America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen"... Elle makes Julia spiral-sliced ham glazed with cider vinegar caramel.

Adam reveals his top pick for mandolines.

Dan examines the science of texture and sound.

And Lan makes Bridget patatas panaderas.

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

-Spiral-sliced ham is a classic holiday dinner, and today Elle's gonna show us the best way to prepare it.

-Yeah, there are two common challenges, though, in making spiral-sliced ham.

The first is, how do you keep the meat moist without drying the exterior?

-Mm-hmm.

-And the other is that the caramel glaze hardly ever extends beyond the surface of the meat.

-That's the worst part, because I love that glaze.

-That's right.

Well, we're gonna do it today.

And we're gonna do it right.

So we have a 7-pound ham.

It's bone-in.

It's spiral-sliced, as you can see, and we prefer the shank for this recipe.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm gonna cook it in an oven bag.

In the test kitchen, we learned that cooking it low and slow is the way to go.

So we're gonna use the oven bag, a wire rack... -Mm-hmm.

-...a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil.

-All right.

-Right.

So this rack is gonna allow for the air to circulate all the way around.

Even cooking.

You know the deal.

So I'm gonna put this cut side down in the bag.

The great thing about the bag is that it's gonna trap in moisture.

It's gonna create a humid environment that is actually better for cooking for this ham.

And to monitor our low and slow cooking, I'm gonna insert a probe thermometer in the back cut side all the way down to the center.

There we go.

-Oh, you're going all the way to the middle of the roast.

-Yes, because we need to make sure that it does not go beyond 110 degrees.

-Okay.

-Okay.

All right.

I'm gonna seal the bag.

Can you tie that up for me?

-Oh, yeah.

Looks like a little Easter basket.

-This is gonna be your Easter Sunday gift.

-I would love that, actually.

-So this is gonna go in the oven that's set at 250 degrees.

-Mm-hmm.

-The rack is in the lower middle position.

We're just gonna go in there and let it cook until it reaches 110 degrees.

-Okay.

-Three and a half to four and a half hours.

-Okay, so it takes a while.

-Yeah, it takes a while.

All right.

I'm just gonna put this up top here.

And we're all set.

-We've tasted a number of hams here over the years on "America's Test Kitchen."

And while none of them were downright terrible, some were definitely better than others.

So when you're shopping, you want to look out for two things.

Now, first, spiral-cut hams are categorized by the amount of water that's added during processing, and the more water, the worse they are.

So look for hams with labels that just say "ham" or "ham with natural juices."

Second, you want to buy a bone-in ham rather than a boneless ham, because the boneless ones tend to have a spongy texture.

-Okay, so while we were figuring out how to make the ham the best it could be, we decided that every bite inside and out could benefit from this glaze.

-Mm-hmm.

-Right?

Very easy to make.

I'm gonna start with 1/2 cup of water, 1 1/4 cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons of light corn syrup.

And I'm going to put this on medium-high heat for about six to seven minutes.

No stirring, no touching.

No nothing.

-Mm-hmm.

Okay.

-Okay.

It's been about seven minutes.

I'm gonna turn this down low.

It's turning straw-colored.

It's looking beautiful.

-Mm-hmm.

Right around the edge.

-Yeah, nice and amber.

I'm gonna give it a couple swirls, kind of even that out.

There we go.

That looks beautiful.

Now I'm just gonna temp it.

We want it to be 360 to 370 degrees.

We got it.

Okay, so we're gonna take this off of the heat.

-Mm-hmm.

-We need to add the vinegar, but it needs to go in the microwave for about 90 seconds until it's a little steamy.

Okay, so we've done a couple of interesting things here.

We took the caramel to a brown color to speed up the caramelization of the ham because it's all already cooked.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're gonna add vinegar that's been in the microwave for 90 seconds.

A little steamy.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're gonna add it a little bit at a time.

And the reason we warmed it was so that the sugar doesn't seize.

-That's right.

-So I'm gonna add a little and whisk.

-What kind of vinegar was this?

Cider?

-Apple cider vinegar.

-Nice.

-Mm-hmm.

