Makes about 2 cups

Fresh herbs are key in this cool and tangy sauce.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
We wanted a Yogurt-Herb Dipping Sauce recipe that paired well with grilled chicken kebabs but was versatile enough to work with any number of other grilled meat recipes. We used regular or low-fat yogurt for our Mediterranean-style sauce recipe, but stopped short of nonfat yogurt, which often contains stabilizers such as gelatin. Dried herbs didn’t fully hydrate in the sauce and tasted bland and tough, so we opted for fresh herbs—and lots of them—like basil and mint.

MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS

August 6, 2007 notes: Using Greek yogurt here is key; don’t substitute regular plain yogurt or the sauce will be very watery. FAGE Total Classic Greek yogurt is the most widely available brand in this country. You can also make your own Greek-style thickened yogurt (see procedure below) to use in place of the Greek yogurt.

July 1, 2008 notes: Although we prefer the richness of plain whole-milk yogurt, low-fat yogurt can be substituted. Greek yogurt can also be substituted, but use 1/2 cup and skip the step of draining. While we didn’t like the flavor of dried mint, dried dill may be used in place of fresh, but reduce the amount to 1/2 teaspoon.

SERVES 6

In order for the eggs to cook properly, it is critical to add them to the hot filling–lined ramekins quickly. Prepare by cracking eggs into separate bowls or teacups while the filled ramekins are heating. If a yolk breaks during cracking, set aside for another use and proceed with a new egg. We developed this recipe using a glass baking dish, if using a metal baking pan, reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees. This recipe can be doubled. If doubling, bake the ramekins in two 13 by 9-inch pans and increase the baking times in step 3 and 4 by 1 minute.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Our recipe achieves the ideal combination of runny yolks nestled in fully set yet tender whites by turning up the oven to 500 degrees. Adding the raw eggs to preheated ramekins ensured that the heat transfer was rapid and that the egg whites cooked before the centered yolks had a chance to catch up. Lining each ramekin with an impermeable roux-thickened sauce protected the edges of the whites from blistering or turning rubbery. Pulling the baked eggs from the oven when the whites had just turned opaque but still jiggled accounted for carryover cooking. In those final 10 minutes the heat of the ramekins finished cooking and setting the whites.

MAKES 2

Because making omelets is such a quick process, make sure to have all your ingredients and equipment at the ready. If you don’t have skewers or chopsticks to stir the eggs in step 3, use the handle of a wooden spoon. Warm the plates in a 200-degree oven.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Our perfect French omelet recipe had to give us unblemished golden-yellow eggs with an ultra-creamy texture. Preheating a nonstick skillet over low heat for 10 minutes eliminated the pan’s hot spots, so our eggs wouldn’t be splotchy. Adding cold diced butter to the beaten eggs gave the omelet a creamy texture when cooked. We turned off the heat in our omelet recipe when the eggs were still runny, then smoothed the top with a spatula and covered the pan, letting residual heat do the rest of the cooking without toughening the eggs.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/cooking-science/2012/10/we-prove-it-fat-makes-eggs-tender/

Serves 4

Cooking the pasta right in the pasta sauce infuses it with flavor and streamlines cleanup.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To prepare our spaghetti with shrimp, we seared the shrimp over high heat until just barely cooked through, then set them aside while we prepared the sauce and pasta. We used just one pan for cooking both the shrimp and the pasta so the finished dish picked up the flavors left behind by the shrimp. Cooking the pasta in the pasta sauce infuses flavor and streamlines the preparation.

Serves 6 to 8

Avoid extra-sharp cheddar, which becomes grainy during slow cooking. And don’t soak potatoes in water before using or the scalloped potatoes will be watery.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Potatoes contain moisture that diluted the sauce after hours in the slow cooker. We thickened our Slow-Cooker Scalloped Potatoes with a generous amount of cornstarch to ensure that the sauce could handle the added moisture given off by the potatoes. The prolonged heat of the slow cooker overheated most cheeses, causing them to clump up and ooze grease. We found that Monterey Jack—which melted easily without separating—paired with sharp cheddar produced a flavorful, lump-free sauce. Russet potatoes proved to be the variety of choice due to their high starch content. The starch helped the cheese sauce adhere to the potatoes, and tasters liked the fluffy texture of the russets. The potatoes wouldn’t cook evenly in the slow cooker, so we started them in the microwave before transferring them to the slow cooker. When direct contact between the potatoes and the slow cooker caused them to burn, we created a barrier with parchment paper to protect them.

MAKES 2/3 CUP, ENOUGH FOR 4 STEAKS

If you do not have Madeira on hand, sherry makes a fine substitute.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
The goal in developing our filet mignon recipe was to replicate the best restaurant filet at home, with a rich, brown crust and a tender interior, topped with a luscious pan sauce. To cook our filets perfectly, inside and out, we pan-seared evenly cut, well-dried filets in a 10-inch heavy-bottomed skillet, then transferred the meat to a hot oven. Finishing the steak in the oven prevented the fond—the richly flavored brown bits in the bottom of the pan—from burning and gave us time to start the sauce, which we made in minutes while the steaks were in the oven.

SERVES 4

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To get more flavor and less shriveling from our sautéed mushroom recipe, we discovered that overloading the skillet and extending the cooking time allowed the mushrooms to give up just enough liquid to eventually fit in a single layer without shrinking to nothing. They browned nicely after we added a little oil or butter, and from there it was easy to enhance our sautéed mushroom recipe by adding garlic, herbs, wine, soy sauce, bread crumbs, and so on.

MAKES ABOUT 24 TWO-INCH PUFFS

A serving of profiteroles consists of three baked puffs filled with ice cream and topped with sauce. This recipe makes 24 puffs, technically enough to serve 8, but inevitably a few bake up too awkwardly shaped to serve to guests.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
To develop a perfect profiteroles recipe—for a crisp, tender, and airy pastry encasing cold, creamy ice cream and napped by dark, luxurious chocolate sauce—we began with the pastry, using both milk and water for puffs that were crisp and browned nicely. We used the powerful food processor to incorporate whole eggs into the choux paste and baked the puffs on an uncrowded baking sheet to keep them from collapsing. We slit the baked puffs to release steam and then returned them to the oven for 45 minutes to ensure crispness.

http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/bake-it-better/2013/01/secrets-to-profiteroles/

MAKES 1 1/2 CUPS

Whisk the sauce gently so as not to create tiny air bubbles that can mar its appearance.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For the best bittersweet chocolate sauce recipe—flavorful and rich with just the right consistency—we added corn syrup to a mixture of cream and butter, giving our smooth sauce a shiny finish. In our chocolate sauce recipe, we used bittersweet chocolate rather than cocoa or semisweet chocolate for a complex sauce that fell off the spoon in deep chocolate ribbons.