America's Test Kitchen

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen"... Becky makes Julia chicken francese.

Adam reveals his top picks for air fryers.

Dan demonstrates the science of persistent firmness, and Julia makes Bridget roasted and glazed chicken wings.

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

♪♪ "America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

Plugrà European-style butter was created for all chefs, cooks, and bakers.

Slow-churned with 82% butterfat for a smooth texture and more pliability for flaky crusts.

Plugrà -- from professional kitchens to your home.

Sailing with American Queen Voyages brings you to mighty rivers and unique expeditions, where passionate explorers can discover the continent of North America.

You can learn more about our voyages at AQVoyages.com or contact your travel advisor.

Sur la Table, where you can discover an assortment of provisions for your next meal or gathering, from cookware and tools from a wide variety of kitchen brands to hands-on cooking classes.

Visit us at surlatable.com.

♪♪ -Chicken francese is something I'm very familiar with, having grown up in the Flour City, Rochester, New York, where the dish originated at a restaurant called the Brown Derby.

And today, Becky is gonna show me how she makes her version.

-That's right.

-So the tradition of francese means to take a piece of food, dip it in flour and then egg, then pan fry it and serve it with a lemony beurre blanc sauce.

-Delicious.

-It is.

It's really good.

Kind of a retro recipe, but we've modernized it a bit so that the flavor is a little bit more complex, it's a little bit easier to make, and it's also a little bit more economical.

-Great.

-So let's start with the chicken.

I have four 6 to 8-ounce breasts, and I've prepped three of them already.

We'll do the last one.

So the first thing we want to do is we want to separate the thicker end of the breast from the thinner end like this.

And then I'm gonna cut this thicker part in half horizontally.

So now we have three even-sized pieces, and I'm just gonna pound them down a little bit.

So I want to pound these 1/4 inch thick.

And the key to pounding is you want to -- Don't use too much effort.

Let the pounder do the work.

-You just want to encourage it.

-That's right.

Persuade it.

[ Both laugh ] There we go.

Our chicken's ready.

I'm going season it with 2 teaspoons of salt.

We want the salt to penetrate all the way through the meat, help hold in moisture, and of course, season it.

1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

We'll let this sit for 15 minutes.

I'm gonna go wash my hands, and then we'll come back and continue.

-Great.

-It's been 15 minutes, so let's keep going with our chicken.

I have 3/4 cup flour here.

I'm gonna work with 4 pieces at a time.

And we'll just coat each side in flour.

Put them onto a wire rack.

And I didn't need to season the flour.

That chicken is beautifully seasoned, so it's just plain old flour.

Now, we'll just keep going until we've got all the pieces coated.

Alright, I floured all the chickens, so it's time to fry them up.

I have 1/3 cup olive oil heating over medium high heat in a skillet here.

And I'm gonna add 1/3 cup vegetable oil.

While that heats up, we'll prepare our eggs.

I have 3 large eggs here.

I'm gonna add 2 tablespoons of water.

That's gonna dilute the proteins so that they don't coagulate and turn tough when we cook the eggs, we'll have a nice, tender coating.

Alright, our oil looks pretty good there.

So I'm gonna work with four pieces of chicken at a time and I'm gonna put them from the flour into the egg.

So let the excess egg drip off.

[ Sizzling ] I'm gonna turn that down to medium heat.

So we're gonna cook these about 2 minutes per side.

You want them to get nice and golden.

Alright, it's been two minutes.

Let's see what's going on here.

-Oh!

-That looks lovely.

Just want a nice light, golden brown.

-Beautiful.

-Yeah.

-Ooh.

-So we'll give them another 2 minutes on this side.

Okay, it's been another 2 minutes, so let's just take a peek, see how they look.

Oh, that looks gorgeous.

-Oh, beautiful.

-Very nice, right?

-Those look perfect, Becky.

Perfect.

-Okay, I'll cook the rest of the cutlets, and will you put these in a 200-degree oven to keep warm?

-You bet.

-Alright, all of the cutlets are in the oven, so I'm gonna do a nice little lemon garnish to go on top of the dish.

I dumped out all the oil and wiped it out.

Start by putting 1 tablespoon of butter into my skillet here.

-Makes sense.

-So let that melt a little bit.

And now we're gonna come over, and we're gonna use all parts of the lemon in the dish.

So I'm gonna start by zesting just half of it.

Just one side of it.

I'm using a rasp grater, and I don't want to get any of the white pith.

I just want the yellow part.

And I need just 1 teaspoon, so that should do it.

-Perfect.

-There we go.