And now that the bubbling has subsided, right, we can add 1/4 teaspoon of five-spice... -Mmm.

-...and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

It's all mixed.

I'm gonna put this back on medium-high heat.

We need it to reduce to about 1 1/3 cup.

And that's only gonna take five to seven minutes.

-Okay.

-I'm gonna reserve 1/3 cup of this glaze.

Look.

110 degrees.

-On the nose.

-We nailed it.

Four and a half hours.

-Mm-hmm.

-This ham is ready.

-All right, here.

Let me grab this for you.

There you go.

-And while we're here, will you put the oven at 450 degrees for me?

-You bet.

-Thank you.

Okay, so the oven bag has done its job.

-Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-It's collected juice for us, it's created a humid environment for cooking.

It's amazing.

We're gonna let it sit in the bag, though, while we let the oven reach 450 degrees.

All right.

So the oven's at 450 degrees.

-Good.

-Let's keep it moving.

Let's get this ham out of the bag.

All right.

So I'm just gonna be careful to get this ham out.

We don't want to lose any of this liquid.

We need it.

-That's the hardest part of the whole recipe, right there.

-Yeah, it is.

Okay.

Cut the tip off here.

Make life a little easy for myself.

-Very clever.

-Okay, so I'm gonna save 1/4 cup of this liquid gold for our glazing.

There you go.

-Perfect.

-Yeah.

And we don't need the rest of it.

We're gonna put the ham back in the oven for the glazing process.

But what we don't need anymore is this cooling rack.

-Okay.

-And we're gonna do another transfer -- ham back to pan, right onto the foil.

I'm gonna take our 1/3 cup of reserved glaze and glaze the ham.

Just brush it.

Oh, my gosh.

This is the part that makes me so very happy.

-[ Laughs ] -Look at the shine.

-Yeah, that's a good shine.

-This is looking fantastic.

-It really is.

-Yeah, it's gonna go in the oven for about five to seven minutes, and once it starts bubbling, we'll know it's ready.

-Okay.

-All right.

-So hot oven.

Not that much time.

-Right.

All right, it's been five minutes, let's get this ham out.

Oh, it's... -Ooh!

-...beautiful.

Oh.

That looks amazing.

-Now, that, Elle, is a looker.

-Yeah, it is.

All right, let's make some glaze.

-Okay.

-So I'm gonna add the reserved 1/4 cup of ham juice... -Mm-hmm.

-...into the glaze that we left in the pot.

It's just gonna "ham" it up a little.

-[ Laughs ] Nice.

-Thanks.

All right.

I'm gonna reheat it and whisk it.

All right, that's looking good.

I'm gonna just turn it down low while we get the ham onto the board and get to carving.

-And again, because it's the shank-end ham, it's a lot easier to carve because there's really just that one central bone going through the whole thing.

-Yeah, I'm gonna go for a good few slices.

Oh, my God.

-Mm-hmm.

-This is like a food stylist's dream, right?

It's already shingled.

I don't have to do any extra beautifying.

-This is my dream right here.

A whole platter of freshly, perfectly cooked ham and a big thing of sauce.

-Yeah.

-No sides needed.

-No.

-No, no.

All right.

I'm gonna serve up some.

-Mm-hmm.

-How's that?

-Oh, yeah.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

-You're very welcome.

-May I put a little sauce on yours?

-Please.

-Now, I'm gonna start slow.

You tell me when.

-Perfect.

Thank you.

-Okay.

Mmm.

-Mm-hmm.

Those look amazing.

-They do.

-So juicy.

I mean, they don't need the caramel, but it's... -Oh!

-...I mean, the best.

-Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

That is perfectly done.

You've got the sweet from the caramel, you've got that vinegar punch.

I love it.

-Yeah, a little smokiness from the ham.

-Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-It's amazing.

-Wonder why we just reserve this for the holidays.

I mean, this should be, like, a regular occurrence.

-Yeah.

-Nicely done, Elle.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So if you want to make the ultimate holiday ham, use an oven bag.

Reheat the ham in a 250-degree oven.

