Starring: Tomatoes

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," tomatoes for everyone.

Elle makes Bridget a savory upside-down tomato tart, Lisa reveals her favorite bowl scraper, Jack shares tips for buying tomatoes, Dan explains the science of the Leidenfrost effect, and Becky makes Julia Greek horiatiki salata.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

♪♪ ♪♪ -Tomatoes -- fruit or a vegetable?

Well, today we are going to lean into tomatoes being a fruit and use them to make a spectacular tart, and Elle is just the right person to show us how it's done.

-A traditional tarte Tatin is made with apples, and we're gonna use that same formula as a framework for tomatoes.

-Ohh.

-But you can't treat tomatoes like you would treat apples and expect to get the same result.

-That's true.

-Right?

So we have to prep the tomatoes.

I have 2 pounds total of plum tomatoes, and I'm just gonna show you how to prep a couple.

-Okay.

-We're gonna start by coring with a paring knife and halving lengthwise.

We're also gonna need to get the seeds and the jelly out of the middle, so I'm just gonna use my knife and cut around, super easy.

We tried this recipe with beefsteak tomatoes and we quickly found their juiciness a little problematic.

They actually made our crust soggy.

-That makes sense.

-And they didn't caramelize when cooking.

-Right.

Too much liquid in there.

-Yeah, it's not ideal, but we found that plum tomatoes, they have a low moisture content and they're still meaty.

-Yeah, they've got a little bit more structure in them.

-Yeah.

Okay, now that our tomatoes are prepped, we can start working on our caramel sauce.

-Okay.

-I have here a 10-inch oven-safe skillet, and I'm just gonna put it on medium-high heat.

And to it, I'm gonna add 1/3 cup of sherry vinegar.

-I was a little nervous when you were talking about caramel and tomatoes, but this is great because you're using sherry vinegar... -Yeah.

-...so it's gonna be tart and sweet.

-That's right.

2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

I'm just gonna bring this to a simmer.

It'll only take about 2 minutes.

-Okay.

-Okay, quickly comes to a simmer, and we just need to cook it for 2 minutes, and I'm gonna swirl it a few times just to make sure that the sugar is dissolved.

-And what kind of texture are you looking for?

-I need this to be the texture of maple syrup.

-Okay.

-So, we reduced this sherry vinegar and sugar mixture so that we could get the caramelization that mimics the apple tart.

-Alright.

-So we're gonna finish it off with a medium shallot, finely diced, a tablespoon of unsalted butter, and 2 teaspoons of minced thyme.

-This is going to be spectacular.

The shallot, the vinegar, oh!

-Yeah, we're adding savory notes here, right?

-Looking fabulous.

-Yeah, it looks good, it smells good, and the butter has dissolved, so now we can toss the tomatoes into our shallot sugar caramel.

And we also can remove it from the heat, so if you could turn that guy off for me, that'd be great.

-You got it.

-So we're just gonna toss these tomatoes just to make sure that they all get covered evenly.

It already smells so good and fresh, like summer.

-I love this.

Kind of an alternative to tarte Tatin.

-Yeah.

-But it makes sense, too, I think.

Tomatoes were once called love apples.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Why aren't they still called love apples?

-I don't know.

That sounds really good.

I would be much more inclined to eat a love apple, I think.

-Yeah.

-Alright, these look pretty good.

They're all covered.

-Okay.

-So what I'm gonna do is just make sure that these tomatoes are lined cut-side up into the pan.

Try to keep them flat to the surface of the pan if you can.

-Okay.

-There'll be a little overlap, but it's fine because they're gonna shrink when you cook it.

-Alright.

-So we have the tomatoes lined evenly in the pan.

We're just gonna finish off with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Roasting these in the oven is gonna get the excess moisture out.

It's also gonna concentrate that fruity flavor that the tomatoes offer... -Mm-hmm.

-...and it's gonna give us some caramelization around the edges of the tomatoes, as well.

It's gonna go in the oven at 400 degrees on the middle rack for one hour.

-Okay, I'll get the door for you.

-Thanks.

Okay, so while the tomatoes are in the oven, we're gonna start making the dough for our tart.

-Okay.

-I am using a store-bought puff pastry.

-Thank you.

-I love to do this.

I call it the no-fuss crust.

-It is already made for you.

-That's right.

I'm gonna put it on a lightly floured surface here.

-Okay.

-And I'm gonna roll it out into a 10-inch square.

This is better than pie dough or biscuit crust because you can just thaw it and go, you know?

-Exactly, it's got that super flaky -- all those layers that someone else did for you.

-That's right.

Okay, so my dough is a little sticky.

