America's Test Kitchen (2000–…): Season 21, Episode 16 - Burgers and Chip - full transcript

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-Welcome to "America's
Test Kitchen" at home.

Today, I'm making a fabulous
recipe for smashed burgers.

Jack's going to tell us what
the deal is with vegetable oil.

And Julia's making a batch

of super crunchy
kettle potato chips.

We've got a real fun show
for you today, so stick around.



♪♪

I love a big, thick,
juicy burger.

It's tender,
it's cooked to medium rare,

it's almost perfection.

But what I love about it
is that crust on the outside,

especially when it gets craggy
and a little bit crisp.

Today, I'm going to make
a burger

that really is all
about the crust.

We're smashing burgers.

And it's so fast
and so much fun.

I'm going to take you
along for the ride.

Now, these cook really,
really quickly, as I said.

So we're going to work
on all the other components

before we actually
get to the burger,



starting off with lettuce.

Now, you can choose any type
of lettuce that you'd like.

I'm going with good old
classic iceberg here.

I love the crunch and the
refreshing flavor that it adds.

Now, I need to core this,
so all you do

is you smash the iceberg
on your counter.

Just like that.

Flip it over, and you can
actually dig out the core.

Pretty easy.

And I'm making burgers for two.

I'm going to take off
this little petticoat

of slightly wilted lettuce,
get rid of that,

and go for some of
the more crispy pieces inside.

So I'm just going to put aside
a couple of nice pieces.

No browning.

And now how about a nice,
juicy, ripe tomato?

Summer tomatoes are the best,
but if you're buying these

in the supermarket
in the winter,

look for those
that are ripened on the vine.

They taste a lot better.

And when you're storing
tomatoes at home,

store them
with this core side down.

They'll actually age
a little slower that way.

If only that worked on everyone.

So I'm going to take
a paring knife

and just cut out this core.

I'm holding the paring knife
at an angle here.

Can't smash a tomato
to get rid of the core.

And now I'm going to
slice this tomato.

If your knife is pretty dull,

you can always use
a serrated knife for this.

All right, now,
one of the hallmarks

of some really great
smashed burgers out there

is that special sauce
that you put on the burger.

And again, this is optional.

If you just want to go for
ketchup and mustard, go for it.

But I'm going to make a little
bit of a special sauce here.

So we're starting off
with some shallot.

I need a tablespoon
of minced shallot.

Cut it in half with the peel on.

Peel it.

And then since I want this to be
really pretty finely chopped,

I'm going to make the cuts
very close together.

So I'm spacing my knife,
oh, about 1/8 of an inch

or even less apart.

And take your time.

You see how my hand up here
is nowhere near the blade.

So now I'm going to do the same
thing, go across here.

And then just take it
right over.

Now, I only need a tablespoon.

That looks about right.

Just get any
real big pieces there.

And I am going to measure this.
Sometimes I don't measure.

I'll just eyeball it
because you have a good feel.

But really this source
is all about ratios.

So I'm going to tell you
to measure.

All right, who wants a pickle?

We're not just going to slice
pickles here.

We're actually going to add
pickles to our special sauce.

It's almost a take
on a Russian dressing.

So these are just dill pickles.

Gonna spear one here.

Set that jar aside
for just a moment.

Now, similar to the shallot,
I want to finely chop this.

And I only need
about a teaspoon and a half.

So I'm going to cut these
in half

so I have a nice flat surface.

And same thing as I did
with the shallot.

Just make horizontal cuts,

and then right across, vertical.

All right, and I need
a teaspoon and a half of pickle.

Teaspoon, and that looks like
a half a teaspoon.

Now, I want to use a little bit
of this brine as well.

Obviously, it's salted.
It's brine.

But it's got some great
flavors in it, too.

So we're going to use
a half a teaspoon.

Now, of course,
we need a creamy sauce.

So we're going to use
some mayonnaise.

We use two tablespoons
of mayonnaise.

And a little bit of ketchup.

Got a teaspoon and a half
of ketchup.

And one of the hallmarks
of a really good sauce

is that it's tangy, it's salty.

It's also a little bit sweet.

So I'm going to add some sugar.

