America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen," we're cooking sous-vide.

Dan shows Julia a perfect recipe for herb-crusted roast beef.

Adam reveals his top pick for handheld vacuum sealers.

Lisa reviews funnels, and Julia makes Bridget the perfect crme brle.

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

-Sous-vide is a cooking technique that uses a precise water temperature to cook foods through perfectly and make recipes foolproof.

We often use it for things like poached eggs or the ultimate steak, but there are a handful of recipes that can only be done with sous-vide, like a medium-rare pot roast, which is what Dan's going to show us how to make today.

-So, Julia, chuck roast is one of the beefiest cuts on the cow.

Right?

We absolutely love it.

We grind it into burgers.

We make pot roast out of it.

You'd never in a million years imagine that we would put it as the centerpiece on a holiday table, right?

-No, because if you cook it medium rare, it would be tough and chewy.

-Right.

So what we're going to do, through the power of sous-vide, which is really, really amazing, is we're going to cook this thing medium rare edge to edge.

It's going to be as tender as prime rib, but it's going to be even beefier.

So, we're going to start with a five-pound chuck roast here, and it often has a layer of fat down the middle.

And the meat will actually pull apart at these natural seams pretty easily.

You kind of start separating with your hands a little bit, and you can see it right there.

Then I just grab my knife, and I'm going to use the knife as little as I need to, basically.

A lot of pulling.

That means it will come apart perfectly at that seam.

We'll just separate it out, and really the only reason we're doing this is we want to access these pockets of fat and get rid of some of the bigger ones.

Beautiful.

That looks great.

So another really nice benefit of taking this apart here is we're going to season this with salt, and this gives us a ton more surface area to season.

So I have 4 teaspoons of kosher salt, and I'm just going to let it rain down all over this guy.

So what I'm going to do is put this back together now.

I'm going to set this aside and get my strings ready.

So we're going to tie this back together.

There's a lot of ways to do it.

I like to lay it out ahead of time, and then you just pop your roast on top of it.

We want about an inch apart.

So now I'm going to put the roast presentation side down.

And then I'm going to start in the middle, I'm going to come up and over, and then I'm going to do a double twist.

A nice secure way to do it.

It kind of locks it in place so that it holds it for you pretty nicely.

When you go back to do your second one, it's still nice and tight.

Okay, so now I'm just going to trim off the little extra bits of twine on here.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I'm going to wrap it up in plastic now.

I'm going to transfer it to a plate.

We're going to go in the fridge for at least 24 hours, up to 96 hours.

So, our roast sat in the fridge for about 48 hours, so it's really well seasoned.

So we pat it dry with some paper towels real quick.

In the meantime, I've got my skillet over here with 2 tablespoons of oil, and I'm heating that up over medium-high heat.

So I see some whiffs of smoke.

We're going to get our roast in there now.

-Smokin' hot.

-Smokin' hot.

I'm going to start on a side, actually, and then kind of let it roll down.

We're going to sear for about six to eight minutes.

We want to get beautiful browning all over it.

-Alright.

-Okay.

That is gorgeous browning.

We've done that on all sides.

That final side.

You want to make sure you get your ends, too.

-Ooh!

-Looks beautiful.

-That's gorgeous.

-Awesome.

So we're going to transfer it over to our plate here.

I'm going to season it with pepper now -- about 1 1/4 teaspoons.

Okay, so, now it's time to start really cooking this thing.

So we're going to reach for our trusty freezer bag.

We're going to be sous-viding, and we need to have a plastic barrier around the meat so that it's not in contact with the water.

We want to use a zipper-lock bag, which is easy to get in and out of, and the freezer bags are a lot sturdier.

So what I like to do is open it up and then make a little cuff on it.

We're going to transfer this in there.

It's going to get messy, and if you get it inside here, it can make that seal a little bit messy.

This isn't even that hot.

No need to use tongs.

And then I'm just going to give it a little turn here so it fits in snugly.

We're going to start pressing some air out.

Air is a really good insulator.

It's going to affect how evenly this cooks.

Ideally there's no barrier other than that thin piece of plastic between the meat and the water.

So I'm going to squeeze out as much as I can and just kind of work my way up and start sealing it.

I'm going to come over to our water bath here.

So, we have our immersion circulator circulating here, and this is a 12-quart container.

You need something large enough because you're cooking something pretty big.

This is set at 133 degrees Fahrenheit.

-Pretty low.

-But it's the final temperature we want this roast to be.

We're going to leave it in there 18 to 24 hours.

