America's Test Kitchen

-Welcome to "America's Test Kitchen" at home.

Today, I'm making an easy recipe for pan-seared strip steaks, Adam's showing us how to be nice to our nonstick, Lisa shares her favorite cleaning tools, and Dan's making a beautiful beet salad.

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

-A thick, juicy steak cooked to perfection needs little, if any, adornment, and I'm going to prove that today.

We're making beautifully pan-seared strip steaks.

Now, you want to buy steaks that weigh between 12 to 16 ounces apiece.

And these are about 1 1/2 inches thick.

That's perfect for our needs today.

Nice and thick and juicy.

One of the great things about strip steaks is the amount of marbling.

It means beautiful flavor.

Now, we don't need to trim too much of this fat off, but we do want to just get a little bit, and I'm just going to shave off a little of this thicker part.

But we don't want to go too crazy here.

Leave on some of that fat.

I'm going to do the same to this.

And the only other thing I need to do is sprinkle each side with a teaspoon of kosher salt.

Now, these are going to go into the fridge for at least 45 minutes, but they can stay in there for up to 24 hours in advance because the salt is going to start to draw out some of those beef juices and then work its way into the meat.

And it needs 45 minutes for that salt to work its way through.

And now I'll just put them on this quarter sheet tray.

You can also put them on a plate.

I'm going to go put these in the fridge.

It's time to cook the steaks, and they've been salting for about 45 minutes.

So you can see there's a little bit of surface moisture here.

I want to get rid of that because surface moisture is the enemy of producing a really nice brown crust.

And that's what we want.

We want a really good, developed brown crust with a nice, rosy interior.

So let me flip these over.

Got to pat the tray, as well, so we don't put it back down onto a wet tray.

That's good enough.

Again, they're seasoned with salt.

I do want to hit them with some pepper, a teaspoon of pepper.

Working out of a little bowl here so I don't contaminate my pepper mill.

All right.

So this is where things get a little bit different.

And I got to give credit to my friend Andrew, who came up with this ingenious method.

It really has saved my bacon when it comes to cooking steaks.

And it means I don't have to clean up all of that oil splatter all over my kitchen.

So we're going to put these steaks right into a nonstick skillet that is cold, and there's no oil in the pan.

This really is breaking all of the rules.

Usually, we'll preheat a pan, we'll put some oil in that, wait till that oil starts to smoke before we add the steaks.

But, again, you get all of that splatter.

And I'm going to turn this to high at this point.

We're going to cook these over high heat for two minutes a side, but since we started off in a cold skillet, it means that the steaks can warm up gradually.

We're not going to get a really thick band of gray around the perimeter.

There's no oil in the pan.

You can already hear some of that fat rendering out of the steaks.

There's just enough for them to cook in that fat.

And then, finally, it's a nonstick skillet.

So any fond that is formed is going to stick to the steaks and not the pan.

[ Timer dings ] Time's up.

Time to flip.

All right, second side.

Yeah, that's not looking great at this point.

I'm going to start the timer again, two minutes, and we're going to let it go over high for another two minutes before we flip again.

[ Timer dings ] Time to flip.

So, we're going to flip again.

Ah, you can see some of that browning happening.

There we go.

The pan's a little bit hotter.

But I am going to turn it down to medium.

You want to start to build that crust.

And we don't want to really blast it with heat at this point.

So, another two minutes.

Boy, when you time two minutes, it's a long time.

[ Timer dings ] It's flipping time.

That is gorgeous.

I'm going to continue to flip these every two minutes, and I want to cook them until they register between 120 and 125.

That's how I like it.

Nice and medium-rare.

It's always a good idea to take the temperature a few times just to see where you are.

And always pay more attention to your thermometer and the interior temperature of the meat than the recipe timing.

Yeah, we got a ways to go here.

Let's flip these over.

And you can see, every time I flip them over, they just start to look better and better.

And you can see that that top is sizzling.

Now, that's a good example and a reason why I'm flipping these over every two minutes.

