America's Test Kitchen

-Today, it's a make-ahead masterclass.

Erin makes Julia glazed boneless beef short ribs, Hannah and Lisa share tips and tools for easier meal prep, and Sam makes Bridget make-way-ahead dinner rolls.

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

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

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-Beef short ribs are usually cooked one of two ways -- long and slow in a braise, or fast over a hot grill, and then finished with a sauce.

But today, Erin's gonna show us a new method that's kind of a combination of the two.

-Absolutely, Julia.

We are gonna do, like, a hybrid method.

It's gonna be the best of both worlds.

We're gonna have fall-apart, really tender beef short ribs, and then they're gonna be lacquered with a sweet-tart glaze.

So we'll start with 4 pounds of boneless beef short ribs.

And I'm gonna trim one.

The beauty of these is that they are boneless and they're super easy to prep.

I'm gonna trim any thick pieces of fat from them.

I don't want to go too crazy.

-You're gonna braise it.

A lot of that fat will come out naturally in the braising liquid.

-Yes, yes.

Okay, so I'm gonna season it with 4 teaspoons of kosher salt.

-Now, the brand of salt you use here matters.

If you have a different brand other than Diamond Crystal, check our website for the amount you should use.

-Seasoning all four sides.

-Mm-hmm.

-4 teaspoons of kosher salt and 2 teaspoons of ground black pepper.

All right, so now it's time to start the braise.

I'm going to add 2 cups of beef broth.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I'm using a Dutch oven.

Adding 2 cups of dry red wine.

-Mmm!

-Yeah, we like a medium- to full-bodied red wine, like a Pinot Noir or a Cabernet Sauvignon.

2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

-A little umami.

-Umami.

And then 2 tablespoons of white miso -- more umami.

And now we're adding 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.

So sweet-salty-tangy.

-Hitting all the flavors.

-You got it.

Now I'm just gonna whisk this together.

All right, so now I'm gonna add two carrots that I cut into 1/4-inch pieces, and one large onion that I sliced thinly, and six sprigs of fresh thyme.

-Okay.

-So now I'm just gonna stir that up.

Everything's combined.

And now in goes the beef.

We want them in a single layer.

They won't necessarily be submerged, but they will be a nice, tight fit.

Okay, so I'm gonna turn this up to high heat and bring it up to a simmer.

-Okay.

-All right, Julia, we are up to a simmer.

-Mm-hmm.

-Okay.

So now I'm gonna turn this off and put the lid on.

And we are going to put this into a 275-degree oven on the middle rack for about 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 hours.

-Mmm!

I smell it.

-Oh, yeah.

-Mm-hmm.

-Smell the beef.

So this is cooked for about 2 1/2 hours, and halfway through, I rotated the beef and just flipped each piece over just so that it cooks evenly.

-Makes sense.

-And now we're gonna test it for doneness.

I just put the fork in, and it slides right out.

-Mmm.

-These babies are ready.

Okay.

So now we're going to let this cool to room temperature, and then we're gonna cover it and put it into the refrigerator overnight or even up to three days.

-Oh, wow.

-Yeah.

And so what that's gonna do is the beef is gonna have time to absorb some of the flavors, and it's also gonna absorb some of the moisture, so they're gonna be extra juicy when we're ready to glaze.

-So we developed this make-ahead recipe with convenience in mind, but it also created the opportunity to infuse the beef with more flavor.

Here's how that works.

First, we braise short ribs for several hours in a flavorful base of broth, wine, and seasonings.

The gentle heat of the oven cooks the meat and turns it tender.

The muscle proteins denature, then bond to each other, while connective tissue softens.

Once the meat is cooked through, we let it cool and rest in a savory braising liquid for up to three days.

During this resting time, flavor compounds in the liquid -- salt, glutamates, and sugars -- get absorbed into the meat, flavoring it deeply, and the result is succulent braised short ribs that are seasoned all the way through.

-Okay, Julia, so this has chilled overnight.

The fat has separated, and it has solidified.

-Makes it so easy to remove.

-So easy.

It's like a snap.

So I'm just gonna take a slotted spoon and start lifting that fat away.

And fat is flavor, so if you do get some pieces in there, that's quite all right.

So I'm just gonna take the beef out and put them on a plate.

So we're just gonna put those aside.

Now I'm gonna take our broth, and we're gonna strain out the solids.

-Okay.

-So now I'm just pressing the vegetables gently.

Just want to get all the liquid out of there, making sure we get all that goodness.

-Mm-hmm.

-Okay.

So now it's time to start making the glaze.

All we need is 3 cups of this.

I'm gonna bring this up to a simmer over medium-high heat, and we're gonna reduce this down to 1 cup.

