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Americas Test Kitchen - Season 26 - Episode 03: Corn Cakes and Chowder
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00:29I'll see you next time.
00:36Today on America's Test Kitchen, Becky makes Julia Venezuelan cheese-filled corn cakes, Adam reviews dish towels, Dan uses physics
00:47to demonstrate the importance of a sharp knife, and Jill makes Bridget fresh corn chowder. It's all coming up right
00:55here on America's Test Kitchen.
01:06Cachapas con queso de mano are Venezuelan corn cakes with a sweet, savory flavor. They're cooked on a griddle and
01:13filled with fresh cow's milk cheese. And today, Becky is going to show us how easy they are to make
01:17at home.
01:17Yeah, these cakes are topped with a pat of butter and served for breakfast with fresh juice, or it can
01:23be a snack, meal, anytime.
01:26It sounds so good.
01:27They're delicious.
01:27So let's get started.
01:29Okay.
01:29Corn cakes, we're using fresh corn.
01:31I already stripped the kernels from three ears of corn. I'm going to do the last one.
01:35And you could use frozen corn or even canned corn.
01:38Oh, wow.
01:38If you want to for this. So I like to cut the cobs in half just to make it a
01:43little easier to strip the kernels off. And then I just cut right down the side here. So we want
01:47three cups.
01:48Okay.
01:48This is almost all corn. We're just going to add a few other ingredients to bring it together into a
01:52pancake batter.
01:53Okay.
01:53So we're going to put two and a quarter cups of the corn into the blender.
01:58Now we have a quarter cup of masarepa. This is a super fine flour made from corn.
02:03Mm-hmm.
02:04I have three tablespoons of Mexican crema. It's pretty similar to sour cream, and you can swap that in if
02:09you can't find the Mexican crema.
02:12Then we have one whole large egg.
02:15Love that you're just dumping this all in the blender.
02:16A blender batter. It's super simple.
02:19Tablespoon of sugar. Some recipes call for quite a bit of sugar, but the corn itself is quite sweet. So
02:24we like just a tablespoon here.
02:27And then three-quarter teaspoon of salt.
02:30So we're going to put this in the blender for 30 seconds until we get a nice thick batter.
02:38All right. 30 seconds.
02:40And now this is that three-quarters cup of corn that I reserved.
02:43We're just going to pulse that in because we want some nice little pops of corn in these delicate cakes.
02:46That makes sense.
02:51There we go.
02:52Awesome.
02:53That is a thick batter.
02:55Yeah. Nice and thick.
02:57All right. So there's our batter.
02:59And we need to let this sit for 10 minutes.
03:02We need to give that masarepa a little bit of time to hydrate.
03:05All right. Our batter has been resting for 10 minutes, and now it's time to cook these corn cakes.
03:09Great.
03:09Now I have a tablespoon of unsalted butter that's melting over low heat.
03:14We cook these corn cakes very gently.
03:16Really?
03:16Yeah. So it's going to take about 10 minutes total to cook each batch.
03:20Okay.
03:20So I have a quarter cup measuring cup.
03:23Put these into the skillet.
03:26There's not even a sizzle.
03:29Low heat.
03:30Low heat.
03:31So I just want to spread these out a little bit.
03:33You want about four inch rounds here.
03:36And now I'm going to increase the heat to medium here.
03:39And we'll let these cook for about four to five minutes.
03:41They're going to get really nice and brown on the bottom side.
03:43Okay.
03:44All right. It's been about five minutes, and you can actually smell that caramelized corn sugar.
03:50It smells delicious.
03:50Yeah. That's how we know they're ready to flip.
03:52You can see they're browning a little bit.
03:53So I'm going to use, these are very delicate, so I'm going to use a wide, thin spatula.
03:57I'm going to actually use two to help me get underneath here.
04:00Ooh, double spat.
04:01That's gorgeous.
04:02That looks pretty good.
04:04All right.
04:04So we want to let these go for another three to four minutes until they get nice and brown on
04:08the other side.
04:09And then we'll continue.
04:10All right.
04:11It's been about three more minutes, and these are done now.
04:13So I'm going to put these onto a baking sheet.
