Cook’s Illustrated’s Lan Lam delves into the cooking techniques and science behind some of our most innovative recipes. In this episode, she shows you why overcooking vegetables can be a good thing.
Get our Walkaway Ratatouille recipe:
Get our Mediterranean Braised Green Beans recipe:
Get our Broccoli-Cheese Soup recipe:
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ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, 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.
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Dream woman!
We want to more of this!! We love Lan, and also would like a lot more information like this!!!
This series is so great! Hoping for at least a hundred more episodes hahah
With my roommates with often do a delicious zucchini sauce for pasta. Simply cut a lot of zucchini put it in a pan and add soy sauce generously.
Cook it for ~half an hour until it completely dissolves. The soy sauce gives it a nice umami kick.
Love the tips – but the 'slow zoom SNAP closeups' were just about making me motion sick.
As a French from Provence, I have always cook the ratatouille veggies separately and it's taking a long time. So I don't cook it often, but with the eggplants shortcut I think I will do it for day to day cooking now. Thanks great idea!
Rendering things is good cooking, yes.
9/16 onion uneven.
Olive oil, mustard seeds, pepper sea salt, cap girger ale
AGH THANK YOU! I've been so sick of every "chef" I've worked with try to "al dente" everything. Yes, even Ratatouille. Al dente eggplant? Gross.
Relaxed, funny, great communicator , and makes the science behind good cooking important, did I miss anything? Oh yes, she is attractive too.
I am enjoying "Techniquely." I am looking forward to more episodes. Great work, Lan!
Lan is a great communicator – learning many new techniques that are applicable in everyday cooking!! Love this series!!
Watching this was really worth my time, thank you.
This is real gastronomy. Substance over presentation.
To quote from Breaking Bad: 'Science b***h'! 😆
this series is outstanding.
Love this channel so much
subscribed based on this video. more Techniquely videos please!
Interestingly, I made the broccoli soup last night and noticed one ingredient was omitted. The recipe calls for a tiny bit of baking soda to tenderize the broccoli.
Just when you think you know stuff because you've been cooking and reading cookbooks and watching TV cooks for decades….along comes Lan. All hail thee.
I am 65 yrs old, and growing up all of our cooked vegetables were canned.🥴 They were not that great except corn stayed sweet and flavorful. Then my mom started buying frozen cauliflower and that cooked up so much more flavorful. Canning them in water obviously pulled all the flavor out of the veg. I just gently saute my vegetables in butter with a splash of water. It's very beneficial to use butter because it helps us absorb more of the veg. Vitamin A.
Can I call you food doctor 😊
Lan Lam is so great. More please!
This is the third of your videos I have enjoyed. I must say you have pushed me out of my comfort zone a little and I am loving it. Thanks
Yes they are my Turkish grandmothers green beans nothing new here, but to those viewers that have never had them you will be happy. By the way the Green beans are actually better in my opinion cold . The hot version add beef to recipe.
One more question: the broccoli and spinach soup? Why did you choose the blender instead of an immersion wand blender? Thanks in advance. Love your classes!
First: you're amazing, I've just discovered you. Second: what size dutch oven is your Le Creuset? Mahalo.
I love to roast root vegetables (beets, parsnips, rutabagas, carrots) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I toss large chunks of roots with the oil and vinegar, and sea salt, in a roasting pan, and then put them in the oven at 350° for 2-3 hours, tossing occasionally. They are sweet, tender, and delicious.
thank you soo much. i used to enjoy vegetables cooked that way that keep their color and are crisp. that’s the way you’re supposed to eat them these days! but now i need them well cooked because stomach is so darned sensitive!! argh! but i always feel, ridiculously, guilty. so thanks a lot 🙂
i just discovered your channel and i love it!! – like how to braise a steak correctly. science and cooking – perfect! 🌹🌱
I have had identical green beans at a Greek tavern – sensational intense flavour. Lots of garlic, fresh tomatoes
Her enthusiasm is infectious. Love her.
I can't wait to absorm my ratatoie too 🙂 Lan, please make a book
Ooooo Lan is a rising star :p
Wow, Thank You
Wow, this series is so incredibly refreshing. I've been watching cooking videos for ages and this is definitely something I haven't seen explained before (everything in the series thus far). Can't wait to try it out, and I do happen to have all the ingredients for that broccoli cheese soup… 😛
Try a Little Tenderness is a song, in case you didn't know why she laughed at the end.
Why wouldn't you just use an immersion blender for the broccoli and cheese soup?
I don't know which is more artful – Her technique or her way with words.
Been making that delicious broccoli soup since it appeared so many years ago in the magazine.
Can’t wait to try the others,thank you!
I just wanted to clarify if those green beans that were used in the later recipe, were the same green beans that were blanched at the beginning of the video?
Love this Lam! Thanks for helping me appreciate overcooked veggies
Lan casually dropping isothiocyanates assuming everyone knows what that is 🤯
Definitely making the soup! I’ll use my immersion blender though for easier cleanup.
do the veggies lose its nutrients when you overcook them ?
Techniquely has become one of my favorite cooking series anywhere on YouTube—can someone get Lan a book deal??
Love Lan Lam – keep showcasing her!