America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Becky cooks Julia the ultimate roasted chicken with harissa-mint carrots, Jack challenges Bridget to a taste test of sriracha, Lisa reviews healthy gadgets all under $20, and Dan makes Bridget a picture-worthy brown rice bowl with vegetables and salmon.

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

-For the past two decades, we here at "America's Test Kitchen" have used this same method for making pan-roasted split chicken breasts, and that's that you brine it, sear it in a rippin'-hot skillet, and finish in a 450-degree oven.

But recently, we uncovered a new technique that's even better, and Becky's here to tell us all about it.

-That's right.

We revamped this recipe from top to bottom.

And the first thing you need to know is how to trim the chicken breasts.

-Okay.

-So, I have four 10- to 12-ounce bone-in, skin-on breasts here.

Three of them are trimmed, but this last guy here, you can see it looks a little bit ratty, so let's take care of it.

-Aw, little ratty.

-So, what we want to do is remove this rib bone, and the easiest way to take care of it is with a pair of kitchen shears.

And you see this line of fat here?

If you just cut right along that line of fat, you'll be cutting right through what you need to remove.

So, there's our little tidbit that we're gonna save, and now let's just clean up the skin.

We'll trim off any excess here, and you'll see how there's sort of a pad of fat there.

Definitely want to cut that off.

And this is so easy with kitchen shears.

-Yeah.

-Don't really need a knife.

Okay, so the next thing we're going to do is season the meat, and we're gonna pull back the skin so we can get the salt directly on the flesh.

So, all we need to do is just loosen the skin here, just gently pulling at it with my fingers.

You want to leave it attached at the top and bottom of the breast and along that rib bone here.

Sometimes you might need to get your knife in here to cut the little membrane.

Okay, so there's our last one.

Now I have 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt, and we'll just divvy that up evenly on the breasts here.

That's about 3/8 teaspoon for each one.

Okay, so now all of the flesh is nicely seasoned, and now we get to dress that chicken back up again.

And like I said before, you just want to make sure that the skin is completely covering all the meat so it protects it a little bit.

And the final step here, there's a pad of fat running down there.

I'm gonna take a paring knife.

You could also use a skewer.

And we're just gonna pierce that six or eight times on each one, and this is gonna help that fat render out of the chicken.

Alright, we are ready to go here.

I'm just gonna take a quick break and wash my hands.

-Okay.

-So, our chicken is all prepped, and now we'll start the cooking.

So, I'm gonna take some vegetable-oil spray here and give each one a nice little spray.

This is going to prevent the chicken from sticking in the skillet.

Now we're going to put the chicken into a cold pan.

As it slowly comes up to temperature, that skin is gonna start to render out, become thin and flat and ready to brown.

At the same time, we're not gonna overcook that meat that's just underneath the skin.

-Wow.

-So this is perfection.

We want medium-high heat, and we're gonna let this skin start to come up to temperature nice and slow, like I said.

Seven to nine minutes.

Try not to touch it too much.

After that time, it'll be nice and brown.

Okay, so it's been about seven minutes.

Let's take a peek here and see what we've got.

Oh, yeah.

-Wow!

-Gorgeous, right?

-Yeah, in only seven minutes.

-See how that skin is so nice and rendered.

Alright, we're gonna let this slowly finish in the oven now.

It's gonna take about 25 minutes in a 325-degree oven.

We want it to hit 160 degrees.

-That's a substantially lower oven temperature than our previous method, which used 450.

-Right, nice and low and slow.

The chicken's gonna come out super tender and juicy.

-Ooh!

-Ooh, very nice.

So, it's been about 25 minutes.

-Beautiful.

-Doesn't that look good?

-Mm-hmm.

-Okay, so we're looking for the chicken to be at 160.

Nailed it.

-On the nose.

-Alright, so we'll get these out of the pan, and I'm not gonna cover these up.

I want to preserve that nice, crispy skin, so we'll just set these aside for a second.

Now, you'll see we've got some beautiful juices, all these little gorgeous tidbits that crackle and brown.

