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America's Test Kitchen (2001) Season 26 Episode 21
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00:00You
00:36Today on America's Test Kitchen, Aaron makes Bridget maple pork chops with sweet potato
00:43bacon hash. Adam reviews enameled cast iron skillets. Lon explains how to defrost food
00:49quickly. And Aaron makes Julia leek fennel and squash soup with sausage. It's all coming
00:57up right here on America's Test Kitchen.
01:07A good seasoned home cook knows that it's a great idea to keep a few recipes on hand up
01:13here in order to get dinner to the table fast. But I don't have to store them up here because
01:17I'm going to store them right up there in Erin McMurr's fabulous brain. She's going to make
01:22a meal for us using a couple of key ingredients that I love.
01:25I am. I'm going to show you one of my favorite recipes ever, pork chops with sweet potatoes.
01:30Gorgeous.
01:30And we're basically going to cook the main entree and the side dish in one pan in less than
01:34one hour.
01:35She's so smart.
01:36And we're not going to sacrifice.
01:37No.
01:37On anything.
01:38Nothing.
01:38Okay? All right. So we're going to start with our sweet potatoes.
01:41Love it.
01:41So I have one and a quarter pounds of sweet potatoes and I'm going to peel this and I'm
01:47just going to cut this into three quarter inch pieces. And I like to always have a flat surface.
01:53Yes.
01:57So now, because we want this in less than one hour, I'm going to kick start these potatoes
02:03and cook them in the microwave. So I have one and a quarter pounds of sweet potatoes cut
02:06into three quarter inch pieces and I'm just going to microwave until they're tender. This
02:09should take about five minutes.
02:15So while that is going, we are going to move on to our bacon.
02:19Oh good.
02:19Okay. So I have six slices of bacon and I'm going to finely chop it.
02:23Okay.
02:24So I'm just cutting them into strips, cutting this crosswise. I'm going to transfer this
02:29to our 12 inch non-stick skillet. So now we're going to just cook the bacon over medium heat.
02:34Mm-hmm.
02:34And we're going to cook it until the fat renders out and the bacon becomes crispy. It's going
02:39to take about five minutes.
02:40Okay. Got it.
02:41Okay. So our sweet potatoes have just come out of the microwave and I'm just going to test
02:45them. We want them to be just tender.
02:46Oh, you get a facial with your dinner.
02:48Yeah. I love it. Sweet potato facials. And that's perfect. You don't want them to be
02:52falling apart, but you want them to be tender.
02:54So it goes in, but it stays on.
02:56Exactly.
02:56Okay.
02:57Back to our bacon. A lot of fat is rendered out, which is a beautiful thing.
03:00Yes.
03:01And we have, and our bacon bits are nice and golden brown. And you can tell when the fat
03:05is kind of all rendered out because this sizzling really kind of quiets down.
03:08Yes.
03:09Just going to scoop out the bacon.
03:10Okay.
03:11Using a slotted spoon and we're going to put it onto a paper towel lined bowl. Now I'm just
03:15going to pour off all the fat into this bowl and we're going to use that
03:17fat. I'm going to take one tablespoon of our bacon fat and add it back to the pan. And
03:23we'll come back to that. Okay. So now we're moving on to our pork number two. So we have
03:28four 12 ounce bone in pork rib chops.
03:31They are beautiful.
03:32Aren't they gorgeous? The thickness is really important for this recipe. You want them to
03:36be between one and one and a half inches thick. So the pork chop is wrapped with a little
03:40bit of fat cap. And under that fat cap, there is tissue and we call that silver skin. And when
03:46this hits the pan and that silver skin feels the heat, it starts to tighten up and causing
03:52the pork chop to buckle.
03:53Yeah. You get a pork cup.
03:54A pork cup. Yes. And it messes with your browning. And I don't like anything to mess
03:58with my browning. Okay. So to avoid that, we're just going to make a couple of slits. I'm not
04:03cutting into the meat. I'm just going to cut about every two inches through the fat just
04:08until I get through that silver skin. All right. Bridget, can you turn the pan on to medium
04:17high heat? You got it. We're going to start preheating our pan. All right. Until it just
04:20starts to shimmer and wisps of smoke come out. Okay. All right. So as with all proteins,
04:26before you cook it, you want to pat them dry. Moisture is your enemy when you're sauteing.
