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Americas Test Kitchen - Season 26 - Episode 02: Flavor-Packed Pastas
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00:29I'll see you next time.
00:36Today on America's Test Kitchen, Keith makes Julia Spaghetti Al Assassina.
00:43Jack challenges Bridget and Julia to a head-to-head tasting of whole canned tomatoes.
00:48And Elle makes Bridget triple mushroom pasta.
00:52It's all coming up right here on America's Test Kitchen.
01:03Spaghetti Al Assassina, or the Assassin's Spaghetti, is a dish from the city of Bari in Italy, which is on
01:11the Adriatic coast.
01:12And it's a very simple dish, but it has a unique cooking method, which Keith, Keith the Killer, is going
01:18to show us how to make today.
01:19At first glance, this is spaghetti with tomato sauce, but you said a unique technique.
01:24And that unique technique of simmering and frying the pasta in one skillet is what makes it so great.
01:31It has this super concentrated tomato sauce, and the texture of the pasta runs from soft to al dente to
01:37crunchy.
01:37It's absolutely fantastic.
01:39I can't wait.
01:40So the method is called risotto torta.
01:42So it's cooking the pasta, like rice, where you're adding small amounts of broth to pasta, letting that cook down
01:49and reduce, and then adding a little bit more.
01:51So we're going to start with our tomato broth.
01:54So I have six cups of water in that medium saucepan.
01:57I'm going to add a quarter cup of tomato paste to that.
02:00So this is similar to making risotto, where you'd have a broth going on the side and slowly add it
02:05to the dish.
02:06Correct.
02:07And I'm also going to add a teaspoon of sugar to that.
02:11That will just balance the tomato's acidity, give it a little bit of sweetness.
02:15So I'm going to whisk that in there.
02:19That looks good.
02:20So I'm just going to turn that on medium-high.
02:23I'm going to let that come up to a simmer.
02:25Once it's up to a simmer, I'm just going to turn it down to the lowest possible setting on our
02:28burner and put a cover on that.
02:30Okay.
02:30While our broth is coming up to a simmer, we can focus on our skillet and start to cook some
02:35of our aromatics.
02:36I have a third of a cup of olive oil in this 12-inch non-stick skillet.
02:40It sounds like a fair amount of oil, but we're going to be frying at the end, and you're going
02:44to thank me because you're going to have a lot of starch in there, and it will stick like crazy
02:47if you don't have some oil.
02:49To that oil, I'm going to add two cloves of minced garlic.
02:53And I'm going to add three-quarters teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes.
02:58Hello.
02:58Hello.
02:59It's spicy.
03:00We want it spicy, and that's where the name of Sissina comes from.
03:03So I'm just going to turn this skillet on medium, and we're going to cook that until that's nice and
03:10fragrant, which will take about two minutes.
03:14It's been cooking for two minutes, and you can smell that garlic already.
03:17Now, I'm going to add one cup of tomato passata to this.
03:22Interesting.
03:22Now, that's not an ingredient we've called for a lot in the past.
03:25No, relatively new to us.
03:27It's similar to a tomato puree, but rather than the tomatoes being cooked, the tomatoes are raw, so it's a
03:32lot brighter, a lot more acidic.
03:34I'm also going to add one and three-quarters teaspoon of table salt, and that's going to season our pasta.
03:40I just want those flavors to kind of meld for that passata to reduce a little bit, which will take
03:45four minutes.
03:46It's been four minutes, and our passata has been cooking, and it's slightly reduced.
03:51So now I'm going to add our pasta.
03:53I have 12 ounces of spaghetti here.
03:56Try to get that into an as even layer as possible.
03:58You can't get it fully even, but that looks perfect.
04:02And I'm going to start adding our broth.
04:04So this is our first addition.
04:06I have one cup of tomato broth.
04:07It's really important to kind of be diligent about stirring at the beginning.
04:11Get that sauce in between there and stir.
