America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen," we're making unexpected salads.

Erin makes Bridget broccoli salad with creamy avocado dressing.

Becky makes Julia roasted radishes with yogurt tahini sauce.

Adam reviews inexpensive coffee makers.

And Lan makes Bridget watermelon salad with Cotija and serrano chilies.

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

-Today's the day that we're giving salads their do here in the test kitchen.

And we've got three really interesting salads for you.

First up, Erin's here, and she's going to show us a new spin on an old classic, a broccoli salad.

-Absolutely, Bridget.

This is a salad that everybody has had before in their life, right?

So we want to give this a makeover, a fresher look, right?

-An update.

-An update.

Exactly.

Okay, so the first thing that we're gonna do is cook the broccoli very briefly.

And we're also gonna use the entire stalk.

-Love it.

-We're gonna cut these into 1-inch florets.

I always go floret by floret and just kind of walk my way through -- through the broccoli.

First you cut off all the florets and then you kind of run through them, and you want them to be about 1-inch pieces.

-Alright.

-We want them to be bite-sized in your salad.

So I always cut through the stem by going through and cutting halfway and then just kind of twisting your knife and popping them out.

So it's a little trick.

That's it for the florets, Bridget.

We didn't want to just go with florets and throw the stalks out, which many people do.

I'm gonna show you how to save and preserve the stalks.

-Love it.

-Okay, so first, always trim off the bottom.

And I just lob that off.

Alright.

So this is gonna go over here.

Because the outer part of the stalk is very tough, you want to remove it.

So I'm gonna use a peeler and peel it.

-It's really woody and fibrous.

-Very woody and fibrous.

Now I'm gonna cut this in half lengthwise.

We're gonna slice these into 1/4-inch thick pieces.

-Okay.

-Okay, so we have our broccoli all prepped.

-Beautiful.

-And now we're gonna cook it very quickly, like I mentioned earlier.

So I have one cup of water boiling here.

I'm just gonna add 1/2 teaspoon of table salt to the water.

Because the stalks are much denser, we're gonna put these in first.

We're gonna kind of layer our cooking.

And the florets, they're gonna go on top.

We're gonna cook these for about 3 minutes until they're bright green and just starting to become tender.

We're at 3 minutes.

-Emerald.

-Beautiful, right?

-Absolutely.

-Okay, so now we're gonna go and drain this and immediately we want to plunge them into ice water.

We want to stop that cooking process.

-Right.

-Immediately.

-So basically, we're blanching and shocking almost.

-We are blanching and shocking, absolutely, yep.

Okay, Bridget, so we're gonna let this sit and chill to the core for about 2 minutes.

Now comes the dressing.

So I have one avocado.

The avocado is gonna be the base of our dressing.

Now I'm just gonna cut this into 1/2-inch pieces.

-Just scoring it.

-Just scoring it.

Yep.

And I'm gonna scrape this beautiful avocado into the food processor.

So we're gonna add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

This is gonna add a little fruitiness to it.

And then we're gonna add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.

Fresh lemon juice is gonna add a lot of brightness to our salad dressing.

One minced garlic clove.

We're gonna add 3/4 of a teaspoon of table salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.

We're gonna use a food processor to make our dressing, and the avocado is gonna be the base of our dressing.

Avocado has a lot of really good fat in it, and that's gonna give our dressing a really nice, creamy texture.

-Lovely alternative to mayo.

-Yes.

So we're just gonna process this for about 30 seconds until it's nice and creamy.

Alright.

Isn't that beautiful?

-That is absolutely beautiful.

-Absolutely.

Smells delicious.

But I'm gonna taste it, make sure that it is seasoned properly.

Whoo.

-[ Laughs ] -I'm gonna add a little bit more salt.

Avocado is one of those ingredients that definitely needs a little salt.

-Mm-hmm.

-Wow.

That is amazing.

You're gonna love it, Bridget.

-Oh, great.

-Okay.

-Lovely.

-So we are looking good here.

Let's go back to our broccoli.

-Okay.

-So I'm just gonna take my spider and just skim off the ice cubes so that they don't get onto the paper towel, because it's really important with the salad that the broccoli is dry before it's dressed.

