sandwich. Top each egg
square with cheddar, then ham, and then pepperon-
cini. Set muffin tops over pepperoncini and serve.
EGG, SALAMI, AND TOMATO SANDWICHES
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 ¼ HOURS
We like the flavor and texture of bulkie rolls for these
sandwiches, but you can substitute 4-inch kaiser
rolls, English muffins, or burger buns, if desired.
¼ cup mayonnaise
4 bulkie rolls, halved and lightly toasted
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
1 recipe Baked Eggs for Sandwiches
12–16 thin slices salami (4 ounces)
ILLUSTRATION: JAY LAYMAN
4 thin tomato slices
Spread mayonnaise on roll bottoms. Sprinkle
basil over mayonnaise. Using spatula, transfer 1 egg
square to each sandwich. Top each egg square with
salami and then 1 tomato slice. Set roll tops over
tomato and serve.
 Skordalia Is for Garlic Lovers
In this heady Greek condiment, the allium gets top billing.
j BY STEVE DUNN k

M
ost countries along the lowered the amounts of potato and oil while increas-
Mediterranean enjoy a ing the water and lemon juice until I had a dip with a
robust garlic sauce as hummus-like consistency, no matter the temperature.
part of their cuisine. The Here was a skordalia that could proudly grace any table.
French and Spanish have aioli and allioli,
respectively; the Lebanese have toum; and SKORDALIA (GREEK GARLIC-POTATO PUREE)
the Turks, tarator. But of all the great garlic SERVES 8 TO 10 (MAKES 2 CUPS) TOTAL TIME: 40 MINUTES
sauces throughout Western cultures, the
Greek contribution to this lineup, skorda- You’ll need a blender for this recipe. To make a
lia, might be the most versatile. puree with the smoothest texture, you’ll need a
It’s cobbled together from the simplest potato ricer or food mill equipped with a fine disk; if
of ingredients: Start with a starchy base these aren’t available, you can mash the potato thor-
of riced boiled potatoes or day-old bread oughly with a potato masher, but the dip will have a
soaked in liquid (ground nuts are sometimes more rustic texture. We prefer a russet potato for its
added, too). Add fresh lemon juice (or wine earthier flavor, but a Yukon Gold works well, too.
vinegar) and a liberal amount of minced If a single large potato is unavailable, it’s fine to use
raw garlic, and then vigorously whisk in two smaller potatoes that total 12 ounces. You can
extra-virgin olive oil until an emulsion forms. use either blanched or skin-on almonds. A rasp-style
The resulting blend, with a heady aroma grater makes quick work of turning the garlic into a
and fresh acidity, is used in myriad ways paste. Serve as a dip with crudités, spread on crackers
(see “Sauce, Dip, or Spread?”), making it or bread, or as an accompaniment to fish or meat.
an irreplaceable fixture of Greek cookery.
In crafting my own take on skordalia, 1 large russet potato (12 ounces), peeled and
I would need to determine the intensity of Fresh chives and a swirl of olive oil add grassy freshness. sliced ½ inch thick
garlic flavor I wanted, as well as the consis- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
tency of the mixture, since both vary a good deal. found that using earthy russet potatoes rather than 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest plus ¼ cup juice
After trying a handful of published recipes, I went bread worked best. I also added some water to loosen (2 lemons)
after a well-rounded, bold, and bright garlic pro- the mixture a bit. When I experimented with nuts ⅔ cup sliced almonds
file—nothing fiery or overpowering. To temper the (almonds and walnuts are common), I liked the rich- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
bite of the garlic, I briefly steeped the minced cloves ness they contributed, making the dip creamier and ¾ teaspoon table salt
in lemon juice, since the acid in the juice deactivates denser. I settled on almonds, as I preferred the ivory 2 teaspoons minced fresh chives or parsley
alliinase, the enzyme that creates garlic’s harsh notes. color of the dip made with the paler nuts.
Just a 10-minute soak cushioned some of the garlic’s Following the lead of a modern-day recipe from 1. Place potato in medium saucepan and add cold
sharpness while maintaining its underlying gutsiness. Boston-area chef and restaurateur Ana Sortun, mak- water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat.
The consistency of skordalia ranges from thin ing the skordalia couldn’t have been easier: Instead of Adjust heat to maintain simmer and cook until par-
PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE; ILLUSTRATION: JAY LAYMAN

and silky to thick and chunky. I preferred a texture emulsifying the mixture by hand, I whizzed the olive ing knife can be easily slipped into and out of potato,
suitable for dipping (along the lines of hummus) and oil, sliced almonds, lemon-soaked garlic, some lemon 18 to 22 minutes.
zest (to double down on the citrusy notes), water, 2. While potato cooks, mince garlic to fine paste.
and salt in the blender. Once the mixture was thick Transfer 1 tablespoon garlic paste to small bowl;
Sauce, Dip, or Spread? and creamy, I folded it into freshly boiled and riced discard remaining garlic paste. Combine lemon juice
Skordalia is as all-purpose as a potatoes to yield a vibrant, luxuriously smooth puree with garlic paste and let sit for 10 minutes.
condiment gets. Its consistency can (adding the potatoes to the blender would burst their 3. Process garlic mixture, lemon zest, almonds, oil,
range from mashed-potato thick to swollen starch granules, which would form a sticky gel ½ cup water, and salt in blender until very smooth,
mayonnaise-like depending on the and create a gluey mess). Served warm, as is common, about 45 seconds.
ratio of binders to liquid in the mix, the skordalia had a consistency that worked well as 4. Drain potato. Set ricer or food mill over
and its goes-with-everything flavor both a dip and a spread. But as it cooled to room medium bowl. Working in batches, transfer hot
profile makes it endlessly useful temperature, as it’s also frequently served, everything potato to hopper and process. Stir garlic mixture into
in Greek cuisine. Garlic-forward, changed. At that point, it became barely spreadable. potato until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to
bright with lemon, rich, and It turned out that the mix was underhydrated, so taste and transfer to serving bowl. Drizzle with extra
smooth, it’s just the thing to spread over time the starch in the potatoes and the soluble pro- oil and sprinkle with chives. Serve warm or at room
on pita, scoop up with crudités, or teins in the nuts (almonds are particularly high in these temperature. (Skordalia can be refrigerated for up
serve alongside fried fish or grilled proteins) continued to absorb water until the puree to 3 days. Let sit, covered, at room temperature for
meat or vegetables. seized up. To achieve a workable viscosity, I slowly 30 minutes before serving.)

january & february 2021

9
 Ultracomforting Chicken and Gravy
Spatchcock a bird and slide it under the broiler. While it cooks to juicy, crispy-skinned
perfection, use our novel method to whip up a luscious, savory gravy.
j BY STEVE DUNN k

W
hen I roast a whole chicken, the
accompaniment I always yearn for
is a generous pour of gravy. You
know, the rich, deeply flavor-
ful kind that gives off the soul-soothing vibes of
a Thanksgiving feast. Yet what often stops me is
that great gravy typically begins with pan drippings,
which means that you need to wait until the bird
is finished roasting to make it. The best gravy also
requires homemade stock, a time-consuming pro-
duction unto itself.
If I could find a way to prepare juicy, crispy-skinned
chicken and savory gravy in tandem, I’d have my
dream dinner without too much fuss. I suspected
that a mash-up of two classics from my colleague Lan
Lam—One-Hour Broiled Chicken and Pan Sauce
(March/April 2017) and Our Favorite Turkey Gravy
(November/December 2018)—would deliver.
The chicken recipe starts with removing the back-
bone of the bird so that it lies flat in the skillet, helping
it cook evenly and quickly under the broiler. (I figured
that the backbone would
MAKE IT YOUR WAY
make an excellent stand-in
For gluten-free gravy, sub- for the turkey neck called
stitute a gluten-free flour for in the gravy.)
blend for the all-purpose To help the chicken fat
flour. For alcohol-free gravy, render under the broiler,
substitute ¼ cup of water Lan nicks the skin all over
and ½ teaspoon of cider with a paring knife. This
vinegar for the wine. also creates escape routes
for steam that would other-
wise cause the skin to bubble up and burn. Preheating
the skillet on the stovetop jump-starts the cooking of

PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE; ILLUSTRATION: JAY LAYMAN

the leg quarters, and placing the skillet under a cold
broiler and then turning on the broiler slows down
the cooking of the more delicate breast meat. After
about 45 minutes, the skin is browned and crispy, and
both the white and dark meat are as juicy as can be.
Now, the gravy. Her ingenious method would
be ideal here because it primarily relies on trim- Save the backbone and trimmings
mings—not drippings—for deep poultry flavor. It from the bird and use them as a flavor
starts with simmering the turkey neck, giblets, and base for a dark, ultrachicken-y gravy.
excess fat and skin in a small amount of store-bought
chicken broth, which extracts the juices and fat much
more thoroughly than searing would. The mixture TIMELINE Our recipe is designed so that the chicken and gravy cook concurrently for about an hour.
is left to bubble away until all the liquid evaporates
and the parts sizzle, leaving the bottom of the pot Chicken BROIL REST
coated with a gorgeous brown layer of fond, which 00:00 00:30 01:00
signals that the proteins and sugars have undergone
SEAR THICKEN
the Maillard reaction and transformed into hundreds Gravy SCRAPS SIMMER BROTH WITH ROUX
of new flavor compounds.

cook’s illustrated
10
 TECHNIQUE HOW TO SPATCHCOCK A CHICKEN
1. REMOVE BACKBONE AND TRIM FAT
Using kitchen shears, cut through the bones
on either side of the backbone and trim
any excess fat or skin from the chicken,
reserving any trimmings.
2. FLIP AND FLATTEN
Flip the chicken and use the heel of
your hand to flatten the breastbone.
Aromatics are added to the pot to soften before
everything is deglazed with wine. Then in goes more
broth before covering and simmering for an hour.
After straining the deeply savory stock and thicken-
ing it with a roux that’s been cooked to just the right
shade of golden brown, you end up with a truly
outstanding gravy.
To merge the recipes, I started by preparing
the chicken, reserving the giblets, backbone, and
trimmings (also save the neck if it is included with
your chicken). Once the bird was under the broiler,
I turned to the gravy, scaling it down to serve four.
After just 15 minutes of simmering the scraps in
1 cup of broth, the liquid had evaporated and the
bottom of the saucepan was coated with a substantial
fond. In went onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley,
and thyme; once the onion was translucent, I added
a splash of dry white wine, poured in 3 more cups
of broth, and cranked the heat to high. To speed
things up, I left the lid off so that the mixture could
rapidly concentrate.
A mere 20 minutes later, the stock had reduced
by half, so I strained it and thickened it with a
toasty golden-brown roux. Meanwhile, I removed
the bird from the broiler and let it rest. I defatted
the ultrachicken-y drippings to give a final boost
to what was already a deep, dark, seriously flavor-
ful gravy.
This supercomforting twofer dish was ready
to serve.
Making Gravy from Scraps
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN BURGOYNE (TOP), JAY LAYMAN (BOTTOM)
Our new approach to making gravy produces
ultrasavory results in less than an hour. We start
by simmering the trimmings and backbone from
the bird in a small amount of store-bought broth
to efficiently extract juices and fat. As the liquid
evaporates, a tremendous amount of chicken-y
fond develops on the bottom of the saucepan.
We then add aromatics, deglaze the fond with
wine, pour in more broth, and rapidly reduce the
mixture to further concentrate its flavor before
thickening the gravy with a butter and flour roux.
FOR NUTRITION
INFORMATION AND MORE
Visit CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
BROILED CHICKEN WITH GRAVY
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 ¾ HOURS
If your broiler has multiple settings, choose the high-
est one. This recipe won’t work with a drawer-style
broiler. You will need a broiler-safe 12-inch skillet.
The backbone and trimmings provide plenty of
flavor for the gravy, but if your chicken comes with
the giblets and neck, use them as well. Feel free to
substitute dry vermouth for the white wine. In step 2,
if the skin is dark golden brown but the breast has not
yet reached 155 degrees, cover the chicken with foil
and continue to broil. Monitor the temperature of
the chicken carefully during the final 10 minutes of
cooking, because it can quickly overcook.
1 (4-pound) whole chicken, giblets and neck
reserved
1½ teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
1½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
½ teaspoon pepper
4 cups chicken broth, divided
½ onion, chopped fine
1 carrot, peeled and chopped fine
1 celery rib, chopped fine
4 sprigs fresh parsley
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, crushed and peeled
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
1. Adjust oven rack 12 to 13 inches from broiler
element (do not heat broiler). Place chicken breast
side down on cutting board. Using kitchen shears,
cut through bones on either side of backbone. Cut
backbone into 1-inch pieces and reserve. Trim excess
fat and skin from chicken and reserve with backbone.
Flip chicken and use heel of your hand to press on
breastbone to flatten. Using tip of paring knife, poke
holes through skin over entire surface of chicken,
spacing them approximately ¾ inch apart.
2. Rub ½ teaspoon oil over skin and sprinkle with
1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Flip chicken and sprinkle
bone side with remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Flip
chicken skin side up, tie legs together with kitchen
twine, and tuck wings under breasts. Heat remaining
1 teaspoon oil in broiler-safe 12-inch skillet over high
heat until just smoking. Place chicken in skillet, skin
side up, and transfer to oven, positioning skillet as
january & february 2021
11
close to center of oven as handle allows (turn handle
so it points toward 1 of oven’s front corners). Turn on
broiler and broil chicken for 25 minutes. Rotate skillet
by moving handle to opposite front corner of oven
and continue to broil until skin is dark golden brown
and thickest part of breast registers 155 degrees, 20 to
30 minutes longer. While chicken broils, make gravy.
3. Bring 1 cup broth and reserved giblets, neck,
backbone, and trimmings to simmer in large sauce-
pan over high heat. Cook, adjusting heat to maintain
vigorous simmer and stirring occasionally, until all
liquid evaporates and trimmings begin to sizzle, about
12 minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently,
until dark fond forms on bottom of saucepan, 2 to
4 minutes longer. Reduce heat to medium. Add
onion, carrot, celery, parsley sprigs, thyme sprigs, and
garlic to saucepan and cook, stirring frequently, until
onion is translucent, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in wine and
bring to simmer, scraping up any browned bits. Add
remaining 3 cups broth and bring to simmer over
high heat. Adjust heat to maintain simmer and con-
tinue to cook, stirring occasionally, until stock (liquid
only) is reduced by half, about 20 minutes longer.
4. Strain stock through fine-mesh strainer set over
bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid
as possible. Melt butter in now-empty saucepan
over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring
constantly, until mixture is deep golden brown, 5 to
8 minutes. Slowly whisk in stock. Increase heat to
medium-high and bring to simmer. Simmer until
thickened, about 5 minutes.
5. Transfer chicken to carving board and let rest,
uncovered, for 15 minutes. While chicken rests,
transfer fat and drippings in skillet to small bowl
and let sit for 5 minutes. Spoon off fat and discard.
Whisk drippings into gravy. Season gravy with salt
and pepper to taste. Carve chicken and serve, passing
gravy separately.
WHY AND HOW WE ROTATE
THE SKILLET IN THE OVEN
To ensure that the chicken cooks evenly and
the skin browns thoroughly, position the skillet
as close to the center of the oven as the handle
allows, turning the handle so that it points toward
one of the oven’s front corners. About halfway
through cooking, rotate the skillet by moving the
handle toward the other front corner.
 Kimchi Bokkeumbap
This punchy, radiant fried rice is comfort food on the fly in many Korean households.
It’s also a junction of the cuisine’s two most fundamental staples.
j BY ELIZABETH BOMZE k

