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America's Test Kitchen - Season 26 Episode 22 - Seafood Stew And Salmon Burgers
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Short filmTranscript
00:26To be continued...
00:37today on america's test kitchen valerie makes julia of flavorful crab and shrimp stew
00:44adam reviews gilto knives and becky makes julia fresh salmon burgers with sriracha mayonnaise
00:51it's all coming up right here on america's test kitchen
01:02seafood stew is loved all over the world from the french bouillabaisse to the brazilian moqueca
01:07to san francisco's own chipino but today valerie is going to make her own seafood stew inspired by
01:13her home state of louisiana as a louisiana native we make a lot of different types of seafood stew
01:18this crab and shrimp stew i like to make it on weeknights because it cooks pretty quickly oh i
01:24love it yeah so we're going to start with a roux okay i melted four tablespoons of unsalted
01:29butter over medium heat okay and i'm going to sprinkle in a quarter cup of flour so when you
01:35make a roux you want equal parts of flour and fat we're using butter i like how that pairs with
01:41the
01:41seafood and i'm just going to give this a stir okay and i'm going to reduce the heat to medium
01:46low
01:47because if you cook a roux too quickly it can burn yep you want to make sure you're cooking it
01:53evenly
01:54so you want to scrape the sides and the bottom of your dutch oven okay a burnt roux cannot be
02:00saved
02:00nope you want to keep your eye on it if you notice it's browning too fast you can just turn
02:05the heat
02:05down a little julia could you handle the roux for me while i prep the rest of our ingredients that's
02:10an
02:10honor for a louisiana woman to say will you handle my roux right oh so we're going to cook that
02:15until
02:15it's cinnamon colored about 10 minutes i'm going to go ahead and chop this bell pepper
02:23so i've just removed the inner parts of my bell pepper and i'm now going to chop this fine
02:30all right so in french cooking we have mirepoix yep right that's onion celery and carrots that's right
02:37in creole cooking we have what's called the trinity and it's these three ingredients onion celery and bell
02:44pepper that are the base of creole cuisines so you're going to find it in gumbos and etousses and
02:49you're going to find it in this crab and shrimp stew now that to me looks like cinnamon this is
02:55the
02:55perfect color i'm going to add one small onion that's been finely diced so when you add to roux
03:01you don't want it to splatter and i've got two stalks of celery that have been thinly sliced
03:08and then our small green bell pepper that has been finely diced
03:15and i'm going to increase the heat to medium
03:19and i'm going to cook these vegetables with a half a teaspoon of salt until they soften which will
03:25take about eight minutes okay that smells delicious it smells like louisiana in the best way like you know
03:33you're about to have a good meal that's those creole flavors so our vegetables have softened i'm going
03:39to add four minced garlic cloves two tablespoons of tomato paste
03:47i've got a teaspoon of smoked paprika oh interesting and i've got a teaspoon of old bay seasoning oh now
03:55this is great for seafood especially crab so it's going to be perfect in our crab and shrimp stew that
04:00makes sense and i've got a teaspoon of dried thyme and a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper this is
04:06just enough heat to really bring out the flavors but it's not going to be overwhelmed like too spicy
04:12that you can't handle it gotcha and i've got two bay leaves and i'm going to toast all of these
04:18spices
04:18and the bay leaves until they're fragrant we want all of these flavors to come together it's going to
04:24take about two minutes okay the spices are very fragrant so we can add our seafood stock okay so
04:31this is four cups of store-bought seafood stock okay and i'm going to add 14 and a half ounces
04:39of diced
04:40tomatoes with all of their juices so we've got tomato paste we've got diced tomatoes giving us that
04:47robust tomato flavor with the different types and another half teaspoon of table salt we're going to
04:54bring this to a hearty simmer i'm going to increase the heat it's vigorously simmering i'm going to turn
05:01it down and we're going to let this cook for about 20 minutes so all of those flavors can marry
05:07and it can
05:08thicken slightly it's been about 20 minutes it smells delicious in here so julia this is the star of