I've got 1/8 of a teaspoon
of sugar.

Remember, ketchup is already
pretty sweet.

And 1/8 of a teaspoon
of black pepper.

Or if you like it spicy,
a little bit more.

All right.
Let me just stir this together.

It turns that nice
kind of rosy hue.

That looks lovely.

You're going to want to make
a lot of this, too.

And it actually can stay in
the fridge for a couple of days.

Now, let's talk about cheese.

We are not using
gourmet artisan cheese.

We are using cheese that is
individually wrapped in plastic.

These were actually
engineered to melt.

So why not use science
to our benefit?

So here's some prep.

All you have to do
is unwrap the cheese.

And what I like to do,
I will just fold that back over

so that they stay nice
and separated

until I'm ready to use them.

When seconds count,

this pre-unwrapping of
the cheese will come in handy.

And let's talk about buns,
nice soft buns.

These are squishy.

They've got a nice flavor,
and you should be able

to really compact them in
your hands before you eat them.

So I'm just going
to split these.

And then I'm just going to put
about a tablespoon of this sauce

on each of the bun tops.

Oh, yeah.

All right, what are we missing?

How about some beef?

Now, I've got some ground beef
that I picked up

at the supermarket.

8 ounces of ground beef here.

Now, the reason
that I am recommending

that you get supermarket
ground beef

instead of grinding
at home yourself,

that's because they tend
to grind the beef pretty fine.

It's actually pretty
tightly compacted.

That tight grind is actually
working in our favor.

It releases a sticky protein
called myosin each time

that they grind the meat.

And we want that sticky protein
to be released here

because these burgers
are very delicate.

They're very thin.

So we needed to add
a little bit of cohesion.

So this is 8 ounces, again,
of 80% lean.

Now, that sounds
a little bit fattier

than we usually call for,
but that's also by design.

These burgers cook so quickly,
and they're very thin.

They're cooked to almost
well done.

So you want a burger
that has a bit of fat in it.

So you can go with 80% lean
up to 85% lean.

But anything
that's leaner than that

is going to give you
a really dry burger.

So I need to zero off my scale.

I'm went ahead and lined it
with a little bit

of plastic wrap.

I like to do that any time
I'm working with raw meat.

And again,
I need 2-ounce patties.

As I weigh them, I'm just going
to put them on this plate.

So I've got the meat
all portioned out here,

and I'm not going to
put these into patties.

I'm just going to shape them
into loose balls

at this point.

I don't want to compact
the meat.

We're going to save
the actual smashing

and forming of the patties
to when the burgers hit the pan.

So that is all the prep.
Looking good.

I'm going to go wash my hands.

It's time to start cooking,

and we're going to
heat up our pan.

I'm using a great
12-inch cast iron skillet.

It really heats up well.

It's going to give us
just the right crust.

I'm going to add 1/4 teaspoon of
vegetable oil to my pan.

It's really well seasoned,
but every time you use a pan,

it's a good idea to give it
a little bit of oil.

And then just smear it around
the bottom just to make sure

that it goes into
all of the pores of the pan.

Now, this is a cold pan.

This is why I can do it
without tongs.

All right, and now I'm going to
turn the burner to medium-low,

and I'm going to heat the pan
for five minutes.

Just started my timer there.

Cast iron heats up really slowly
and quite unevenly.

So if you blast it with heat
at the very start,

you'll end up with
some hot spots in your pan,

and cooler spots, obviously.

So for more even heating,
just over a medium-low heat

for a good five minutes.

So while that's heating,
let's talk a little bit

about my saucepan here.

Now, we're using this
as a burger press

because we noticed that
when you go to press a burger

using a spatula, your hand
is offset from the spatula

and you end up going in it
at an angle.

And it's hard to get
a really nice flat patty.

So we're going to use
the saucepan.

This is just a little saucepan
here.

And I've wrapped some foil
over it

so that it can stay
nice and clean.

And I'm going to use this
as a burger press.

I'm going to grab
the sides of it

and just press straight down.

So we're just going to wait
for our pan to heat.

So I'm starting to see a
little bit of smoke in the pan.

I know it's hot enough.
It's preheated.