I'm using a little extra flour just so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin.

Putting a little flour on the rolling pin.

-Great.

-And I'm just gonna roll this out to 10 inches.

-Yeah, it's just literally flour being held together by butter, so it's gonna be a little sticky.

-Yeah.

-Puff pastry is one of those items I absolutely do not mind buying, having somebody else done all the work.

Do you refine your own gas or do you have someone else do that for you?

-Don't reinvent the wheel.

So we want to roll this out a little larger than 10 inches because we need to cut a 10-inch circle of it.

-Okay.

-Alright, so I have a 10-inch plate here.

So, I'm gonna put the plate down and kind of use it as my guide.

I'm using my paring knife.

-Fabulous.

-And I'm just gonna cut around like so.

-Lovely.

-Thanks.

Alright, we don't need this extra dough here.

I'm gonna get rid of it.

I'm gonna use my rolling pin here, and this is just gonna go in the fridge and cool while we wait for the tomatoes to be done.

-Alright, we need that butter to re-chill.

-Oh, yeah.

-Okay.

-Okay.

-Ooh!

-Oh, that's beautiful.

Alright.

-I got that.

-Thank you.

-Oh!

That smells like slow-roasted tomato sauce.

-Yeah, it's so beautiful, and it did exactly what we needed it to do in an hour.

We have some moisture absorption.

We have caramelization.

This tart is ready for some dough.

-It's almost a shame to cover them up.

-It's so beautiful.

There'll be some beauty to see at the end.

-Alright.

-Alright, I'm just gonna lay this over the top.

-And that's really firmed up nicely.

-Yeah, it did.

Let me get this little crinkle out of here.

This needs to go back into the oven... -Okay.

-...for 30 minutes.

We're looking for it to be nice and golden brown.

To get that, we'll have to rotate it halfway through the cooking time.

♪♪ -When we handle dough in the test kitchen, we love to use bowl scrapers.

These little paddles are made of plastic, nylon, or silicone, and they have curved edges designed to conform to the bowl.

They help you scrape up every last bit of dough for breads, cookies, and pastries.

And with no handles, you can get great leverage to reach right in for lifting and folding.

We bought 8, priced from about $2 to about $13, and we tried them with sticky bread dough, dense cookie dough, and we compared them to our winning silicone spatula.

We wanted a scraper with a versatile shape that could fit into all sorts of bowls, but that was sturdy and flexible and could hold up to long-term use.

Some of these had kind of weird shapes, like this.

We just couldn't figure it out.

As you're using it and you're choking up, it's hitting the other side of the bowl.

This one was so stiff and sharp that it couldn't scrape without cutting up the dough or our hands.

This guy is super flexible and bendy.

That may seem good until you're trying to lift heavy cookie dough.

Not so good.

This one's our favorite.

It's the Fox Run silicone dough/bowl scraper.

This teardrop shape really works with different curves to fit a variety of bowls.

It's very comfy to hold and the core reinforced with steel, so it holds up to dense cookie dough, but its flexible edges really get under delicate dough.

So you can scrape really well and you can lift it, but without deflating it or cutting it up.

Now, this also came through in our durability tests in perfect shape.

And at about $5, certainly worth the investment.

Another great choice is this one by KitchenAid.

It's got that grippy silicone that's comfortable.

It's got the sturdy build that gave us good leverage for scraping and lifting dough.

But it wasn't quite as versatile.

It took a few extra strokes to clean the bowl.

But that long edge is also great for dividing dough.

And for $7.99, it also comes with a pan scraper.

♪♪ -Oh!

-Wow.

-Whoa is right.

-That looks pretty amazing.

Alright.

-Ah!

-Alright.

30 minutes cooking, we rotated it halfway.

It is beautifully golden brown, if I do say so myself.

-It is spectacular.

-Yeah.

-And the puff is starting to settle in there.

-Mm-hmm.

-It did what it was supposed to do, right?

It puffed.

-It did, it puffed.

We cannot eat it yet, though, obviously.

It's piping hot.

So we're gonna let this cool for about eight minutes.

-Alright.

-Okay, Bridget, it's been eight minutes.

This has cooled enough for me to take my paring knife and go around the edge to loosen it up.

-You can see it started to pull away a little bit from the edges, too.

-It has.

Imagine if we had too much juice in here from tomatoes.

It wouldn't do this.

-Yeah, we'd end up with tomato soup with a giant crouton.

-Yeah.

[ Laughs ] Feel like it's loose.

So I'm going to invert this onto the plate.

-Okay.

-So I'm gonna put the plate on top.

This has to be fast.

Ready?

