♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Sam makes Bridget Buffalo chicken sandwiches... Adam reviews sauté pans... and Keith makes Julia steak tips with mushroom-onion gravy.

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

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♪♪ -Ah, I remember the great chicken-sandwich wars.

It was all the way back in 2019 that it started, and restaurants started competing over who had the best fried-chicken sandwich.

Now, the battle still rages on over flavors, and I'd say a hot contested battle is, who has the spicier sandwich?

Now, my money for victory is on Sam because she's here and she's bringing a recipe for a spicy chicken sandwich we can make at home.

-That's right, Bridget.

Not only is this a spicy chicken sandwich, this is a Buffalo chicken sandwich.

-Come on.

-I know.

And in my opinion, the most ultimate version because we're gonna have super fiery hot sauce... -Yes... -...a thick and spreadable blue cheese... -Mm-hmm.

-...and super-duper-crispy chicken.

So let's get started on our breading.

So in my pie plate I'm just gonna add 2 large eggs and 1 teaspoon of table salt.

And we're just gonna take our whisk and make sure this is well combined.

Now, 1 teaspoon of salt might sound like a lot, but this is the only point in the recipe that we're adding salt.

Alright, let's move on to our dry mixture.

-Okay.

-So here in my second pie plate I have 1 cup of all-purpose flour, to which I'm going to add a 1/2 cup of cornstarch.

So now we're gonna add a few more things here.

I have 1 teaspoon of black pepper... -Okay.

-...1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

So I'll just give this a whisk until all of our ingredients are well combined.

Alright, that looks good.

So now we're ready to add our buttermilk.

I have a 1/4 cup of buttermilk, and I'm just gonna drizzle this right on top of our flour mixture.

So with my hands I'm just going to incorporate the buttermilk into the flour mixture.

So usually when you're frying chicken, those last few pieces get all those craggy crumbs that are so crispy and delicious.

-Right.

-Here we're starting with that.

So every piece of chicken gets crag.

Okay, so we have our flour mixture set.

I'm just gonna give my hands a quick rinse, and then we can get going on our chicken breasts.

Alright, Bridget, let's get started on our chicken breasts.

-Okay.

-Now, these are about eight-ounce chicken breasts that we're working with here, which is often what we call for in our recipes.

Now, this chicken was sitting in the freezer for about 20 minutes, firming them up a little bit.

So what I'm gonna do is just place my hand on top of the chicken.

Just carefully -- again, the fact that these were in the freezer firmed them up a bit.

Here we go.

But as you can see, these are relatively uneven pieces of chicken.

-That's right.

-So we're gonna solve that problem by pounding them out with a meat pounder.

-Okay.

-But the first thing I want to do is put some plastic wrap right on top of our chicken, and I'm just gonna start to pound out our chicken.

We're looking for about a half-inch thickness.

-So not too much pounding.

-Correct.

-Mostly the thicker end.

-Exactly.

Bridget, it is time to dredge our chicken.

-Okay.

-So whenever I'm dredging really anything, I like to assign hand roles.

So I have a wet hand and a dry hand.

-[ Laughs ] Okay.

-So I'm just gonna take my wet hand and grab our first piece of chicken.

Let any of that excess egg drip away.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then away we go into our buttermilk-flour mixture... -Nice.

-...with my dry hand.

I'm not being skimpy here.

We want to pack that flavor on.

[ Laughs ] Yes, so I'm gonna keep coating our chicken breasts.

Gonna be super yummy.

Alright, this looks great.

So we'll transfer this to my sheet pan here with a fitted rack.

I like to think of this as like my landing zone.

-Okay.

-So I'm just gonna continue to egg and coat our chicken breast.

-Alright.

-Great.

And you know, as much as I'd love to fry these immediately, we are gonna send them into the refrigerator.

-Okay.

-So you want them in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to eight hours in advance.

-Oh, that's nice.

-So what's gonna happen is that egg mixture is going to get right into that flour mixture and sort of cement that coating right on the outside of our chicken so it's not gonna go anywhere... -Right.

-...when we fry it.

We're also going to keep this uncovered in the refrigerator, which is gonna promote a super crispy, crunchy crust.

Alright, Bridget, our chicken is literally chilling in the fridge so we can get started on our Buffalo sauce.

-Okay.

-So I have 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter in my small saucepan, and I've cranked the heat to medium.

Our butter is melted, so now we're gonna add even more heat -- a 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

So 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne right into our butter.

And we're just gonna cook this for about 30 seconds.

It's just gonna bloom in there.

We'll be able to smell it.

So we've bloomed our cayenne.