When we normally cook this roast, we cook it at pretty high temperatures because we want to break down all that tough collagen into nice, tender gelatin, right, and that happens pretty rapidly at, say, 180 or 190 degrees.

In a couple of hours, it's tender.

We're going much, much lower, but we can actually get that same collagen conversion.

It just takes much, much longer.

-A whole day.

-So a whole day basically, yep.

So what we're going to do is pop it in here.

Water pressed against the plastic, it's going to displace some of that air, and as that air climbs to the top of the bag, I'm going to open up one little bit here.

We're going to use that cool water displacement to help get rid of the last bit of air in there.

So you want that nice and closed.

And then I've just got a little binder clip here.

You just want to make sure that this doesn't, during the long cook, fall off.

I'm also going to put a cover on it.

We're going to have some evaporation -- enough evaporation that it could go down too low, and we don't want that to happen.

It's also going to make it easier for the machine to maintain 133 degrees.

-Now, the question I'm sure everyone's asking is, "Is this a safe cooking technique?"

Because that's a low temperature for a long time.

-It is, and the key is really this combination of time and temperature.

So, 133 degrees is very, very low, but because we're going so long, we actually kill bacteria very slowly over time.

So it's really totally safe to eat, even after a few hours in this kind of bath.

So it's totally safe when it comes out.

-Alright.

So 24 hours.

-So we're going to go 24 hours.

And you're going to see the best chuck roast you've ever seen.

-Can't wait.

-Okay.

So, this has gone for 24 hours.

We have an amazing transformation happening inside the bag that I'm excited for you to see.

So I'm going to take this roast out of the bag here, and I'm putting it onto a wire rack that's set in a rimmed baking sheet.

I have a sheet of foil under there, and I've sprayed the rack with cooking spray so it doesn't stick.

So we're going to let this rest for about 10 to 15 minutes here just to help it kind of evaporate off some of that moisture.

We're going to pat it dry before it gets a gorgeous, gorgeous mustard- rosemary-peppercorn crust.

It has really, really bold flavor.

And to match that, we're going to make this awesome yogurt sauce.

I love this on basically any roast, but it's going to be really killer here.

So we've got 2 cups of whole-milk yogurt here.

You want that richness.

You don't want to go with low-fat or non-fat.

I also have 1/4 cup of minced parsley.

We also have 1/4 cup of minced chives.

I have 2 teaspoons of lemon zest.

We're also going to add 1/4 cup of lemon juice.

So we have some nice acidity to match that yogurt acidity.

And then finally two minced garlic cloves.

Alright.

So just whisk this together.

Just going to hit it with a little bit of kosher salt and some pepper.

-That looks good.

-That looks nice, right?

-This is my kind of sauce, I have to say.

-Awesome.

Alright.

So, I have a little plastic here.

We really want the flavors to meld a bit.

We'll let this sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

So you might have thought that what we were doing in the sous-vide bath, that was the big story for this recipe, right?

This crust could totally steal the show.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

It's really, really awesome.

We're going to start with some mustard seeds, and I have 1/4 cup here.

It's going to go into my trusty spice grinder.

I also have 3 tablespoons of black peppercorns.

These also add texture and a little bit of flavor.

Alright, so I'm going to want these to be coarsely ground, so I'm going to do kind of pulses and a little shaking.

It's going to look like a weird dance.

-[ Laughs ] Alright.

You got to put your hips into it if you're going to dance.

-I'm not a big hip dancer.

[ Rattling ] Alright.

So here we go.

So we've got this mixture here.

We're going to transfer it to this shallow dish, and we're going to stir in rosemary.

I've got 1/3 cup of finely chopped rosemary.

We're also going to add 2 tablespoons of flaked sea salt.

It's going to add tons of flavor and texture.

So we're just going to mix this together.

I like to use my hands.

Okay, so we want this to stick to that, and the key to that is this egg white.

So we're just going to do about 30 seconds of whisking here.

Great.

Nice and foamy.

So I've patted my roast nice and dry.

-And you're leaving the twine on, I want to point out.

-That's true.

I'm going to leave it on right until the very end, when we actually slice and serve this, and that way, it holds it together.

So I'm going to use my pastry brush here and just paint it all over.

So now we'll just take this and press it in over here.

This dish makes it nice and easy to get lots on there.

So this roast is ready to go into the oven.

It's going to be a 475-degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes and rotate it halfway through, and we're looking for this to be really aromatic, really, really beautiful and golden brown.

This thing is cooked through.

We don't need any interior cooking.

We just want that crust to set and be really beautiful.

-Oh-ho!

-Ooh.

Does that look pretty or what?

-That's a beauty.