05:16this stew lump crab meat oh yum this is a super premium product it's got this sweet delicate mild
05:23flavor and the lump crab is really tender so i'm just picking through making sure that i've gotten
05:29all of the little bits of crab shell out of it since our stew has simmered it's thick it's perfect
05:35i'm going to add our lump crab this is half a pound of crab meat so there's going to be
05:41crab goodness in
05:42every bite i've also got some shrimp half a pound this is large shrimp it's 26 30 count that means
05:50there are 26 to 30 shrimp tails per pound of shrimp that's right the reason we want to use large
05:56and not
05:57jumbo or something even larger is because we want a lot of shrimp in every spoonful so i'm going to
06:04increase the heat on this and once this reaches our hearty simmer i'm going to turn the heat off and
06:11let
06:11the residual heat finish cooking it we don't want overcooked rubbery shrimp we want everything to just
06:16be melty delicate beautiful smooth it's been about five minutes gonna take a look at our shrimp i mean
06:24they look cooked through that's true they're pink and they're curled into the perfect sea
06:30so i'm gonna fish out those bay leaves we added hardest part of the whole recipe
06:37and i'm just gonna finish this with two tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley
06:43a tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice and a tablespoon of worcestershire sauce oh wow so we're
06:50adding things to really brighten the flavors that we've added so far that looks delicious yeah it's
06:56it smells amazing let's give it a taste okay see if we need to correct it with salt and pepper
07:08that is good let's add a little touch of salt and a pinch of pepper as well all right let's
07:17eat all
07:17right i like that you have nice big bowls oh look at that this looks delicious
07:27you gotta add a little hot sauce also lemon juice whenever you have crab or shrimp a squeeze of lemon
07:33juice goes a long way okay same thing with this stew and i've got some crusty french bread
07:40you could also serve this over rice all right i'm gonna dive right in here listen
07:47oh man that's good that is a lot of flavor right it does not taste like a 45 minute soup
07:53at all
07:54not at all it has a really hearty backbone thanks to the roux you taste the spices kind of mild
08:00around
08:01the edges you have the backbone of the roux but you taste the crab there's very few recipes where
08:06you can actually taste the crab and this it shines right through it does and i love that addition of
08:13worcestershire sauce and lemon juice and fresh parsley at the end it just brightens everything up so it feels
08:18both satisfying but refreshing and light yeah valerie this is delicious thank you for showing me how to make
08:26it i had so much fun cooking with you likewise if you want to make valerie's very own seafood stew
08:32start by making a cinnamon colored roux and saute the trinity of onion celery and green bell pepper
08:39layer in a few spices along with some tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes then finish with crab and shrimp
08:45from america's test kitchen valerie's very own louisiana style weeknight crab and shrimp stew
08:52i can't believe this came together so quickly but it did
09:02the world of japanese knives is really interesting because most are designed with a specific task in
09:08mind like chopping vegetables or slicing fish but there is one knife the gyuto that is really an all-purpose
09:14knife and today adam's going to tell us more about this kind of knife and how it compares to a
09:19western
09:19style chef's knife we were so curious about these gyuto because it really is the closest thing you can
09:24come to in the japanese cutlery world to an all-purpose knife we assembled this lineup of nine they were
09:31all about 210 millimeters which is close to the eight inch length that we like on a western style chef's
09:36knife
09:36and the price range was fifty dollars to two hundred and twenty six dollars that's a big difference now you
09:42can tell they look a lot like western style chef's knife but there are a couple of really important
09:47differences to keep in mind one is the type of blade geometry they're both double beveled which
09:54means they're ground on both sides of the cutting edge however western knives are symmetrical they're
10:00ground at the same angle on either side of the edge yeah the gyuto are asymmetrical interesting one
10:06of the angles is steeper narrower than the other one okay and that is intended to keep the knife that
10:13much
