America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen"... Julia makes Bridget cataplana, Jack challenges Julia and Bridget to a head-to-head tasting of fish sticks, Dan explores the science behind blanching, and Elle makes Julia garlicky broiled shrimp.

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

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-Along the coastal areas of Portugal's Algarve region, you'll find seafood stews called cataplanas.

Now, they're named for the cooking vessel in which they're made, these beautiful hammered copper pots with a hinged lid that opens up, and you have beautiful seafood stew inside.

Now, there are variations all over the country.

And Julia's here, and she's going to show us a great one that we can make at home, even maybe without this.

-Yes, we will make it more accessible for everyone here in the U.S. And we're going to base our recipe on a classic version that uses clams or amijoas.

Amijoas na cataplana... -Mmm.

-...is the traditional, yeah, one of the classic cataplanas.

And we're going to add a few things to it, liven it up a bit, but using ingredients that you'd find in the region.

-Great.

-So, we're going to start with some onion.

And how you cut the vegetables matter.

We're going to cut them into nice, long, elegant strips.

Now I'm just going to slice it nice and thin.

Halfway through, I always tip it on its side.

-Julia is a human food processor.

-Alright, so that's just one onion.

Now to this, we're going to add a head of fennel.

And to cut the fennel just like the onion, I'm going to lop off the top and the bottom.

-Save that for later.

-Yeah, exactly.

And I'm going to cut right through the middle.

You can see this core here.

I'm just going to use the tip of the knife to cut out the core.

Pop it out.

Now I'm just going to lay it flat, and I'm going to make nice strips.

Now, sometimes I like to peel off the layers and cut them individually... -Mm-hmm.

-...because the outside layers can be a bit thicker.

-Right.

And you had that heart in there.

-Yep.

Alright, so we're just going to slice this again into nice, thin slices.

Alright.

Into the bowl with the onion, this goes, because they're all going to go into the pot at the same time.

-Right.

Great.

-Alright.

We're also going to add one bell pepper.

I always cut it the same way, regardless of what shape it has to wind up in, and that's by lopping off the top and the bottom.

I cut down through the side.

Then I open it up, peel out the core, and then you have this nice, big, flat piece.

You can cut away the ribs very carefully, being mindful of your fingers.

And then if you have this big, flat piece, you can cut it into whatever size or shape you need.

Again, we're going for little match sticks.

Alright.

So that's one bell pepper, into the bowl with everything else.

Moving on to the meat of the stew.

I have some linguia here.

This is 12 ounces of linguia.

In the amijoas na cataplana, which is the classical version, they usually use a local cured meat called presunto.

-Mm-hmm.

-But that can be hard to find here.

Linguia is great.

If you can't find linguia, you could definitely substitute chourio.

-Alright.

-I'm going to cut it up into slightly smaller pieces, into quarters.

That way, they can really render their flavor into the pot.

-And what's great about chourio, linguia, chorizo from Spain, as well... -Mm-hmm.

-...there's a lot of new mail-order sources now.

They're usually frozen or refrigerator-packed, kept cool, so it's a great opportunity to try new dishes.

-12 ounces of linguia.

I'm putting this in a separate bowl, because it's going to go into the pot ahead of these vegetables.

Last, we're going to add a little bit of shrimp.

We're going to use a combination of shrimp and clams.

It tastes delicious.

-Fabulous.

-And the shrimp cook really quickly, which is nice.

-Yes.

-So, we're just going to peel and devein the shrimp.

You want to pull off the peel completely.

And these are 21-25s or extra-large shrimp.

That means there's 21 to 25 per pound.

This is 12 ounces of shrimp.

I'm just going in and pulling out any of that nasty vein that could be there.

You don't want to include that.

Easy way to get rid of it -- Pull it out with a paring knife and wipe it on a paper towel.

Alright, so that's 12 ounces of shrimp.

What I'm going to do is just cut them in half crosswise.

That just makes the pieces a bit smaller.

They fit on the spoon better with everything else.

The shrimp go back in the bowl.

And now what we're going to do is put a little bit of salt on the shrimp.

If you wouldn't mind measuring out just 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

-Alright.

-Right over the top.

-There you go.

-Brilliant.

Now, this salt will do a couple things.

It'll help bring out the shrimp flavor, obviously, 'cause it's salt, but it'll also help the shrimp stay nice and moist as they cook in the stew.