04:16All right.
04:17I have the oven set at 200 degrees.
04:19If you'll pop these in to keep them warm.
04:20And then I'll wipe out the pan, add more butter, and we'll cook the other four.
04:24Okay.
04:26All right.
04:27So all of our eight corn cakes are nice and warm.
04:30They smell delicious.
04:31Yeah.
04:31You can smell that caramelized corn, right?
04:33So good.
04:34And now here we have queso de mano.
04:36Ah!
04:36Cheese of the hand.
04:38Right.
04:38Stretched by hand until it's really smooth and elastic.
04:41Kind of like mozzarella.
04:42Kind of.
04:42You can actually swap in fresh mozzarella if you can't find the queso de mano, but it's great if you
04:47can find it.
04:47It's a little bit salty, a little bit tangy, nice and delicate.
04:51It's really good.
04:52Okay.
04:52So it comes in a 24-ounce package like this in three slabs.
04:56This is how it's usually sold.
04:58And we only need eight ounces of it.
05:00So you're going to have quite a bit left over.
05:02You can put it in nachos, omelets, just nibble on it.
05:05Yeah.
05:05Leftover cheese is not a problem at my house.
05:07No.
05:07No problem at all.
05:08So we have a three-and-a-half-inch cutter.
05:11Ah, to match the corn cakes.
05:12Exactly.
05:13So I'm going to cut out some rounds here.
05:17All right.
05:18So now we have three, but we need one more.
05:20So I'm just going to use my cutter.
05:23I'm going to cut out one shape like this and then another little snippet from the other side.
05:30I see what you did there.
05:32I see what you did there.
05:34So you're going to get it fit together once it relaxes between the corn cakes, you'll have almost a circle.
05:39All right.
05:40So nice big piece of cheese.
05:42And you don't want the cheese.
05:43It's not going to completely melt.
05:44Okay.
05:45It's just going to relax and soften a little bit when we pop these back in the oven.
05:49Now we sandwich it like this.
05:51Oh, my gosh.
05:52Man, that looks good.
05:53Oh, I can't wait to have you taste these.
05:55You're going to love these.
05:57Okay.
05:57So I'm going to pop these back into a 200-degree oven.
06:01Like I said, we don't want the cheese to melt.
06:02It's just going to slump a little bit, nice and melty, and we'll give them a taste.
06:08I can't wait to see these.
06:09Oh, I know.
06:10It's been about four minutes.
06:15All right, Julia.
06:16So you can see the cheese, it's not melted.
06:19It's just a little bit kind of relaxed.
06:21Yeah.
06:21Let's serve these up here.
06:23All right.
06:23Don't eat yet because I'm going to give these a little bit more butter.
06:27That's what this needs.
06:29You can never have too much butter, right?
06:30Okay.
06:33My mouth is already watering.
06:34Oh, I know.
06:35So it's just delicately crisp.
06:37When you cut in, you'll notice.
06:38And then you get that melty cheese.
06:40Oh, my gosh.
06:43Mmm.
06:46Oh, this is comfort food, isn't it?
06:49The corn, the sweetness, the cheese.
06:53A little bit salty, a little bit sweet, just delicately crisp on the outside.
06:58But it tastes like corn.
07:00Yeah.
07:00It's as though fresh corn is just barely held together and made into a cake.
07:04Yeah.
07:04And that queso de mano is delicious.
07:07I can't believe I've never had it before.
07:08Yeah.
07:08It is the perfect flavor and texture for so many things.
07:13But in this, man, this is good.
07:15Yeah.
07:16Becky, this is really cool.
07:18Thank you for showing me how to make these.
07:19It was my pleasure.
07:21If you want to make these wonderful Venezuelan corn cakes, make a corn batter in the blender,
07:26then let it rest for 10 minutes.
07:28Cook the pancakes in batches, then layer cheese between the pancakes to make a sandwich,
07:32and let that warm through in the oven.
07:35From America's Test Kitchen, a fun and easy recipe for cachapas con queso de mano.
07:42This would be great as an after-school snack.
07:44Oh, my gosh.
07:44Wouldn't that be fun?
