America's Test Kitchen

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Elle makes Julia pan-seared thick-cut, bone-in pork chops... Jack challenges Julia and Bridget to a head-to-head tasting of bone broth... Lisa reviews apple peelers and corers... and Keith makes Bridget pouding chômeur.

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.

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Visit us at surlatable.com.

♪♪ -We eat a lot of pork chops at my house.

In fact, my husband's nickname is "Pork Chop."

So I'm always on the lookout for a new recipe, and today Elle's got something to show me!

-That's right.

We're going to make a simple and delicious variation with maple agrodolce sauce.

So, to make it, we start with 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar.

-Ooh, I like balsamic vinegar when it's cooked down because it takes on sort of a round, fruity flavor.

-I love it.

I love it.

And it also calls for a little bit of maple syrup -- about 2 tablespoons.

And this is 2 tablespoons of minced shallots and 2 tablespoons of golden raisins.

Let's get all those golden raisins.

All the gold.

We need all the gold.

-Agrodolce always has raisins in it.

I think that's the classic sweet component... -Yeah.

-...in an agrodolce.

-To finish it off, we have a pinch of red pepper flakes.

-Mm-hmm.

-Pinch of salt.

We're going to put this over medium heat.

I'm going to just give it a stir.

So, once it comes to a boil, reduce heat, then it just needs to go for another 8 to 10 minutes to reduce to about half.

And now that we've got the sauce going, we can start talking about our pork chops.

This recipe calls for 14-to-16-ounce bone-in rib chops.

-That's a big chop!

-Yeah, it is.

Yeah, it is.

It also needs to be 1 1/2 inches thick.

That thickness and that weight really helps for even browning and also for the longer cooking time.

-Right.

-So, this is also known as an in-cut, a center cut, and a rib cut in case you go to the store and they don't know what you need, right?

-Right.

It can get confusing.

-It can be confusing.

So you also need to make sure you have the right cut of meat, and what you need to look for is this large eye of loin muscle.

Then you know you got the perfect cut.

-Alright.

-So our two chops have already been patted dry and salted 24 hours ago.

-A-ha!

That's key.

-Yeah.

It's key.

And I only use 1 1/2 teaspoons per chop of kosher salt.

And if the chops are enhanced, you don't need to salt them.

So, I'm just going to add 1/2 teaspoon of pepper to these chops, both sides.

-Those chops are gorgeous.

-They're beautiful.

-In my house, that's not a Wednesday night chop.

That is a special-occasion chop.

-And we're going to start with what we call at the test kitchen cold-sear method.

So, cold searing is good for a few reasons.

First, it allows for gradual and even cooking.

It's also good for making sure that the meat on the surface level doesn't overcook and does not buckle.

-Ohh!

The pork-chop cup.

-The pork-chop cup.

-I've done that.

-Ugh.

I could do without it.

So, what we're going to do is start these chops again in this cold pan.

-No oil.

-Yeah, so we don't need any oil.

It's a nonstick pan.

We don't need that.

And starting with the cold sear also helps us to prevent that hazardous move of overheating a nonstick pan.

-Right.

-Yeah?

-Which is dangerous.

-It is dangerous.

-Nice, big 12-inch nonstick.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

And we're gonna put them in with one skinny end facing one thick end, one inch apart at least.

-It looks like yin and yang in there.

-Absolutely.

-[ Laughs ] Yeah.

-I'm going to turn it on high heat and let it cook on this side for 2 minutes.

Alright.

So it's been 2 minutes.

And I'm just going to flip these chops.

[ Sizzling ] Now, we're getting a little browning, but not much is happening right now.

So this will be another 2 minutes, and then we'll reduce the heat.

Okay.

So this is our second flip.

I'm going to turn that over.

-Ooh!

-Looking beautiful.

I'm going to reduce this heat to medium, and we're going to continue to flip them every 2 minutes until they reach 140 degrees, and that should take about 10 minutes.

-Alright.

Now, if you're cooking this on an electric stove, the cooking method's a little different.

And you can find that information on our website.

-Okay.

Let's take a look at our sauce.

-Ooh!

-Oh, yeah.

That looks great.

-It looks nice and glossy.

-It's beautiful.

And it smells amazing.

-It does!

-Yeah.

Alright, so, we're just going to turn it off.