04:14And this is going to take four to five minutes for that to start absorbing in there, and then we'll
04:19come back and add a little bit more broth.
04:22Okay, you can see a lot of that moisture has been absorbed into the pasta, and the pasta is actually
04:28starting to soften a little bit, so it's shaping into the form of the skillet.
04:31And you can also see the oil starting to break a little bit and sizzle around the edges.
04:37You can hear it.
04:38So that is the first cup.
04:40So now I'll add another cup, and I'll continue to stir this and kind of separate the strands, making sure
04:48the sauce is in between those strands and it's not sticking, especially up here and here where they're kind of
04:54pinched together.
04:55This is so interesting.
04:57I have to say, I've never cooked pasta like this.
05:00Yeah.
05:00It takes a little while because you have to keep stirring it, but it's well worth it.
05:04Promise.
05:05Okay, so I'm just going to continue stirring this, making sure that I shake the skillet and get in between
05:10the layers of pasta for about five to seven minutes until that liquid is almost all absorbed.
05:16Our second edition of broth has reduced down, and now it's time to do a little flip.
05:23So I want to flip this to make sure that the pasta is cooking evenly.
05:26Most of the cooking is happening in the bottom.
05:28Yeah.
05:28So I want to make sure that the top pieces go to the bottom, bottom pieces come to the top.
05:32So the easiest way is to take two thin spatulas, and I'm going to separate them and do it in
05:37two batches.
05:43Whoa.
05:43Yeah, and you can see we're getting some caramelization in there, and that's exactly what we want.
05:50That's going to add a ton of flavor to this dish.
05:53I'll flip the second side over like that, straighten that up a little bit like so.
06:00More broth.
06:02This is our third cup of broth.
06:04Add that.
06:07Just like we've been doing in the past, make sure we separate those strands, and then wait another five to
06:13seven minutes.
06:14Okay.
06:16Third edition of broth has been absorbed by the pasta, and now it's time for another cup.
06:26This is fascinating.
06:27Even though it's just broth going on pasta, how the pasta is reacting is really unusual.
06:33Yeah, it's a transformative process that's really fun to watch.
06:38Okay.
06:38Again, another five to seven minutes.
06:40We'll come back, and we'll do a second flip at that point.
06:43Okay.
06:44Fourth cup of broth is now absorbed, and we've been cooking for about 20, 25 minutes, and now it's time
06:51for a second turn, just like last time.
06:54And again, turning is going to even out the cook and also even out some of that browning.
07:00That browning looks delicious, by the way.
07:02I think that's the best part of this dish.
07:05Okay.
07:07Because the pasta's starting to cook, it's not going to stay in these nice, perfectly long strands, but that's okay.
07:12So I'm going to add one more cup of broth here.
07:17Now, after the fifth cup of broth, it's getting really pretty close, and so what I'll do is I'll let
07:22this cook down, and as it's cooking down, I'll keep testing for doneness.
07:56We'll absorb about 18 ounces of water during cooking.
07:59For spaghetti al assassino, instead of boiling the noodles in water, we cook them directly in a brothy sauce of
08:06tomato paste, tomato passata, and water.
08:09The spaghetti still absorbs 18 ounces of liquid, but now the tomato sauce is inside the pasta.
08:15This allows us to get noodles that are jam-packed with flavor without any extra sauce on top or on
08:22my shirt.
08:23Our fifth cup of broth has been absorbed by the pasta, and I just want to go in and grab
08:28a strand to see if it is ready.
08:32Perfect.
08:33Just a perfect al dente.
08:34Okay, so at this point, we don't need any more broth.
08:37We're actually going to increase the heat, and we want to promote more browning.
08:41So I'm going to go up to high.
08:43I'm just going to leave the pasta without stirring it for three to five minutes until that bottom is nice
08:48and brown and crisp.
08:50And actually, if we get some charring on there, that's a good thing.