-Right.

-Now we want to drain it on a plate that is lined with a triple layer of paper towels.

We want to really absorb all of that moisture.

Alright, Bridget, it is time to toss our salad.

-Fantastic.

-Alright.

I have saved the bowl from our ice bath, and I dried it out.

And here is our broccoli that has been draining.

And that, you can see, is very dry.

All the water is in the paper towels.

Alright.

So there's all of our broccoli.

-That beautiful dressing.

-Can you smell this?

-[ Sniffs ] Yes, I can.

-Just give me a spoon.

It's heaven.

-The lemon is coming out.

-Yeah.

The lemon and the lemon zest.

You can smell the zest and a little bit of garlic.

So now we're gonna jazz the salad up.

-I assume it would be good on its own at this point.

-It would be great on its own, yeah, absolutely.

So I'm gonna add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and 1/2 cup of toasted sliced almonds.

It's gonna give, like, a little crunch to our salad and also a nutty flavor.

One shallot that I sliced thinly.

And this is gonna add just, like, a savory note.

And we're gonna add a tablespoon of minced tarragon to this.

Alright, so now I'm just gonna toss our salad.

-It's vibrant, gorgeous.

Beautiful, Erin.

I love that the avocado's green so it's not masking that beautiful, vibrant broccoli color.

-Absolutely.

-Alright, going right in for the broccoli.

-Success?

-It's really, really good.

That dressing -- I almost don't want to call it a salad dressing.

It really is part of the salad itself.

I mean, it's vibrant.

It's got that lemon flavor.

The avocado is beautiful sub-- maybe even better than mayo.

And you get a little bit of the almond toasty.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mmm.

Alright, I'm heading over if you're making this broccoli salad for your next cookout.

-Deal.

-Alright.

Well, if you want to make this beautiful broccoli salad, layer the broccoli florets on top of the stalks when simmering, create a creamy dressing with avocado instead of mayo, add dried cranberries, toasted almonds, and tarragon to finish.

So from "America's Test Kitchen," a revamp on a retro classic, broccoli salad with creamy avocado dressing.

I'm thinking lime would be good in here.

-Absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

-Chives.

-In ancient Greece, there was a vegetable so revered that Romans offered pure gold replicas of it to Apollo, the god of sun, music, poetry, and more.

That vegetable was the radish.

And today, Becky is gonna show us how to pay homage to the humble radish, which maybe today we should call by its Latin name, Raphanus sativus.

-Wow.

Very fancy.

-Yes, it makes it sound pretty elegant.

-We're gonna be cooking the radishes, which is something that you don't usually do.

We're starting with 2 pounds of radishes.

We have beautiful ones here today.

-Yeah, they're gorgeous.

-Just your basic red round radishes.

And I'm gonna cut off the greens here.

And I'm gonna save these greens, because we're gonna use them as a nice, fresh salad to go with the roots.

And then I'm going to cut them in half this way.

I like to leave these long roots on.

They're really pretty.

And we're gonna cook them, and they get nice and crispy in the oven.

So now let's make a little coating to go on the radishes while they roast.

I have 1/2 teaspoon of honey already in here, and that's just gonna accentuate the natural sweetness that's gonna come out of the radish.

And it's also gonna help with browning.

-Makes sense.

-3 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

-Mmm.

-5 teaspoons of miso.

-Yeah.

-That's gonna add a lot of umami to the radishes.

-And that's a white miso.

-That's right.

And 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Alright, so we'll just whisk this all together.

So this is nice and smooth now.

Ready for our radishes.

So the crisp radishes really hold up nicely in the oven.

They turn tender, but they still have kind of a meaty texture and they get really juicy.

-So they don't break down and turn mushy like a potato might.

-No, they don't.

They're lovely when they're roasted.

So they're nicely coated.

So let's put them on to a tray here, and I'm going to arrange them so they have all their cut sides down.

-Okay.

-Because we want them to get nice and brown in the oven.

Alright.

That looks good.

So I'm going to roast these in a 500-degree oven on the bottom rack, and they'll turn nice and tender.

And that will take 10 or 15 minutes.

-Okay.

-Thank you.