-So if you're using treated shrimp, if that's all you can find, skip this step.

-That's right.

-Okay.

-Alright, so, I'm going to wash my hands, put these in the fridge, and we can get cooking.

Alright.

So, here I have a Dutch oven.

That's what we're going to build our cataplana in.

And I have 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in here.

Been heating up over medium-high heat.

You can see it's starting to shimmer.

First into the pot is the linguia.

-Mmm.

-Yeah.

This is going to cook for about four minutes.

It's going to render some of its fat and flavor and start to get a little brown.

I love this smell, and it gives you a hint of what the final stew's going to taste like.

-Mmm, the spices, the garlic, paprika.

-Mm-hmm.

-Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

-Yep.

So, you said garlic.

We're going to add a little fresh garlic.

This is two cloves.

Going to add it right to the pot through a garlic press.

We're going to add some smoked paprika.

This is 3/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika.

And a little heat, 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

Just want to cook this until they're fragrant, and you smell it.

Oh, you want those flavors to bloom in the oil, and that just doesn't take very long.

-And those flavors are found in the linguia themselves, so you're just amplifying what was already gorgeous.

-Yes.

Alright.

Now time to add the vegetables, the onion, the fennel, the red pepper.

And to this, we're going to add a little bit of salt.

We're going to add 1/2 teaspoon of table salt to help reinforce those flavors, bring out some of that moisture.

-Yes.

-And we're going to cook this still over medium-high heat for about 8 to 10 minutes till the vegetables are nice and softened.

-Okay.

-Alright, so, those vegetables have just another minute or so.

Now we're going to add tomatoes, and tomatoes are a classic ingredient.

But we found when we added the juice in the canned tomatoes, it was just too tomatoey.

It covered up the delicate flavor of the seafood.

So we're going to strain away the juice.

This is a 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes.

Alright.

You can see that's a lot of juice.

-Yes.

We'll make Bloody Marys later.

-Ooh, good call.

Good call.

Alright, so now I'm just going to quickly chop them.

-I'm going to just stir.

-Yeah.

Alright.

Using a bench scraper, just going to transfer the chopped tomatoes right to the pot.

Now we're going to add some white wine, which is very classic, just 1/2 cup of white wine.

And a lot of recipes just use white wine and tomatoes.

We wanted to add a little more liquid to the pot.

So here I'm going to add an 8-ounce bottle of clam juice, and we're going to let this simmer for about five minutes until it's thickened up a bit.

Alright.

This has been simmering for a few minutes.

You can see it's thickened ever so slightly, and that's what you're looking for.

-Okay.

-So, to add the clams, I'm going to crank the heat to high.

This is 3 pounds of littleneck clams, and they're a nice size that cook through evenly in the pot.

And if you use more than 3 pounds, it just overwhelms the pot.

So that's why we're going to add shrimp, to really up our seafood game.

-Fantastic.

-Yeah.

So we're just going to stir these in.

We're going to put the lid on.

We're going to cook them until all the clams have opened.

That takes 5 to 7 minutes.

-Okay, great.

-It's been about 7 minutes.

Oh.

-[ Whistles ] -Oh, they've all opened.

Isn't that lovely?

So now it's time to add the shrimp.

The reason we're adding the shrimp a little later is it would overcook if we let it boil like that.

-Yes.

-And, in fact, I just turned the heat off.

I'm just going to sprinkle the shrimp right over the top, and we're going to let them cook off the heat, just using the residual heat left in the pot and the stew.

And that'll take about five minutes.

Alright, so, lid on.

Heat's off.

Five minutes.

-Five minutes to dinner?

-Mm-hmm.

-Excellent.

[ Sniffs ] Mmm!

-I know.

It is a heavenly smell, isn't it?

-It really is.

-And you can see those shrimp are nice and pink, perfectly cooked through, but they won't be overdone and rubbery.

-Right.

-Which is the benefit of cooking them off the heat.

So, I'm going to add 1/2 cup of chopped parsley and just stir it in nice and gentle.

This also gives me a chance to check out all the clams.

At this point, if any haven't opened, it's time to get rid of them.

-Gotcha.

-All these clams are opened.

We're good to go.

-Mmm.

-Alright.

I'm going to dish you up a healthy bowl.

-Yes.