Make a simple caramel glaze and finish the glazed ham in a hot oven.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a perfect spiral-sliced ham.

And I mean perfect.

-Perfect.

-Nothing can take a vegetable and turn it into paper-thin slices faster or more efficiently than a mandoline.

And Adam's here.

He's gonna tell us more about this really useful kitchen gadget.

-You know, by the time we're done with this, you're gonna want to retire your chef's knife.

-All right.

-Mandolines can be great.

So much faster and easier than using a chef's knife.

Our lineup has eight different models here.

The prices we paid ranged from $24 to $200.

-Okay.

-And testers used them on an array of vegetables large and small, soft and hard.

There were tomatoes, there were potatoes, fennel, beets, eggplant.

And they also tried julienning carrots, celery root, and daikon.

And you're looking for nice, crisp, clean slices.

A couple of design factors mattered a lot.

One of them was the type of blade.

Now, these blades, "A," have to be sharp right out of the gate because they don't come out of the mandoline.

They're set in there.

You can't resharpen them.

-Correct.

-Number two, you would think that these two at the end that have two blades set in a "V" would be that much better.

-Sure.

-Testers disliked them because they felt like the double blade caused more friction in the stroke.

-Ah.

-They preferred the ones that are in front of you that have a single blade set into the body, as long as it was sharp enough.

-So those kind of hesitated.

-Yeah, they were a little harder to slice through.

In terms of getting nice, even slices, testers noted that some of them had a little flex in the slicing platform.

Again, these two "V" slicers were guilty of that.

There are weird little marks.

They're not even.

And that's because there was extra flex where the two blades meet.

-Yeah, you get better results with a knife every time.

-Instead of that mandoline.

-Right.

-Also, in terms of the cutting platforms, testers preferred them to be 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide.

Accommodate as much vegetables as you can get on there.

-There you go.

-Let's also talk about adjustability.

You want to be able to make slices that range from, like, potato chip thin to eggplant Parm thick.

-Right.

-The widest range in one of these was 1/2 millimeter to 9 1/2 millimeters, which was great.

So that had all the adjustability testers wanted.

They also liked to be able to dial in which thickness they were gonna go.

This one right in front of you, you turn this, and it's clearly marked with different thicknesses.

That's a much easier way and a much surer way to get a precise thickness.

-Very clever.

-Very clever indeed.

Safety with these things is paramount because they are sharp.

-Yep.

-All of them have hand guards.

The best hand guards were like this one.

This is generously sized.

You can get your whole hand on it.

And it was spring-loaded.

So as you slice away, it pushes down on whatever you're slicing.

-Nice.

-You can slice the whole thing.

We actually recommend erring on the side of safety with this.

You want to be cautious.

We like to wear a cut-resistant glove.

This is our favorite one.

This is by Mercer Culinary, and it's the MercerGuard cut glove.

The reason we do this to protect our hands is that some of these hand guards -- kind of puny.

Not doing a great job there.

So you want to be extra careful.

-It can be a finger guillotine.

-A finger guillotine indeed.

-Yeah.

-Another part of safety is stability.

So testers preferred the models like these that have a kickstand and that sort of holds it up.

Also, some sort of sticky rubber covering over the kickstand for added stability so it won't slide around your work surface.

-Nice and secure.

-So testers found three that they really liked, and they recommend each for different reasons.

The sharpest one of the whole group is this one right here.

This is the $51 Super Benriner mandoline slicer.

Wicked sharp, easy to adjust.

You want to make sure to use a cut-resistant glove with this number because this is your hand guard.

-All right.

Yeah, take some extra precaution then.

-Take extra precaution.

The one that was easiest to use and that felt safest to the testers -- That's the $85 OXO Good Grips Chef's Mandoline Slicer 2.0.

It had a great hand guard, nice and generously sized.

It had a kickstand with a little rubbery coating, so it stayed put.

Now, if you want to spend less money and you want something more compact, that's easier to store, this is the Kyocera soft grip adjustable mandoline ceramic slicer.

It was $25.

It was a lot more limited than the other two in terms of adjustability.

-Sure.