-Wow.

Well, I didn't expect that.

Looks a little burned.

Is that okay?

-It's fine.

Have a little confidence.

-I do have confidence in you.

-You'll see the radishes themselves are... -Oh, just a little bit of browning.

-...really nicely browned.

We're just gonna let them cool down while we prepare the rest of the salad.

-Okay.

-Plain whole-milk yogurt.

I have 1/2 cup already in the bowl here.

We're gonna add some tahini.

I have 2 tablespoons.

And that'll add some nice nuttiness.

-Yeah.

-A tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.

A teaspoon of lemon zest.

One garlic clove minced up for just the tiniest little bit of kick there.

And 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper.

We'll just give that a little whisk.

So that's a nice, easy little base for our salad.

-Yeah.

-Alright, so we'll let that hang out for a minute.

And now let's go over to these beautiful radish greens that we've held on to from before, and we're gonna just put a nice light dressing on them.

So I have 1/2 teaspoon of honey to sort of echo the honey that we put on the radishes earlier.

-That's right.

-Teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.

-Oh, not a lot at all.

-No, just the tiniest little bit.

This is just very lightly dressed.

Teaspoon of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of miso.

Again, just like we put onto the radishes before we roasted them.

And then 1/8 teaspoon of pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

-That is a tiny amount of dressing.

You weren't kidding.

-But remember, we also have the yogurt as well.

And here goes our beautiful greens.

And if you can't find radishes with their tops on, you could substitute watercress.

-Oh, yeah.

-You could also use baby arugula.

You can also cook them.

Just really quickly saut them like you would spinach.

Alright.

I think that looks good.

-Mm-hmm.

-So we'll just let our radishes finish cooling, and then we'll come back and we'll put everything together.

-Sounds good.

-So I have 2 tablespoons of toasted pistachios chopped up, 1 1/2 teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds, and then just 1/8 teaspoon of cumin.

And then 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

Stir that up.

Oh, I can smell that cumin.

-Smells amazing.

-Yeah, really nice -- really nice flavor combination here.

Alright, so let's assemble our salad.

So here's that yogurt sauce that we made before.

Put this onto the platter here, and I'm just putting it on one side of the platter 'cause I want it to peek out from underneath the greens.

Using the back of a spoon, kind of spread it.

That looks good.

Now we'll take our greens that are beautifully dressed with the honey, the lemon.

Put these on top.

And now our radishes.

I'm just gonna scatter these on top of the greens.

And they're so beautiful and brown and the -- see how the little tails?

-Yeah.

-They look so nice.

-Yeah.

-Show off those crispy little radish tails.

And now my topping here.

I'm just gonna use my fingers.

I feel like I have more control over it if I use my hands.

-Oh, I love that.

-Isn't that nice?

-Yeah.

This would be impressive to serve if you have people coming over.

-Oh, this is definitely dinner party salad for sure.

-That is beautiful.

-Get some of that beautiful yogurt.

-Mm-hmm.

-Alright, here we go.

-Here we go.

-Mmm.

-Mmm.

-The radishes are so good.

They're soft, but toothsome.

They don't fall apart.

Almost like a cooked apple that still has a little texture to it.

-They're sweet.

They're so juicy.

I love the texture.

I'm just in love with these.

-Mellow butteriness.

-Yeah.

Aren't those greens good?

-The greens are good.

And that dressing is awesome.

This is a terrific combination of flavors.

Becky, this is fantastic.

-Thank you.

-I can't wait to make this when I have people coming over.

I think it's really impressive.

-I agree.

-To make this regal radish recipe, start by roasting them in a ripping-hot 500-degree oven.

Make a yogurt sauce with tahini and lemon juice, and put those radish greens to use when plating it all up.

So from "America's Test Kitchen," a dish worthy of the gods -- roasted radishes with a yogurt tahini sauce.

This is incredible.

-Such a good one, right?

-I am such a huge fan of this.

-Yeah, me too.

-I love coffee just as much as the next guy.

Well, maybe not as much as Mr. Adam Ried, but I would never spend more than $100 on a coffee maker.

Now, Adam, I know you're a coffee guy.