10:14closer and more flush to the food that you're slicing for more precise slices a smoother action
10:21another thing to note is that the steeper angle the narrower angle is usually on the right side of the
10:28blade and so when you cut that's going to direct a very subtle force to the left like that and
10:34that can
10:35create an issue for some lefties some lefties have a hard time with these gyuto another thing to really
10:42keep in mind is the cutting edge you can see that the cutting edge is a lot more straight than
10:48a western
10:49style chef's knife so it's better suited to movements of push and pull push and pull like slicing or dicing
10:57something as opposed to rocking it on a cutting board which we would do to mince fresh herbs these blades
11:04are also thinner and they're not quite as tall as a western chef's knife from the cutting edge to the
11:11spine generally gyuto are also a little bit lighter than western chef's knives it actually makes a real
11:18difference for long prep sessions these are really easy to use for a longer time of course as with any
11:24knife the handle is a very important element there are basically two types there's the western style
11:30handle which is familiar to us with chef's knives it's a little more molded a little bit shorter
11:36then there's the japanese style which is a little bit longer it's often made from wood it can be
11:43cylindrical hexagonal octagonal in our testing squad people didn't really feel like one design was
11:50inherently better than the other it's all about how it feels in the hand one last thing to really keep
11:55in mind here is that the metal used to make the blades is harder than the metal used to make
12:02a
12:02western chef's knife blade no kidding it's true the the standard material hardness measurement is called
12:08the rockwell scale the knives in our lineup had a rockwell hardness ratings of 58 to 65 whereas the
12:16last set of chef's knives we tested had rockwell hardness ratings of 55 to 58. okay that's interesting
12:23because combined with the fact that the blades are a little bit thinner the hardness creates a
12:29couple of issues that you want to be cognizant of as you're using the blades are a little less
12:34forgiving to certain kinds of movements they're susceptible to damage with really hard strikes so
12:42you don't want to be cutting through dense foods like a butternut squash or frozen foods that's one of the
12:49reasons that we designed the tests the way we did our tests included slicing tomatoes slicing onions
12:56slicing bell peppers slicing carrots cutting a chiffonade of greens and slicing through steak
13:03and as i said before those are all geared towards that push-pull slicing motion more than a chopping
13:10motion i want you to give it a try see what you think i'm excited peppers there that's a nice
13:15knife
13:19this is fun nice oh and that's a bell pepper it has a soft side and a rough side i
13:29have to say
13:29you are responding to these like our whole testing squad did people loved these knives i don't want to
13:36stop now there were three winners there were two that tied for the very first place one is this one
13:43this
13:43is the hitohira fj 210 millimeter gyuto it's 210. may i you please do oh yeah it's got that japanese
13:54style handle which a lot of testers really liked i'm not used to it but i could get used to
13:59it it's
13:59pretty light isn't it it's easy to use for long periods of time if a heavier knife is more your
14:05thing
14:05another winner was the masamoto sohanten viji gyuto 226 dollars this one was two and a half ounces
14:14heavier than the first one oh yeah it's got a western style handle if that's more your thing
14:20there was also a best buy this one is the kanetsugu stainless gyuto 210 millimeters 50
14:28less expensive than the other ones it's the same knife that you were using on the peppers before
14:32it's light it wasn't quite as razor sharp as the other two but it's still plenty sharp and as i
14:39said
14:40testers would recommend any of these wow i'm seeing myself with a new knife in my future that makes two
14:45of us so there you have it if you're in the market for a gyuto knife we have three great
14:50options for you
14:51hey can i try this one oh please do oh yeah
15:00the united states is a burger nation we're mad about them but what happens when america's favorite
15:06food meets america's favorite fish well let's find out together because becky's here and she's got a
15:11burger recipe for us now salmon is america's most consumed fin fish so we're going to mince it up
15:18season it shape it into patties and make some really fantastic burgers gorgeous i cannot wait