-Smells good, too, doesn't it?

-It does.

Oh.

Well, that sure turned around.

-Right?

-[ Laughs ] -So let's transfer this right over to our carving board here.

-Ooh.

-Beautiful.

-Yes, please.

-So here's the crazy thing is we don't have to let this rest at all.

-That's crazy.

-It's really cool, right?

Yeah, because we cooked it at such a low temperature, all the carryover cooking that was ever going to happen is done at this point, and the time in the oven is so short, there's no need to do it.

-Wow.

I love it.

Look at that.

Goodness!

-You ever seen a chuck roast that looks like that?

-I have never seen a medium-rare chuck roast before.

-I mean, this knife just -- I'm barely doing anything.

It just glides right through it.

Can I serve you some?

-Please.

-Alright.

I'm going to pull off just that little bit of twine that we still have on there, helps it hold together during the slicing, which is really nice.

Alright.

Transfer a nice chunk over to you here.

-Oh, thank you.

-There we go.

-Gorgeous.

-Nice.

Alright.

Would you like a little sauce, too?

-Yes.

Of course.

-Here you go.

-Oh.

-Look at that.

-Mmm!

Mm-hmm.

-So tender.

-It's beefy.

It has more flavor than a roast beef I've ever had before.

It just tastes like good beef.

And the flavor of that crust, with the mustard seeds and the rosemary -- it's beautiful.

-So good.

-This is amazing, Dan.

Well done.

-Thank you.

-So there you have it.

If you want to try something new with your sous-vide machine, try a chuck roast.

Pull the roast into two pieces.

Then trim, season with salt, and tie it back together.

Let the roast sit with the salt for at least a day.

Then brown on the stovetop before sous-viding at 133 degrees for 18 to 24 hours.

To finish, coat the roast with a spice mixture and brown it in the oven for 15 minutes.

And don't forget the yogurt sauce.

So from "America's Test Kitchen" to your kitchen, a killer new recipe for sous-vide rosemary-mustard- seed-crusted roast beef.

Awesome.

-Every holiday table, right?

From now on?

-Oh!

So good.

-Vacuum sealers are a great way to keep food fresher longer, and you can shell out 1,000 bucks for one of those countertop versions, but Adam's here to tell us whether the handheld versions, which are cheaper, are any good.

-You know, Bridget, air is the enemy when we're talking about food storage.

And you're right -- those countertop vacuum sealers are huge and expensive.

-Yes, yes.

-Handheld models offer a much cheaper, much smaller, much easier-to-store alternative.

We were wondering whether they worked as well as the countertop models.

So we have four different handheld vacuum sealers.

The price range was about $8 to $40, and the tests included sealing strawberries, ground coffee, blade steaks, and chicken legs in bags of different sizes to store in the freezer.

-Okay.

-We also sealed chocolate chip cookies, which we're going to be doing later, and portions of cereal to store at room temperature in the pantry.

And testers sort of checked out the bags for any air that got into the bags, for food decay over the course of a month regularly.

Now, all of the sealers come with their own bags to use.

They look a lot like a zip-top bag, but they're a little different.

The plastic is a little thicker, and we learned that they take a little more effort to seal really carefully.

Testers ended up just putting them down on a work surface and running their fingers over the seal repeatedly to make sure that it was sealed really well.

They found this out because there were a couple of seal failures early on.

Now, this model actually suffered a couple of seal failures on the bags once they were closed correctly, too, and that led the testers to research the composition of the bags.

They called the manufacturers, and they learned that all the bags have a couple of kinds of plastic.

They all have polyethylene, which is really common.

It's used in grocery bags, all kinds of things.

Three of them also included nylon.

The one that had problems with getting some air into the food didn't have nylon.

Instead, it had polyester.

And we checked with our own science editor, who said that nylon is actually a better gas barrier than polyester is.

So we figure that the polyester is the reason that the bags for some of these got a little bit of air in them after a while.

This one is a manually operated vacuum sealer.

You would just put it right onto the valve there and pump like a reverse bicycle pump.

The other ones are all electric, and they all work pretty well.

They were simple to use.

-Sure.

-All of them sealed the bags in about 20 seconds or less, depending on the size of the bag and what was in there.

But they weren't all equally comfortable to use, and I want you to try this white-and-green one on this bag.

You just put the sealer right over the valve.

-Okay.

Right here.

-And press the button, and it's going to suck the air out, and you're going to tell me what you think.

-Alright.

[ Beeping ] It takes a little while.

Oh, it's really hard to hold.

Yeah, I don't know that I'm actually doing anything, and this feels like it's going to fall out of my hand.

