Root Vegetable Gratin

Why this recipe works:

Our root vegetable gratin pairs the earthy flavor of potatoes with thinly sliced sweet rutabaga and savory celery root. We allow these flavors to come to the fore by adding just a few aromatics: onion, garlic, thyme, and Dijon mustard. We add white wine to the gratin because the wine’s acidity strengthens the pectin in the potatoes so that they remain intact while the denser, less-starchy rutabaga and celery root cook through; the wine also brightens the flavor of the vegetables. To help the top layers of the gratin cook through at the same rate, we cover the dish for the first portion of the cooking time. A layer of Parmesan-enhanced panko bread crumbs added after the foil is removed toasts while the gratin finishes cooking, adding a crispy, golden crust that is nutty and cheesy in flavor.

Root Vegetable Gratin

Root vegetables add complex flavor to the all-potato classic, but how do you get the different types to cook evenly? A glass of wine helps. Watch the Video

Serves 6 to 8

Uniformly thin slices are necessary for a cohesive gratin. We recommend a mandoline for quick and even slicing, but a sharp chef’s knife will also work. Because the vegetables in the gratin are tightly packed into the casserole dish, it will still be plenty hot after a 25-minute rest.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• Salt and pepper
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 onion, chopped fine
• 1 1/4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthwise 1/8 inch thick
• 1 large celery root (1 pound), peeled, quartered, and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 1 pound rutabaga, peeled, quartered, and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (3/4 cup)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Whisk 1 tablespoon water, mustard, flour, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in medium bowl until smooth. Add wine, cream, and remaining 1 1/2 cups water; whisk to combine. Combine onion, thyme, garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in second bowl.
   2. Layer half of potatoes in prepared dish, arranging so they form even thickness. Sprinkle half of onion mixture evenly over potatoes. Arrange celery root and rutabaga slices in even layer over onions. Sprinkle remaining onion mixture over celery root and rutabaga. Layer remaining potatoes over onions. Slowly pour water mixture over vegetables. Using rubber spatula, gently press down on vegetables to create even, compact layer. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until knife inserted into center of gratin meets no resistance, 20 to 25 minutes longer.
   3. While gratin bakes, combine panko, Parmesan, and butter in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove gratin from oven and sprinkle evenly with panko mixture. Continue to bake until panko is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Remove gratin from oven and let stand for 25 minutes. Serve.
   
   
   

Technique

Firming Up Potatoes with Wine

The wine in our root vegetable gratin brightens the flavor of this typically starchy-tasting dish, but more important, it also prevents the potatoes from breaking down and turning mushy while the denser celery root and rutabaga cook. Here’s how it works: Potato cells have an abundance of starch granules; when these granules swell with water during cooking, they press against the cell walls, eventually causing them to burst and release starch. But when potatoes cook in water with wine, the wine lowers the pH, which strengthens the pectin in and around the cell walls, helping them resist bursting. The upshot is a pliable, not mushy, potato.
Of course, the acid also strengthens the pectin in the celery root and rutabaga, but since they contain less starch than potatoes, the acid’s effect on them is less noticeable.
To demonstrate acid’s effect on potatoes, we simmered two batches of 1/8-inch-thick potato slices, one in plain water and the other in 1 1/2 cups of water acidulated with 2/3 cup of white wine. After just 10 minutes of simmering, the potatoes cooked in plain water fell apart, while those cooked in acidulated water remained whole and firm but pliable.

PLIABLE, NOT MUSHY: Cooking potatoes in water with wine strengthens their cell walls, so they resist bursting as they cook.

Technique

Recipe Testing: Four that Failed

In our quest for the best gratin, we tried recipes featuring a range of vegetable preparations: shredded, sliced, cubed, and mashed. But not one lived up to our idea of what a good gratin should be—either because the vegetables were unevenly cooked, the sauce was sticky or soupy, or the flavor was dull and heavy.

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Vietnamese-Style Caramel Chicken with Broccoli

Why this recipe works:

Traditional Vietnamese-style caramel chicken promises a dish that balances a bittersweet caramel with salty and spicy flavors, but most recipes miss the mark. Cooking the caramel until it was a deep, dark color was key to achieving the right complex bittersweetness, while fish sauce (in a 1:4 ratio of fish sauce to caramel) lent the traditional balancing salty component. A combination of ginger and black pepper provided the right amount of heat. Cutting the boneless, skinless chicken thighs in half, rather than into smaller bits as called for in many of the recipes we found, gave the chicken more time to absorb the sauce, while a quick soak in a baking soda–water bath helped the chicken stay juicy over a longer cooking time that turned the meat ultratender. To complete the meal, we steamed broccoli to serve alongside. 