Now, a lot of the time, we'll make a pan sauce, but today, I'm gonna make a side dish instead so then we have a complete meal.

-Very cool.

-Nice, right?

So, let's get some medium-high heat here.

I have one shallot, thinly sliced.

Get that in there.

1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 2 teaspoons of harissa.

-Mmm!

-Harissa is a North African pepper paste with lots of spices.

We're just gonna let this cook for two to four minutes until the moisture evaporates and the shallots get tender.

Can you smell that?

-Oh, yeah.

Well, it's the harissa and it's mellowed out now that it's sauted, and then you've got the shallots.

-Yeah, so nice.

Let's add some carrots.

I have a pound and a half of carrots that are cut on the bias.

We wanted to maximize that surface area 'cause we want to soak up all those yummy chicken juices that are in there.

And now 1/2 cup of water.

Alright, and you'll see I'm scraping up the bottom of the pan here.

I want to make sure I loosen up every last tidbit.

So, I'm gonna reduce the heat to medium.

We'll put a lid on these and we'll cook them for 10 to 12 minutes.

The carrots are going to steam and they're gonna absorb all that chicken-y goodness.

I'll stir them partway through, and then we'll come back.

-Okay.

-Okay, so it's been about 10 minutes, and our carrots are smelling amazing.

-Ooh!

The little bit of harissa and the shallot but then that sweet carrot.

-So nice, right?

-I'm looking forward to this.

-So, let's just let them go with the lid off here for two to four minutes.

We just want to have the juices glaze the carrots a little bit and reduce.

It's been about two minutes, and the carrots are looking nice and glazed.

-Oh, yeah.

-Smelling so good.

So we can kill that heat, and now we'll just finish it up.

So, I have 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.

I just want to get all of the chicken juices that are on my plate here.

Don't want to waste any of that goodness.

-Liquid gold right there.

-That's right.

Always put that in.

And I have 1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh mint.

Oh, and you can smell it right away when it hits the hot carrots.

So these can go right onto a platter here.

Okay.

Let's put a little bit more mint on -- another 1 1/2 teaspoons of chopped mint.

-Pretty.

-Yeah.

I mean, this is a weeknight dinner, but I would serve this to company.

-Absolutely.

I mean, the flavors are interesting with the harissa and mint.

-How about this guy on the end for you?

You want a lot of carrots?

-I do want a lot of carrots.

I just can't get over how evenly browned this chicken is.

It is gorgeous.

-So nice and crispy, and wait till you taste the meat.

The meat is so juicy, so tender.

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

-It's beautifully seasoned because we put that salt under the skin, and that skin, it adds so much flavor.

I mean, if you're gonna have chicken breast, this is 100% the way to go.

-Yeah.

-Oh, I've moved on to the carrots now.

[ Both laugh ] And the best part is they have all those chicken juices and the fat from the chicken, all that fond that we saved.

-This is a great recipe, Becky.

-I'm so happy you like it.

-So, there you have it.

If you want to make the best pan-roasted bone-in chicken breast, start by trimming the breast using a pair of scissors.

Before cooking, sprinkle salt underneath the skin and poke a few holes in the fatty bits and spray the tops with vegetable-oil spray.

Start the chicken skin side down in a cold skillet and cook over medium-high heat until well-browned.

Then transfer the skillet to the oven and cook for about half an hour longer, and while the chicken rests, use the drippings left in the pan to make a quick carrot side dish.

From "America's Test Kitchen" to your kitchen, a great midweek recipe for skillet-roasted chicken breasts with harissa-mint carrots.

Awesome.

Awesome.

-Until about a decade ago, the only bottle of red sauce you'd find on a table was ketchup.

These days, there's a newcomer -- sriracha.

And Jack is here to tell us all about sriracha and which brand we should buy.

-This is a really interesting, distinctly American story.

-Love it.

-So, there was a condiment from Thailand, goes back to the 1930s, but the thing that we love here in the U.S. started in Southern California back in the '80s.

A single brand with the rooster on it, actually from a Vietnamese immigrant, David Tran.

