America's Test Kitchen

-Welcome to "America's Test Kitchen: At Home."

Today, I'm making a beef en cocotte with mushroom sauce, Jack's going to tell us all about cooking with vinegar, and Keith's making a holiday worthy Swiss chard and kale gratin.

We've got so much in store for you today.

So stick around.

-Today, I'm making beef en cocotte.

Now, cocotte is a casserole dish or a covered dish that's used to cook big pieces of meat.

You can actually cook just about anything en cocotte.

It just means that you're cooking it in a covered pot.

So today we're making beef and I've chosen a top sirloin roast for the job.

It's three to four pounds, so it's going to serve quite a few people.

But top sirloin is just a beautiful cut.

It's got a lot of marbling in it, big beefy flavor.

And we don't need to worry about cooking it for hours and hours as we would a chuck roast.

We're actually going to cook this to medium rare.

So I'm going to set this aside for just a moment.

And we're going to prepare our other ingredients before we start to cook.

Now, we're using two different types of mushrooms because we're making a beautiful mushroom sauce.

And the first thing I want to do is bring out my porcinis.

These little dried porcini mushrooms.

And I need a half an ounce of these.

All right.

Now, dried mushrooms can be dusty, a little gritty, so I want to be sure to drain these off, so I'll pour these into this fine mesh strainer so I am going to go over to the sink and rinse them off.

Now, these are still dried.

I need to reconstitute them.

So I've got some boiling water.

Going to pour a cup into my measuring cup here.

Add the mushrooms.

Just make sure they're submerged.

So I'm going to put this bowl on top just to trap the heat in there and let them steep for about five minutes.

So I mentioned that's the first of the two mushrooms.

Here's the second -- cremini mushrooms.

These are beautiful.

And I need five ounces of cremini mushrooms.

And now I do want to clean these off.

I like to use a little pastry brush just to get any big clumps of dirt.

So now for our cremini mushrooms, I'm going to trim off just the bottom here.

So we're going to keep the stems attached, but just trim off the very bottom.

All right.

And then finally, we're going to cut these into quarter inch slices.

So for the smaller ones, I'll probably leave these whole and just cut through this way.

Then once my finger gets a little close, I can go ahead and just cut this way.

But for a larger cremini, I'm going to go ahead and start by cutting it in half.

All right.

So that's it for the mushrooms.

So next step, an onion.

Using one onion here.

I'm going to finely chop it.

So it's cutting it in half, peeling it.

Sometimes you have to get that next layer, too.

So what I like to do is cut it in half again.

So that way I don't need to make any horizontal cuts.

I'm just going vertical and then vertical after turning the onion and then right across.

All right.

Any big pieces?

I'm just going to chop and then once again, the handy bench scraper.

All right.

Same thing with my second half.

Right into the bowl.

Now, it wouldn't be a French dish without a little bit of garlic.

And we're using three cloves here, but we don't need to mince these.

So instead, just going to use the side of my knife to smash them and then take that peel away.

And now the herb, which really is the star of the show here -- tarragon.

Just pick a couple of sprigs, big ones for me, and those go right into the bowl.

So now we can bring back our porcini mushrooms, which should be softened at this point.

So I'll go ahead, put the bowl to the side, and we're going to strain this because we also want to use all of that beautiful porcini liquid.

Just gonna use the bottom of the cup to press and drain out that liquid.

All right.

We'll set this aside.

We're going to use that in a little bit.

And the mushrooms, we're going to finely chop and add those to the bowl with the rest of our vegetables.

There we go.

I bet you thought I wasn't going to get to the beef, but I am right now.

You don't need to do a lot to it.

This is a beautiful top sirloin roast.

A roast between three to four pounds will work for this recipe.

I do need to do a little bit of trimming.

There's a little piece of thick fat here that's not really going to go away.

So you don't need to go too crazy with your trimming just a little bit.

And one last thing to do to the roast before you move on.

I'm just going to tie it right in the center.

And really, this is key to ensuring that this beef cooks evenly.

Let's give it a little squeeze and you can see as soon as I let go of this, it really releases.

So one way the butchers will keep the meat intact as they're tying it is they'll wrap it around twice.

So watch when I do this, it doesn't let go completely.

Take off the excess.

And I'm going to clean up, and then we'll move on.

All right, it's time to start cooking and we've got our cocotte here, our Dutch oven.

We're going to add two tablespoons of vegetable oil in there and I'll turn this to medium-high heat.

All right.

We're going to wait for that to get to the point where it starts to shimmer.

But in the meantime, we can finish prepping our roast.

You can see there's some surface moisture.

I want to get rid of that with some paper towels.

So just pat it dry because we want to start to develop a nice brown color on the outside.