-Alright.

I'll set it over here, give us some room.

-Perfect.

Alright.

I'm going to give these another flip.

And they're just getting... -Ohh!

-...more beauteous by the turn.

-They really are!

-Yeah, yeah.

Alright.

Another 2 minutes.

-Okay.

So, you'd think that lifting the chops out of the pan and flipping them repeatedly would cool down the meat and extend the overall cooking time, but actually the reverse is true.

These chops will cook more quickly.

Here's why.

In an ideal world, we'd sear the chops simultaneously, both from the top and the bottom, but since we only have one heat source, this flipping method is the quickest way to go.

After the chops are flipped, the top of the meat is still hot so that the heat continues to travel downward through the meat.

And that happens every time we flip.

So the more often we flip, the faster the chops heat through from both sides.

So there's no reason to be afraid of the frequent flip.

-Okay, so, it's been 10 minutes, and I think our chops are ready, but I need to make sure that it's at 140 degrees.

-They are gorgeous chops.

-They are beautiful.

Ah.

They're ready.

Alright.

So I'm going to take them out and let them rest on a cutting board for about 5 minutes.

Okay, so these chops have rested for 5 minutes, and I think this is probably your favorite part.

-[ Laughs ] -You look so excited.

-I am.

I'm really excited to try these chops.

-Alright.

I'm going to just carve them off of the bone.

-Mm-hmm.

-Right?

This is so beautiful.

-Ohh!

Goodness!

-I'm very grateful for this pork chop.

-[ Laughs ] -Look how juicy they are.

-I know!

It's that cold-pan start that really makes sure it's good and juicy.

-Yeah.

Finishing salt sprinkle for you.

-Mmm.

Little coarse sea salt.

-A little coarse sea salt.

And our perfect, intensely flavored agrodolce sauce.

-Oh, it's gorgeous!

-Oh, my goodness.

Look at that.

-Oh, you said it clung to the meat in just the right way, and it does.

-Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

You deserve the best in life.

This looks fantastic.

-It looks beautiful, Elle.

Mmm!

That's how a pork chop is supposed to taste.

-Yeah.

-It tastes like really clean pork.

It has flavor.

Perfectly cooked, pulling it out at 140.

-Yeah.

-So it's tender, it's juicy.

-No one would believe how easy this is to make.

-Yeah!

-It seems like such a complex dish, and it took, like, little to no time.

-And that sauce!

-Mm-hmm.

-That sauce is magic.

I really like the combination of the maple and the balsamic vinegar.

That's a really clever combo.

-Thank you so much.

-Elle, this is fantastic.

Thank you.

-Thank you.

-If you want to make these celebratory pork chops, use rib chops that are 1 1/2 inches thick.

Start in a cold nonstick skillet and flip the chops every 2 minutes.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a killer recipe for pan-seared thick-cut, bone-in pork chops with a maple agrodolce.

I can't wait to make this for Ian.

-[ Chuckles ] -He is gonna flip!

♪♪ -When I first saw bone broth at a trendy wellness café in L.A. five or six years ago, I thought, "Well, that's a trend that's not going to go mainstream."

Yeah, now it's in the supermarket, so I guess I was wrong.

-Yep.

-And I was also wrong because I thought they weren't going to taste very good or they weren't going to be very different than chicken stock.

We love them, and they are different than chicken stock.

-Fantastic.

-So I've made this a game.

-Uh-oh.

-We have our two favorite bone broths... -Mm-hmm.

-...our favorite chicken stock, and our favorite chicken base that you reconstitute at home to make your own chicken stock.

So dig in.

-Alright.

-Or dive in.

These are warmed because -- -Thank you.

-You're welcome.

You're welcome.

They're meant for sipping.

We did do some cooking with them, and if you cook with them, you just get a more intense flavor.

-Oh, interesting.

-So, the idea behind bone broth is that you are using more chicken parts and cooking longer to extract more protein and more collagen.

And the collagen is supposed to have all these health properties.

It's going to make your nails beautiful.

Your hair is going to be nicer.

-I'm a big proponent of collagen, that's for sure.

-And the first thing we noticed was when we read the labels, there's a lot more protein in our top-rated bone broths.

Now, we didn't like all of them.

In fact, some of them were underwhelming, but I only brought the good ones here today.