08:54I've been cooking this for about three minutes, and I've been kind of periodically checking underneath there with a spatula
08:59to see how it's going, and it looks beautiful.
09:01So I'm going to cut the heat.
09:03You can smell it, too.
09:05You can smell the change in the pasta.
09:08You can smell, oh, that's what I smelled.
09:10Yeah.
09:10Is that all right?
09:11Yeah, that's okay.
09:12That charring is a good thing.
09:13You want some charring there.
09:15So I'm just going to kind of stir this in so we get a wide range of textures when we
09:19serve this.
09:20Okay.
09:21So I'm just going to have one final addition of two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
09:26I'm going to add a nice fruity flavor to this.
09:29Ooh.
09:30That looks so good.
09:32You know, you usually think of charring on pieces of meat, like out on the grill.
09:36You think char is good.
09:37Rarely do you think charred pasta is good.
09:40So this is kind of a first for me.
09:41I think you will enjoy it.
09:44All right.
09:51Mmm.
09:55There is so much more flavor in this dish than it looks like.
09:59It is packed with tomato flavor.
10:01I got the kick of the heat.
10:03Yeah.
10:03It does have a kick to it, doesn't it?
10:04The garlic.
10:05But it's the texture of the pasta.
10:08There's some al dente bits, some tender bits.
10:10And then you get a crunchy bit like that, kind of mixed in.
10:14I know.
10:15Mmm, mmm, mmm.
10:16Yeah, it really does pack a punch.
10:17Yeah.
10:19Welcome.
10:19If you want to make this killer pasta dish, start by making a tomato broth and a tomato
10:25sauce in separate pans.
10:27Cook the spaghetti in the sauce, periodically adding broth and flipping it over.
10:32Finish cooking over high heat until the spaghetti begins to char.
10:35From America's Test Kitchen, a terrific recipe for spaghetti al assassino.
10:41You don't even need, like, cheese or anything on this.
10:45It is perfect as is.
10:51So I have some news.
10:53I've changed my mind about something earth-shattering.
10:57Okay.
10:58Intrigued?
10:59For years, I've been telling people on America's Test Kitchen, you should just buy American
11:03canned tomatoes.
11:04Mm-hmm.
11:04Right.
11:05I think I may have been wrong.
11:06Really?
11:07No.
11:08Yeah.
11:08No, it's not really my fault.
11:09Okay.
11:09The way we were tasting the tomatoes gave the American brands a leg up.
11:14So these are San Marzano tomatoes from Italy.
11:17You see, they're long and skinny.
11:19They have very thin walls, so you get more of the flavorful jelly inside.
11:23But they're much softer.
11:25There's no calcium chloride, that firming agent that the American tomatoes, which look
11:30nice and firm is because they've got this calcium chloride.
11:33What you can't see is they also have four times as much salt, and they have citric acid
11:38to make them punchier.
11:39And so when you do a tasting right from the can, as you guys know, saltier foods always
11:45win taste tests.
11:46Mm-hmm.
11:46That's right.
11:47And when we did the taste test then with sauce, which is what you're tasting now, it's a very
11:50basic, simple sauce, the results flipped on their head.
11:53And we decided we should really just be prioritizing the sauce tasting because who eats canned tomatoes
11:58right from the can?
12:00Not too many people.
12:01So in addition to San Marzano tomatoes, DOP from Italy, they've got the label, they're
12:07more expensive and the classic American style, there is a third choice on the table.
12:12There are now San Marzano style tomatoes from the U.S.
12:16We thought this was really kind of confusing because they're kind of halfway in price point
12:20between the more expensive Italian tomatoes and the cheaper American.
12:24Some of the brands are closer to the Italian tomatoes in the sense they're longer and skinnier.
12:29One brand didn't have the calcium chloride, the firming agent.
12:33But a lot of the brands were like, okay, this is the same as their American product.
12:35And in most cases, we thought San Marzano style, if you really want San Marzano tomatoes, you
12:41should be getting the thing from Italy, not the faux product from the U.S.
