America's Test Kitchen - General Discussion

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, Bastet said:

I know - and enjoy - all the benefits of cast iron, so do have some cast iron cookware, but I use it sparingly because what Lisa feels is an easy peasy cleaning process is, to my mind, a chore.  Just scrub it in hot water, then put it back on the stove with some oil in it, then wipe and wipe and wipe until the oil is gone, then put it back on the stove to fully dry, then put it away.  Okay, yeah, that's not difficult, but it does take significantly more time than washing a "regular" pan.

The two cast iron breakfast/brunch dishes they made are things I'm sure I'd enjoy eating if served to me, but I didn't get a craving to make either one.

In the previous episode, with Mediterranean dishes, the grilled haloumi wrap looked good.  Those I would make if I had a friend or two over for a lunch on the patio.

I watched that cast iron segment also, and they just had too many steps.  Not necessary for a well seasoned pan.  I don't reseason at all. 

3 hours ago, AllAboutMBTV said:

I call that Wouldn't Make, Would Eat. And it applies to about 85% of the recipes ATK presents. I think the last ATK recipe that I considered making was Rigatoni with Tomatoes, Bacon and Fennel, but I think it serves six and is tricky to reduce one or two servings (math!).

I also had the same reaction to the quiche.  It looked delicious, but their process for making crust was excessively fussy.

[Mondrianyone]

56 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I also had the same reaction to the quiche. 

I wouldn't bother making that quiche. It was so bare-bones. If I'm going to the trouble of making a quiche, I'm going to do something more special than just eggs and cheese with some loose chives on top. I'm making one tomorrow, in fact, and it will definitely be more interesting than theirs.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, Mondrianyone said:

I wouldn't bother making that quiche. It was so bare-bones. If I'm going to the trouble of making a quiche, I'm going to do something more special than just eggs and cheese with some loose chives on top. I'm making one tomorrow, in fact, and it will definitely be more interesting than theirs.

I agree. I would like it with some leeks. 

[AllAboutMBTV]

I gave Becky the stinkeye when she said to put the quiche crust in the freezer to chill before baking. Girl, there is NO room in my freezer for a damn cast iron skillet. I live in an apartment, and there is no chest freezer in my building's garage or basement either. I swear, ATK often forgets that viewers live in the real world and not a test kitchen/food lab. (See also: the six large glass bowls of equal size for Lan's Rainbow Cake.) And, thanks for lesson on flour hydration, but I'll make my quiche crust the way I make all my crusts -- in a bowl with a pastry blender -- the way my grandmother taught me. They're fine, and only a bowl to clean up, not a food processor and all its bits.

[Bastet]

I'm hit and miss with all the Middle Eastern cuisines -- love the herbs and olives, hate yogurt so it needs to be mixed with a lot of other flavors, and hate how prevalent grains are (some grains I just plain don't like, there are none I love, and the ones I like I do not want as the star ingredient) -- so the "Taste of Lebanon" episode was not my favorite. 

Making kibbeh with lentils?  Hard pass.  That's exactly the sort of thing I suffered through at the home of one of my high school friends (her parents were both Armenians from Lebanon) during the brief period her sister decided to be vegetarian.

The stuffed zucchini dish brought back pleasant memories, though; my parents, like everyone who grows any kind of squash, had oodles of zucchini to share each summer, and my friend's mom loved to stuff them with things.  I may even have had something very similar to this dish, and liked it; I love lamb, the amount of rice isn't overpowering, and while I have a long list of sauces I like more than tomato-based ones, I do still enjoy a good tomato sauce especially with fresh tomatoes.

I had to laugh at the suggestion one could use a melon baller in place of a zucchini corer; who in the world has a melon baller long enough to hollow out a six- to seven-inch zucchini? 

And to laugh at "I'm impressed at how low a simmer that is" -- because it looked to me like there was no heat at all, as I didn't see a simmer at all until the final reveal.

Also, they didn't mention suggestions for what to do with the scooped-out zucchini innards, and I find skipping opportunities to discourage food waste irresponsible.  (Which relates to the recent post about an onion ring episode not mentioning re-using the oil; do better, ATK.)

