Mouthing Off

Warning: Test Kitchen Tease snapshots may cause cravings, lip-smacking and an unshakeable desire to cook.

Justin Chapple

Despite cuteness concerns, rabbit is one of the most sustainable meats available today. It’s surprisingly healthy and leaner than chicken, but still exceptionally flavorful and just as versatile. If you're still thinking rabbit isn’t your thing, just imagine it fried. This week, F&W’s Test Kitchen made this crazy-good chicken-fried rabbit. Like traditional recipes, the rabbit pieces were tenderized in buttermilk, then coated with a combination of all-purpose flour, stone-ground cornmeal, sage, cayenne pepper and salt. The pieces cooked to a golden brown with an extremely crunchy crust in less than ten minutes. A sprinkle of salt and a dash of Tabasco made them even better. This recipe will be revealed in our January issue, but in the meantime, practice with this Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken from F&W’s Grace Parisi.

Related: Fried Chicken Recipes

Photo by John Kernick

To make the Ethiopian bread injera, you have to ferment the batter. But how do you know it has fermented long enough? Read about how I found out the hard way >

Courtesy of SweeTango

Nothing heralds fall like the first bite of a fragrant local apple. This season’s highly anticipated new fruit on the block is the uncommonly crisp SweeTango apple. Developed over 10 years at the University of Minnesota, it is a cross between the much-loved Honeycrisp and Zestar varieties. Mottled red and yellowish-green, SweeTangos have distinctively large cell walls that burst against the teeth, releasing tart-sweet juice. An early-season apple, it is certain to disappear by late October.

Licensed growers are limited to those in Next Big Thing, A Growers’ Cooperative, which means that the standards of quality are strictly regulated and that you probably won’t find SweeTangos at your farmers’ market. However, as supplies grow each year, these apples will become more widely available. For now, if you spot one at select grocery stores across the country, snap it up! While it’s primarily a really good eating apple, SweeTango cooks beautifully in recipes like Grace Parisi’s fantastic Apple Blintz Hand Pies.

Related: Gorgeous Apple Desserts
Terrific Apple Recipes

Justin Chapple

Warning: Test Kitchen Tease snapshots may cause cravings, lip-smacking and an unshakeable desire to cook.

There’s nothing better than testing a burger recipe to bring back a whisper of summer. This week, F&W’s Test Kitchen made these fantastic lemongrass pork patties with quick cucumber kimchi from Chicago chef Bill Kim of Urban Belly. The patties are super-thin, but powerfully flavored with minced fresh lemongrass, ginger, citrus and Thai sweet chile sauce, which added a bit of sweetness and helped produce a nicely charred crust while grilling. They cooked in only a few minutes and each sandwich was piled high with three patties. But the best part was topping them with the spicy kimchi, which came together in only two hours (traditional kimchi can take days or even weeks to prepare). After salting and rinsing the cucumbers, we simply marinated them with garlic, onion, ginger, sesame and gochugaru—coarse red pepper powder from Korea. These recipes will be available in a few months, but for now, try these panko-coated Crunchy Pork Kimchi Burgers from F&W’s Grace Parisi.

Related: Favorite Burger Recipes
Amazing Korean Recipes
Traditional Napa Cabbage Kimchi

 

Warning: Test Kitchen Tease snapshots may cause cravings, lip-smacking and an unshakeable desire to cook.

Justin Chapple

Citrus zest packs a big punch, so you usually only need a small amount to lend lots of flavor. We test hundreds of recipes for the magazine, books and our website, which has taught us that chefs, bakers and cooks often call for way too much of it in their recipes. That’s why we were a smidge skeptical when testing this lemon bundt cake from Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito (co-founders of Baked in New York City). Their recipe called for the zest of ten lemons, which sounded absurd! But, because these boys haven’t led us down the wrong path before—their cookbooks are F&W staff favorites and they're part of our Masters Series—we elected to trust them. Ten lemons and one dulled Microplane later, this cake was exactly what we’d hoped: tender, moist and incredibly lemony. A good amount of sugar creates a lovely caramel-colored crust, and the cake is drizzled with a tangy lemon glaze before being sprinkled with toasted almonds. Look for the recipe in our December issue, but in the meantime, try this grapefruit-spiked Lemon-Glazed Citrus-Yogurt Pound Cake. For more recipes from Matt and Renato, click here or check out their latest cookbook: Baked Elements.  