Okay, Julia, it's been 20 minutes, and our broth has reduced down to about a cup.

-Okay.

-Okay.

So I'm just gonna turn this off.

I'm gonna add 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar.

-That'll punch things up for sure.

-Oh, yeah.

And then 3 tablespoons of molasses.

So we have tart, and we have sweet.

And it still needs to thicken up.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I'm gonna add a slurry.

So I have 2 teaspoons of water, and I'm gonna add it to 2 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch.

Just gonna whisk this and pour it into our mixture.

Now I'm gonna turn this on to medium heat.

And we're gonna bring this up to a simmer.

We're gonna cook it for about two minutes.

I'm gonna stir it as it thickens.

One more ingredient.

Now we're gonna add 1 1/2 teaspoons of hot sauce.

It's good to add it at the end so it doesn't cook off.

All right.

So now we're gonna let this cool down, and then we're gonna get to glazing.

So this is like the beauty of this recipe is that you can make the beef ahead, put it in the fridge.

You can make the glaze, put it in the fridge.

And then when you're serving your guests, just pull them both out and go follow the next step.

Okay, Julia, so we braised our beef, and now we're going to our second method, which is gonna be high-heat cooking.

-Okay.

-Okay, but first I am gonna take the beef and inspect each piece.

I'm looking for big chunks of fat that I might have missed.

One more step.

It is important that we pat our beef dry... -Okay.

-...because if we don't, then the glaze that we're gonna put on is gonna take longer to thicken and cling.

So I'm just gonna give it a little hug.

And now on to the glaze.

Coat each short rib with glaze on all sides.

Be thorough.

All right, so our first coat of glaze has been applied.

-Mm-hmm.

-Now we're gonna put this into a 450-degree oven, middle rack, for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Every five minutes, I'm gonna take the pan out of the oven and give them another coat of glaze.

Every time I take it out, I'm gonna coat them.

I'm gonna flip them.

Every time they go back in the oven, there should be a different side facing down.

This is gonna be a process, but the payoff is worth it.

We're gonna continue to cook this, and I'm gonna keep taking it out every five minutes, basting them until the internal temperature reaches 140.

-Oh, goodness, Erin!

You're kidding me.

[ Chuckles ] Those are spectacular-looking!

-I told you so.

Have faith.

We're basically reheating and we're glazing, right?

-Mm-hmm.

-So we want to make sure that the temperature is at 140.

141 -- Perfect.

Okay, so one last glaze.

We want to give this a fresh glaze before we dive into them.

My mouth is, like, totally watering.

-It's a good sign.

-Mm-hmm.

So I whipped up some mashed potatoes for you, too.

-[ Chuckles ] You're the best.

-All right, I'm gonna add a little color -- just chopped parsley, or you can use chopped chives.

-Oh, I can't wait.

Look at this meat... -Look at that.

-...just falling apart.

-Oh.

-Mmm!

-Mmm.

-[ Chuckles ] -Mm-hmm.

-There is so much flavor.

I mean, the hardiness of the beef short ribs... -Mm-hmm.

-...can stand up to it.

The glaze!

I saw all the ingredients you put into that glaze.

A little bit of heat from the hot sauce.

-Yep.

-But the molasses and the balsamic.

-Yep.

-This is incredible.

-I'm glad you like it, Julia.

-You know, I don't like it.

I love it.

-You love it.

Yay!

-It is.

This is spectacular.

-All right.

-If you want to make this easy but incredible recipe for short ribs, braise the beef in an umami-rich broth containing brown sugar, miso, and soy sauce.

Let the ribs rest in the braising liquid, then reduce the liquid into a glaze and reheat the ribs in a hot oven.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a company-worthy recipe with "make ahead" built right in, glazed boneless beef short ribs.

This is like a holiday meal, I think.

-Mm-hmm.

Or a Monday night dinner.

[ Both laugh ] -Preparing food ahead of time makes your life easier.

You'll spend less money, you'll have a little less stress, and you might even eat healthier.

-Here are some of our favorite tips and tricks to make meal prep less of a chore.

-Let's start with the Instant Pot.

pressure cooking is so fast, and it's mostly hands-off.

This is our winner by Instant Pot.

It's the Pro, and it is like having a little sous chef.

-Pressure cooking has a bad rep from the '50s, when you see the lid going through the ceiling.

It's not like that.

This is a very smart device that actually helps it be safe and vents safely away from you.

On a good Sunday, I'll make one-hour chicken stock, brown rice, steamed broccoli.

Don't wash the insert in between.

Then I save on dishes and I have a head start on my week.