The recommended capers, Reese, are the ones I buy.  For a long time, I didn't like capers, but then a switch was flipped and I started using them in quite a few things.  Good idea on using caper berries in a Bloody Mary.

[Bastet]

I watched the fish and vegetables on the grill episode, and the vegetable platter made me hungry.  I hate trout, so that segment did nothing for me, but I have so many garden-fresh vegetables I almost wanted to have people over so I would take the time to arrange a pretty platter like that.  Almost.

With a lemon tree in my backyard, I've never bought lemonade in a carton, and I was taken aback by the color of that clear one.  The orange was weird, too, but explained by it having orange juice in it (the hell?).  Why was the clear one clear?  Just sugar water with a little bit of lemon juice?  Maybe, since that was the favorite of people who want theirs emphasizing sweet rather than tart (not me).  I like Julia picking the winner because it tasted like a cocktail.

[chessiegal]

I had Cook's Country on while I was putzing around in the kitchen. They were making a fresh ham. Every few minutes my husband would say "Who the hell would go to all that trouble?" 🤣

OTOH, I have a plethora of potatoes from my CSA baskets. I've made ATK's classic potato salad with egg several times and love it. I think the key is adding red wine vinegar to the potatoes after they are cut and still warm. It gives it a nice tang.

[Bastet]

Other than wanting the real thing rather than the mocktails featured in the latest episode, I would happily attend their cocktail party with that menu.  I like raw oysters, but I also love a good Oysters Rockefeller, so this cooked version appealed to me as well (and I agree it's a good way to possibly tempt non-oyster people).  I'm never excited by bread on its own, but can mightily enjoy it when balanced with other things, such as bruschetta, and I love artichokes so this was a version I'd be very happy to eat.  And, of course, baked brie (with compote as a bonus).  Yum!

[Bastet]

I selected an old episode at random on Roku, and it turned out to be one of the many that showed Chris absolutely cannot handle the slightest bit of spiciness.  They were taste testing bottled teriyaki sauce, and there was a homemade one in there, too.  The test audience of course liked the homemade one best, and thought all but one of the bottled versions were bad.  Chris, on the other hand, picked the bottled winner as his favorite, ranking the homemade version second because it was too "harsh" -- he couldn't handle the fresh garlic and ginger, making a big, stupid face as soon as it hit his tongue. 

[EtheltoTillie]

So the stuffed zucchini is made with a whole zucchini with a hole in the middle?  And it requires a special tool?  Seems like a pain.  You could cut them in half lengthwise and scoop out the innards with a spoon (or a melon baller!) and then arrange the stuffing on top.  That's how I usually think of that sort of recipe. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Well, I took a look at the video. This is a dish very much like typical stuffed peppers. They did scrape out quite a lot of the innards.  Is that too much food waste?  I can't think of a use for it, as it would be mostly seeds.  Send it to the compost bin.  The melon baller was only used for the parts the apple corer didn't get.  They were using very short zucchini, so the melon baller could reach in.

If you did not have an apple corer, you could still make that recipe by cutting the squash in half lengthwise and scooping and adding stuffing to one side and covering with the other side.  It might not be "authentic" but would probably taste good. 

[dubbel zout]

14 hours ago, Bastet said:

selected an old episode at random on Roku, and it turned out to be one of the many that showed Chris absolutely cannot handle the slightest bit of spiciness. 

He was SUCH a baby about any sort of heat. On Milk Street he's much better, which makes me wonder what happened...

[chessiegal]

6 minutes ago, dubbel zout said:

He was SUCH a baby about any sort of heat. On Milk Street he's much better, which makes me wonder what happened...

Maybe his new squeeze taught him the joys of spicing things up. 😉

[dubbel zout]

Ewww....

(Heh.)

[chessiegal]

Create channel will be airing a special on 25 years of ATK this Saturday, September 21, at 10 am ET. From the previews, it will include past segments and interviews with staff. I see the DC PBS station WETA will be airing it at 5 pm ET on Saturday. I'm guessing other PBS stations will be airing it.