L
ike all forms of fried rice, kimchi or ‘Oh, I got ginger,’” Thayer explained.
bokkeumbap is straight-up home “All those flavors blend, and it creates its
cooking: cozy, unfussy suste- own umami . . . There’s nothing like it” (see
nance that’s rooted in the spirit “From Cabbage to Kimchi”).
of making do with what you have. At its
core is leftover cooked rice stir-fried with The Role of Rice
the ruddy, gently spicy fermented napa It’s hard to overemphasize the importance
cabbage that most Korean cooks keep on of rice in the Korean diet. For example, in
hand. But from there it can—and usually an essay on food52.com, writer Eric Kim
does—get personal, since that rib-sticking, describes how his dad would routinely dip
umami-charged base is just the thing to a spoon into the rice cooker after returning
capture all sorts of odds and ends. In any home from a steakhouse dinner, as if need-
given kitchen, you’ll find the rice bulked ing a rice fix to feel “fully satiated.”
up with ham, Spam, sausage, or seafood Yum added: “There are rare occasions
(fresh, tinned, or smoked); seasoned with where someone opens the rice cooker and
gochujang, plum extract, or oyster sauce; there’s no rice left—and everyone is just
dolloped with mayonnaise; topped with kind of at a loss.”
crumbled gim (dried seaweed); bundled in That sentiment is documented in the
a gauzy omelet; cradling a runny fried egg; Korean language, since “bap,” the Korean
or teeming with gooey cheese. word for cooked rice and other grains, is also
“Every family has their own twist,” said the word for “food.” And the importance
Sun-Jung Yum. The daughter of South of rice persisted against great odds, since for
Korean immigrants, she grew up eating most of the 20th century, rice was out of reach
kimchi bokkeumbap with her family in for most Koreans. During the Japanese occu-
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Yum’s family pation of Korea (1910–1945), the Japanese
personalizes their kimchi fried rice with government exported Korean-grown rice
bacon, sausage, and pieces of tteokbokki to Japan, forcing locals to subsist on other
(chewy Korean rice cakes). “This is how grains. Rice scarcity lasted long after Japanese
my family has grown to love it,” said Yum. occupation ended, prompting the South
Its unscripted nature says a lot about why We top the rice with scallions, gim, toasted sesame seeds, and a fried egg. Korean government to implement initiatives
kimchi bokkeumbap is so widely cooked such as “No Rice Days” and to exhort its

PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE (TOP), HYUNG-KON YUM (BOTTOM)

among Koreans. But there’s an even simpler expla- Essential Kimchi citizens to mix rice with legumes and alternative grains.
nation that goes back to the common framework Craving is a sentiment that comes up a lot when “My mother mixed barley and sometimes even
running through every batch: Rice and kimchi are talking about kimchi bokkeumbap and its two main beans with rice every time,” said Kyung-Jin Rhee,
fixtures of Korean cuisine, and they form a perfect components. Regarding kimchi, Yum refused to go Yum’s mother, who emigrated from Seoul in
merger. The chew of the stubby grains; the crunch of to sleepaway camp because she couldn’t go a day 1992 and recalls the rice shortages from her childhood
the hot-and-sour cabbage; and the way that each bite without it. For Jeisook Thayer, who makes and sells in Korea. “I went to elementary school in 1976 and
glows in your mouth, insisting that you take another kimchi on Martha’s Vineyard under the label MV clearly remember teachers checking our home-
bite and another, becomes a powerful learned craving. Kimchi, the craving begins at breakfast. made lunches everyday,” she said, alluding to the
“It’s better than having cold cereal in the morn- government-mandated searches for rice-based foods.
ing,” Thayer said. “A hot bowl of rice with a little bit Eventually food supplies and the economy sta-
of smoked fish and kimchi, and you’re good to go.” bilized and rice regained its role as a linchpin of the
Thayer started making kimchi shortly after she Korean diet. Now, in her Cambridge household,
emigrated from Seoul. “I missed my food,” she said, Rhee makes a point of keeping cooked rice on hand.
recalling that few people knew what kimchi was when “The moment we run out, we just make
she moved to the United States in 1964. She relied another batch.”
on memory and improvisation at first: “I cooked
Kimchi bokkeum- remembering how it should taste: a little salty, a little
bap is a mainstay FOR NUTRITION
for Kyung-Jin Rhee spicy . . . with its own umami from the fermentation.” INFORMATION AND MORE
(left) and daughter, In well-fermented kimchi, “you no longer bite into Visit CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
Sun-Jung Yum. a piece of garlic and say, ‘I just got a piece of garlic’

cook’s illustrated
12

From Cabbage to Kimchi
There are hundreds of styles of kimchi and as
many variations as cooks who make it. But prepar-
ing iconic tongbaechu-kimchi, the mildly spicy
kind made with napa cabbage, goes something
like this: Salt the leaves to remove excess water;
coat them with a mixture of aromatics (garlic,
ginger, onion/scallion), shredded radishes and/
or carrots, lots of gochugaru, maybe seafood
seasonings such as fish sauce and/or saeujeot
(fermented salted shrimp), and sometimes a paste
of glutinous rice and water that binds it all together
and encourages fermentation; tightly pack the coated
cabbage into a sealed container; and leave it to fer-
ment until it sours and softens a bit.
This is when the magic happens: The kimchi’s
flavor undergoes a long and complex series of trans-
formations, becoming more sharply sour at first, as
sugar is converted to lactic acid, and gradually shift-
ing into a funkier, more intense—but balanced—
pickle as other flavor components evolve. At the
same time, the cabbage’s cell walls break down and
the once-crunchy leaves soften.
All those changes vary widely depending on the
ambient climate during fermentation and how far into
its life cycle—days, weeks, or months—you eat it.
When it’s prepared according to traditional kimjang
customs, fresh kimchi is packed into an earthenware
crock called an onggi and buried in the ground.
“It will ferment all winter long,” explained Jeisook
Thayer, who makes and sells kimchi on Martha’s
Vineyard. She notes that burying the onggi prevents
the contents from freezing. “You take out a little at a
time, if you need to have it for that day or that meal.”
Nowadays, many Korean households are outfit-
ted with a kimchi naengjanggo, a dedicated kimchi
refrigerator with multiple zones that allows cooks to
regulate the climate and produce batches with dif-
ferent levels of fermentation.
PROFILE Jeisook Thayer
Every Saturday, Jeisook Thayer starts making tongbaechu-kimchi in the tidy
basement kitchen of her Vineyard Haven home. To learn more about her, her
kimchi business, and kimjang culture, go to CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21.
A Perfect Merger
When there is leftover rice, kimchi bokkeumbap is
one of the best ways to use it. The starch molecules in
stale rice have crystallized, or retrograded, so the rice
PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN THAYER (BOTTOM)
grains are hard and dry—able to be stir-fried without
turning mushy. That firm texture is especially valuable
in a dish such as kimchi bokkeumbap, where the rice
soaks up a good bit of the kimchi’s pungent liquid.
In fact, kimchi makes this dish come together easily
because it does most of the flavor work.
“Kimchi bokkeumbap is really tasty and easy
to make, which makes it such a staple for lots of
Koreans,” said Rhee. “That’s why recipes for kimchi
bokkeumbap never have anything (besides kimchi
and rice) that is necessary to the dish—everything
Traditionally, tongbaechu-kimchi is made by rubbing
the seasonings into halved heads of napa cabbage.
STAGES OF FERMENTATION
The following are commonly recognized
(but not industry-regulated) stages of kimchi
fermentation. Most stores don’t label the
products as such (though some might indicate
when the kimchi was made), and telling them
apart is a matter of smelling or tasting them.
Geotjeori: fresh, unfermented, relatively
crunchy kimchi that’s sweet and salad-like,
with bright white cabbage
Kimchi: well-fermented, everyday kimchi
Shin Kimchi: overfermented and more acidic
kimchi; often used in cooked dishes that
incorporate kimchi, like kimchi bokkeumbap
and kimchi guk
Mugeunji: fermented at a low temperature for
at least six months so that it’s very pungent
can be substituted with what you have on hand.”
In other words, think of that framework as a
well-seasoned blank slate. Andrew Janjigian’s formula
starts with stir-fried onion and scallions and smoky,
springy chopped ham, which pair well with the dish’s
crunch and tang. Then he adds lots of chopped cab-
bage kimchi along with some of its pungent juice
and, depending on the texture of the cabbage, a little
water (if your kimchi is relatively crunchy, add it; if
not, omit it). To amp up the umami and heat, he
works in soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and gochu-
jang. Then he simmers the kimchi so that the leaves
soften a bit; stirs in the rice; cooks until the liquid
is absorbed; and tops it with strips of gim, toasted
sesame seeds, and scallion greens.
january & february 2021
13
KIMCHI BOKKEUMBAP
(KIMCHI FRIED RICE)
SERVES 4 TO 6 TOTAL TIME: 45 MINUTES
This recipe works best with day-old rice; alterna-
tively, cook your rice 2 hours ahead, spread it on
a rimmed baking sheet, and let it cool completely
before chilling it for 30 minutes. Plain pretoasted
seaweed snacks can be substituted for the gim
(seaweed paper); omit the toasting in step 1. You’ll
need at least a 16-ounce jar of kimchi; if it doesn’t
yield ¼ cup of juice, make up the difference with
water. If using soft, well-aged kimchi, omit the water
and reduce the cooking time at the end of step 2 to
2 minutes. We developed this recipe with a 12-inch
nonstick skillet, but a well-seasoned carbon-steel skil-
let or 14-inch flat-bottomed wok can be used instead.
If desired, top each portion of rice with a fried egg.
–Andrew Janjigian
1 (8-inch square) sheet gim
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 (¼-inch-thick) slices deli ham, cut into ¼-inch
pieces (about 4 ounces)
1 large onion, chopped
6 scallions, white and green parts separated and
sliced thin on bias
1¼ cups cabbage kimchi, drained with ¼ cup juice
reserved, cut into ¼-inch strips
¼ cup water
4 teaspoons soy sauce
4 teaspoons gochujang paste
½ teaspoon pepper
3 cups cooked short-grain white rice
4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1. Grip gim with tongs and hold 2 inches above
low flame on gas burner. Toast gim, turning every 3 to
5 seconds, until gim is aromatic and shrinks slightly,
about 20 seconds. (If you do not have a gas stove,
toast gim on rimmed baking sheet in 275-degree
oven until gim is aromatic and shrinks slightly, 20 to
25 minutes, flipping gim halfway through toasting.)
Using kitchen shears, cut gim into four 2-inch-wide
strips. Stack strips and cut crosswise into thin strips.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in 12-inch
nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shim-
mering. Add ham, onion, and scallion whites and
cook, stirring frequently, until onion is softened
and ham is beginning to brown at edges, 6 to
8 minutes. Stir in kimchi and reserved juice, water,
soy sauce, gochujang, and pepper. Cook, stirring
occasionally, until kimchi turns soft and translucent,
4 to 6 minutes.
3. Add rice; reduce heat to medium-low; and
cook, stirring and folding constantly until mixture
is evenly coated, about 3 minutes. Stir in sesame oil
and remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Increase
heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally,
until mixture begins to stick to skillet, about 4 min-
utes. Transfer to serving bowl. Sprinkle with sesame
seeds, scallion greens, and gim and serve.
 No-Fail Popovers
Crisp and toasty on the outside, custardy and lush within.
With our easy and foolproof recipe, popovers are dependably magical.
j BY ANDREA GEARY k

I
made a lot of popovers when I was in high
school, which might give you the impression
that I was a very sophisticated teen. I wasn’t.
I made them because the recipe was easy and
required only inexpensive pantry ingredients, which
made popovers a perfect after-school snack for my
siblings and me. I mixed together milk, eggs, flour,
and salt; poured the mixture into the wells of a pre-
heated, greased muffin tin (we didn’t have a special-
ized popover pan); and baked them in a hot oven,
turning down the temperature halfway through
baking to prevent the outsides from burning while
the insides finished cooking. When all went well,
the cups of batter ballooned dramatically into crisp,
hollow shells with creamy, custardy interior walls,
and I felt like I had invented fire.
But it didn’t always go well, even though I always
used the same recipe. About 25 percent of the time
my popovers were squat and spongy, like damp,
bland muffins. Other times I’d lift seemingly perfect
popovers out of the tin only to reveal bases that
were comically shrunken. (We ate all these imper-
fect specimens; we were teenagers.) Over the years,
I grew exasperated with my frequent inexplicable
failures, so I stopped making popovers. But now
that developing foolproof recipes is my job, I felt
ready to confront the challenge anew. I’d figure out For the crispest
what makes popovers pop (or not pop), and I’d test exteriors, we don’t
put butter in the
all aspects of their production to find a formula and
batter for our
baking method that guaranteed success every time. popovers—we save
it for spreading on
Steam Powered the baked treats.
There’s not much written about what makes popovers
pop, but our science research editor, Paul Adams,
confirmed my suspicion that the science is similar to
that of pitas and cream puffs: The oven’s heat rapidly
gels the surface of the batter so that when the moisture
inside turns to steam and expands, that surface is able
to stretch to retain it, leaving a growing hollow inside.
Eventually the exterior dries out so much that the
protein in the eggs and flour forms a rigid shell, halting
expansion. The inner walls, protected from the fiercest PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE
heat, remain moist. Equipped with this new insight,
I hit the kitchen and made five popover recipes that
varied in their choice of flour, choice of milk, number
of eggs, mixing methods, and baking temperatures.
It wasn’t an auspicious start. Two batches—those
made with the thickest batter and with the runniest
batter—resembled my teenage failures: stunted,
squishy, and sad. Was batter viscosity the variable
that made the difference? A series of tests in which