04:30If you want like a nice sear, you want to start with dry meat. Like to have all the bones
04:35going
04:35the same way. Yes. Now I'm going to season this with salt and pepper. So now I'm going
04:40to cook these. Just going to kind of nestle them. So it's going to be crowded pan, but as
04:50they cook, they are going to fit beautifully. All right. So now we're just going to cook
04:55these for about eight minutes. As you can see, I nestled them in a nice pinwheel formation
05:00and it helps so that they all fit nicely. All right, Bridget, we are beautifully prepared.
05:05Isn't that gorgeous? Oh, gorgeous. Yeah. So now it's time to flip. And as I flip, I'm going to
05:13kind of recreate that pinwheel. All right. So now we're going to just cook them on the other side
05:18for about five minutes. So our chops have nicely browned on both sides. Isn't that gorgeous? Oh my
05:23goodness. And they're not finished cooking right now. This is actually really cool. So I'm going to
05:29pull these out. Okay. So we're going to take the temperature of these guys. So we have 126.
05:37Okay. That is undercooked. We don't want to cook. We don't want to eat this right now. But the beauty
05:41of this recipe is that it's undercooked, but it's going to partially carry overcooked. And then there's
05:46going to be like one more step at the end of the recipe that is going to bring them to
05:49the 140
05:51temperature. Okay. Okay. Got it. Okay. So let's move back to our sweet potatoes. Okay. So our sweet potatoes
05:55have had a kickstart in the microwave. Yes. Now we're going to finish them in the skillet. As you
06:00can see, there's some fat that's left over from the pork chop. All right. Now I'm going to add
06:08three quarters of a teaspoon of dry thyme. So now we're just going to let these cook. I'm going to
06:14stir them occasionally and they're going to cook for about five to seven minutes. Okay. And we want
06:18them to be nice golden brown all over. Sounds fantastic. Okay. All right. Aren't they
06:26beautiful? They're stunning. Now I'm going to add our bacon bits back to the pan. Now it's
06:32hash. Now it's hash. I'm going to give that to you. And I'm just going to add a little bit
06:36of salt and pepper. You don't need a ton because there's so much bacon in there, but those potatoes
06:40could use a little. And just toss it. Okay. So I'm just going to pour these into our serving bowl.
06:47Okay. And we're going to go back to our chops. So now we're going on to a glaze. Okay. It's
06:53a bonus
06:53for our dinner. It's dessert too. It's dessert too. Yes. So our dish, for being so simple, is really
06:59complex. It has like a nice richness from the bacon. It has smokiness, saltiness. And now we're going to add
07:04a little sweet. So I'm going to add a half a cup of maple syrup to our pan. Holy moly,
07:08it got even better.
07:09One tablespoon of cider vinegar. A little sweet, sour action there. And two teaspoons of Dijon
07:15mustard. So this adds a little bit of tang. And now we're just going to cook this over medium high
07:20heat just so that all the ingredients combine and it starts to become nice and thickens. It's
07:26going to take a couple of minutes. All right. Okay. So that is nice and thickens, leaving a little
07:31trail. I can give that to you. Thank you. And now we're going back to our pork chops and they've
07:37rested a few minutes. And now I'm just going to put them back into the pan. These pork
07:42juices are valuable. So I'm going to add those back to the pan as well. And what I'm going
07:47to do is basically continue to cook the pork just until it's at that 140 stage. It's going
07:52to take another couple of minutes and I'm just going to rotate them. I'm going to do our little
07:57nestling trick here just to kind of get them all in there. Okay. So Bridget, I'm tumping each
08:02of them as I go and I'm going to pull them out as they're ready. Okay. No chop is identical.
08:09We're
08:09just going to top each pork chop off with the remaining glaze. Yes, please. Would you like some
08:15hash? I mean, this is the bonus, right? This is gorgeous. Yep. Pork chops are everything, but right
08:20out of the same pan came that beautiful sweet potato hash. All right. Is that enough? Well, for now.
08:26For now. For now. Yes. What should I tuck into first here, Erin? I'm going to go for the potatoes.
08:30Okay. Then I am also going to go for the potatoes. All right. Look at that beautiful color covered
08:35with little bits of bacon. Sweet potatoes and bacon were made for each other. Absolutely. No doubt.
08:46Absolutely. These are delicious. You can taste the bacon. You can taste the thyme. Let me take a bite here.
08:53Now you did not brine these chops. Nope. But this pork is still lovely and juicy. Sop up some of
09:00that
09:00gorgeous glaze. It's so delicious. And the glaze. I mean, it just pulls it all together. It's like a
09:07nice little bow. One pan, one hour, one stellar dish with one really good friend. I love that. Yes.