-I am so ready.

-Okay, me too.

Voilà.

-You got to be kidding me.

-It's gorgeous.

-Gorgeous.

-Alright, I'm gonna quickly get this onto the cutting board.

-Look how beautiful!

-It's beautiful.

So we need to let it cool for another 10 minutes.

-Alright.

-And then we can enjoy this gorgeous tart.

-She just released the most amazing smells into the kitchen as she flipped that over.

That's crazy.

-So good.

Okay, Bridget, so it's been 10 minutes.

This tart has cooled.

I'm just gonna finish it off with 1/2 teaspoon of minced fresh thyme.

-You could smell it.

Hits that still-warm tart.

All that fragrant aroma.

-It not only smells good, but it's beautiful.

I hope you're ready to eat.

-I am so ready to eat.

That is gorgeous.

-Alright.

I'm gonna cut some for you.

-Alright.

So that serves two, right?

-Yes.

Half for me, half for you.

-[ Laughs ] Oh.

-You want a big tart?

-Yeah, I'm starving.

Oh!

-There we go.

-Look how well it's holding together, too.

-Yeah, it's because we chose those beautiful plum tomatoes.

-Oh, it's also because you know what you're doing.

It's almost too pretty to eat.

-Mmm.

-Almost.

-Says you.

-[ Laughs ] -I'm digging in.

-Alright.

-Oh, man.

-Gorgeous.

Oh!

-Wow.

-And you're right, the plum tomatoes, they're the key, because this is not tomato sauce.

-That's right.

-They still have some texture to them.

-Lots of texture, and the sweetness of the sherry vinegar and sugar syrup is unbelievable.

-This would be beautiful with a salad.

-Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Juicy.

Mmm-mmm-mmm.

-And the crust -- beautiful, light, flaky.

-The crust understood its assignment.

-It's just got that lovely, sweet, tart thing going about it.

-It really does.

-Thanks for sharing this with us.

-Thanks, boo.

-So if you want to make this beautiful tomato tart at home, start by seeding plum tomatoes.

Create a potent caramel with vinegar and sugar, roast the tomatoes to concentrate their flavor, and then top it with puff pastry and bake it until light and lofty.

So from America's Test Kitchen, a little sweet, a little tart, so easy and elegant upside-down tomato tart.

Mmm.

-Give me more.

-Crispy.

-Mm-hmm.

♪♪ -When it comes to supermarket tomatoes, there are many choices.

Unfortunately, there are many bad choices.

I'm gonna teach you how to avoid making a mistake.

So it's all about jelly.

And you're like, "Jelly?

Wait a minute, we're talking about tomatoes."

Jelly is the gooey stuff.

Get down in here and take a look.

The thing that surrounds the seeds.

It's packed with flavor, has glutamates, the same compound that makes Parmesan cheese and mushrooms so delicious.

In a really good tomato, it'll have thin walls and lots of pockets for jelly.

In a really poor tomato, like this one here, the walls are really thick.

There's almost no room left for the jelly, meaning there's no room left for flavor.

A lot of commercial tomatoes have thick walls because they ship really well.

They show up 3,000 miles away from where they were grown with no flavor whatsoever.

It's probably a bad idea to slice the tomato in the supermarket, so how do you know that there's a lot of jelly inside?

So first thing is look for a locally grown tomato.

A lot of heirloom tomatoes like I have here in front of me are locally grown because they have thin walls.

That means they can't ship.

So that's always gonna be my first choice.

Another way you can tell it's an heirloom tomato, and in this case, a true heirloom tomato, meaning it's got the original DNA from the pre-Columbian tomatoes, are these ridges.

That means it hasn't really been hybridized.

Now, that's not to say that heirloom is the only good choice.

I actually love a good beefsteak, especially from a local farm stand.

Now, these don't really get shipped very often because they're too big, and supermarkets and growers don't want to deal with them.

But I love them in a BLT.

Something I don't love would be these vine-ripened tomatoes.

Yeah, if you grow tomatoes, you know that ripe tomatoes would never stay on the vine like this.

And the reason why these are so sturdy is because they're harvested when they're only 10% ripe, and then they're shipped, treated with ethylene gas.

They look beautiful, but they don't have much flavor.

If you're looking for something year-round in the supermarket that has more flavor, more acidity, more sweetness, the Kumato.

This is actually imported from Europe, so it travels a long way, but it's been bred to have more acidity and more sweetness.

And just overall, it's a much livelier tomato.

It's a brown-green color.

A lot of them are grown in greenhouses, so they're available 12 months of the year.

It's actually one of the best choices, especially in the middle of the winter if you're insisting on having fresh tomatoes.

