America's Test Kitchen (2000–…): Season 21, Episode 7 - Japanese-Inspired Favorites - full transcript

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

Today, I'm frying a batch
of super-crisp karaage,

Jack's going to tell us all
about shopping for soba noodles,

Lisa discusses her favorite
strainers and drainers,

and Becky's making
chilled soba noodles

with cucumber, snow peas,
and radishes.

We've got a lot in store today,
so stick around.



♪♪

-If I had to choose my favorite
type of fried chicken,

that's pretty hard to do,

but I would say that karaage
is right up there.

It's a really great fried
chicken that comes from Japan,

and it ticks all the marks --

crispy exterior, juicy interior,
and it's easy to make.

So I'm going to make it
for you now.

And we're starting off
with a marinade.

Now, it's a pretty traditional
marinade that we're using here,

but it's got
some potent ingredients,

and it's going to flavor
the meat very quickly.

Alright. So, first of all,
fresh ginger.

We're using
fresh ginger root here.



Now, there's a few different
ways that you can peel ginger.

You can peel it
with the side of a spoon,

or you can use
a vegetable peeler.

Now, a lot of people
don't like to use a knife

to peel away the peel
because they say it's wasteful,

but it really isn't.
I'm going to show you.

So, I'm going to cut off
a little bit here,

and I'll cut this off, too,
so I have a nice, flat surface,

and I'm just going to use
my knife and go around.

And it looks like I'm cutting
away huge amounts of the peel,

but that's okay,
because it's only a waste

if you're not going
to use it again.

I keep these things in
a zipper-lock bag in my freezer,

and it goes into rice
or stocks or soups.

Now, to grate this, I'm going
to use a rasp-style grater,

because it really
does a great job

of turning this into a pulp
and quick.

And I need 1 tablespoon.

Alright. You can see the juice
coming out there, too.

That's a good sign.

See if that's close.

So, that looks like
a tablespoon. In that goes.

Now, also going to add
some garlic.

And I'm kind of lazy.

So what I like to do
is buy garlic in bulk

that's already peeled, and
I put it in a zipper-lock bag,

and I keep this in my freezer.

I just bring
a couple of cloves out

so that they can soften
a little bit.

And then since these are frozen,

they actually grate beautifully
on that same rasp grater.

Of course, you could always use
a garlic press

or mince it yourself.

Two garlic cloves
in with the ginger.

So, for our other ingredients,
I've got some soy sauce here.

This is just regular soy sauce,
and I need 3 tablespoons.

So, packed with sodium

but packed
with those glutamates.

So this is
what really makes this flavorful

and also helps to season
the meat quite quickly.

And I'm using sake. Now,
sake is a fermented beverage.

It's made from
polished white rice,

and it's got a light, almost
herbal flavor that we love here.

I'm using 2 tablespoons.

But if you don't
want to use sake,

you can actually use vermouth.

I've got 3/4 teaspoon of sugar.

That's a 1/2,
and then a half of 1/2.

That would be 1/4.

And 1/8 teaspoon of table salt.

So, let me whisk
all this together.

I'm going to put this aside
for a moment

while we work on our chicken.

Now, traditionally, bone-in,
skin-on chicken thighs are used,

but we're using
boneless, skinless,

because it's a whole lot easier

than having to remove the bone
from a bunch of chicken thighs.

So, I've got here 1 1/2 pounds
of chicken thighs,

and we do need to do a little
bit of work, just some trimming.

So take one of these here.

Good to have a very sharp knife.

You can also use
kitchen shears for this.

And I just want to get rid of
any of this fat that's on here,

because it really won't render.

It's a very quick cooking time,

and that fat will stay
underneath the coating,

and we don't want that.

And then once most of
the chicken has been trimmed,

we're just going
to cut it into strips

somewhere between 1 inch
to 1 1/2 inches wide.

And that's going to give us even
more of that beautiful coating.

Alright, so, I'll continue
to trim these chicken thighs

and then cut them into strips.

Alright, so,
all of this chicken goes in.

Alright. I'll just toss this,

make sure everything's coated,

and we're going to let this
marinate for 30 minutes.

