June/July 2023

Cook's Country

Foolproof recipes of American home cooking and easy, weeknight meals.

Cook's Country2 min read
Cook’s Country
Editor in Chief Toni Tipton-Martin Editorial Director Bryan Roof Executive Editor Scott Kathan Executive Editor, Creative Content Morgan Bolling Deputy Food Editor Nicole Konstantinakos Deputy Editor Megan Ginsberg Senior Editors Matthew Fairman, Jes
Cook's Country3 min readDiet & Nutrition
Letter From The Editor
I PUBLISHED MY FIRST blog post on a sunny morning in 2014. I wrote it to give life to the invisible cooks behind America’s great cooking traditions. Food photography helped me deliver my message: Home cooking is marvelous cooking. Before starting, I
Cook's Country1 min read
America’s Test Kitchen®
We’ve hidden a tiny version of the rooster above in a photo in the pages of this issue. Tell us where the rooster is hiding, and we’ll enter you in a random drawing. The first correct entry drawn will win a one-year multisite web membership, and the
Cook's Country3 min read
Quick Bites:
The easiest pies to make are ice cream pies. For a crowd-pleasing yet ultra-easy pie, follow this simple formula. 1. Fill a cooled baked crust (page 33) with 2 pints of softened ice cream. 2. Cover it and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to
Cook's Country1 min readDiet & Nutrition
Searching For The Best Lemonade
IS ANYTHING MORE refreshing than cold lemonade on a hot summer day? To find the best options, we compared eight refrigerated lemonades, which we prefer to shelf-stable lemonades. Each taster noted when a lemonade had the perfect balance of sweetness
Cook's Country4 min readDiet & Nutrition
Ahi-Chile Tostadas
MARISCOS GERMAN BEYER anchors the back end of the narrow parking lot next to San Ysidro Liquor just off Beyer Boulevard, about 20 minutes from downtown San Diego. The white and blue food truck trades heavily in savory fish tacos, lime-soused aguachil
Cook's Country2 min read
Corn Salad with Herby Buttermilk Dressing
IN THE SUMMER, corn is plentiful, affordable, and at its best. While there’s no denying a hot buttered ear is delicious, there are more ways to highlight this summer darling, such as in this simple salad. Here, sweet corn is tossed with a creamy butt
Cook's Country3 min read
Spiced Melon Salad
CHUNKS OF SWEET, juicy melon draped with paper-thin slices of salty prosciutto is a classic combination. Traditionalists might see no need to mess with such a storied pairing, but we wanted to play with these ingredients in a fresh, creative, and—mos
Cook's Country4 min read
Taco Rice
AT FIRST GLANCE, Okinawa, a subtropical island prefecture in the south of Japan, might seem like a surprising place to find restaurants specializing in Tex-Mex–Asian fusion. But taco rice (or takoraisu in Japan) is an immensely popular fast food in t
Cook's Country3 min read
Pomegranate-Glazed Lamb Chops
LAMB CAN BE the perfect party food. It is a deeply flavorful meat that takes well to all types of seasonings and sauces, and its star shines bright in both formal and informal settings. And something about it just feels festive. The inspiration for t
Cook's Country2 min read
Burrata Salad with Tomato Dressing
AT FIRST GLANCE, burrata looks like a ball of fresh mozzarella, but when you slice into an orb of this cushy cheese, you discover the most sublime combination of finely shredded fresh cheese curds(known as stracciatella) and cream. All you really nee
Cook's Country2 min read
Garlic Scape Pesto
IN LATE SPRING, garlic scapes—the long, sinuous flower stems that sprout from hardneck garlic plants—appear in large, tangled mounds at farmers’ markets and in the produce aisles of many supermarkets. (Farmers remove the edible scapes from garlic pla
Cook's Country3 min read
Zucchini Chips
MANY GREEK AMERICAN restaurants and cafés serve up light, crispy, delicious rounds of fried zucchini. Different from breaded zucchini, these thin slices are lightly battered and fried to achieve their ethereal texture—the chips almost dissolve on the
Cook's Country3 min read
Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies
THESE RED VELVET cookies are inspired by the cookies that our editor in chief, Toni Tipton-Martin, received as a gift from baker and chef Adrian Lipscombe at Uptowne Cafe and Bakery in Wisconsin (which has since closed). These memorable treats made a
Cook's Country4 min read
Interview With Adrian Lipscombe
My first impression of these cookies was delight at how big they are. Why did you decide to make them this size? I love large cookies. It’s appealing to the eye but also never-ending. I come from a large family and sharing is something we are used to
Cook's Country2 min read
Grilled Mussels
SOMETIMES WHEN you’re staring down a stretch of warm, sunny weather, the best play is to prep a few recipes for grilling, put out a cooler of drinks, and spend the afternoon outside with family and friends, grazing on food, sipping wine, playing game