[fairffaxx]

Thanks -- it will be on KQED Channel 9 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sat. morning at 11:00 PDT.

[AllAboutMBTV]

I had to laugh (a little) at the ATK25 special -- a whole hour and not one mention of Chris Kimball, not even in an old photo (of which there were many). I mentioned it to a friend who works on the show who said, "The mere mention of the bowtie is grounds for tarring and feathering. No one dares." Anyway, a nice show and look behind the scenes. The OGs were so young! (Well, we all were 25 years ago...)

[chessiegal]

I'm always amused when Kimball is doing a promo for shows on Create and ATK is never included. 

[dubbel zout]

On 9/19/2024 at 4:16 PM, AllAboutMBTV said:

I had to laugh (a little) at the ATK25 special -- a whole hour and not one mention of Chris Kimball, not even in an old photo (of which there were many).

It was very funny that Chris had been Kremlin'd out of the show. I'm sure that's due to the lawsuits and all of the legal action.

Julia was kind of crowing about how diverse the test kitchen has become, but I think there are still too many white cooks on-camera.

It was fun to see the hosts on their first/early appearances. I remember Becky's first time, and I really disliked her for a while. Now she's one of my favorite cooks. She really found her groove.

I'm a little bummed we didn't get any bloopers. There have to be some hilarious ones.

Edited September 21 by dubbel zout

[chessiegal]

Photo at the end showing the staff from many years ago - looked to me like there was a "hole" in the middle of the back row. I'm guessing they photoshopped Kimball out. 😄

I forgot I used to be a home test cook. That was fun. I've kept some of those recipes.

I've made the margaritas they showed. They are really good.

[Bastet]

I haven't come across the 25th anniversary special on the app yet (I forgot to look for it on my satellite guide to either watch or record if it was up against football), but I got a new episode (season 25).  It's interesting that in taste testing boxed chocolate cake mix they found the ones that call for oil and water (rather than butter and milk) taste better.  Not chocolate, but I've had the Duncan Hines yellow cake and lemon cake mixes.  No, it's not like a scratch-made cake, but perfectly edible to me.

[dubbel zout]

My favorite homemade cake recipe uses unsweetened chocolate, butter, and milk, and it's very chocolatey. I wonder if the preservatives or something else in the cake mixes affect the flavor when dairy is used?

My mom once had a Betty Crocker chocolate box in the pantry, and I made it to use it, and the cake was terrible, even with homemade frosting. The cake had no flavor and the crumb was too coarse. I had no nostalgia for it the way Bridget and Julia did. 

One box mix I can never get right is a white cake. I have never been able to get layers that have any sort of rise. My best friend and I did a lot of baking together when we were in junior hight and high school, and my ineptness with white cake is still a joke between us.

[Deskisamess]

I think most cake mixes are fine, especially with homemade frosting. I've never tried the Giradelli cake mixes, but do find their brownie mixes to be the best. My DVR recording had some break up, so I didn't get to see which one was the sawdust cake and worst of the bunch.

I wanted to watch the Bread Pudding demo, but just can't deal with Erica and her high squeaky voice. 

[dubbel zout]

Erica also has something of a kindergarten teacher voice, and that always drives me nuts. I'm not 5 years old—talk to me like I'm an adult.

[Deskisamess]

1 minute ago, dubbel zout said:

Erica also has something of a kindergarten teacher voice, and that always drives me nuts. I'm not 5 years old—talk to me like I'm an adult.

Yes! Like she is overly excited and trying to get the viewers excited too!

[AllAboutMBTV]

Becky's upspeak voice used to drive me nuts, but she's really toned it down. Here's hoping Erica does the same. And soon.

[chessiegal]

When I helped teach courtroom procedures to our forensic scientists who would be testifying in court as expert witnesses, we would tape them in mock court exercises. One of the things we would point out to them, mostly women, was upspeak. They didn't realize they were doing it. You can teach people not to do it once they are aware they are doing it.

[Bastet]

She's always doing it less by the end of her segments than in the beginnings, so she might still be nervous until she gets caught up in what she's doing.  The beginning of her first segment had me thinking OMG, I will never be able to handle listening to this person, but now I'm fine (but she's definitely perkier than I'd like!).

