America's Test Kitchen (2000–…): Season 22, Episode 22 - Flavor-Packed Chicken Dinner - full transcript

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-Today on
"America's Test Kitchen,"

Julia makes Bridget
broiled chicken with gravy,

Adam reviews toaster ovens,

Lisa shares some favorite
toaster-oven gadgets,

and Dan makes Julia
skillet-roasted broccoli.

It's all coming up right here
on "America's Test Kitchen."

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♪♪

-Insider tip --
if you want to hear Julia

talk about her favorite recipe,

just ask her
about roast chicken.

-[ Laughs ]
-Hey.

-Yeah.
-You like roast chicken?

-It's true. I could wax poetic
about roast chicken for hours,

and, in fact,
you've witnessed this.

So today, I'm not gonna
wax poetic.

I'm gonna make it for you.
-Alright.

-And, you know, I make
roast chicken all the time.

It is my
number-one favorite meal.

I have a handful of recipes
I cycle through.

This is currently the top slot



because the cooking method
is brilliant.

The skin gets so crisp,

and while the chicken cooks,
you get to make gravy.

-And gravy is
our favorite beverage.

-Alright, so let's get started.

This is a four-pound broiler,

and the one thing, again,
I love about this recipe

is you make gravy alongside
the roasting chicken.

You don't have to wait
for the drippings,

and part of that is because
we're gonna use

what's in this bag.

We're gonna use the giblets
and the neck piece,

and there's a ton of flavor
in that.

So this recipe
really makes good use of that.

Alright, and set that aside.

Now on to the chicken.

This method uses
the broiler exclusively,

so in order for that to work,

the broiler
to get that skin crisp,

you have to make it
a single layer.

You have to spatchcock it
or butterfly it,

so what I'm gonna do
is just cut out the backbone

using a good pair
of poultry shears.

And really,
if you do this a lot,

you definitely want to invest
in a good pair of sheers.

-Agree.

-Alright, so now I'm just gonna
take the backbone.

I'm gonna cut it
into pieces again,

using the scissors.

That's more
surface area for the gravy,

and going for
about one-inch pieces.

There's a spot there
in the middle

that has a big bone that you're
not gonna get too small.

Alright. Gonna set that aside.

And now for the chicken.

First,
we want to tuck the wings.

We want to
get these out of the way

because these will burn
under the broiler,

so you just tuck them back
behind like that.

And now to flatten,
I'm just gonna press on it.

Now I'm gonna put
a little bit of oil on this.

This is 1/2 teaspoon
of veg oil.

I'm just gonna put this
on the skin side.

Rub it all in there,

and now I pre-measured
the salt and pepper

because at this point,
I'm all chicken-y

and I don't want to get it
all over my pepper mill

and my salt mill.

So this is a teaspoon
of table salt

and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

One more trick.

I'm gonna take a paring knife.

You're just gonna poke holes
through the skin

about 3/4 of an inch apart.

That just helps that fat render

and gets the skin
good and crisp.

And sometimes,
there's a little extra flap

down here on the skin.

I'm actually gonna cut that off

because that's good flavor
for the gravy.

-Oh, okay.

-Alright, now,
for the back side,

I'm just gonna add
a little bit of salt.

This is 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Alright, last but not least,
we're just gonna

tie the legs together
using some butcher's twine.

There we go.
That just prevents them

from splaying out
during roasting,

so it looks a little more tidy
when we carve it.

Now, here I have a skillet
with a teaspoon of veg oil.

If you could heat that up
over high heat, that'd be great.

I'm gonna go wash my hands.
-Sounds good.

-How's the oil doing?

-It's smokin'.

-Perfect.
Time to add the chicken.

Now, we're using a skillet

because we want
to get it good and hot.

It'll start cooking the chicken
from the underside.

[ Pan sizzling ]

-Oh, good sound.

-That's a good sound. Alright.

So now we're gonna
put this into the oven.

-Let me grab that for you.
-Thank you. Thank you.

Now, this oven is off
at this point, which is good.

You're starting in a cold oven.