Now we're ready to add our hot sauce.

I have a 1/2 a cup of Frank's Original hot sauce.

-Nice.

-The OG.

-That's right.

-What you want to use for anything Buffalo.

You might see a little bit of sputtering here.

I'm just gonna give this a stir to make sure things are well combined.

We're just gonna bring this to a simmer, and I'm going to continue to cook this so that it can reduce and thicken, about five minutes.

It has been about five minutes.

Our sauce, as you can see here, has thickened.

And you can tell when I scrape my spatula across the bottom of the saucepan, it leaves a trail.

So we're just gonna cut the heat.

And now I'm going to add 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar.

This is just gonna awaken all of the deep spicy flavors we've got going on there... -Mmm!

-...and make it bright and lovely.

So, great.

Our Buffalo sauce is done.

-Okay.

-We can just move on to our blue cheese.

We are gonna make a very concentrated blue-cheese-forward spread.

-Oh!

-Rather than a dressing.

So we're starting with 2 ounces of blue cheese.

So I'm just gonna take my fork and crumble up our blue cheese.

We're looking for about 1/4-inch pieces or so.

Alright.

So this looks good.

Now we're going to add some mayonnaise.

I have 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise.

So I'll just continue to mash our blue cheese into the mayonnaise.

I'm adding 2 tablespoons of buttermilk and 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar.

This looks lovely.

So we're just gonna throw this into the refrigerator until we're ready to eat.

It is time to fry our chicken.

-Perfect.

-So in my Dutch oven here I have 2 quarts of vegetable oil that I've been heating up to a pretty high temperature.

We've got 425 degrees.

-That's pretty high for fried chicken.

-That's right, but this is gonna fry super fast.

So what's great about this recipe is we're just gonna drop all four of our pieces of chicken into the pot at once.

-No batch frying.

-No batch frying.

So when I said "fast," I mean fast.

These are gonna fry in about three minutes.

Okay, it's been three minutes, so I'm gonna turn off the heat.

-Okay.

-And we will transfer our golden-brown crispy chicken right onto the sheet pan.

Alright, so we're looking for an internal temperature of 155 degrees.

-That does seem a little low, though.

-Like you said, 155 is a little bit low, but due to the very thick crust that we put on our chicken breasts, plus the super high heat of the oil, there's gonna be plenty of carryover cooking to get us right to that 160 that we're looking for.

So we'll have juicy chicken, not overcooked chicken.

So I'm just gonna brush some of our Buffalo sauce right on top of our fried chicken.

It's really adhering, clinging, looking lovely.

Sauce side down.

-As soon as she painted that sauce onto the hot chicken right out of the oil, you got another hit of the heat.

-So now I'm just gonna add some shredded iceberg lettuce.

And we just want to put about 2 teaspoons blue cheese spread right on our top bun.

Okay, so now we're ready to put the crown on.

Shall we?

-It was nice knowing you.

-[ Laughs ] See you on the other side.

-Exactly.

Fiery.

-Mm-hmm.

-Hot.

-Mm-hmm.

-Spicy.

-[ Laughs ] -Lots of flavor, though.

That iceberg and that blue cheese spread... -Mm-hmm.

-...does cut through the heat.

-It's spicy, but it's not overpowering.

-Mnh-mnh.

-It's there.

-That is crunchy, juicy, spicy, saucy.

-Mm-hmm.

-Cheesy.

-All of my favorite words.

-This was a masterpiece in fried-chicken sandwiches, Sam.

You reign supreme.

-Thank you so much.

-You're the winner.

-Yay!

-And you're definitely gonna be the winner if you make this for your family at home.

It starts by making a coating using both flour and cornstarch.

Pound chicken breasts so that they cook evenly.

And brush the fried chicken breasts with some of that beautiful hot Buffalo sauce just before assembling the sandwich.

And of course we can't forget that beautiful blue cheese spread.

So from America's Test Kitchen, Buffalo chicken sandwiches.

Definitely gonna want to make it at home today and tomorrow and the next day.

-That's right.

-And the next day.

-And the next day.

♪♪ -One of the first classes I took in culinary school was called Culinary French.

And we learned the French terms for everything in the kitchen, including the classic skillet, which in French is a sauteuse.

Now, a straight-sided sauté pan is called a sautoir, and they have different purposes.

And today Adam has a variety of sautoirs here, and he's gonna tell us which brand is best.

-I'm afraid I have to refer to these as sauté pans, Julia.

[ Laughing ] Sorry not to use the French.

We like sauté pans because they combine a couple of really useful characteristics.

One is it's got a pretty broad cooking surface... -Mm-hmm.