David was born in the Year of the Rooster.

-Ah, okay.

-The name Huy Fong is after the freighter that he left Vietnam on in 1978.

-Gotcha.

-And so it's been the standard, and it is everywhere.

It's thick, so it stays on your food, kind of like ketchup.

-Mm-hmm.

-But it's hot and it's garlicky, and then it's got that sweetness to balance all of that out, as opposed to, like, a Tabasco or other hot sauces.

So we have lots of other brands that are now in the mix, and we've got some here for you to taste.

-Okay.

-I want you to go right in.

-Alright.

-I've got some white rice in case you get too much heat.

-So this has different kinds of heat here?

So I should just scoop up a big spoonful and go for it?

-I think go for it.

It's supposed to be hot.

-Mission accomplished.

-Yeah.

I think the reason why this hot sauce has become so popular is that that sugar helps balance out all of that heat so that you can tolerate a more potent sauce.

-Right.

-So, you're gonna notice some minor differences in texture.

Sriracha really should be smooth and thick, and if it's really loose and if it's coarse or grainy, that's not a good thing.

-Right.

-There are some brands that tried to sort of up the game by putting other flavors in there, and for the most part, our tasters weren't all that thrilled.

-What other flavors?

-Fruity things.

-Mm.

-So we got some citrus notes or pineapple notes or bubble-gum notes.

That's never a good thing.

-[ Laughs ] -One brand had anchovies.

And so I love fish sauce, but this sauce should not taste briny or fishy.

-Sure.

-So, how you doing?

-I'm doing alright.

I did have to tuck into the rice just so that I could actually taste one after the other.

-Yeah, this is hard.

The expert panel tasting, we went pretty slowly.

Give your palate time to recover.

I'm not giving you any -- I mean, I'll talk a lot, but I can only talk for so long.

-Well, this one is very, very spicy.

I actually like it.

It's a deeper flavor.

It tastes familiar to me.

-Okay.

-This starts getting a little bit sweeter.

Still has a nice texture.

This one -- I don't think I'm so keen on that, and there's little bits of things in it.

It seems a little tinny.

-Okay.

-I would be happy with either of these two.

I kind of like this one because I had a little bit of a cold, and it just burst my sinuses right open.

So I'm thinking that for medicinal purposes is perfect.

-Well, you have done exactly what I thought you would do.

-Which is?

-Well, you chose the winner.

-Oh, okay.

-So that's good.

You want to flip it over?

-I do.

-You also chose one that's really spicy.

This is Kikkoman.

So, most of the imitators, in a sense, the ones that have come after the original, we weren't that impressed with.

This one, which is the winner, we thought was delicious.

It's a little spicier than the original Huy Fong, and we like that, and you like that.

And I'm not surprised, 'cause I know you like spicy food.

-Love spicy food.

And this one.

-So, this is the original.

It was a close second.

It was runner-up.

These two sauces are very similar.

It's just Kikkoman is a little spicier.

-This one tasted familiar to me, and that's why.

Alright.

-And this is Lee Kum Kee.

This is an example of one where it felt like they added additional flavors.

Some of our tasters thought this was fruity-tasting, which they didn't like.

It has some anchovies in it, which did not make a better sriracha.

-It's getting hot in here, which I like.

And if you want to buy our top-winning sriracha, it's Kikkoman sriracha hot sauce.

It's $3.29 a bottle.

Thanks, Jack.

-If you're trying to eat healthier with plenty of fruit and vegetables, I have five gadgets that really help.

They're all test kitchen all-stars, and bonus, each one is under $20.

Now, first up, this salad-dressing shaker from OXO.

It's got a wide 1 1/2-cup canister that's easy to fill and clean.

You just add your ingredients and you shake it up.

It pours neatly and it seals tightly.

You can make your fresh homemade dressing and store and serve it right here.

Now, next, this is a game changer -- the Kyocera adjustable mandoline.

It does one thing beautifully -- just slicing.

You just adjust the thickness by turning this bar.

This guard protects your hand, has a super-sharp ceramic blade.

