Cook's Country

-"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook.

And we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

-Today on "Cook's Country," Morgan makes Hanukkah jelly doughnuts, Hannah reviews leave in temperature probes, I talk about the importance of schmaltz in Jewish cooking, and Ashley makes cast iron potato kugel.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills, offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with LED touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at MonumentGrills.com.

-Teakhaus -- inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet, each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.

-Sufganiyot is a type of yeasted doughnut that's often filled with strawberry jam and served around Hanukkah.

And Morgan is here to tell us more.

-Yeah.

Julia.

So doughnuts themselves are thought to have European or North African origins.

-Mm-hmm.

-But Sufganiyot became really popular in Israel.

And then they've since made their way to the U.S., where people are doing all sorts of fun stuff with them.

That said, we're going to make the traditional one, which is strawberry, and of course we have to start with the dough.

So here I have 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.

And to that I'm adding 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast.

-Okay.

-And then to that I'm also going to add just 1/8 of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg.

You're not going to actually taste the nutmeg.

It's actually just going to have a little more nuance going on.

-Okay.

-I'm just going to give this a stir.

Alright.

And now for the liquid ingredients.

I have 1 cup of whole milk here.

I'm also adding 2 eggs.

So these are just large eggs.

This is an enriched dough.

So it's got the eggs.

It's got the milk.

We're going to add some butter in a little bit.

It's going to make a really nice light, pillow-y dough.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So I'm going to mix this together just on low speed for two minutes until you don't really see any more dry flour in here.

Alright.

So no dry flour left.

-Mm-hmm.

-Now I'm going to do a technique called autolyse.

So I'm just going to cover this with plastic and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

-Okay.

-The flour is going to absorb the moisture and it's going to make it more efficient at kneading.

So we're going to end up with a better dough in the end.

-Yeah.

It's like a power nap for yeast dough.

-I love that.

I'm like, let's go take a power nap, too.

-[ Laughs ] -Alright.

So the dough is relaxed a little bit.

Here I'm adding 1/3 of a cup of sugar and 1 1/4 teaspoon salt.

So you always want to hold off until after that 20-minute rest.

And that's because these compete for water.

So salt and sugar both attract water.

So they're kind of competing with the flour.

Now, I'm gonna mix this again.

I'm going to go over low speed.

I'm going to let it go until it's smooth and elastic and pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

It'll take about 5 to 7 minutes.

Still not totally done.

I've got a very important ingredient here.

-Mm-hmm.

-I've got butter.

I'm just going to keep this on low.

I'm just going to add this butter just one piece at a time.

Once I get them all in there, I'm going to crank it up to medium low.

And when I let it go, the dough is going to get even more smooth and elastic.

All that butter will be really nice and incorporated.

Take anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes.

I'm gonna get in there and scrape it down once halfway through.

-Alright.

-Okay.

-Ooh, that looks smooth and pretty.

-I try to make the smoothest, prettiest dough I can.

I'm just going to turn it out into this lightly greased bowl.

So, you can see it's really nice and supple.

I am going to just take it and fold up the edges just to get it into a nice round shape.

I don't want to be adding a lot of flour, so I don't want to do this on a counter and use bench flour.

But then I'm just going to flip it over.

We have our nice smooth shape, and I'm just going to cover it and let it rise until it's doubled in size.

That'll take anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours.

Okay.

It's been two hours.

-That's beautiful.

-I know.

It's transformed.

-It really is.

-Mm-hmm.

So time for us to roll out some doughnuts.

Gonna lightly flour the counter.

And then just turn this out.

-Thank goodness for the greased bowl.

-Yes.

Thank goodness for that greased bowl.

Now it's like a cloud of dough that we're working with.

I'm gonna sprinkle some flour on top of it as well.

Again, trying to be a little light with it.

-Mm.

-And then do a nice little pat.

-Oh, it's a really satisfying dough.

-It really is.

And it's really soft.