cook’s illustrated
14
 Elements of a Perfect Popover
MAXIMALLY POPPED
Bread flour produces a popover that’s 30 per-
cent taller; weighing the flour ensures that the
batter is always the right consistency for the best
rise. Warming the milk leads to more oven spring.
CRISP EXTERIOR/
CUSTARDY INTERIOR
Heat rapidly gels the surface of the batter so that
when the moisture inside turns to steam and
expands, that surface is able to stretch to retain it.
Low-fat milk ensures the crispest results. Eventually
the exterior dries so much that it forms a rigid
shell, halting expansion and leaving the interior
moist and soft.
WELL-FORMED BASE
Starting with a cool pan that’s only lightly greased
allows the batter to stick to the sides of the cups for
bases that are full and round instead of shrunken.
I varied only the amount of flour convinced me
that it played a large part. Thin mixtures made weak
popovers that couldn’t contain their steam, while
thick mixtures never generated enough steam for lift.
As a kid, I had measured my flour by volume, so
I was probably adding subtly different amounts each
time, which led to the occasional failure. Going for-
ward I’d make sure to weigh it so that I’d always have
the proper ratio of flour to liquid. For my working
formula, I landed on 6¾ ounces of all-purpose flour,
a bit of salt, 1½ cups of whole milk, and three large
eggs. It produced popovers that popped reliably,
though they weren’t as tall as I’d hoped. Perhaps
tweaking the ingredients would help.
Seeking Optimal Lift and Crispness
With my new understanding of popover mechanics,
I suspected that the extra gluten-forming protein in
bread flour would make the batter even stretchier and
thus produce loftier popovers. It did. Not only were
popovers made with bread flour about 30 percent
taller than those made with all-purpose flour, but
their higher walls were also thinner, making them a bit
more crisp, and that crispness held up as they cooled.
Bread flour was in. Next up: the milk.
In the test kitchen, whole milk is our default, but,
wondering if low-fat or even skim milk might be
better, I made three batches of popovers, each with
milk of a different fat level. There wasn’t a huge dif-
ference in stature, but I did notice a slight difference
in texture: The lower the proportion of milk fat, the
crisper the popover. Skim milk made slightly more
crisp popovers, and those made with whole milk were
FOR NUTRITION
INFORMATION AND MORE
Visit CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
a bit softer. But the differences were so slight that
I went with low-fat milk because that’s what many
cooks are likely to have on hand. And besides, the
next ingredient under consideration—butter—had a
bigger impact. Though many recipes call for adding
melted butter to the batter, I found it to have an even
greater softening effect than higher-fat milk. I’d omit
the butter completely and save it for spreading on my
baked popover, where I could really appreciate it.
Temperature Control
But about those popover-pan cups: Should they be
hot? Should they be greased? My standard high school
MO was to combine both of these: Heat the pan with
a bit of fat in each cup and then pour in the batter. This
method yielded popovers that were light, expanded,
and crisp, but it also yielded the greatest number of
shrunken bases. The heat from the pan seemed to
jump-start the rise, but that hot fat prevented the bat-
ter from gaining purchase on the sides of the cups.
Adding cold batter to cold, very lightly greased cups
ensured just enough grip for the popovers to have full,
round bases, but overall they weren’t as tall.
Early heat clearly helped the rise, but maybe that
heat could come from the batter instead of the pan. In
fact, maybe that was the principle behind recipes that
called for room-temperature milk and eggs, whose
popovers tended to rise higher than those made
with cold ingredients. But I was reluctant to have
to think that far ahead when I made popovers. My
solution: use fridge-cold eggs, but warm the milk to
120 degrees in the microwave. This warm batter made
towering popovers. Now to refine the baking method.
Most popover recipes call for a two-step bake: Start
hot to make the most of that initial pop, and then
adjust to a more moderate heat to prevent burning.
But because some ovens lose heat more quickly than
others, lowering the temperature halfway through
can throw off the timing. I prefer to bake at a single,
constant temperature; the trick was zeroing in on just
the right point on the dial. At a steady 450 degrees,
the exteriors burned before the insides were fully set, so
those popovers were gooey inside and softened quickly.
At 375 degrees the resulting popovers were small, with
thick, fleshy interiors. My sweet spot was 400 degrees.
Buttered popovers are a great accompaniment
to dinner, and they take far less time to make than
rolls. Or drizzled with honey or smeared with jam,
they make a delightful breakfast, brunch, or snack.
With a recipe this straightforward and reliable, I can
easily see myself returning to my teenage levels of
popover production.
A MUFFIN TIN WORKS FINE
No popover pan? No problem. You can
bake the batter in a muffin tin. The popovers
won’t be as majestic as those baked in
the deep wells of the specialty pan, but
they’ll still turn out appealingly crisp on
the outside and custardy within.
january & february 2021
15
Look Familiar?
Even if they achieve an
impressive height,
popovers are often
marred by bases that
look comically small
in relation to their
expansive tops. See
“Elements of a Perfect
Popover” for the simple
steps that we took to prevent
this common flaw in our recipe.
SHRUNKEN
BASE
POPOVERS
MAKES 6 POPOVERS TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR
This batter comes together quickly, so start heating
your oven before gathering your ingredients and
equipment. Our recipe works best in a 6-cup pop-
over pan, but you can substitute a 12-cup muffin tin,
distributing the batter evenly among the 12 cups;
start checking these smaller popovers after 25 min-
utes. Whole or skim milk can be used in place of the
low-fat milk. We strongly recommend weighing the
flour for this recipe. Do not open the oven during the
first 30 minutes of baking; if possible, use the oven
window and light to monitor the popovers.
1¼ cups (6¾ ounces) bread flour
¾ teaspoon table salt
1½ cups 2 percent low-fat milk, heated to 110 to
120 degrees
3 large eggs
Salted butter
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat
oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray cups of popover
pan with vegetable oil spray. Using paper towel, wipe
out cups, leaving thin film of oil on bottom and sides.
2. Whisk together flour and salt in 8-cup liquid
measuring cup or medium bowl. Add milk and eggs
and whisk until mostly smooth (some small lumps are
OK). Distribute batter evenly among prepared cups
in popover pan. Bake until popovers are lofty and
deep golden brown all over, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve
hot, passing butter separately. (Leftover popovers can
be stored in zipper-lock bag at room temperature
for up to 2 days; reheat directly on middle rack of
300-degree oven for 5 minutes.)
Cooking with Butter How Temperature
Changes Butter
One of the great benefits (and challenges) of
cooking with butter is that its texture and flavor
This stick of (mostly) fat is one of the most versatile change rapidly and dramatically with tempera-
ingredients in any kitchen. BY ELIZABETH BOMZE ture. Over a span of about 200 degrees, it
transforms from a firm, milky mass to a deeply
aromatic mahogany liquid—and hits a handful
Butter production is so common and industrialized today that it’s remarkable to think that it might have been born of other milestones along the way. Here’s a
out of serendipity some 9,000 years ago. Allegedly, milk in an animal-skin sack sloshed around so vigorously during “map” of that temperature progression.
transport that its fat separated from its water and aggregated into divinely rich globs.
However butter came about was undeniably good fortune—culinary happenstance that writer Elaine Khosrova 250°
describes as “Rumpelstiltskin-like magic” in her book, Butter: A Rich History (2016). But more plainly than that, butter is
evidence of science at work, from the organic way it forms to the innumerable ways it functions. We cooks are indebted GHEE
to both its utility and its luxury, marveling at—and relying on—its ability to shape-shift from a stiff block that laminates
BROWNED
pastry dough to a creamy mass that captures air in cakes and cookies; an opaque liquid that blooms spices and glosses
flatbreads; or a complex, nut-brown sauce that is spooned over countless dishes.

The Butter Breakdown

Butter is an emulsion of fat, water, and milk solids—specifically, a water-in-oil emulsion in which tiny droplets 200°–212°
of water and trace amounts of milk solids are suspended throughout the butterfat. Together, these compo- CLARIFIED
nents give butter the potential to be a remarkable multitasker: a high heat–tolerant cooking fat, a source of
moisture, and a flavor powerhouse.

FAT WATER MILK SOLIDS

By law, butter manufactured in the Butter can contain no more than 16 percent water, About 4 percent
United States must have at least which is suspended in the fat, creating a solid mass. of butter is made
80 percent fat. (Premium butters con- The water droplets are coated in a small amount of up of milk solids
tain between 82 and 86 percent fat.) protein, which keeps them from coalescing until the that include
Because butterfat is highly saturated, butter is completely melted; when that happens, proteins, lactose,
butter is solid and its emulsion is stable the emulsion “breaks,” meaning that the water and salts. 90°–95°
well above room temperature. and milk solids separate from the fat.
MELTED

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60°–65°
SOFTENED

40°
COLD ILLUSTRATION: JOHN BURGOYNE

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CHALLENGE Unsalted Butter LURPAK Slightly Salted Butter
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cook’s illustrated
16
COLD
How It Works: Fridge-cold butter is
a must for making flaky pastry. When
you layer cold butter and dough and
bake the pastry, the butterfat melts, releasing water
that turns to steam; that steam helps puff and sepa-
rate the layers of dough, creating literally hundreds
of flaky layers. It’s also key for making glossy—not
greasy—pan sauces: Since cold butter melts slowly,
swirling it into a sauce allows you to thoroughly
break the butterfat into tiny droplets that can be dis-
persed throughout the water in the sauce, creating a
stable emulsion.
ULTIMATE FLAKY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
MAKES 9 BISCUITS
TOTAL TIME: 1 ¾ HOURS, PLUS 30 MINUTES RESTING
3cups (15 ounces) King Arthur all-purpose flour
2tablespoons sugar
4teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons table salt
16tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter,
frozen for 30 minutes
1¼ cups buttermilk, chilled
1. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper
and set aside. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, bak-
ing soda, and salt together in large bowl. Coat sticks
of butter in flour mixture, then grate 7 tablespoons
from each stick on large holes of box grater directly
into flour mixture. Toss gently to combine. Set aside
remaining 2 tablespoons butter.
2. Add buttermilk to flour mixture and fold with
spatula until just combined (dough will look dry).
Transfer dough to liberally floured counter. Dust
surface of dough with flour; using your floured hands,
press dough into rough 7-inch square.
3. Roll dough into 12 by 9-inch rectangle with short
side parallel to edge of counter. Starting at bottom of
dough, fold into thirds like business letter, using bench
scraper or metal spatula to release dough from counter.
Press top of dough firmly to seal folds. Turn dough
90 degrees clockwise. Repeat rolling into 12 by 9-inch
rectangle, folding into thirds, and turning clockwise
4 more times, for total of 5 sets of folds. After last set of
folds, roll dough into 8½-inch square about 1 inch thick.
Transfer dough to prepared sheet, cover with plastic
wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Adjust oven rack
to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Transfer dough to lightly floured cutting board.
Using sharp, floured chef ’s knife, trim ¼ inch of dough
from each side of square; discard. Cut remaining dough
into 9 squares, flouring knife after each cut. Arrange
biscuits at least 1 inch apart on sheet. Melt reserved
butter; brush tops of biscuits with melted butter.
5. Bake until tops are golden brown, 22 to 25 min-
utes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer
biscuits to wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes
before serving.
SOFTENED
How It Works: In this temperature
range (60–65 degrees), butter is the
perfect consistency for creaming with
sugar: soft enough to capture air bubbles that expand
in the oven, giving baked goods lightness and lift, yet
firm enough to support those air bubbles so that they
don’t collapse. It’s also ideal for whipping into frostings
such as buttercream.
Speedy Softening
For creaming: Cut the stick
into 1-tablespoon pieces
(more exposed surface
area helps the butter warm
quickly and evenly) and arrange
them on a plate. The pieces will
soften in about 20 minutes.
For spreading or mixing with flavorings:
Microwave the pieces at 50 percent power in
10-second increments until the butter is still solid but
yields completely to pressure. It’s OK if the butter
melts a little; stir it together until it’s uniform. Don’t
use the microwave method for baking applications;
oversoftened butter can compromise baked goods.
CREAMY BUTTERSCOTCH FROSTING
MAKES ABOUT 2 ¼ CUPS TOTAL TIME: 30 MINUTES
The frosting can be made up to 24 hours in advance
and refrigerated in an airtight container. When ready
to frost, place frosting in a microwave-safe container
and microwave until just slightly softened, 5 to 10 sec-
onds. Once warmed, stir until creamy.
½ cup packed (3½ ounces) dark brown sugar
2large egg whites
½ teaspoon table salt
12tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into
1-tablespoon pieces and softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Combine sugar, egg whites, and salt in bowl of
stand mixer; place bowl over saucepan of simmer-
ing water. Whisking gently but constantly, heat until
mixture is slightly thickened and foamy and registers
150 degrees, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Fit mixer with whisk attachment and whip mixture
on medium speed until consistency of shaving cream and
slightly cooled, 1 to 2 minutes. Add butter, 1 piece at a
time, and whip until smooth and creamy. (Frosting may
look curdled after half of butter has been added; it will
smooth out with additional butter.) Once all butter is
added, add vanilla; mix until combined. Increase speed
to medium-high and whip until light, fluffy, and thor-
oughly combined, about 30 seconds, scraping whisk
attachment and bowl with rubber spatula as necessary.
3. If frosting seems too thick, warm bowl briefly
over saucepan of simmering water. Return bowl to
mixer and whip on medium-high speed until creamy.
january & february 2021
17
MELTED
How It Works: When butterfat
reaches its melting point (94 degrees),
it liquefies and the emulsion “breaks,”
causing the water and milk solids to separate out.
That free water is available to hydrate the flour in
doughs and batters, creating a stronger gluten net-
work—and thus a more pliable, resilient texture—
than cold or softened butter would.
CHEWY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
MAKES 24 COOKIES
TOTAL TIME: 50 MINUTES, PLUS 30 MINUTES COOLING
To ensure that the cookies have the proper texture,
use a traditional creamy peanut butter in this recipe;
do not substitute chunky or natural peanut but-
ter. We developed this recipe with Skippy Creamy
Peanut Butter. For the best results, be sure to weigh
the flour, sugar, and peanut butter. You can substitute
light brown sugar for the dark, but your cookies will
be lighter in color.
1½ cups (7½ ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt
1½ cups packed (10½ ounces) dark brown sugar
1 cup (9 ounces) creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup dry-roasted peanuts, chopped fine
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and
heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 18 by
13-inch rimmed baking sheets with parch-
ment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt
together in medium bowl.
2. In large bowl, whisk
sugar, peanut but-
ter, eggs, melted
butter, honey,
and vanilla until
smooth. Add
flour mixture and
stir with rubber
spatula until soft,
homogeneous dough
forms. Stir in peanuts until
evenly distributed.
3. Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time (or
using #30 portion scoop), roll dough into balls and
evenly space on prepared sheets (12 dough balls per
sheet). Using your fingers, gently flatten dough balls
until 2 inches in diameter.
4. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are just
set and just beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotat-
ing sheet after 6 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheet for
5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies
to wire rack and let cool completely before serving.
 Join the Culture Club
One big difference between conventional butter and
CLARIFIED BUTTER many premium butters is culturing. Cultured butter
What It Is: Butter that has been heated until is made from cream that has been fermented before
its water evaporates and then skimmed of its milk solids, churning. During this process, bacteria convert the lac-
leaving clear, relatively shelf-stable, mild-tasting fat. tose in cream to lactic acid, giving the cream, and then
How It’s Used: As a high heat–tolerant (up to 400 degrees) the cultured butter, a distinct tangy, complex flavor that
fat for sautéing and frying; as a gloss for phyllo in dishes such sets it apart from conventional butter that’s made from
as baklava and spanakopita; and for dipping shellfish and artichokes. fresh (often called “sweet”) cream. –Paul Adams
How We Make It: Cut butter into 1-inch chunks and then melt it either in
a small saucepan over medium-low heat or in the microwave at 50 percent power. CULTURED BUTTER
Let the melted butter sit for 10 minutes, then skim off the milk solids floating at the top MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS BUTTER AND ABOUT 2 CUPS
with a soupspoon. Transfer the butter to a bowl if melted in a saucepan. Cover and refrigerate BUTTERMILK TOTAL TIME: 45 MINUTES, PLUS 24 HOURS