And I'm going to salt and pepper both sides.

All right.

So that's good.

We just have to wait for that oil to heat up.

I'm starting to see the first wisps of smoke there.

So I'm going to add in our roast.

Wait for the sizzle.

[ Roast sizzling ] Oh, yeah.

So I'm going to cook this and turn it so that it's browned on all sides, and that's going to take anywhere between 7 to 10 minutes.

Let's check that first side.

That is some beautiful brown color.

I'm going to continue browning this on all sides.

Probably has another 5 to 8 minutes left.

All right.

Last a little bit of browning.

You can see gorgeous color all over that roast.

I'm going to get it out of the pot at this point.

I like to use two pairs of tongs if I need to.

I'm gonna put this back on that plate and set it aside for just a moment.

So now I'm going to add a little bit more oil, about a tablespoon to the pot.

We're going to let that start to shimmer, which it does almost instantly because the pot was so hot.

So now I'm going to add all of those beautiful vegetables and the tarragon and the mushrooms.

All right.

So let me toss this in the oil.

Oh, the aroma as soon as all of this hit the pan.

I'm going to let my vegetables sweat under the lid for about five minutes so that they start to release their liquid.

All right, let's take a look at those vegetables.

They're nice and soft.

Oh.

Amazing.

All right.

So now I'm going to continue to cook this with the lid off at this point.

So we're going to let these go for about 10 minutes.

I want to keep an eye on it so that they don't get too brown.

So in the meantime, we're going to add 1/4 cup of dry white wine here.

So I'm going to add this white wine to our porcini liquid.

One more ingredient -- a little bit of cognac is going to go in there, two tablespoons.

This is going to add some beautiful warmth and depth to our sauce.

All right.

So two tablespoons goes in there.

Going to keep an eye on my vegetables and look for some nice browning.

All right, so most of that moisture has been driven off by the heat of the pot, so it's time to add our next ingredient.

We're using a tablespoon of tomato paste.

It's going to add a nice savory counter.

And I'm going to cook this for about 30 seconds just to get rid of any raw tomato flavor.

We've developed some beautiful brown fond in the bottom of our pot, and we want to pull all of that up to make the sauce.

So that's where our porcini liquid and the white wine and the cognac comes into play.

I'm going to add that right now.

It's safe to add the cognac over the heat because it was mixed in with those other ingredients.

So I'm going to use my wooden spoon to scrape up all of those bits, and then we're going to cook this and let it simmer until most of that liquid has evaporated.

That's going to take a good five minutes.

I wish you could be in here because this smells outrageous.

It just smells so perfect.

All right.

So most of that moisture has been driven off.

I can see a trail when I scrape my spoon through the pot.

Oh!

But I do need to add the beef back to the pot at some point.

All right, so I'm just going to nestle it down there in the bottom, pour any juices in there.

Ohh, yeah.

And now the beef is going to give up a little bit of liquid as it cooks.

And I want to trap that liquid in there so it can really cook the beef.

So I'm going to put a piece of foil right on top.

So we're going to put this into a pretty low oven, 250 degrees.

And we're going to cook this until the internal temperature of the roast registers between 120 and 125.

We want it to be medium rare.

[ Sniffs ] Smells amazing.

All right.

So, again, I'm looking for around 120 to 125, and we are hitting it.

How about that?

So I'm going to get this out of the pot.

Again, I like to use two pairs of tongs.

And now we don't want to carve it right away.

So I'm going to take that piece of foil.

And just tent it loosely, and we're going to let this rest for a good 20 minutes.

So we're putting this back over medium-high heat.

We're going to add 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth.

give that a good stir.

And I'm going to cook this and let it simmer for about two minutes just so that the flavors can meld.

All right.

So this has been simmering for just about two minutes, so that looks great.

I'm going to turn the heat off because now I need to go fishing for some tarragon.

Remember those sprigs that I put in there earlier?

We don't need those anymore.

So now, again, this is off heat.

We're going to finish this with a little bit of butter, about a tablespoon.

That goes in, and I'm going to whisk that in just to finish the sauce.

That is it, so I'm going to put the lid right back on the pot just to keep it nice and warm while we wait for the roast.

All right, I couldn't help myself.

I told you, I love tarragon.

So this isn't part of the recipe, but I had so much on hand I decided to chop a little extra for sprinkling on top.

But now it's time to carve our roast.

So it's rested for 20 minutes.

So juicy.

And you want pretty thick slices here, about a quarter inch thick.

But you can see it still has some beautiful rosy pink color.

Well, I can't wait, so I'm going to go ahead and plate myself a couple of slices.

Don't mind if I do.

I can't forget about the sauce.

