The Most Popular America's Test Kitchen Recipes in July

July was hot, hot, hot. But in the midst of the dog days of summer our members still braved the heat and cooked a variety of different dishes. They took advantage of in-season tomatoes, loved all things chicken, and enjoyed some breakfast staples. Get some inspiration for August by checking out our top six most popular recipes this month based on pageviews, and then check out the rest of our top 25 in this collection.

Tired of tomato tarts with soggy crusts and long preparation time, we developed a tomato tart recipe that would have a solid bottom crust and great vine-ripened flavor. Our secrets for a great tomato tart recipe? We used a two-step baking method for a flaky yet rigid crust, then "waterproofed" it with egg wash and layers of two kinds of cheese. We salted sliced tomatoes for 30 minutes to remove excess juice, then gently pressed them with paper towels. Baking the tart at 425 degrees quickly melted the cheese and preserved the tomatoes' meaty texture. [GET THE RECIPE]

For this recipe, we used our easy approach to butchering and cooking chicken cutlets. First, we cut each chicken breast in half crosswise. Then, we halved the thicker portion horizontally to make three similar-size pieces that required only minimal pounding to become cutlets. We salted the cutlets briefly to boost their ability to retain moisture and then lightly coated them in flour, which helped with browning. We seared the cutlets quickly on both sides and set them aside while making the sauce. Including both lemon juice and lemon slices in the sauce adds complexity and textural appeal. We then returned the cutlets to the pan to cook through and to wash any excess starch into the sauce, eliminating a gummy coating. A hearty amount of briny capers and a few tablespoons of butter finished the dish. [GET THE RECIPE]

Chilaquiles is a Mexican comfort food favorite made from fried tortilla wedges tossed in a deeply flavored chile sauce. The crisp chips soften slightly in the sauce, giving the dish a unique crunchy-chewy texture. The finished dish is usually topped with a variety of fresh garnishes along with a fried egg and served for breakfast. We decided to swap the fried egg for shredded chicken for a hearty main couse. We quickly discovered that using store-bought tortilla chips led to disappointing results; they either turned completely mushy or never softened properly, so we made our own. Baking the chips kept the dish from getting too greasy. We then made a simple sauce by toasting dried guajillo chiles in our cast-iron skillet and pureeing them in a blender with tomatoes, onion, two other kinds of chile peppers, garlic, cilantro, and salt. We poached the chicken directly in the sauce to infuse both with greater depth of flavor. Shredding the chicken and stirring in the homemade chips brough the dish together. [GET THE RECIPE]

The rich, velvety texture of traditional French-style scrambled eggs is believed to be the combined result of slow cooking and the addition of plenty of cream and butter, but we found a way to make them without all the added fat. We used steaming water rather than melted butter to indicate when our nonstick skillet was hot enough to begin cooking the eggs very slowly over low heat. Stirring constantly controlled the coagulation of the proteins so that some formed delicate curds while the rest thickened into a saucy consistency. Adding a tablespoon of water at the end of cooking diluted the proteins, giving our eggs the perfect texture. [GET THE RECIPE]

Indirect cooking is key, as it provides a hotter side for briefly searing the parts and a cooler side for them to cook through gently. Lining up the fattier leg quarters closer to the coals and the leaner white meat farther from the heat, as well as adding a water pan underneath the cooler side, helped the dark and white pieces cook slowly and evenly. Applying a simple spice rub along with the salt deeply seasoned the meat and also helped it retain moisture, while brushing on a homemade sauce in stages allowed it to cling nicely to the skin and also developed layers of tangy-sweet flavor. [GET THE RECIPE]

We wanted tender, fluffy, flavorful pancakes that are simpel to make using pantry-friendly ingredients and basic kitchen tools (no appliances). To make them tall and fluffy, we prepared a thick batter by using a relatively small amount of liquid and lots of baking powder and mixing it minimally. Sugar, vanilla, and baking soda provided sweetness, depth, and saline tang, respectively. [GET THE RECIPE]

Want to see the rest of our top 25? Check out our Most Popular America’s Test Kitchen Recipes in the July collection. And view these recipe collections to see which recipes were popular in past months:

• Most Popular America’s Test Kitchen Recipes in June
  
• Most Popular America’s Test Kitchen Recipes in May
  
• Most Popular America’s Test Kitchen Recipes in April