Cook's Country7 min read
Dinner Tonight
DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 1 ¼ HOURS DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 1¼ HOURS DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 1 HOUR DINNER TONIGHT / SERVES 4 / 3O MINUTES Our favorite supermarket barbecue sauce is Bull’s-Eye Original BBQ Sauce. Rinsing the red onion tames
Cook's Country2 min read
Seared Figs with Honey
IF YOU’RE LUCKY, you might start seeing fresh figs in stores or at farmers’ markets at the end of May and keep seeing them as late as November. And when they’re plump and juicy and firm, it’s hard to want to do anything other than just pop them into
Cook's Country3 min read
Getting To Know Air Frying
The food basket is enclosed in the appliance, so there’s no splatter on your counter, stovetop, or oven. And the baskets are easy to clean (most are dishwasher-safe). Most foods cooked in air fryers require minimal monitoring, and most models have an
Cook's Country1 min read
Plum Reviver
THE CORPSE REVIVER No. 2 belongs to a family of pre‑Prohibition cocktails that were thought of as hangover cures, figuratively meant to wake the dead. Typically made with equal parts gin and Lillet Blanc (a French aperitif), orange liqueur, fresh lem
Cook's Country4 min read
S’mores Pie
A S’MORE IS A sticky, messy, sweet trifecta of crunchy graham crackers, melted milk chocolate, and a gooey marshmallow toasted to your desired level of char. It’s nostalgic and fun, the kind of treat you eat gathered around a campfire, marshmallow-to
Cook's Country8 min read
All-American Hot Dogs
“BASEBALL, HOT DOGS, apple pie, and Chevrolet” was the chorus to an earworm TV ad from the 1970s touting quintessential symbols of American culture. And while our definitions of Americana may have expanded over the years, hot dogs’ iconic status rema
Cook's Country2 min readDiet & Nutrition
Stone Fruit Shrub Syrup
AT ITS MOST basic, a shrub is a sweet-tart combination of fruit juice, sugar, and vinegar. Predating the invention of refrigeration, shrubs were popular in early America as a way to extend the life of freshly picked fruit. Today (well past the time o
Cook's Country5 min read
Homemade Bacon
PEOPLE THINK CURING your own bacon is hard. But all it really takes is ordering ingredients, rubbing the pork belly with the cure (and waiting), and then smoking it. It costs way less than artisanal bacon and you can control exactly what you put on i
Cook's Country1 min read
Peach-Basil Vodka Spritzer
VODKA SODA IS a good, standard bar order. But with just two components (vodka and soda water), it’s admittedly not the most exciting. Adding a peach shrub syrup is the perfect way to spruce it up. The shrub syrup lends a little fruitiness to an alrea
Cook's Country2 min read
Refrigerator Pickled Okra
PICKLED OKRA IS a crispy, tangy snack, perfect for eating on its own, adding to a cheese board, or even garnishing a bloody Mary. Making your own refrigerator pickled okra is as simple as trimming the stems on the okra pods, strategically packing the
Cook's Country4 min read
Sherry-Braised Chicken
WITH A DUO of powerhouse ingredients—Spanish dry-cured chorizo and complex, aromatic sherry—and a simple, one-skillet method, this recipe requires minimal effort and results in maximum flavor. The first step of the recipe is key. Sizzling chorizo and
Cook's Country5 min read
All About Charcoal
IN THE UNITED STATES, there are two main types of charcoal: lump (aka hardwood) and briquettes. Lump resembles the wood it comes from. Briquettes are compact pucks made from sawdust and other materials. The process for making both is mostly the same.
Cook's Country1 min read
Poppy Seed Hot Dog Buns
Serves 4 Total Time: 25 Minutes These buns are an essential component of Chicago-Style Hot Dogs on page 31. 4 hot dog buns1 large egg, lightly beaten1 teaspoon poppy seeds 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange b
Cook's Country1 min read
Coming Next Issue
Our August/September 2023 issue is packed with summer recipes. Get ready to fire up your grill for Grilled Tri-Tip with Cilantro-Lime Sauce and the Ultimate Grilled Vegetable Sandwich. Serve our creamy, cheesy Cast-Iron Skillet Corn Dip at your next
Cook's Country1 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
Hungry For More Content?
What Cook’s Country recipes are you cooking at home? Post them on Instagram with the hashtag #CooksCountry. Find us on Facebook facebook.com/CooksCountry Find us on Instagram instagram.com/CooksCountry Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/TestKitchen
Cook's Country1 min read
Portraits Of The People Who Feed Us
ALEX BURROLA tends an outdoor grill at Asaderos Los Mezquites, a restaurant on the San Xavier Indian Reservation, near Tucson, Arizona. Read our collection of On the Road articles online at CooksCountry.com/OTR. ■

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