07:45Yeah.
07:51They dry your hands, and as advertised, they should dry your dishes.
07:56Adam's here, and he's going to take us through the world of kitchen towels.
08:00And what does a dish towel really need to be?
08:03Absorbent.
08:04Absorbent and strong and easy to clean.
08:07True.
08:07We got this lineup of 10 different dish towels.
08:10They came in sets of two or more.
08:12One of them came in a set of 12, as a matter of fact.
08:15Oh, jeez.
08:15The per towel cost worked out to $1 to $15.
08:20We focused on cotton and linen.
08:23In terms of absorbency, it didn't really depend entirely on the type of fiber.
08:29It depended as much on the weave used to make the fabric.
08:33The most common weaves are plain, waffle, basket, and terry.
08:38A plain weave is going to make a flat, kind of thin fabric like this.
08:44Yep.
08:44That is really good for handling delicate items like champagne fluids or wine glasses, something like that.
08:51It's maneuverable.
08:52Not as great for absorption.
08:54And I want you to show me.
08:56In that bucket of blue water, you have a plain weave towel that has been soaking up water.
09:03If you could pull that out, squeeze it into a measuring cup, and let's see how it did, how much
09:07water it absorbed.
09:08All right.
09:09Plain weave.
09:10Plain weave.
09:11Flat.
09:11All right.
09:11I'm going to hold it over one of these and squeeze.
09:19That looks like even less than half a cup.
09:21Definitely.
09:21If you go for one of the other weaves, like waffle, basket, or terry, that's going to create a looser
09:29fabric.
09:30That's going to absorb more water.
09:33Because the fabric fibers are looser, there's more space for the water to go into.
09:37And there's also more space for the fabric fibers to expand.
09:41And believe it or not, you have one of those in your bucket of blue water, too.
09:46Would you squeeze that one out?
09:47Let's see if it actually held any more water.
09:49This is the worst carnival I've ever been to.
09:53All right.
09:56Oh, it's going, yeah, a lot more.
09:58Look at that.
09:59It's a lot more.
10:00Check that out.
10:01It's nearly a cup.
10:02It's a lot more than the first one.
10:04It's about twice as much.
10:04Twice as much.
10:05There were a couple of other benefits to the looser and thicker fabric.
10:10One of the tests was to actually fold over a dish towel and grab a hot pan with it.
10:15Sure.
10:15A lot of people do that instead of using oven mitts or a potholder.
10:18I do it, too.
10:19The thicker the fabric, the more heat protection you had.
10:22And also, thicker fabric just feels better in your hand, which is nice.
10:26It really does.
10:27All of these were machine washable.
10:30All but one of them could go into the dryer.
10:32And we recommend washing them before you use them.
10:35New textiles generally have some residual protective treatment called sizing.
10:40That's meant to keep them in shape as they are transported, also to prevent pilling.
10:45But it's water repellent, so your towels are not going to be as absorbent as they should be until you
10:50have washed them.
10:51Get rid of the sizing.
10:52Get rid of the sizing.
10:54We had three winners.
10:55One of them is this guy.
10:57This is the Williams-Sonoma Classic Striped Towel.
11:01It's a set of two for $23.
11:04And it combines two different weaves.
11:07These red stripes are the plain weave.
11:10So they're flat.
11:11They give it really good handling on delicate glassware.
11:14The white parts are a basket weave.
11:17They're a little thicker.
11:18So it's also absorbent and heat protective.
11:22If you want to go for a terry towel, if that is more your style, this is the Now Designs
11:28Ripple Kitchen Towel.
11:29Set of two for $18.
11:32Terry cloth.
11:33This was the most absorbent of all of them.
11:35We tested 2.3 cups of water came out of this one.
11:38And if you're a linen type because you value maximum maneuverability over absorption, this is the Linen Vibe Pure Linen
11:48Tea Towel for the kitchen.
11:49It was $30 for a set of two.
11:51All right.
11:52A lot of choices.
11:53We've got three winners of kitchen towels for you to peruse.
11:56And if you go to our website, you can go check them out.
12:04Everyone knows that a sharp knife cuts better than a dull knife.
12:07But why?