Gladly.

-[ Chuckles ] Plenty of that linguia.

-Mmm.

-Plenty of clams.

-That gorgeous, gorgeous broth.

-Mm-hmm.

You notice I have some nice, crusty bread here, because dipping the bread in the sauce, it's awesome.

Alright, here's a little bit of lemon if you'd like to squeeze a little lemon over top.

-Fabulous.

Oh, thank you.

-Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

-I'm going to go for one of those shrimp first.

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Sweet and tender.

-Mm-hmm.

Well, it's the flavor of the broth.

It has depth and complexity to it.

Every bite, it just tastes better and better.

-Mmm.

Clams are gorgeous.

-Mm-hmm.

-Perfect size.

-Yay.

-Nice and super tender.

Oh, this is my favorite part, the bread.

And since you insist on the bread, going for it.

-Oh, yeah.

Nice, hearty, crusty bread.

-I have to stop eating long enough to say thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Well, you definitely want to make this beautiful cataplana.

And it starts with building the cataplana with linguia, red pepper, and fennel.

Stir the clams into the sauce and cook them until their shells open.

Add the shrimp and let them sit off heat until they're cooked through.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," a little taste of coastal Portugal, it's cataplana.

Mmm, gorgeous.

-Yeah.

-More bread, please.

-Yeah, isn't the broth incredible?

-I'm not above eating a good fish stick.

Make some coleslaw, a creamy sauce, put it in some tortillas, fish taco night.

-Clever.

-Yeah.

Not all of these are worthy of a good taco.

-I was afraid you were going to say not all these are made with real fish.

[ Both laugh ] -Or are they?

-They're all made with fish.

-Okay.

-So, some of them are quite good.

Others, I'm going to allow you to decide what you think of them.

-[ Laughs ] -So, we baked them according to the package instructions.

Couple things.

We found that the best ones are made with just pollock.

Now, that's the standard fish.

-Interesting.

Right.

-The winner, in fact, comes -- They're using Alaska pollock.

Brands that had multiple fish -- -Mm-hmm.

-And in fact, there was one that tasters described as breaded, fried canned tuna.

-What?

-[ Laughs ] -Interesting.

-It didn't have tuna in it, but it was really oily and fishy.

-Ah.

-And so, like, that's not actually what you want in a fish stick.

You want a mild fish.

-Found it.

-Yep.

-[ Chuckles ] -Same.

-Some of these are made with whole fish that's sliced and then breaded and par-fried.

A lot of them are made with minced fish.

And I assumed, oh, isn't the sliced fish going to be better than the minced fish?

No.

-Not necessarily.

-We have two co-winners.

One was sliced fish.

One was minced fish.

So, you can actually see the flakes in the one that's made... -Yeah.

-...with the sliced fish.

But honestly, from a flavor perspective, you'd never know unless somebody told you.

Probably the most important factor was the breading.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we had thought at first it was the amount of breading.

So we scraped all the breading off, weighed the breading to the fish, like, and they were all the same.

So we're like, oh, it wasn't the amount of breading.

It was the amount of toasting in the breading.

-Mm.

-Because when we noticed when the packages came out of the freezer, some of them looked more toasty than others.

And either they're pre-toasting those crumbs, or maybe they're par-frying a little bit longer.

And so the better it looks when it comes out of the freezer, the better it's going to look when it gets on the plate.

-This tastes like elementary school to me, and that's a great thing.

Like, these are the fish sticks I remember.

These are the fish sticks I feel like I grew up with.

I'm loving them.

I actually like this one, as well.

This one has a little bit more of a fresh fish taste... -Okay.

-...if one can have a fresh fish taste here.

This -- You mentioned tuna right as I was biting into it, and I was like, "That is the actual whole sandwich.

They toasted the bread.

They have the mayonnaise, the tuna.

It's all in there."

Not my cup of tea.

-It's a fish croquette.

-Marketing.

And this particular one, the fish itself is fine.

Actually, I don't mind it at all.

But the coating is a little -- I like the crispiness here, and this is a little too tough for me.

-Okay.

And Miss Julia?

-Well, originally I liked this one, 'cause I broke it open, and I could see the flakes, but the flavor of it actually has sort of an oniony, old garlicky flavor.

It could be from the freezer.

And the coating is just a little stale.

This one I must have liked, because it's gone.