-Exactly.

-Yeah.

[ Beeping rapidly ] -There we go.

-So we're forming the vacuum there.

-This is not good.

This is not comfortable at all.

I'm, like, holding it with two hands.

It's very awkward and very heavy.

-That's exactly what the testers felt.

That was the heaviest one, at more than a pound.

They felt like it wasn't ergonomically designed.

The power button didn't connect well.

-Exactly.

It's got this little gridded thing for grip, supposedly.

No grip.

-Didn't really help.

Now, these two were the other electric models.

They're both lighter.

They're 9 3/4 ounces and 12 3/8 ounces, respectively.

-Okay.

-These worked really well.

This one, the bag with the coffee got some air in it over the course of the month.

So testers actually, in the end, gave the nod to this guy here.

Why don't you try this on those cookies there, which we want fresh for a snack?

[ Whirring ] -Look at that.

-Yep.

-Nice.

The possibilities are endless there.

-So much lighter, so much more comfortable, perfectly effective.

The bags that were sealed with this one never got any air in them over the course of the month.

So this is the winner.

It's the Gourmia handheld vacuum sealer set -- $22 for the vacuum sealer and some bags.

And you know what?

Testers really felt like this was a perfectly effective, obviously much less expensive and easier-to-store alternative to those huge countertop models.

-Well, there you go.

If you have food to save, like chocolate chip cookies, just eat them.

But if you want to save them, then buy the winner.

It's the Gourmia handheld vacuum sealer set, and it runs $22.

-How hard could it be to make a funnel?

Pretty simple, right?

But it turns out funnels get complicated fast.

We tested six brands, including some sets, priced from $4 to $14, transferring lots of foods and liquids with different textures, like peppercorns, olive oil, herbs, and barbecue sauce.

We poured them all through the funnels into a variety of containers.

Along the way, we looked at how easy the funnels were to use, store, and clean and whether they were durable.

Now, there are two key factors -- flow and stability.

Now, look.

This squishy silicone one didn't flow.

It was like milking a cow trying to get the food to drop down.

Stumpy little spouts, like this one -- unstable.

It tries to tip over as soon as you pour because it won't stay anchored in the container.

This one also started flaking off little bits of plastic after we washed it.

Who wants that in your food?

But after all that, we had a winner.

This classic funnel is sturdy, with a wide 4-inch opening on top, so it's easy to pour into with no mess.

It also has the longest spout -- almost 2 inches.

So it goes deep into the container, and it stays in place while you pour.

It passed all our tests.

This is the Winco PF-8 plastic funnel, 8-ounce size, and it's only about $4.

-We all know that sous-vide cooking is great for main-course dishes, but what about dessert?

Julia is going to show us why sous-vide might be the perfect application for making crme brle.

-Mm-hmm.

You said it.

-Crme brle?

Crme brle.

-Well, if you think about crme brle or any custard, it's a very heat-sensitive technique.

You have to temper the yolks, heat the cream, and then you have that water bath that the crme brle ramekins sit, open air, in the oven.

And that water bath -- I've ruined many crme brle.

When you get a little wave going in the water bath, and it goes up over the rim of the ramekin and it washes out one of the crme brles every time.

-Surf's up.

-[ Laughs ] -So using the sous-vide takes all that out of the equation.

-Great.

-Yeah.

So we're going to start with the only flavoring, really, in a crme brle, which is vanilla.

This is half a vanilla bean.

Now, to get all the flavor you can out of the bean, you want to cut it in half lengthwise.

Then split open the pod with the tip of a paring knife and scrape out those seeds, because that is where the flavor is.

-That's actually the bean.

-Mm.

You got it.

Alright.

So I've scraped out all of the seeds.

I'm going to take the pod and put them in the bowl.

This is five yolks.

This is the thickener of our crme brle.

I'm going to scrape the seeds off the knife and get it down into that bowl.

Now I'm going to add the cream.

This is 2 cups of heavy cream.

And to this I'm going to add 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, which is not a lot of sugar.

This isn't going to be too sweet.

Now whisk this together and just add a pinch of salt.

That's a little bit.

Alright.

Now whisk this together.

Alright.

That looks good and well mixed.

And now we're going to strain it and get out those vanilla pods and any bits that we don't want in the final crme brle, and that is as easy as it gets.

Now, we're not going to put open-air ramekins into the sous-vide.

We're going to use jars -- mason jars -- because they have lids that fit nice and tight.

So these are eight-ounce wide-mouth mason jars.

Alright.

So we're just going to fill up these mason jars.