I didn't pay much attention to the bread pudding segment because it's not something I'd ever make (or choose to order, even, although I'd be fine eating it if someone served it to me).

[AllAboutMBTV]

I don't know who's doing Julia's hair on Cook's Country, but, girl, bangs are not your look. Fortunately, there were two kinds of delicious-looking barbecue to distract me.

[Bastet]

I will make both dishes from the grilled chicken episode at some point, especially the Peruvian one.  Initially I thought I'd just make the green sauce with it, but Bridget said the two sauces complemented so I guess I'll do both.  I am with her and Dan on the love for mayonnaise.  "I am 1/3 mayonnaise as I stand here."

I had to laugh at Adam suggesting a countertop ice maker would be great for a boat or RV.  Dude, there's not enough counter space as it is!  Their pick was a good size for a party, but I do not remotely throw enough of them to even think of buying and storing it.

[chessiegal]

The ice maker in our 16-year-old fridge died during the pandemic. It took us 6 months to get a new fridge. In the meantime, I bought a countertop ice maker (in addition to many ice trays) to keep from buying bags of ice. Once the new fridge arrived, I sold the countertop on consignment in a flash. 

Any boat or RV large enough to accommodate a countertop icemaker will probably have an icemaker in the fridge. But they do have their place.

[Lois Sandborne]

I finally found the 25th anniversary show. My DVR didn't catch it, and it wasn't on demand, but it was on my PBS app. I'm on the team that thinks cutting Chris Kimball out is really funny, but he always did get on my nerves. I liked that they tried to feature all the other past presenters in some way.

I'm caught up on the new season now. I don't have a grill, but I am super tempted to try to adapt Dan's chicken for my oven.

Did anybody see the caramel apple pie Erin made on the last episode? What a finicky recipe. I was kind of rolling my eyes by the time she got through the hours worth of prep to get the caramel pie done, but then she started rolling all the apples into those goofy rosettes to lay on top! And then the precious effort to cut around them to get an actual slice ... it's a no from me.

[chessiegal]

My husband said he was listening to a radio show on NPR where Kimball was a guest. He said Kimball was rude and obnoxious. So, he was just being himself. 🤣

[Bastet]

12 minutes ago, Lois Sandborne said:

I finally found the 25th anniversary show. My DVR didn't catch it, and it wasn't on demand, but it was on my PBS app.

I can't find it on my PBS app.  Is it under season 25 on yours, or is it listed separately somewhere?

[chessiegal]

The anniversary special showed up on my Passport app when I searched "America's Test Kitchen".

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, chessiegal said:

The anniversary special showed up on my Passport app when I searched "America's Test Kitchen".

That's what I wound up needing to do on my PBS app, since I couldn't find it anywhere within the show's page, was just do a search.

I enjoyed it.  Great camaraderie between everyone during the cooking segments where the others, in groups, of three, joined Bridget and Julia in the kitchen. 

I loved how this made clear throughout everything they do is rooted in science.  And it was nice to hear the details of the recipe testing process.  (But, good grief, while they have finally increased diversity on camera, all the shots of the test kitchen and taste testing groups were still a sea of white with few POC.)

Lan being famous for accurate measuring without a ruler was a fun tidbit, as I have the same skill.

On a shallow note, everyone looked great in the interview segments.

"We love to be teachers, and we love to learn, too" summed up why this show is great.

Didn't the 20th anniversary special have bloopers?  That's the only thing I would have liked to see to make this even better.

8 hours ago, Lois Sandborne said:

Did anybody see the caramel apple pie Erin made on the last episode?

I skipped that episode upon seeing what was in it.  I wouldn't eat pot roast with someone else's mouth, and I don't care for cooked apples (or most fruit*).  I'll eat cooked apples if served to me, but I'm never going to order it or make it.  So, with no science, history, taste testing, or equipment testing segment, there was nothing for me in the episode.

* Citrus fruit is an exception; I cook with orange, lemon, and lime.  So, while I'm generally not much of a pie person, I like key lime pie and lemon meringue (but only my mom's, as everyone else I've come across uses way too much meringue).