12:08It's all about force and point of contact.
12:11Check this out.
12:12I'm going to smash these two metal spheres together with a piece of paper in the middle.
12:16Let's look what happens.
12:20They actually create a hole in the paper.
12:23That's because all of the force exerted on the spheres is transferred to one tiny point where they touch.
12:28That's powerful.
12:29Now, if I try this again with one sphere and one cube, let's see what happens.
12:36Well, there's a little dent, but basically nothing happens.
12:40That's because the force is spread out over a much wider area.
12:43These two spheres, they represent a very sharp knife.
12:46The edge of a sharp knife is just a line of single points.
12:49If I cut a tomato with that knife, the thin edge contacts the tomato at a single point, so all
12:54of the force I exert goes into cutting.
12:56The knife glides right through.
12:58If I substitute in a very dull knife, which has more surface area like those cubes, the force is spread
13:04out over a wider area.
13:05Instead of effortlessly gliding through, we just end up smushing our tomato.
13:11So, if you're cutting tomatoes, reach for the sharpest knife.
13:14And when you want to make a tiny hole in a piece of paper, gotta be spheres.
13:47Good.
13:47But the traditional start for all New England chowders is salt pork.
13:51Yes.
13:51Which I've got over here.
13:52All right.
13:53So, this is something that you might find in the chili cabinet next to your bacon.
13:57Like bacon, it's a cured pork product.
14:00So, I'm just going to cut the rind off these three ounces of salt pork.
14:07And we're going to cut this into two one-inch pieces.
14:10Okay.
14:12I'm going to transfer them to a large Dutch oven.
14:15Okay.
14:15Now, if you could just set this to medium-high heat, and I can wash my hands.
14:20So, salt pork has been cured for longer than bacon, and it's saltier.
14:23So, it's really going to add a lot of depth of flavor.
14:25But we want to release some of its fat.
14:27We want to render it.
14:28So, we're going to cook this over medium-high heat until it's really well browned and the fat is rendered.
14:32That'll take about 10 minutes.
14:33Perfect.
14:34So, if you could tend to that, that would be great.
14:36Yes, I'm on pork patrol.
14:37Yes, please.
14:38And if you could just turn it, make sure it cooks evenly, and you can press down every so often
14:42to help release that fat.
14:44Gorgeous.
14:44All right.
14:44So, here is the corn that we promised.
14:46This recipe is going to use 10 ears of corn.
14:49Oh, wow.
14:49Which is rather a lot.
14:50I've already cut the kernels off two of them, and I'm just going to cut off the kernels from these
14:55other two.
14:56I like to use a rim baking sheet and a sharp chef's knife.
14:59I just like to anchor the corn of the cob on the rim baking sheet, and I just run my
15:05knife down the side of the corn, and it just comes right off, and this rim baking sheet captures all
15:11of those flyaway pieces.
15:14So, we're actually going to treat the corn in three different ways so that they can really maximize their own
15:19potential, their own greatness.
15:21All right.
15:21So, the first way is cutting the kernels off the cob.
15:23Now, the second thing that we're going to do is something a little unconventional.
15:26We're going to grate them.
15:27Okay.
15:28Just using a regular cheese grater with the big holes, I'm just going to take my ear of corn, and
15:35I'm just going to run it down the cheese grater, and as we do that, we're breaking open all of
15:41those little kernels, and we're releasing some of the sap, the milky juice on the inside, that is going to
15:47give us so much flavor.
15:49Right now, I've just released some of the juice and a lot of the pulp, but actually, there's still more
15:54to go.
15:55So, we've grated it, we've cut it, and now we're going to milk it.
15:59You could use a butter knife, but I'm just going to use the backside of my chef's knife.
16:04I'm just going to run it down the corn, and you can see this thick, milky pulp comes out.
16:13Oh, yeah.
16:13And that's where so much of the flavor is.
16:18Smells fantastic.
16:19Yes, it does.
16:20So, it's been about 10 minutes, and we've got our salt pork nice and brown.
16:23Yeah.
16:23We've also got a lot of fat rendered into the pan.
16:26So, to this, we're now going to add one large onion, and then a tablespoon of butter.