Both the bottom is getting heated and the top that was just flipped over is still hot.

So you're literally cooking these steaks from the bottom up and the top down.

Let's flip them over and then take the temp again.

I mean, come on, we're really building these beautiful crusts here.

Now check the temp on each of these.

Nice and steamy.

This one was just slightly thinner, just a tad, so I'm going to take it out.

That's the beauty of this method, as well.

Just really want to take the steaks out as they get to your preferred doneness.

If you have people over that like them a little bit more well done, just leave the other steak in the skillet for a couple of minutes more.

All right.

Let's check this last steak in the pan.

That one's mine.

Now, before I tuck into these and slice them, want to let them rest for a good five minutes.

That's really important any time that you're cooking meat, especially over a relatively high heat, because you want to allow the meat to relax a little bit so they can reabsorb the juices.

So five minutes and then it's steak time.

All right, it is time to cut into these steaks.

Again, rested five minutes.

Still, it's going to be a little bit of juice coming out, but that's all right.

So, just want to slice these nice and thin.

There's that beautiful, juicy, rosy center.

Oh.

This looks absolutely gorgeous.

All right, so, now, I can get some of this onto my plate.

A really good steak needs very little adornment.

That's why we're slicing them before we serve them.

So you can hit it with a little bit of flake sea salt.

You can use coarse sea salt, as well.

But that way, you get a little bit of salt on every bite.

All right.

I mean, very juicy here.

Incredibly beefy.

Beautifully cooked.

That crust is amazing.

It really is so full of flavor.

Just gets better and better with each bite.

It really is one of the best ways that you can cook steaks at home.

And you're going to want to make this at home, so remember these keys.

Start the steaks in a cold, nonstick skillet, turn this to high heat and flip every two minutes, and then lower the heat to finish cooking the steaks through.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen" at home, a mess-free, worry-free way to pan sear strip steaks.

-Metal utensils are a bad idea for nonstick cookware because they can scratch and nick the surface.

Instead, you're going to want to use nonstick-friendly nylon, silicone, or other nonmetal utensils.

And I brought four of our favorite ones.

They're all around $15.

Let's start with this spatula.

This is the Matfer Bourgeat Exoglass Pelton Spatula.

And you can see that the shape, the head, is sort of long and narrow with a wide edge.

This mimics the shape of our favorite fish spatula.

It's also got a nice, thin leading edge.

So it will slide under whatever you're sauting for an easy drama-free flip or turn.

If you're going to be scraping or folding or stirring, you want a different type of spatula.

You want a flexible silicone spatula.

We like the DI ORO Living Seamless Silicone Spatula.

This is the large size.

It's great for a couple of reasons.

It's got a generously sized head that's firm enough for a lot of scraping on the bottom of the pan and folding and turning over.

You can see that it's got a rounded corner which fits beautifully into the rounded edges of a pan to get stuff at the edges.

Tongs are an often-used kitchen utensil, and if you use ones that have bare metal pincers, again, you can scrape up your nonstick.

So you want to get them that have silicone-coated pincers.

That's the head end here.

These are the OXO Good Grips 12-inch tongs with silicone heads.

Also silicone on the handle.

A great degree of tension.

Testers love these tongs.

Nonstick friendly.

Last, you may want to consider a nonstick-friendly whisk, especially if you make sauces that have a roux base or you like to whisk some butter into a pan sauce to finish it.

This is the OXO Good Grips silicone balloon whisk.

Testers liked it because these wires, which are all coated with silicone, were firm enough to really get in there and mix a roux into the liquid that you're adding, but they were also flexible enough to get a lot of air into an egg mixture if you're whipping it around to aerate it.

So this is a very good idea.

Do me a favor -- please, be nice to your nonstick.

-Sometimes the right equipment makes a surprisingly big difference, like with cleaning up your kitchen.

I have a few items here that may seem simple and basic, and they're anything but.

Each one is a "Test Kitchen" winner in its own category.

First, the humble kitchen sponge.

This one is the O-Cedar Scrunge, and it knocked us all out.

