August/September 2023

Cook's Country

Foolproof recipes of American home cooking and easy, weeknight meals.

Cook's Country1 min read
Inside The Test Kitchen
Toni Tipton-Martin and Morgan Bolling share a laugh while making Tuna Poke for season 16 of the Cook’s Country TV show. The season premieres on public television on September 9, 2023. ■
Cook's Country2 min read
Cook’s Country
Editor in Chief Toni Tipton-Martin Editorial Director Bryan Roof Executive Editor Scott Kathan Executive Editor, Creative Content Morgan Bolling Deputy Food Editor Nicole Konstantinakos Deputy Editor Megan Ginsberg Senior Editors Matthew Fairman, Jes
Cook's Country3 min read
Letter From The Editor
THE ON-SET JOY captured in the photo opposite beautifully expresses that sweet spot where journalism and recipe development come together. Now, while we’re preparing to air a new season of Cook’s Country TV, seems like a good time to reintroduce myse
Cook's Country4 min read
Quick Bites: test Kitchen Tips, Recs, And Other Tidbits To Chew On
Toasting and grinding your own whole spices releases their oils, which emboldens their flavors and heightens their impact. The result is a robust freshness that’s often lacking in preground spices, especially those that have been lurking in the back
Cook's Country2 min read
The Best Portable Gas Burners
A PORTABLE GAS burner is handy as a spare stove on holidays and for power outages, during kitchen remodeling, when traveling in an RV, and for cooking outdoors—or even tableside, provided you have the good indoor ventilation that gas burners require.
Cook's Country5 min read
Tradition And Chorizo In The Heart Of Basque Idaho
ANSOTS IS A small Basque restaurant around the corner from Boise’s famous Basque Block, the historic heart of Idaho’s thriving Basque community, where locals gather to celebrate Basque music, dance, and food. The restaurant specializes in Basque-insp
Cook's Country4 min read
Grilled Scallions with Romesco
WE’RE ALWAYS LOOKING for fun, new ways to enjoy outdoor cooking. Apart from the usual grilling suspects—burgers and dogs and slabs of this or that—we know that many vegetables make excellent candidates for grilling, where the heat and smoke of the gr
Cook's Country2 min read
Giardiniera Coleslaw
COLESLAW IS THE perfect addition to any summer picnic or backyard barbecue. This quick version calls for two jars of store-bought giardiniera to pair with the traditional cabbage. The pickled vegetables provide a jolt of acidity to the slaw. A hefty
Cook's Country5 min readDiet & Nutrition
Sweet Tea–Brined Fried Chicken
WHILE THE ORIGINS of specific dishes are usually at least a little murky, every recipe for sweet tea–brined fried chicken owes a debt to Chef John Fleer, who is said to have created the dish while he was at Blackberry Farm, the famed resort in the Gr
Cook's Country1 min read
Key Discoveries
Our recipe is inspired by John Fleer’s. In testing and refining multiple variables to make it failproof for the home cook, we came up with these key points. A potent brine will impart the deepest sweet-tea flavor. Richer dark meat is less prone to dr
Cook's Country4 min read
Grilled Tri-Tip with Cilantro Sauce
TRI-TIP PREPARED in the style of Santa Maria barbecue (see “The American Table”) is an icon of regional California cuisine, but there’s no law that says tri-tip can’t be prepared in other ways too. Knowing a little more about this often overlooked cu
Cook's Country2 min readDiet & Nutrition
Tomato and Lemongrass Salad
THE BEST KIND of summer cooking requires hardly any cooking at all to highlight the fresh flavors of peak-season produce. Here, we set out to dress wedges of juicy summer tomatoes with a potent dressing that enhances—but doesn’t cover up—their sweet‑
Cook's Country2 min read
New Orleans Brabant Potatoes
A CLASSIC New Orleans side dish, Brabant potatoes are popular and for good reason. Also known as New Orleans fries or Louisiana fries, these well-seasoned, butter‑fried potato cubes are rich and creamy on the inside, crispy and toasty on the outside,
Cook's Country2 min read
Zucchini Ribbon Horiatiki (Greek Salad) Two
THE STANDARD GREEK salad you see in pizza joints in the United States is an adaptation of horiatiki, or “village salad.” Horiatiki features chunks of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and feta cheese, along with olives and herbs (and sometimes bell pepper
Cook's Country3 min read
Cast-Iron Skillet Corn Dip
THE POPULAR Mexican dish esquites—roasted corn kernels tossed with mayonnaise, cheese, chile, and lime—is a dynamic mix of sweet, creamy, bright, and spicy. This recipe takes those flavors and translates them into a hot, creamy, cheesy dip fit for a
Cook's Country3 min read
Ultimate Grilled Vegetable Sandwich
SANDWICHES TEND TO fall into one of two camps. There are those born of necessity, answering the question “how can I most efficiently get sustenance into my face while in a Zoom meeting/in the car/holding a baby, etc.?” And there are restaurant‑worthy