We found they have as much as two and a half times more protein, so that means more chicken parts and/or longer cooking time to extract the collagen and the protein from those bones.

You may notice it in the mouthfeel.

-Yeah.

-It's going to be a little bit viscous, right?

You will actually be able to taste the protein.

I don't see any grimaces, so... -No.

-No.

This is lovely.

-Yeah.

I actually love drinking bone broth.

It's fantastic.

Warms the bones.

-So, anything that you're noticing in these samples immediately that you're liking?

-I love this one, "B."

-Is that "B"?

Yeah.

I could just sip this all day.

It has some mushroomy flavors.

It has a roasted flavor.

I love it.

Doesn't need a thing.

-Like a little bit of both chicken and beef broth.

-Yeah, I will say our favorite bone broths were pretty simple in terms of ingredient list.

-This one, I'm not getting a lot of flavor out of.

-No, it's quite watery.

These feel like they need more.

They need a little help.

They'd be great in soup.

I feel like -- This one especially.

Quite watery.

-Alright, so, we know what you like, but which one do you think is the bone broth?

-I think this one.

And if not this one, then "D." -Alright.

So you're going with "B" and "D." And what about -- Julia, your votes?

-I'm going to go with "A" and "B" because I feel like these don't need anything.

You can -- I can just sip them happily.

These taste a little on the weaker side, and I would use them in soup.

-Okay.

-Well, you're both right... and you're both wrong.

-[ Laughs ] -♪ Dun-dun-dun!

♪ -"B" and "C"... -Ah!

Interesting.

-...were the bone broths.

Now, I should say "B" is our winning bone broth, from College Inn, had the most protein.

This is the one that you both loved.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-Swanson was the runner-up.

Has a little less protein, but it was the other bone broth that was in the mix.

-Interesting.

-"D" all the way down at the end is our favorite chicken stock.

Now, this is also from Swanson, has half as much protein as their bone broth.

And then "A" is our favorite base.

-Ah!

-This is better than bouillon.

It does, I think, have a lot more herby notes in it.

It has sort of less chicken, in my opinion.

That's very convenient because it stays in the refrigerator forever.

So you got one out of two, both of you, when it came to the bone broths.

-Not bad.

-Yeah, but I think we've confirmed I have two fans here for bone broth.

They really both loved our winner, which comes from College Inn.

♪♪ -Tools that help you prep apples are fantastic time-savers.

We found two styles -- crank style, which peels, cores, and/or slices fruit with the turn of a crank... and push style, shaped like a wagon wheel, which cores and slices fruit, leaving the peel on.

Now, this crank style has to have crisp, firm apples that will stay anchored on these prongs, or the machine won't work.

We think both styles have a place in your kitchen.

Our favorite crank style is this one.

The VKP Brands Johnny Apple Peeler, Suction Base.

It's made of cast iron, it's sturdy, and it processes fruit in seconds.

Look at this.

This is absolutely the fastest way to make piles of fruit that are peeled, cored, and evenly sliced and ready to bake.

Now, we also have two recommended push-style models.

The Norpro Grip-Ez Fruit Wedger.

16 slices with base.

Cores and slices apples into 16 narrow slices.

The beauty of this one is it has a little base.

You line up the arrows, and you push it down, and it releases all of the pieces perfectly.

And, then, this one -- the OXO Good Grips Apple Divider.

This one cores and slices apples into eight chunky wedges.

Both of these are sturdy and sharp and make it easy to core and cut apples into convenient pieces.

♪♪ -Some of the best recipes were born out of hard times, like the Québécois dish called pouding chômeur.

Now, this dish came about during the Great Depression.

"Chômeur" refers to an unemployed person.

And the original recipes featured stale bread, milk, brown sugar.

But the more decadent versions that you'll find today are creamy, maple-y, and feature a butter-rich cake.

Now, it's a pudding cake, so we're going to get some magic along the way, and "The Magic Man" is here to show us how it's done.

Hi, Keith.

-Hey.

This is a really fun dessert to make.

And the way you make it is you start with a batter in a cake pan, and then you pour maple syrup and cream over that.

And when you bake it, if you get the formula just right, those ingredients invert, and you have a yellow cake on top of a molten pool of maple syrup.

It's absolutely delicious.