Alright.

Now I'm gonna cut the lemon in half, and I'm gonna take the part that I just zested and I'm gonna get juice out of there.

I want 2 tablespoons of juice.

So I've got about 2 tablespoons of juice there.

And now we still have this beautiful half of lemon with the peel still on.

And I'm gonna cut this into four 1/4-inch slices.

So we have our butter heating up over medium heat, and I'm gonna put these lemon slices in and we're gonna cook these for about three minutes, until they get nice and browned on both sides.

And they're gonna really develop some nice complexity.

-And they look pretty.

-Oh, yeah.

That's gonna be a beautiful garnish.

Okay, it's been 3 minutes.

Our lemon slices look gorgeous here.

-I love that smell.

-Look at that.

-Yeah.

Oh, they're beautifully caramelized, Becky.

-That's gonna be such a nice garnish.

-Mm-hmm, it adds such complexity to an otherwise simple pan sauce.

-That's right.

So now let's keep going with that sauce.

I have 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, gonna saute that for a minute, until you start to get that smell.

That's when you know it's time to move on.

Then I have 1/3 cup of dry white wine, and we want that to evaporate almost completely.

Alright, I've got the heat on medium high, and we're gonna really scrape up all those brown bits, because that has so much flavor.

-Mm-hmm.

-Okay.

You can see the wine is almost fully evaporated.

I'm adding 1 1/2 cup chicken broth, and I want this to reduce down to exactly 2/3 cup.

I'm actually gonna measure it as we go along here, because I want to hit that 2/3 exactly.

That's gonna take 6 to 8 minutes.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So while that simmers away, I'm gonna make a quick thickener for the pan sauce.

-Okay.

-Now, traditionally, old-school recipes would call for making a beurre manié.

That's where you take flour mashed with butter into kind of a paste.

-Yep.

-We're doing something a little bit different.

We're taking 3 tablespoons of cubed, cold butter, 1 teaspoon of flour.

I'm just gonna coat those butter cubes in flour, just tossing them in there.

And this, we found, thickens the sauce beautifully, gives it a really nice, velvety consistency, and it's easier to do than a traditional beurre manié.

Okay, so we'll let our sauce go for about 6-8 minutes, and then we'll come back.

-Okay.

-Alright, our cutlets are out of the oven.

The sauce is just about done reducing, I think.

So I'm just gonna do a couple of last minute things here.

I'm gonna cut our beautiful lemon slices in half.

We'll just put these aside for a garnish.

Alright, let's measure the sauce and see how much we have.

Remember, we want exactly 2/3 cup.

And it's fine to measure this once or twice while you're cooking to make sure you've got it right.

-Nice job!

-Pretty good, right?

-Yeah.

-The only way to know is to check.

So, check done.

Now I'm gonna turn the heat down to low, and I'm adding my 1 teaspoon of lemon zest.

And I'm waiting to add these at the end, because I want to preserve all their beautiful volatile oils.

Our 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.

And now I'm gonna slowly whisk in our butter cubes.

So just a couple at a time.

It's gonna take 1 1/2 or 2 minutes, and we're gonna get a nice, velvety consistency.

Alright, you see how beautifully that thickened up?

It has the consistency of heavy cream.

-Yeah.

-Perfect.

-It's a perfect consistency.

-Yeah.

It's lovely.

I'm gonna add 2 tablespoons of parsley just to finish it off.

I'm gonna kill the heat.

Just gonna give this a quick taste.

I want to make sure it's perfect for you.

-Yeah, I did set the bar a little high saying I was from Rochester.

-I know.

I'm nervous.

Mm.

I don't need to be nervous.

-No?

-It's perfect.

Here's our lemon slices.

I'm gonna arrange those on top.

Alright.

I'm just gonna drizzle the sauce right on top here.

-That's exactly what it looks like!

-Oh, I did it right?

-Yeah.

Nailed it!

-Yay!

-Oh, Becky, I love how that looks.

-Oh, I'm so happy you're excited to eat it.

-Yeah.

-I'm gonna make sure you get a nice piece of lemon.

-Eating those caramelized pieces of lemon is just delicious.

-Mm.

How good does that look?

Oh, my gosh.

-Restaurant-worthy.

Becky, this is beautiful.

-Thank you.

-Ooh.

-Mm.

-Mm-hmm.

You nailed the coating.

It's on the edge between a crumb coating and an egg coating.

It's not flabby, it has a little crisp around the edges, but it tastes like egg, and it's nice and thin.

-Yeah, it's so thin and tender.

And then you really get all that lemon complexity.