[fairffaxx]

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

Citrus fruit is an exception; I cook with orange, lemon, and lime.

If you haven't tried the Cook's Country recipe for orange upside-down cake, you should.  It's very easy (hardest part is having to peel the oranges by hand), looks stunning, & tastes wonderful.  Everyone loves it & it's really too bad that 2 of the 3 orange varieties called for have a short season. 

[Deskisamess]

2 hours ago, fairffaxx said:

If you haven't tried the Cook's Country recipe for orange upside-down cake, you should.  It's very easy (hardest part is having to peel the oranges by hand), looks stunning, & tastes wonderful.  Everyone loves it & it's really too bad that 2 of the 3 orange varieties called for have a short season. 

I have the recipe but haven't been able to get the correct oranges. Oranges in general have been terrible this year.

[fairffaxx]

Oranges will be ripening as the the weather turns colder & all 3 varieties (navel, cara cara, blood) should become available around Xmas & early in the new year (at least in Calif).  Well worth waiting for if you want an extremely beautiful cake, though it would taste just as good with only 1 kind of orange.

[Lois Sandborne]

On 10/6/2024 at 5:49 PM, chessiegal said:

The anniversary special showed up on my Passport app when I searched "America's Test Kitchen".

Yes, that's how I found it too.

I make a citrus upside down cake I got from Good Housekeeping. It uses grapefruits with the various oranges. It's a real looker and always gets a big reaction.

I do love cooked fruit, but if I remember right, Erin only soaked the apples in lemon and sugar before folding them. So maybe you'd like that pie, @Bastet.

[AllAboutMBTV]

I would never make those fiddly apple rosettes (I might just serve the pie with applesauce on the side), but it was interesting to learn how they're done. And while I'm sure ATK's multistep food processor pie crust process makes good pastry, I'll stick with a bowl and a pastry cutter, like my grandmother taught me. Also, fewer things to wash. Signed, Lazy Cook Who Does Not Own a Dishwasher.

[Deskisamess]

15 hours ago, AllAboutMBTV said:

I would never make those fiddly apple rosettes (I might just serve the pie with applesauce on the side), but it was interesting to learn how they're done. And while I'm sure ATK's multistep food processor pie crust process makes good pastry, I'll stick with a bowl and a pastry cutter, like my grandmother taught me. Also, fewer things to wash. Signed, Lazy Cook Who Does Not Own a Dishwasher.

I've tried several of the food processor pie crust methods, and all were dismal failures. My food processor gets very little use, it's a pain in the arse to clean.

Edited October 9 by Deskisamess
Spelling

[dubbel zout]

The salted caramel apple pie was a lot of work. It's not the type I like, so I'll never make it, but I would like to try the pie crust recipe. They first showed in a few seasons ago, and now it's the one they always ues. It's fussy, but I think pie crusts in general are kind of fussy anyway. At least with this one, a lot of the work is done in the food processor (despite having to clean it!), and the crust doesn't need to be handled quite as gingerly.

[Bastet]

On 9/27/2024 at 10:18 AM, AllAboutMBTV said:

I don't know who's doing Julia's hair on Cook's Country, but, girl, bangs are not your look.

Lordy.  I just caught up on the four episodes of the current season of CC and she had those bangs in two of them.  No, just no.  If the rest of her hair hadn't been pulled back, it might not have looked bad, but I generally don't notice hairstyles yet had an immediate reaction to that one.

I'm not a barbecue fan (I'll eat it, but I'm not excited by it; whatever the base of the sauce, it's put on meat that has to be cooked within an inch of its life to be good, which is not my jam), so the two episodes that focused on it were not for me -- and I had to laugh at one of the two using a snake technique of briquettes, where you light one end and let it follow the curl, resulted in a full 1/3 of the briquettes not being used.  I get it, better too many than too few and you just put them back in the stash to be used later, but it was excessive.