09:16Thanks for cooking this for us. Cheers to you, Erin. Thanks for eating. Well, you got to try Erin's
09:20favorite recipe. It starts off with jump-starting the cooking of the sweet potatoes in the microwave,
09:25fry the bacon, and then use the rendered fat to brown the pork chops and the potatoes,
09:29then finish cooking the chops in a glazy sauce. So from America's Test Kitchen, an excellent weeknight
09:35option for you to try at home. It's maple pork chops with sweet potato hash. And Erin.
09:48I love enameled cast iron skillets because they have all the benefits of cast iron without all that
09:54fussy seasoning. And they come in pretty colors. And who better to tell us which brands are worth
09:59the money than himself? I think we should just stop at pretty colors. They are. They're beautiful.
10:05They are so beautiful. You know, we love cast iron for so many different reasons. Heat retention. It's a
10:11champ. Durability. These things are almost indestructible. They can go into the oven at
10:18high temperatures. And for uncoated cast iron with proper seasoning, they'll develop that nice
10:24nonstick quality over time. You lose that with enameled cast iron. I'm okay with that. You don't get
10:30the nonstick quality. Enameled cast iron has a hard glassy coating both inside and outside. And the
10:39benefits there are that it takes care of all of those maintenance issues. You don't have to season
10:44it. You can wash it with soap and let it soak if you want to. You can't do that with
10:49regular cast iron.
10:50You can cook acidic foods for a long time because the coating makes it not only rust-proof but non
10:57-reactive.
10:57And like regular cast iron, you can slip these into a hot oven if you need to. We tested seven
11:03different
11:03pans here. They were 11 to 12 inches in diameter. The price range was $60 to $270. Wow. The cooking
11:11tests included pan searing, making a pan sauce, shallow frying fritters and some oil, and making a
11:19one-pan pasta dish that had to slide under the broiler to brown the cheese at the end. And the
11:24good news is,
11:25all of the pans did a fantastic job at the cooking test. They all did a great job. They all
11:30cleaned up
11:30easily. So it was really some design characteristics that led us to our winners. First is the size of the
11:38cooking area. Some of them, like this one, has a nine inch cooking surface. Some of them had 10 inches
11:44and bigger was better, more space we liked. Some of them even had about 10 and a half inches like
11:49this one.
11:49That's nice and big. The size of the handle made a difference to our testers.
11:54Why don't you put on those oven mitts and lift one of these things up? Oh yeah, that's easy.
12:00These things are not light, are they? No, but no, there's a lot to grip here.
12:03These things weigh six to eight pounds empty. So you want to have a generously sized handle that's
12:10going to give you a little more leverage. You also want to have a generously sized helper handle,
12:15which is opposite the primary handle. This is the primary handle. Here's a helper handle. Why don't
12:20you try lifting that one up? See what you think. Imagine it's hot coming out of the oven.
12:24There's not a lot there. Exactly. I might as well just put my hand right on the bottom. You want
12:28a
12:29generously sized helper handle. Something like the orange one next to you that's a loop design that's
12:34bigger that gives you more stability while you're moving the pan. Yeah. Another thing that made a
12:40difference to testers were the walls of the pan. This one has two inch high walls. That helped contain
12:46some of the splattering of the fritter test and cooking the pasta in the tomato sauce. However,
12:52testers liked when the walls were angled. That orange one in front of you, you can see the
12:56walls are angled out a little bit and that made it easier to get in there with utensils and other
13:01implements. The last thing were the pour spouts. Again, right in front of you, the orange one that
13:07has pretty generously sized pour spouts, made it easy to pour neatly. Some of them had much smaller pour
13:14spouts like that. That is barely visible. Some of them had no pour spouts and that just made pouring a
13:20little bit sloppier. In the end, the winning pan is the orange one right in front of you. That's the
13:26Le Creuset 11 and three quarter inch signature skillet. It is about $250, so it's not cheap,
13:32but it's got all the right design features. It's got 10 inches of cooking space. It's got a great handle,
13:38a great helper handle, the right kind of sides, good pour spouts. It browned food deeply. It retained heat
13:45steadily. But as I said, it's not cheap at $250. So testers also named a best buy. This is the
13:52Viking
13:52enameled cast iron 12 inch fry pan. It's $160. It also did a good job on all the cooking tests.
14:00Testers were a little bit worried about its oven safe temperature, which is 400 degrees. A lot of the
14:06other ones go to higher. But with the blessing of a company representative, we were able to slide this
14:11under the broiler to brown the cheese on top of our pasta without incident. It was fine.