Would you spend a lot of money on a coffee maker?

-You know, I love coffee, Julia, but I'm a cheapskate at heart, and I'm with you.

I don't really want to spend that much on a coffee maker either.

The last time we tested high-end coffee makers, it was a $300 machine that won.

-I know.

-Makes really good coffee, but it begged the question in my mind, and it sounds like yours, too, can you have great coffee for less money?

-Mm-hmm.

-And we have this lineup of nine machines here with a price cap of $100.

-That's a lot of machines.

-A lot of machines, but only $100 or less.

-Mm-hmm.

-We know from experience that the ratios of coffee to water that get recommended in the manuals are all over the place, and we wanted an even playing field.

So we used the recommendation of the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

Their ratio is 1 part coffee to 18 parts water.

We also used tap water because most people at home will use tap water and we use medium-roast beans that we bought in bulk and ground in batches in a commercial grinder.

Now, let's talk about timing and temperature a little bit.

Temperature first.

You don't want water at the full boil when you're brewing coffee.

You want it to be between 195 degrees and 205 degrees to get all the right flavors out of the coffee beans.

You also don't want to brew it too fast or too slow.

A whole pot should take no more than 8 minutes.

So we looked for guidance again from the Specialty Coffee Association, measuring the temperature of the water as it goes into the brew basket, measuring the temperature of the finished coffee, and timing the brew cycle.

And it was sort of surprising what we found.

That temperature range of 195 to 205, a lot of the machines never even made it into that range.

-Really?

-They fell short of the range altogether.

Some of the machines that did make it into the range only spent about 10% of their brew cycle there.

The one that did the best, that made it into the range and spent 71% of its brew cycle, was this one right there.

The next tests, our testers put on their coffee geek hats, and they got out their coffee refractometer, and they measured the total dissolved solids in the coffee, which will give you an extraction level.

And that's just talking about how many of the compounds get dissolved in the water.

And that really reflects on how the coffee tastes.

What you're looking for there is a range of 18% to 22%, and this one machine that did well with the timing and the water temperature was right in the sweet spot, 21.6%.

Some of them were as low as 11%, which resulted in weaker coffee.

So in the end, this is actually the one that we loved the best.

This is the Bonavita 8-Cup, One-Touch coffee maker.

It's 94 bucks.

As I promised, less than $100.

Makes really good coffee.

It's simple to operate.

One switch turns it on and off.

The parts are easy to pull out and clean.

It's got a thermal carafe, which we loved, and it was also the best buy in our high-end coffee maker testing.

Above and beyond that, there's an even better recommendation.

Our director and his wife, who are our coffee machine skeptics, loved this machine.

So it gets a solid real-world recommendation.

-Alright.

So this is the all-star.

If you're in the market for a new coffee machine, try out the Bonavita 8-Cup, One-Touch coffee maker for just $94.

-Who says that fruit salads have to be sweet?

Well, not Lan, because she's here, and she's gonna show us how a melon salad can be the start of something spectacular.

-That's right, Bridget.

I'm going to make a watermelon salad today, but I think you can do this with any melon salad.

-Okay.

-And you really want the melon to be the star of the show.

Before we get to the melon, we're gonna work on the dressing.

I've got two scallions here, so I'm just gonna take off the bottom and slice these thinly.

What I love about scallions in a melon salad, the savoriness of the scallions helps the fruitiness of the melon really shine.

These whites and these pale green bits, they are for the dressing.

So I'm just gonna put that in a bowl.

And the rest of these we'll save for later.

-Okay.

-So next up, to highlight the melon's coolness, I've got something a little bit hot.

I'm working with serranos here, and I'm just gonna take the tops off of these, split them.

And I'm not looking for a ton of heat, so I'm gonna ditch the seeds and membranes.

But if you like heat, feel free to keep them in.

Serranos are great because they have kind of thin walls.

They're not too obtrusive and they bring a nice fresh heat.

But you could use jalapeos.

Dried chilies like Aleppo would be lovely too.

-Oh, yeah.

-There's a lot of options out there.

Just gonna slice these thinly.

Great.

So these are gonna go into that bowl as well.

And last ingredient for our dressing is 1/3 cup of lime juice.

