America's Test Kitchen

Brittany, France, is famous for buckwheat crepes filled with savory ingredients. Once you've mastered them, it's easy to swap in other whole-grain flours. Our pairing of earthy rye crepes with a smoked salmon filling takes inspiration from blini toppings. Mixing crème fraîche with lemon, chives, and chopped capers made for a briny, bright topping to pair with rich smoked salmon. Quick-pickled shallots provided tang and crunch.

We found inspiration for this superflavorful Greek chicken at Johnny’s Restaurant in Homewood, Alabama, where the menu reflects the chef’s Greek heritage and Alabama upbringing; read about our visit here. The chicken there is tender and juicy, marinated and roasted to perfection and flavored with tons of herbs and lemon. To re-create this simple yet complex-tasting dish for the home cook, we first tested our way to the perfect marinade: a blend of olive oil, fresh and dried herbs and spices, and lemon. To make sure the marinade penetrated past the surface of the chicken, we cut ½-inch-deep slashes in each piece. To achieve the lovely browning we remembered from the chicken at Johnny’s, we roasted our chicken at a relatively hot 425 degrees and gave it a blast of heat from the broiler at the end of cooking.

Use your hand. But not how you think! 

A popular herbal drink, hibiscus tea is actually an infusion made from the deep magenta-colored outer layers of a particular species of hibiscus. Our goal here was a fruity, refreshing nonalcoholic cocktail that would go down easy at an outdoor party on a hot summer day. To this end, we started by brewing hibiscus tea using our favorite room-temperature brewing method for iced tea. We then sampled our hibiscus tea mixed with every variety of fruit juice we could imagine—including passion fruit, orange, pineapple, and pear—and settled on the sweet, mildly tart taste of guava nectar as the winner. To sweeten our juicy, eye-poppingly pink tea, we favored mint syrup, which brought an herbal lift to the flavor. You could also try Herb Syrup made with basil, tarragon, or thyme in this drink instead of the mint, or try the Ginger Syrup. A small dose of lemon juice added some citrus acidity to round out the flavors perfectly and make it even more refreshing after a long afternoon in the sun.

Our Pizza al Taglio recipe uses a dough containing lots of water and olive oil to create a tender and airy crust with a crisp, light underside. Because the dough is so wet, we folded it by hand (rather than employ a stand mixer) to develop gluten. We placed the dough in a baking pan to proof overnight in the refrigerator to develop flavor and allow the dough to relax for easy stretching to its final dimensions. We then coated the top of the dough with olive oil and turned it out onto a baking sheet. We stretched it to the edges of the sheet and allowed it to proof for an hour until it was bubbly and risen. Finally, we topped the pizza and baked it on the lowest rack of a 450-degree oven until the bottom was evenly browned and crisp before adding the toppings.

Slim 3/4-inch-thick swordfish steaks cook quickly in the skillet. Crème fraîche cooks down to a slightly tart, creamy pan sauce.

To make pasta salad using Israeli couscous, we first toast the spheres in oil to bring out their nuttiness. We then cook the couscous in a measured amount of water that is soaked up during cooking. This absorption method produces more evenly cooked results than boiling the couscous. To turn the couscous into a salad, we dress it with a bold vinaigrette of equal parts acid and oil. Finally, we mix in plenty of fresh vegetables, cheese, nuts, and herbs.

Sprinkling flank steak with sugar gave it a beautiful mahogany crust after only a short time on the grill.

From warm strawberry bakes to chilled strawberry treats to classic cakes—you’ll want to try every last one.

In Peru, maestros polleros, or poultry masters, make the wildly popular chickens known as pollo a la brasa by grill-roasting chickens on rotisseries that spin lazily over crackling wood fires to produce meat that's encased in tawny, paper-thin skin and dripping with juices. Our version calls for marinating the bird in a beer-based marinade that also includes ingredients commonly used in pollerías today: soy sauce for salinity; lime juice and mustard for brightness; and garlic, dried thyme, black pepper, and cumin for earthy, savory depth. Instead of a rotisserie to rotate the bird horizontally, we used the half-empty beer can to prop it up vertically and then positioned the propped-up bird in the center of a kettle grill outfitted with a split fire. The key was to rotate the chicken a quarter turn every 15 minutes. While not the constant movement of a rotisserie, about five turns produced remarkably succulent, smoky meat packaged in well-rendered, uniformly mahogany skin.

Something magical happens when you halve fresh figs and sear them. We cooked them in butter until the cut sides caramelized, givinge them a deep, butterscotch-y flavor. Swirling in honey after they started to brown allowed the figs to continue to soften and release liquid that mingled with the honey to create a sweet, sticky sauce. One-half teaspoon of tart lemon juice cut some of the sweetness to balance these figs so that they're just as good spooned over ice cream or paired with cheese.

Coating the chicken in Dijon mustard and brown sugar adds tons of flavor, and the Dijon caramelizes to a beautifully browned crust on the grill.

We were inspired by a brilliant taco-shop recipe for shrimp tacos that combined the best characteristics of a taco and a quesadilla, boasting crisped corn tortillas, gooey melted cheese, and a fiesta of saucy shrimp, shredded lettuce, diced avocado, and chopped fresh cilantro. To achieve results this good without any time-consuming stovetop batch cooking, we turned to the oven. We placed six tortillas on each of two oiled rimmed baking sheets and topped them with cheese and a quick-cooked shrimp filling before baking them until the tortillas crisped and the cheese melted. Topping our “tacodillas” with shredded lettuce, fresh cilantro, and diced avocado just before serving allowed us to combine the vibrancy of a taco with the warmth and comfort of a quesadilla.

For a brightly flavored sauce to spoon over grilled meats, roasted vegetables, and seared fish, we began by toasting sliced almonds in extra-virgin olive oil. We then stirred in pungent, briny preserved lemon. After balancing the flavors with lemon juice and sugar, we let the flavors meld for 15 minutes before serving.

Cool down and chill out with our brand-new Cook’s Country recipes.

Old Bay, lemon, and butter deliver all the flavors of a classic shrimp boil in these grilled foil packs. To ensure that the potatoes cooked through on the grill, we parcooked them in the microwave first.