I mean, come on -- mushrooms galore, caramelized onion.

And as promised, everything looks better with a little bit of green on it.

The only thing better than smelling it is tasting it.

So let me tuck in here.

It is so tender.

That sauce is unbeatable.

Earthy, a little warm from the cognac, and tarragon is definitely front and center.

I love dishes like this.

You have to do a little bit of work at the front, but once it goes in the oven, really, dinner's pretty much done.

So to make this at home, remember these keys -- start off with a top sirloin roast and tie the roast to ensure even cooking.

Build a sauce right in the pot.

And then let the beef rest before carving.

So from "America's Test Kitchen: At Home," beef en cocotte with mushroom sauce.

C'est magnifique!

-Shh!

Can I tell you a secret?

Actually, I don't need to whisper because it's really good advice.

Next time you're cooking and you're tasting your food and it seems bland, and please tell me you're tasting your food when you're cooking, do not reach for the salt.

Pick up some vinegar.

Acidity makes everything taste better.

It's why I keep so many vinegars in my pantry.

So let me break it down for you and explain what the differences are.

You're going to notice some color differences.

The bigger differences are acidity levels which vary, and flavor notes.

So let's start with the most simple and basic.

Honestly, is just acidity, doesn't have a whole lot of flavor.

It's distilled white vinegar.

It's fine for pickling.

I prefer cider vinegar.

It's a similar level of acidity.

It's usually around 5%.

You get some fruity notes, obviously, from the apples, but they're both solid, inexpensive choices, especially if you want to be using vinegar in bulk like you do when you're pickling.

Next up, I've got two vinegars from Asia.

This is rice vinegar, which is the lowest acidity of all the vinegars here on the table.

It's at 4%.

It's mild, it's sweet.

It's used in stir fry sauces, dipping sauces.

You'll see it in countless Asian recipes.

This is Chinese black vinegar.

It's more of a sort of specialized product.

It's got woodsy, earthy, almost spicy notes.

It's a specialty item that if you're doing a lot of Chinese cooking, you're going to want to have it on hand.

Finally, at the end of the table, these are all made from wine grapes.

Now we've got white wine and red wine.

They're made from straight up wine.

They're not aged.

They have notes of grape and fruit.

But there's a lot of acidity and they're great for vinaigrettes and pan sauces.

Probably more people get excited about balsamic and sherry.

Frankly, I get more excited about the sherry.

Balsamic is made from White Trebbiano grapes.

The thing that distinguishes these two vinegars from the other wine vinegars is they're aged, so they pick up color, that's why balsamic is brown, from the wood cask.

They also pick up tons of flavor, earthy notes, leather notes, spice notes.

Sherry vinegar is my main choice when I want a vinegar with personality.

It's got wood, it's got smoke, and it's high acid.

So it makes everything delicious.

So there's the secret to perking up your cooking -- a little bit of vinegar.

-When most people hear the word "gratin," they think of a rich casserole of potatoes and cream, but today I'm going to take a different take on gratin and I'm going to use all hearty greens.

So we're going to first start with our topping.

And that topping starts with a couple cloves of garlic.

Just going to put this in our food processor and buzz it for five to seven pulses until it's coarsely chopped.

Perfect.

Now for the bread.

We want to have a nice texture to our topping, so we're going to use a rustic bread.

So three cups of bread cut into 3/4-inch cubes.

I'm going to add a little bit of olive oil -- three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

I'm going to pulse that down until the largest piece is about a quarter of an inch.

Okay, that looks good.

Now, a couple more additions.

I have one cup of grated Parmesan cheese.

Gonna add 1/4 teaspoon of table salt and 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper.

I'm going to pulse that down.

Okay, topping is done.

Now we can move on to the greens.

When it came to choosing the greens for our gratin, we actually chose two greens.

The first one was Swiss chard.

We really liked the flavor of Swiss chard.

But when it cooked down, it collapsed too much and made for a dense gratin.

So we cut it with a little bit of curly kale.

The curly kale doesn't cook down quite as much, so it gave the gratin a little bit more volume, a little bit more body.

So let's start with prepping our kale.

So it's pretty easy with kale.

I just hold the stem in one hand and pull down on the leaves with another one like that.

And it should just pull the leaves right off.

I'm going to take the stems off of all the kale and then go back and cut the leaves.

Okay, now that I have the stems out, I'm going to cut these into about a one inch ribbon.

You don't have to be too precise here.

So that's our kale.

I'm going to set this aside.

I'm going to wash it later.

Okay, now for our Swiss chard.

We actually want to save the stems here.

The stems have a lot of flavor, and they're going to form the aromatic base for our filling.