So I'm going to turn up the heat
to high.

So I'm going to take two
of these mounds of meat.

Got to work fast here.

So I'm going to place them about
3 inches apart in the skillet.

There we go.

And then use that saucepan.

I'm grabbing the sides,
not the handle,

to really smash these down.

You don't have to worry too much
about being very aggressive.

We want these to stick
to the skillet.

So that's why we're
smashing them in the pan.

I'm going to hit these
with about an 1/8 of a teaspoon

of kosher salt and a little bit
of pepper to taste.

And we're going to let this
first side go for 2 minutes

so it can get some really
beautiful brown color

on that first side.

All right,
so these are looking great.

3/4 of the top of these
patties are no longer pink,

so that's a good indication that
these are ready to be flipped.

And you can see this spatula
is necessary,

a super thin one,
so that we can flip these over.

Ah, look at that
beautiful color.

And really get in there
because the burgers

are sticking to the pan.

And again, we want that.

Amazing.

So only 15 seconds
on this second side

because the burgers are
pretty much done at this point.

All right,
that's about 15 seconds.

Let me slide this off heat.

So now I'm going to put these
on our bottom buns.

And now I'm going to put
a slice of cheese right on top.

Start the melting process.

And we'll work on our
second batch of burgers.

So same thing.

2 minutes on this first side,
flip it over,

another 15 seconds
on the second side.

All right, that looks great.

I'm going to slide
this off heat again.

And the heat of these
patties is just going to

finish melting
all of that cheese.

Oh!

Before I put the bun tops
back on,

we're gonna add our fixings.

A little bit of iceberg here.

Let's weigh down this lettuce
with a little bit of tomato.

And now the top goes on.

That's looking pretty good.

All right.

Now, look at that.

Those patties are all crust.

Still juicy.

Oh, and the cheese is melted.

Mmm.

I just got a little hint
of that pickle sauce in there.

Mm, nice and bright and tart.

It's just the right amount
of toppings,

a little bit of tomato,

a little bit
of that crisp iceberg.

And the cheese is melted
just perfectly.

I'm going to call that
one smashing burger.

And if you want to make
smashed burgers at home,

remember these keys.

Use 80% lean ground beef,
shape into 2-ounce mounds,

and smash the burgers
right in the skillet.

From "America's Test Kitchen"
at home,

fast and fabulous
smashed burgers.

I'm going to smash it
in my mouth.

♪♪

-I love olive oil
and use it every time I can.

But there are cases
in the kitchen

where olive oil is a mistake.

Think about it.
Do you really want your

carrot cake to taste
like olives?

No, you want to be
using a neutral, i.e.,

flavorless vegetable oil.

So I've got some choices here
on the table.

But let me start by
explaining an important thing

about refined versus unrefined.

So some of these oils --
the peanut, the avocado,

the coconut --
come in unrefined versions

as well as refined.

The unrefined ones are going
to taste like the plant.

That's not what we want here.

We want the refined --
absolutely tasteless.

Remember, this is a cooking
medium, not a flavoring agent.

So let me break down the choices
and explain what we like

in the test kitchen
and what I like at home.

So corn oil, fine in almost
every application

that we tried in the kitchen,
except in mayonnaise.

It was a little sour.

Next up, canola.

Also fine in most applications,
except for frying.

It has fatty acids
that break down and oxidize

and kind of taste
a little fishy.

And honestly, I don't want
my doughnuts to taste like fish.

Peanut oil, great for high heat,
especially frying.

Makes amazing French fries,

but it's more expensive
than the rest of these.

Which leaves us with the best
all-purpose choice,

which is a blend
like Crisco blend.

This is multiple oils, so you
get the best of all worlds.

It's also inexpensive.

So then two more vegetable oils
that are in the news a lot

and I want to tell you
a little bit about.

Avocado oil here is super high
in monounsaturated fats,

just like olive oil.

And so it's got
those health properties

people are excited about.

Cooks really well.
It can heat to 500 degrees.

It's great for sautéing.
It's really expensive, though.

So that's the downside.

Coconut oil is perfect
for vegan baking.

It's solid at room temperature,
just like butter.