You get the acidity.

You get the slight bitterness that's really nice.

-White wine coming through, a little bit of garlic.

I haven't seen a lot of recipes that serve it with these caramelized lemons.

That is a real trick.

-You're eating the lemon, right?

You want to make sure you eat that.

-Absolutely.

-That's not just a garnish.

That's for eating.

-Yeah, it's along the lines of a preserved lemon.

You can eat the whole thing.

-Mm-hmm.

-Becky, you nailed it.

-Aw, thank you.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-You want to make this Flour City favorite?

Start by cutting boneless, skinless chicken breasts into cutlets.

Dilute the egg with a little water for a thin coating.

Make a punchy lemon sauce, and thicken it with flour-coated cubes of butter.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a perfect recipe for chicken francese.

Really, you did the city proud.

-[ Laughs ] Glad to hear it.

-Mm!

♪♪ -Air fryers -- people tell me that they love them, but do they really fry air?

Hmm.

Let's check in with Adam and find out what these things can do.

-People do love their air fryers, and we get the enthusiasm, because they're good little devices.

They do not fry food in the sense of deep frying, where you have a lot of oil that is transmitting heat to the food and giving it a gorgeous, brown crust.

These obviously use air to fry the food.

It browns food quickly and with a lot less oil and mess than deep frying.

This is an update of an existing testing.

So we added a few new models.

We had a total of 16 different models with a price range from $60 to $220.

-Big range.

-Big range.

They come in three different styles which have to do with access.

This is the first type.

This is the drawer.

-Oh, okay.

-See?

Open the drawer.

Nothing shady in there.

-Should be full of fried chicken.

That's okay.

-Here, why don't you open this one?

That's sort of an oven type.

It's got an oven door and it's got multiple racks in there.

-Yeah.

Got it.

-And then R2-D2 at the end, the white one, that's the flip-top type.

-The Stanley Kubrick air fryer model here?

-Exactly.

Our testers vastly preferred the drawer type.

It was much easier to access for both the food and for cleaning.

-Okay.

-Let's start with capacity, because there was a wide range, about 3 quarts to 11.5 quarts.

Some of the ones that were a little smaller only cooked enough food for two people, and that's sort of a drawback.

Sometimes you want to cook for more than two.

However, we also found that a large stated capacity didn't necessarily mean they did a good job cooking more food.

-Interesting.

-The food cooks best if it's in a single layer.

This oven model with the multiple racks did a fine job cooking chicken cutlets on one rack just for two people, but when you doubled that up and did a couple more cutlets on a second rack, the airflow got blocked a little bit and they cooked unevenly.

-Right.

It's convection.

-It's convection, exactly.

-We need that circulation.

-Okay.

-Some of the interiors were nonstick coated, and testers thought that was a good idea.

They were easier to clean.

-Sure.

-These don't get hot enough for the nonstick to really vaporize, for them to throw off fumes, so that's not an issue.

There are a few features regardless of the type that you want to look for.

One is an easy, clear interface that's digital, like the controls.

You just want them to be intuitive.

-Sure.

-You don't want a degree in rocket science to operate your air fryer.

-We're not launching anything, despite this looking like we are.

-Exactly.

In order for things to cook as evenly as possible, you have to go in and sometimes shake around the French fries or turn over a chicken cutlet or something.

So having a timer that pauses automatically when you open it and then starts up again when you close it, it's super helpful.

Also, having an auto shut-off is really helpful, so if you're not there to take the food out the second it's done, it doesn't languish and overcook.

-Okay.

-This one is the overall winner.

It's the Instant Vortex Plus 6 Quart Air Fryer.

It's $120.

It made great food.

It has the drawer-type access that we like.

It's got plenty of surface area for cooking.

It was easy to clean, easy to access.

This is a good unit.

Or you can go for the Best Buy, which is a lot less money.

It's $75.

That's the GoWISE 3.7 Quart 7-in-1 Air Fryer.

A little smaller, capacity isn't quite as big, but it's got that drawer-style access that we really liked.

It doesn't cook as much food as the overall winner, but it did a good job cooking what it does cook.

-There you go.

A great air fryer for every budget.

And if you want to get the winner, it's the Instant Vortex Plus 6 Quart Air Fryer.

It runs about $120.

Or the Best Buy is the GoWISE USA 3.7 Quart 7-in-1 Air Fryer, and it retails for about $75.

♪♪ -Joe and I love carrots, and I have a couple here.

Now, both of them have been boiled for two hours.

They look the same, but this one was first dunked in a bath of calcium hydroxide.