Cook's Country7 min read
Dinner Tonight
DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 50 MINUTES DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 45 MINUTES DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 50 MINUTES DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 1 HOUR Sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese before serving, if desired. 12 ounces precooked frozen breaded
Cook's Country3 min read
Tomatoes
For the best-tasting tomato, buy locally grown tomatoes during peak tomato season for your area (or—even better—grow your own!). The ideal tomato smells fruity, feels heavy for its size, and has thin walls (you can’t determine whether a tomato has th
Cook's Country2 min read
Loaded Bagel Salad
FOR A LIGHT and playful take on a classic brunch favorite, this salad transforms a loaded smoked salmon bagel into an elegant yet satisfying meal or side. To keep things fresh and vegetable‑forward for summer, cucumbers play a starring role as the ba
Cook's Country6 min read
Hui Guo Rou (Twice-Cooked Pork)
GOING OUT TO a Sichuan restaurant was always a special affair for my family when I was a child. Seated at an enormous round table, we would enjoy a seemingly endless array of food adorned with bright chiles, mouth-tingling sauces, and fiery broth. I
Cook's Country3 min read
Peach Fritters
PEACH FRITTERS HAVE long been a favorite treat sold at markets, fairs, and roadside stands in Pennsylvania’s Amish country and in the peach-growing regions of the American South (among other locales). They combine two of summer’s greatest pleasures—f
Cook's Country3 min read
Cherries Jubilee
SOME DISHES of decades past are so good that they find their way back. Cherries jubilee—cherries cooked in sugar and flambéed with kirsch (cherry brandy)—is one such dish. It was created by Auguste Escoffier, the father of modern gastronomy, for Quee
Cook's Country4 min read
Buttery Almond Thins
THESE CRISP, BUTTERY, almond-scented cookies—a Belgian-style treat known as pain d’amande or croquants aux amandes—are a study in simple elegance, with golden crystals of sugar and delicate slivers of almonds. In this case, their almond aroma is comp
Cook's Country2 min read
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
ORIGINATING IN NAPLES, Italy, spaghetti aglio e olio (spaghetti with garlic and olive oil) is a widely popular yet humble dish. And it’s a great recipe to make for two—it’s simple yet elegant, and it’s sure to impress with its toasted garlic flavor,
Cook's Country3 min readDiet & Nutrition
Chicken With Spinach And Beans
COOKING CHICKEN parts in a skillet is a nice alternative to roasting a whole chicken. It shortens the cooking time and allows you to make a side dish—that isn’t just roasted vegetables—right in the same pan. But it does take a little upfront work if
Cook's Country1 min readChemistry
How to Break Down a Whole Chicken
BUTCHERING A CHICKEN is a money-saving, foundational kitchen skill. One chicken will yield 10 pieces when broken down using our preferred method, but unlike with the precut chickens sold in stores, that’s not the only option. Parts can be tailored to
Cook's Country2 min read
Spiced Green-Tomato Chutney
Chutney is an umbrella term for sauces and condiments in Indian cuisines, both freshly prepared (made with any fresh ingredients ground together, such as cilantro and mint) and preserved. Preserved chutneys, such as our recipe here, are usually fruit
Cook's Country3 min read
Southern-Style Collard Greens
SOUTHERN-STYLE collard greens are simmered on the stovetop for hours—typically with a salty, smoky meat such as ham hock, bacon, or smoked turkey necks—until the greens become meltingly tender and silky. The cooked collards themselves are undeniably
Cook's Country3 min read
Why We Love KC-Style Barbecue Sauce
IN MOST AREAS of the country, the term “barbecue sauce” means a sauce modeled after the Kansas City–style version: thick, sweet, smoky, and dark. A tomato product such as ketchup is the base; it has spices such as garlic or onion powder; and it’s swe
Cook's Country3 min read
The Best Soft Coolers
SOFT-SIDED COOLERS are ideal for keeping food and drinks cold when you don’t want to lug a heavy hard-sided cooler. They’ve recently gotten more technical, promising better performance and longer cooling times. Do they deliver? To find out, we tested
Cook's Country1 min read
Mint Simple Syrup
Serves 6 to 8 (Makes about ¾ cup) Total Time: 15 minutes, plus 30 minutes cooling Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, served their iced tea with a small pitcher of mint simple syrup so that patrons could sweeten their tea to their own tast
Cook's Country1 min read
Portraits Of The People Who Feed Us
Read our collection of On the Road articles online at CooksCountry.com/ontheroad. ■

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