And for cakes and cookies,
where you're looking to replace

the butter, this is the choice.

So all of these vegetable oils,
their cooking properties

are pretty different
from each other.

You may want multiple
vegetable oils in your pantry

so that you can do
multiple things in your kitchen.

♪♪

-If you've never made
potato chips,

you are missing out,
because they are hands down

the best potato chips
you will ever eat.

And it's easy.

You just need
three ingredients --

oil, salt, and potatoes.

Now, the choice of potato
matters here.

You want to choose russets
or more specifically,

Burbank russets.

Potato chip manufacturers
actually use

specialized potatoes
that are high in starch

and low in sugar
so that they don't burn.

But a russet Burbank is as close
as you're going to find

at the supermarket, and luckily,
you can find them everywhere.

So this recipe uses
a pound of potatoes,

which is just two
good-sized potatoes.

Now, when you're choosing your
potatoes at the store, be picky.

Find really nice-looking
potatoes

that are roughly the same size

so that the slices cook
at the same rate.

Also, you want to scrub
the heck out of them.

You want to take
not only the dirt,

but that outer layer of skin.

That way, they'll taste
nice and clean.

So when you're scrubbing,
use warm water and a good sponge

and just scrub, and you'll see
they'll start to change color

as you take
that outer skin off.

All right, those potatoes
have been scrubbed thoroughly.

You can see they're entirely
a different color now

because this tender skin is
going to fry up really nicely,

and you'll get that flavor,

but you won't get
any of that gritty dirt.

Now that they're
properly scrubbed,

it's time to slice them up.

Now, we have to slice them
really thinly and really evenly

so that they cook
at the same rate.

Actually, you want them to be
1/16 of an inch,

which is impossible to do
by hand,

which is why
you need a mandoline.

I'll show you 1/16 of an inch.

And yeah, you should measure it.

There we go.

So I'm just going to take
my time, slice these up.

Being mindful of the fingers.

Now, how far down you go
when you get to this nubbin,

totally up to you,

but in my house,
I'd rather be safe than sorry.

So we'll set that aside.

The potatoes are sliced,
and now it's time to think about

how we want to flavor them
when they're out of the oil,

because this is the fun part.

You can make them
any flavor you want.

In fact, I'm going to make today
my favorite,

which is salt and vinegar.

And it's pretty easy to do.

I'm just going to use
a spice grinder here.

I'm going to grind up some salt.

This is 1/2 teaspoon
of table salt.

And then some of this.

This is dehydrated vinegar,
which is very cool.

You can find it at some
specialty stores or online.

We're going to use
a tablespoon of it.

We're just going to blend it
with the salt

because that'll make it easier
to sprinkle over the chips

after they're done frying.

[ Whirring ]

We also have
a lot of cool variations

like barbecue and ranch
and so on,

and you can find those
variations on our website.

So toppings ready,
potatoes are done.

It's time to get frying.

Now, choosing a pot
for frying your potato chips

is an important one because
you want a pot tall enough

where you can fit
2 quarts of oil,

which is how much you need
to fry chips,

but also so that there's enough
headroom over the oil

so that it doesn't bubble out
all over your stove

and make a mess.

So a Dutch oven is perfect,
and this is vegetable oil,

although you could use
peanut oil.

And I'm heating this up
over medium heat

until it registers 375 degrees.

Medium heat is important because
as the oil temperature dips

when you add the cold potatoes,
it'll climb back up slowly.

And the rate at which
that oil temperature climbs

determines what kind of texture
you'll have.

So medium heat is perfect.

All right, we're at 375, so it's
time to add the potatoes.

I'm gonna add them
a handful at a time.

Want to sprinkle them
into the oil.

Some of them
will stick together.

That's okay.

You want to get them into
the oil as quickly as you can

and as evenly as you can
without having them stick.

And also, I should point out,
I have this remote thermometer

hanging out on the side
over there

monitoring the temperature
of the oil as you fry.

That's just really handy
because the oil temperature

is going to fluctuate
as the potatoes cook.

And that will determine
what kind of chip you get,

if you get a crisp chip
or crunchy kettle chip,

which is what we're after.