As I mentioned,
we're gonna broil the chicken.

The oven will heat up
really fast,

gives the chicken time
to acclimate, which is good.

Now, you want to put the pan

in the center of the rack
as best you can.

We're gonna rotate the handle
halfway through.

That way,
it gets evenly browned,

but the most important thing
to note

is the distance between the rack
and the broiler element.

You want it to be
12 to 13 inches.

12 to 13 is the magic number.

That's looking good.

Time to turn on the oven.

Now I'm gonna turn the broiler,
and if your broiler

has multiple settings,
use the highest one.

Alright, now we're off
to the races.

That's gonna roast
for 25 minutes

before we rotate it.
-Okay.

-Okay, so that chicken is
snuggled up in the broiler.

Time to make the gravy.

Alright, so here are all those
bits I saved --

the backbone,
the giblets, the neck.

Into a nice, large pan they go.

We're gonna create fond
using these bits

and a little bit
of chicken broth to start.

So this is a cup
of chicken broth.

We're gonna bring this
to a vigorous simmer.

I'm gonna monitor the heat
so it's always simmering.

We're actually gonna
reduce this down to au sec.

We're gonna dry it out
and create a fond with the fat

and the drippings
that come off the bones.

That's gonna be
the base of our gravy.

So now we're gonna chop up
some vegetables for the gravy.

No surprise here.

Classic mirepoix, which is
generally two parts onion

to one part carrot and celery,

and I'm gonna cut them
pretty small

to make lots of surface area.

I want to get as much flavor
out of these vegetables

as I can during
the short simmering time.

Whatever the vegetable is,
a carrot, a celery,

cut them into
long lengths like this,

then line them all up.

Cut right through them
into small, little bits.

Alright.
Then we have the mirepoix.

Here we have
one garlic clove peeled.

I'm just gonna smash this.

It'll go in right like that.

And then we have some parsley
and some thyme.

Alright, so it's been about
12 minutes, smells amazing.

-Kind of roasty chicken heaven.
-Yeah, it's good.

So you can see all the liquid
has evaporated now.

That fat has come out,

and now we're gonna get
some browning

and build that fond
on the bottom of the pot.

And that is key for making gravy
from these little trimmed bits.

Oh, that is
some good-looking fond.

-Gorgeous.

-I don't want
to let it go any further.

Now it's time
to add the vegetables.

Alright, four sprigs of parsley
and a few sprigs of thyme.

Alright, I'm gonna turn this
down to medium.

I'm gonna let this cook
until the vegetables soften.

That can take
seven or eight minutes.

And while that's happening,
I'm gonna use

all that moisture
coming out of the vegetables

to help scrape up the fond.

Alright, so --
-Wow.

-Yeah, look at
all that beautiful fond

on the bottom of the pot.

-Deep, dark roasty flavor.
-Mm-hmm.

Now I'm gonna add some liquid.

This is 1/4 cup of white wine.

Alright,
scraping up those brown bits,

and then
we're gonna add some more broth.

So now I'm adding
3 cups of chicken broth.

Oh, now's when you want
to take your time,

scrape all that browning
into the liquid,

and we're gonna let this simmer
for about 20 minutes.

It's gonna reduce by about half.

Now, time to check the chicken.

-Beautiful already.
-Isn't it beautiful?

Alright, so now
I'm just rotating the skillet

so the handle's
facing the other way,

but the skillet is still
in the center.

-Smack in the center.

-Yup.
Alright, closing the oven door.

Another 25 to 30 minutes.

-Okay.

-Alright.

Oh!
-Gorgeous.

-I know.

She's a pretty bird.

-Stunning.

-Now I'm draping the towel
over this handle.

Handle's hot.

Don't burn yourself.
-[ Chuckles ]

Alright, again,
we're looking for

an internal temperature
of 155 degrees.

56, perfect.

So typically, we cook chicken

until the breast registers
160 to 165,

so 155 is on the low side.

But that's good here
because the amount of carryover

is gonna be more than usual
because we used the broiler,

so the hotter
the cooking environment,

the more carryover
the meat will have.