So I'm just gonna let this mixture hang out for about 5 minutes.

That's enough time for everything to kind of mellow and meld.

Next up is the melon.

And I have a seedless watermelon here.

I'm just gonna take the top and bottom off.

I'm looking for about 6 cups of melon.

I don't think I'll need this whole thing.

So let me just split this.

And I like to have a nice, stable base for peeling off the rind.

It just makes everything a lot safer.

And I'm just gonna run my knife down the side and rotate the melon as I go.

So now that the rind is gone, let's cut this up.

I'm going for 1 1/2-inch chunks here.

I want to keep the watermelon in nice large chunks for a couple of reasons.

One, it means fewer knife cuts.

-Mm-hmm.

-Which is great 'cause that's easier.

Two, every time you make a cut in the melon, you are breaking down the cells, and juices come spewing out.

We don't want that.

We don't want a puddle of juice at the bottom of our salad bowl.

Lastly, these big chunks are gonna eat really nicely.

They're gonna offer contrast when you take a bite because the exterior will be seasoned with the dressing.

But the inside is just pure melon, and it's great.

I'm looking for 6 cups of 1 1/2-inch chunks.

-Okay.

-And this looks like it'll be plenty Last thing -- We need to have a taste.

Because melon can vary in sweetness, I want to make sure that I season the dressing for the melon I have rather than just kind of guessing.

-Great.

-You want to have a little bite and tell me what you think?

-Very much so.

Love watermelon.

-That's a good melon.

-That is a really good melon.

Very sweet melon.

-Since that melon was so sweet, I'm only gonna add about a tablespoon of sugar.

If it hadn't been as perfect as it was, I might add up to 2 tablespoons.

Next up, I've got just 3/4 teaspoon of table salt, and I'm gonna give this a quick stir.

And now our melon goes in.

Gonna try to not splash.

Stand back.

-[ Laughs ] You did that gracefully.

-So quick toss to make sure all the pieces are nicely coated.

My dressing didn't contain any oil, and there's a really good reason for that.

Watermelon, as we talked before, is just pretty much water.

And so when you try to add oil to it, it's all just gonna run off.

There are better ways to add richness that will cling to the melon.

And something like a cheese, nuts, even olives would be great here.

First up, I've got 1/2 cup of crumbled Cotija.

1/4 cup of chopped, salted, roasted pepitas.

-Yum.

-I know.

1/4 cup of cilantro.

-Oh, my.

That looks gorgeous already.

-Yeah.

Those scallion greens we had from earlier.

-Okay.

-One more toss.

-Oh, look at that.

-Right?

It's so festive.

This is it.

We're done.

-That's it?

-We're done.

How fast was that?

-You usually make me wait hours before I can eat anything.

-Let's get this into a serving bowl and give it a taste.

-This is my bowl, okay?

-Yes, ma'am.

Just to finish this out, I've got 1/4 cup of Cotija just for the top.

-Yes.

-Great.

Can't have too much cheese.

Another tablespoon of those pepitas and a tablespoon of cilantro.

-That is stunning.

This is a five-star salad.

What's so nice about this is you have those really assertive flavors from the chilies and the lime juice, and it's really going to heighten the watermelon.

-They're all there as supporting characters, really.

It's pretty great.

Ready?

-Yes, please.

-Mmm.

As you chew the watermelon, it releases more and more of that sweet juice, and then it blends with the chilies.

Oh, that chili's just creeping up now.

-Yeah, it's -- it's great how with each bite, it kind of evolves on the palate.

One of the things I love about this salad is the way the principles can be applied to other melon.

And you can check out those recipes on our website.

-This is the start of something special.

-You're gonna be eating melon salads all summer.

-Thanks, Lan.

Well, if you want to eat watermelon salad that's not watered down, make a dressing with assertive flavors like lime juice and chilies, cut the watermelon into large pieces, and skip the oil in the dressing and use creamy cheese and nuts for richness.

So from "America's Test Kitchen," a melon salad that heats you up and cools you down at the same time -- watermelon salad with Cotija and serrano chilies.

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

Back to the salad.

-I know, right?

-Mmm.

Mmm.