♪♪

Arguably, the best part
of this chicken

is its super-crisp coating.

Now, there are a couple
of different things

that are used for the coating.

Most often used
is potato starch,

but that can be
a little difficult

to find in some markets.

Now, an alternate
that's often used is cornstarch,

and that's what
I'm going to use today.

For now, all I need to do

is measure 1 1/4 cups
of cornstarch.

There we go.

Now I'm going to dip the chicken

one piece at a time
from the marinade

right into the cornstarch.

And it can get a little tricky
and a little bit messy,

so I'm going to do my best
to stay nice and neat.

This hand is marinade hand.
This hand is cornstarch hand.

Now, I've also lined
a rimmed baking sheet

with some parchment paper,
'cause this is where I'm going

to place the chicken
after they are coated.

So, you take a piece,

and we let any of that marinade
kind of drip back down there.

I'll plop it
right into my cornstarch.

Then I'll use this hand
to coat it,

make sure it's well coated,

and then I do want
to shake off any excess.

So there we go.

Alright, so, I'm going
to continue to dredge these

in cornstarch.

Then after that, I'm going
to let all of the pieces

sit for a little bit.

That way, the cornstarch
can fully hydrate.

And during that time,
while the pieces are hydrating,

I'm going to heat
a quart of vegetable oil

up to 325 degrees.

I'll do that
over medium-high heat.

We're about ready to fry.

The oil temperature
is almost up to 325.

But I wanted to give you
a look at this coating.

You can see where
it's changed color.

I coated these first,

and you can see they're
almost completely brown.

These were the ones
that I coated at the end.

They still have
quite a few white patches.

But I did save
some of this marinade,

because we want to take
the back of a spoon

and just add a little bit
of the marinade

to any of these
dry, white patches.

We want them to gel up
completely.

Oil is up to 325.
It's time to fry.

I'm only going to fry
half of these at a time,

and I'm going to use tongs
to lower them in

one piece at a time.

A nice single layer there.

Alright, that looks great.

Now, these don't take
a lot of time to cook.

Only about 4 to 5 minutes
until they're cooked through,

and they'll change and become
a beautiful browned color,

and that's how we're going
to know that they're done.

The pieces are so small,
we don't even need to use

an instant read thermometer
to check the interior temp.

So I'm going to keep
an eye on this, set my timer

for about 4 minutes,
and then we'll move on.

[ Sizzling ]
That's a good sound,

sound of bubbling meat and fat.

Oh, yeah.

Alright, but this looks
pretty good to me.

You can see that they've got
a gorgeous brown crust.

Let them drain for a moment,

and then I'm going to put them
on a wire rack here

that I've lined with some paper
towels just to finish draining.

Oh, yeah.

So now I'm going to allow
that oil to come back up to 325

before I fry the remaining
batch of chicken.

Oh, I think the second batch
might be my favorite.

Look how beautiful these are.
Let's get these out.

And that was 8 minutes
total frying time for these.

Great. We'll give
that second batch

just a moment to drain,

but I'll go ahead and start
plattering the first batch.

Now, this chicken needs
nothing at all, no adornment,

but here's a couple of options.

Now, lemon is a perfect option.

It's quite traditional,
because that burst of acidity

is great for cutting through
any kind of fatty foods.

I'm torn because
I wish you were here,

but then that would mean
I would have to share.

I'm going to be greedy
and tuck in right away.

And I could break out the
knife and fork, but come on.

It's fried chicken.

Chicken thighs
were made for this.

Meaty, and then, that marinade
makes them so juicy.

But it's that crispy and hot
coating on the outside.

Mmm.

It shatters
when you bite into it.

It was just cornstarch
on the exterior,

but when you think about it,
it really wasn't.

It was cornstarch
mixed with that marinade,

and that marinade
had tons of flavor in it.

So every single bite
is just a big burst of flavor.

It's not often when something
so easy is so delicious.

You're going to want
to make this, too.

And remember, the keys are

to use boneless, skinless
chicken thighs

and moisten any patches
of dry coating before frying.

So, from "America's
Test Kitchen" at home,

the unbeatable, super-crisp,
and juicy karaage.

♪♪

Delicious.