-...like that skillet does.

Second, it's got medium-high straight sides.

-Yes.

-And those two characteristics make it great for shallow frying, for braising, and we like to cook down fresh greens in these things also.

We have this lineup of seven different sauté pans.

The prices range from about $59 up to $310.

-Ooh!

-They all came with lids.

So the specifications on these was fairly similar across the lineup.

About 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 inches.

The capacity was 3 to 3 1/2 quarts.

Um, they were all oven-safe from about 500 degrees on.

And they're all-clad construction.

And we know that means that there are different layers of metal bonded together, and the center is gonna be aluminum, which heats up really quickly, it's very responsive.

It's sandwiched between stainless steel, which is a little less efficient in the way it heats, but it's more durable, it's easier to maintain.

And the combination of the two metals makes for nice, even, steady heating.

All of these pans did well in our cooking tests, and those included making Swedish meatballs, baking Mexican rice... -Mm-hmm.

-...and sautéeing a pound of fresh spinach.

-Ooh, that's a lot when you start.

-It is a lot when you start.

It cooks down to almost nothing.

-[ Chuckles ] -One of the characteristics that made a difference to testers was the cooking surface.

And you can see, this one... -That's a bit skimpy.

-Yeah.

Kind of small.

-Mm-hmm.

-This one had 8 1/2 inches of cooking surface.

Bigger was not better when it came to the sidewalls.

-Mm-hmm.

-This one had the tallest sidewalls.

They're 2.9 inches tall.

-Yeah, I don't like it.

Too tall.

-Made it a little less comfortable to get in there with utensils.

This one, however, it had two-inch sidewalls, and some of the spinach jumped ship... -[ Laughs ] -...when it was being stirred around in this one.

So the sweet spot for the sidewalls was right in between the two.

Something like this at about 2 1/2 inches.

-Mm-hmm.

-You can see that one of them does not have that loop handle, called the helper handle.

-Oh, yeah!

-It's that one right in front of you.

-Oh, I don't like that.

-Yeah.

-That's half the beauty of the -- of this pan.

-The helper handle really helps stabilize the pan when it's ripping hot and it's coming out of the oven full of food, so you want that.

In terms of the primary handle, they preferred them longer and straighter, like this one or that one, compared to, why don't you try picking up that one that has a deeper curve?

-It's pretty, but it's uneven.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, it... -It doesn't distribute the weight as evenly, does it?

-No, it's harder.

-And speaking of weights, the range in our lineup was a little less than three pounds, up to a little over 3 1/2 pounds.

-Hmm.

-And testers really preferred the lighter end, the ones closer to three pounds.

This is our winning pan.

-Ahh!

This is the Made In stainless clad sauté pan.

It had all the right dimensions, it rocked the cooking test, and it's $149, which was less than half of the most expensive pan in the lineup.

-Wow.

And it's one of the newer brands to the market.

-Yeah.

-So there you have it.

The winning sautoir is the Made In stainless clad sauté pan at about $150.

♪♪ -Steak tips come from the rear of the cow, and there are lots of muscles in here that could be cut into steak tips, but our favorite is known as flap meat, or bavette steak, and it comes from the lower sirloin area right behind the flank steak.

We love it for its big beefy flavor.

And today Keith is gonna show us how to sear them up with a mushroom-onion gravy.

-Today we're gonna do it right.

We're gonna make a fantastic steak tips with onion gravy.

And it all starts with the steak, like you said.

So I have a whole steak tip here.

And if you can buy it whole, that's the best way to do it because you can see what you're buying.

-Mm-hmm.

-You're gonna look for this kind of really coarse grain and this great marbling.

Look how well marbled that steak is.

-It's gorgeous.

-It's absolutely beautiful.

That's gonna mean a lot of flavor in that.

So first thing we're gonna do, we're gonna take this and we're gonna cube it up.

So we're looking at 1 1/2-inch pieces.

So nice big, meaty pieces.

So... -That is gorgeous meat.

-Yeah.

Perfect.

So I'm just gonna transfer these over to a bowl.

And then I'm gonna take 1 tablespoon of soy sauce... -Interesting.

-...and a teaspoon of sugar.

Now, that soy sauce is gonna act like a brine, and it will help season.

And that sugar is gonna help the beef brown when you cook it in the skillet.

We're gonna let this sit for 30 minutes, up to an hour.

And I'm just gonna toss that occasionally as it sits.

What we want to do is have that soy sauce penetrate into the meat and season the meat.

So that's our beef.

So let's focus on our gravy now.

-Mmm!

-We want to build a lot of flavor here.

We want to build layers of flavor.