-Intense cooking,
intense carryover.

-That's it.

Alright, so getting this
out of the skillet.

So we're gonna let this rest
for 15 minutes uncovered,

letting that skin
stay good and crisp.

Now I'm going to take
all these drippings,

gonna pour them into a bowl.

-That's flavor.
-Mm-hmm.

So we're just gonna
let those drippings

sit for about five minutes,
let them separate.

We'll use the flavorful stuff
in the gravy.

Speaking of which,

here is the broth
that we've been cooking down,

and I'm gonna strain it
into a nice, big bowl.

Oh, look at that broth.
It's crazy.

-Mm-hmm.

-Pressing all the last
little bits of liquid gold

out of this strainer.

Okay, set that aside.

We're gonna make a quick roux

with 2 tablespoons
of unsalted butter.

Right, so we're just gonna melt
this butter over medium heat.

-Mmm.

-Alright,
so that butter is melted.

Now I'm gonna add
2 1/2 tablespoons

of all-purpose flour.

That's just making a roux

that will thicken the stock
into a gravy,

and I'm gonna let this roux cook
for a good five minutes

and let it get
nice and toasty brown

because that adds good flavor.

Alright, you can see that roux
is a nice golden.

-Mm-hmm.
-Mm-hmm.

Now I'm gonna whisk
this broth back in.

[ Sizzling ]

Now I'm gonna take
all these drippings.

So you can see the fat
has come to the surface.

Just gonna use a spoon

and spoon that fat
right off the top.

That looks pretty good.

Alright,
whisk those drippings in.

Now we're just gonna simmer this
for about five minutes,

let it thicken up,
and then we can eat.

Alright, your waiting time
is over.

-Thank goodness.

-Just gonna carve up
this little chicken.

I want to do kind of
a rustic, family-style carve.

I'm not gonna
take it off the bone,

but I am gonna separate
all the pieces.

The legs are basically held
on to the chicken by skin,

so it's pretty easy
to cut them off.

-Look at that. Gorgeous.

-Yes. Alright. Cut that off.

Score the skin.

Yes.

-Beautiful.

-Oh, goodness.

I'm just gonna give you
the breast.

-Okay.
-I just am.

-I got to say, the breast
is the test, isn't it?

-Little gravy?
-Yes, please.

-A lot of gravy?
-Yes, please.

-Alright.

A little bit of meat.

-Mmm.

Mmm!

-Mm-hmm.

-You know the type of gravy

that you spend
all day in the kitchen?

-Mm-hmm.
-This has that developed flavor,

and if I hadn't been standing
next to you

and see you making this,

I would think
you had spent all day doing it.

-Yeah, it's a clever,
clever recipe.

-Every bit of that is juicy,
moist, not overcooked at all.

This was perfect,
and I would expect nothing less

from the roast-chicken queen
herself.

-[ Chuckles ]
-Thanks, Julia.

-Thank you.

-Well, if you want to make
this soul-warming,

delicious chicken at home,

spatchcock the chicken
for even cooking.

Start the chicken
in a preheated skillet

and then broil the chicken
on a rack

that's 12 inches
from the broiler.

Meanwhile, make a broth
from the chicken trimmings

and finish the gravy
with roasted drippings.

So from
"America's Test Kitchen,"

a surefire, satisfying broiled
chicken with lots of gravy,

and I mean lots of gravy.
-[ Chuckles ]

Your plate's looking
a little dry there.

Oh, yeah, right on the -- oh.

-That's what friends are for.

-That's a good friend
right there.

Yep. Get a straw.

-[ Chuckles ] Mmm.

♪♪

-"I have too much
kitchen-counter space,"

said no one ever,

so a big appliance like
a toaster oven better be worth

the real estate
that it occupies.

Lucky for us, Adam's here,
and he's gonna tell us

which toaster oven
came out on top.

-We're doing a segment
for the lucky few

who have the space,
but you know what?

If you do have the space,

we think a good toaster oven
is really worth having.