So for Swiss chard, I like to lay the leaf on the cutting board and then cut down either side of the stem and then remove the stem, put the leaves aside.

I'm going to continue to do this two pounds and I've already washed the Swiss chard.

Okay, so I have these all separated.

Now I'm going to work with the stems first.

I'm going to cut these into two inch planks.

I'm going to put them in our food processor.

Now that we have our stems in the food processor, I can focus on the mountain of leaves that I have here.

Now, like the kale, I'm going to cut this into one-inch ribbons.

Our greens are prepped and ready to go.

Now we can focus on the aromatics for the filling.

So I have my Swiss chard stems in the food processor, and I'm just going to add one onion to this.

I want to coarsely chop this.

We'll process it further in the food processor.

But we want to get these down into rough, coarsely chopped pieces.

Like so.

Okay.

I'll just transfer the onion over to the food processor.

So I have my onions in here.

I'm just going to process for 20 to 30 seconds until those Swiss chard stem and onions are broken down, finely chopped.

Now, scrape it every once in a while as needed.

Let's check this.

That looks great.

Nice and finely chopped.

Now I can go wash my kale, and then after that, we can start cooking.

Now it's time to cook our greens.

We have a large volume of greens, so blanching and sauteing were out.

They would have taken too many batches to cook all those greens.

So we're actually going to steam our greens.

I have a Dutch oven here with about two cups of water.

It's about a half an inch of water in there, and that's going to create a lot of steam.

It's going to cook down all of those greens very efficiently in one pot.

I'm going to add our washed kale first.

I'm going to cover it.

I'm gonna turn the heat down to medium high and let that steam for about five minutes, stirring once.

Okay, I think it's time to check our kale.

Oh, yeah.

You can see that that has wilted down really nicely.

It's time to add our Swiss chard.

Okay, so I'm adding all of our Swiss chard leaves.

We're going to cook our Swiss chard stems, which we processed later on.

I'm going to cover this.

This was going to go for four minutes.

Same thing.

The Swiss chard needs to wilt down.

We're going to stir it halfway through to make sure it's cooking evenly.

Okay, it's been about four minutes, and we're going to check our greens.

These look great.

You can see that they've wilted down nicely.

I'm going to take these to the sink, drain them, and let them sit for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, I'm going to come back and I'm going to press them down with a rubber spatula to get rid of all the liquid in there.

Our greens are cooked, and now it's time to turn our attention to the aromatics.

Now I have the same pot that I cook the greens in.

I'm going to add the onion and the Swiss chard stems that we processed earlier.

I'm also going to add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of chopped thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of table salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.

And I turn this on medium high.

I'm going to let this cook down for about 8 to 10 minutes.

What we're looking for is for all that liquid to evaporate and for the onions and Swiss chard stems to start to brown.

Okay, so we'll stir this together.

I'm going to let this cook down for about 8 to 10 minutes.

It's been about eight minutes.

All the moisture is gone and I can start to see the vegetables browning around the edges.

So I'm going to add our greens back to the pot.

Now to this, I'm going to add one cup of heavy cream, just a scant little bit of cream.

That's going to enrich it, but it's not going to overpower the vegetables' flavor.

And one last addition, just a little freshly ground nutmeg, about 1/8 teaspoon.

Okay, that's off the heat.

Now it's time to assemble our gratin.

I'm going to put our greens into this 13x9 baking dish.

Now we can add our bread crumbs.

So now that our bread crumbs are on there, I'm going to transfer this to a 375 degree oven on the upper-middle rack.

We're going to let this bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

And what we're looking for are those bread crumbs to get nice and golden brown and will start to bubble around the edges.

Okay, it's been 25 minutes.

This looks fantastic, and it smells even better.

You can smell all that cheese and those earthy greens.

So I can't wait to eat this, but we're going to have to wait for 10 minutes.

It's a little bit too hot right now.

So we'll be right back.

It's been 10 minutes, and now it's time to eat.

The texture's great.

The greens are tender and soft, but that rustic bread crumb topping adds a ton of crispness to it.

And the flavor is great, too.

The earthy greens really, really come through.

You have a hint of garlic.

The Parmesan in the crust really is nice, and it complements the earthy greens.

And it's not very heavy.

There's enough cream to give it some body, give it some richness, but it doesn't overpower anything.

So it's quite amazing to think that greens can make such a hearty and excellent gratin.

So if you want to make this at home, remember these keys -- use a rustic bread for the topping to give it a nice crisp texture, use a lot of greens, both a combination of kale and Swiss chard for the best flavor, and just a small amount of cream, one cup, for a velvety texture.

So from "America's Test Kitchen: At Home," a surprising recipe for Swiss chard and kale gratin.