Cook's Country

I PUBLISHED MY FIRST blog post on a sunny morning in 2014. I wrote it to give life to the invisible cooks behind America’s great cooking traditions. Food photography helped me deliver my message: Home cooking is marvelous cooking. Before starting, I climbed the pull-down ladder into the attic in our Austin, Texas, home and dug around in the plastic storage tubs where memorabilia from my former food career was stored. When I left the Los Angeles Times to become food editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, my friends at the food section gifted me a food-styling kit to remind me of the ways we had used the “tricks of the trade” to make food-photo magic—a tiny paint brush, Q-Tips, wooden skewers, a bottle of oil, and Polaroids of some…

FIND THE ROOSTER! We’ve hidden a tiny version of the rooster above in a photo in the pages of this issue. Tell us where the rooster is hiding, and we’ll enter you in a random drawing. The first correct entry drawn will win a one-year multisite web membership, and the next two correct entries drawn will receive a copy of The Complete Cook’s Country TV Show Cookbook. To enter, go to AmericasTestKitchen.com/rooster and full out the submission form. All entries for this issue’s drawing must be received by June 30, 2023. The February/March 2023 drawing winner, Tim Kratowicz of Elmwood Park, Wisc., found the rooster on page 16. The lemonades in our lineup contained between 10 and 20 percent lemon juice. Those with more lemon juice—between 15 and 20 percent—tasted…

EASY AS (ICE CREAM) PIE The easiest pies to make are ice cream pies. For a crowd-pleasing yet ultra-easy pie, follow this simple formula. 1. Fill a cooled baked crust (page 33) with 2 pints of softened ice cream. 2. Cover it and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 1 week. 3. Dress it up with whipped cream, ganache, nuts, sprinkles, or other toppings before serving. Once you know the formula, it’s easy to customize. –Morgan Bolling SOME FUN FLAVOR COMBINATIONS • Butter Pecan: graham cracker crust + butter pecan ice cream + caramel sauce + toasted pecans • Chocolate Peanut Butter: Oreo cookie crust + peanut butter ice cream + whipped cream + chopped peanut butter cups • Drumstick-Inspired: graham cracker crust + vanilla ice…

IS ANYTHING MORE refreshing than cold lemonade on a hot summer day? To find the best options, we compared eight refrigerated lemonades, which we prefer to shelf-stable lemonades. Each taster noted when a lemonade had the perfect balance of sweetness and bright, fresh lemon flavor, but their definitions of “perfect” differed. Some thought the drinks that skewed sweeter were the best, while others preferred lemonades that tasted mostly tart and only a little bit sweet. The lemonades in our lineup contained between 10 and 20 percent lemon juice. Those with more lemon juice—between 15 and 20 percent—tasted more tart than sweet, even when they were made with a relatively high amount of sugar. When shopping, look for the percentage of juice printed on the bottle’s label. If you like sweeter…

MARISCOS GERMAN BEYER anchors the back end of the narrow parking lot next to San Ysidro Liquor just off Beyer Boulevard, about 20 minutes from downtown San Diego. The white and blue food truck trades heavily in savory fish tacos, lime-soused aguachiles, and colorful ceviches. A lunch crowd gathers around the service window—near the drinks, sauce bottles, and napkins—waiting for owner Jorge Fuentes to call their order numbers. Food in hand, many diners sit at the shaded tables beneath the nearby tent, while others retreat to the comfort of their cars. As the lunch rush fades, Fuentes eases off the truck to chat with the regulars, several of whom he knows on a first-name basis. A handful of customers continue to arrive in small waves, and things remain calm until…

IN THE SUMMER, corn is plentiful, affordable, and at its best. While there’s no denying a hot buttered ear is delicious, there are more ways to highlight this summer darling, such as in this simple salad. Here, sweet corn is tossed with a creamy buttermilk dressing and a fistful of chopped fresh herbs to create just the kind of bright, flavorful side dish you want to bring to your next summer barbecue. For the best corn flavor and texture, bring a pot of water to a boil. Turn off the heat, drop in the ears of corn, and cook them for 10 minutes. Letting the corn sit in the hot water produces kernels that are perfectly cooked, not starchy or gummy. Once the 10 minutes are up, remove the ears,…