There were some interesting bits of information across the four episodes, though; I had no idea teriyaki was such a big thing in Seattle, and I knew that "baby carrots" are cut and shaped pieces of regular carrot - thus thinking them ridiculous - but didn't know that was done of carrots that were previously discarded due to their irregular shape, so they're not ridiculous (although I will continue to just cut up regular carrots rather than paying for "baby" carrots if I'm making a veggie and dip tray, thank you), they're reducing waste. 

[Lois Sandborne]

On 10/12/2024 at 1:31 PM, dubbel zout said:

The salted caramel apple pie was a lot of work. It's not the type I like, so I'll never make it, but I would like to try the pie crust recipe.

I don't have a food processor, so I can't do any of their crusts. Erin's did look good though. I like the rope technique she did to seal; I'll probably try that.

21 hours ago, Bastet said:

I knew that "baby carrots" are cut and shaped pieces of regular carrot - thus thinking them ridiculous - but didn't know that was done of carrots that were previously discarded due to their irregular shape, so they're not ridiculous (although I will continue to just cut up regular carrots rather than paying for "baby" carrots if I'm making a veggie and dip tray, thank you), they're reducing waste.

And too, from what I understand the remainder of an ugly carrot that becomes a baby carrot gets shredded. So by the time you figure in all the people buying those for cole slaw and carrot cake, it's really a big net gain.

[Bastet]

Cooks Country:  "You can't have chili without beans."

Um, I believe the state of Texas would like to have a word with you. 

I have no dog in this race; I am not excited by chili any which way, but I will eat it if you place it in front of me (if it has beans in it, I will meticulously pick around those as I hate them, but that is indeed about hating beans, not believing they and chili should never meet).  I just know that the "There are no beans in chili!" camp feels very strongly about this, and if I know that, those producing a show about food should know better than to make a blanket statement like that without acknowledging this is a fightin' words situation in some parts.  It would be especially easy to do in this, an episode about vegetarian southwest dishes.  "I know some people, particularly in Texas, think beans have no place in chili, but we like it, and they're particularly useful in vegetarian chili."

Edited:  Now I see that Toni did a segment on the history of chili, which mentioned a few points of contention about how it's made, but casually, and beans were merely referred to as "yes or no."  So I still think the blanket statement within the cooking segment itself was missing the caveat.  Cool tidbit, though, about women - shut out of the mainstream chili cook offs - starting their own competition, with the top three finishers then being invited to the big contest the next year, thus being the entry point for all the women to come behind them.  

Edited October 20 by Bastet

[emma675]

24 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Cooks Country:  "You can't have chili without beans."

Um, I believe the state of Texas would like to have a word with you. 

Yes, yes, we would. Chili without beans = chili. Chili with beans = stew. 😉

[Terrafamilia]

15 hours ago, emma675 said:

Yes, yes, we would. Chili without beans = chili. Chili with beans = stew.

Chili with beans, no meat = TexMex baked beans.

[Mondrianyone]

I like Julia in bangs. I think they're more youthful-looking than the stodgier pulled-back style on her.

On the shows I watched today, Sam was much more enjoyable than previously. She toned it down considerably. And Morgan was as adorable as usual, if not more so.

Oh, and there was food, too. I'll definitely try the hot-honey chicken.

[Bastet]

I cannot believe Cook's Country did a honey segment without discussing the benefits of eating local honey.  They emphasized the importance of raw, rather than the filtered shit that litters grocery store shelves, which is primary, and noted the origin of all the samples, but it was weird not to even mention why you'd want to look for honey that's local to you.

But I will definitely make the hot honey chicken.  Despite that segment distracting me with how often Morgan said "actually".  It was so terrible, I rewound and clocked; in those seven minutes, she said it 13 times.

Also, when she temped the thigh it was at 194 and counting.  Hell no. 

Drumsticks are my least favorite piece of chicken, so if I made the Jira Ghalun I might use thighs instead, but, on the other hand, the recipe results in a really moist drumstick, so it might be a great way to buy a bunch of cheap drumsticks and go to town.

Julia's bangs were a little different in this latest episode - softer, less segmented - and worked much better than the debacle they were in previous episodes, even with the rest of her hair still pulled back.  Nice adjustment.