12:45Right.
12:46We still like American tomatoes, you know, especially if you want something that's got more acidity
12:52to it, but our winner is actually from Italy.
12:56So you've been tasting the sauces.
12:58So these are very simple sauces, obviously.
13:00My shirt's been tasting, too.
13:03I can count on you for that, Julia.
13:05You want to go first and tell me what you're thinking about the samples in front of you?
13:09First of all, the sauce is delicious.
13:10Yeah, it's a great...
13:11They're all passable.
13:13The second one is my least favorite.
13:15It's a bit watery.
13:17It's just, it has a little less flavor than the others.
13:19I like all the others.
13:20I really like number one.
13:22Okay.
13:23It's lovely.
13:24It's, I like the texture of it.
13:26And what about the texture?
13:28The texture's just a bit smoother.
13:29Okay.
13:30And some of these, there are chunks, which I'm guessing is the calcium chloride, and I don't
13:33like that in my sauce.
13:34They still taste a little raw, whereas the others, it feels like a cooked sauce.
13:39And so I like the texture.
13:41It tastes like a sweet tomato.
13:42Okay.
13:43And so I like that.
13:44C's good.
13:45D, I get more of those chunky bits, but the flavor of D is better than the flavor of B.
13:50But they're, so I guess A and C are kind of my favorites.
13:53D's great.
13:54B, least favorite.
13:55But I'd still eat it for dinner.
13:57Yeah.
13:57Well, Bridget?
13:58Ditto.
14:01What, you're making her do all the work?
14:02Yeah, kind of.
14:04I mean, she nailed it.
14:06I was thinking the same thing.
14:08The chunkier D, I would maybe make a salsa, like a put together salsa with it because you
14:13want that chunkier texture.
14:15But again, same thing.
14:16This one had the least amount of flavor.
14:18Okay.
14:19Still delicious.
14:20I am going to switch these two.
14:21I really like these two.
14:22This one was a little too sweet for me.
14:24This one I found, I don't know, it tastes like stewed tomato sauce, which I just love.
14:31I should say everything on the table is recommended.
14:33So the good news is there are no bad choices here.
14:36So let's start with our winner, which was actually A, the Cento.
14:40Now, this is a San Marzano tomato from Italy.
14:42You said it was smoother, and that's because it doesn't have that calcium chloride.
14:46And so one of the advantages of the Italian tomatoes is they break down much faster than
14:51the American tomatoes.
14:52So if you want a really smooth sauce, Cento, besides having a wonderful flavor, will get
14:57you there much faster.
14:59Let's go to B.
15:01Okay.
15:01So B is the red gold.
15:02This was actually the runner up.
15:04Now, I will say tomatoes will change, right?
15:06It's a crop.
15:07And so this was our best buy.
15:09It was second place.
15:10This is an American tomato, the red gold.
15:12You both were less enthusiastic about the red gold here.
15:16C is the Hunts San Marzano style.
15:20So this is a tomato.
15:21It's from California.
15:23It's not from Italy.
15:24Of the American San Marzano style, this was the one that we felt like was the closest to
15:29the real thing from Italy.
15:31It was a little softer because it didn't have that calcium chloride.
15:35And you thought it was, you know, delicious.
15:38You loved it as well.
15:40And so I also, then D put the regular Hunts in here just so you can see the difference.
15:45This has got the calcium chloride and it's a sort of traditional, what we would think
15:51of as an American canned tomato.
15:53So really interesting.
15:55I love that you both liked A.
15:57Yes.
15:58You know, you're validating that.
15:59Now, the bad news is those San Marzano tomatoes are probably two bucks more a can.
16:04Right.
16:04Okay.
16:05Yeah.
16:06So, well, it costs money to get a can of tomatoes from Italy to Boston.
16:10Yes, that is true.
16:11That is true.
16:12But interesting that if we really think about how to taste these differently, we came up
16:17with different results.