16:33Now, this isn't the main fat here, but it's just going to add that slight little buttery flavor that goes
16:37so well with corn.
16:38A little sweetness.
16:39And a little sweetness, too.
16:40Mm-hmm.
16:41And a teaspoon of salt.
16:43I'm going to reduce the heat to low.
16:45Cover all of the onions with that fat and the salt.
16:50And we're going to let the onions basically stew until they're super soft, which will take 12 minutes.
16:56I've got this over low heat.
16:57We're not looking for much browning, other than the browning that we got from the salt pork.
17:01It's just going to help absorb all that flavor and just get really soft and sweet.
17:05Gorgeous.
17:07So, it's been about 12 minutes, and, mm, this is what we used to call sweaty onions.
17:13That sounds terrible, smells amazing.
17:15I had a boyfriend with that nickname.
17:19Okay, so now we should see a lot more fat come out because the salt pork has continued to render
17:24its fat.
17:25We're going to take it out of the pan for now, but we're going to come back to them later.
17:30And then to our onions, we're going to add two cloves of garlic that we've minced.
17:34And we're just going to cook this until it's fragrant, which will take about a minute.
17:38We're now going to add something that's very common to a lot of soups, and that is three tablespoons of
17:43all-purpose flour.
17:44Okay.
17:45So, this is actually going to perform two purposes.
17:48First of all, I'm just going to make a roux, which just means cooking the flour in the fat.
17:52And I'm just going to use a whisk just to make sure that all the flour gets evenly broken up.
17:57We don't really want any clumps.
17:58Right.
17:58And we want the fat to really coat all of it.
18:00Now, typically, people will make a roux in order to just thicken a soup.
18:03But in this case, it's actually going to serve another purpose.
18:06Now, we're adding a lot of dairy.
18:07And when you heat dairy, it can sometimes curdle and break, and that will turn your soup grainy.
18:13And it's not a very pleasant thing to do here.
18:15It looks split.
18:16It looks split.
18:17And the roux, because it thickens it a little bit, will help preserve the integrity of the emulsion of the
18:24milk.
18:25Okay.
18:25So, it's going to be nice and smooth.
18:26So, I'm just going to use something that we use in a lot of soups, and that is chicken broth.
18:31So, I'm just going to whisk this in.
18:32And it just adds a really lovely, subtle, savory backdrop to a soup.
18:38It's just going to heighten all the other ingredients without dominating.
18:42And I'm just going to whisk this in slowly, because we're essentially forming an emulsion here, much like you would
18:47a mayonnaise.
18:48And you can see it immediately thickens up as we keep on adding it.
18:52Because we're doing it very gradually, we're not having any lumps formed.
18:56And this is three cups of chicken broth.
18:57Okay.
18:59To that, I'm going to add two cups of whole milk.
19:06And to that, we're going to add 12 ounces of red potatoes.
19:10A lot of corn chowders are traditionally thickened just using potatoes.
19:14Right.
19:14And that's because the potatoes, as they cook, will give off their starch.
19:18And that starch is going to help thicken the soup.
19:21To that, we're going to add back our salt pork, because this has got more love to give.
19:27Thank goodness.
19:29A teaspoon of minced thyme.
19:31I'm using fresh here.
19:32If you wanted to use dried, you could substitute a quarter teaspoon.
19:35Okay.
19:36One bay leaf really does make a difference.
19:38It really does.
19:39We have tested this.
19:40And then we're going to add our grated corn and milk.
19:44We're not going to add the whole corn kernels just yet.
19:47Okay.
19:48I'm going to bring this to a boil now.
19:50And as we're doing that, you really want to make sure you keep on stirring it, so that the bottom
19:54doesn't get too hot.
19:55Because that could break the emulsion.
19:56Right.
19:57And turn it grainy.
19:58So we're going to bring this to a boil.
19:59And then we're going to turn it down to a simmer.
20:01And let it cook until the potatoes are almost ready.
20:05Not quite ready.
20:06Look at that beautiful yellow color already starting.
20:08Already getting there.
20:09Ugh.
20:10And this will take about eight to ten minutes.