♪♪

-I've never met a noodle
that I didn't love,

and that includes soba noodles.

Traditionally,
soba noodles are made

with just two ingredients,
buckwheat flour and water.

And despite the name buckwheat,

it's not related
to wheat at all.

It's actually related
to sorrel and rhubarb

in a family
called pseudo-cereals.

That is one odd family reunion.

But to get back to the point,

because buckwheat is not
a member of the wheat family,

it doesn't form gluten when
the flour is mixed with water.

And so, therefore,
you don't get that springy,

noodle-like texture
that you get with wheat noodles.

It makes the noodles
more difficult to cook.

So you have to really
stir gently,

'cause they can fall apart.

So, traditional
100% whole buckwheat noodles

have a dark color.

You see these are
the darkest ones on the board.

That indicates that they've got
more buckwheat flour.

Also means they're going to have
more buckwheat flavor.

So all those roasted,
earthy, toasted notes,

you're going to find them
in 100% buckwheat flour pasta.

At the opposite end,

this brand only has
30% buckwheat flour.

You can see the noodles
are quite light.

And frankly,
for a lot of our tasters,

we felt like this brand
in particular

was just a little too mild.

It really wasn't
enough buckwheat

to really feel like
you were having soba noodles.

In the middle is the brand
that has the moderate amount.

So this is 80% buckwheat
and 20% wheat flour.

See the color is
somewhere in between.

We felt like it had
a really nice flavor,

and so you got that woodsy note
that you expect,

those earthy notes.

But it also was
a little easier to cook,

less likely to fall apart
or turn mushy

if you just slightly
overcooked it.

So remember,
buckwheat is your friend,

and as usual, the middle choice
is the best choice.

♪♪

-Whether you're draining pasta,
rinsing rice,

scooping out fried food,
or making a cocktail,

we've got the right strainer
for every job.

First, our favorite
colander for pasta.

This is the RSVP
Endurance colander.

And this thing
is a game-changer.

It has little, tiny holes
all over so it drains instantly,

a nice, tall base so everything
is up off the bottom of the sink

and nothing can wash back in.

It's got a nice,
wide diameter here,

so it's an easy target
for pouring,

and the sides are high enough
so nothing washes up and over,

but not so high
that it's hard to pour.

It's made of stainless steel,
so it's rust-free.

It's nice and sturdy.
It's lightweight.

The handles stay cool.

And all in all,
this RSVP Endurance colander

is a "Test Kitchen" classic.

Next, our favorite
fine mesh strainer.

It's perfect for rinsing rice
before cooking

or to wash or drain a few
vegetables, to strain sauces,

sift flour, even sprinkle
some confectioners' sugar.

This is our favorite by Rosle,
and it's nice and sturdy,

so it's not going to bend
out of shape or snap or rust.

The mesh really drains
and strains thoroughly.

It's easy to clean,
and we really love

these little hooks
on the handle,

so you can just prop it up
on the bowl or a pan.

It's a little bit pricy,

but you're never going
to have to replace it.

Next, when we're deep frying
or blanching or boiling,

we really love
using a spider skimmer.

Now, a spider holds more
than a slotted spoon,

and that wide cage

really makes it easy
to catch food and drain it fast.

Our favorite tea strainer
by Finum is terrific.

It gives tea leaves plenty
of room to expand and infuse,

and it has a very fine mesh,

so it catches any little, tiny
particles, and it drains fully.

This really simple shape
is so easy to fill and to clean,

and it slides right into mugs
or teapots.

And finally,
our favorite Hawthorne strainer

by Cocktail Kingdom.

This helps you hold back ice

or ingredients like fresh mint
or lemon after you mix drinks.

It lets you control
the fineness of the strainer,

and it's really comfortable
and easy to use,

so you get professional results.

With each of these tools,
you're ready to drain anything.

Cheers.

♪♪

-Hearty soba noodles are
a staple of Japanese cooking,

and I'm going to be using them
in a cold salad today

with lots of fresh veggies
and a super flavorful dressing.

So, when you're shopping for
soba noodles for this recipe,

it's good to look for a brand
that lists some wheat flour

along with the buckwheat flour
in the noodles.