16:19I also love that you can't make a wrong choice.
16:20They're all recommended.
16:22Yeah, that is good news.
16:23And so, you know, if you see something on sale or they don't have the brand, this is
16:27a case where you won't make a mistake at the supermarket.
16:36Some people refer to mushrooms as superfoods.
16:40They're full of nutrients, sure, but they're also full of flavor.
16:43And that's why I call them a mega food.
16:46Now, here to make a pasta dish that's going to bring out the very best of mushrooms is
16:51the Wizard L.
16:52That's right.
16:52And what better way to achieve that earthy, savory profile than by using three mushrooms?
16:59Oh, triple mushroom fret.
17:01Oh, yeah.
17:01Oh, yeah.
17:02And we're going to start by making a crispy mushroom, which is going to add a little
17:06flair to our pasta dish.
17:08Love it.
17:08And we're using our first star mushroom, the maitake.
17:13I love these.
17:14Also known as hen of the woods.
17:15And if you don't have this, you can replace them with cremini mushrooms.
17:18OK, great.
17:19Right?
17:19So these look really good.
17:20You will need to do just a little trimming.
17:23I kind of try to take out like that big bone piece, but to keep the good leaves, right?
17:28And tear them apart.
17:29We need half-inch pieces here, so I'm going to just like tear some of these pieces that seem big.
17:34I have two tablespoons of olive oil in there.
17:38All right, so our oil is shimmering.
17:40It's time to put the mushrooms in.
17:41Great.
17:43So I'm just going to move these around to make sure that they're all kind of on the surface.
17:48We don't want to stir these very much.
17:50We're just going to let them cook for about two to three minutes.
17:53Follow me over here to my special project called Making Duxelles.
17:59Oh, gorgeous.
18:00Yes, it's a French preparation of mushrooms, but we're also going to start with our second mushroom.
18:05OK.
18:06This is a dried porcini mushroom, and it is not unusual that we would soak a dried porcini mushroom.
18:11In this case, we don't need to.
18:13We just gave it a rinse to get the porcini dust off.
18:16Right.
18:16Right.
18:16And I have about a quarter of an ounce here.
18:18I'm just going to add that to the food processor.
18:20I have one shallot and three cloves of garlic.
18:27Nice.
18:28And I'm going to process it for about 10 to 15 seconds.
18:34That looks good, and it smells good, too.
18:37Let's hop back over here to our mushrooms.
18:40They are actually doing exactly what we need them to do, which is to just brown around the edges.
18:45And now that it's done that, we can give it a stir.
18:48OK.
18:48And then just let them go for another seven to nine minutes.
18:52All right.
18:53Let's come back over to the food processor.
18:56So I'm going to scrape down the sides of this bowl.
18:59Our third and final mushroom.
19:02This is a pound of white mushrooms.
19:05Mm-hmm.
19:05And we're just going to go right into the food processor here.
19:08Yeah, they are the workhorse, I think, of the mushroom world.
19:11They are, and I think the most adaptable.
19:13These are mushrooms can actually take on any flavor.
19:15Sure.
19:15And I love that about white mushrooms.
19:18OK, so I'm going to just process these mushrooms for an additional 40 to 55 seconds and scrape them down
19:23midway.
19:24OK.
19:25All right, so it's been nine minutes, and these look beautiful.
19:29They look fantastic.
19:30All right, I'm going to turn the heat off, and it just needs a little salt and pepper to taste.
19:35OK.
19:37I'm going to get them out of the pan.
19:41So I'm going to put this back on medium heat and add two tablespoons of butter.
19:48All right, butter's foaming.
19:50That's what we need, and it's time to go in with our duxelle.
19:55Mm-hmm, duxelle, cooking is one of the most heavenly aromas in the world.
20:01The shallot and the mushroom driving off all that moisture.
20:06Gorgeous.
20:07It's like mushroom butter.
20:09It really is.
20:10Right?