This performed so much better than typical sponges.

One side is very heavily textured with ripples, so that can really scrub.

The overall size is just right.

It's substantial to hold but small and flexible enough to get into small spaces.

It absorbs like a champ and it stayed looking good throughout testing.

Another lifesaver -- our favorite all-purpose cleaner by Method.

Now, the powerful natural surfactants in this spray quickly break up dirt and grease.

It wipes clean with no streaks or stickiness, and it leaves just a light scent, no horrible fumes.

I use it on everything.

I put it on the countertops, the stove, the sink, cabinets, appliances.

It really works.

Next, we've loved these dish towels from Williams-Sonoma for a long time, and believe it or not, they actually get better and softer with lots of hard use.

This is one that I've had for almost 10 years.

And it looks as good as these new ones.

Now, they're pretty big.

They're not enormous.

And they actually absorb lots of moisture, unlike other dish towels we've tested.

They're 100% cotton and they come in this cute little package of four.

So it's a nice gift.

Now, finally, I'm a bit embarrassed by how much I love my kitchen trash can by simplehuman.

Mine is 10 years old, and it's held up beautifully.

This can is trim and it's sturdy.

It holds standard 13-gallon kitchen trash bags nice and snug, so they never sag.

The top opens with a pedal, and that's great when you're cooking and have your hands full.

And it softly closes itself.

You can also prop it open with this little switch.

Best of all, trash odors stay in, and it's brushed steel surface stays neat.

This can's a little bit pricey, but it's worth it.

With any of these better-than-basic items, it's much easier to keep your kitchen clean.

-Beets are definitely one of those love-it-or-hate-it vegetables.

I will argue against people who hate beets any day of the week.

I think they're awesome.

They're lusciously sweet when they're cooked right.

They're beautifully tender with a little bit of snap to them.

The one thing I won't argue against is that they take a really long time to cook.

Most of the time we cook beets, we throw them in an oven, leave them there for at least an hour just to get them tenderized, which is pretty unique for a vegetable.

We're actually going to speed things up significantly today using our microwave and a couple of other cool tricks to make a really beautiful salad.

And we're going to start, obviously, with the beets.

Now, at the supermarket, there are roughly three choices for beets that you're going to find.

You can find golden beets, like this one here, which have a really stunning yellow color inside.

A little bit of that striated look to it there.

They have almost a carrot-like sweetness.

They're really, really nice in certain applications.

We also have our Chioggia, or candy stripe beets, and these definitely win awards for most beautiful beet.

That's striation is awesome.

The only thing here is, while they're wonderful raw, when they cook, they actually turn to kind of an even pink color.

So you lose a little bit of that drama there.

We're actually going to set these aside and today use classic red beets, which are going to give our salad the most kind of vibrant, punchy color.

And so I have about two pounds of red beets here.

And before I prep them, I'm actually going to throw on some rubber gloves.

If you don't mind your fingers getting stained, you don't have to do this.

It's just a nice way to keep the stains off my fingers.

Okay, so now we've got these peeled.

I'm just going to trim them, and I like to take off a little off the top, especially if it's got one of these little stems poking out.

And then, a little bit off the root end, which can be just a little bit tougher.

And I'm going to cut them up into 3/4-inch chunks.

Beautiful.

So now we have our 3/4-inch cut beets.

I'm actually going to steam these beets in the microwave.

That's the fastest way to cook them once they've been cut up.

So I've got 1/3 of a cup of water here.

Because we're cooking them in a closed environment with just a little bit of water, we can actually season them really nicely.

So I'm going to include half a teaspoon of table salt, as well.

And I'll just stir this around, make sure salt is evenly distributed.

I'm going to cover it with a plate.

I'm going to microwave these beets on high power, 25 to 30 minutes, until the beets are nice and tender and have almost no resistance when poked with a paring knife.

Beets can easily handle 30 minutes in the microwave, whereas other root vegetables like carrots would totally turn to mush.

Now here is why beets can handle the heat.

As vegetables cook, the pectin that cements the cell walls to each other dissolves.

