Ask the Test Kitchen with Lauren, Lisa, and Kate from the Tasting and Testing Team
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Welcome to a new series–Ask the Test Kitchen–where we sit down with ATK employees for an unfiltered, unscripted Q&A. Read our review of Amazon Basics …
I would definately like to see Costco added to your testing and tasting videos. I see a lot of your videos where one or more of the food items are "East coast only". I live in So Cal, where there is a Costco every 5 miles.
Is there anyway to save a scratched and stained Enameled Dutch oven pan?
I often get notifications that the test kitchen uploaded a video and I’ll go to watch it it’ll already have been deleted and then the next day there’s a video with similar or the same title that works; I was just wondering if it’s a glitch or what the issue might be.
Thanks for the very fun QA video, I have one more question, may I ask how to clean the burnt oil stain on the inner wall of stainless skillets? Or how to avoid it? Every time I make steaks, the inner sidewall gets the thin layer of oil burn stains (light brown) that are very hard to remove, the bottom is shiny and good though. I wonder did I turned the heat to high? I ended up using the barkeeper's friend and I wonder if there is a way to avoid those burns or a better way to clean it. Thanks very much.
I refuse to watch America's Test kitchen since the girls decided to bully Christopher Kimball out. THERE would be NO TEST kitchen period without Christopher Kimball!
Cowboy Kent Rollins can tell you anything you want to know about cast iron and how to clean or restore it.
I find that if it's a porous material it shouldn't go in the dishwasher at all because they tend to taste like dishwasher soap when you use it. I'm not fond of my eggs tasting like soap when I use my silicone spatula.
Would you guys ever consider putting together suggested menus for large dinner parties or other hospitality events hosted by the home cook? Pretty please?!
I buy those little glass bowls at dollar stores or thrift stores — they are not all tempered like Anchor Hocking or Pyrex, but they do the job. I use them as salt cellars or condiment dishes on appetizer platters as well. About cast iron pans — they can warp. Never submerge a hot pan in water.
I love Lisa! I miss your older style equipment reviews!
Yet another antidotal story for cast iron. I picked up a completely crusty old square one in a second hand store when I lived in a mountain community. I asked a few folks how to clean that bugger. Just wait until our our next camp out and bring it with you. I was appalled that they threw it on the camp fire and then just left it until morning. The fire had cooled and so did the pan and it was completely clean. All I had to do was wash and season it after that. It was a great pan after that.
Does anyone remember Cracker Barrel having a baked potato with pine rosin?
I cook in retro appliances, and use my 1956 Big Boy Brazier a lot in good weather. A few weeks ago i made the best ever baked potatoes in double wrapped foil, nestled in the charcoal for an hour, turning every 5 minutes according to several vintage bbQ recipe books. The books were the Big Boy BBQ book 1956, Sears Kenmore "Let's Cook Outdoors" 1959, Modern Barbecue Cooking by Ed Bell 1966, and James Beard BBQ. And of course your book, Master of the Grill which I use ALL the time on both my gas, and vintage charcoal grill, and my vintage Hibachi grill.
My fave recipe is yours, on our vintage open charcoal Big Boy brazier with a half hood. It's your Paella, and works every time. I just use foil for covering the pan, as I don't have a cover on my grill.
My other passion is rotisserie cooking as I have a vintage Sears Kenmore counter top rotisserie, a rotisserie for my vintage charcoal grill, and a rotisserie in my Emeril Air Fryer. I have your Air Fryer cookbook too, fabulous.
I got my mom a Thermapen Classic for Christmas because she accidentally ran her OXO thermometer under running water cleaning it.
One of her sister in-laws thinks the Thermapen & ThermaPop are too expensive.
Dishwashers: has a "Pots & Pans" cycle
Non-stick cookware manufacturers: "It's metal utensil AND dishwasher safe!"
ATK: "Hold our beers"
Oklahoma has never had a Costco until last year when its first one had opened up in north Oklahoma City. The only other equivalent we've had those years was Sam's Club, which is a WalMart subsidiary.
Who eats all the food you folks prepare on your TV show and your testings?
You CAN actually ruin a cast iron pan. My father did this to my mothers family heirloom cast iron, by leaving it on a lit stove with oil in it and then falling asleep. It caught fire and ended up catching the kitchen on fire. The fire extinguisher cooled it down so quickly that it cracked. My mother considered filing for divorce (a perfectly reasonable reason to do so here in Texas). It’s now a wall clock.
I use paper grocery bags between my cast iron pans to stack them.
Baked sweet potato yumm yumm!
You can use a metal whisk in enameled cast iron. The recommendation against using metal utensils on enamel is mostly because people will bang them on the edge, chipping the enamel, and scrape really hard with sharp edges and corners. A smooth, round whisk isn't going to harm enamel — it's harder than steel!
I knew someone who put cast iron in the dishwasher once. Quick lesson learned, and after all the yelling (from his roommates), he also learned how to clean and oil cast iron.
Would you and/or the staff ever consider showing how and with what your cookware washers use to clean the stainless steel pots and pans?
I have finally saved enough to get myself a set of J.A. Henckels knives, pots and pans and would really like to take a long Sunday morning and polish up my set.
Wood stuff – Hot soapy water, rinse well, rub well with fine grain salt.
Your taste criteria as explained here to exclude Costco and Trader Joe’s is inconsistently applied at best. You frequently include products only available in New England or the East Coast. For example, the recent Hamburger Bun winner was a product available primarily in New England and not available at all in most of the country.
DO NOT use nonstick spray on nonstick cookware! There's a bonding that happens and it ends up being just the opposite of nonstick and worthless. Why don't they ever talk about this?
Years ago I had a cast iron griddle pan that had a crack running across it but it didn't break apart. I didn't know how it cracked. I threw it out. It was part of an inexpensive cookware set, maybe from K-mart
It takes less than sixty seconds to clean any pot or pan, so don't put ANY in the dishwasher. It just ruins the seasoning on your pots and pans.
Thanks for the tip on the wooden spoon in the dishwasher. I wont do it anymore. Being a wood guy I should of known better.
I'm almost 50. I never had a meat thermometer until about 2 years ago. The only time it came in handy was for smoking a Turkey. I grill 4 to 5 times a week. Even in the winter. Not once has anyone got sick. If someone does it will be my son or myself who love our steak closer to rare.
This was a fabulous video! I learned a lot. I have often taken your advice. I have several kitchen tools/utensils that were exactly as you had described and I continue to use them. Next tool I want to add is either a cast iron or carbon steel pan to replace my non-stick. Actually – what is your take on the safety of non-stick? Apparently teflon is killing the environment/wildlife as well as us.
I have a large screw into a stud in my hall closet near my kitchen for hanging my cast iron pan on.
Very handy.
I want to know if there were any opinions at ATK about Great British Bake-off's "bingate". Wasn't it crazy to give some contestants chest freezer and others uprights?
I keep a spray bottle in my kitchen with a strong bleach solution- it's perfect to spray down surfaces and equipment to thoroughly disinfect everything. I hunt and fish, so I am meticulous when it comes to sanitation when processing my meat.