So I'm going to press it out and roll it out until it's about 1/2 inch thick.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're going to aim for 10 to 13 inches just so I can make sure I get the right number of doughnuts.

-Right.

-But it's a soft dough, too, so you want to be a little careful while you're going.

-Okay.

-I say it's 10 by 13.

That's really just a nice guide.

It's more important that it's 1/2 inch thick.

Like, what you really want is a really nice, evenly thick dough.

-Alright.

Let's see here.

Yep.

That's 1/2 an inch thick.

-Great.

I have a 3-inch cookie cutter here.

I'm just going to use it to stamp out 12.

This is where you want to actually be a little thoughtful with those dimensions.

But really, you're trying to get 12 that are about 1/2 inch thick.

So I'm using a thin metal spatula to get these onto a sheet pan.

Over here I have a sheet pan that's lined with parchment and slightly greased.

-Mm-hmm.

-And that's just going to make handling them a lot easier later.

Okay.

So I have all these scraps... -Mm-hmm.

-...and I don't want to bother rerolling it because it is such a tender dough.

So instead I have this little guy.

I'm not going to actually cut any holes in the doughnuts because they've got to be stuffed with jelly.

But I am going to use this to cut out some doughnut holes.

-Mm.

I love it.

-Yeah, so this is just 1-inch cookie cutter.

I'm trying to get just as many as I can to avoid wasting any of this at this point.

And so it's kind of now just like a quest to save the doughnuts.

So I have another sheet pan lined with parchment.

Again, it's lightly greased.

And I'm just going to lay these out on here.

Alright.

Now I'm going to cover both of these just loosely with plastic wrap.

And I'm going to let them go just until they're puffy.

They're not going to actually grow that much more in size, but just get nice and puffy.

-Okay.

-It'll take about an hour.

-Alright.

-Alright, Julia.

So they've got a little puffy.

-Mm-hmm.

-So now it's time to fry.

-I know.

I'm excited.

-So I'm keeping an eye on my oil over here.

It's right at 335 degrees, which is exactly what I'm going for.

-Okay.

335.

-335 is the magic number.

So now I'm going to add four of these at a time.

-Doing it with your fingers.

-Yep.

I feel like they give you the most control.

I actually like to go in and get pretty close to the oil... -Mm-hmm.

-...and just use my hands to get nice control and just lightly drop it in.

-Alright.

-So I'm just going to let this go for about two minutes a side.

They're gonna get nice and golden on both sides.

Alright.

So I'm gonna flip them all over.

-Beautiful.

-Another two minutes on this side.

I'm just keeping an eye on the oil.

I'm going to adjust it as I need to, just to kind of keep it pretty close to 335 degrees.

-Okay.

-Honestly, they're looking pretty good.

-Oh.

That's gorgeous.

-Yeah.

Alright.

I think this one's ready.

I have a wire rack set on a rimmed baking sheet, and then I've got some paper towels on top of that.

-Mm-hmm.

-I like to use a triple layer just so it can soak up any grease.

So I'm gonna get this back down to 335 degrees.

Gonna add another four.

And I'm just going to keep going until I'm through all 12.

Last one.

No Sufganiyot left behind.

-I like it.

-We've got those 12.

They do need to cool just a few minutes before we can fill them.

At least five minutes.

But we, of course, have our doughnut holes.

-Oh, yeah.

-So I'm getting my oil back to 335.

334.

I call that okay.

And I'm just going to add these in as well.

For this, I'm going to use the spider.

You can do a few more at a time.

These, I'm not going to try to individually flip every doughnut hole.

I'm just going to let them fry for about two minutes.

And I'm not stirring them aggressively because of course you don't want to splatter any oil.

Some of them are looking nice and golden.

Pull those ones out.

And these are also going right on that paper towel-lined rack, just to slick up any grease that's in here.

I'm gonna let this cool about 10 minutes just so we can fill them without burning our hands.

-Alright.

-Time to stuff.

-Alright.