So it's gonna start with some dried porcinis.

-Ah!

-It's gonna add a lot of savory backbone to our sauce.

So I have a 1/4 ounce of dried porcinis in here, and I've just rinsed these to get rid of any dirt.

So we want to soak these because we want to mince them and get that into the sauce so you have a little bit of porcini in every bite.

So I'm just gonna take a 1/4 cup of beef stock.

And I'm gonna put some plastic wrap on that.

Poke a couple holes in the top to vent that.

And I'm just gonna microwave this for 30 seconds until the beef broth is starting to steam.

Okay, you can see our nice steamy environment in there.

Now we're gonna let that set for five minutes, let those porcinis hydrate.

And then we can come back and chop them.

-Great.

-Mushrooms have been sitting for five minutes, and they are properly soaked.

And I'm just gonna mince these.

The idea is that we want to chop these pretty fine.

Okay, that looks good.

Those are pretty finely minced there.

Now, we don't want to dump this.

-Mnh-mnh.

It does have some grit in it, but we can strain that grit off.

We're actually gonna use this in our gravy.

So I have a fine mesh strainer with a coffee filter in it.

And that coffee filter will catch any fine pieces of sediment.

Now we can get to cooking.

We have a 12-inch skillet here with 1 tablespoon of oil in it.

So I'm gonna heat this over medium-high heat.

And then while that's heating, we're gonna come over here.

And we're gonna work with our fresh mushrooms.

Now, I have 1 pound of white button mushrooms here.

White button mushrooms are economical.

They provide plenty of flavor.

If you want to use a cremini, that's fine.

You can do that as well.

-Mm-hmm.

-So for mushrooms like this, you just want to take a towel and wipe off any grit that you see.

Inspect the bottom, that stem.

It looks pretty good if it's dry.

Sometimes I'll just take that off and discard that.

1/4 inch thick.

So I'm going to take our beef, and I just want to pat this dry.

We want to make sure that these are as dry as possible before they go into the skillet because we want good browning.

Those are looking pretty dry.

Just before we go into the skillet I'm gonna add a 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.

Okay, so perfect timing.

You can start to see wisps of smoke coming off our skillet.

That means it's ready for our beef.

So I'm just gonna lay these into our skillet.

-That is a ripping hot skillet.

But that's how you get good searing.

-So we're just gonna let these brown.

I'm gonna rotate them as much as possible to get as many sides browned as possible.

And that will take anywhere from six to eight minutes.

It's been eight minutes, and you can see that our beef is well browned.

-Gorgeous!

-It's really gorgeous.

-Yeah.

-You also see, once I take this out of the skillet, you see that we're starting to develop a nice fond on the bottom of that skillet as well.

-Mm-hmm.

And that's good flavor for the gravy.

-Now we can cook our mushrooms.

So I'm gonna add another tablespoon of oil to the skillet.

And we'll add our sliced mushrooms.

-Mmm!

-And our minced porcinis.

1/4 teaspoon of salt.

And I'm just gonna stir this.

Make sure that those porcinis are incorporated into the white mushrooms.

We're gonna let these mushrooms cook.

And as they cook, they're gonna exude moisture.

That moisture is gonna come out, deglaze the pan, and get all that delicious fond into our gravy.

So the mushrooms will cook for seven to nine minutes.

-Okay.

When we talk about umami, the flavor of umami, we often compare it to beef.

But the interesting thing is beef doesn't have a ton of umami on its own.

It needs a few other ingredients to help pump up the beef.

The meaty taste of umami is typically associated with glutamate, an amino acid naturally found in foods such as mushrooms.

Glutamate triggers umami receptors on our taste buds to produce a savory taste.

Surprisingly, beef contains a relatively small amount of glutamate -- less than a strawberry.

But what it does have is a complementary umami flavor compound called inosine monophosphate, or IMP.

This steak tip recipe combines IMP-filled beef with a gravy containing glutamate-rich mushrooms, onion, and soy sauce.

When we eat glutamate and IMP together, the two molecules interact with our umami taste receptors in a unique and synergistic way.

With both molecules fully engaging the receptor, the umami taste is eight times more intense than of either molecule on its own.

And that's why our recipes often combine beef with a glutamate-rich ingredient, like burgers and ketchup and cheese or steak tips with a gravy made with onions, mushrooms, and soy sauce.

-It's been seven minutes, and you can see that our mushrooms have shrunk considerably... -Mmm!

-...and they're starting to get some brown color on them.

-They're beautiful.

-Yeah, and we're starting to develop another fond.

But what was interesting as these cooked is that, halfway through, that pan bottom was almost completely clean of the fond from the beef.