-Okay.
-They can be very useful.

We had a lineup
of eight toaster ovens.

Seven of them are here
in front of us and behind us.

We were able to get them
for a range of prices

from $43 to $270,

and we were looking
for versatility.

So we chose a size that would
accommodate six slices of toast

or a four-pound chicken.

-Okay.
-The toast tests were first.

We used our favorite
white sandwich bread.

We made batches
of a single slice,

four slices, and six slices.

We were looking for evenness
throughout the slices,

also a level of browning

that was true to the setting
that we put it at.

-Accuracy.

-You know, some of them
didn't work out too well.

For instance,
this one at the high setting

went for eight or nine minutes,

and it turned our toast
into charcoal.

-It's, I would say, well-done.

-It's really, really done.

It also only had
three toast settings,

where some of these had
as many as seven,

which really helped us get

the level of toasting
that we wanted.

The other cooking tests were to
bake potatoes and sugar cookies,

broil asparagus,

melt cheese on tuna sandwiches
for tuna melts,

one of my personal faves,
and frozen pizzas.

Can never have enough
frozen pizzas.

-Okay. Makes sense.

-Some of these were not
cooking the recipes

within the specified times,

so we wired them up
with thermocouples

and we set them to 350 degrees

and tracked the temperature
over two hours.

Every oven, whether it is

a toaster oven
or a wall oven or a range,

operates pretty much
the same way.

The elements cycle on and off

so that they maintain
an average,

which is the temperature
you set in there,

so some fluctuation
is gonna be normal.

But some of these fluctuated
more than others.

-Really?
-The best ones were only off

by a degree or two
from that 350 set,

and those are the ones
that cooked recipes

within the specified times
of the recipes.

This guy,
which took up to 30% longer

than the recipe said it should,

varied by as much as 60 degrees
below the set temperature.

-That's enough to ruin a recipe.
-Definitely.

Now, one of the possible
explanations for this

is the type of heating element
that this uses.

A lot of them use nichrome,

which is a mixture
of nickel and chromium.

The better ones that were closer
to the set temperature

used quartz elements,

and those heat up
and cool down faster.

So they're more responsive

and able to maintain the
temperature more consistently.

We also tried
those four-pound chickens.

We wanted to roast
the whole chicken in here,

which was sort of
an extreme test,

and that showed us that
if there wasn't enough space

above the chicken
for air to circulate,

the skin just did not brown.

In terms of capacity,

testers were also looking
for these to accommodate

a 13x9 baking pan
and a quarter sheet pan.

Controls varied among them.

One of them, for instance,
instead of having buttons

that were labeled clearly,
like "bake" or "broil,"

had a bunch of squiggly lines --

kind of hard
to figure out what was going on.

Some testers likened these
to hieroglyphics.

-You need a Rosetta Stone.
-You need a Rosetta Stone.

Some of the toaster ovens
actually had

beautifully clear labels,
like this one --

said, "bake," "broil,"
intuitive, easy to set,

and in fact, this is
our winning toaster oven.

It's won before,
and it's winning again.

This is the Breville Smart Oven.

We got it for about $250.

It's got a quartz element,
so it's responsive.

It made great food.

It's easy and intuitive to use,
so, you know,

if you're lucky enough
to have the counter space,

we think a smart oven
is really worth having.

-Alright, well, if you want
to pick up the winner,

it's the Breville Smart Oven,
and we bought it for $250.

♪♪

-Cooking in your toaster oven
is handy,

but most full-sized pans
won't fit.

And any pans
that come with the oven

tend to be minimal
and super flimsy,

so we rounded up cookware
that fits these compact ovens

and we put it to the test.

First, we love
these quarter-sized

rimmed baking sheets by
Nordic Ware Naturals.

They're about $13,

and this stainless-steel cooling
rack by Checkered Chef --

it fits right inside,
and it's about $12.

They're sturdy, and they're
perfect for broiling,

baking, roasting, and reheating.

Next, the Le Creuset's
Heritage Petite au gratin dish

is about 6 inches long,
holds about 6 ounces.