until the fat solidifies, at least 4 hours. The solidified butter can then be popped out of the bowl, where the water (and TO 1 WEEK RESTING

trace amounts of other dissolved ingredients) will remain. Blot the bottom of the fat dry with paper towels and store in
the refrigerator. (You can clarify butter faster by skipping the initial refrigeration step and skimming the fat off the layer of
water using a spoon, but this approach is less effective at removing water, so the result won’t be as shelf-stable.)
BROWNED BUTTER BACON AND BROWNED BUTTER
What It Is: Butter that has been heated VINAIGRETTE
until its water evaporates and its milk solids SERVES 4 (MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP) TOTAL TIME: 25 MINUTES
undergo the Maillard reaction, creating hun-
dreds of new, complex-tasting flavor compounds. Use this to dress a hearty salad or grilled seafood.
How It’s Used: As the foundation of countless sauces;
in baked goods, where it offers unrivaled depth. 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 slice bacon, chopped fine
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1. Melt 6 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet
over medium-high heat. Cook, swirling skillet con-
stantly, until butter is dark golden brown and has
nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from
heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof
bowl. Stir remaining 2 tablespoons butter into hot
How We Make It: Melt butter in a pan with a butter to melt. Wipe skillet clean with paper towel.
light-colored interior, such as a stainless-steel or enam- 2. Cook bacon in now-empty skillet over
eled cast-iron skillet (better for monitoring browning medium heat until crispy, 5 to 7 minutes. Using
than a pan with a dark-colored interior), until sputter- slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel–lined
ing subsides. Using a heatproof spatula, stir and scrape plate. Pour off any bacon fat into browned butter.
constantly as the solids brown so that none stick to the Add vinegar, oil, shallot, maple syrup, and mustard
pan. Immediately pour the butter into a heatproof bowl, to browned butter mixture; whisk until emulsified,
scraping out the browned bits, to stop the cooking. about 30 seconds. Stir in bacon.
GHEE
What It Is: Butter (usually cultured) that has been heated until its water evap-
orates and its milk solids undergo the Maillard reaction and then strained of
the brown solids, leaving nutty-tasting, shelf-stable fat (cooking the milk solids
forms antioxidants that help prevent rancidity) with an ultrahigh smoke point.
How It’s Used: As a high heat–tolerant fat in South Asian cooking for sautéing, stir-frying, and
deep frying; as a more flavorful alternative in any application that calls for clarified butter.
How We Make It: Place 1 to 2 pounds of unsalted butter in a Dutch oven and
cook, uncovered, on the lower-middle rack of a 250-degree oven until all the
water evaporates and the milk solids are golden brown, 2 to 3 hours. Let cool
slightly and strain ghee through fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. Pour into
a clean glass jar, let cool completely, and seal. Store, sealed, in a cool, dark place for
up to 3 months or refrigerate for up to 1 year. (Commercial ghee is also available in
many supermarkets, usually stocked near the oils.)
cook’s illustrated
18
We prefer the flavor of butter made with pasteur-
ized cream as opposed to ultra-pasteurized cream.
The ideal temperature range for churning butter is
55 to 60 degrees: colder and the fat is too firm and
will stick to the sides of the food processor bowl;
warmer and the fat is too liquid instead of solid,
leading to greasy butter. For the most complex tangy
flavor, we recommend aging the cream for a week.
At that point the cream may smell quite pungent, but
most of what you smell resides in the liquid that gets
separated out, leaving the butter surprisingly mellow.
This recipe requires cheesecloth.
4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons buttermilk
¼ teaspoon table salt (optional)
1. Combine cream and buttermilk in clean lidded
container. Cover container and let sit at room
temperature until mixture smells tangy and buttery
and thickens to sour cream–like consistency, at
least 24 hours or up to 1 week in cooler seasons,
checking daily.
2. Chill cream mixture in refrigerator or over ice
bath to 55 to 60 degrees.
3. Process cream mixture in food processor until
mixture turns from grainy whipped cream to lumps
of butter splashing in liquid, 1 to 3 minutes. Stop
processor immediately.
4. Fill medium bowl halfway with ice and water.
Line fine-mesh strainer with triple layer of cheese-
cloth, leaving few inches of cloth hanging over sides
of strainer, and set over large bowl. Drain butter
mixture in prepared strainer (buttermilk will collect
in bowl). Lift cheesecloth by edges and twist and
squeeze tightly over strainer to press out more but-
termilk (stop when butter starts to squeeze through
cheesecloth). Transfer cheesecloth-wrapped butter
to ice bath until firm around exterior, about 2 min- ILLUSTRATION: JOHN BURGOYNE
utes. Transfer buttermilk to airtight container.
5. Remove butter from cheesecloth and transfer
to now-empty bowl. Stir and press with wooden
spoon (metal utensil will conduct heat from your
hands and make butter soft) to force out additional
buttermilk from butter, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain but-
termilk from bowl, add to buttermilk container, and
refrigerate until ready to use. Knead salt, if using, into
butter with wooden spoon. Transfer butter to sec-
ond airtight container and refrigerate until ready to
use. (Butter can be refrigerated for up to 2 months.)
 Why You Should Roast Fennel
High heat turns this vegetable into an even better version of itself.
F
ennel sparks controversy. You either love
its intense anise flavors—or hate them. To
those in the latter camp, I like to ask:
Have you tried fennel roasted? While
heat of any kind mellows this bulbous vegetable’s
licorice notes and turns its fibrous texture luxuri-
ously creamy, roasting coaxes out hidden flavors,
recalibrating how it tastes. The result: a nutty,
savory-sweet vegetable that’s the perfect accom-
paniment to almost any dish.
Fennel’s multilayered structure presents challenges,
and I began my recipe development by figuring out
how to prep the vegetable (which, incidentally, comes
from a different variety of the fennel plant than the
one that produces fennel seeds). Cutting the bulb
crosswise into thick rounds caused the layers to fall
apart into random-size pieces. Lengthwise slices were
better, but if they were too thin, they dried out in the
oven, which emphasized the fennel’s stringiness. The
best method was slicing the bulb into wedges, which
provided flat surfaces for browning and tidy pieces
attached at the core that stayed intact.
I also found that simply coating the pieces with oil
and roasting them in a hot oven charred their exteri-
ors before the insides turned creamy. The solution:
I drizzled the wedges with water and covered them
with foil so that they steamed for the first 20 min-
utes of cooking. After that I removed the foil, and
in 10 minutes the fennel turned golden brown and
deliciously caramelized.
There was another benefit to adding water. When
I dissolved salt in the water first, it was a great way
to get seasoning into the pieces’ interiors. I had one
more tweak: Since the wedges in the middle of the
baking sheet didn’t get as browned, I arranged the
pieces on the long sides of the sheet, where they’d
all get equal exposure to the heat.
Sprinkling these beautifully golden-brown wedges
with the chopped fennel fronds made a satisfying
side dish, but since their mild anise notes have such
an affinity for other flavors, I created some optional
toppings: a floral vinaigrette made with white wine
vinegar and honey as well as orange juice (and its zest);
PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW JANJIGIAN
briny oil-cured olives quickly crisped in the micro-
wave; crunchy bread crumbs mixed with umami-rich
Parmesan and a touch of red pepper; and cashews
toasted with a slew of bold-flavored spices including
cumin, mustard seeds, and nigella seeds.
FOR NUTRITION
INFORMATION AND MORE
Visit CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
j BY KEITH DRESSER k
Cutting fennel into wedges is the best way to create broad
surfaces for browning and ensure that the layers stay intact.
ROASTED FENNEL
SERVES 4 TO 6 TOTAL TIME: 50 MINUTES
Look for fennel bulbs that measure 3½ to 4 inches
in diameter and weigh around 1 pound with the
stalks (12 to 14 ounces without); trim the bases very
lightly so that the bulbs remain intact. Our recipes
for Parmesan Bread Crumbs and Spiced Cashews are
available for free for four months at CooksIllustrated.
com/feb21.
2 fennel bulbs, bases lightly trimmed, 2 tablespoons
fronds chopped coarse, stalks discarded
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 recipe topping (optional) (recipes follow)
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and
heat oven to 450 degrees. Spray rimmed baking
sheet with vegetable oil spray.
2. Cut each fennel bulb lengthwise through core
into 8 wedges (do not remove core). Whisk water
and salt in large bowl until salt is dissolved. Add fen-
nel wedges to bowl and toss gently to coat. Drizzle
with oil, sprinkle with pepper, and toss gently to coat.
Arrange fennel wedges cut side down along 2 longer
sides of prepared sheet. Drizzle any water in bowl
evenly over fennel wedges. Cover sheet tightly with
aluminum foil and roast for 20 minutes.
3. Remove foil from sheet and continue to roast
until side of fennel touching sheet is browned, 5 to
8 minutes longer, rotating sheet halfway through
january & february 2021
19
roasting. Flip each fennel wedge to second cut side.
Continue to roast until second side is browned, 3 to
5 minutes longer. Transfer to plate; sprinkle with
topping, if using, and fennel fronds; and serve.
ORANGE-HONEY DRESSING
MAKES ¼ CUP TOTAL TIME: 5 MINUTES
Vinegar boosts the acidity in this dressing.
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons honey
1½ teaspoons white wine vinegar
⅛ teaspoon grated orange zest plus 1 tablespoon
juice
Pinch kosher salt
Whisk all ingredients together in bowl.
CRUNCHY OIL-CURED OLIVES
MAKES 2 TABLESPOONS TOTAL TIME: 20 MINUTES
The olives will crisp as they cool.
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped oil-cured
black olives
¼ teaspoon grated lemon zest
Line plate with double layer of paper towels. Spread
olives on towels. Microwave, stirring every 30 seconds,
until olives start to dry and no longer clump together,
2½ to 3 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Transfer olives to
cutting board, sprinkle with lemon zest, and chop until
olives are finely chopped and mixture is homogeneous.
 Anzac Biscuits
Part patriotic icon, part everyday sweet, these Antipodean biscuits are
like my favorite oatmeal cookie —but with a decidedly golden touch.
I
f you want to get a sense of just how deeply
Antipodeans cherish their Anzac biscuits, you
can start by consulting the regulations out-
lined by the Protection of the Word “Anzac”
Act 1920. Issued by the Australian government’s
Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the law states that
any biscuits bearing that name must “generally con-
form to the traditional recipe and shape” and must
never be referred to as “Anzac cookies.” Doing so,
it says, would suggest “non-Australian overtones.”
Ironically, there isn’t much consensus on what
defines a traditional Anzac biscuit. The basic idea has
always been a simple oatmeal cookie–like confection
with distinctly rich caramel flavor and color, cobbled
together from pantry staples that were available during
the first World War: rolled oats; flour; sugar; but-
ter; baking soda; and a viscous, amber-toned liquid
sweetener called golden syrup. (Eggs, which were
scarce during the war, were usually omitted.) Treacly
and much more palatable than the hardtack that sus-
tained soldiers on the move (ANZAC is the acronym
used during the First World War for the Australian
and New Zealand Army Corps), the biscuits were
j B Y DAV I D PA Z M I Ñ O k
Golden syrup—and plenty of it—gives our Anzac biscuits a satisfying chewiness and rich caramel color and flavor.
care-package fodder for overseas forces. Their acces-
sible ingredients and stir-together method made it
possible for wives of soldiers and women’s groups
throughout both nations to regularly bake and ship
their own versions to soldiers (for more information,
see “The Biscuit Backstory”).
No doubt, that widespread popularity led to the
eclectic mix of biscuits called Anzac today. Many
modern versions contain flaked coconut, and some
are embellished with nuts or raisins or dipped in
chocolate. But in most cases the distinction from
biscuit to biscuit comes down to the proportions of
the ingredients: Depending on the precise amounts
of dry mix, water, fat, and sugar, they bake up thick,
thin, dense, lacy, crisp, or chewy.
Hoping that the Anzac world had room for one
more interpretation, I got to work on a version that
boasted the texture of my favorite oatmeal cookie—
crisp at the edges and evenly chewy within—with the
nutty richness of coconut and the lightly caramelized,
distinctly Anzac sweetness of golden syrup.
cook’s illustrated
20
Dry Times
I started by trying the most common approach, a
ratio formula: 1 cup each of rolled oats, flour, sugar,
and unsweetened coconut. After stirring together the
dry mix, I melted a stick of butter with a tablespoon
or two of golden syrup and dissolved a teaspoon of
baking soda in a couple tablespoons of hot water—an
unusual step that almost all recipes include. Then
I stirred the baking soda mixture into the butter
mixture (the two components reacted and foamed
up; see “The Soda-Syrup Reaction”) and added the
dry mix directly to the saucepan I’d melted the but- PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW JANJIGIAN
ter in (as convenient a vessel to mix the dough as a
bowl). Then I dropped spoonfuls of the dough onto
a baking sheet, flattened them, and baked them until
they were golden.
I could feel how little moisture there was in the
dough as I was mixing it, so I wasn’t surprised when
the biscuits baked up dry and dense, with virtually
no chewiness. Adjusting the flour and/or golden
syrup would address that, but I decided to zero in
 H I S TO R Y The Biscuit Backstory Whether my biscuits would pass muster with the
Exactly when sweet, eggless, rolled oat–based biscuits came Australian government, I can’t say. But they’re crisp at
to be called “Anzac” is unclear, but most sources agree that the edges and chewy within; boast robust caramel-like
the iconic Antipodean confection—and its name—evolved richness, loads of oats, and lots of nutty-sweet coco-
over time around the first World War. According to Allison nut; and come together on a whim. What more could
Reynolds, author of Anzac Biscuits: The Power and Spirit I ask from a drop cookie biscuit?
of an Everyday National Icon (2018), various types of bis-
cuits existed before the war and initially came to be known ANZAC BISCUITS
as Solider’s Biscuits or Red Cross Biscuits when wives and MAKES 24 BISCUITS

women’s groups started posting them to soldiers overseas as TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR, PLUS 45 MINUTES COOLING