-Yeah.

-And that tells me a lot right there.

And this one, this one I liked, too.

You said elementary school.

-Mm-hmm.

-And there's something very nostalgic about this.

It didn't offend me in any which way.

I could have easily eaten a bunch of those.

So I'm thinking probably my favorite was C. I wish I could taste more of it.

-I'm actually going to go with D as my favorite, because it just really pulled me all the way back to sixth grade.

-Alright, let's go in order.

Let's start with A.

So A is here in the front.

This is Pacific.

This is a gluten-free option.

You know, a lot of kids get fish sticks... -Right.

-...so we wanted to try a gluten-free.

It's got a corn and rice coating.

And we felt like the coating wasn't ideal, but it was acceptable.

-Sure.

-And the fish was nice.

-Yeah, fish was great.

-So, B, the one that I think elicited the most negative comments, tasters agree with you.

This is the one that's got five fish in it.

And let's just say one fish is better than five fish.

-Oh.

Mm.

-It's really fishy and oily and not in a good way.

-Yeah.

-C, so, this is from Gorton's, and this is the one that's made with whole fish that they slice.

It's a co-winner.

And so you have high-class taste.

And D, you mentioned what you had in grade school.

This is our other co-winner from Gorton's.

-Makes sense.

I have low-class taste.

-I was going to say you're old fashioned, my dear.

-There we go.

There we go.

-Come on, you know?

And this is made with minced fish.

I'm assuming that if your elementary school was anything like mine, they weren't paying the big bucks to get sliced fish.

-Not in landlocked West Virginia, that's for sure.

-Both of these products from Gorton's are made with wild-caught Alaska pollock, and both excellent choices.

It will make a good taco.

-That's what I was thinking.

-Yeah.

So there you have it.

Buy either one of the Gorton's.

You can go fancy, or you can go simple.

-I think he called me old.

-I heard it.

-This juicy piece of watermelon is full of air.

If we place it in a vacuum sealer, we can pull some of that air out.

[ Machine whirring ] [ Machine hissing ] Just look at that dramatic color change.

It goes from a pale red to a very deep red.

Why is that?

All of that air separates the pigmented portions of watermelon.

So once it's gone, we have more concentrated and saturated color.

The same thing happens when we blanch green vegetables in boiling water.

Here is some raw baby spinach.

And here is some straight out of boiling water.

It's much darker green.

So it's not that the chlorophyll has changed in some way, but rather that the air that made the cells cloudy and opaque has been forced out, so you can see the chlorophyll more clearly.

Now that you know this, you may think about blanching a bit differently, especially when making a crudit platter.

Even if you don't need to tenderize a vegetable, like, say, snap peas, even a 15-second dip in boiling water can take them from drab to dreamy.

-Garlicky broiled shrimp.

Need I say more?

Take it away, Elle.

-You need not say more.

-Mnh-mnh.

-The only thing you need for this recipe is to have the right shrimp.

-That makes sense.

-Yeah.

You need extra-large shrimp.

-Mm-hmm.

-And that's about 21-25 count.

-Yep.

-Okay.

So, all we have to do is peel and devein these shrimp.

-Mm-hmm.

-Right?

-Gorgeous.

-I'm going to take my deveining scissors.

-Oh, I love those.

-And just cut down the back like so.

It's a little bit more work, but I think it's totally worth it.

-Agreed.

-I'm going to take my paring knife and kind of look for the vein.

This one's pretty clean.

-Mm-hmm.

-Right?

-Nice.

-Good to go.

So, we have 1 1/2 pounds... -Mm-hmm.

-...of extra-large shrimp.

I'm leaving the tail on if I didn't mention that.

-Oh, I like the tails.

It gives you something to hang onto while you eat.

-Yeah.

You know I love to have a little handle on my food.

-[ Laughs ] -Alright, so, we have all of our shrimp peeled and deveined, tails still on.

So, I'm just adding 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.

Now, in the test kitchen, we prefer untreated shrimp.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we suggest that you buy untreated shrimp.

But in the event that you have shrimp that is treated, you would skip the salt step altogether.

-Makes sense.

-Yeah.

Alright, so, I'm just going to toss the salt into the shrimp and then let it sit for about 15 to 30 minutes.

-Okay.

-Okay, so now we're going to make our delicious, garlic-based sauce.