-But it was sharp, and it's really easy to store because it's so small.

Again kind of a small hand guard, so you'll want to wear those cut-resistant gloves.

-And it's not too much of an investment.

So for that price, you could buy it, see if you like to use a mandoline, and eat lots of chips.

Lots of potato chips.

-You know, we may have made a potato chip or two, but I am always willing to make more.

-Sacrifice for work.

Well, if you want to buy the top performer, it's the Super Benriner mandoline slicer, and it retails for $51.

-The key to telling the difference between something that is crispy, like this thin chip, and something that is crunchy, like this thicker chip, is to use your ears.

No, I'm just kidding.

Crispy foods make a higher-pitched sound than crunchy foods.

Let's have a listen.

[ High-pitched crunch ] [ Low-pitched crunch ] [ High-pitched crunch ] [ Low-pitched crunch ] Can you hear the difference?

Now, you can use this distinction to tell the difference between all types of crispy and crunchy foods.

What else can you do with this knowledge?

Make a crispy tune, of course.

[ Up-tempo music plays, rhythmic crunching ] -Patatas panaderas is a lesson on simplicity and elegance.

Thinly sliced potatoes are baked with minimal ingredients, and they create something absolutely magical -- super-silky, tender potatoes.

And Lan's here.

She's gonna take us through this dish and show us how to make it.

-Bridget, I love this dish because it's so comforting.

It's simple, but it's so delicious.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it's really easy.

-One of my favorites.

-Yeah.

So we're gonna start with the potatoes, and I've got Yukon Golds here, 2 1/2 pounds of them.

I'm just gonna slice this.

I'm looking for maybe 1/4-inch-thick slices.

If we were in Spain, we'd probably be using Alavas or Monalisas.

They're slightly waxy for potatoes.

They're not available here.

So that's why we're using Yukon Golds.

Right into this bowl.

Next up, extra virgin olive oil.

You want to use a nice one here because there isn't a lot to hide behind, and I'm just adding 1/3 cup.

-Something a little fruity, peppery.

-Yeah, exactly.

Something you'd want to eat on a salad.

Now, I'll give this a quick toss.

Make sure that every single slice is well coated with oil.

And that's because when I add the rest of the ingredients, if these pieces are already separated and slicked, I won't have to stir quite as much and work quite as hard to make sure that everything is evenly incorporated.

Next up, I've got what looks like a huge amount of salt.

I've got 3 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt here, and it sounds like a lot, but it's not.

Kosher salt isn't as dense as table salt, so you can use more of it.

It also doesn't dissolve as quickly, which means that I have time to really toss the salt and potatoes together and make sure that every single slice is evenly seasoned.

1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

And again, just lots of stirring.

-I'm actually really glad to see that amount of salt.

I think one of the biggest culinary sins ever is underseasoned potatoes.

-Yeah, there's no getting around it.

They just need some salt.

-That's right.

-And they taste so much better for it.

What do you think?

-I think it looks great.

-Awesome.

Okay, last set of ingredients.

We've got one onion here that I'm just gonna slice thinly.

And I'd like to slice my onions pole to pole.

This is kind of my default onion slice.

They don't fall apart as readily when you slice them this way, whereas when you cut them equatorially -- If you cut them this way, they're more prone to kind of almost dissolving... -Mm-hmm.

...when there's a long cook involved.

-Especially a dish like this where onions really are one of the stars of the show.

You should see them in the final dish.

So this is great.

-Yeah.

So right into the bowl, and last up, just two minced garlic cloves.

Thank you.

It's so nice to have someone clearing up after me.

-Wait till you get my bill.

-[ Laughs ] Can I pay in potatoes?

-Yes, you can.

Yes, you can.

-So this looks great.

That's it.

-Another reason to love this dish.

-Right.

I'm just gonna transfer this to a 13x9 baking dish.

Get all that oil in there and give this a quick mush.

Make sure everything is spread out evenly.

So this looks great and we are almost done.

Now, I've tried a number of variations of this dish, and some of them contain a little bit of white wine, which I really love, but I'm not adding it yet.