15:22so of course we're going to start with some salmon this is one and a quarter pound and this is
15:27a
15:27great place to use a tail piece of salmon which is sometimes less expensive yes because we're going
15:32to chop it all up so it doesn't matter anyway a lot of recipes call for mincing the fish but
15:37that can
15:37be pretty tedious to mince it all up by hand sure so we're going to use the food processor but
15:41we're
15:41going to freeze cubes of fish first because otherwise the friction from the blade would heat up the fish
15:46kind of melt its fat and it would make them too gloppy to shape into patties so i'm going to
15:51start
15:51by cutting three quarter inch pieces of fish here and i'm assuming this is skin off skin off that's
15:58right okay so we're looking for three quarter inch pieces i'm just going to put them on a parchment lined
16:05baking sheet spread them out a little bit and then i'll pop this in the freezer for 20 to 25
16:12minutes i want
16:13them to get nice and firm around the edges but still a little bit pliable before we grind it that's
16:17right so let me pop this in the freezer okay so our salmon was in the freezer for about 25
16:23minutes
16:24you can see it's pretty firm here along the edges but it's still pliable at the center that's exactly
16:28what we want before we mix that up in the food processor let's do some seasonings for the burgers
16:33okay so i have three tablespoons of panko breadcrumbs and these are going to soak up any extra juices that
16:38come out of the fish two tablespoons of mayonnaise that will act as a binder it's going to help hold
16:44all the little fish pieces together two tablespoons parsley a little bit of freshness
16:49tablespoon of lemon juice and that's really going to brighten things up salmon is really rich has a
16:53lot of fat in it so we want some some flavors that are going to kind of cut through that
16:57a little
16:57bit punchiness yeah just a little bit tablespoon of shallot we'll do the same thing
17:02and just a teaspoon of dijon and it's a small amount but you will taste it in the burger
17:08and then quarter teaspoon of black pepper i'm just going to mix that all up
17:14all right so there's our seasonings great now we'll get the fish into the food processor
17:25now three quarter teaspoon of salt and we're going to process this with the fish this is going to help
17:30the burgers hold together but it's not going to make them bouncy okay so they're going to have a
17:33nice tender texture nice i'm going to pulse this 13 to 18 times i want about quarter inch size pieces
17:40when i'm done pulsing okay okay 13 so that's 13. there we go and you can see that's just about
17:52right
17:53they're about one quarter inch size pieces a little bit smaller it's just what i wanted nice
17:59now we'll add that to our seasonings
18:06now i'm going to mix this up i don't need to be gentle with it i'm really going to go
18:09for it and
18:10make sure everything's nicely blended in there so i saved the parchment that we froze the salmon on
18:15and now i'm just going to divide this into four portions to make four four patties and here's a quick
18:21way you can divide up your burger mix whether you're making you know hamburgers turkey burgers or salmon
18:26burgers just level off the mix like this and now i'm just going to use my spatula to divide it
18:34into
18:34four sections very smart that's a nice way to get nice even portions so i'm going to tidy up here
18:41then
18:41we'll come back and make our patties okay sounds good now let's talk about burgers now when making
18:46beef burgers we want to make sure not to mix the ground meat too much otherwise you might get a
18:52tough
18:53chewy burger no good but with salmon burgers we actually want to mix the fish thoroughly and here's
18:59why when beef is ground a sticky protein called myosin starts to release out of the muscle mixing the
19:05meat encourages more myosin to dissolve forming a gel that allows the meat to easily stick together
19:10so that we can form patties now if the ground beef is overworked it'll release too much myosin and if
19:17you cook that mixture you'll end up with a tough unpleasant texture but the myosin in fish is much
19:22more delicate than the myosin in beef so when we process the salmon in the food processor there's no fear
19:29of over mixing the fish's myosin gel is weaker than beef's and it won't create a springy texture when cooked
19:34in fact with salmon that extra myosin works to our advantage as its stickiness is essential to making
19:40the burgers more cohesive so with salmon it's a good idea to mix it thoroughly and you don't have