-So Sufganiyot are typically stuffed via their top as opposed to their side.

So I like to go in with either a chopstick or a skewer.

-Mm-hmm.

-And you go in and you make a little hole on top... -Mm-hmm.

-...and you expand it to about 1/2 an inch.

And then for the filling, here I have a pastry bag and it's fitted with a round tip.

If you don't have pastry bags you can use a zipper lock bag.

That's totally fine.

Kind of messy, so I like to fold down the top to contain it.

And this makes it a little easier to fill.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then I have a cup of strawberry jam here.

Strawberry jam is what's typical.

One of our coworkers grew up in Israel, Chen, and she said these are like what her childhood reminds her of, like the strawberry Sufganiyot.

-Awe.

-Yeah.

So here, I'm just gonna take it, and I'm just gonna stick it right in the hole.

And I'm just going to go in and try to fill it until the jam's just starting to peek out.

It's about 1 tablespoon.

-That's it.

The little jam always sticks out the top and makes a polka dot.

-A little polka dot.

-That's classic.

-Alright.

So I'm just going to finish filling these.

And then we'll platter and it's time to eat.

-Alright.

That looks like a celebration.

-It is.

Well, we are celebrating.

This is a celebration food.

And one little flourish.

I'm gonna add some powdered sugar.

-Oh.

-Make it rain.

-That looks very holiday.

-Yeah.

-Oh.

-Yeah.

It's perfect for Hanukkah.

I love using powdered sugar here.

We actually also developed a recipe for a vanilla sugar.

-Mm -If you want to toss it in that.

And that's on our website, if you want to check it out.

Time for us to eat.

-Ooh, I'm going for the one in the very front.

-I'm going for the one in the very back.

-[ Laughs ] -Perfect.

-I can't wait.

-I know.

I'm like, let's dig in.

-Mm.

-Mm.

-It's light as air.

Look at that hollow in the middle with the jam.

That is perfection.

-I know.

There's, like, nothing like a fresh doughnut.

-Mnh-mnh.

-It's, like, still warm.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's pillow-y.

-Mm-hmm.

-Like, you taste that yeast just a little bit.

-It is not too sweet, not too buttery.

It's just like eating a cloud with a sweet finish and a little bit of strawberry.

-Mm-hmm.

And then when you get, like, the strawberry jam on the pillow-y bread... -Oh.

Mm.

You just can't buy doughnuts this good.

These are fantastic, Morgan.

Thank you for showing me how to make these.

-Thank you for frying with me.

-[ Chuckles ] -There you have it.

If you want to make this classic Hanukkah doughnut, make an enriched yeast dough flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Use a circular cutter to shape the doughnuts, along with some mini doughnut holes, and fry the doughnuts in oil before filling with strawberry jam.

From "Cook's Country," a terrific recipe for Sufganiyot.

I gotta, I gotta.

-I know.

I'm going with you.

Get a little doughnut holes.

-Mmm.

-Here at "Cook's Country," we know the value of a great instant read thermometer.

It really is the key to accurate cooking.

But sometimes a probe thermometer might be better for the job.

Here to tell us all about leave-in probe thermometers is Hannah.

-Yes, we love our Thermapen, but sometimes it's nice not to have to be right there for long-cooking things like brisket and a smoked turkey, maybe, and quick, fast, high-stress things like deep frying or candy making.

It's really nice to be hands-free and just see the temperature at a glance.

-Love it.

-So we tested seven models.

They were priced from $20 to $70, and we looked at accuracy first because that's the most important thing, of course.

But we also wanted to use them in real life scenarios.

So we fried zucchini sticks, chicken.

We made caramel.

We made brisket.

We made smoked turkey.

So we tested them all different ways to see, you know, like, how are these really going to perform when the rubber hits the road, when there's grease flying around, when it's hot and stressful?

-Right.

-And some of them did great and some did not so well.

So let's get into it.

-Okay.

Take me through it.

-First of all, I'm going to give you a quick anatomy.