sweet relief from the jaw-breaking hardtack rations, packing

the biscuits in airtight tins so that they might withstand the Golden syrup is important to achieving the proper
months-long journey via ship. After 1915, when troops from appearance and texture in these biscuits. Look for
the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) Lyle’s brand in the baking aisle of your supermarket
stormed the Gallipoli peninsula, these homemade provisions or with the honey. Regular old-fashioned rolled oats
were dubbed “Anzac biscuits.” However, Reynolds guesses work best here. Do not use extra-thick rolled oats;
that versions more closely resembling contemporary Anzac Shipped to overseas soldiers, Anzac biscuits they will make a dry, tough biscuit. To ensure that
“bikkies” laced with oats, golden syrup, and coconut prob- were both a treat and a symbol of Antipodean the biscuits spread properly, weigh the flour and oats.
ably didn’t emerge until a bit later, around 1920. patriotism.
April 25—the anniversary of the troops’ arrival at 1¼ cups (6¼ ounces) all-purpose flour
Gallipoli—now marks Anzac Day, the annual commemoration of soldiers from New Zealand and Australia ½ cup (3½ ounces) sugar
throughout history. But it’s worth noting that the biscuits’ connection to patriotism is fraught. At the time, the ¼ teaspoon table salt
Australian government barred people “not substantially of European origin or descent” from enlisting, though 1½ cups (4½ ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
thousands of Indigenous Australians and immigrants from countries such as China served anyway. ¾ cup (2½ ounces) sweetened flaked coconut
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
⅓ cup golden syrup
on the coconut first. I’d been using the unsweetened I turned out several more batches with increasingly 2 tablespoons hot water
kind that most Anzac recipes call for, but it seemed higher amounts of syrup. Each one was moister, 1 teaspoon baking soda
pretty absorbent—almost like dry flour. That made chewier, and more flavorful than the last, but when
me wonder if sweetened coconut might behave dif- I got to ⅓ cup, I stopped: The crumb of that batch 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat
ferently, since the sugar it contains is hygroscopic was rich-tasting and gold-toned, but that much syrup oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with
(retains water). I tried a one-for-one swap, and the caused the dough to spread so much that the biscuits parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together
biscuits baked up thinner, moister, and (of course) were wafer-thin and lacy like Florentine cookies and in medium bowl. Add oats and coconut and whisk to
sweeter, which was great since sweetened coconut is so chewy that they bordered on candy—and, in combine evenly, breaking up any coconut clumps.
more widely available in the States than unsweetened. combination with the sugar and coconut, it made 2. Heat butter and golden syrup in medium sauce-
I stuck with it and liked the results even more when the biscuits much too sweet. pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until
I cut back on the sweetened coconut by 25 percent. If I wanted to keep that much syrup in the biscuits butter is melted and mixture begins to bubble, 2 to
for its flavor and color, I needed to adjust the other 3 minutes. Meanwhile, stir hot water and baking soda
The Golden Ratio ingredients. I spent the next several tests pushing and in small bowl until combined. Off heat, stir baking
From there I circled back to the golden syrup: Its pulling at the amounts of granulated sugar, coconut, soda mixture into butter mixture (mixture will foam
caramel-like flavor and color hadn’t been prominent oats, and flour. Ultimately, I cut back on the sugar and bubble). Add flour mixture to saucepan and stir
enough, and I’d done enough baking with corn to tone down the biscuits’ sweetness and chewiness, until evenly combined.
syrup (a close relative) to know that it’s also invalu- added a bit more flour to reduce the dough’s spread, 3. Divide dough into 24 equal portions, about
able for ramping up moisture and chewiness (to learn and added lots more oats so that the biscuits baked 1 mounded tablespoon each (or use #40 portion
more about golden syrup, see page 29). up with more substance and toasty flavor. scoop, or weigh out 1 ounce per portion), stirring
remaining dough after first 12 portions to ensure even
distribution of oats. Space rounded portions evenly
The Soda-Syrup Reaction on prepared sheets, 12 portions per sheet. Let dough
Most modern baking recipes call for adding chemical leaveners such portions rest until surface is slightly dry to touch, about
as baking soda to the dry mix. But almost all Anzac biscuit recipes 5 minutes. Using fork, gently press each portion into
suggest mixing the soda into a little hot water and then stirring that 2-inch disk. (Rinse and dry fork if it becomes sticky.)
solution into a mixture of melted butter and golden syrup, causing 4. Bake biscuits, 1 sheet at a time, until orange-brown
a bubbly reaction. Historically, bakers did this to break up clumps and edges are set, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet
PHOTO (TOP): CREATIVE COMMONS

of baking soda (early formulations didn’t contain anticaking agents).
But this method also makes for a biscuit that’s pleasantly dense and
chewy, since activating the soda before adding it to the dough blows
off some of its leavening power, so it’s less able to aerate the dough.
What’s more, it deepens the crumb’s color and flavor: When the
alkaline soda reacts with the acidic syrup’s plant pigments (which
respond dramatically to pH change), the syrup darkens, and the
darker dough develops more flavorful Maillard browning as it bakes.
after 5 minutes. Let biscuits cool completely on sheet,
45 minutes to 1 hour. Use wide metal spatula to
remove biscuits from sheets. (Biscuits can be stored
in airtight container for up to 1 week.)
(BAKING) SODA POP
Mixing alkaline baking soda with acidic FOR NUTRITION
golden syrup causes a bubbly reaction that INFORMATION AND MORE
leads to chewier, more flavorful biscuits. Visit CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21

january & february 2021

21
 The Best Multicooker for Your Money
Two months. Thirteen models. Countless batches of food. Here’s what we learned.
j BY RIDDLEY GEMPERLEIN−SCHIRM k
I
f you’ve surfed the internet during the past five
years, you’ve probably heard of the Instant
Pot. When we tested multicookers a few years
ago, the company’s main model, the Duo,
excelled at pressure cooking, but it wasn’t power-
ful enough to slow-cook well (the chunks of beef
in the stew made in it were still tough and chewy
11 hours later). Instead, we named the Zavor LUX
LCD 8 QT Multi-Cooker and the GoWISE USA
8-Quart 10-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker/Slow
Cooker our favorites; they were adept at both pres-
sure- and slow-cooking food, they browned foods
well, and they were easy to use.
Over the past few years, multicookers have under-
gone some big changes, so we wondered if the Zavor
and GoWISE models were still the best. To find out,
we selected 13 models, including our previous win-
ners and two Instant Pot models, in both 8-quart
and 6-quart sizes because our multicooker recipes
are engineered to work equally well in both. In each
machine, we pressure- and slow-cooked beef stew and
Boston baked beans and made white rice.
The good news? All but one of the models
pressure-cooked food well. Slow cooking, however,
was another matter. The best models produced
fully cooked results well within our recipe times,
but nearly half the models, including the Instant
Pot Duo, took hours longer or never fully cooked
the food. But not all the Instant Pot news was
bad: The company’s newer model, the Instant Pot
Duo Evo Plus, performed admirably, both when
pressure-cooking and slow-cooking food.
To look deeper into our results, we loaded each
model with an exact amount of room-temperature
water and used a wireless tracker to monitor the
water temperatures inside each model when set
to high (for pressure cooking) and then when set
to low (for slow cooking). We found that the top
performers, when set to high, reached their target 20 degrees hotter than the older Instant Pot model.
temperatures more quickly than other models and Some of the multicookers were easier to program
held that temperature constantly throughout cook- than others. We preferred those with large digital
ing (see chart below). When set to low, some models screens to those with analog controls. We also liked
took far longer to reach their target temperatures, models that allowed us to set our own cooking times
which led to them either taking longer to successfully and temperatures and to adjust them without stopping
slow-cook or not being able to do so at all. This test and restarting the machines. You should be able to sear
also gave us a clear picture of why the Instant Pot and sauté foods in a multicooker the same way you
Duo Evo Plus performed well at slow cooking: It ran would in a pot or a skillet
A Tight Seal Is Essential for Pressure Cooking
When we pressure-cooked food on high, a loose seal on one of the models in our
lineup, from All-Clad, caused steam to escape from below its lid and left pooled water
on the counter (right). A back-up copy performed the same way. To see how this flaw
was affecting its internal temperature, we loaded each model in our lineup with the
same amount of room-temperature water and used a wireless tracker to monitor the
water temperatures as the machines’ pressures increased. The water in all the other Steam escaped from
machines reached very acceptable temperatures, from 236.5 to 244.9 degrees (the top below the lid at the
front of the machine,
three are shown below), while the water in the All-Clad with the loose seal reached causing water to leak
only 213.5 degrees. This proved how important a tight seal is: Without one, a multi- down the side and pool
cooker just won’t reach a high-enough temperature to successfully pressure-cook food. on the countertop.
Zavor Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus Crock-Pot All-Clad
250
200
TEMPERATURE (˚F)
150
100
50
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
TIME (MINUTES)
cook’s illustrated
22

Our favorite multicooker had a pressure-release switch
that was far easier to operate than the pressure-release
mechanisms of other machines we tested because it
kept our hands away from the escaping steam.
set on a stovetop burner, but these settings varied from
machine to machine. We preferred machines with
clearly defined settings that allowed us to both sear
the beef and then sauté the onions for our beef stews.
We also preferred machines with “low,” “medium,”
and “high” temperature settings to those with specific
temperature settings (such as 365 degrees) because
they were easier to interpret. Our favorites also signaled
when they were preheating and alerted us when they
were ready for sautéing or browning.
WINNER
And while most of the cooking pots spun around
wildly as we sautéed and seared in them, the pots of
two models were anchored in place by silicone handles
that stayed cool throughout cooking and made them
easy to lift. In addition, the somewhat heavy lids of
two models, which were attached to their bases by a
hinge, got in the way while we were loading ingredi-
ents and sautéing or browning food.
After months of testing, we found our new
favorite multicooker: the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus
9-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, 8-QT, priced at
about $140. This model pressure- and slow-cooked
food well and within stated recipe times, and its
cooking pot was equipped with silicone handles that
anchored it in place while we cooked and made it
easy to lift. Its well-designed pressure-release switch
was easy to use, and its digital controls were also a
cinch to operate.
As a less expensive option, we also recommend
the Crock-Pot 8-Quart Express Crock XL Pressure
Cooker, (Stainless Steel), priced at about $77. It
produced excellent food within stated recipe times,
but its control panel was less intuitive than our win-
ner’s, leaving some testers flummoxed by its jumbled
plethora of presets. While its nonstick cooking pot
didn’t sear as well as the stainless-steel pot of our
winner, it was a cinch to clean.
See our full results with
all 13 models tested
CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
OUR RESULTS
METHODOLOGY
• Test 13 multicookers, priced from
about $77 to about $250, including
five 8-quart models and eight 6-quart
models
• Make pressure- and slow-cooked
Easy Beef Stew
• Make pressure- and slow-cooked
Boston Baked Beans
• Pressure-cook white rice
COOKING
Pressure- and slow-cooks food
well and within recipe times,
makes fluffy pressure-cooked
white rice, and sears food well.
REMOVABLE LID
CONTROL PANEL
Intuitive digital interface
H I G H LY R E C O M M E N D E D
INSTANT POT Duo Evo Plus 9-in-1 Electric
Pressure Cooker, 8-QT
MODEL: Instant Pot 8 Quart Duo Evo Plus
PRICE: $139.95 CAPACITY: 8 qt
COOKING POT INTERIOR: Stainless steel
SETTINGS: Pressure Cook, Rice/Grain, Steam, Sauté,
Slow Cook, Sous Vide, Yogurt, Bake
PRESSURE COOKING: +++ SLOW COOKING: +++
RICE COOKING: +++ SEARING/SAUTÉING: +++
EASE OF USE: +++ CLEANUP: ++½
BEST
BUY
RECOMMENDED
CROCK-POT 8-Quart Express Crock XL
Pressure Cooker, (Stainless Steel)
MODEL: SCCPPC800-V1
PRICE: $77.18
CAPACITY: 8 qt
COOKING POT INTERIOR:
Nonstick
SETTINGS: Manual Pressure,
Slow Cook, Brown/Sear,
Sauté, Steam, Boil, Simmer,
Yogurt, Meat/Stew, Poultry,
Beans/Chili, Soup/Broth,
Rice/Grains, Dessert
PRESSURE COOKING: +++ SLOW COOKING: +++
RICE COOKING: +++ SEARING/SAUTÉING: +++
EASE OF USE: ++ CLEANUP: +++
For the complete testing results, go to CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
january & february 2021
23
KEY
GOOD
FAIR
+++
++
POOR +
• Track the temperature of the water in each
machine at the low pressure-cook setting and
at the high pressure-cook setting for 15 minutes
(and as the pressure builds) and the low slow-cook
setting for 5 hours and compare the results
• Top two models only: Make pressure- and
slow-cooked North Carolina–Style Pulled Pork
• Winner only: Make Sous Vide Soft-Poached Eggs
and Cashew Yogurt
PRESSURE-RELEASE
SWITCH
Located away from the
steam-release vent
for safety
HANDLES
Silicone handles anchor
the pot when stirring
COOKING POT
Stainless steel and
easy to clean
TESTERS’ COMMENTS
This multicooker produced excellent
pressure-cooked food and, unlike other
Instant Pot models we’ve tested, excel-
lent slow-cooked food. Its stainless-steel
cooking pot seared food evenly, and its
light-colored interior made it easy to
monitor browning. We loved the clear,
intuitive digital interface and the unique
pressure-release switch. The cooking
pot’s silicone handles stayed cool and
were easy to grab. Overall, we thought
this model’s cooking performance and
ease of use deserved top marks.
TESTERS’ COMMENTS
At nearly half the price of our favor-
ite multicooker, this model produced
excellent white rice and pressure- and
slow-cooked beef stew and baked beans,
yielding tender meat and beans within
our stated recipe times. However, its
control panel was a bit busier and less
intuitive than our winner’s. Instead of a
digital screen, the button-heavy panel was
inundated with presets, making it tougher
to decipher and navigate. We were able to
reduce liquids quickly and sauté effectively
in this model’s nonstick cooking pot, which
was easy to clean, but browning the beef
for the stew took longer. We also liked
that this machine had a manual start but-
ton. Overall, this budget-friendly model
produced great results.
 Two Multicooker Meals
The pressure-cook feature of this appliance delivers deeply complex flavors
in record time. Here are two one-pot dinners to prove our point.
j BY NICOLE KONSTANTINAKOS k