-Unbelievable.

-But you have to get the formula right.

That's the important thing.

So, I'm going to start with our maple and cream mixture.

I have 1 cup of dark maple syrup here.

You can use any type of maple syrup here, but dark is better.

-Okay.

-Because it's going to contrast against the yellow cake, and it has a tendency to have more flavor, too.

And 1 cup of heavy cream.

Now, the ratio of 1 cup of cream to 1 cup of maple syrup is pretty important here.

We want to make sure that it's viscous enough to kind of stay on top at the beginning but also fall underneath the cake when it bakes.

-Okay.

-So, I also have 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

This is going to make sure that we kind of temper a little bit of that sweetness.

-Yeah, there was a lot of sweetness that just went into that pot.

-So I'm just going to turn this on medium heat.

We're just going to let this come up to a simmer.

And the reason why we want to warm it up is we want to make sure that the maple and cream are mixed together well, but, also, if it's a little looser, it will be easier to pour on top of our cake batter.

-Okay.

-That will take 5 minutes.

This has come up to a simmer and we're just going to shut this off, and I'm going to take a whisk.

Okay.

So that's perfect.

And I'm just going to take this and pour it into a 2-cup liquid measure.

And this is only to facilitate pouring it over the batter later on.

-Gotcha.

-Okay.

So, a lot of recipes we found started with a batter that was creamed, so you get a really nice, tender crumb, but it's also quite fine.

Since this is a rustic dish, we decided to forego the creaming and use a muffin method or a quick-bread method of just kind of folding wet into dry ingredients.

-Great.

So no electric mixer.

No creaming butter and sugar together.

-No.

A lot simpler.

So, I have 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour in here.

I'm going to add 3 tablespoons of sugar.

Not a lot of sugar.

We don't need that much.

Since we have a cup of maple syrup there, we don't need a lot of sugar in the cake.

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder.

That's going to provide some lift.

And 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

I'm just going to whisk this together.

Okay.

So that's our dry ingredients.

Now for the wet ingredients.

I have 2/3 cup of milk.

We don't want anything too, too rich here.

We have cream over there.

-Oh, right.

Right.

-So we don't need that much fat here.

So, I have 2 eggs here.

And just 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

That will play really well with that maple syrup.

A lot of recipes we found used just one egg, and it actually works really well, but we actually found, by using two eggs, we get a little bit more structure in that cake.

And actually when it bakes up above the maple syrup, it's a little bit more open, it's a little bit more airy.

Now we can just go into our dry ingredients.

Simple as this.

-Easy, easy.

Loving it.

-I'm just going to mix this together until it's just smooth.

We don't want to overmix this, but we do want to get it well incorporated.

Okay.

One final ingredient.

And that is melted butter.

So I have 6 tablespoons of melted butter here.

Again, we changed the ratios of a lot of the recipes that we found.

It works well with four, and you get a nice, tender, rich cake, but we're actually going to use 6 tablespoons.

And those 2 additional tablespoons of butter are going to waterproof our cake a little bit so it doesn't mix with the maple cream mixture and we have a nice, distinct layer.

-Great.

You do not have to sell me on more butter or more eggs, ever.

-So I'm just going to whisk this all together until it's smooth.

-Easy.

Okay.

So, our batter is nice and smooth.

It's okay if we have a couple lumps in there.

It's not a big deal.

-That was easy.

-Okay.

So I'm just going to transfer this over to an 8-inch baking dish.

We're not going to spray this or anything like that.

We found that spraying it was going to inhibit some of the inversion of the layers.

So we just want to pour this in.

And we like glass because it's going to insulate the cake a little bit more.

We're going to serve this warm, so we want to keep it warm.

And if you can use metal, it's fine, but it will cool off quicker.

-Plus, it's a pudding cake.

You want to see what's going on.

-Exactly.

And you can see that this batter is fairly thick.

-Right.

-It's leveling out, but I'm just going to help it a little bit.

We want this to be fairly thick right now because we want the maple cream to stay on top of the cake when we pour it in here, so having a little bit of a thicker batter is exactly what we want.

And now it's time to pour the maple cream over the top.

Now, this is some place where you want to have some patience.

You don't want to just dump all that on top and then subvert all the maple syrup underneath that cake.

-Okay.