Joe is gonna try each.

Joe, why don't you start with that one?

So that carrot is silky tender, completely cooked all the way through.

2 hours has rendered it really soft, maybe even a little bit mushy.

Great.

Why don't you try this one?

Now this carrot, while really nice inside, super tender and cooked through, is pretty leathery and unpleasant to eat because the outside is so tough.

How is it possible for a carrot to be essentially raw on the outside and cooked within?

The calcium dunk allowed the pectin at the surface of the carrot to cross-link, making it very resistant to softening.

Scientists call this "persistent firmness."

We take advantage of this cross-linking when making pickles by adding calcium to the pickling liquid.

But there's another way to make some fruits and vegetables remain firm -- heating them to a moderate temperature and holding them there for 20 to 30 minutes so the enzymes naturally present in the fruit or vegetables can alter cell wall pectin and increase that cross-linking.

This is especially helpful when baking with apples.

Too often, apples turn to applesauce when baked into pies and tarts.

To prevent that, simply microwave apple slices on high power until their edges turn translucent, about 10 minutes, and then let them cool for 30 minutes.

Incorporated into a pie, tart, or cake, the apples will retain their shape and a hint of fresh crispness.

♪♪ -The rule in my house is that the person who roasts the chicken gets to eat the wings.

I love this part of the bird.

It's my favorite, but I'm pretty sure that my kids have no idea what a chicken wing even looks like.

So Julia's here, and she's going to show me a great recipe that will allow me to share some roasted chicken wing love.

-Yes, now, I'm pretty sure you made up that rule.

-Bridget's rule.

I'm pretty sure you're right.

-So this is 4 pounds of wings, and we're gonna roast them like a chicken so that they have crisp skin on the outside, tender on the inside.

And the most surprising thing is, you can't just throw all the wings into a 400-degree oven and expect them to turn out roasted.

We found you have to use a few tricks.

-Okay.

-So first up, the wings.

I said 4 pounds.

I meant 4 pounds.

Your kids will definitely know wings after this recipe.

-Great, because that looks like a lot more than the two that I steal off the bird.

-So a couple of ways.

Sometimes you buy wings and they're already separated for you, but if they're whole, you really do want to cut them down into the three parts -- that's the wing tip, the flat, and the drumette.

And really pretty easy -- there's a joint right there between each part, and if you find it just right, your knife will slide right on through.

This recipe will actually use the wingtips, so I'm including them here.

But if you buy them already separated and there are no wingtips, no big deal, the recipe still works.

They're pretty wet.

We want to dry them off.

That's why this baking sheet is lined with paper towels.

Get off any excess moisture.

Alright, into the bowl all the wings go, using the paper towel as a sling.

-Nice.

-A little bit of oil.

Just 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

A little bit of salt.

1 tablespoon of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of ground pepper.

You just want to get in there with your hands, toss them all together and make sure everything's well-coated.

Now, in front of you is part of the magic of this recipe.

That is a rimmed baking sheet, obviously, greased with oil and then lined with parchment.

So the parchment allows the wings to brown but prevents them from sticking to the metal.

-Great.

-So we're gonna put these wings on the tray.

And I'm gonna tell you another trick.

Two parts to the wings, the drumettes and the flats.

We're gonna put them on different parts of the tray, because the heat really comes in from the outside, so we're putting the thicker pieces of meat near the outside, where it's hotter.

-Where it's hotter.

-That's it.

So we're gonna line the drums up on the outside.

The flats are gonna go in rows down the middle, and notice I'm laying the flat curved side down.

This is the fattier side.

You want that pressed into the pan so it renders.

Alright, now, any spaces left on the tray, you can fill in with the wingtips.

They're just gonna lend their flavor and juices to the rest of the wings as everything roasts.

One last trick before we put these in the oven is that we're gonna use a second baking sheet to weigh down the wings, really press them into the pan to help the browning.

But we don't want the wings to stick to the pan.

We did that already.

So we're gonna put another sheet of parchment on top and put another baking sheet on top.

-Ahh!

-Press it down.

Yeah.

So you get all the browning with none of the sticking.

This is the key to the recipe.

-Does this transfer heat as well?

-It does.

-That's fantastic.

-Yeah, so into a 400 degree oven we're going.

We have the rack on the lowest level right now.

We're gonna roast these for 45 minutes.

That lowest rack is really going to concentrate the heat onto the bottom of the pan.

Oh, smells like roast chicken, doesn't it?

-Smells -- Well, it is roast chicken!

[ Both laugh ] -Alright, if you could please turn on the broiler for me, please.