It's made of enameled stoneware,
and it costs about $15.

This not only heats evenly
and broils safely

but looks really great
for serving, too.

And finally,
this Williams-Sonoma

Goldtouch Pro Muffin tin,
about $26.

It bakes just six muffins
or cupcakes.

This gold-colored
nonstick finish

helps baked goods
brown beautifully

and release perfectly.

The extended rims
help with easy handling,

and unlike some models
we tested,

it had plenty of space
between the cups,

so cupcakes
didn't all run together.

With any of this
scaled-down cookware,

you're ready to cook, roast,
broil, and bake

right in your toaster oven
without sacrificing sturdiness,

practical features,
or dependable results.

♪♪

-I have never been a fan
of broccoli,

in large part because
it's hard to cook properly.

Either the florets are overdone
and mushy

or the stalks
are fibrous and tough,

but today, Dan is not only gonna
show me a new method,

but he promised to show me
how to add some flavor.

-That's right.

So I was in the same camp
as you for a long time.

I thought broccoli was always
overcooked and not that great.

Then I had roasted broccoli
for the first time,

and I was a total convert.

So today, we're gonna make
a skillet-roasted broccoli,

which is even easier.

You don't have to
turn your oven on,

and you get that same
beautiful browning,

crisp, tender results
on the inside.

Now, when we're looking
for browning on anything,

we need a nice, flat surface

because that flat surface
is gonna make good contact,

whether they're skillet
or roasting pan in the oven,

and get beautiful browning.
-Mm-hmm.

-This doesn't have a lot of
flat sides on it, right?

-It certainly does not.

-So we have to make
some nice, flat sides.

For smaller crowns like this
that are up to 4 inches,

we're gonna cut them
into 4 pieces.

If you have bigger ones that are
kind of 4 to 5 inches,

you want to go into 6 wedges.

-Okay.
-So what I like to do is first,

make my cut here
to split this and pull it.

You get less kind of debris

and broccoli
flying all over the place.

-Aah. It's a good trick.

-Yeah, so just pull that
and get there.

Now, I have 5 tablespoons of oil

in a 12-inch
nonstick skillet here,

and that is really a key
to any time you are roasting

is having enough oil to make
great contact with the bottom.

So this technique
of starting in a cold pan,

we tend to call it
cold searing now.

It's something that we do
all the time with proteins

and with vegetables.

What's really nice about it,
obviously, this is cold,

very easy
to arrange everything in here,

and I can add a couple
of tablespoons of water...

-Aha.

-...without a big, steamy mess
and splattering and all that.

And that water
is really important.

It's gonna help create
a lot of steam in there

and help tenderize the broccoli
in this first step.

I also have 3/4 teaspoon
kosher salt here,

so I'm just gonna
season these up.

Great, so we're gonna
put the top on here,

and I'm gonna put this
over high heat.

We want to create
lots of steam there.

We're gonna jumpstart
that browning,

get a lot of steam
from that water,

and this stage here
takes about 5 minutes.

-Okay.

-So now we're gonna do
a topping.

So, I mentioned that we're gonna
get really great broccoli,

but then also
a flavorful topping for it.

We're actually gonna make
a really nice dry topping.

-Ooh, so you got
the mortar and pestle out.

-Mortar and pestle.

You could also use
a spice grinder for this.

I love the mortar and pestle.
I always have it on the counter.

It's just such a great thing
to work with here.

So, we have 2 tablespoons
of sunflower seeds

that have been toasted.

I've got a tablespoon of
nutritional yeast.

-Nooch.
-Nooch.

So it's something that you
use a lot in your kitchen?

-I have. I put it on popcorn

because it makes
popcorn taste incredible.

-It's incredible stuff.

It's cheesy and umami,
and so, it's deactivated yeast.

You cannot leaven your bread
with this,

and it adds a ton of savoriness.

And it's dry,
so that's a good thing.

So 1/2 teaspoon
of grated lemon zest

for some really nice brightness,

and then 1/4 teaspoon
of smoked paprika,

and finally, just 1/4 teaspoon
of kosher salt.