I'm going to fill them most of the way, and then I'll go back and make sure they're evenly filled.

Now, if you didn't have a vanilla bean, you could use vanilla extract.

You would just use about a teaspoon.

But I love seeing the little specks of vanilla at the bottom of a crme brle.

Alright, so before we put the lids on, I'm just going to take each ramekin and tap it lightly against the counter just to get any air bubbles up to the surface.

Alright, you want to help me put the lids on?

-Sure.

-You want to put them on fairly tight, but not super tight.

So now we're going to put these into the sous-vide, and the water is set at 180 degrees.

-Well, that's pretty close to a final temperature of a crme brle, which is usually around 170.

-You got it.

So they're going to be in here for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.

And notice this is just a canning tool.

It's called a jar lifter.

If you didn't have this, you could use a pair of tongs.

Wrap rubber bands around the ends so that it gives it a little bit more purchase.

We're going to put the lid on.

We're going to let this cook for an hour to an hour and a quarter.

Alright, so it's been an hour, and these guys are ready to come out.

Now I'm going to take these out of the water.

Look how easy this is.

No crme brle sacrifices.

Seriously, I always make extra because I always lose a few.

Alright.

We're going to let these cool at room temperature for about an hour.

Then they're going to go in the fridge for at least four hours till they're nice and chilled, but you can do this up to three days ahead of time.

Alright, these are nicely chilled, and we're ready for the finale.

So you can see there's a little bit of condensation that has accumulated on the top, and you want to get that off before you start burning the sugar because it'll get in the way.

If you wouldn't mind helping, take a little paper towel, and just kind of lay it on top and let it absorb the moisture.

And the crme brle is so nicely set at that point.

You really don't have to worry.

If you get a little ding in the custard, the sugar is going to cover that right up.

Now we're going to sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar right over the top.

Turbinado sugar makes the best coating.

It melts evenly.

It has a little more flavor than granulated sugar.

Toss the sugar around the top so it's a nice, even layer, and then you want to wipe any off the rim because it'll burn right onto the rim.

Time for the fire.

These are a little bit more fragile than a ramekin.

So you really don't want the flame of the torch hitting the edges too long.

Alright, so... [ Laughs ] -You're serious.

-Here's my blowtorch.

Now, I much prefer to use this because it's a nice strong flame, and it's a great presentation to walk in the dining room with this.

Of course, you could use a smaller gun if you wanted to.

And as always, make sure your hair is back, make sure there's no fabric flowing in front of the flame, because it is a live flame.

-Got you.

It's what we used to use in the restaurants, as well.

-That's right.

I like to hold mine upside down like this.

And then again, you just hit it, again, just being mindful of the glass.

My inner pyro is very happy right now.

Notice how I'm putting the heat on and off and on and off, because I really don't want to lay the heat on that glass.

You do this until you get the nice brown color that you like.

In the vein of letting everyone do their own... -There we go.

Alright.

-Alright.

Your turn.

We're going to let these sit for just five minutes, let that sugar harden before we crack into it.

Pick your jar.

-Five minutes.

I'm going to go with the one I made.

-Aw, nice.

I'm going to choose this one.

Alright, the best part of eating crme brle.

-The crack.

-The crack.

Oh, yes.

Mmm.

Gossamer-thin caramel topping there.

Mmm.

-Mmm.

-That's delicious.

I love the texture of this.

It's not super set up like a lot of crme brles that are overcooked and have too many yolks.

It's nice and delicate.

-Yeah.

They can be really rubbery and too set up, almost sliceable.

-Yes.

-This is perfect.

It's almost like ice cream.

-Mm.

-And, you know, you really get that pure vanilla flavor.

So that vanilla bean with all those little seeds inside really shines through, and you get a bit of Vegas action at the end.

-[ Laughs ] Exactly.

It's dessert and a show.

-Well, it turns out the perfect crme brle might just be out of a sous-vide.

Start by whisking together vanilla, cream, eggs, and sugar.

Strain and portion the mixture into wide-mouth mason jars, lower into a water bath, and then cook them for about an hour.

Let the jars cool completely and then chill.

Sprinkle the custard with turbinado sugar and then brown it with a big old blowtorch.

Cool them, of course, for five minutes and eat.

So from "America's Test Kitchen" to your kitchen, the perfect sous-vide crme brle.

And you can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with tastings, testings, and select episodes on our website, that's americastestkitchen.com.

-I'm almost ready for brle number two.

-Now, can you eat this while in a water bath?

-Ooh.

-Mmm.

Meta.

-[ Chuckles ] -Let us help you with dinner tonight.

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