P
ressure cooking is once again citrusy sauce. I tossed in a handful of
in vogue, thanks to the rise of halved green olives for tang, along with
the electric multicooker. This chopped parsley for freshness and color,
technique cooks food incred- and dinner was served.
ibly quickly, and the tightly sealed pot For my next one-pot meal, I again
traps volatile flavor molecules, pro- went for a Mediterranean spin, enhanc-
ducing dishes with exceptional depth. ing boneless beef short ribs with fennel
Another benefit is that flavorful brown- and rosemary, which both grow wild
ing happens inside the 250-degree pot throughout southern Italy. I portioned
that wouldn’t occur during a regular the ribs into 2-inch pieces so that they
stovetop simmer. As a bonus, the sauté would be easy to serve, and, as I had for
function of a multicooker means that the chicken, I browned the meat well
there are fewer dishes to wash, and using the sauté setting before making
because it’s electric, you don’t even room for a sliced onion and thick wedges
have to turn on the stove. Finally, most of fennel.
multicookers also have built-in timers, Once the vegetables were softened,
making it supereasy to accurately con- I added minced garlic and licorice-y
trol cooking times. fennel seeds to echo the fresh bulb, fol-
lowed by a splash of broth. But after I’d
The tightly sealed pot traps volatile returned the beef to the mix and cooked
flavor molecules, producing dishes it at high pressure for 35 minutes, a quick
with exceptional depth. pressure release like I had used with the
chicken yielded tough, dry meat. The
To showcase these capabilities, next time around, I let the pressure
I came up with two one-pot meals: a release naturally for 15 minutes. This
lightning-quick chicken and potato dish gradual drop gave the abundant collagen
and a deeply satisfying short rib braise. more time to convert to gelatin, produc-
For the chicken recipe, I would ing supple, melt-in-your-mouth meat.
employ a classic Provençal trio—tart Defatting the braising liquid was all I had
lemon, briny olives, and punchy garlic— to do to produce a rich, aromatic sauce to
to enliven the meat. I selected bone-in, pour over the beef and vegetables.
skin-on thighs, as I knew that the The only issue was that the fennel
collagen-rich meat would emerge moist pieces were a bit too broken down and
and tender from the high-temperature jammy, so the next time around I left their
cooking process. After using the sauté cores intact to help them maintain their
function to brown the skin side of the shape and texture.
thighs, thus developing a robust fond Lastly, in a nod to the Italian wine
that would form the foundation of the I planned to drink with this meal,
sauce, I transferred them to a plate and I quick-pickled some halved red grapes
sizzled several cloves of smashed garlic in A mere 9 minutes under pressure produces savory, lemon-scented chicken to sprinkle on top of the short ribs along
the rendered fat. and potatoes. with some of the feathery fennel fronds.
Next, I deglazed with just ½ cup of This combo not only added vibrant color PHOTOGRAPHY: DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE
broth. To avoid a watery result, it was important them to cook through in the short time needed to to the deep, dark braise but also contributed freshness
not to add too much liquid, as the chicken would finish the chicken. What’s more, placing the potatoes and lovely sweet-tart pops of flavor.
release juices and there wouldn’t be any evapora- on top of the thighs kept them out of the cooking If you’re among the legions who already own a
tion. Finally, I returned the chicken to the cooker liquid, which otherwise permeated them and turned multicooker, I hope you’ll enjoy adding these dishes
along with a thinly sliced, thin-skinned small lemon them mushy, even bursting a few. to your repertoire. If you’ve yet to take the plunge,
(thick-skinned lemons have a lot of pith that could After some tests, I found that the chicken was perhaps they will entice you to join the fun. Already
turn the sauce bitter) before arranging fingerling tender and succulent in a remarkably short 9 min- own a stovetop pressure cooker and prefer to keep
potatoes on top. Fingerlings were ideal because utes. At this point, the garlic and lemon had partially it old-school? Worry not, these recipes work equally
their diminutive size and oblong shape would allow melted into the chicken juices to produce a savory, well when prepared using a stovetop cooker.

cook’s illustrated
24

Quick versus Natural Pressure Release
There are two methods for releasing pressure after cooking: quick release and natural release.
Here’s a rundown of each method.
QUICK PRESSURE RELEASE
This method allows you to stop the
cooking right away, helping ensure
that foods don’t overcook. You can
immediately release pressure by turning
the pressure regulator knob to “steam”
or “venting” as soon as your recipe is done. (Make sure
to point the steam vent away from you.)
MULTICOOKER LEMONY CHICKEN
WITH FINGERLING POTATOES AND OLIVES
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 HOUR
Use potatoes that are approximately 1 inch in diam-
eter. Use a small, thin-skinned lemon (the pith of
a larger lemon will make the sauce bitter) and slice
it as thin as possible. This dish can also be cooked
in a stovetop pressure cooker. If cooking on the
stovetop, place the cooker over medium-high heat
when instructed to use the “highest sauté function.”
4 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed
½ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil,
plus extra for drizzling
4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
½ cup chicken broth
1 small lemon, sliced thin
1½ pounds fingerling potatoes, unpeeled
¼ cup pitted brine-cured green or black olives, halved
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley
1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and sprinkle
with salt and pepper. Using highest sauté function,
heat oil in multicooker for 3 to 5 minutes (or until
just smoking). Place chicken skin side down in pot
and cook until well browned on skin side, about
5 minutes; transfer to plate.
2. Add garlic to fat left in pot and cook, using highest
sauté function, until golden and fragrant, about 2 min-
utes. Stir in broth and lemon, scraping up any browned
bits. Return chicken, skin side up, to pot and add any
accumulated juices. Arrange potatoes on top. Lock
lid into place and close pressure-release valve. Select
high pressure-cook function and cook for 9 minutes.
3. Turn off multicooker and quick-release pressure.
Carefully remove lid, allowing steam to escape away
from you. Transfer chicken to serving dish and discard
skin, if desired. Stir olives and parsley into potatoes
ILLUSTRATION: JAY LAYMAN
and season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with
extra oil and serve chicken with potatoes.
FOR NUTRITION
INFORMATION AND MORE
Visit CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21
THE IMPORTANCE OF CAREFUL PREP
Pressure cooking happens fast and in a closed environ-
ment, so it’s important to prep food carefully so that it
doesn’t over- or undercook.
NATURAL PRESSURE
RELEASE This method allows ( Buy the right ( To ensure that
food to continue cooking in size proteins vegetables cook in
residual heat as the pressure and weigh and the same amount of
drops (to allow tough collagen to measure them time as the protein,
convert to silky gelatin, for example). If you do nothing accurately. (Hint: take care to cut
when the cooking time ends, the pressure in the pot Use a scale and them as specified
will drop back down naturally in 15 to 30 minutes. a ruler!) in the recipe.
MULTICOOKER BRAISED SHORT RIBS juices. Lock lid into place and close pressure-release
WITH FENNEL AND PICKLED GRAPES valve. Select high pressure-cook function and cook
SERVES 4 TOTAL TIME: 1 ¾ HOURS for 35 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, microwave vinegar, sugar, and
The thickness and marbling of boneless beef short remaining ¼ teaspoon salt in bowl until simmer-
ribs can vary a good deal. Look for lean ribs cut from ing, about 1 minute. Add grapes and let sit, stirring
the chuck that are approximately 1½ to 2 inches occasionally, for 20 minutes. Drain grapes and return
thick and 4 to 5 inches long. If boneless beef short to bowl. (Drained grapes can be refrigerated for up
ribs are unavailable, you can substitute boneless beef to 1 week.)
chuck-eye roast. Don’t core the fennel; the core 4. Turn off multicooker and let pressure release
helps hold the wedges together during cooking. naturally for 15 minutes. Quick-release any remain-
This dish can also be cooked in a stovetop pressure ing pressure, then carefully remove lid, allowing
cooker. If cooking on the stovetop, place the cooker steam to escape away from you. Transfer short ribs
over medium-high heat when instructed to use the to serving dish, tent with aluminum foil, and let rest
“highest sauté function.” while finishing sauce.
5. Strain braising liquid through fine-mesh strainer
1½ pounds boneless beef short ribs, trimmed and into fat separator. Discard rosemary sprig and transfer
cut into 2-inch pieces vegetables to serving dish with beef. Let braising
1 teaspoon table salt, divided liquid settle for 5 minutes, then pour ¾ cup defat-
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil ted liquid over short ribs and vegetables; discard
1 fennel bulb, 2 tablespoons fronds chopped, remaining liquid. Sprinkle with grapes and fennel
stalks discarded, bulb halved and sliced into fronds. Serve.
1-inch-thick wedges
1 onion, halved and sliced ½ inch thick
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
½ cup chicken broth
1 sprig fresh rosemary
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ounces seedless red grapes, halved
(½ cup)
1. Pat short ribs dry with paper towels and
sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt. Using high-
est sauté function, heat oil in multicooker
for 3 to 5 minutes (or until just smoking).
Brown short ribs on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes;
transfer to plate.
2. Add fennel wedges, onion, and ¼ tea-
spoon salt to fat left in pot and cook, using
highest sauté function, until vegetables
are softened and lightly browned, about
5 minutes. Stir in garlic and fennel seeds
and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in broth and rosemary sprig, scraping
up any browned bits. Nestle short ribs into A trio of fennel parts—bulb, fronds, and seeds—flavor rich
vegetable mixture and add any accumulated short ribs accented with sweet-tart pickled grapes.
january & february 2021
25
Home Bartending 101
With the right ingredients,
equipment, and recipes, you
can elevate your cocktails from
simple to sublime. BY M I YE BRO M BERG

M
ixing a drink is pretty similar to
cooking a dish: For the best results,
you need good ingredients, good
equipment, and a good recipe. If
you’ve never made a cocktail before, this guide
will give you all the information you’ll need to get
started. And if you’ve already been making drinks
for a while, you might find something that will allow
you to improve your technique or expand your
repertoire. By adding to your collections of spirits,
barware, glassware, and recipes, you can bring your
cocktail-making expertise to a new level.

CHOOSE THE START WITH SIX BASE SPIRITS

RIGHT GLASSWARE
The right glassware can elevate the presentation of
your drink. These glasses are the most useful and versa-
tile for serving cocktails.
By using these core ingredients in different combinations and proportions, you can make a wide variety of
cocktails. Quality matters, but we recommend saving your very best spirits for sipping on their own. For making
cocktails, we prefer to use bottles that are more moderately priced, from $15 to $40. And while many types of
each spirit exist, in certain instances, we’ve highlighted the specific kind or kinds that offer the most versatility
over the broadest range of cocktails.
TEQUILA GIN
Made From: Blue agave Made From: Grains; flavored with
Try: A blanco or reposado tequila juniper and other botanicals
Flavor Profile: Blanco: bright, vegetal, citrusy; Try: A London dry gin
reposado: stone fruit, with notes of vanilla Flavor Profile: Citrusy, piney, herbaceous

Old-Fashioned (Rocks) Glass: For stirred drinks (either VODKA BRANDY

“neat”—with no ice—or “on the rocks”—with ice) and Made From: Grains, potatoes, or fruit Made From: Grapes or other fruit
for shaken cocktails served on the rocks Try: Anything! There are fewer differences here. Try: Cognac
Size: 8 to 12 ounces Flavor Profile: Clean, crisp, neutral, subtly sweet Flavor Profile: Light, fruity, caramelly
Collins (Highball) Glass: For “long” drinks made with a
RUM
spirit and a nonalcoholic mixer (soda, juice, etc.)
Made From: Sugarcane molasses or juice WHISKEY
Size: 10 to 12 ounces
Try: A white rum or an aged rum (5 to Made From: Grains, corn
Martini or Coupe Glass: For cocktails that have been 14 years old) Try: American whiskey (bourbon,

ILLUSTRATION: JOHN BURGOYNE (LEFT), JAY LAYMAN (RIGHT)

shaken and strained; either glass is acceptable. Flavor Profile: White: bananas, fermented Tennessee whiskey, or rye)
Size: 5 to 6 ounces fruit; aged: spicy, notes of toasted oak Flavor Profile: Mellow or spicy, vanilla-y

NOW, MAKE IT YOUR OWN

A few additional ingredients will round out your basic bar so that you can make all the most essential cocktails.
Two Vermouths SWEET VERMOUTH Two Liqueurs Two Bitters Mixers Fruits for
DRY ATK Cointreau: An orange- Angostura Bitters: SELTZER Fresh Juice
VERMOUTH Recommends: flavored liqueur Concentrated digestif ATK Recommends: Lemon, lime, grapefruit
ATK Cinzano Rosso flavored with bitter herbs Polar Original Seltzer
Vermouth or
Garnishes
Recommends: Campari: An intensely and warm spices TONIC WATER
Olives, maraschino
Dolin Dry Cocchi Storico bittersweet aperitif with a Orange Bitters: ATK Recommends:
cherries, citrus peels,
Vermouth de Vermouth di distinctive red color Digestif with bright, Polar Premium Tonic
fresh herbs
Chambéry Torino citrusy flavor Water

cook’s illustrated
26
PICK THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB
A few basic pieces of equipment make the processes of measuring, shaking, stirring, and serving cocktails much easier, neater, and more efficient.
COBBLER SHAKER:
Easy for novices to use
ATK Recommends: Tovolo
Stainless Steel 4-in-1
Cocktail Shaker
BOSTON SHAKER:
For intermediate bartenders;
takes some practice to learn
how to seal properly but is
ultimately simple and fool-
proof to use and clean
ATK Recommends: The Boston
Shaker Professional Boston
Shaker, Weighted
NEXT-LEVEL GEAR
Cocktail Ice Cube Molds
ATK Recommends: OXO
Good Grips Covered Silicone
PEELER: For BARSPOON: MANUAL
CITRUS Ice Cube Tray—Large
making basic For stirring spirit-only drinks
JUICER: Cubes, Zoku Ice Ball Molds,
citrus-peel in tall shakers and retrieving
For juicing lemons, limes, and and True Cubes
garnishes olives and cherries from jars
ATK Recommends: Kuhn Rikon ATK Recommends: Cocktail medium-size oranges Handheld Smoke Infuser
Original Swiss Peeler Kingdom Teardrop Barspoon ATK Recommends: Chef ’n ATK Recommends:
FreshForce Citrus Juicer Breville/PolyScience Smoking
Gun Pro
JIGGER: HAWTHORNE MUDDLER: Channel Knife/Citrus
For accurately STRAINER: For muddling (pounding to Zester
and easily For straining express the essential oils ATK Recommends:
measuring the finished cock- of ) herbs and citrus Messermeister Pro-Touch
small volumes of liquid used tails into glasses; holds back ATK Recommends: Fletcher’s Combination Zester
in cocktails ice and muddled ingredients Mill Maple Muddler
ATK Recommends: OXO Good ATK Recommends: Cocktail Mixing Glass
To muddle, add ingredients to bottom
Grips Angled Measuring Cup, Kingdom Koriko Hawthorne of shaker and use muddler to pound Small Fine-Mesh Strainer
Clear Strainer them, turning muddler occasionally.

HOW TO STIR A COCKTAIL

SHAKE OR STIR? Add drink ingredients and ice to base of shaker. Grasp barspoon as if holding pencil and stir ice for 15 to 30 seconds,
As a rule of thumb, stir a cocktail that is then use Hawthorne strainer to decant into glass.
made only of spirits and shake a cocktail
that includes juices, cream or milk, or egg HOW TO SHAKE A COCKTAIL IN A COBBLER SHAKER
whites. (For highballs—tall, iced drinks—
with carbonated mixers, such as gin and
tonics or vodka sodas, the carbonated
mixer should be added to the spirit right
before serving and very briefly stirred to
combine without losing too many bubbles.)
Stirring and shaking effectively accom-
plish the same task: agitating the ice in the
cocktail shaker so that the cocktail ingre-
dients are chilled and diluted. Chilling and
1. Add drink ingredients 2. Fit top onto base and cap 3. Hold base of shaker 4. Remove cap and
diluting go hand in hand when using ice; you
to base of cobbler shaker, to seal. firmly with 1 hand and top decant cocktail into chilled
can’t have one without the other, and both
then fill three-quarters full of shaker firmly with your serving glass.
are important for good results. Dilution
with ice. other hand. Shake cocktail
isn’t a bad word in this context; the water
for 10 to 15 seconds.
that melts off of the ice is essential for
bringing the drink ingredients into harmony,
HOW TO SHAKE A COCKTAIL IN A BOSTON SHAKER
toning down any acids and softening the
alcohol content to a more palatable level.
That said, stirring and shaking yield
finished drinks with very different textures.
It takes longer to dilute and chill a drink to
the proper levels by stirring, but the result
is a clear, silky-smooth, spirit-forward
cocktail. Shaking is much more efficient,
thermodynamically speaking: Because you
are forcing ice cubes to interact and collide
dramatically with the drink ingredients 1. Add drink ingredients to 2. Hold bottom half with 3. To break seal, firmly 4. Remove top half, fit
(and each other), you can chill and dilute larger half of shaker and fill 1 hand and top half with tap bottom (larger) half Hawthorne strainer
a drink much more quickly. And because three-quarters full with ice. your other hand. Using just under juncture where onto bottom half, and
of all that turbulence, shaken drinks have Invert smaller half over larger vigorous back-and-forth halves meet. decant cocktail into
more body than stirred ones do, as air and half at slight angle. Firmly tap motion, shake cocktail for chilled serving glass.
minuscule particles of ice are incorporated top half to form tight seal. 10 to 15 seconds.
into them.

january & february 2021

27
 RECIPES TO START WITH
The following cocktails can all be made with the core ingredients listed on the previous page. Think of these cocktails as
building blocks for other cocktails; by altering the type and volume of each ingredient, you can get very different drinks.
To provide a sense of the options, we’ve included notable variations and alternatives for each drink where possible.