That's because the wheat flour
helps to temper the bitterness

of the buckwheat a little bit,

and the gluten that the wheat
provides also helps

to make the noodles a little bit
springy, which is really nice.

So we need 8 ounces
of the noodles,

and this is an 8.8 ounce
package.

Don't tell anybody,
but I'm just going to eyeball it

a little bit here.

We're going to use
almost the whole package.

I have 4 quarts of water
already boiling here,

and you'll notice that I'm not
adding any salt to the water.

That's because most brands
of soba are already salted,

and we're also going to be
combining them

with a really
flavorful dressing,

so no salt needed.

These take about 5 minutes,

but you want to keep
a close eye on them.

So, into the pot,
and I'm going to set my timer.

[ Timer beeps ]
So, while the soba cooks,

I'm going to move on
to some nori.

Now, nori is a seaweed,

and it adds
a really nice, briny,

umami flavor to the salad,

also a little bit
of crisp texture.

I'm going to toast mine up
over a gas flame.

You can also buy
pre-toasted seaweed snacks.

Those work great here, and then
you can skip this toasting step.

But I like to do it
over a gas flame.

You can see it's a little
bit floppy and chewy now.

We're going to toast it just
to crisp it up a little bit,

and it'll enhance
its flavor a little bit, too.

So, I just have
a low flame here.

You'll see it start
to shrink up a little bit.

See how it's changing color
a little bit?

That's exactly what we want.

Ooh, there we go.

Okay, I didn't catch it on fire.
[ Laughs ]

Alright, so I'm going
to come back over here,

and we're going
to cut up the nori.

You can see already
that it got nice and crisp.

So, I'm just going to cut it
into strips, here.

Wow.

[ Chuckles ] Extremely crisp.

Now I'm going to cut them
crosswise to make nice, thin,

little crispy bits
to go throughout the salad.

Alright, so,
the nori's ready to go.

I'm going to go back
and check the noodles.

They have about 30 seconds,

but I'm going to give them
a quick test here.

Mmm.

Okay, perfect.
Those taste great.

They're earthy. They're nutty.
They have a ton of personality,

and they're going to be
really nice in my salad.

So I'm going to take them over
to the sink and drain them.

This is a really important step.

I'm going to rinse the noodles
in lots of cold water.

This is going to remove all the
starch that coats the noodles.

If I left that on, the noodles
would clump in the salad.

But I want to chill them
down here,

and I want to rinse off
all that starch.

We need a sweet
and savory dressing

to complement
the earthy noodles,

so I have a bunch
of tasty ingredients here,

and we'll start
with some fresh ginger.

I'm going to
just cut that gnarly end off.

And then, to peel ginger,
use a teaspoon.

And that way,
the only thing that comes off

is that papery skin, and you
don't lose any of the flesh.

Okay, so we just need
1 teaspoon of that.

Alright, teaspoon into my bowl.

So, lots of flavorful
ingredients

are going into this dressing.

We're going to start
with a tablespoon of water.

That's just going to help
mellow it out a little bit.

We don't want it
to be too strong.

Next up is mirin.
It's a Japanese rice wine.

And you can find this
in Asian markets

or even in the Asian section
of your supermarket.

So, we need 3 tablespoons
of the mirin.

My mom got me this
measuring cup, and I love it.

I use it all the time. It has
measurements for tablespoons.

It will hold
up to 4 tablespoons.

So it's perfect
for recipes like this

when you're doing
multiple liquid ingredients.

So, in goes the mirin.

And next up,
we have toasted sesame oil,

and that adds a really
nice, nutty taste.

We need 2 tablespoons of that.

Put that in.

And then, miso is really
important to this dressing.

It adds sweetness,
it adds some umami,

and it also adds really
nice body to the dressing.

And that's important because
we want a thick dressing

that's going to cling nicely
to the noodles,

and the miso really helps
to deliver that.

Actually, I think I'm going
to use my little,

cute, little measuring cup again

to get 3 tablespoons of that.

And this is white miso,

but you could use
yellow, brown, or red.

Any of them will work.

Okay, so, that's 3 tablespoons.

And then we have a tablespoon
of sesame seeds.