20:13So it's been about nine minutes.
20:14And let's check on our potatoes.
20:16Okay.
20:16So I'm just going to fish out one or two.
20:19And then just using a paring knife, I want to make sure I just feel just a little bit of
20:23resistance.
20:24Yep.
20:24It mostly penetrates easily.
20:26But there's just a little bit of firmness left over.
20:28So now we're going to add our fresh corn.
20:31Okay.
20:31So this is, it should be about three cups of corn from our four ears from earlier.
20:35We're just going to put it right in.
20:37Now, I didn't add this at the beginning because we really want to preserve their fresh flavor.
20:40Right.
20:41And also their texture.
20:42Those lovely little pops that you get when you bite into something that's not fully cooked.
20:45It's so true.
20:46And really great corn, you almost don't need to cook it.
20:49Exactly.
20:49It's so sweet, so lovely.
20:51And then to this, we're now going to add a cup of heavy cream.
20:53We're not adding it too early on because cooked cream can get a very sort of heavy character to it.
20:59Whereas fresh cream really like can lighten things up and just heighten the other flavors that are already in there.
21:03My goodness.
21:04So we're going to bring this back to a simmer and we're going to cook it for another five minutes
21:08until the potatoes are fully tender and the fresh corn is just cooked.
21:13Okay.
21:15That looks like summer in a pot.
21:17That's right.
21:17So let's take out the salt pork and then you've got to find the bailey.
21:23Oh, good luck.
21:24This is always a fun game.
21:25Oh, there we go.
21:26We got it.
21:27That never happens to me.
21:28My lucky day.
21:31Now, let's just kill the heat.
21:33All right.
21:33And we're going to finish it off with a little bit of fresh parsley.
21:38So, you know, herbs really should be seen as a vital part of seasoning.
21:42So you really want to get your herbs in before you do your final check for seasoning.
21:46Let me just check this out now.
21:48Oh, it's nice and thick.
21:52Mm-hmm.
21:53Lovely.
21:54So I'm definitely going to give it some pepper.
21:56Fresh cracked pepper is such a lovely accompaniment to this.
22:00I'm just going to add just one little pinch of salt just to get it right there.
22:04Well, that's a really good thing to bring up, too, because you don't know how salty the salt pork is.
22:10That's right.
22:10That you start with.
22:11And also the chicken broth that you're using.
22:13So always best to go low on it, taste it.
22:16You can always add more.
22:18Let's plate up.
22:19Oh, that looks so lovely.
22:21You've got so much in there.
22:22Oh, it's perfectly thickened, too.
22:25It's not stodgy.
22:27At least it doesn't appear that way.
22:28That's right.
22:29I'm going to go over to Joe's house because he gives big bowls of soup.
22:33Loving it.
22:36I mean, that's beautifully brothy.
22:38Mm-hmm.
22:40Mm.
22:41Gorgeous.
22:42Potatoes are lovely and tender.
22:44Actually, each little bite has just the right amount of potato and corn in it.
22:49But the broth itself, the base, is super corny.
22:52So it's not like you just added corn into a chowder.
22:55It tastes like you designed it with corn from the very first step.
22:59Exactly.
22:59And we are starting to eat from scratch.
23:01You know, you could add a condensed sweet corn soup.
23:04But that really isn't going to give you that same purity of flavor.
23:07The corn is front and center.
23:09It's sweet.
23:10It's tender.
23:12Summer spectacular.
23:13Thank you so much, Joe.
23:14Thank you, Richard.
23:15This was lovely.
23:16So if you want to make this beautiful, fresh corn chowder,
23:19it starts by cutting the kernels from fresh ears of corn,
23:22then grating the cobs to extract flavorful corn pulp.
23:26Add a little flour to the rendered salt pork fat to prevent splitting.
23:30And cook the fresh corn kernels with cream for only five minutes to preserve their fresh flavor.
23:35So from America's Test Kitchen, the ultimate and summer luxury, fresh corn chowder.
23:41You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season along with product reviews and select episodes.
23:47And those are all on our website, americastestkitchen.com slash TV.
23:54Now, where's the bread?
23:57Corn bread.
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