America's Test Kitchen

Our ground beef chili uses 85 percent lean ground beef for richness and flavor. We use only small amounts of pureed whole canned tomatoes and pinto beans to create a thick, rich dish that is best served over white rice and/or with tortilla chips. To keep the meat moist and tender, we treat it with salt and baking soda. Both ingredients help the meat hold on to moisture, so it doesn’t shed liquid during cooking. This means that 2 pounds of beef can be browned in just one batch. We also simmer the meat for 90 minutes to fully tenderize it. Finally, our homemade chili powder uses a combination of toasted dried ancho chiles, chipotle chiles in adobo, and paprika, along with a blend of herbs and spices to round it out. We make sure to stir in any fat that collects on the top of the chili before serving since it contains much of the flavor from the fat-soluble spices in the chile powder.

Why would we use the air fryer for a quick-cooking protein like shrimp? It makes the process hands-off and easy. We tossed fennel and shrimp in a spicy, sharp mixture of extra-virgin olive oil, tart tomato paste, oregano, pepper flakes, and fresh garlic. Then we softened and lightly browned the fennel. Now it was just a matter of placing our shrimp on the vegetable and cooking them till they were tender. We used the remaining oil mixture to toss the fennel and shrimp with cannellini beans, sun-dried tomatoes, watercress, and pepperoncini.

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In our recipe for chicken Marsala, we take a new approach to fabricating and cooking chicken cutlets. First, we cut each chicken breast in half crosswise. Then, we cut the thicker half in half horizontally to make three identically sized pieces that can easily be pounded into cutlets. We salt the cutlets briefly to boost their ability to retain moisture and then dredge them in a light coating of flour, which accelerates browning and helps prevent the meat from overcooking. We sear the cutlets quickly on both sides and set them aside while making the sauce. Our Marsala sauce uses reduced dry Marsala and chicken broth, along with cremini and dried porcini mushrooms for rich flavor and gelatin for a silky texture. Once the Marsala and mushroom sauce is complete, we return the cutlets to the pan to cook them through and wash any excess starch into the sauce, eliminating gumminess.

There’s no bad option. But here are some ideas to get you started.

Since this ham is already cooked, there are not too many places to go awry: All you have to do is reheat the ham, glaze it with a sweet or tangy sauce, and you're good to go. But in the interest of bringing ham into the 21st century (and freeing up some oven space for you next holiday meal), we're here to make it even better and more foolproof. Reheating the ham sous vide guarantees that the meat is evenly heated from edge to edge, eliminating cold spots and the need to obsessively maul your beautiful ham with an instant-read thermometer. Since cooking sous vide all but eliminates evaporation, the meat stays moist and flavorful. But the best part? If your ham comes from the store in convenient vacuum-sealed packaging, you can just drop the whole thing in your water bath and forget about it—no extra-extra-large bag needed. To finish this holiday centerpiece, we lacquer our ham with a couple of coats of cherry-port glaze in a hot oven, which gives the exterior a rich mahogany sheen.

Lasagna isn’t usually a dish you can throw together at the last minute. Even with no-boil noodles, it takes a good amount of time to get the components just right. Our goal was to transform traditional baked lasagna into a stovetop skillet dish without losing any of its flavor or appeal.

We built a hearty, flavorful meat sauce with onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and meatloaf mix (a more flavorful alternative to plain ground beef). A large can of diced tomatoes along with tomato sauce provided juicy tomato flavor and a nicely chunky texture. We scattered regular curly-edged lasagna noodles, broken into pieces, over the top of the sauce (smaller pieces are easier to eat and serve). We then diluted the sauce with a little water so that the noodles would cook through. After a 20-minute simmer with the lid on, the pasta was tender, the sauce was properly thickened, and it was time for the cheese. Stirring Parmesan into the dish worked well, but we discovered that the sweet creaminess of ricotta was lost unless we placed it in heaping tablespoonfuls on top of the lasagna. Replacing the lid and letting the cheese warm through for several minutes was the final step for this super-easy one-pan dish.