Romas.

So if we can talk about, these are large plum tomatoes.

Romas are great for sauce.

I don't really want to eat them raw.

They don't have enough flavor.

They're too bland.

They don't have enough sweetness.

Same thing with the grape tomatoes.

I love to cook them and make a sauce out of them.

They roast up in 15 or 20 minutes and really come out with so much more flavor, but when it comes to salad, if I'm looking for a raw tomato, I really want the cherry tomatoes.

They're juicy, they're lively, and they're almost always good.

So there you have it.

It's the world of tomatoes.

Yes, there's some terrible choices, but there are also some amazing choices.

♪♪ -Has this ever happened to you?

You go to pour liquid nitrogen on the counter, and it just floats above the surface like magic?

What about this?

You let a few drops of that water that you dyed blue drip into a ripping-hot skillet and instead of evaporating, they just dance around, these beautiful little orbs.

Feels like they last for an eternity.

Now, both are examples of the Leidenfrost effect.

When a liquid encounters a surface that is a lot hotter than its boiling point, a layer of insulating vapor raises it off the surface, protecting it from that intense heat.

You can actually harness the Leidenfrost effect to tell when your skillet is hot enough for searing.

As your skillet heats up, drip water onto its surface.

If it evaporates right away, the pan is too cool.

When the water is dancing around the skillet like this, it is ready to go.

♪♪ -An American-style Greek salad, made with lettuce, crumbled feta, and a thick dressing, can be found in pizzerias all over the country.

And while it's delicious in its own right, today, Becky's gonna show us a more traditional style of Greek salad called horiatiki salata.

-That's right.

This salad is a staple on Greek tables, and we're gonna treat each ingredient with respect so we can have the best salad possible.

-I'm excited for this.

-It's gonna be so good.

So we have lots of fresh produce... -Mm-hmm.

-...starting with 1 3/4 pounds of round red tomatoes, and this is really a time to use the best tomatoes you can find.

Local tomatoes.

Don't go for the cherry variety or the Roma types.

You want the nice round ones.

They have thinner skins and, frankly, a better flavor for this kind of recipe.

-Yeah, a more potent flavor.

-Yes.

So I'm just gonna pop out the cores here.

I'll cut the tomato into half-inch-thick wedges.

-Okay.

Nice, big, rustic pieces.

-That's right, this is gonna be nice and chunky.

You could eat this as a main course with some bread or as a side dish, however you want to do it.

And then we'll turn those pieces 90 degrees and cut them in half again so you get these nice chunks.

I'm gonna toss the tomatoes with 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

This is gonna season them very deeply, and it's also gonna draw out a lot of moisture that would otherwise saturate the salad.

-Okay, so that's why the colander, obviously.

-That's right.

So I'm going to let this sit for 30 minutes, and that's enough time to pull out all those juices.

Alright.

What should we do next here?

Let's do the cucumber.

I have an English cucumber.

We like this type because it has thin skin and not that many seeds.

-Right.

-And we'll cut this into quarters and then we'll cut those into 3/4-inch pieces.

So, again, nice and chunky.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're paying attention to each vegetable, making it the best it can possibly be.

Cucumbers don't need much.

They're so good.

-Mnh-mnh.

-Next, we have a green pepper, and we like the faintly bitter taste of the pepper here.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's got, like, a nice vegetal grassy kind of flavor that's really good in the salad.

-Yeah.

-So I'm just gonna lop off the top and bottom here.

We'll save this for munching.

We want the salad to be really pretty with perfect pieces, so we'll just set those aside.

Now, we'll just slit this down the side, get rid of the seeds in the middle, and then with those ribs here, you can just slide them out with your knife.

-I love this method for cutting up bell peppers because, at this point, you can cut this into any size you want, or if you are grilling them, they would just lie nicely on the grill without falling through the grill grates.

-Yeah, exactly.

-Yeah.

-You get some nice flat pieces here.

-Mm-hmm.

-So we want 2-inch by half-inch pieces here... -Okay.

-...so I'm gonna cut this like so.

-So long pieces?

-Yeah, we want some nice variety in our -- in our salad here.

-Ah.

-And then, lastly, we have half of a red onion.

So we're getting some beautiful colors here.

Slice this thinly.

-I notice you're going pole to pole.

-That's our preferred way for a salad like this, yes.

-Yeah, I think it looks pretty, too.

-I do, too.

We're gonna soak the onions in ice water.

That's gonna remove the harsh-tasting compounds that are in there, the sulfur.

-Mm.

And that's a good trick whenever you're making a salad, to soak your onion in ice water.