Now I'm going to gently
stir them around,

try to prevent them
from sticking to each other,

although some sticking
is inevitable.

And that's when you get
those chips

that are kind of curled around
each other for the big crunch,

which are kind of a favorite
of mine.

So I'm going to stir this
around.

And for the first
2 to 4 minutes,

we're just going to wait
for that oil

to stop bubbling so vigorously.

It's going to calm down a bit,
and the temperature of the oil

is going to drop down
to the 240 zone,

which is just perfect.

So these chips have been cooking
for about 2 minutes.

And you can see the bubbling
has come down significantly

and the oil temperature
has dropped.

Now it's hovering around 240,
250, which is perfect.

I'm going to adjust the burner
as I need to

to make it stay
in that temperature zone

for the next 5 minutes.

Monitoring the temperature
of the cooking oil is crucial

if you want a crunchy chip.

Here's why.

When slices of potato
are plunged into frying oil,

the temperature
of the oil drops.

In this case,
from 375 down to 240, 250,

where it hovers
for a few minutes.

We call this temperature range
"the gel zone."

Potatoes contain water
and starch granules,

which are made up
of starch molecules.

Once in the gel zone, the starch
granules absorb water and swell

until their molecules separate
and form a gel.

As the oil temperature rises
to 300 degrees,

trapped water converts to steam

and begins to force its way out
at a moderate rate

while letting the starch
molecules fit back together.

By the time all the water
is driven from the chip,

the starch molecules
have lined up

into a partially ordered matrix
that contains some empty spaces.

If we turn down the heat

so that the oil takes longer
to reach 300 degrees,

the potatoes will simply spend
too much time in the gel zone.

This means that the trapped
steam inside the gel

will force its way out
at a much slower rate.

And in turn, the starch
molecules will have more time

to line up into
a tighter configuration,

leaving very little space
between them.

This is a hard chip.

If we turn the heat up

so that the oil reaches
300 degrees more quickly,

the potatoes will spend
too little time in the gel zone.

This means that the trapped
steam inside the gel

will force its way out
at a faster rate.

And in turn,
the starch molecules will have

less time to line up, leaving
behind a looser configuration

with lots of space between them.

This leads to a delicate,
crisp chip.

So for the perfect kettle chip,
it's important to let

those potatoes hang out in that
240- to 250-degree gel zone

for about 5 minutes before
letting that oil temperature

continue to climb.

The chips have been cooking
in this 240-250 zone

for about 5 minutes.

And now the temperature
of the oil

is going to climb further,
to between 280 and 300,

which is perfect for getting
them brown and crisp.

And so it'll be
about another 6 minutes or so.

And of course,
if the oil gets too hot,

you just adjust the burners
so they don't burn.

These chips have been cooking
in that 280-300 zone

for about 5 minutes,
and they are perfect.

Look at this color.

Mmm.

Now, one thing you learn
as you start to cook these

is that they darken in color

when they come out of the oil
and they start to cool.

Now, when they're warm
is the time to season them

because that's when
the seasoning sticks.

So I'm going to take
this vinegar salt that I made,

sprinkle it all over.

Mm.
All right.

I'm just going to let these cool
for a little bit.

And notice I have them resting

on several layers
of paper towels

on top of a wire rack.

This just helps drain away
any of that excess oil

and helps them cool
more quickly.

These chips have cooled nicely,
and now it's time to enjoy them.

[ Chuckles ]

Oh, hello.

I mean, look at that chip.
You can't buy a chip like this.

You can only make them.
And thank goodness it's easy.

[ Crunches ]

[ Chuckles ]

That crunch is everything.

And I know it looks like
a lot of vinegar powder,

but it has a very mild flavor
that is actually milder

than the ones you buy
at the store.

So it's nice, and it goes well
with something cold and frosty.

Ah. This is heaven.

So if you want a little slice
of heaven,

remember three things --
use russet potatoes,

slice those potatoes evenly
to be 1/16 of an inch thick,

and monitor the temperature
of the oil as they cook.

From "America's Test Kitchen"
at home,

the ultimate recipe
for crunchy kettle potato chips.

Mm.