14:16So there you have it. If you're in the market for a new enameled cast iron skillet,
14:20check out the Le Creuset 11 and three quarter inch signature skillet at $250. And if you want the
14:27best buy, that's the Viking enameled cast iron fry pan at $160.
14:38Defrosting is no big deal if you remember to move your food from the freezer to the fridge.
14:43But if you forgot or need to defrost something really quickly, I've got a technique for you.
14:48The fridge is great for defrosting because it keeps your food at a safe temperature.
14:52That low temperature, it's not the only reason defrosting in the fridge takes time though.
14:56The other reason is that air is not a good conductor of heat. Think about it like this.
15:02When you put a chicken in a pot of simmering water, it cooks through in maybe 20 minutes, 30 minutes,
15:07and that water, it's between 190 and 200 degrees. Pop a chicken in a 200 degree oven and it's going
15:14to take well over an hour to cook through. Water is a lot better at conducting heat than air,
15:19and that's true whether you're cooking or defrosting.
15:24There are a couple of things you should remember when you're defrosting. First,
15:27air is an insulator, and so to speed defrosting you want to get as much of the air out of
15:32the bag
15:33as possible. I've got some frozen shrimp here, and I'm just going to open this bag up
15:38and just roll it to press out as much air as I can before resealing.
15:47Then you can drop it in some water, and if you can, turn on your tap and let it run
15:53at a slow trickle.
15:54It doesn't have to go fast, you just want some movement in there to speed defrosting.
15:58Now if you're in a drought-prone area and you can't leave the water at a trickle, that's okay.
16:02Turn it off and just come by every half hour or so and change out that water. As it cools
16:06down,
16:07it's going to need to be replaced so it can effectively thaw. Finally, you want to keep your food submerged.
16:12The more contact it makes with the water, the faster it'll defrost.
16:22When someone mentions squash soup, I usually think of something creamy and pureed
16:27and flavored in a classic New England way with apples or maple syrup.
16:31But today, Erin's going to show me something totally new, and you mentioned that it's based
16:35on your Basque heritage. That's right, Julia. Today, I'm going to teach you how to make a squash
16:39fennel leek soup with sausage that is based on a Basque recipe called porrusala that I grew up eating.
16:47And it's a one-pot meal, super flavorful, nourishing, and really easy to make.
16:52Let's get started. Okay.
16:53For this recipe, we're going to use kabocha squash. You could use butternut squash,
16:57but kabocha is sweeter, starchier, creamier, so it's going to thicken the soup
17:03and really make it flavorful. Okay.
17:06You could also not peel it. We're going to peel it today. But when you peel the squash,
17:11it really allows for it to break down, which is going to actually make the soup super thick and creamy.
17:19You can see the flesh is really, really orange.
17:23Gorgeous. Sometimes the skin is a little bit blue, green.
17:26I feel like it used to be kind of a specialty thing that you had to find at the farmer's
17:30market,
17:30but nowadays you can find it in regular supermarkets as well.
17:34So we're going to use a spoon to take the seeds out.
17:37We only need one and a half pounds.
17:39So that's about half of a squash.
17:40Exactly.
17:41I'm just going to go right into it and just use your knife to peel it.
17:46Yeah, you're kind of using a shaving method.
17:48Exactly. Shaving.
17:50And then we're going to cut it into one-inch pieces.
17:53Now, I noticed you left a little peel here and there. That's fine.
17:56That's okay. I just feel like it breaks down easier in the soup if it's mostly peeled.
18:01That makes sense.
18:06Our squash is diced, and now we're going to move on to prepping our fennel.
18:11So we have one fennel bulb that we're going to remove the fronds and all the stems,
18:16and then we're going to cut the fennel in half.
18:19And we're going to remove the tough core that's in the middle.
18:23And then we're going to chop it into quarter-inch pieces.
18:28Our fennel is ready. We're going to prep our leeks.
18:31Okay.
18:32And to do that, as you know, leeks can be very, very dirty.
18:36Indeed.
18:36So this is my favorite way of cutting the top.
18:41One and a half pounds of leeks.
18:43Okay.
18:44And we're going to keep only the white part and the very light green part.
18:48Okay.
18:48And we're going to cut the leek in half lengthwise,
18:51and then chop it into half an inch pieces.
18:57Okay, we have a total of one and a half pounds of leeks.
19:00Okay.
19:00And we're going to wash them in a salad spinner.
19:04That's going to allow us to really get the water into every little layer of leek.
19:10We're going to wash them in abundant cold water.
19:14We drain them.
19:17And then we're going to spin it.
19:21There we go.