Vietnamese-Style Caramel Chicken with Broccoli

The savory caramel sauce in this braised chicken dish is far more complex than its short ingredient list suggests. The trick, though, is knowing just how long to cook the sugar. Watch the Video

Serves 4 to 6

The saltiness of fish sauce can vary; we recommend Tiparos. When taking the temperature of the caramel in step 2, tilt the pan and move the thermometer back and forth to equalize hot and cool spots; also make sure to have hot water at the ready. This dish is intensely seasoned, so serve it with plenty of steamed white rice.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed and halved crosswise
• 7 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 1 pound broccoli, florets cut into 1-inch pieces, stalks peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Combine baking soda and 1 1/4 cups cold water in large bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Rinse chicken in cold water and drain well.
   2. Meanwhile, combine sugar and 3 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, until mixture begins to turn golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook, gently swirling saucepan, until sugar turns color of molasses and registers between 390 and 400 degrees, 4 to 6 minutes longer. (Caramel will produce some smoke during last 1 to 2 minutes of cooking.) Immediately remove saucepan from heat and carefully pour in 3/4 cup hot water (mixture will bubble and steam vigorously). When bubbling has subsided, return saucepan to medium heat and stir to dissolve caramel.
   3. Transfer caramel to 12-inch skillet and stir in fish sauce and ginger. Add chicken and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until chicken is fork-tender and registers 205 degrees, 30 to 40 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through simmering. Transfer chicken to serving dish and cover to keep warm.
   4. Bring 1 inch water to boil in Dutch oven. Lower insert or steamer basket with broccoli into pot so it rests above water; cover and simmer until broccoli is just tender, 4 1/2 to 5 minutes. Transfer broccoli to serving dish with chicken.
   5. While broccoli cooks, bring sauce to boil over medium-high heat and cook until reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water together in small bowl, then whisk into sauce; simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in pepper. Pour 1/4 cup sauce over chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve, passing remaining sauce separately.
   
   

Technique

Science: Take Some Sweet Out of Caramel

Most of us think of caramel as a sweet sauce. But if cooked long enough, caramel will become less sweet and more complex. Here’s what happens: When table sugar is heated, a cascade of chemical reactions occurs that transforms some—and eventually all—of its single type of molecule into literally hundreds of different compounds that bring new flavors, aromas, and colors. At first these compounds are mild and buttery in flavor, and the caramel still tastes very sweet. With continued cooking, even more sugar molecules break down, and the caramel begins to taste markedly less sweet; meanwhile bitter, potent-tasting molecules also begin to form (along with those that bring a darker color). We found that cooking sugar to between 390 and 400 degrees produced a caramel with subtle sweetness and an appealingly bitter edge. Any additional cooking, though, made the caramel taste acrid and burnt.

SIMPLY SWEET (340°): Only some sucrose molecules have broken down. Color is amber, and flavor is mild and still very sweet.

BITTERSWEET (390°): More sucrose has broken down. Color is molasses-like, and flavor is less sweet and more complex.

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Fried Brown Rice with Pork and Shrimp

Why this recipe works:

In this recipe, using brown rice instead of the more conventional white rice offers several advantages. Because of its bran, brown rice holds up well if cooked aggressively in boiling water, which means it needs just 25 minutes of cooking to turn tender; we opt to cook it for an extra 10 minutes (for a total of 35 minutes) to give it the right soft texture. The bran layer prevents freshly cooked brown rice from clumping, so we could use the rice fresh instead of fussing with the need for leftovers as white rice requires. Additionally, the bran acts as a nonstick coating on each grain, so brown rice requires far less oil in the frying stage. We also found that using short-grain instead of long-grain rice gives our fried rice the right texture. To balance the nuttier flavor of brown rice, we use more ginger, garlic, and soy sauce than we do for white-rice recipes. The addition of a quick version of Chinese barbecue pork, along with shrimp and scrambled eggs, makes this dish hearty enough to serve as a main course.