-Yeah, and if I don't get ahead on a Sunday, I'll do it during the week.

I get this thing going on tomorrow's dinner while I'm making today's dinner.

-All right, let's talk about half sheet pans, rimmed baking sheets, baking sheets.

You call these all kinds of different things.

But there's a reason these are meal-prep workhorses.

There's a reason there are entire cookbooks dedicated to these pans.

-Absolutely.

This is our winner by Nordic Ware.

It's really sturdy.

It's warp-resistant.

If you stick in this cooling rack, it becomes a broiler pan.

It can collect drips.

It can collect fried foods.

It's great.

And then this is a great innovation.

It's a lid.

So if you have made your food, you can just store it right in this pan.

And this becomes a big, flat storage container.

You can stack things on top of it.

You can stack another set of these on top.

Fits right in your fridge, or you can take it to a potluck or something.

-Mm-hmm.

Love that thing.

Let's talk salads.

Making salad dressing at home is faster, cheaper, and it tastes better.

And I feel like if I make a bottle and this is staring at me, I'm gonna eat more salad that week.

-Absolutely.

And you can always use an old jar to do that, but this salad dressing shaker from OXO really was terrific.

We tested it, and we found it was really practical, it was spill-proof, and you can just store that right in the fridge.

-There's a lot of dripping with old jars.

This kind of solves that problem.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-But another option is a squeeze bottle, which, you know, big in restaurants.

We use these all the time.

This is our winner here from TableCraft, and it won for a couple reasons.

It's very precise.

Also, we love the cap because it will cover up that right there.

All right, let's talk food-storage containers.

-Food-storage containers are super important.

They'll keep your food organized.

It makes your meal prep so much easier.

We love a glass container by OXO.

If you want to avoid plastic, this is the way to go.

It is leakproof, microwave-friendly.

It goes right in the oven.

You can bake in it.

And it's nice and sturdy for stacking.

-We also have a plastic winner, because glass is heavy.

-Yeah.

-And, you know, it can be breakable.

So a plastic winner from Rubbermaid is fantastic.

It's lightweight.

You can throw it in your bag.

You can also put it in the freezer as well.

It's not gonna shatter.

You don't have to worry about that.

So this is a great lightweight plastic storage container option.

-It's also completely leakproof.

We filled this up with liquid and shook it upside down.

Nothing came out.

-This is a great lightweight alternative.

-Well, let's look at ice trays.

Ice trays are just great for all kinds of prepping.

You can store all kinds of things, like pesto and herbs and sauces or even mini desserts.

-This is our winner from OXO, and it has a couple small, smart innovations that really make it better than the typical plain one.

So it has a really rigid design, which is nice.

You don't spill when you're going to the fridge.

The shape of the little pods are also really conducive to popping things out easily, which can be a total pain.

And the lid -- it keeps odors out.

It keeps whatever you're waiting to freeze -- the pesto -- it keeps that in so it's not touching everything in your freezer.

Just a couple small, smart innovations that really make it a great ice cube tray.

-And don't forget Souper Cubes, which we really like.

It's like soup.

-Souper Cubes.

Get it?

-This thing is terrific.

You can freeze soups, sauces, stews, and then you pop out the cubes, and they fit right in to a freezer storage bag, which is great.

You can put this right into the freezer.

You can stack it.

You can then go and use this again to freeze the next thing.

Pop that out, stack it.

And so within a few days, you can have a big pile of stuff that's just ready.

Single-serving portions.

Boom, boom, boom.

You're done.

-Mm-hmm.

Like leftovers.

I often have, like, just this amount left over.

Pop it in there, and then you have dinner prepped.

-For full testing results and more information, head to our website.

-A batch of fresh-baked dinner rolls straight from the oven?

It is one of my very favorite things.

There's the aroma.

There's that big waft of steam when you crack one open.

The buttery, yeasted flavor.

And there's a lot of work that goes in beforehand.

So what if you could craft a yeasted dinner roll that you could bake and take straight from the freezer anytime you want?

Well, let's ask Sam, because she's here and she's got all the solutions.

-I sure do, Bridget.

I'm so excited to show you this recipe because these are super make-ahead friendly, to the point where you are just 10 minutes away from having a perfectly baked dinner roll on your table any day of the week.

-Love it.

-We are starting with 1/2 cup of water, and we're gonna add 3 tablespoons of bread flour.

And I'm gonna whisk this together right into my mixing cup.

So in order to create this paste, which is called tangzhong, by the way, we are going to microwave it.

-Okay.

-But I just want to make sure that we get all the lumps out with my little baby whisk.

I'm gonna pop this into the microwave for 40 to 80 seconds, whisking every 20 seconds until it gets to a nice, thick paste-like consistency.

