The Make-Ahead Cook: More Than 150 Kitchen-Tested Recipes You Can Prepare on Your Schedule

1044 Pages·2014·33.44 MB·English

by  America's Test Kitchen

The
Make-Ahead
Cook

8 Smart Strategies for Dinner Tonight

BY THE EDITORS AT
America’s Test Kitchen
Copyright © 2014 by the Editors at
America’s Test Kitchen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever
without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles or reviews.

AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN
17 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445

Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The make-ahead cook : 8 smart strategies for dinner tonight / by the editors at America’s Test Kitchen.
  pages cm
Includes index.
Kindle ISBN 978-1-940352-09-1
1. Dinners and dining. 2. Make-ahead cooking. I. America’s Test Kitchen (Firm) TX737.M366 2014
641.5’55--dc23
2014014386
Manufactured in the United States
of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Distributed by America’s Test Kitchen
17 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Jack Bishop
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, BOOKS: Elizabeth Carduff EXECUTIVE FOOD EDITOR: Julia Collin
Davison SENIOR EDITORS: Suzannah McFerran and Dan Zuccarello ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Alyssa
King
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Melissa Herrick EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Kate Edeker TEST COOKS:
Danielle DeSiato-Hallman, Sara Mayer, Sebastian Nava, Stephanie Pixley, and Meaghen Walsh DESIGN
DIRECTOR: Amy Klee
ART DIRECTOR: Greg Galvan
DESIGNER: Allison Pfiffner
PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR: Julie Cote ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR, PHOTOGRAPHY:
Steve Klise STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Daniel J. van Ackere ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY BY:
Keller + Keller and Carl Tremblay CAST PHOTO: Christopher Churchill FOOD STYLING: Catrine
Kelty and Marie Piraino PHOTO SHOOT KITCHEN TEAM:
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Chris O’Connor TEST COOK: Daniel Cellucci ASSISTANT TEST
COOK: Cecelia Jenkins PRODUCTION DIRECTOR: Guy Rochford SENIOR PRODUCTION
MANAGER: Jessica Quirk SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER: Alice Carpenter PRODUCTION
AND TRAFFIC COORDINATOR: Britt Dresser WORKFLOW AND DIGITAL ASSET
MANAGER: Andrew Mannone SENIOR COLOR AND IMAGING SPECIALIST: Lauren
Pettapiece PRODUCTION AND IMAGING SPECIALISTS: Heather Dube and Lauren Robbins
COPYEDITOR: Barbara Wood
PROOFREADER: Christine Corcoran Cox INDEXER: Elizabeth Parson

PICTURED ON COVER: Moroccan Chicken Salad with Apricots and Almonds, Classic Beef Pot Roast,
Meat Hand Pies, One-Pan Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables, Lemon-Herb Cod Fillets with Crispy
Garlic Potatoes, Two Roast Chickens with Roasted Garlic and Herb Jus, Roasted Zucchini and Eggplant
Lasagna, and Slow-Cooker Asian Braised Beef Short Ribs
Contents