This allows the cells to separate from each other, which softens the structure of the vegetable.

Beets, however, contain a compound called ferulic acid.

Ferulic acid strengthens the bonds between the pectin molecules so that the cellular cement is harder to dissolve.

That's why beets require such a long cooking time to soften.

And beets aren't the only vegetable that are rich in ferulic acid.

Lotus root and bamboo shoots also contain it, and that helps give them a crunchy texture.

So it's been 25 minutes.

We're going to check and see if our beets are tender.

This is really hot, so you want to make sure that you carefully remove the plate.

I like to use side towels the whole time.

And then, using a paring knife, we're going to go in and make sure we get very little to no resistance when we poke a beet.

Great.

So those are nice and tender.

Now I'm just going to drain them and cool completely in the colander here before we incorporate them into the salad.

So, while those beets cool, I'm going to put together a nice, spiced, really, really flavorful, creamy yogurt dressing.

It's going to balance beautifully with those beets.

And we're going to start with some ginger.

So I'm just going to use my spoon to peel off a bit here, get the skin off.

This is a nice way to do it.

You don't really remove all that much of the ginger.

You can obviously use a paring knife here if you prefer.

Looking for about 2 teaspoons.

And I'm going to use a rasp-style grater.

And we use this for a bunch of the prep.

It just makes a really quick job of getting things to a nice fine paste.

Great.

Next, I'm going to get some garlic into my dressing.

I'm just going to use a clove, and you can mince this by hand.

You can use a garlic press.

I've already got the rasp grater dirty.

Next up on the rasp is a lime.

So the acidity in the dressing is going to come, obviously, from the yogurt, but also lime juice, which I really love.

We're going to use both the zest and the juice.

So I'm looking for about a teaspoon of zest.

I like a lot of lime flavor, so I'm going to really pack in this teaspoon.

Beautiful.

That goes into my bowl.

And at least a tablespoon or more of juice.

So I'm just going to roll this to get the juices going.

Cut in half and juice.

And you always want to zest first and then do your juicing.

So for the dressing, I'm going to do a tablespoon right into there, and I'm going to save the rest of this.

We're going to use it to season the beets and the greens as we go.

Next up, I'm going to work with some cilantro, so I've got some cleaned sprigs here.

And I'm looking for about 4 tablespoons total.

And we're going to use them in a couple of different ways.

So, for cilantro, you can eat the entire thing.

The stems are delicious all the way down.

They obviously get a little bit tougher as they go, but for the most part, they're nice and tender.

Just mince from the top down until I feel like I have about what I need.

3 tablespoons are going to go into my dressing bowl.

And I'm going to save the final tablespoon for sprinkling on the top as a nice garnish.

I really love yogurt and spices together, and so we're going to use two of my favorites -- I have coriander and cumin.

We're going to use 1/2 teaspoon of each.

I'm also going to add about 1/4 of a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper.

I'm going wild.

I'm just going to go right into the bowl.

And 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

So now it's time for some richness in there and a lot of creaminess, and that's going to come in the form of both extra virgin olive oil and some Greek yogurt.

I'm going to start with the extra virgin olive oil.

I'm going to add 2 tablespoons.

And now Greek yogurt.

So this is full fat Greek yogurt, which is really key for this recipe.

You need that richness to balance everything out.

And I'm going to do a cup and 1/4.

Okay, so now I'm just going to whisk this together until nice and smooth.

It's really all about packing that dressing with tons of flavor.

It's going to carry that throughout the whole dish.

I'm going to use a little water to thin this out just so that when I spread it on the plate, it lays nice and flat and it's easy to incorporate with every bite.

So that's 3 tablespoons of water.

Now, depending on the type of Greek yogurt you buy, the brand, you may not need all 3 tablespoons of water, but you're trying to get it to basically a regular yogurt consistency, even though it has all that other stuff in there.

We want a salad like this to offer lots of different components in terms of different textures and flavors.

And one thing that we're going to add here is some toasted pistachios for crunch and richness.