-Okay, great.

-All right, we're getting there.

-Oh, yeah.

You can see a little bit.

It's starting to gel together.

-Exactly.

I think another 20 seconds should do it.

-Okay, great.

[ Microwave beeps ] -Oh.

So you can see a crazy difference in that paste.

It's nice and thick.

And this might kind of seem like an odd way to start a bread dough, but this is very, very wonderful to use for a bread dough, particularly these rolls that are gonna get baked twice.

-Okay.

-This flour-and-water paste is gonna add a lot more moisture to our rolls without making the dough too wet.

-Right.

-You know what I mean?

I'm gonna transfer this to the bowl of our stand mixer.

And you can see that this is very hot still... -Mm-hmm.

-...because it took a little steam bath in that microwave.

And I'm also going to add 3/4 cup of milk.

Now, this is cold milk.

They're kind of working with each other here -- the warmth of the tangzhong, the chill of the milk.

-Because you don't want to add yeast to that hot tangzhong because it would just kill it.

-Exactly.

So we'll give this a whisk.

I love when two ingredients work hand-in-hand.

-Aw.

-[ Laughs ] -It's the best kind of dinner rolls.

-It ends in friendship.

-Yes!

-All right, so I've whisked this just to make sure there's no lumps of our flour paste.

So now we're gonna add 2 teaspoons of yeast.

You can use instant or rapid-rise yeast here.

-Okay.

-I'm also going to add one large egg.

Add a little richness.

-Mmm!

-And we're also gonna add 2 2/3 cups of bread flour.

-Okay.

-And now we're ready to mix our dough together.

All right, I have my dough hook here.

Now we're just gonna mix this on low speed for about one to two minutes to get the ingredients incorporated together.

-Okay.

-It's been just a couple minutes.

You can see that our dough has come together.

-Yep.

Just come together.

-Exactly.

So now we're gonna let this take a bit of a snooze, a little bit of a nap.

We want this to sit here in our bowl for 15 minutes.

-Okay.

-Now, this is called autolyse.

By giving it time to just rest without us touching it or doing anything, we're allowing some of that gluten to start developing, creating that nice chew for our dinner rolls.

-Great.

-All right, it's been 15 minutes and you can already see a big difference.

It's fully hydrated.

-Fully hydrated, a little slumpy.

-[ Laughs ] Exactly.

Well, just waking up from its nap, you know?

-That's right.

-So now we are ready to add 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

Now, of course, yeast feeds off of sugar.

-This is a needy roll, because it had a nap and now it needs to eat.

-Exactly.

It needs a little snack.

-Yes.

-The sugar is also gonna help create deeper flavor, some nice browning when we end up baking our bread.

And I'm also gonna add 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt.

-Okay.

-The salt is gonna help set that fermentation rate for the rolls... -Okay.

-...which is gonna give us that really nice, fine crumb.

-Lovely.

Okay.

-So now we're gonna mix this on medium-low for about five minutes.

We are five minutes in, and now we're ready to add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature.

And we're gonna add this one at a time with the mixer still running... -Okay.

-...until they get incorporated.

All right, so once our butter is fully incorporated, we're gonna keep mixing it on medium-low for about five minutes until our dough is smooth and elastic.

-Okay, great.

-All right, Bridget, it has been five minutes.

It looks super-elastic, super-smooth.

-Mmm!

Looks beautiful.

-And now we're gonna transfer our dough to a lightly floured counter.

We just don't want to, of course, have any stickage here.

-Okay.

-I'm actually gonna use this bowl scraper.

This is really useful for getting doughs that are soft and sticky... -Yes.

-...out of sticky situations.

Okay, so now we're just gonna knead this into a ball.

So I'm just kind of taking the top of the ball, pressing it into the center.

This is very fun to play with, to be honest.

-Yes.

It's the best part of bread baking.

-I'm having a great time.

[ Both laugh ] So now we're gonna place this seam-side-down in a bowl.

Now, I've already greased this bowl, just to prevent, again, more sticking.

But before we top it with plastic, I am gonna also just lightly spray the top so it doesn't dry out.

-Okay.

-And now we're gonna cover it with our plastic wrap.

So we're just gonna let this sit on the counter for about an hour until it doubles in volume.

-Okay.

-It's been an hour, Bridget.

-That is beautiful.

-She's puffed up a lot.

-Definitely doubled.

-Exactly what we're looking for.

The first thing we want to do before we cut and shape our rolls is to press on it.

-Okay.

-Not only is this very satisfying to do, but this is expelling any of that extra air, which is gonna ensure that we have a nice, fine crumb with our rolls.