20:10Super soft, cooks pretty easily.
20:13So I'm just going to add to this one teaspoon of salt.
20:15OK.
20:17So now that I have the salt in there, we're going to cook this much like we did the maitakes.
20:22We're not going to stir it too much.
20:23We don't need to bother it.
20:25Maybe a little bit.
20:26OK.
20:27From time to time.
20:28Just check on it.
20:28Just check on it.
20:29And we're looking forward to brown, and that'll take about 10 to 12 minutes.
20:32OK.
20:34OK.
20:35I can tell by the look on your face that you know that this duxelle is ready.
20:38So I'm going to take it off the heat.
20:40That smells so good.
20:42It really does.
20:43It really does.
20:44And now I'm going to just add some ingredients to add a little unctuousness to this dish.
20:48So I have a half a cup of heavy cream here.
20:52All right.
20:52So I'm going to add a little acidity here by putting in a tablespoon of lemon juice.
20:56That makes sense.
20:59A little bit of pepper, about an eighth of a teaspoon.
21:01Great.
21:02Yeah.
21:03I'm going to give this a good stir.
21:06So I have a pound of campanelle pasta going into just this mere five cups of water.
21:12What we're doing is creating a starchy water base.
21:16I'm also going to add a little salt, teaspoon of salt.
21:19But this is a huge departure.
21:21It's usually for one pound of pasta, dried pasta, and you get four quarts of water.
21:25That's right.
21:25But here we're creating more of a starchy base for our pasta.
21:30Less water, more starch, creamy pasta.
21:33Really smart.
21:34So we're just going to let this go for six to eight minutes, right?
21:37We're looking for the water to be at a partial boil.
21:41Okay.
21:41And we're also going to just cover it slightly.
21:44All right.
21:45So it's time to check this pasta.
21:48I think we are good to go.
21:49We don't need to drain it.
21:51I'm going to take it off the heat.
21:52Let me just move it over here.
21:54And we're pretty much ready to start building our pasta.
21:58We have a duck cell that's ready.
22:01Go in with that.
22:03So I'm going to add one ounce of Pecorino Romano.
22:06And I'm just going to give it a vigorous stir for about one to two minutes.
22:10This is going to activate that starch.
22:13Get our duck cell well incorporated and folded into those beautiful pastas.
22:18Getting your duck cell all in a row.
22:20Yep.
22:20This looks delicious.
22:22Are you ready to eat?
22:23I'm very ready to eat.
22:24Me too.
22:25This looks fantastic.
22:26This is for you.
22:27We'll start light.
22:28We can always go back for more.
22:29I love it.
22:30It's a true pasta course.
22:31And then I'm just going to take the pot.
22:33Oh my gosh.
22:35So I'm going to put a little of our crispy mushrooms, aka mushroom croutons, on the top here.
22:43Such a pleasing dish.
22:45A little parsley garnish for you.
22:47This is...
22:48This is...
22:48I'm fancy.
22:49Five-star restaurant here.
22:51You ready?
22:52Yeah.
23:03Oh my gosh.
23:05Every bite is a deeper and deeper flavor.
23:09Yes.
23:09This is umami packed.
23:11This is gorgeousness in a bowl.
23:14Well, thank you.
23:14I'd expect nothing less.
23:16Anything for you.
23:17Thanks, Elle.
23:18Well, if you want to make this wonderful dish, it starts by sautéing maitake mushrooms for
23:23a crisp topping.
23:25Create a duxelle by cooking down button mushrooms and dried porcinis.
23:28And boil the pasta in just five cups of water.
23:32And then toss in the mushrooms and pecorino until nice and creamy.
23:35So from America's Test Kitchen, the Splendiferous Triple Mushroom Pasta.
23:41You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and
23:47select episodes.
23:48And those are all on our website, americastestkitchen.com slash TV.
23:54Mistress of maitake.
23:56At your service.
23:57Let's see.
23:57Let's show this!
23:57You
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