Fried Brown Rice with Pork and Shrimp

We figured out a single substitution that both eliminates the need for leftover rice and makes the dish less greasy. Watch the Video

Serves 6

Freshly boiling the short-grain rice gives it the proper texture for this dish. Do not use leftover rice, and do not use a rice cooker. The stir-fry portion of this recipe moves quickly, so be sure to have all your ingredients in place before starting. This recipe works best in a nonstick skillet with a slick surface. Serve with a simple steamed vegetable, if desired.

Ingredients

• 2 cups short-grain brown rice
• Salt
• 10 ounces boneless country-style pork ribs, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1/8 teaspoon five-spice powder
• Small pinch cayenne pepper
• 4 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 8 ounces large shrimp (26 to 30 per pound), peeled, deveined, tails removed, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 6 scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced thin on bias
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Bring 3 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add rice and 2 teaspoons salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender, about 35 minutes. Drain well and return to pot. Cover and set aside.
   2. While rice cooks, cut pork into 1-inch pieces and slice each piece against grain 1/4 inch thick. Combine pork with hoisin, honey, five-spice powder, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and toss to coat. Set aside.
   3. Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add shrimp in even layer and cook without moving them until bottoms are browned, about 90 seconds. Stir and continue to cook until just cooked through, about 90 seconds longer. Push shrimp to 1 side of skillet. Add 1 teaspoon vegetable oil to cleared side of skillet. Add eggs to clearing and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Using rubber spatula, stir eggs gently until set but still wet, about 30 seconds. Stir eggs into shrimp and continue to cook, breaking up large pieces of egg, until eggs are fully cooked, about 30 seconds longer. Transfer shrimp-egg mixture to clean bowl.
   4. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add pork in even layer. Cook pork without moving it until well browned on underside, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip pork and cook without moving it until cooked through and caramelized on second side, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to bowl with shrimp-egg mixture.
   5. Heat sesame oil in now-empty skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add scallion whites and cook, stirring frequently, until well browned, about 1 minute. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and beginning to brown, 30 to 60 seconds. Add soy sauce and half of rice and stir until all ingredients are fully incorporated, making sure to break up clumps of ginger and garlic. Reduce heat to medium-low and add remaining rice, pork mixture, and peas. Stir until all ingredients are evenly incorporated and heated through, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in scallion greens. Transfer to warmed platter and serve.
   
   

Technique

Benefits of the Bran

Unlike refined grains of white rice, brown rice grains are still surrounded by the bran. We found that this is a big advantage when it comes to making fried rice.

No Need for Leftovers

Fresh white rice naturally clumps, so it has to be refrigerated overnight to stale and harden before stir-frying. Brown rice’s bran helps prevent clumping, so it can be used immediately after cooking.

Quick Cooking Method

The bran protects the starch within each grain, so brown rice can be cooked aggressively, and thus quickly, like pasta.

Less Oil Required

Because the bran helps brown rice grains stay separate, you need to use only about half the oil a recipe calling for white rice would require.

Technique

Brown Rice in Less Time

Because the bran is removed from each grain during processing, white rice is mostly unprotected starch. Agitation and jostling during cooking will cause that starch to release and make the rice gummy—which is why it’s best cooked using the gentle absorption method (i.e., simmering the rice in a set amount of liquid). But grains of brown rice still possess their bran, which means they can handle more aggressive cooking. With that in mind, we opt to cook brown rice like pasta, boiling it in plenty of water. The advantage? It cuts down the cooking time, and here’s why.
First, boiling water gets hotter than the water in the absorption method—212 degrees versus around 204 degrees—so cooking is faster. Second, the more water in the pot, the more energy there is to be transferred to the rice. We were able to cut the usual 45 minutes (on the stove) to 60 minutes (in the oven) needed for the absorption method down to 35 minutes.

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Duck Fat-Roasted Potatoes

Why this recipe works:

Our crispy roasted potatoes are made with Yukon Golds, which give us the best balance of creamy interior and crisp exterior. Duck fat provides unmatched flavor and richness. We peel them for maximum surface area and roast them on a sheet pan on the top shelf of a hot oven to cook them from all sides at once. We boil them briefly in a mild baking soda bath, which degrades the pectin in the spuds’ exterior, and then rough them up in the pot to create a starchy paste that transforms into a crispy shell in the heat of the oven. And we use an easy but effective scrape-and-toss approach rather than turn them one at a time. 