Related: More Cake Recipes

F&W's Ultimate Guide to Dessert Recipes

Courtesy of William Sonoma

F&W Executive Food Editor Tina Ujlaki applies her incredible cooking knowledge to explaining what to do with a variety of interesting ingredients.

I’ve been a huge fan of Maya Kaimal’s ever since we featured her recipes years ago (one of my favorites: is her Black Pepper Chicken Curry). Luckily for me, she started a sauce company, and now, when I want an Indian quick-fix, I just grab a jar of her Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce from the fridge or the Butter Masala Sauce from my pantry. Sometimes I add chicken or shrimp, and sometimes just vegetables with or without cubes of firm tofu (as a stand-in for paneer). I warm up naan, set out plain yogurt and mango or tomato chutney and dinner is ready in less time than it would take to wait for takeout. The full line of sauces is available at supermarkets and health food stores and online at mayakaimal.com.

Related: Easy Indian Recipes
Healthy Indian Recipes
Delicious Curry Recipes

Warning: Test Kitchen Tease snapshots may cause cravings, lip-smacking and an unshakeable desire to cook.

Justin Chapple

If ever there were a perfect centerpiece dessert, The Greenhouse Tavern's Dobos Torte would be it. This lofty tower of tender cake and luscious chocolate buttercream is made even more awesome by a meringue exterior, which is torched like baked Alaska to lend a surprisingly light texture and striking appearance. Also, it could practically feed an army, so it's perfect for large gatherings. This recipe won't be available until December, but in the meantime, Tyler Florence's Towering Coconut Cake is great for the weekend.

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Fantastic Cake Recipes
Beautiful Desserts

Warning: Test Kitchen Tease snapshots may cause cravings, lip-smacking and an unshakeable desire to cook.

Justin Chapple

Occasionally in the F&W Test Kitchen we revisit recipes because they need some tweaking, but more often we revisit recipes just because they’re delicious and we’re hungry. This week we were craving this snack-perfect version of tarte flambée from Vermont bakery Vergennes Laundry. It’s much lighter than classic recipes, which traditionally include bacon, and highlights simple, earthy flavors like potato and thyme. Vergennes Laundry uses house-made sourdough for the crust, but we simplified things and used bakery-bought dough. The crust is spread with luscious crème fraiche and topped with ultra-thin slices of red potato, thyme, lemon zest, coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. It takes only minutes on a scorching hot pizza stone for the tarte to become perfectly crisp and even less time to chow it down. This recipe will debut in the coming months, but for now, try this equally delicious Two-Potato Flatbread with Olives and Feta.

Related: Easy Pizza Recipes

Vergennes Laundry's Perfect Tarts and Desserts

Full-Fat Fage Greek Yogurt

Indulgently thick, with up to double the protein of traditional styles, Greek yogurt now rules the dairy aisle. With so many brands dabbling in the strained category, choosing one can seem daunting. Food & Wine sampled a heap of plain-flavored supermarket offerings that ranged from non to full-fat in order to find the most luscious, satisfyingly tangy options available. The results. »

Warning: Test Kitchen Tease snapshots may cause cravings, lip-smacking and an unshakeable desire to cook.

Justin Chapple

This week, while working on a terrific story for our December issue, F&W's Grace Parisi tested this phenomenal cheesy version of Parker House rolls from The Greenhouse Tavern's Jonathon Sawyer in Cleveland. They were supertender and we loved pulling apart each buttery piece. One secret to the recipe's awesomeness: Old Bay Seasoning. We know what you're thinking—how can a spice blend that's typically served with seafood be at all tasty with bread? You'll have to wait a few more months to taste his clever recipe, but in the meantime, try Grace's pull-apart Caraway Parker House Rolls.


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