They each have three parts -- -Okay.

-...a base that's going to have the electronics, and it's going to give you the readout and all of that.

And then a heat resistant wire, which, you know, can be spooled through a grill lid.

It's important that this is heat resistant.

-Okay.

-And at the end, a probe.

This is what's going to go into your hot oil, into your caramel.

-So this is the business end of the stick.

-This is the business end.

Exactly.

And let's talk about the business end a little more.

We tested them all different ways, and some were actually off up to five degrees, which really matters.

-Sugar work, any kind of candy making, that can just ruin it all.

-Oh, I've had to start over for sure.

For sure.

-Definitely.

-Speed is important, right?

We're talking about high-stress scenarios.

I want you to take these two probes.

These are from two different machines.

The ones right out here, plunge them in.

-Alright.

-I'm going to give you a countdown.

-Okay.

-On the count of three.

One, two, three.

Go!

Now let's watch them read.

-Oh, that red one's on fire.

Look at it go down, down, down.

Bam!

-Boom!

-And it's still 37 on the other one.

-Yeah.

So you'll notice the red one was very fast.

-Oh, there.

It started to go down.

The white on, though, it's at least five seconds behind.

There we go.

That was, what, six, seven seconds?

-Yeah.

-It felt like an eternity.

-It did.

-That's enough to overheat your oil.

-It is.

It is.

-Yeah.

-It seems silly we're talking about five seconds, but it really does matter, for certain kitchen tasks.

We also really preferred simple interfaces.

Come over here and check this little purple guy.

Very simple, very streamlined.

You get your temperature and you're out.

-Awesome.

And it's great for people like me that sometimes need readers.

-Well, yeah.

You want to be able to glance across the room, right?

You don't want to have to pick it up and peer at it.

So we tested it at all different distances, walking away, different angles.

Some of these actually you could not read the screen unless you were head on.

If you go diagonal, the numbers start to be illegible.

So legibility is huge, and all of our top models we're easy to read at a glance, even from across the room.

-Alright.

-These things all had different max temperatures, and some stopped at 392 degrees.

We would rather buy one thermometer and be able to use it for all different kinds of things.

So our winners went up to 572 degrees... -Oh, wow.

-...and that gave us plenty of runway to do anything we wanted.

If it goes high enough, a thermometer can also be an oven thermometer.

This is why actually this model right here, the Square DOT is our winning oven thermometer because it's good at all kinds of things.

Alright.

Now let's talk our winners.

We found two great models and they're a little different.

First let's talk about the ChefAlarm.

You're a home beer brewer, right?

-I sure am.

Yeah.

-You get pretty science-y with that, right?

-Oh, it has to be in exact temperatures.

-Someone like you would want to spring for the ChefAlarm.

You have all kinds of features on here.

Low temperature alarms, high temperature alarms.

You can actually rig it to record temperature over time.

It does all kinds of things.

So this is the deluxe options extra features model -- one probe.

-Alright.

-Fantastic, but for, like, home brewers, someone that wants to, like, get into the science of it.

So for the more simple folk like me, we have a winner -- this Square DOT.

This is also by ThermoWorks.

Also has that same high temperature threshold -- 572 degrees.

-Great.

-But it's a lot more streamlined as far as the controls.

It will give you a high and low temperature.

It can ring an alarm, you know, if you want to set it to 500, it'll tell you when your food hits that.

But other than that, very streamlined as far as features, except it actually has the option to have two probes right here.

So this means you could temp two steaks in one oven or two spots in one brisket.

-Oh, fantastic.

-Big hunk of meat.

Yeah.

-Or dark meat, white meat, and a chicken.

-Exactly.

And also, this is an ambient probe, the shorter, blunt one.

This is going to be for your oven temperatures.

And this one is going to poke into the food.

You see that sharp, sharp tip right there.

So both are handy.

If you buy this, you can temp your food and your oven, which we really liked about it.

-Well, there we go.

We've got options for all different types of cooks.