You can either rest this on the board or like this with these notches right over a bowl.

You're gonna slice a pile of produce in minutes, no sweat.

Now, this is my personal favorite.

It's called the Piggy Steamer.

I have two of these at home because it's that great for everything, like steaming vegetables in the microwave or reheating food or even opening jars.

The little nostrils vent steam, and these ears always stay cool.

It never stains and it washes up in seconds, plus it's super adorable.

Now, pineapples are never gonna intimidate me again or make a mess of my kitchen 'cause this OXO pineapple slicer is genius.

You just cut off the top of the pineapple.

You're gonna put it on top and crank it down.

And then you're gonna pull gently, and the whole thing comes out, perfectly sliced and cored.

You have fresh fruit ready to go.

Last, this collapsible silicone mini colander from Prepworks is another all-star.

It's perfect for grapes, cherry tomatoes, berries.

All the holes are on the bottom, covered by this removable lid.

To deep-clean the food, you just fill it up and then you pop off the bottom, and it drains in seconds.

On the counter, the bottom catches drips.

And the oval shape is really great because it helps you pour neatly into bags and containers for lunches.

So we've got you covered.

Five tools under $20 that'll help you eat healthier every day.

-The great American philosopher Cher once said, "If I could turn back time."

Well, if I could turn back time, I would tell younger me to invest in dinner bowls, because everybody's eating every meal out of a dinner bowl.

Dan's here to tell us about a classic rice bowl that's gonna convince me to make my own bowl.

-Wow, alright.

I can do this.

I know I can.

Grain bowls can be awesome, but there's a reason most people order them out -- is they can be a bit of a project at home.

-It's a whole dinner in a bowl.

-In a bowl, and if you don't have lots of great components in there, it kind of falls flat.

We're gonna make a beautiful brown rice bowl with roasted shiitakes and carrots, beautiful piece of salmon, and even a quick pickle on top.

So, we're gonna start with things that take the longest and then go from there.

We're gonna make a quick oil.

So, I've got 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in this large saucepan here, and I'm putting that over medium heat until it is shimmering.

Alright, so now I'm gonna add three scallion whites that are cut on the bias.

We're gonna use the greens later on.

-Okay.

-And 1 1/2 teaspoons of grated ginger.

So, I'm making an oil right now that is gonna end up in the vinaigrette.

It's gonna season a lot of this dish.

So, just 30 seconds.

We want that to be really aromatic, which it is.

-Mm-hmm.

-Smells good?

-Smells great.

-And we're gonna get this out of the pan.

Probably wondered why I used a large saucepan to cook that much.

-I wasn't gonna point that out, but yeah.

-Yeah, so it's 'cause we're gonna use it again here to cook our brown rice.

So, I've got 6 cups of water here.

This is the pasta method, so we're using abundant water and we'll just drain the rice afterwards.

So, I'm putting this over high heat.

I'm gonna pop the lid on.

While that comes up to a boil, I'm gonna make a pickling liquid for our cucumber.

So I'm starting with 1/3 cup of distilled white vinegar.

Adding a tablespoon of sugar.

3/4 teaspoon salt.

And another 1/2 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger.

And just whisk this until that sugar is dissolved.

-This is a quick pickle?

-This is a quick pickle.

-Gotcha.

-Beautiful.

Okay, great.

So that's all set.

Now we're gonna work on our English cucumber here for the pickles, and I want to show you.

This is my favorite way to cut a cucumber for pickles.

It's really, really beautiful.

So we're gonna quarter it lengthwise.

I'm just gonna cut this in half, and then to get the seeds out -- you know, English cucumbers can have a fair amount of seeds in there -- you simply take it like this and just run your knife down like that.

So now we're gonna cut these on the bias and give them a really pretty look, about 1/4 inch thick.

Okay, transfer this over to our pickling liquid and stir it to combine.

Okay, so we'll let this sit.

Every now and then, just give it a quick stir and make sure it gets evenly seasoned.

-Okay.

-And perfect timing.

Our water has come up to a boil.

-Ah.