MARTINI MANHATTAN
CLEAN, CRISP, HERBACEOUS DARK, RICH, OAKY

2 ounces gin 2 ounces whiskey (rye or bourbon)

½ ounce dry vermouth ¾ ounce sweet vermouth
Dash Angostura bitters
Stirred | Serve in: Martini or coupe
glass | Garnish: Green olive or lemon Stirred | Serve in: Old-fashioned glass,
twist with or without ice | Garnish: Cherry RICH SIMPLE
SYRUP
VARIATIONS VARIATIONS
MAKES ABOUT
Vodka Martini: Substitute vodka for gin Perfect Manhattan: Add ¾ ounce dry 8 OUNCES
Dirty Martini: Add ¼ ounce olive brine vermouth
Martini Manhattan
Gibson: Decrease vermouth to Brandy Manhattan: Substitute brandy ¾ cup sugar
¼ ounce, garnish with cocktail onion for whiskey 5 ounces warm
Reverse Martini: 2 ounces dry ver- tap water
mouth, ½ ounce gin SIDECAR
SMOOTH, WOODSY, TART Whisk sugar and
NEGRONI warm water in
DARK, BITTERSWEET, PERFUMY 1½ ounces brandy bowl until sugar has
1 ounce Cointreau dissolved. Let cool
1 ounce gin ¾ ounce lemon juice completely, about
1 ounce Campari 10 minutes, before
1 ounce sweet vermouth Shaken | Serve in: Coupe or martini transferring to air-
glass | Garnish: Sugared rim, lemon twist tight container.
Stirred | Serve in: Old-fashioned
glass, with or without ice VARIATIONS ROSEMARY
Garnish: Orange peel White Lady: Substitute gin for brandy SYRUP
Negroni Sidecar
Margarita: Substitute tequila for brandy MAKES ABOUT

LOW-ABV VARIATION and lime juice for lemon juice; add pinch 8 OUNCES
COCKTAIL
Boulevardier: Substitute bourbon for gin of salt before shaking
¾ cup sugar
AMERICANO MOJITO 5 ounces water
BITTERSWEET, FIZZY COOL, FRAGRANT, EFFERVESCENT 1 sprig fresh
rosemary
1½ ounces Campari ⅓ cup fresh mint leaves
1 ounce Rich Simple Syrup Heat sugar and
1½ ounces sweet vermouth
2 ounces rum (white rum water in small
5 ounces seltzer, chilled
preferred) saucepan over
Spirits stirred in glass, seltzer added ¾ ounce lime juice medium heat,
after | Serve in: Collins glass filled 4 ounces seltzer, chilled whisking often, until
with ice | Garnish: Orange slice sugar has dissolved,
Americano Mojito Mint leaves and syrup muddled, all about 5 minutes;
DAIQUIRI ingredients but seltzer shaken, seltzer do not boil. Stir in
LIGHT, BRIGHT, REFRESHING NO-ABV added after | Serve in: Collins glass with rosemary sprig and
COCKTAIL
ice | Garnish: Fresh mint sprig let cool completely,
2 ounces white rum about 30 minutes.
¾ ounce lime juice GRAPEFRUIT-ROSEMARY Strain syrup through
¾ ounce Rich Simple Syrup SPRITZER fine-mesh strainer
PINEY, CITRUSY into airtight con-
Shaken | Serve in: Coupe or martini tainer; discard solids.
glass | Garnish: Lime slice 4 ounces grapefruit juice
½ ounce Rosemary Syrup
VARIATIONS 4 ounces seltzer, chilled
Web subscribers can
Gimlet: Substitute gin for rum
access the full guide
Southside: Substitute gin for rum, add Juice and syrup stirred, seltzer added at CooksIllustrated.
8 fresh mint leaves to shaker, garnish after | Serve in: Collins glass with ice com/FEB21.
Daiquiri with fresh mint sprig Grapefruit-Rosemary Spritzer Garnish: Grapefruit peel, rosemary sprig

cook’s illustrated
28
 K I TC H E N N OT E S
j BY E L I Z A B E T H B O M Z E , S T E V E D U N N , A N D R E A G E A RY, A N D R E W J A N J I G I A N ,
LAN LAM & ANNIE PETITO k

What This wooden paddle-like tool All About Crème Fraîche

is it resembling an old-fashioned
butter mold is used
Crème fraîche is harder to find and more expensive than
sour cream. So it’s natural to wonder if you can just
MA’AMOUL
to form ma’amoul, a cookie popular sub in sour cream when a recipe calls for it. While both
MOLD
throughout the Middle East. Ma’amoul products function in similar ways, adding tanginess and
are enjoyed year-round, but they’re best richness to food, the higher fat content of crème fraîche
known as celebratory treats served during the feasts that mark the end of the reli- makes it far more versatile. Here’s everything you should
gious fasts of Ramadan and Lent. These semolina shortbread cookies are typically know about this buttery cultured cream and why it’s worth
stuffed with chopped nuts such as walnuts or pistachios, along with dates, warm seeking out. –A.J.
spices, and rose or orange blossom water. Legend has it that the cookies’ somewhat
What it is: Crème fraîche is made by adding cultures to heavy cream with as much
plain exterior is a reminder that fasting is hard, but it comes with a sweet reward.
as 45 percent butterfat and fermenting it until it has a lush yet fluid consistency with
My wooden mold measures about 9 inches long by 3 inches wide and has a
subtle tang and complex, nutty notes. (In France, traditionally the bacteria present in
decorative well carved into one side. To
unpasteurized cream naturally thicken and ferment the dairy.)
make cookies, I patted semolina dough in my
palm; wrapped it around a ball of date-nut How sour cream is different: Sour cream is made with lighter dairy that has just
filling; and then gently pressed it into the 15 to 20 percent butterfat, which means it breaks at high temperatures.
mold’s well, which I lined with plastic wrap to How to make crème fraîche at home: This cultured dairy is expensive to buy
prevent sticking. I turned each cookie onto a but economical (and easy) to make yourself. Stir together 1 cup pasteurized heavy
sheet covered in parchment and baked them cream (avoid ultra-pasteurized) and 2 tablespoons buttermilk. Cover and place in
until just golden. The mold worked flaw- warm location (75 to 80 degrees is ideal; lower temperatures will lengthen fermen-
lessly, producing beautiful, domed cookies tation time) until thickened but still pourable, 12 to 24 hours.
with a distinctive pattern. Once they cooled,
I dusted the cookies with confectioners’ Favorite ways to use it—and use it up: Crème fraîche’s high fat content means that,
sugar, per tradition. –S.D. unlike sour cream, it won’t curdle when exposed to high temperatures. You can sub-
stitute it in a 1:1 ratio in almost any application calling for heavy cream. We use it to
boost creaminess in soups, pasta, pan sauces, scrambled eggs—even risotto. We also
The Treacly Secrets of Golden Syrup love it whipped into a lofty topping (it holds air as well as whipped cream) or dolloped
Golden syrup (also known as light treacle) looks and flows directly on fruits and desserts.
like honey and functions a lot like corn syrup, but its caramel-
ized flavor distinguishes it from other liquid sweeteners. It’s
a key ingredient in our Anzac Biscuits (page 21), giving them How to Make a Roll Cut (and Why)
their satisfying chewiness and characteristic caramel color and The roll cut (also known as the oblique cut) is used on long vegetables such
taste. Lyle’s Golden Syrup is standard in cupboards throughout as carrots, parsnips, cucumbers, or zucchini to create pieces with two angled
Britain as well as several English-speaking countries with ties sides. It has two chief benefits: It creates more surface area for heat to
to the UK; it’s kept on hand for baking and as a condiment for penetrate so that food cooks faster, and for tapered vegetables, it allows you
drizzling over pancakes or porridge. These days, it’s also readily to fashion pieces that cook at the same rate, since the degree to which you
available in American supermarkets. Here’s what it offers. –E.B. angle the knife dictates how much surface area is exposed. (Wider angles
create more surface area; sharper angles create less.) The exposed surfaces
Tempered sweetness: Golden syrup is less sweet than MORE THAN JUST
are ideal for applications such as glazing, stir-frying, or roasting. In addition,
sugar, so you can use more of it without saccharine results. A SWEETENER
the cut creates pieces that are attractive without being identical, lending visual
Distinct caramel color and flavor: Golden syrup is a by-product of the sugar appeal to stews, soups, or even crudités platters. –A.P.
refinement process. Sugar is heated and treated with a base during the refinement
process, which produces brown-colored compounds with complex flavor. These 1. Starting at 1 end, hold knife at about
compounds—along with any pigment from the sugarcane plant—are removed from 45-degree angle (relative to vegetable)
white sugar, but some remain in golden syrup. and make diagonal cut.
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN BURGOYNE

Exceptional moisture and chewiness: In addition to sucrose (table sugar), golden

syrup contains fructose and glucose, simple sugars that come with significant textural 2. Roll vegetable 90 degrees (quarter turn)
advantages. Fructose is particularly hygroscopic, which means that it retains lots of and cut again at same angle.
water and gives baked goods—cookies in particular—a quality that engineers refer
to as plasticity and that we recognize as chewiness.  3. Continue rolling and cutting along length
of vegetable. For tapered vegetables,
Long shelf life: Golden syrup’s fructose content means that it doesn’t crystallize in position knife to make angles more obtuse
stored baked goods as readily as white sugar does, so cookies stay moist and chewy at thin end and more acute at thick end.
long after they cool.

january & february 2021

29

A Vegan Substitute for
Anchovies
Anchovies have long been used in Italian and
other Mediterranean cuisines to boost savory
flavor. We routinely add a small amount to
everything from braises and soups to dips and
dressings, where they deepen flavor without
contributing overt fishiness. We wanted to find
a similar umami powerhouse for vegan cooks.
After a little experimentation, we landed on a
potent combination: miso blended with ground
toasted nori (toasting brings out the seaweed’s
nutty flavor). Salty, fermented miso is loaded
with glutamates, while nori has both glutamates
and ribonucleotides (including some of the same
ones that are in anchovies). Together, these two
types of molecules can dramatically boost savory
flavor, enhancing a dish’s overall complexity.
(Note: While our Miso-Nori Paste is an excellent
sub for anchovies when they’re used to amplify
umami, it won’t work in applications where the
cured fish is one of the defining flavors.) –S.D.
MISO-NORI PASTE
Using tongs, hold 8 by 7-inch sheet of nori 2 inches
above low flame, flipping every 3 to 5 seconds,
until nori is aromatic and shrinks slightly, about
20 seconds (or toast in 275-degree oven). Tear
sheet into 1½-inch pieces and grind in spice
grinder to fine powder, about 30 seconds. Measure
out 1 teaspoon nori powder and stir into ¼ cup
white miso. (Extra powder can be stored in air-
tight container at room temperature for up to
2 months.) Paste can be stored in airtight container
in refrigerator for up 1 month. To use as flavoring
agent: Substitute in 1:1 ratio for minced anchovies
(1 minced anchovy = ½ teaspoon).
Portioning Dough for Rolls
This method, which bakeshops often use, makes it easy to portion dough into uniform pieces that bake evenly; double-checking on a scale adds extra insurance.
1. Turn out dough onto counter 2. Using bench scraper, divide
and press gently into rough square square into thirds with 2 horizontal
of even thickness. cuts, stopping few inches from sides.
K I TC H E N N OT E S
DIY RECIPE
Blood Orange Marmalade
With its blush-tinged skin, crimson-colored flesh,
and berry-like flavor notes, the blood orange is
ideal for making beautiful and intensely flavored
marmalade. We found that the simplest method of
preparing the fruit—simmering it whole before chop-
ping the peels and mashing the pulp—yielded the best
results. We added a whole lemon for its bright flavor
and natural pectin, plus just the right amount of sugar to
balance the fruits’ tartness. –Nicole Konstantinakos
BLOOD ORANGE MARMALADE
MAKES FOUR 1-CUP JARS
TOTAL TIME: 3 HOURS, PLUS 17 HOURS COOLING
If you can’t find blood oranges, you can substitute
navel, Valencia, or Seville oranges, although the sweet-
ness will vary.
4 cups water
1 pound blood oranges, scrubbed
1 lemon, scrubbed
3½ cups (24½ ounces) sugar
1. Bring water, oranges, and lemon to boil in large
saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover
saucepan with heavy-duty aluminum foil and lid. Simmer
gently until fruit is easily pierced with skewer, about stirring and adjusting heat as needed, until marmalade
1½ hours. Off heat, let mixture cool, covered, for 5 to is thickened and registers 220 to 222 degrees, 15 to
24 hours. 25 minutes. Remove pot from heat. To test consistency,
2. Place 2 small plates in freezer to chill. Transfer place 1 teaspoon marmalade on chilled plate and freeze
oranges and lemon to cutting board; cut fruits into for 2 minutes. Gently push cooled marmalade with
quarters. Using paring knife, scrape pulp, along with your finger; marmalade should wrinkle around edges
most of pith, from peels; set aside peels. Return pulp to when set. If runny, return pot to heat and simmer 1 to
saucepan with liquid, mash lightly with potato masher, 3 minutes longer before retesting on second plate. Skim
bring to simmer over medium heat, and cook for any foam from surface of marmalade using large spoon.
10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice peels into thin strips, then 4. Using funnel and ladle, portion hot marmalade
cut crosswise into ¼-inch pieces. into four 1-cup jars. Let marmalade cool completely;
3. Strain liquid through fine-mesh strainer into Dutch cover; and refrigerate until marmalade is set, 12 to
oven, pressing firmly on solids; discard solids. Stir in sugar 24 hours. (Marmalade can be refrigerated for up to
and peels. Bring to vigorous boil over medium-high heat, 3 months.)
PHOTOGRAPHY: KELLER + KELLER
3. Pull cut ends of dough away 4. Keep pulling dough to form log of even width. Cut
from each other. evenly sized pieces of dough from log, double-checking
weight on scale as you go.
cook’s illustrated
30
 K I TC H E N N OT E S
The Fastest Way to Season Roasts, METHOD
Inside and Out FOR MEDIUM ROASTS such as a pork loin, strip roast,
Meat injectors have long been the secret weapon of or whole turkey breast, whisk 3 tablespoons of table salt into
pit masters and barbecue competition cooks. They 4 cups of water in a large bowl until dissolved to make the
use these tools to inject flavorings such as broth, apple salt solution.
juice, beer, wine, or soy sauce deep into cuts like
brisket and pork shoulder. Injecting a simple salt solu- FOR LARGE ROASTS such as whole turkeys, use a roast-
tion into a large roast can also be a fast and effective ing pan and double the amount of salt solution.
way to season it—and unlike with brining or salting,
there’s no need to wait for the salt to penetrate. Place roast in bowl
With enough seasoning solution injected strategically or roasting pan. Fit
throughout the roast, the salt will diffuse outward INJECTING PORK LOIN injector with needle
from the injection sites over the course of cooking Space injections at either end 1 to 1½ inches (if kit comes with
apart and 1 to 1½ inches from sides of roast.
and season the meat from center to edge. fine-gauge needle,
To nail down a method, we bought an inexpensive stainless-steel meat injector use that) and fill with 2 to 3 milliliters of solu-
and used it to experiment with injecting different concentrations of salt solution tion. Insert injector into roast, pull out about
into a pork loin. We found that we needed to use less salt than in a brine solution halfway, then slowly inject solution while
or the roasts turned out too salty. Because injecting liquid into a roast is a bit of a continuing to pull out. (Don’t worry if some
messy business—some of the solution inevitably leaks out—we placed the roast in of the solution leaks out.) Space injections
a large bowl or roasting pan to capture the mess. We also found that it was most 1 to 1½ inches apart and 1 to 1½ inches
efficient to place the salt solution in the bowl or pan with the roast and to draw from sides of roast. Turn roast in bowl,
the liquid into the plunger from there. making sure all surfaces are coated with
We recommend this treatment for roasts and poultry that are more than salt solution to thoroughly season exterior.
2 inches thick. –L.L. Cook roast according to recipe. –L.L.

