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.