-Mmm.

-I'm starting with 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and to it, I'm going to add 1 tablespoon of honey.

That really helps for browning.

And it's just going to go in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds or until the butter's melted.

Right, I'm going to cover it with some plastic wrap.

This is just to keep all the butter in the bowl, not in your microwave.

-Yeah.

-Alright, I'm just going to go pop this in the microwave.

Alright.

That was a quick melt.

-Mm-hmm.

-Take this plastic off.

We want it to cool a bit, but not before adding six cloves of garlic... -[ Whistles ] -...that I grated in a rasp-style grater.

Alright.

All that goes in.

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

-Oh, a little sweet, little spicy.

-Yeah.

-And a lot of garlic.

-A lot of garlic.

-Oh, you can smell it when the garlic hits that warm butter.

-It smells great.

Alright, so this just needs to cool for about five minutes, and in that time, we can start to get all of our equipment ready to cook our shrimp.

-Sounds good.

-Alright.

Alright, so it's been about 15 minutes.

-Mm-hmm.

-And our shrimp is salted appropriately, and we do need to dry off some of that moisture, though.

-Yeah, you can see how glossy they got.

-Yeah.

-A lot of moisture did come out of the shrimp.

-So I'm simply just going to put these on a paper-towel-lined plate.

-Mm-hmm.

-Right?

And try to lay them out as flat as possible so that they all can get dried.

Right?

Alright.

So, I'm going to use a paper towel just to absorb some of that moisture.

So, I'm going to put it back in the bowl.

Alright, and so I'm going to pour our garlicky butter sauce on top of the shrimp.

-Mm-hmm-hmm-hmm.

-Yeah.

This is when the fun starts.

This recipe actually starts to go really fast from here, so it's best to have, like, all of your equipment set up and ready to go.

So, I'm tossing the shrimp in the sauce.

It's very, very important that each shrimp gets covered.

-Okay.

-Were you savoring the moment?

-Yeah, it smells delicious.

-Savoring the flavor?

Yeah.

-This is my kind of shrimp right here.

-Yeah, this is next-level.

Okay, so now it's time to get our shrimp in the oven.

I have here a foil-lined sheet tray with a wire rack on top.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're just going to line these shrimp on here with a little bit of space in between.

They don't need too much.

-The foil's just for easy cleanup, I'm guessing.

-That's right.

I love how the garlic is sticking to the shrimp.

It just lets me know that I'm in for a flavor party, and everyone's invited.

So I'm just going to continue to line them up.

A little space in between.

Alright, so these are ready to go into the oven.

I have my oven set to broil.

I have the rack set about 4 inches from the broiler element.

-Ooh, that's nice and close.

-Yeah, yeah, and they're only going to go in for about 3 to 5 minutes.

-Mm, okay.

-Alright, so let's go.

-Ooh!

-That looks so amazing.

-That looks fantastic.

-They are nice and pinkish still.

They're plump and lightly charred.

They're ready to go.

-Alright.

-Now, if you were serving this as an appetizer, you could serve up to six people.

But if you were serving it for dinner, it serves about four.

-Or two.

-Or two.

Yep.

Yep.

-[ Sniffs ] Oh, the smell is amazing.

-Alright.

-Mmm!

Let's eat.

-It's bountiful.

It is bountiful.

Alright, so, I'm just going to hit it with a little lemon splash.

Oh, yeah.

-Ohh.

-[ Chuckles ] -My mouth is watering.

-Friends first.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I can't wait to eat these.

-Alright.

Going in.

-Going in.

Oh.

-Mmm!

-So good.

-Mm-hmm.

The shrimp are perfectly cooked.

They're cooked through, but they're still juicy.

They're not rubbery.

-Yeah.

-And the flavor.

You get garlic first and then a blast of heat, and then you have that soothing honey finish.

-This is great, but you can get other variations of this recipe on our website.

-Mm!

Elle, these are fantastic.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So, if you want to make these incredibly easy and garlicky shrimp, start by tossing the shrimp with salt and letting them sit for 15 to 30 minutes.

Coat the shrimp in a garlic and honey butter and broil them for 3 to 5 minutes.

From "America's Test Kitchen," the final word on garlicky broiled shrimp.

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

"Serves six."

[ Both laugh ] Mmm.

Let us help you with dinner tonight.

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