So now that we've done that, I'm gonna transfer our dough to our counter.

-Oh!

-And now we're just gonna shape our dough into an 8-inch square.

Just kind of pressing with my hands.

So we're looking for 8.

Great.

And by 8.

Awesome.

All right.

So we're now gonna cut our dough into 16 equal pieces.

So we're gonna do 4x4.

Now, I am eyeballing this using my bench scraper.

But if you really wanted to make sure that all of your rolls were even, you could weigh them individually, in which case you're looking for 1 3/4 ounce per roll.

-Okay.

-So now we are ready to roll our rolls.

Now, I'm gonna just take one of our pieces here.

And I did have a little bit of flour over here.

So I want to make sure that I'm using a flourless counter space.

-Okay.

-We're really relying on the friction of having no flour on the counter.

And I'm just gonna take my hand and kind of loosely cup the ball.

And what we're looking for is a taut ball.

All right, so I have a sheet pan here prepared with parchment.

As you'll see, this is a pretty sticky dough.

So if you need to use a little bit of flour, that's fine.

Just don't go too much.

And all 16 of these are gonna go on our sheet pan -- 5, then 6, and then 5.

So now we're gonna cover them with more plastic wrap and let them sit on the counter for about 45 minutes to an hour until they double in size again.

Look how great they look.

-Sensational.

-Doubled in size... -Yes.

-...which means that they are ready for the first bake.

-Okay.

-I have my oven rack at the middle position at 300 degrees.

-Hmm.

-We're not looking for a lot of color here.

-Okay.

-All we're looking to do is set the structure of the crumb.

So we're gonna bake these for about 14 to 16 minutes until they register anywhere from 170 to 175 degrees.

-Ooh.

Look at them.

They're blonde!

-They are so blonde.

But they smell great.

-They smell incredible.

-Now, you can see some of these rolls are touching.

-Yes.

-That's okay.

They're very delicate at this point, so we don't want to mess with them.

-Okay.

-But I will temp them because, again, we were looking for anywhere from 170 to 175 degrees.

172 -- perfect.

Before we do anything else, we're gonna let them sit on the counter for about 30 to 45 minutes until they cool, and then we'll transfer them to the freezer for about 30 minutes to an hour until they're frozen solid.

And then we're gonna transfer them to a zipper-lock bag and keep them in our freezer for up to six weeks.

I have my zipper-lock bag of six frozen dinner rolls.

-They are rock-solid.

-So now we are just 10 minutes away from having freshly baked bread on the table.

This is the last step.

-Okay.

-Okay.

-Take me through it.

-So I have a sheet pan here with some parchment.

If you had a toaster oven and just wanted to bake one or two at a time... -Mm-hmm.

-...you could do that as well.

So now we're gonna bake these at 425 degrees with the oven rack in the middle position for 8 to 10 minutes.

Within that time, these are going to thaw, brown, and iron out some of those wrinkles that we see on the rolls.

-Okay.

Perfect.

Oh, my goodness!

-Nine minutes later.

-Oh!

Beautiful.

-Stunning.

We do have to wait just five more minutes to let them cool, and then we can dive in.

-Oh, these look beautiful, but I'm hoping it's time to eat.

-It sure is.

-And look at that -- big and fluffy.

Ah!

-Never would have thought that was frozen.

-No, never.

-Incredible.

-Never.

-The smell is out of this world.

Just got some nice, soft butter.

-You can tell it's still warm because the butter's starting to melt.

All right.

Take a wee piece here.

[ Roll crackling ] Oh, listen to that... -Yeah.

-...crackling top.

Mmm!

-It's so good.

-Tender.

Tender as a baby's hug.

That is one of the plushest, most-tender interiors.

But I'm loving this crispness.

I bet you that's that twice baking.

These are exceptional dinner rolls, period.

And the fact that they're make-ahead just puts them to the top of my list, where you are.

-I very much appreciate it.

-So if you'd like to make dinner rolls way ahead of time, start by creating a flour paste using the microwave.

Par bake the rolls until just set before cooling and freezing.

Then bake the rolls straight from the freezer whenever you want, how many you want, for just 10 minutes until they're deep golden brown.

So from "America's Test Kitchen," make-way-ahead dinner rolls.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes, and those are all available on our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

Slash dinner roll.

-[ Laughs ] Back at it.

-Back at it.

Mmm!

-Want more from "ATK"?

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-On an American Cruise Lines journey along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, travelers retrace the route forged by Lewis and Clark more than 200 years ago.

American Cruise Lines' fleet of modern riverboats travel through American landscapes to historic landmarks where you can experience local customs and cuisine.

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