6 INGREDIENT SOLUTION
How to Coax More Flavor from Fewer Ingredients
BY THE EDITORS AT
Americas Test Kitchen
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Carl Tremblay and Daniel J. van Ackere
Copyright 2013
by the Editors at Americas Test Kitchen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
AMERICAS TEST KITCHEN
17 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The six-ingredient solution : how to coax more flavor from fewer ingredients / by the editors at Americas Test Kitchen ; photography by Daniel J. van Ackere ; additional photography by Carl Tremblay. - 1st edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
Kindle ISBN 978-1-936493-69-2
1. Cooking, American. 2. Flavor. 3. Quick and easy cooking. I. Americas Test Kitchen (Firm) II. Title: Six-ingredient solution.
TX715.A1114 2013
641.555--dc23
2013003383
Paperback: $26.95 US
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
DISTRIBUTED BY Americas Test Kitchen
17 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Jack Bishop
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, BOOKS: Elizabeth Carduff
EXECUTIVE FOOD EDITOR: Julia Collin Davison
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Lori Galvin
SENIOR EDITOR: Suzannah McFerran
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Kate Hartke, Alyssa King, Christie Morrison
TEST COOKS: Danielle DeSiato-Hallman, Rebecca Morris
ASSISTANT TEST COOK: Lainey Seyler
DESIGN DIRECTOR: Amy Klee
ART DIRECTOR: Greg Galvan
DESIGNER: Allison Pfiffner
FRONT COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Carl Tremblay
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Daniel J. van Ackere
ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: Keller + Keller, Steve Klise
FOOD STYLING: Catrine Kelty, Marie Piraino
PHOTOSHOOT KITCHEN TEAM:
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Chris OConnor
TEST COOKS: Daniel Cellucci, Sara Mayer
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: Guy Rochford
SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER: Jessica Quirk
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER: Alice Carpenter
PRODUCTION AND TRAFFIC COORDINATOR: Brittany Allen
WORKFLOW AND DIGITAL ASSET MANAGER: Andrew Mannone
SENIOR COLOR AND IMAGING SPECIALIST: Lauren Pettapiece
PRODUCTION AND IMAGING SPECIALISTS: Heather Dube, Lauren Robbins
COPYEDITOR: Debra Hudak
PROOFREADER: Elizabeth Wray Emery
INDEXER: Elizabeth Parson
PICTURED ON COVER:
Welcome to Americas Test Kitchen
This book has been tested, written, and edited by the folks at Americas Test Kitchen, a very real 2,500-square-foot kitchen located just outside of Boston. It is the home of Cooks Illustrated magazine and Cooks Country magazine and is the Monday-through-Friday destination for more than three dozen test cooks, editors, food scientists, tasters, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
We start the process of testing a recipe with a complete lack of conviction, which means that we accept no claim, no theory, no technique, and no recipe at face value. We simply assemble as many variations as possible, test a half-dozen of the most promising, and taste the results blind. We then construct our own hybrid recipe and continue to test it, varying ingredients, techniques, and cooking times until we reach a consensus. The result, we hope, is the best version of a particular recipe, but we realize that only you can be the final judge of our success (or failure). As we like to say in the test kitchen, We make the mistakes, so you dont have to.
All of this would not be possible without a belief that good cooking, much like good music, is indeed based on a foundation of objective technique. Some people like spicy foods and others dont, but there is a right way to saut, there is a best way to cook a pot roast, and there are measurable scientific principles involved in producing perfectly beaten, stable egg whites. This is our ultimate goal: to investigate the fundamental principles of cooking so that you become a better cook. It is as simple as that.
You can watch us work (in our actual test kitchen) by tuning in to Americas Test Kitchen (AmericasTestKitchenTV.com) or Cooks Country from Americas Test Kitchen (CooksCountryTV.com) on public television, or by subscribing to Cooks Illustrated magazine (CooksIllustrated.com) or Cooks Country magazine (CooksCountry.com). We welcome you into our kitchen, where you can stand by our side as we test our way to the best recipes in America.
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youtube.com/AmericasTestKitchen
Navigating this E-Book
This eBook includes a that allows you to jump to any chapter. And each chapter has its own table of contents with links to every recipe in the chapter.
We have also created a that lists all the recipes in the book, divided by chapter, in one place. You can access the Recipe Index from the Table of Contents. (It also appears at the end of the book.) Each title in the Recipe Index is a link that will take you directly to that recipe.
This cookbook is filled with test kitchen tips and ingredient spotlights. Throughout the book there are links to this material where appropriate.
Most eBook reading devices also offer a search function that allows you to type in exactly what you are looking for. Please read the documentation for your particular eBook reader for more information on its search function and any other navigational features it may offer.
Preface
We recently hosted a group of girls from Junior League in our test kitchen for a Saturday morning cooking lesson. I told them that the simplest food is usually the best and that on the rare occasion when I have cooked with a well-known food personality, I am astonished that the menu is so simple. Julia Child once served me boiled new potatoes with a tin of caviar on the side (and lots of wine). James Beard was known for his love of bacon and simple picnics. Others have prepared a simple soup, an oyster stew, or a roast leg of lamb. And Jacques Ppin is famous for giving a final exam to his culinary students that is nothing more than a roast chicken, a side of potatoes, and a perfectly dressed salad.
The point is that recipes with a limited number of ingredients are often the best recipes. They also show off ones skills in the kitchen since one has to pay attention to each and every item. And that is the most satisfying way to cooklimit your menu, limit your ingredient list, and focus on the cooking and treating each food with the respect it deserves.
All of this has led us to publish the book you are holding in your hand, The Six-Ingredient Solution. We undertook this project not just to give you quick and easy recipes, but to celebrate the very best way to cook, making the most of every ingredient and every step. We also developed this book to refresh our own repertoire of cooking techniques. We were reminded of the benefits of high heat for flavor development, we explored new ingredients to enhance flavors (the liquid inside a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, for example), we bloomed spices in oil to bring out their rich flavors, we found new uses for old ingredients (hot pepper jelly made a terrific glaze for roast chicken), and we took a new look at lots of supermarket pantry ingredients, such as Thai curry paste.
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