So I'm going to take 1/4 cup of pistachios into a dry medium skillet, and I'm going to toast them over medium heat, stirring them pretty frequently so they don't burn, for about three to five minutes.

They'll be nice and toasty.

The pistachios are smelling and looking awesome.

I can see lots of nice browning on them and they smell great, so it's time to get them out of the skillet.

So I'm chopping these up so we get nice distribution throughout the salad.

Beautiful.

-When I'm not in the kitchen, I spend a lot of my time woodworking.

Now, like being in the kitchen, woodworking, you need to be very precise and accurate in your measurements.

Now, I've actually found a tool that I use in woodworking that is very useful in the kitchen.

They're called setup bars or setup gauges, and they come in different sizes.

This one right here is a 1-inch high by 2-inches tall by 3-inches wide.

Really good for when you're cutting large pieces of meat for a stew.

These here are 3/4-inch, 1/2-inch, and 1/4-inch.

Really nice when you're making a precise dice with carrots or celery or onions.

And over here, these are 1/8 of an inch and 1/16 of an inch.

Really good when you're slicing something, like a cucumber.

Also very good for when you're rolling out a pie dough.

You can really feel the thickness of the pie dough by running your hand across the pie dough and feeling this measurement, so you'll be perfectly accurate.

So there you have it -- setup guides, which would be great in your kitchen and your woodshop.

-It is finally time to assemble the salad, and I'm getting really excited.

We're working with a green that I really love.

This is cress.

You can get watercress or upland cress.

They're both peppery.

They have an awesome bite that balances everything else out.

I think it's an underused salad green.

So we're going to dress this really, really lightly.

We're going to start with 2 tablespoons of these pistachios that we toasted and chopped up for a little texture.

2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Pinch of salt.

And one teaspoon of our lime juice.

Then gently toss just to coat all of the leaves.

Beautiful.

I'm going to set this aside.

So, in the center of my large plate, I'm just going to put all of my creamy dressing, and then, using the back of a big spoon, just spread it out to the edge.

We could take this creamy dressing, toss it with the beets, and we'd end up with something that looks pretty pink and not that attractive.

What we're going to do is actually layer everything on this dish so that it's beautiful to present.

And then, as you serve and eat it, it all gets mixed.

So I'm putting down the cress here, and this is upland cress, which is a little bit more delicate in texture, but still really peppery in punch.

And that's what's key to this.

Watercress also has the crunch and punch to kind of line up with the beets.

Leave a nice little border, about an inch around the sides.

And now, to the same bowl, going to add our beets.

And we're going to season these beets up really, really simply.

Going to use a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.

Two teaspoons of our lime juice.

So we carry the same flavors throughout every component, make sure they really balance nicely.

And a pinch of salt.

I'll just stir to make sure we're nice and combined.

They look like little jewels now.

I love it when they get that nice shine to them.

Gorgeous.

So now we're just going to put this directly on top of our cress.

Okay, this is starting to look really, really good.

Just a couple final touches.

We're going to go with 2 tablespoons of our toasted pistachios right over the top.

Finally, that one tablespoon of cilantro.

I just had to go all over with that.

And if that isn't the most beautiful beet salad you've ever seen, I want to know where you're eating.

I think it's time to dig in.

I'm going to go in and get a nice big scoop, get that creamy dressing on the bottom, some of that cress, and then some of those nice beets.

Beautiful.

Let's get a little bit of everything.

Mm.

That is so good.

The beets, which are tender after just 25 minutes -- which is pretty crazy -- they're sweet, they're really, really dense and flavorful.

I love the creamy balance with that.

Instead of goat cheese, it's nice to have something different, and that spiced yogurt totally delivers.

That is absolutely delicious.

So the keys to making a great beet salad this way are to microwave the beets and then layer all of the components.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen" at home, an absolutely beautiful and delicious recipe for beet salad with spiced yogurt and watercress.

-Thanks for watching.

You can get all the recipes and product reviews from this season and more on our website.

That's americastestkitchen.com/TV.