America's Test Kitchen

On a cold day, few dishes are as comforting as a hearty soup, unless it turns out starchy or gluey. Watch as we make thick and creamy versions of two of our favorites: ham and split pea, and rustic potato-leek.

Our goal was simple: Rescue two favorite fancy vegetable dishes twice-baked potatoes and stuffed bell peppers from the clutches of cafeterias, bad steakhouses, and frozen food manufacturers.

Bistro classics, such as steak au poivre and creme brulee, offer a taste of real French cooking without pretension. We show you how to create these dishes without spending all day in the kitchen.

The perfect steakhouse dinner salad with creamy blue cheese dressing and seared filet mignon is often a fantasy. In the real world, the lettuce is limp, the dressing gluey or watery, the steak overcooked or not properly browned, and the sauce characterless. The test kitchen shows you how to solve each of these problems.

We show you how to prepare fried rice and kung pao shrimp. Our findings about rice cookers and long-grain white rice guarantee perfect rice every time.

Simple yet interesting, both chicken Milanese and chicken piccata are reliable test kitchen favorites. And we're intrigued by recipes that pan-roast chicken parts that is, start them on the stovetop but finish the cooking in the oven. Our goal was to make this chef's technique work at home.

The test kitchen provides foolproof recipes for two classic pasta sauces: puttanesca and Bolognese.

Every cook needs quick pasta recipes in their repertoire. Pasta with garlic and oil is perhaps the most famous quick pasta dish. It starts with ingredients on hand garlic, good olive oil, hot red pepper flakes and turns them into something special and uncommonly good.

We uncover the secrets to beef Burgundy at its best and also show you a way to make portions of it ahead of time.

We traveled to chili country, cooked with various experts in their kitchens, and tried out dozens of recipes in the test kitchen. We wanted a chili that would be hearty, heavy on the meat, and spicy but not overwhelmingly hot.

Macaroni and cheese and turkey Tetrazzini are two classic casseroles, but they are rarely as good as they could be. We knew we could do better much better in the test kitchen.

Pork chops are leaner than they used to be, which poses new problems for home cooks. We explain which chops to buy and how to cook them, ensuring perfectly cooked meat that is both crispy and juicy.

On a hot summer's day, life doesn't get much better than a big, juicy, smoky slab of spicy, mouth-watering ribs. But more often than not, baby back ribs cooked at home come out tasting like dry shoe leather on a bone. Our goal was to produce flavorful, juicy, tender ribs that would be well worth the time, money, and effort.

We were intrigued with the notion of barbecuing a whole side of salmon. Our goal was to have this large piece of fish spend enough time over the coals to pick up some real wood flavor. A bright cucumber salad adds cool, tart, and creamy flavors to complement the smoke-flavored salmon.

We move the turkey out of the oven and onto the grill, freeing up precious cooking space for other Thanksgiving dishes and giving us a better tasting bird. Our sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce have all the flavor and texture that make them must-have holiday side dishes.

Beef tenderloin can cost a small fortune, but it is one of the quickest and easiest large cuts to serve to a crowd. The key is to get good color development on the exterior without overcooking the interior.

Ham dinner with green bean casserole is classic American fare. But which kind of ham should you buy? And can you really make a 'good' green bean casserole? We show you how.

Our sour cream coffee cake and light, flavorful fruit salads transform weekend brunch into an indulgent meal you'll want to make even when company isn't coming over. A few tips on great coffee round out the perfect start to a day.

The appeal of such quick breads as cinnamon buns and banana bread is clear. They are quick, sweet, and, well, quick. Of course, just because something is fast doesn't mean you want to eat it. Supermarket cinnamon buns often have an odd, artificial flavor and spongelike texture that no one likes. And just because banana bread starts with over-the-hill bananas doesn't mean it should taste like leftovers.

Real country bread, the kind made by an artisan and never found at the supermarket, is a thing of beauty. We wanted to develop a recipe that was every bit as good as the best country loaves but that was still doable for the cook who bakes in a home oven.

Thick, chewy chocolate cookies and spiced molasses cookies are classics. Watch as we discover which types of chocolate and molasses make these favorites great again.

Lemon meringue pie is a three-part recipe crust, lemon filling, and meringue and each one can be a challenge. We discover which rolling pins are best and whether you can use store-bought pie crust in a pinch. Then we perfect the filling and meringue.

What could be more all-American than strawberry shortcake? But sometimes this classic summer fare can go terribly wrong. And cherry cobbler can have its own problems sweet Bing cherries become insipid when baked, so sour cherries are a must. But where do you get sour cherries? Are jarred cherries a worthy alternative?

Who can resist a chocolate cake? We wanted cakes that would be great tasting and easy to prepare, and we came up with two: old-fashioned, moist, and homey; the other elegant, dense, and ethereal.

A true New York-style cheesecake should be pure and minimalist, but also have just the right color, flavor, and density. With a crisp graham cracker crust and a filling that fades from creamy to cakelike, our cheesecake is worthy of any diner in New York.