That will just add
a little bit of crunch

and sort of echo the sesame oil
that we already added.

A tablespoon of those,

and then some pepper flakes,
a 1/2 teaspoon.

You can certainly use less.

Okay. Now we're just
going to whisk that up.

I guess this is my day
for tiny, little --

tiny, little tools,
my little, tiny measuring cup

and my little, tiny whisk
that I absolutely love.

If I had a big whisk
for this job,

it would be a little bit bulky.
But for this little dressing,

it's perfect,
and it's fun to use.

I'm just going to blend that up.

You really want
to blend in that miso.

It's time to put
the salad together.

So, I have my soba noodles
that are all drained now,

and they're nice and cool

because I rinsed them
in cold water.

And you can see
they're not sticking at all,

which is exactly what I wanted.

And now we have
our miso dressing,

so we'll add that in.

Okay. Toss that together.

Alright. Looks great.
Smells great.

We'll set those aside, and now
I will prep all the veggies.

Let's start with cucumber.
So, this is an English cucumber.

We're going to use
about 1/3 of it.

So I'd say that's about 1/3.

I am going to quarter the cuke.

We like English cucumbers.

They have a nice thin skin,

so you don't need
to take the skin off.

Just going to use a teaspoon,
scrape out the seeds.

The seeds will
water down the dressing.

Okay, so, there's our cukes,

and I'm going to slice these
thin on the bias like this.

So, I'm slicing all of the
vegetables strategically today.

I have a different cut
for each one.

I want the veggies
to tangle up in the noodles

versus falling towards
the bottom of the bowl.

So for the cukes,

these nice, thin, long strips
work really well.

Okay, there's our cukes.

And now I have four radishes,

and these will add a nice,
peppery bite to the salad.

Just going to trim off
their ends here.

Okay, so, I'm going
to cut my radishes in half

and then into nice,
little, thin slices

to make half-moon shapes.

Nice, little shape,
and nice color, too.

I mean, radish is
such a beautiful color.

I would wear a radish-colored
shirt if I could find one.

Okay, there's our radishes.

And now I have
4 ounces of snow peas.

And first, you want to take
the string off of the snow peas.

Not all of them have a string,

but you can just pull off
the little tip here

and pull down the string.

Okay, now, for the snow peas,
we chose to do matchstick cuts,

so I'm going to stack some
of them up vertically like this

and then just cut them
straight down.

And so that gives you
this nice, long shape

that will tangle
with the noodles.

Okay, and finally,
I have three scallions

that'll add a nice, mild,
oniony taste to the dressing.

So I'm just going to cut off
the ends here.

And these, I'm going to cut
on the bias into thin strips.

Want to do a couple at a time.

So, we're using the white
and the green part of the onion.

Alright, so, there's
all our veggies.

Time to mix up the salad.

So, I'll take my dressed
noodles here,

and I'll put in all these
beautiful veggies on top.

So pretty.

And our nori strips
that we toasted up earlier.

Put those in.

If I was serving this, I would
probably bring it to the table

with all the veggies on top

and then kind of toss it
at the table --

Kind of dramatic
way to serve it.

And you can see
all those veggies,

all those different cuts
are getting tangled

in the noodles as I toss here.

Mmm.
I think that is ready to go.

So I'm going to put it
on a platter here.

Alright, that is
a pretty good-looking salad,

if I do say so myself.

I love that earthy, brown color
of the soba noodles

and then, all
the beautiful vegetables.

It looks healthy and delicious

and just what I want
to have for lunch.

I'm going to dig in here.

Alright, there's no
delicate way to do it.

I'm just going to dive in.

Mmm.

That is really good.

The dressing is savory
and sweet from the miso.

You can taste the sesame oil
and the sesame seeds.

It's subtle.
It's refreshing. Delicious.

I really hope
you'll make this salad.

And if you do, remember you want
to rinse the noodles really well

so that they don't clump.

You want to make a nice,
thick, flavorful dressing

that'll cling to the noodles,
and you want to chop up

those veggies
in different shapes

so they tangle up
inside the salad.

So from "America's Test Kitchen"
at home,

one of my favorite recipes,
chilled soba noodle salad.