Duck Fat-Roasted Potatoes

For the crispest, most flavorful roasted potatoes, rethink the fat. Watch the Video

Serves 6

Duck fat is available in the meat department in many supermarkets. Alternatively, substitute chicken fat, lard, or a mixture of 3 tablespoons of bacon fat and 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 6 tablespoons duck fat
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Adjust oven rack to top position, place rimmed baking sheet on rack, and heat oven to 475 degrees.
   2. Bring 10 cups water to boil in Dutch oven over high heat. Add potatoes, 1/3 cup salt, and baking soda. Return to boil and cook for 1 minute. Drain potatoes. Return potatoes to pot and place over low heat. Cook, shaking pot occasionally, until surface moisture has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 5 tablespoons fat and 1 teaspoon salt; mix with rubber spatula until potatoes are coated with thick paste, about 30 seconds.
   3. Remove sheet from oven, transfer potatoes to sheet, and spread into even layer. Roast for 15 minutes.
   4. Remove sheet from oven. Using thin, sharp, metal spatula, turn potatoes. Roast until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. While potatoes roast, combine rosemary and remaining 1 tablespoon fat in bowl.
   5. Remove sheet from oven. Spoon rosemary-fat mixture over potatoes and turn again. Continue to roast until potatoes are well browned and rosemary is fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
   
   

Technique

Saving Fat for Cooking

Saving the leftover fat from bacon, roasts, or poultry is easy to do. Pour the warm fat through a fine-mesh strainer into a Mason jar and discard any solids. (Alternatively, let the fat cool and harden and then scoop it into the jar, leaving any solids behind.) Put the lid on the jar, label it, and refrigerate it for up to one month or freeze it for up to six months, adding more fat as desired.

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New York Bagels

Why this recipe works:

Our bagels are as good as those found in the best New York bagel bakeries. They’re chewy yet tender, with a fine crumb, and they have a crisp, glossy, evenly browned exterior and a complex, slightly malty flavor. To get the right amount of chew, we use high-protein bread flour, supplemented with vital wheat gluten, along with a minimum amount of water. To further increase the chew, we incorporate a number of gluten-strengthening shaping techniques: rolling with a rolling pin, forming the dough into a rope, and twisting the dough around itself before shaping it into a ring. And to ensure even, rapid browning, we add baking soda to the boiling water. To create a crisp crust, we bake the bagels on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet, with boiling water poured onto the pan to create steam.

New York Bagels

It doesn’t get any better than the crackly-crisp shell, tender chew, and subtle malty flavor of a New York bagel. So what do you do if you don’t live in New York? Watch the Video

Makes 8 bagels

This recipe requires refrigerating the shaped bagels for 16 to 24 hours before baking them. This recipe works best with King Arthur bread flour, although other bread flours will work. Vital wheat gluten and malt syrup are available in most supermarkets in the baking and syrup aisles, respectively. If you cannot find malt syrup, substitute 4 teaspoons of molasses. The bagels are best eaten within a day of baking; fully cooled bagels can be transferred to heavy-duty zipper-lock bags and frozen for up to one month.

Ingredients

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water (9 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons malt syrup
• 2 2/3 cups (14 2/3 ounces) bread flour
• 4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
• 2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) cornmeal
• 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Stir ice water and malt syrup together in 2-cup liquid measuring cup until malt syrup has fully dissolved. Process flour, wheat gluten, and yeast in food processor until combined, about 2 seconds. With processor running, slowly add ice water mixture; process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 20 seconds. Let dough stand for 10 minutes.
   2. Add salt to dough and process, stopping processor and redistributing dough as needed, until dough forms shaggy mass that clears sides of workbowl (dough may not form one single mass), 45 to 90 seconds. Transfer dough to unfloured counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces (3 1/2 ounces each) and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
   3. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, form dough pieces into smooth, taut rounds. (To round, set piece of dough on unfloured counter. Loosely cup your hand around dough and, without applying pressure to dough, move your hand in small circular motions. Tackiness of dough against counter and circular motion should work dough into smooth, even ball, but if dough sticks to your hands, lightly dust your fingers with flour.) Let dough balls rest on counter, covered, for 15 minutes.
   4. Sprinkle rimmed baking sheet with cornmeal. Working with 1 dough ball at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, coat dough balls lightly with flour and then, using your hands and rolling pin, pat and roll dough balls into 5-inch rounds. Starting with edge of dough farthest from you, roll into tight cylinder. Starting at center of cylinder and working toward ends, gently and evenly roll and stretch dough into 8- to 9-inch-long rope. Do not taper ends. Rolling ends of dough under your hands in opposite directions, twist rope to form tight spiral. Without unrolling spiral, wrap rope around your fingers, overlapping ends of dough by about 2 inches under your palm, to create ring shape. Pinch ends of dough gently together. With overlap under your palm, press and roll seam using circular motion on counter to fully seal. Transfer rings to prepared sheet and cover loosely with plastic, leaving at least 1 inch between bagels. Let bagels stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Cover sheet tightly with plastic and refrigerate for 16 to 24 hours.
   5. One hour before baking, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position, place baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees.
   6. Bring 4 quarts water, sugar, and baking soda to boil in large Dutch oven. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet and spray rack with vegetable oil spray.
   7. Transfer 4 bagels to boiling water and cook for 20 seconds. Using wire skimmer or slotted spoon, flip bagels over and cook 20 seconds longer. Using wire skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer bagels to prepared wire rack, with cornmeal side facing down. Repeat with remaining 4 bagels.
   8. Place sheet with bagels on preheated baking stone and pour 1/2 cup boiling water into bottom of sheet. Bake until tops of bagels are beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Using metal spatula, flip bagels and continue to bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes longer. Remove sheet from oven and let bagels cool on wire rack for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
   