-Mm-hmm.

-So that is our mushrooms.

Now we're gonna get into our onions.

I have one large onion that's been thinly sliced here.

I'm also gonna add another 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Okay, I'm gonna stir this in.

And we're gonna continue to cook this until we develop more browning on the bottom of that skillet and the onions soften.

So that's gonna take anywhere from six to eight minutes.

It's been six minutes, and you can see that we've softened those onions... -Ooh!

-...and started to get some color on them.

-Mm-hmm.

-But more importantly, we've developed more fond in the bottom of that skillet.

-That's gorgeous fond.

-So I'm gonna take a clove of garlic just to add some background notes to this.

1/2 teaspoon of chopped thyme.

I'm also gonna add 4 teaspoons of flour, and that flour is what's gonna thicken our gravy.

Just enough to kind of coat those pieces of beef.

Okay, that looks like everything is incorporated there.

-Mm-hmm.

-So now for our broth I have 1 1/2 cups of beef broth here.

I'm gonna add that slowly.

-Mmm.

-Scrape up all that great fond.

-Okay, I'm also gonna add that porcini soaking liquid that we had earlier because we don't want to leave behind that umami in that.

-Mm-hmm.

-Okay.

We've gotten all the fond off the bottom, and you can see the gravy is starting to come up to a simmer here.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I'm gonna return our beef to the skillet.

Nestle these pieces down into that gravy.

Also add any juices from that plate.

Okay, now that the beef is in here, we're gonna simmer this not for very long.

Three to five minutes.

What we're looking for is the beef to come up to 130 degrees.

We want to keep it medium.

We don't want to overcook this.

But also with steak tips you want to cook it past medium rare.

Those thick muscle fibers do better when they're cooked medium.

So I'm gonna cook these 130 degrees.

I'm gonna rotate them every minute or two as they simmer in there.

-Alright.

-It's been three minutes.

And let's check our beef here.

130 on the nose.

-Wow!

-Nailed it.

-Good job.

-So I'm just gonna cut that heat so it doesn't continue to overcook.

I just want to make sure we taste this for salt and pepper.

-Mm-hmm.

You did put a lot of pepper on that beef.

-Ah!

-A little more?

-You can never have enough pepper.

[ Both laugh ] A little bit more black pepper.

And just a smidgen of salt.

And I'm gonna add a tablespoon of chopped parsley for some color.

-Oh, nice.

-So I'm gonna stir this in.

Make sure we incorporate all those seasonings.

And I think it's time to eat.

-Oh, it looks gorgeous!

-It does.

So we're gonna serve these with some mashed potatoes.

-Oh, thank goodness.

-I love this with mashed potatoes.

But you can do egg noodles.

You can do boiled potatoes.

Whatever you like.

-Oh, that looks amazing.

It's the color of the gravy that just gets me.

This looks incredible, Keith.

-I know.

I can't wait to tuck into this.

-Oh!

Look at that.

Perfect medium.

-Mmm!

That's incredible!

-It is incredible, isn't it?

-Wow!

-The beef has a little bit of chew to it, but it's really nice and super, super beefy tasting.

-There are layers of flavor to the gravy, with the mushrooms and the onions, little bit of garlic, little bit of thyme.

-Yeah, just in the background.

-Mm-hmm.

-The mushrooms are the first thing that you taste... -Mm-hmm.

-...then the onions.

But then you have some background flavors of the porcini, the thyme, the garlic.

-Keith, this is incredible.

Thank you.

-I'm glad you enjoyed it.

-If you want to make this hearty, midweek steak tip dinner, marinate 1 1/2-inch pieces of steak tips with soy sauce and sugar.

Use a combination of dried porcini and fresh white mushrooms in the gravy, and finish simmering the steak in the gravy just before serving.

From "America's Test Kitchen," Keith's great recipe for steak tips with a mushroom-onion gravy.

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

Man, I can't imagine eating this without mashed potatoes.

-Celebrate 25 years of "America's Test Kitchen" and visit our website any time to access the newest season's full episodes, failproof recipes, and ingredient and equipment reviews at americastestkitchen.com/tv25.

Our "25th Anniversary Cookbook" tells the story of how "America's Test Kitchen" changed the way America cooks at home.

This collector's edition includes 500 game-changing recipes and techniques from all 25 seasons of "America's Test Kitchen."

The cost is $29.99.

That's over 30% less than the cover price of $45.

To order, head to our shop at americastestkitchen.com/25book.

"America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

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American Cruise Lines' fleet of modern riverboats travel through American landscapes to historic landmarks where you can experience local customs and cuisine.

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