And if you want to go check out our winners, the single probe thermometer that won our testing is the ThermoWorks ChefAlarm, and that retails for about $65.

And for a dual probe thermometer, the winner was the ThermoWorks Square DOT that retails for about $69.

-The Yiddish word "schmaltzy" can mean overly sentimental or corny.

It's an endearing term that comes from schmaltz, which is rendered poultry fat.

Schmaltz is a central and beloved ingredient in Jewish cooking that's often used to cook meat.

But it adds richness and comfort to any dish.

Schmaltz is so essential to Jewish culture that it's even offered as a condiment.

Jewish dietary laws require meat and dairy products to remain separate on the plate and in the pot.

That meant butter couldn't be used to cook meats.

In the Mediterranean, olive oil was considered an acceptable alternative, but Ashkenazi Jews in Central and Eastern Europe didn't have access to such oils, so they came up with something else.

They relied on chicken or goose fat, and schmaltz was born.

Here at "Cook's Country," we use schmaltz as a flavor booster in our version of cast iron potato kugel.

-A baked dish of potatoes and onions?

Well, that's tops in my book.

But potato kugel?

Oh, that's something really special because it uses one of the very best ingredients I've ever come across.

Speaking of the best, Ashley's here.

She's going to show us how to make a great potato kugel at home.

-I feel like I'm blushing.

-You are.

-[ Laughs ] So savory potato kugel should be just that.

It should be savory.

It should be sliceable.

And it should be really, really fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

-All the right words.

-Mm-hmm.

So I'm going to show you a recipe that's going to check off all those boxes.

-Okay.

-And we have that special ingredient -- this.

-Liquid gold.

-It really is.

-Schmaltz.

-Schmaltz, otherwise known as chicken fat.

-Yes.

-This is 2 tablespoons here.

And you can find this in the grocery store in the frozen food section.

But if, for whatever reason, you couldn't find it, you could absolutely substitute extra virgin olive oil.

Or we have a DIY recipe on our website.

-Definitely try that.

-Mm-hmm.

So I'm going to add this to a 10-inch cast iron pan, which is just great for holding on to that residual heat and really promoting a lot of that crispy browning that we're looking for.

-Okay.

-So this is over medium high heat.

And I'm just going to wait until the chicken fat is shimmering.

-Okay.

-And now here I have some finely chopped onions.

It's 2 cups in total.

-Okay.

-And I'm only going to cook these for about three minutes.

Alright.

These are softened just ever so slightly.

So I'm going to transfer them to this bowl here.

So now I've got this bowl of water.

This is 2 cups of water.

And I'm going to make, essentially, a brine here.

So this is 2 tablespoons of salt.

And I'm just going to whisk that together until combined, because this is going to help to not only season our potatoes, but it's also going to prevent them from turning color.

Alright.

Now, let's turn our attention to our potatoes.

I've got 3 pounds here.

They are the russet potatoes.

So I attached the shredding disk for the food processor.

It just makes for ease of shredding.

Alright.

Now, I'm just going to go through and process each potato until they are shredded.

Ooh.

Now, the potatoes are going to take a little bit of a bath in the brine right now.

The salty water is not only going to season the potatoes, but it's also going to prevent them from turning gray, you know, oxidizing.

-Yeah.

-Alright.

So I'm just coating it well.

Just making sure the salt and the water covers all of the shreds here.

Now it's time to drain the potatoes.

-Okay.

-Now the point here is you want to get rid of all that excess moisture.

So I've got this clean dish towel and I'm just going to take about 1/4 of it, put it into the center of the dish towel.

And you just want to wring it dry because you want to get all that liquid, all that moisture out.

Alright.

Now I'm going to transfer all these drained potatoes to this bowl.

And then we will continue.

-Okay.

-The potatoes are all shredded now and we dried them.

So let's move on to the eggs.

-Okay.

-We have 4 eggs for our kugel today.

And I'm just going to beat them.

Alright.