Alright, so I'm gonna get
my mortar in here,

and I like
to first go pretty gently.

-So things don't fly out.
-Exactly.

Work my way around,

break some of those sunflower
seeds into smaller pieces.

Alright,
so now that it's broken down,

I can kind of run my pestle
around this way,

get it to a nice,
even consistency.

So this is our topping.

We're gonna take
1/3 of this mixture

and put it on the bottom here

so that every piece
is totally coated.

-I like it.
-We'll set this aside,

and now we've got about a minute
left on the broccoli here.

-Okay.

Dan, it smells like broccoli.

-Yes!
Oh, you're not happy about that.

-Smells like steamed broccoli.

-So it has been steaming.

There's also a little bit
of browning.

It's been about 4 minutes.

We're gonna take the lid off,
and at this point,

as you can see,
some of it's shrunk down.

So I can get those pieces
that weren't touching to touch.

So just use my spatula here
and press them in.

Okay, great.

Everything is flushed to
the surface as I possibly can.

We're gonna put the lid back on
and continue to cook.

We're gonna get great browning
on the bottom side

and keep steaming it
through a little bit.

It takes about 4 to 6 minutes.

-Okay.

-Alright,
so it's been about 5 minutes.

We're gonna take a look here.

And I think we've got
beautiful browning on that side,

so I'm going to take this off
the heat at this point.

Slide it up here,

and this makes it really easy
to just turn them all.

So we want that second cut side.
Remember, we made wedges.

We want that second cut side

to get really good browning,
as well.

So just shifting that over.

Alright, so I'm gonna put this
back on the heat.

We're gonna get the second side
gorgeous and crispy,

just like the first.

This takes about 3 to 5 minutes.

-Covered or uncovered?
-I'm gonna do uncovered now.

We've got plenty of steaming,
so plenty of tenderizing.

And from time to time,
I'll just use my spatula

to make sure I'm getting
really good contact.

-Okay.

-And that
is good-looking broccoli.

-That is good-looking broccoli.
-Right?

Alright, so we have got
gorgeous browning on both sides.

I was just checking to see that.

-Ooh. Okay.
-Beautiful, right?

-I'm in. I'm in so far.
-You're in so far?

-Yeah.
-Alright.

Alright, now we're gonna
transfer it over

to our topping-covered platter.

-And the way you're arranging it
on the platter

with the topping,
it just looks cool.

-Right?

-You know, it's elevating this
lowly brassica a little bit.

-And then we will
sprinkle it on.

That color's beautiful, too,
isn't it?

-It looks pretty cool.

Oh, I can now smell
the sunflower seeds

and that lemon zest
hitting the hot broccoli.

-And you get
that smoked paprika, too.

-Yeah.

-Alright. Let's get you
some really nice pieces.

-Mm-hmm. I appreciate you
picking out the good ones.

-Lots of flavor on there.
-Well, I must say,

it's the prettiest-looking
broccoli I've ever seen.

Alright, Dan. The true test.

It's pretty darn good.
-Mmm.

-I'm gonna have to try it again.

It's the topping.
I'd put that on anything.

-It's good, right?

We actually have
some other toppings, as well.

You can find those
at our website.

-I mean,
that cooking method's amazing

because the florets
are perfectly cooked.

They're not mushy,

but they're not fibrous
in the stem.

Mm-hmm.

-Nice and tender,
like crisp tender.

-Mm-hmm.
-Mm-hmm.

-Dan, I can honestly say

this is the best broccoli
I've ever eaten.

Thank you.
-You're welcome.

-So if you want to make what is,
in my opinion,

the best broccoli,
cut broccoli crowns into wedges,

start it in a cold pan
with oil and a splash of water,

and serve with
an aromatic topping.

From "America's Test Kitchen,"

a great new method
for skillet-roasted broccoli.

You can find this recipe

and all the recipes and
product reviews from the season,

-Unheard of.
-Unheard of with broccoli.

♪♪