-So, we have 1 3/4 cups short-grain brown rice.

Now, short-grain brown rice is fantastic for this recipe.

It's obviously nice and chewy and nutty when it's cooked fresh, but it's also really nice out of the fridge.

So, short-grain rices tend not to get as stale and hard in the fridge as long-grain, so you can pack up half of it for lunch the next day and it works really well.

And I'm also adding a teaspoon of salt for seasoning.

Give that a stir.

So, I'm gonna reduce this down to a simmer, and we're gonna let it cook for about 30 minutes until it is just perfectly chewy tender.

-Alright.

-Now it is time for our vegetables.

So, we're gonna start with a pound of carrots that are peeled and then cut 1/2 inch on the bias.

So, I'm just gonna toss this with a tablespoon of oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

And this is gonna get its own half of the sheet pan.

-Ah.

I like where this is going.

-I also have a pound of shiitake mushrooms, which are stemmed.

If they're over two inches, we have to cut them in half.

Otherwise, you can leave them whole.

-Okay.

-To that I'm adding 2 tablespoons of water.

We really want these to cook at the exact same rate 'cause they're in the same oven, so the way we cut those and the water that we add to the mushrooms really helps with that.

-Gotcha.

-I'm also adding a tablespoon of vegetable oil and another 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Want every bite to be really flavorful.

-Of course.

-And they get their own half of the sheet pan.

See, everyone gets their own personal space in this recipe.

Alright, so this is all set to go.

We're gonna go into a 500-degree oven with the rack at the lowest position.

That's gonna give us tons of heat on the bottom, help us get some nice browning.

Takes about 10 minutes.

So, the vegetables have roasted for about 10 minutes, so I pulled them out.

They're not fully cooked, but they're gonna get a little more time in there with the salmon.

-Okay.

-I dropped the oven temperature to 275 degrees.

We want really hot heat to get these going, but we want it to be a little bit lower when we're cooking salmon.

-Right.

-And we're making enough for four grain bowls.

So I'm gonna prep these, and this is a pound of salmon here about 1 1/2 inches thick in the center.

It's nice to buy the whole piece and then break it down yourself.

You get really even pieces of salmon, which is great.

So, the first cut I'm gonna do is down the center here, get through the flesh, and then do a nice hard drag to make sure I get through that skin.

Beautiful.

And then for each piece, I'm actually -- instead of cutting it, you know, this way and making really thin pieces, we're gonna make nice, chunky pieces of salmon here.

-Gotcha.

-And then right through that skin.

-Very nice.

-Okay, beautiful.

So, we'll make a little clearing here in our sheet pan.

You can see the vegetables have shrunk up enough that we can kind of get them into a nice layer on the side.

So that's where our salmon is gonna go.

Before I transfer it over there, the final step for prepping the salmon is you want to make two shallow slashes here, and you don't really want to go too far into the flesh -- just the skin about an inch apart.

-Okay.

-We're gonna cook this skin side down, and those channels will help render out fat.

-Nice.

-Alright.

So the final step before this goes in the oven is we're actually gonna give it a nice hoisin glaze on the outside.

-Mmm.

-It's got sugar.

It's got salt.

It's really savory.

-Yes.

-A ton of umami.

When you're making something that has a lot of components, it's nice to have something that's just right out of the jar.

I'm working with 2 teaspoons total, so about 1/2 teaspoon per fillet.

And I'm coating all the sides of the salmon except the skin side.

-Okay.

-Alright, this looks beautiful.

We're gonna go back into the oven.

We'll roast at 275 degrees 'cause we dropped that oven temperature down.

So it'll take about 10 to 12 minutes, and we're looking for 125 degrees in the center.

Oh, those vegetables look great.

-Wow.

-Nice browning on the mushrooms there.

We want 125 degrees in the center.

Make sure it's nice and cooked but also super moist.

-Gotcha.

-We're spot-on -- 125.

Alright, so we've also timed this beautifully.

This is perfectly cooked at this point.

It's been about 30 minutes.

-Very nice.

-It's time to drain our rice.