Including a pie chart that has nothing to do with math.

Mushrooms are inherently savory; have the ability to build fond, the rich-tasting browned bits that form on a pot’s interior surface; and offer a balance of tenderness and resilience that allows them to turn pleasantly supple when simmered without losing structural integrity. For all those reasons, they’re great for featuring in a luxurious, wintery braise such as bourguignon. Chunks of portobellos were meaty and satisfying, while dried porcini offered a heavy-hitting boost of umami along with savory supports such as miso, tomato paste, and soy sauce and classic aromatics and herbs such as carrot, shallot, garlic, and thyme. A modified roux made with olive oil and flour added the French classic’s requisite body and gloss while keeping the stew vegan, and a splash of wine at the end of cooking brought brightness.

Cookie presses are handheld gadgets that portion soft cookie doughs into a variety of shapes, from hearts and flowers to snowmen and turkeys. These cookies are typically called “spritz” cookies, from the German word spritzen, meaning “to squirt.” While you can use a pastry bag to pipe and shape dough, presses offer a variety of shapes and make it easier to create identical cookies.

We wanted to bring all the essence of Key lime pie to a Key lime bar, creating a bar that balanced a tart and creamy topping and a buttery rich base. For the base, we wanted something similar to shortbread: a crisp, buttery crust that could support the topping yet slice neatly and easily. We started with a classic shortbread recipe by mixing pieces of softened butter into our all-purpose gluten-free flour blend, along with sugar and salt, using a stand mixer to ensure a fine crumb. The flavor was exactly what we wanted, but without gluten this base couldn’t support the topping. Adding just 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum gave the crust the structure it needed to hold up and slice neatly without crumbling. As for the filling, it also had to be sturdy and sliceable. By adding cream cheese and an egg yolk to the usual sweetened condensed milk and lime juice and zest, we created a rich and firm filling.

Bryan's dispatch from New York City, where he spent time with the prolific restaurateur who values methods over recipes.

Using fresh spinach rather than frozen for this recipe for two allowed us to control the amount of water in the sauce, which could wash out flavor. We first cooked the spinach until it was wilted and then let it drain to remove excess liquid. We browned the chicken in the skillet before transferring it to a plate so that we could reuse the skillet to build a flavorful yet quick sauce. Adding the cooked spinach and any accumulated chicken juices back to the sauce warmed the spinach through and added more chicken flavor to the sauce. We topped the chicken with this flavorful spinach mixture, as well as some Parmesan cheese for an added salty punch.

Equally as good at home with a sleeve of saltines or melted on a burger or a grilled cheese sandwich, pimento cheese is a flavorful spread of cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and chopped pimentos. We use sharp cheddar for its moderately intense flavor and creamy consistency (extra-sharp cheddar tends to be more crumbly) and shred it with both the large and small holes of a box grater to give the cheese a cohesive yet chunky consistency. A couple of tablespoons of cream cheese keep the mixture spreadable, even right out of the fridge, and a ratio of 2/3 cup mayo to 1 pound cheese adds a tangy punch and creamy texture. Some Worcestershire and lemon juice add brightness and depth without overpowering the cheese.

The street-cart and take-out staple of chicken shawarma is made by layering 30 pounds of meat onto a rotating spit and cooking the meat for hours. However, by using the broiler and boneless chicken thighs, we were able to create a home version. The intense heat generated by the oven's broiler ably bloomed the flavors of the cumin-paprika mixture we applied to the chicken and browned the meat's craggy surface. Opting for a quicker weeknight method, we gained the benefits of marinating by broiling lemons right alongside the meat. Squeezing the lemon juice over the sliced chicken right before serving lent it brightness and smoky depth. To round out the meal, we serve the shawarma with a cabbage slaw, diced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, a lemony yogurt sauce, and pita.