And I've got some salt and pepper.

This is 1 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.

-Regular table salt?

-Yeah.

I'm just going to combine this.

Now we're going to add the eggs.

-Right.

-A very important part of kugel.

And I've got the onions from beforehand.

And then I'm just going to combine this.

Now, in the meantime, I've had 1/4 cup more of the schmaltz, the chicken fat, that's been heating up over medium high heat, and you want it to go until it's just smoking, which it just started to do, so that was good timing.

-Mm.

-We're only going to cook this on the stovetop for one minute.

This step is only just to set the exterior because we want that crispy exterior.

-Okay.

-What I'm going to do is I'm just going to press it into a single layer.

You don't want to make it really smooth.

By leaving these nooks and crannies we're going to get those craggy, crispy bits.

So I'm going to let this go for just one minute.

And it's really just to set the exterior here.

-Okay.

-Alright.

One minute has passed.

Again, we preheated that skillet.

So it's just really setting the exterior, at this point.

We're not looking for any specific visual cues.

-Okay.

-Just the timing is important.

-Got it.

-Alright.

And this is going to go in a preheated 425-degree oven.

And the oven rack is set to the upper middle position.

And I'm going to leave this in there for about 45 minutes until the top is getting golden brown.

Oh, Bridget.

-Smells divine.

-It looks divine.

[ Whistles ] Alright, so, as you can imagine, it's pretty hot at this point.

Alright, I'm going to let this cool for about five minutes, and then we will get to eating.

-Fantastic.

Isn't it lovely?

-Isn't it, though?

Alright.

So I'm going to slice our wedges here.

And this serves eight people.

So I'm going to go ahead and slice eight wedges.

Alright, I'm going to add some chives here.

-Beautiful.

-Not only for color but also just to give that subtle sweet onion-y flavor.

-Alright.

-Oh, yeah.

-Yeah.

Yum.

Mm, mm.

-How lovely is this.

Gorgeous and creamy on the inside.

Still looks a little moist there.

-We have more of those chives, which I'm going to add a few more.

Now this is optional, and if you're keeping a dairy free or kosher diet, you can easily omit this, but I'm going to add a little sour cream on mine.

Well, two observations -- we definitely have some crispiness... -Yes.

-...and we definitely have some -- you said creaminess, and I also think some of that fluffiness.

-Yes, definitely.

And it's cohesive.

-Yep.

-Getting a little bit of that crust on the bottom.

Look at that.

Nice browning from the bottom.

-Wow.

That's delicious.

-A tiny bit of chicken fat -- -Mm-hmm.

-...makes all the difference.

-This is sort of everything I want in a baked potato but don't often get.

-It does have that feeling of it being the interior of a really great fluffy baked potato.

-Yeah.

-Because it's not wet at all.

It feels rich, but also fluffy.

-Yeah.

-I'm going to go for a corner piece here.

Look at that.

-Oh, yeah.

Browned and crisped.

-I love that.

Mm.

-This is gorgeous.

What a treat.

Thank you so much, Ashley... -You are welcome.

-...for a great spud dish.

If you'd like to make this fantastic kugel at home, it starts by soaking shredded russet potatoes in salted water and then squeeze them dry.

Cook everything, first the onions and then the potato mixture, in schmaltz.

Finally, finish the kugel in the oven for even browning.

And so from "Cook's Country," a cast iron potato kugel.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, including product reviews and select episodes.

And those are all available on our website, cookscountry.com/TV.

Slash schmaltz.

-[ Laughs ] Mm.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for the newest season's rigorously tested recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews -- cookscountry.com/TV.

-"The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook" brings together every recipe, tasting, and test from 18 seasons of the beloved TV show.

With trusted equipment recommendations and insights from the entire cast, this book is your guide to the very best in regional cooking.

The cost is $24.99, $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our online shop at cookscountry.com/book.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills, offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with LED touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at MonumentGrills.com.

-Teakhaus -- inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet, each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.