-So we're going to do this really slow.

So, you can pour it down the edge of the cake pan, into the corner, and let it kind of flow over the top.

Another thing I like to use is the back of a spoon, like the back of a serving spoon, and then you can pour that over it, and it just makes it a little bit more diffuse and you don't pour it right down onto the cake.

-Expertly done.

Look at that flood!

Well, that's why you have that really thick cake batter, because if it was thinner, even with all this careful patience, it would still just all blend together.

-That's right.

It takes a while, doesn't it?

-I've been to more exciting magic shows, that's for sure.

-[ Laughs ] Perfect.

-Lovely.

You can see our perfect layers right there.

Fingers crossed, this will invert in the oven.

-I know it will.

-So, I'm going to bake this in a 375-degree oven and have the rack about 6 inches from the broiler, or the top of the oven.

And the idea is that we want heat to reflect off the top onto the top of the cake as it comes up through that maple syrup.

And that heat will brown the top of the cake nicely.

So I'm going to bake this 6 inches from the broiler for 30 to 35 minutes in a 375-degree oven.

-Okay.

Pouding chômeur is not only a real treat to eat, but it's also a very cool baking trick.

Here's how it works.

We add two components to the pan separately -- the cake batter, which contains milk, flour, baking powder, and eggs... and a sauce made of cream and maple syrup.

The fat and sugar in the sauce are both less dense than water in the batter, so the sauce floats on top of the batter.

But when the heat activates the baking powder, it leavens the batter, which expands and sets into a porous, fluffy cake.

That cake is now much less dense, so it floats to the top of the liquid sauce.

And that's the magic of pouding chômeur and all pudding cakes.

[ Sniffs ] -Ooh!

-Ohh!

-Beautiful.

-Thanks.

Oh, the cake.

Yes.

-You can see that heat has reflected off the top and browned the cake nicely.

Bubbling around the edges.

Okay, so, we're just going to take a toothpick and test this before we say it's completely done.

You don't want to go all the way down into the cake because then you'll pick up the maple syrup, so you just really want to get that cake batter.

So -- No crumbs, so that means it's perfectly cooked.

Now, we just want to let this cool for 10 minutes before we scoop it out and eat.

So, we've given this 10 minutes to cool.

Now it's time to eat.

Now, I also want to say you don't want to let this cool for too, too long because what will happen is that maple cream will start to absorb into the bottom of the cake and you won't have those nice layers.

So 10 minutes is the max.

-Alright.

You don't have to tell me twice.

-Maybe 11.

-Maybe 11.

Alright.

You're pushing it, Magic Man.

-Nice healthy portion here.

And we want to invert it over.

-Ohh!

-And then just get in there.

-[ Gasps ] Oh, my gosh.

-Mm-kay.

That's your portion.

Smells like heaven.

-Like what breakfast in paradise smells like.

-So, I have one last addition.

I'm going to spoon some crème fraîche over this.

Crème fraîche adds a little bit of richness, not like we need it, but it also adds a little bit of tang, and it will kind of temper that sweetness.

-Before we eat, I got to say I love desserts that look like this.

In general, the desserts that look "comfortable," I'm going to say, are the best ones.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-I agree.

-That's heavenly.

-The absolute best portion of this are the edges where it's a little crisp... -Oh, yeah.

-...and that maple has browned.

It's perfect.

-Mmm!

The cake itself is so tender.

It's almost like a really gorgeous pancake.

That fluffy interior.

Super light and fluffy.

You'd never think that the cake like this would get that fluffy underneath that beautiful flood of maple cream.

-It is a great cake, isn't it?

-Oh!

It's a gorgeous cake and very magical.

-Yeah, I'm going to make that whole plate disappear pretty soon.

-[ Laughs ] Well, not this whole plate.

You're going to want to get your own plate to make this beautiful pouding chômeur at home.

Use the right amount of butter and eggs to make a thick cake batter.

Pour an equal amount of cream and maple syrup all over the batter... and then invert the cake when serving to showcase that saucy top.

From "America's Test Kitchen," the decadent but so-simple-to-make pouding chômeur.

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

And those are all on our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

♪♪ Sinister.

-Sinister.

-Mmm!

-That's a good description for this.

-Yes!

-Hm.

-No smoke and mirrors.

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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.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