   

Technique

Shaping Bagels Like a Pro

Thoroughly working the dough during shaping helps a New York bagel develop its characteristic chew.

1. Pat and roll dough ball (lightly coated with flour) with rolling pin into 5-inch round.

2. Roll into tight cylinder, starting with far side of dough.

3. Roll and stretch dough into 8- to 9-inch-long rope, starting at center of cylinder (don’t taper ends).

4. Twist rope to form tight spiral by rolling ends of dough under hands in opposite directions.

5. Wrap rope around fingers, overlapping ends by 2 inches, to create ring. Pinch ends together.

6. Press and roll seam (positioned under your palm) using circular motion on counter to fully seal.

Technique

Secrets to a Glossy Crust, Great Flavor, and Big Chew

Here’s how we created the hallmarks of a New York bagel without the ingredients and equipment (or tap water) used by the local pros.

HIGH-PROTEIN DOUGH: Lots of gluten is key to achieving that jaw-working chew, so we used relatively high-protein bread flour supplemented with vital wheat gluten, a powdered form of the protein that is sold in most supermarkets.

COLD FERMENTATION: Proofing the dough overnight in the fridge allows it to develop an especially complex mix of flavor compounds.

ROUGH HANDLING: We roll, stretch, and twist the dough to shape it into rings—actions that help tighten the gluten network and thus yield a bagel with substantial chew.

A BETTER BOIL: Adding baking soda and sugar to the water in the boiling step helps encourage consistent browning.

STEAM TREATMENT: Baking the bagels on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet (set on a baking stone) and adding a small amount of boiling water creates steam that leads to a crisp, delicate crust.

Our New York–style bagels, made here in Brookline.

Technique

How to add Toppings

Place 1/2 cup poppy seeds, sesame seeds, caraway seeds, dehydrated onion flakes, dehydrated garlic flakes, or coarse/pretzel salt in small bowl. Press tops of just-boiled bagels (side without cornmeal) gently into topping and return to wire rack, topping side up.
For Everything Topping, combine 2 tablespoons poppy seeds, 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon onion flakes, 2 teaspoons garlic flakes, 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse or pretzel salt.

Technique

Is it Something in the Water?

It’s often said that what makes New York bagels distinctively crisp, chewy, and flavorful is something available only in that city: the local water. Curious if that claim is true or merely an urban legend, we set up taste tests pitting bagels made with water that we brought back from Brooklyn against those made with our local Brookline water. The results: The vast majority of tasters found the two batches virtually identical.
For due diligence, we then sent samples of water from both sources to an independent lab to test for factors that might affect the dough’s gluten and, thus, its texture: mineral content, pH, titratable acidity, and chlorine level. The only significant difference between the two samples was in their respective pHs: The Brooklyn water was mildly acidic (5.48 pH), while Brookline water was slightly basic (7.34 pH). But when we measured the pH of the two doughs after they’d fermented, the differences were negligible.
That’s good news for bagel enthusiasts outside New York, since it means that all anyone really needs to make a good bagel is a good recipe.

