NUMBER 149 NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2017 Roast Turkey Breast Juicy Meat and Rich, Crispy Skin Tuscan Bean Soup Hearty One-Pot Meal Best-Ever Skillet Brussels Sprouts Braised Beef Brisket We Broke the Collagen Code Which Supermarket Turkey Is Best? Gingerbread Layer Cake Sophisticated Showstopper Guide to Prime Rib Reaching Roast˚ Beef Perfection Best Turkey Soup Duchess Potatoes Chinese Dumplings CooksIllustrated.com $6.95 U.S . Display until December 11, 2017 NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2017 2 Quick Tips 20 Gingerbread Layer Cake Quick and easy ways to perform everyday tasks, Leave gingerbread people to the kids. The from dusting desserts with confectioners’ sugar to best vehicle for seriously sophisticated flavor is chopping carrots. BY ANNIE PETITO a tender, moist showstopper cake. BY ANDREA GEARY 4 Roast Turkey Breast with Gravy 22 Tuscan White Bean A perfectly cooked, crispy-skinned turkey breast and Escarole Soup can be just the ticket for a smaller holiday Acquacotta transforms humble ingredients into gathering—particularly if it comes with gravy. a supremely satisfying meal. BY LAN LAM BY ANNIE PETITO 23 Should You Buy 6 How to Braise Brisket a Santoku? Beefy in flavor and size, brisket has the potential With its petite build and curved tip, this to be the ultimate braised dish for company. The friendly-looking Japanese blade is giving trick is turning this notoriously tough cut both Western-style chef ’s knives a run for their moist and tender. BY ANDREW JANJIGIAN money. But does it offer something unique? BY LISA McMANUS 9 Mashed Potato Makeover For potatoes that are elegant yet easy, we revamp 26 The Best Supermarket a fussy French classic. BY LAN LAM PAGE 20 Turkey The holidays are no time to gamble on a bird 10 Postholiday Turkey Soup that cooks up dry and bland—or, worse, No one wants to toil over turkey stock on the day 16 Prime Rib Primer exhibits off-flavors. BY KATE SHANNON If you’re going to splurge on this premium cut, after Thanksgiving. But what if you had a recipe make sure you’re cooking it right. Our guidelines that practically made itself? will steer you toward perfection. 28 Ingredient Notes BY STEVE DUNN BY ELIZABETH BOMZE AND KEITH DRESSER BY STEVE DUNN, ANDREA GEARY, ANDREW JANJIGIAN, LAN LAM & ANNIE PETITO 12 Chinese Pork Dumplings A plateful of juicy dumplings can lift you from the 18 Chorizo and Potato Tacos Mexican chorizo can be hard to find. Luckily, 30 Kitchen Notes pits of despair. We wanted a recipe that didn’t making your own is quick and easy. BY MIYE BROMBERG, STEVE DUNN, ANDREA GEARY, put you there in the first place. BY ANDREA GEARY ANDREW JANJIGIAN, LAN LAM & LISA McMANUS BY ANDREA GEARY 19 Go-To Brussels Sprouts 32 Equipment Corner 14 Better Holiday Have 10 minutes? You can make the best Brussels BY MIYE BROMBERG AND EMILY PHARES Sugar Cookies sprouts that you’ve ever tasted. Most roll-and-cut cookies force you to battle BY ANNIE PETITO rock-hard dough and then rarely even taste good. We wanted it all: ease, good looks, and a crisp, buttery crumb. BY ANDREW JANJIGIAN BACK COVER ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN BURGOYNE Turkish and Middle Eastern Sweets Flaky, syrup-soaked BAKLAVA might be the most familiar of the region’s sweets. PISMANIYE is the Turkish equivalent of cotton candy, with America’s Test Kitchen is a real test kitchen located in Boston. It is the home of more than a hint of nuts. Sugar-dusted MAMOUL cookies, which crumble like 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. shortbread, house ground nuts at their centers. Cubes of TURKISH Our mission is to test recipes until we under- DELIGHT are flavored with fruits, nuts, herbs, or spices and are springy stand exactly how and why they work and like gumdrops. The nubbly crumb of semolina-based NAMOURA cake eventually arrive at the very best version. We is drenched in syrup or honey, each piece crowned with an almond. also test kitchen equipment and supermarket Yeasted NAZOOK pastries are similar to Danish, with nuts or fruit ingredients in search of products that offer the peeking out. The sesame seeds that cover crisp BARAZEK cookies are best value and performance. You can watch America’s Test Kitchen glued in place with a gloss of honey. SWEET SIMIT is a cross between us work by tuning in to (AmericasTestKitchen.com) and Cook’s Country a cookie and a pretzel and is scented with warm spices. MOUSHABEK from America’s Test Kitchen (CooksCountry. dough is piped into ridged coils, fried, and glazed with floral syrup. com) on public television and listen to our Crispy noodle threads soaked in aromatic syrup atop a layer of gooey weekly segments on The Splendid Table on pub- cheese defines KNAFEH. Beneath the nutty-sweet surface of TAHINI lic radio. You can also follow us on Facebook, BUNS lie pleasant hints of bitterness and cinnamon. Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. EDITORIAL STAFF LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Chief Executive Officer David Nussbaum Chief Creative Officer Jack Bishop Editorial Director John Willoughby Editor in Chief Dan Souza Executive Editor Amanda Agee Deputy Editor Rebecca Hays Executive Managing Editor Todd Meier Executive Food Editor Keith Dresser PRODIGAL VEGETABLE Senior Editors Andrea Geary, Andrew Janjigian, Lan Lam Senior Editors, Features Elizabeth Bomze, Kristin Sargianis Associate Editor Annie Petito onsider the Brussels sprout. Not so Photo Team & Special Events Manager Tim McQuinn Lead Cook, Photo Team Daniel Cellucci long ago it was a vegetable pariah in Test Cook Steve Dunn this country, something that parents Assistant Test Cooks Mady Nichas, Jessica Rudolph Senior Copy Editor Krista Magnuson threatened their children with if they Copy Editor Jillian Campbell C didn’t behave. Usually prepared by being boiled Science Editor Guy Crosby, PhD, CFS to near-death, these bitter miniature cabbages—as Executive Editor, Tastings & Testings Lisa McManus Deputy Editor, Tastings & Testings Hannah Crowley most people seemed to think of them—were a Associate Editors, Tastings & Testings prime example of healthy food that no one actually Miye Bromberg, Lauren Savoie, Kate Shannon wanted to eat. Assistant Editor. Tastings & Testings Emily Phares Editorial Assistant, Tastings & Testings Carolyn Grillo Nowadays, though, these little green bundles Director, Creative Operations Alice Carpenter have become culinary stars. You can’t avoid them Test Kitchen Director Erin McMurrer on the menus of trendy restaurants, often combined Assistant Test Kitchen Director Alexxa Benson Test Kitchen Manager Meridith Lippard with bacon to tempt young pork-obsessed diners. Test Kitchen Facilities Manager Sophie Clingan-Darack In farmers’ markets, you can find them still on Senior Kitchen Assistant Receiver Kelly Ryan the stalk, a kind of vegetable modernist sculpture. Senior Kitchen Assistant Shopper Marissa Bunnewith Lead Kitchen Assistant Ena Gudiel Home cooks have come to love them, too. No Kitchen Assistants Gladis Campos, Blanca Castanza, Thanksgiving dinner, for example, would seem John Mitchell complete these days without Brussels sprouts. Creative Director John Torres Design Director Greg Galvan We think this is a very positive development, a Photography Director Julie Cote good example of how the palate in this country has Designer Maggie Edgar Senior Staff Photographer Daniel J. van Ackere expanded in recent years. Plus, we have to admit Staff Photographers Steve Klise, Kevin White that we love the sprouts. We’ve prepared them every Photography Producer Mary Ball which way—we’ve braised them, steamed them, Styling Catrine Kelty, Marie Piraino used them both raw and wilted in salads, and roasted Executive Editor, Web Christine Liu Managing Editor, Web Mari Levine them (yes, sometimes with bacon). Senior Editors, Web Roger Metcalf, Briana Palma In this issue, you’ll find our new favorite, a quick Associate Editor, Web Terrence Doyle Assistant Editor, Web Molly Farrar and easy skillet-roasted approach. Unlike any other stovetop versions that we’ve found, these sprouts BUSINESS STAFF end up with brilliant green rounded sides and Chief Financial Officer Jackie McCauley Ford crisp-tender interiors contrasted by nutty-sweet, Director, Customer Support Amy Bootier crusty façades. They’re not only delicious but also Senior Customer Loyalty & Support Specialists Rebecca Kowalski, Andrew Straaberg Finfrock beautiful. It’s hard to imagine that a vegetable like Customer Loyalty & Support Specialist J.P. Dubuque this was once scorned. Production Director Guy Rochford Imaging Manager Lauren Robbins Welcome home, sprouts. Production & Imaging Specialists Heather Dube, –The Editors Dennis Noble, Jessica Voas Chief Revenue Officer Sara Domville Director, Special Accounts Erica Nye Director, Sponsorship Marketing & Client Services FOR INQUIRIES, ORDERS, OR MORE INFORMATION Christine Anagnostis Client Services Manager Kate Zebrowski COOK’S ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE CooksIllustrated.com Client Service & Marketing Representative Claire Gambee Cook’s Illustrated magazine (ISSN 1068-2821), number 149, At the all new CooksIllustrated.com, you can order books Mehgan Conciatori Director, Business Partnerships is published bimonthly by America’s Test Kitchen Limited Part- Partnership Marketing Manager Pamela Putprush and subscriptions, sign up for our free e-newsletter, or renew nership, 21 Drydock Avenue, Suite 210E, Boston, MA 02210. your magazine subscription. 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