-You bet.

-Now, I want to show you.

[ Laughs delightedly ] You can see a little bit of browning has happened on the top.

We're gonna finish them under the broiler, obviously, which is why I had you turn on the broiler.

That'll help get them nice and crisp.

But I also want to show you all the liquid in the bottom of the pan.

-Ohh.

-Yeah.

That is pure chicken flavor, and we don't want to lose that, but we want to get rid of it before we put it under the broiler, to help with the browning.

So I'm gonna drain it off into this fat separator.

Should be about 1/2 cup.

-I like that you're using the two pans.

That makes total sense.

-Right?

Helps the chicken wings in place.

Look at all that flavor.

We're gonna let that settle for a little bit, let the fat separate to the top and the juices to the bottom.

Meanwhile, let's take a closer look at these wings.

Et voilà.

-Mm-mm!

-Alright, so I'm gonna flip them over before they go under the broiler.

And now's the time to get rid of any of those wingtips.

The smell -- it just smells so good.

-It's pure roast chicken.

-Mm-hmm.

Discarding all those wingtips.

I think I got them all.

So these, I never throw these out.

These go into the freezer and they go into my next pot of chicken broth.

They add a lovely roasted flavor.

-Gorgeous.

-Now... Oh, look.

See, the juices are already separated.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna drain the juices right into a saucepan.

Yup.

Alright.

Leave the fat behind.

That schmaltz will not go to waste in either of our houses.

-No way.

-[ Chuckles ] Alright, so this juice, pure flavor -- gonna reduce it down over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until it's 2 to 3 tablespoons and it's nice and syrupy.

I'm gonna pop these under the broiler for 6 to 8 minutes.

If you could keep your eye on that while I return these to the oven.

-I'll keep both.

-[ Chuckles ] I think you're gonna like these, Bridget.

-[ Gasps ] Yes!

Oh, hello, gorgeous.

-Well, they're evenly browned.

Also, I rotated the pan halfway through, 'cause broilers can be inconsistent.

Now for the chicken glaze.

This is what I think is the most brilliant part of the recipe, this chicken-y glaze right here?

Pure roast chicken flavor.

No sauce, just the sauce the chicken made itself.

-Now, nobody can do roast chicken like Julia.

This is absolutely true.

She is the queen of roast chicken.

-I love roast chicken.

-The Empress.

The goddess of roast chicken.

-I make it a lot, that's for sure.

-Yes.

That's nothing short of spectacular.

-Your kids are finally gonna learn what a wing tastes like.

-Well, maybe.

-[ Laughs ] Alright.

I'm gonna give you some flats, 'cause I know they're your favorite.

I'm also gonna give you a drumette, because they're on the outside and they taste so good.

-Well, this might also solve my problem of not liking the drumettes as much, because I really feel like a lot of the times, they don't render enough.

Alright, I'm gonna go into the drumette first.

-Alright.

Mm!

Look at that.

Really well-rendered, beautifully crisp.

-[ Crunching ] -I love that roasted skin.

-Mm!

Oh.

You do not have to fry wings to get this crisp skin anymore.

This is gorgeous.

-Well, I actually like the texture of the roasted meat.

You know, it's -- It almost falls off the bone.

-A little nibble of the flat, which is beautifully browned.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mm.

-I know.

I know!

It is the best chicken wing flat you've ever had.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Right?

-Well, I thank you and my children thank you.

-[ Laughs ] -You're gonna thank her, too, because you want to make these beautiful wings.

And it starts by arranging the wings with their thicker parts around the outside of the pan, then roast the wings between two baking sheets and finish under the broiler.

And don't forget to brush those wings with that chicken-y glaze.

So from "America's Test Kitchen," roasted and glazed chicken wings.

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

Those are all on our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

I really thought I was gonna come back here and they'd be gone.

-[ Chuckles ] It was this close.

-I've seen you eat some wings.

You've see me eat some wings.

-Shh!

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"America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

Plugrà European-style butter was created for all chefs, cooks, and bakers.

Slow-churned with 82% butterfat for a smooth texture and more pliability for flaky crusts.

Plugrà -- from professional kitchens to your home.

Sailing with American Queen Voyages brings you to mighty rivers and unique expeditions, where passionate explorers can discover the continent of North America.

You can learn more about our voyages at AQVoyages.com or contact your travel advisor.

Sur la Table, where you can discover an assortment of provisions for your next meal or gathering, from cookware and tools from a wide variety of kitchen brands to hands-on cooking classes.

Visit us at surlatable.com.

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