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Coq au Riesling

Why this recipe works:

For our take on the elegant white wine version of coq au vin, starting with a whole chicken and then breaking it down ourselves was a must, not only to obtain evenly sized parts that would cook at the same rate but also so that we could use the back and wings to enrich the sauce. The fond created from browning the chicken skin was also essential for flavor but required browning the chicken parts in batches. Plus, the skin turned flabby during braising. The solution? Removing the skin from the meat, browning it in one batch, and then discarding it before serving. Adding about three-quarters of a bottle of dry Riesling along with a cup of water produced a sauce that was nuanced and balanced. Finally, we finished the sauce with crème fraîche for just the right silkiness and body.

Coq au Riesling

Julia Child made the French classic red wine–based coq au vin a popular dish, but we were drawn to the rich and refined white wine version. Watch the Video

Serves 4 to 6

A dry Riesling is the best wine for this recipe, but a Sauvignon Blanc or Chablis will also work. Avoid a heavily oaked wine such as Chardonnay. Serve the stew with egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

• 1 (4- to 5-pound) whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces (4 breast pieces, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs), wings and back reserved
• Salt and pepper
• 2 slices bacon, chopped
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped coarse
• 2 celery ribs, chopped coarse
• 4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed and peeled
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups dry Riesling
• 1 cup water
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs fresh parsley, plus 2 teaspoons minced
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 pound white mushrooms, trimmed and halved if small or quartered if large
• 1/4 cup crème fraîche

Instructions

1. 
   
   1. Remove skin from chicken breast pieces, drumsticks, and thighs and set aside. Sprinkle both sides of chicken pieces with 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; set aside. Cook bacon in large Dutch oven over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until beginning to render, 2 to 4 minutes. Add chicken skin, back, and wings to pot; increase heat to medium; and cook, stirring frequently, until bacon is browned, skin is rendered, and chicken back and wings are browned on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove pot from heat and carefully transfer 2 tablespoons fat to small bowl and set aside.
   2. Return pot to medium heat. Add shallots, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, 4 to 6 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until no dry flour remains, about 30 seconds. Slowly add wine, scraping up any browned bits. Increase heat to high and simmer until mixture is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in water, bay leaves, parsley sprigs, and thyme and bring to simmer. Place chicken pieces in even layer in pot, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until breasts register 160 degrees and thighs and legs register 175 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. Transfer chicken pieces to plate as they come up to temperature.
   3. Discard back and wings. Strain cooking liquid through fine-mesh strainer set over large bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids. Let cooking liquid settle for 10 minutes. Using wide shallow spoon, skim fat from surface and discard.
   4. While liquid settles, return pot to medium heat and add reserved fat, mushrooms, and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes.
   5. Return liquid to pot and bring to boil. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened to consistency of heavy cream, 4 to 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in crème fraîche and minced parsley. Return chicken to pot along with any accumulated juices, cover, and cook until just heated through, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.
   
   

Technique

Picking the Right White

Shopping for Riesling can be tricky. For this recipe, don’t worry about the wine’s origin, but do make sure to get a drier style of Riesling rather than a sugary one. Since this information isn’t always clearly indicated on labels, here are a few tips:
1. Austrian Rieslings are usually a safe bet; most are dry.
2. On bottles of German Riesling, look for the word “trocken,” which means dry.
3. On the back label of some Rieslings, you’ll find a sliding scale indicating where the wine falls on the dry-sweet spectrum. Make sure it falls on the drier half.
4. Look for Riesling that is 11 percent alcohol by volume or above. The higher the alcohol level, the drier the wine.
5. Alternately, we found that Sauvignon Blanc or Chablis will work. Avoid oaky Chardonnays, which can turn bitter when reduced.

Technique

Chicken Skin: Turning a Liability into an Asset

The flabby chicken skin produced by braising is always unappealing. But the crisp, well-browned skin on a great roast chicken can be the best part of the dish. That’s because when skin is sautéed or roasted, its unsaturated fats oxidize, producing deeply flavorful compounds. At the same time, once the skin reaches temperatures over 300 degrees, amino acids, the building blocks of the skin’s proteins, react with some of its carbohydrates to set off the Maillard reaction, which produces browning and hundreds of additional complex flavor compounds.
To capitalize on these assets and avoid flabby texture, we treat the skin like a stand-alone ingredient, removing it from the cut-up chicken and then browning it in the pot along with the bacon and chicken wings and back. Leaving the skin in the pot throughout the simmer and only straining it out at the end of cooking ensures that all its flavors dissolve into the sauce.

DON'T DITCH THE SKIN: We brown the skin along with the back and wings to extract flavor and then simmer it in the sauce before discarding it.

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