Preface
by Christopher Kimball
Welcome to America’s Test Kitchen
Navigating this E-Book
Make-Ahead 101
Prep Ahead
Ready-to-Cook Meals
Reheat and Eat
Make-Ahead Stews and Braises
Bake and Serve
Oven-Ready Casseroles
From Fridge to Table
Ready-to-Serve Entrées
Shop Smart
One Grocery Bag Makes Three Dinners The Sunday Cook
Big Roasts Plus Creative Second Meals Come Home to Dinner
Easy Slow-Cooker Favorites
Stock the Freezer
Big-Batch Suppers
Conversions & Equivalencies
Master Recipe Listing
Index
Navigating this E-Book
This eBook includes a Table of Contents that allows you to jump to any chapter.
And each chapter has its own table of contents with links to every recipe in the
chapter.
We have also created a Recipe Index that lists all the recipes in the book,
divided by chapter, in one place. You can access the Recipe Index from the
Table of Contents. (It also appears at the end of the book.) Each title in the
Recipe Index is a link that will take you directly to that recipe.
This cookbook is filled with sidebars; throughout the book there are links to
this material where appropriate.
Most eBook reading devices also offer a search function that allows you to
type in exactly what you are looking for. Please read the documentation for your
particular eBook reader for more information on its search function and any
other navigational features it may offer.
Welcome to America’s Test Kitchen
This book has been tested, written, and edited by the folks at America’s Test
Kitchen, a very real 2,500-square-foot kitchen located just outside of Boston. It
is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is
the Monday-through-Friday destination for more than four dozen test cooks,
editors, food scientists, tasters, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test
recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and
until we arrive at the “best” version.
We start the process of testing a recipe with a complete lack of conviction,
which means that we accept no claim, no theory, no technique, and no recipe at
face value. We simply assemble as many variations as possible, test a half-dozen
of the most promising, and taste the results blind. We then construct our own
hybrid recipe and continue to test it, varying ingredients, techniques, and
cooking times until we reach a consensus. The result, we hope, is the best
version of a particular recipe, but we realize that only you can be the final judge
of our success (or failure). As we like to say in the test kitchen, “We make the
mistakes–so you don’t have to.”
All of this would not be possible without a belief that good cooking, much
like good music, is indeed based on a foundation of objective technique. Some
people like spicy foods and others don’t, but there is a right way to sauté, there is
a best way to cook a pot roast, and there are measurable scientific principles
involved in producing perfectly beaten, stable egg whites. This is our ultimate
goal: to investigate the fundamental principles of cooking so that you become a
better cook. It is as simple as that.
If you’re curious to see what goes on behind the scenes at America’s Test
Kitchen, check out our daily blog, The Feed at AmericasTestKitchenFeed.com,
which features kitchen snapshots, exclusive recipes, video tips, and much more.
You can watch us work (in our actual test kitchen) by tuning in to America’s
Test Kitchen (AmericasTestKitchen.com) or Cook’s Country from America’s
Test Kitchen (CooksCountryTV.com) on public television. Tune in to America’s
Test Kitchen Radio (AmericasTestKitchen.com) on public radio to listen to
insights, tips, and techniques that illuminate the truth about real home cooking.
Want to hone your cooking skills or finally learn how to bake—from an
America’s Test Kitchen test cook? Enroll in a cooking class at our online
cooking school at OnlineCookingSchool.com. And find information about
subscribing to Cook’s Illustrated magazine at CooksIllustrated.com or Cook’s
Country magazine at CooksCountry.com. Both magazines are published every
other month. However you choose to visit us, we welcome you into our kitchen,
where you can stand by our side as we test our way to the best recipes in
America.
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Preface
On my first day working for Vermont farmer Charlie Bentley, he asked me to do
something simple—herd a cow and her newborn calf into the barn. So, with the
sort of confidence born out of ignorance that only a 10-year-old can muster, I set
out into the milkweed-speckled field to do what he had asked. Fifteen minutes
later, bruised and my shirt torn by scuttling under barbed wire to escape being
gored by the angry mother, I was rescued by Charlie, with a leather milking strap
in one hand and the sort of confidence that is earned the hard way: through
experience. The cow and calf ambled back to the barn without a hint of
rebellion.
That experience taught me that many things that look easy are actually hard,
including make-ahead cooking. It sounds easy—make enough for two meals and
serve the same thing the next day. Or, freeze one batch and serve another. Or,
use leftovers to make a hash or a soup. The problem is that many foods do not
freeze well. Leftovers are notoriously second-class in terms of flavor. And all of
this requires planning, test kitchen experimentation, and culinary know-how.
To bring some flavor and culinary adventure to make-ahead cooking, we
have just published this book. To start with, this is eight cookbooks, not just one.
Each chapter sings its own tune: “Prep Ahead,” “Reheat and Eat,” “Bake and
Serve,” “From Fridge to Table,” “Shop Smart,” “The Sunday Cook,” “Come
Home to Dinner,” and “Stock the Freezer.” And this volume is full of
unexpected recipes, from Indian-Spiced Chicken with Yogurt Sauce to
Overnight Kale Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Pomegranate
Vinaigrette. Sure, you also get chilis, big roasts, and slow-cooker favorites, but
we wanted to set the table with recipes that are fresher and more appealing.
To really deliver the goods, however, we had to solve the problem of dried-
out freezer casseroles and pasta dishes such as lasagna (they need saucier
sauces), casserole toppings that sink into the filling (use a foil shield between
topping and filling), easier make-ahead stews (partially cook them the first day
and let carryover cooking tenderize the meat), getting rice and chicken to cook at
the same time (soak the rice overnight), and make-ahead fried chicken that loses
its crunch (double-dipping in a low-protein flour coating works magic).
Specific recipes required tailored solutions. Baked Quattro Formaggio dried
out when reheated, but when we added extra cream, it tasted heavy. The solution
was to swap out most of the cream for evaporated milk for a silky, lighter
texture. We also undercooked the pasta and cooled down the sauce before
mixing for a perfectly al dente pasta dish. We even developed make-ahead pizza