Cook's Illustrated March/April 2021

Editor in Chief The popular YouTube channel Pasta Grannies features grandmothers kneading, rolling, and cutting fresh pasta from their home kitchens across Italy. After six years of weekly videos, it has grown into something of an archive of regional Italian pasta, brought to you by the people who have been preparing it by hand for most of their lives. I’d forgive you if you put down this magazine for a moment to check it out (but do come back). It’s that good—and that important in terms of what it captures and preserves. We’d be smart to document all grannies (not just the pasta ones) and grandpas this way. If my Grammy T were still with us, I know exactly what her video would look like. It’d open on a scrubby hillside in…

Weighing Out Fizzy Liquids for Cocktails When adding seltzer, soda, tonic water, or prosecco (or any other carbonated drink) to cocktails, Josh Starmer of Chapel Hill, N.C., likes to put the cocktail glass on a kitchen scale and measure by weight ounces as a proxy for fluid ounces. This way, more bubbles make it into the final drink, since he doesn’t have to pour the effervescent beverage into a measuring cup first. Door Hook Turned Sponge Holder Scott Eckert of Henderson, Nev., uses a plastic over-the-door hook to hold his kitchen sponge in his double-compartment sink. The curved hook fits snugly over the sink divider, and the squared-off part that normally hangs on the door is used to hold the sponge, allowing it to dry between uses. An Artistic Way to Organize Kitchen Tools When…

My nonna is no longer with us, but if I close my eyes, I can still hear the thwack-thwack of her meat mallet as she pounded pieces of beef thin for her weekly batch of braciole. She rolled the meat around a simple bread crumb, cheese, and herb filling; pinned the parcels with toothpicks; seared them; and slowly simmered them in a rich tomato sauce. The braciole was often just one element of her Sunday gravy, which could also include savory meatballs and rich sausages to serve at a family gathering with guests numbering in the teens. But the meaty bundles were always what really captivated me, and I figured it was time I learned to make them myself. First, an acknowledgement that “braciole” means different things to different people: In…

In ancient Greece, there was a vegetable so revered that Greeks offered pure-gold replicas to Apollo, god of sun, light, music, poetry, prophecy, and more. The prized produce? Radishes. (Beets, on the other hand, were cast in silver; lowly turnips, lead.) Glorifying radishes sure makes sense to me: In their crisp, peppery-hot raw state, these colorful roots can enhance salads or crudités platters or star in an elegant appetizer where I generally like to complement their pungency with sweet and/or creamy ingredients. If the fire of raw radishes is not your thing, then cooking them—whether sautéing, braising, or roasting—is the way to go. That’s because their assertiveness comes from a compound created by an enzyme in their skins that’s easily deactivated with heat. It’s related to the compounds that give mustard,…

There are a few good reasons the ground meat dish called keema has been beloved on the Indian subcontinent since at least the 15th century, when it even graced the tables of Turkic sultans and later, Mughal emperors. First, it’s a preparation that warms you from the inside out: Spices such as cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom mingle with the meat’s juices, creating a fragrant sauce that coats the supple bits and lightly pools in their nooks and crannies. It’s also quick to make and highly versatile: Serve it alongside rice, rolled into rotis, or stuffed into vegetables. Spread it between two halves of a plush roll and you’ve got keema pav, sold in Irani cafes all over the subcontinent. No wonder that keema shows up in so many seminal works…

We Armenians are serious about our meat eating. No holiday is complete without a centerpiece of something skewered and grilled over charcoal, long-simmered into a stew, or minced and eaten raw. But those dishes are generally reserved for feasts and other times of celebration. Armenia and the Armenian parts of Turkey (where my family is from) are rugged, landlocked regions that have endured poverty and scarcity for much of their existence, so we’ve historically relied on more humble fare. That’s why we are equally serious about our meatless dishes, which reflect a thriftiness born out of that deep-rooted poverty. They’re also a matter of piety: Historically, the Armenian Apostolic Church restricted meat consumption on many days throughout the year. Though only the most devout among us still regularly abstain, the community’s…