It is too soon.

Instead, I'm gonna cover this tightly with aluminum foil.

Pop it into a 400-degree oven on the middle rack, and we'll let this go for about 40 minutes until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife.

-Okay.

-I want to make sure that this foil is on really tightly because we haven't added any liquid and the potatoes are gonna steam in their own juices as it were.

-Yeah, you think about gratin potatoes or scalloped potatoes, anything like that -- There's usually cream, milk, some sort of dairy.

Even butter has a little bit of water in there.

But you're just using the potato water.

-Yep, that's it.

-Perfect.

More flavor.

-All right.

So these are going in that 400 oven for 40 minutes.

-Okay.

-Thanks.

-White wine gives these potatoes bright, tangy flavor, but we found that when to add the wine is key to truly tender potatoes.

Cooking potatoes allows their cells to soften and separate as the pectin that cements them together dissolves.

But in an acidic environment, say, a winy cooking liquid, those pectin molecules cling to each other and take a long time to separate.

As a result, the potatoes can still be firm after an hour of cooking.

For this recipe, we hold off on adding the wine and cook the potatoes in a non-acidic environment.

This allows the pectin to soften quickly.

Only after the potatoes become tender do we add the wine, which imparts bright flavor during the final minutes of cooking.

All right.

Let me pull that out for you.

-Thank you.

Okay, so it's been about 40 minutes, and we're gonna have a quick peek.

-Release the steam.

-I know.

How great does that smell!

-[ Sniffs ] Ohh!

[ Sniffs ] -Bridget, don't get in there.

I just want to give these a quick poke, and you can see that that knife is just slipping right in, which means they are ready for the wine.

-Okay.

-I've got 1/2 cup of a dry white here.

You can use anything you would want to drink or serve with these potatoes.

Just gonna pour it right over the top.

And then I'm gonna cover this again because we're not really looking for browning, but I'm not gonna seal it this time so that the moisture can escape.

-Gotcha.

-And we'll pop this back in the oven.

Let the potatoes absorb all that liquid.

It's gonna take 20 minutes.

-Mmm.

Come here with those.

-Right?

Can you hear that bubbling?

-[ Sighs ] That's hot.

-It is hot.

[ Both laugh ] Don't worry.

We're not diving in.

This looks great.

There's not a ton of color on the potatoes, but there is a little on the pan.

That's fine.

And just about all of the wine is absorbed.

What we're seeing here is just the olive oil, which is perfect.

We'll give this 10 minutes and then come back and have a taste.

-That sounds perfect.

-You ready?

-I am so ready.

10 minutes.

-Right.

The longest 10 minutes of your life.

Well, maybe.

Yeah?

-Well, there was that whole childbirth thing, but this is up there.

So silky, so tender.

A little bit of that wine sauce.

-Mmm.

-There you go.

-Oh, look at these.

Imagine if you had cut these any thinner.

They would have just fallen apart.

-Yeah, yeah.

They're just perfectly silky and creamy, and I can't wait to dive in.

-Me neither.

Something you don't often taste in any baked sliced potato recipe is the actual potatoes.

-Yeah.

-These really taste like potato.

-They've got just that little bit of sharpness from the wine and they're, like, meltingly tender.

It's fantastic.

-They're almost oil-poached.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

-Mmm.

Gorgeous.

Silky.

And they're not loaded with ingredients, so you taste every single thing in here.

-It also means you can serve them with, like, everything.

-These might be my favorite potato dish, ever.

And there is a list, and these have walked their way to the top.

-Mm-hmm.

-Spectacular.

Thanks, Lan.

-Thank you.

-Well, if you want to make these beautiful patatas panaderas at home, toss sliced Yukon Gold potatoes with high-quality olive oil, bake the potatoes under foil until they're nice and tender, and then add the wine near the end of cooking.

So from "America's Test Kitchen," a side dish that can go with everything and will go with everything from this day forward.

Patatas panaderas.

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

That's americastestkitchen.com/TV.

So ham, lamb.

-Yep.

-Goes with more potatoes.

-Sure.

Nice steak.

-Steak.