19:46to worry about over mixing all right let's shape these into patties now sounds great and the fish is nice
19:53and cold so that makes it easy to shape these into uniform patties i want to make them about three
19:58and
19:59half inches in diameter you want to check me there yeah see how i did oh god am i good
20:05or what you
20:06nailed it so good so we don't need to add any fat to the skillet there's already some on the
20:11outside
20:11and a little bit more is going to render out when these cook and i'm also putting the burgers into
20:16a
20:16cold skillet because yep there's i haven't turned the heat on yet you're safe by bringing the patties up
20:22to temperature very slowly most of the fat will stay inside the fish and they'll stay nice and moist
20:28those look pretty good if i do say so they look beautiful okay thank you now if you wouldn't mind
20:34bridget give me some medium high heat here okay and we're going to cook these for about five minutes
20:39until the bottom third starts to turn opaque and that's how we'll know that it's time to flip they're
20:44going to get a nice brown crust on the bottom all right so it's been five minutes and you can
20:48see the
20:49burgers are starting to turn opaque there on the bottom third definitely so let's take a peek see
20:54what we've got oh my gosh does that look good beautiful crust gorgeous crust and you're right
20:59there is a little bit of fat that came out of the burgers just enough it's not swimming in it
21:03though
21:03yeah that's right so we'll let these go another five minutes we want the fish to come up to 110
21:09degrees
21:09and then we'll take them out okay great it's been five minutes let's see where we're at here in terms
21:14of temperature we want 110 degrees there we go nailed it but that seems kind of low yeah that is
21:21low we're gonna take these out of the pan we're gonna let them rest for about five minutes and while
21:26they rest the temperature will rise to 125 degrees which is exactly where we like to eat famine and put
21:32these on a paper towel lined plate that's some blue ribbon burgers you got there pretty good right yes
21:40so while those rest i have the world's simplest burger sauce for you i have two tablespoons of
21:46sriracha and a quarter cup of mayo and just gonna mix that all together oh you can use one or
21:52two
21:52tablespoons i'm going i'm going full tilt all right i love you for that i didn't have to ask no
21:57i knew
21:59so this is going to add a little bit of heat which is really nice with the rich salmon so
22:04a nice amount on
22:05that toasted bun it's a good one i have some pickles here too do you like pickles i love pickles
22:12okay let's give you a couple pickles i love a lot of things evidently some nice fresh lettuce that
22:16freshness is really nice with the burger too you even topped my burger for me i know well i'm doing
22:21it up
22:22bon appetit and you gave me chips oh yeah we gotta have chips gotta have chips
22:31hmm incredibly tender somehow impossibly tender you don't expect that with a burger of any kind but
22:38this is super tender i it's actually kind of amazing that it's holding itself together you can taste a
22:43little bit of heat from the sriracha from the dijon you get the parsley in the shallot i was a
22:48little
22:49worried because i saw you sneaking some panko in there and often that will turn salmon into a salmon cake
22:55but three tablespoons was it yeah bridget i got you you don't need to worry you can't even tell that
23:01there's any any bread at all in there it's just enough just enough to soak up any stray juices yeah
23:06and that's it yeah and all those juices are still in there oh yeah becky these are bar none the
23:11best
23:12blue ribbon salmon burgers i've ever had wow thanks bridget thank you from one b to another appreciate
23:17it my pleasure and if you'd like to make these burgers at home it starts by using the food processor
23:22to grind par frozen salmon mix in a little mayo mustard and panko and start cooking the patties
23:28in an unheated skillet to ensure juicy burgers and a super crisp crust so from america's test kitchen
23:35the very best fresh salmon burgers with sriracha mayonnaise and you can get this fabulous recipe
23:41and all the recipes from this season along with product reviews and select episodes and you'll find
23:46them all on our website americastestkitchen.com tv all right how do you feel about chips on your burger
23:54oh yeah i'm all in yeah let's do it all right let's do it
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