New Ways to Spice Up Chewy Sugar Cookies Make and Keep Xanthan
Our recipe for Chewy Sugar Cookies (November/December 2010) is one of Gum Gel at the Ready
the most popular recipes we’ve published. It comes together quickly and uses a Xanthan gum is most commonly used in home
combination of butter and vegetable oil to produce a chewy texture that lasts for days. kitchens to help reinforce structure in gluten-free
We already have a few flavor variations for the cookie, but we couldn’t resist adding a baked goods. But this powdery substance, which
few more. The original recipe is available for free for four months at CooksIllustrated. forms a gel when combined with liquid, is also
com/feb21. Find it—and take one of the following variations for a spin. terrific to have on hand for many other uses:
A touch of it can help prevent coarse ice crystals
NOTE: All these variations require omitting the vanilla in the original recipe.
from forming in home-churned ice cream, bring a
luxurious thickness to gravies and pan sauces, sta-
bilize whipped cream, or even emulsify smoothies
and keep them lush and velvety for hours. Unlike a
thickening agent such as cornstarch, which requires
heat to do its job, xanthan gum works immediately
in a wide range of applications.
But it has two challenges: Since very tiny amounts are usually required,
BROWN SUGAR AND GINGER OLIVE OIL, ANISE, AND ORANGE unless you have a gram scale, it’s hard to use in applications with only a cup
or two of liquid. It also clumps when added to liquids, which means that you
Stir ½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped Add 1 teaspoon ground anise to flour, can’t just whisk a little into a pan sauce to thicken it—you have to mix it in
fine, into flour. Substitute light brown rub ¼ teaspoon grated orange zest forcefully with a blender. The solution: Prehydrate the powder to create a gel
sugar for sugar in cookies (you’ll still need into sugar in dough, and substitute that you can simply whisk into liquid in easy-to-measure amounts. –S.D.
to roll dough balls in granulated sugar). extra-virgin olive oil for vegetable oil.
To make gel: Pour 2 cups water into To stabilize whipped cream: Add
blender. With blender running on low, 4 teaspoons to 2 cups heavy cream
slowly add 1 tablespoon (9 grams) halfway through whipping.
xanthan gum to vortex. Increase speed
to medium and process for 2 minutes. To emulsify smoothies: Add
ILLUSTRATION: JAY LAYMAN

Transfer gel to airtight container and 1 tablespoon per 2 cups smoothie to

MATCHA AND BLACK SESAME
Stir 3 tablespoons black sesame seeds
and 1 tablespoon matcha powder
into flour.
COFFEE AND CARDAMOM
Add ½ teaspoon ground cardamom to
flour and dissolve 2 tablespoons instant
espresso powder in milk.
refrigerate for up to 1 month. blender before processing.
To thicken pan sauces and gravy: To prevent ice crystals in ice
Whisk in 1 tablespoon at a time per cream: Whisk in 1 tablespoon to
1 cup liquid. 1 quart base before churning.

january & february 2021

31
 E Q U I P M E N T CO R N E R
j BY CHASE BRIGHTWELL, MIYE BROMBERG, RIDDLEY GEMPERLEIN−SCHIRM & KATE SHANNON g

Barspoons Reusable Produce Bags

A barspoon is an essential tool H I G H LY
Reusable produce bags are popular choices to reduce
for making cocktails. With a relatively long handle and a small, R E C O M M E N D E D plastic waste and conveniently transport produce home
slender bowl, it’s designed for stirring drinks in tall shakers and from the grocery store or farmers’ market. Seeking the
COCKTAIL
for fishing garnishes such as olives and cherries out of their best set, we assembled and tested a lineup of 11 bags
KINGDOM
jars. We bought eight models and used them to stir drinks in Teardrop Barspoon from 10 sets, with prices ranging from about $0.60 to
shakers of different heights, retrieve cherries and olives from PRICE: $17.99 about $5.00 per bag. We looked at how much food
their jars, and make layered cocktails. None of the spoons each bag could comfortably hold, how easy the bag was
will ruin your drink, but a few factors made certain models easier to use. We liked to use and clean, and how well it held up to abuse test-
spoons of moderate length, since they rose high enough above the rims that hands ing meant to simulate months of use. Predictably, the
H I G H LY
of all sizes could comfortably grab onto them but weren’t too long; longer spoons largest bags (all of which were made of synthetic mate- RECOMMENDED
were harder to control. Spoons with twisted handles were easier to grasp and rotate rials) could hold more food. But we identified another
than those with smooth handles, especially when wet. And we preferred spoons important variable: how much a bag could stretch. Of PURIFYOU
with bowls that were big enough to corral ice and scoop out garnishes securely but the bags we tested, those made of cotton were more Reusable Produce
Bags, Set of 9
not so big that they felt awkward or clumsy in the narrow shakers. Our favorite is stretchy than the bags made of synthetic materials. Six
PRICE: $9.99 for set of 9
the Cocktail Kingdom Teardrop Barspoon (model BSP-TD30ST). It has a moderately of the bags tore in our durability tests; five of the bags, ($1.11 per bag)
long handle that’s twisted from top to bottom, making it especially easy to hold, and a including three polyester bags and two tightly woven
medium-size bowl that commands ice and retrieves garnishes handily. –M.B. cotton bags, remained intact. In the end, one bag aced all our tests. The largest bag
of the purifyou Reusable Produce Bags set (model PRPB-9), which is made from
polyester, was roomy and durable, and it emerged from our washing and abuse
KitchenAid Pasta-Making Attachments tests unscathed. Costing about $1.00 per bag, these nine bags are an affordable and
KitchenAid, the company that makes our favorite high-end, convenient set for your trips to the market. –C.B.
inexpensive, and small stand mixers, also makes a variety
of attachments that fit in the “hub” at the front of the
RECOMMENDED
machines (behind the silver “KitchenAid” cap). For this Mini Colanders
test, we focused on four attachments for shaping pasta: KITCHENAID When rinsing a quart of berries, a pint of cherry toma-
the three attachments in the KitchenAid 3-Piece Pasta 3-Piece Pasta Roller toes, or a can of beans, it’s more convenient to use a
& Cutter Set
Roller & Cutter Set (model KSMPRA) and the KitchenAid small colander than the larger stainless-steel model we rely
PRICE: $138.02
Gourmet Pasta Press (model KSMPEXTA). on when draining pasta. To find the best small colander, we
N OT
The first set consists of a roller to make RECOMMENDED
tested four that were collapsible and three that were made
H I G H LY
pasta sheets and two cutters to make fettuc- from stainless steel, melamine, or plastic. We used each to RECOMMENDED
cine and angel hair. The attachments processed KITCHENAID rinse 1 pound of strawberries (the amount in a standard
dough faster than a manual hand-crank pasta Gourmet Pasta Press produce container) and to rinse and drain a can of chick- PROGRESSIVE
PRICE: $139.99 PREPWORKS
maker and produced both thin pasta sheets and peas. Some models were too small or their shapes were too Collapsible Mini
well-cut strands. The downside? We had to be alert while guiding the sheets of dough narrow, which made it hard to gently agitate the contents Colander
through the roller, as it had a tendency to pull the pasta sideways, resulting in folds and to make sure that they were properly rinsed. We preferred PRICE: $18.98
jagged edges (a manual machine allows more control when rolling because you can wide colanders that had capacities of at least 3 cups. As for
just stop turning the crank if things go awry). However, if you’re experienced at mak- the collapsible models, some were easier to expand and collapse than others, but
ing fresh pasta and have a KitchenAid stand mixer, this attachment is a good option. all were easy to store. Our favorite, the Progressive Prepworks Collapsible Mini
The interchangeable plates of the pasta press attachment allowed us to produce Colander (model CC-60CDP), has a sturdy snap-on base that seals its drainage
various pasta shapes, including spaghetti, bucatini, rigatoni, fusilli, and large and small holes, enabling us to fill it with water, which is handy when cleaning especially dirty
macaroni, but it took a long time for the attachment to extrude them: about 22 to or delicate produce. It can also double as a drip-free serving bowl. It expands easily
27 minutes for a 1-pound batch of dough. It was also tedious to clean the pasta to a 3-inch height and collapses to a compact 1-inch-tall oval for easy storage. Other
plates, which weren’t dishwasher-safe. Overall, we didn’t think this attachment was perks: The material is heat-resistant and durable, and the colander’s oval shape makes
worth it. –R.G.S. it easy to funnel just-cleaned produce or beans into a storage bag or bowl. –K.S.

Complete results available at CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21

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complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor. Publisher, David Nussbaum, 21 Drydock Avenue, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210; Editor, Dan Souza, 21 Drydock Avenue, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210; Managing Editor, Todd Meier, 21 Drydock
Avenue, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210; 10. Owner: America’s Test Kitchen LP; 21 Drydock Avenue, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210; 11. Known bondholders, mortgages and other securities: None. 12. Tax status: Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months; 13.
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cook’s illustrated
32
 INDEX
January & February 2021

M AI N D I S H ES
Broiled Chicken with Gravy 11
Kimchi Bokkeumbap (Kimchi Fried
Rice) 13
Multicooker Braised Short Ribs with
Fennel and Pickled Grapes 25
Multicooker Lemony Chicken with
Fingerling Potatoes and Olives 25
Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi with
Tomato-Butter Sauce 5

Broiled Chicken with Gravy 11 S I DE D I S H Multicooker Braised Short Ribs 25

Roasted Fennel 19

Pasta Ripiena B R EA K F A S T A N D B RE A DS
Stuffed pasta is a centuries-old concept with countless Baked Eggs for Sandwiches 8
hyperlocal preparations throughout Italy. Not a specific Egg, Ham, and Pepperoncini
dish so much as a broad category, RAVIOLI can be Sandwiches 8
square, round, triangular, or crescent-shaped and filled Egg, Kimchi, and Avocado
with anything from ricotta to turnip greens to whole egg Sandwiches 8
yolks to calves’ brains. SCHLUTZER (or schlutzkrapfen), Egg, Salami, and Tomato
the spinach- or sauerkraut-filled derivation made in South
Sandwiches 8
Tyrol along the Austrian border, get their taupe tint from
Egg, Smoked Salmon, and Dill
rye or buckwheat flour. According to the recipe regis-
Skordalia (Greek Garlic-Potato Puree) 9 Sandwiches 8 Popovers 15
tered with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce, proper
TORTELLINI contain a mix of butter-browned pork
Popovers 15
loin, prosciutto, mortadella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, eggs, Ultimate Flaky Buttermilk
and nutmeg and are served bobbing in rich brodo. Inside Biscuits 17
CANNELLONI there’s fish, meat, or cheese; outside,
there’s béchamel, which browns attractively as the tubes D ES SE RT S
bake. To make ROTOLO RIPIENO , cooks roll a sheet Anzac Biscuits 21
of dough with ricotta, greens, and/or salume; gently poach Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies 17
the log in water; slice and sauce it; and then brown the Creamy Butterscotch Frosting 17
spirals in the oven. In and around Cortina d’Ampezzo,
CASONSEI are stuffed with beets, the claret blush D RE S S I NG S , TOP P I NG S ,
of which shows through the sheer dough. Stitching up A N D CO N DI ME NT S
Sardinian CULINGIONIS requires deft skill; the dough Bacon and Browned Butter
must be molded around thick fillings such as minty mashed Roasted Fennel 19 Spinach and Ricotta Gnudi 5
Vinaigrette 18
potatoes so that the seam resembles a wheat sheaf. Blood Orange Marmalade 30
Bundled in dainty SACCHETTI might be mascarpone,
Crunchy Oil-Cured Olives 19
porcini, or pears. CJARSONS are for Friulian feast days,
Cultured Butter 18
particularly Christmas Eve, when they are filled with sweet
Miso-Nori Paste 30
or savory ingredients such as smoked ricotta, figs, grappa,
biscuits, chives, cherry jam, cinnamon, or chocolate.
Orange-Honey Dressing 19
Parmesan Bread Crumbs [ONLINE]
Skordalia (Greek Garlic-Potato
Puree) 9
Spiced Cashews [ONLINE]
NEW! America’s Test Kitchen
Kids Young Chefs’ Club! CO CKT A IL S A ND S YRU P S
Get monthly themed boxes filled with Kimchi Bokkeumbap (Kimchi Fried Rice) 13 Americano 28 Anzac Biscuits 21
kid-tested, kid-approved recipes and hands-on Daiquiri 28
STEAM activities. The Young Chefs’ Club will
inspire families to spend quality time together Grapefruit-Rosemary Spritzer 28
in the kitchen—and a lifetime of tasty cooking. Manhattan 28
To sign up, visit ATKkids.com⁄CI. Martini 28
Mojito 28
America’s Test Kitchen Online Negroni 28
Cooking School Rich Simple Syrup 28
Visit our online cooking school today, where
Rosemary Syrup 28
we offer 300+ online lessons covering a range of Sidecar 28
recipes and cooking methods. Start a 14-day free
trial at OnlineCookingSchool.com.
ONLINE CONTENT at
Multicooker Lemony Chicken with Potatoes 25 CooksIllustrated.com/FEB21 Egg, Smoked Salmon, and Dill Sandwiches 8

BACK COVER ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN BURGOYNE PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDREW JANJIGIAN, STEVE KLISE, DANIEL J. VAN ACKERE; STYLING: GINA McCREADIE, ASHLEY MOORE