19:23Our vegetables are prepped and we're going to start making the soup.
19:26Great.
19:27Julia, it's time to cook the soup.
19:29And we're going to begin with one pound of hot Italian sausage.
19:33It isn't traditionally Basque to have sausage in the porcelda,
19:37but we're going to add it for extra flavor and a little bit of fat.
19:41Nice.
19:41And just like that meat umami flavor.
19:44Yeah.
19:44We're going to cook it for about five to seven minutes at medium high heat.
19:50Julia, the sausage is ready and you can see all the little bits,
19:54brown bits, the fond that's on the bottom.
19:56We want to keep that.
19:57We don't want to burn it.
19:58I'm going to use a slotted spoon to transfer the sausage to a plate.
20:05Yeah, that fond is key for making a soup have a really deep flavor,
20:08especially if it's a one pot meal.
20:10Exactly.
20:12And we're going to lower the heat to medium.
20:15Okay.
20:16And we're going to add our vegetables.
20:19So we're going to start with the leeks that we chopped and washed.
20:24And then we have fennel, four cloves of garlic sliced, one tablespoon of olive oil,
20:36quarter teaspoon of salt, and then one bay leaf and some thyme.
20:42And we're going to stir everything together and cook it for seven minutes over medium heat.
20:47And we're going to sweat the vegetables.
20:49We don't really want them to be brown or crispy, just sweat them.
20:54Julia, our vegetables are soft and sweated, as I like to call them.
20:58We're going to add the squash and stock, six cups of chicken stock,
21:08and a can of rinsed cannellini beans.
21:13And then we're going to add the brown sausage with all the leftover fat.
21:20Oh, that looks good.
21:21We're going to cover the pot, increase heat high, and then when it comes to a vigorous simmer,
21:28we're going to reduce it to about medium to keep the simmer going.
21:32And we're going to cook it for about 20 to 25 minutes.
21:36Oh, nice.
21:37Okay, let's turn the heat off.
21:39And first, I'm going to show you the squash.
21:42You see how it falls apart?
21:44Yeah.
21:44You see how it's almost like a sweet potato rather than a butternut squash.
21:48That's just the kabocha.
21:49So it's ready to go.
21:51We're going to scoop out the little bay leaf and the thyme sprigs.
21:59I'm going to make sure that it's good on salt and pepper.
22:04I actually think it needs a tiny bit of salt.
22:09And then we're going to stir in half a cup of chopped parsley.
22:13Oh, that's a lot.
22:14That is a lot.
22:15But it's going to add some freshness and beautiful color.
22:18Mm-hmm.
22:18But I do think it brightens the soup.
22:21And we're ready to eat it.
22:23Okay.
22:23So let's dish it.
22:24Look how beautiful that is.
22:26That is gorgeous.
22:27And you can feed a lot of people with this and you will have leftovers.
22:31And the leftovers hold pretty well.
22:33It's actually probably even better the next day.
22:36And would you like some bread?
22:37Yes.
22:38This right here is the ultimate winter meal.
22:41A nice hearty bowl of soup, some good bread.
22:44Yeah, I'm going right in for the squash.
22:46Yes, me too.
22:47I'm really impressed how it held its shape during that simmering time.
22:52Mmm.
22:53But very creamy and sweet.
22:54Mm-hmm.
22:55It has a lightly buttery and nutty flavor to it.
22:58Perfect with the sausage.
23:00It's a little bit like chestnutty.
23:02Yes.
23:03That's exactly it.
23:04It is chestnutty.
23:05And the broth has so much flavor.
23:07I think it's because of the sausage.
23:09And the beans also thicken the soup.
23:11Mm-hmm.
23:12So it's full of protein and vegetables.
23:14Mm-hmm.
23:14So it's really nourishing.
23:15The leeks have a really nice backbone to the broth.
23:19Erin, this is absolutely delicious.
23:21Thank you for showing me how to make it.
23:23If you'd like to make Erin's very own squash soup, start by peeling and cutting up kabocha
23:29squash.
23:30Build a hearty soup with Italian sausage and white beans.
23:33And simmer the soup just until the squash is tender.
23:36From America's Test Kitchen, a delicious recipe for leek, fennel, and squash soup with sausage.
23:42You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews
23:47and select episodes at our website, americastestestkitchen.com slash tv.
23:53This is going to be a huge hit in my house.
23:56It is at my house also.
23:57You'll be a little bit longer to prepare me for that table.
23:57Of course it's always lovely.
23:57We'll see you tomorrow.
23:58It's a big chopper.
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