Head over to the sink here.

Okay, and then we return it right to the saucepan.

Great, so that is much easier than doing the absorption method.

We just drain it.

We're ready to go.

-Takes the guesswork out of it.

-Exactly.

So, we're gonna make a dressing now that's gonna season every bit of that rice, which is gonna be really, really nice.

And so we're gonna reuse some of the pickling liquid we have over here.

So, I'm gonna measure out about 1/4 cup.

And our other half is this right here.

-Very nice.

-Yeah, so this was the first thing we did, right?

We cooked the scallions and ginger in that oil, seasoned the oil really nicely.

This has a ton of flavor in it.

Now we're gonna add a little bit more hoisin.

So, we got 2 teaspoons more.

This is, again, gonna add a ton of flavor.

It's also gonna help bind the whole dressing together.

-Gotcha.

-Okay, and I'm just gonna whisk this together until it's nice and emulsified.

And we'll take 2 tablespoons of this and season up our rice.

-That's actually really welcome news, 'cause sometimes grain bowls, by the time you get to the bottom, it is just rice.

-It's just rice.

-Right.

-Okay, that looks perfect.

Alright, it is time to assemble our bowls.

Alright, so we're starting with this delicious rice here.

We've got that scallion and ginger flavor.

-It smells great.

-Alright, so next up, the salmon.

We cooked it skin side down, and that skin tends to stick to the pan, which makes it really easy to just leave right behind.

It's not crispy, so we're just gonna leave it.

And we put our salmon -- beautifully cooked salmon -- right in the center there.

Now for our beautiful roasted carrots.

These are really well-seasoned.

So I like to just kind of mound these around.

-I love that you're taking time to do this.

-You want them to be beautiful.

-Well, there's some care that went into each component.

Again, you've made a complete meal.

So why not take the time?

-Complete meal.

And these pickles just absolutely make it.

They're vibrant and really green, crunchy.

All that nice tartness and sweetness is perfect on here.

Awesome, and then we need a little bit more of this dressing.

This dressing is so flavorful.

Drizzle over the salmon.

-Mm-hmm.

-Onto those vegetables.

Lots of good scallion flavor but not enough.

Add a little bit of the fresh green tops that we sliced up here.

-Nice.

-And finally, toasted sesame seed.

I have sriracha here if you want to make it a little bit spicy.

-Why not?

Go for it.

-So I'm just gonna give you a little bit on the salmon there, give some brightness and lots of spice.

-A little heat, yes.

-Yeah.

-Alright.

-Here's the big -- -Monkey see, monkey do.

-Yeah, the big reveal.

-Look at that.

-Oh, that salmon's cooked perfectly.

Mmm.

-And it's seasoned perfectly, too.

-Mmm.

-Some of these carrots.

Oh, they're soft but they're not mushy at all.

-Mm.

-Everything in here is outstanding.

The pickle might be my favorite part.

-It's so good, right?

-Punchy.

It's vibrant.

Little bit sweet, little bit tart.

You get that crunch from the cucumbers, sweetness from the carrots, that savory mushroom flavor, and the rice itself, I mean, just on its own is really well-seasoned.

-I know.

I'm a rice guy.

I could really just eat this rice straight.

-Thanks, Dan.

-You're welcome.

-I'm converted.

If you'd like to make this delicious grain bowl at home, then create a quick pickle and set that aside.

Boil brown rice, and in the meantime, roast carrots and shiitake mushrooms.

Brush salmon fillets with hoisin and cook it with the vegetables.

Add some of the pickling mixture to the scallion oil, whisk in hoisin, and dress the rice.

Assemble the bowls with rice, salmon, vegetables, dressing, and top with scallions and sesame seeds.

So, there you have it from "America's Test Kitchen" -- brown rice bowl with vegetables and salmon.

And you can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with tastings, testings, and select episodes on our website, americastestkitchen.com.

Alright, can I do what I really want to do?

-You're gonna stir it up.

-Yeah, I'm gonna stir it up.

-I love it.

-Let us help you with dinner tonight.

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