-We tried soaking them in a baking-soda solution with water, and they tasted kind of chemically when we did that.

-Yeah.

-That didn't work.

And then we also tried salt and vinegar, but that actually pickled the onions.

-Yeah.

-They tasted good, but that's not what we wanted for this salad.

-You want them nice and crisp.

-That's right.

Those need to soak for 15 minutes.

And while those soak, we'll start on a little dressing for the salad.

-Okay.

-So I'm not gonna make an emulsified salad dressing.

I'm gonna make a vinegar mixture, and then we'll drizzle the oil on top of it.

-Ooh, I like that 'cause it's easier, in a way.

-Yeah, and this way, you get little hits of vinegar and little hits of the fruity olive oil, so it's a really nice way to dress a salad.

I have 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar here, also a teaspoon of dried oregano.

-Ooh, that's a lot.

-Yeah, Greeks cook a lot with dried oregano.

It has a woodsy, floral kind of taste.

It's very different from fresh oregano, so it's really nice in this salad.

To that we'll add 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

We'll just whisk that together.

Alright, and then we'll let our tomatoes and our onions finish sitting here, and then we'll come back and put it all together.

-Great.

-Alright, let's put this together.

-I'm excited.

-I am, too.

So here's our tomatoes and onions that I've drained.

Put our peppers in and our cukes.

Now, I have a cup of Kalamata olives.

This will add a really nice, briny saltiness to the dish.

And 2 tablespoons of capers that have been rinsed.

Again, just some little pops of salt and vinegar here is gonna be really nice.

And here's that red wine vinegar mixture that we made earlier.

-Mmm.

This is already looking good.

-Yeah, this -- it's gorgeous.

You can't go wrong.

And everything is treated as best as it could possibly be.

And then, finally, 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Again, break out the good stuff here.

Something nice and fruity.

A little bit peppery.

Okay, and now we'll just toss that all together.

I mean, that's just gorgeous.

-Yeah.

-Glistening with oil, all the beautiful colors.

-Yeah.

-Let's put this on a nice, big platter here.

-Mmm.

-Okay.

-Oh-ho-ho-ho.

-I mean, come on.

You put that down on the table... -That looks so good.

-...people will go crazy for this.

-Yeah.

-Of course, we have to add feta, and you want to make sure and use a Greek sheep's milk feta here.

-Right.

The good stuff.

-The good stuff.

You don't want to buy that pre-crumbled stuff.

Get something nice here.

-Right.

-So this is 8 ounces of feta, and I cut it into triangles.

Now we're gonna sprinkle that with a little more of that dried oregano we put into the vinegar.

And then I have a tablespoon of more of that extra virgin olive oil just to drizzle that on top 'cause the cheese wants to glisten a little bit, too.

Alright.

-Becky, that is beautiful.

I love rustic salads like this, where you really highlight the vegetables.

Alright, good enough to eat.

-Let's do it.

-[ Chuckles ] Are you giving me a whole big piece of feta?

-Of course.

-I'm so excited about that.

-I knew you wanted it.

I didn't even ask.

-[ Chuckles ] -I just assumed.

-Yes, you did.

-And I assumed correctly?

-Yes, you did.

-Alright, great.

So we're getting all those chunky veggies.

-Mm, and a little of that juice that is... -Yeah.

-...in that dressing on the bottom.

-The olives.

-Ah.

-Ooh.

Alright.

-This is a meal for me, especially when it's hot in the summertime.

-Yes.

-This, a piece of bread, a nice, crisp glass of wine.

-You're set, right?

-Mm-hmm.

This is my kind of food right here.

-Oh, me, too.

-Not fussy.

High-quality ingredients.

[ Chuckles ] -Mmm.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mm.

The salty feta... -Yeah.

-...with the fresh veggies... -Mm-hmm.

-...all the different textures and colors.

-And I really love the tomatoes 'cause they were salted.

They have a lot of flavor.

They're still crunchy.

You know, they're not cooked, but they're ever so slightly softened, which is lovely in the salad.

-And you can see the salad isn't watery.

-Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-It's beautifully dressed, and that's because we got all that excess juice out of the tomatoes.

The onions are just right.

They're not too sharp.

-Mm-hmm.

Mm!

-Capers and olives.

-Mmm.

-I'm so happy that you like it.

-Yeah, I love it.

So if you want to make a salad this good, salt and drain the tomatoes, soak the onion in ice water, and use good-quality olive oil and feta.

From America's Test Kitchen, a classic Greek salad, horiatiki salata.

You can get this recipe, all the recipes and product reviews from this season, along with select episodes at our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

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