♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Welcome to "America's Test Kitchen" at home.

Today, I'm frying a batch of super-crisp karaage, Jack's going to tell us all about shopping for soba noodles, Lisa discusses her favorite strainers and drainers, and Becky's making chilled soba noodles with cucumber, snow peas, and radishes.

We've got a lot in store today, so stick around.

♪♪ -If I had to choose my favorite type of fried chicken, that's pretty hard to do, but I would say that karaage is right up there.

It's a really great fried chicken that comes from Japan, and it ticks all the marks -- crispy exterior, juicy interior, and it's easy to make.

So I'm going to make it for you now.

And we're starting off with a marinade.

Now, it's a pretty traditional marinade that we're using here, but it's got some potent ingredients, and it's going to flavor the meat very quickly.

Alright.

So, first of all, fresh ginger.

We're using fresh ginger root here.

Now, there's a few different ways that you can peel ginger.

You can peel it with the side of a spoon, or you can use a vegetable peeler.

Now, a lot of people don't like to use a knife to peel away the peel because they say it's wasteful, but it really isn't.

I'm going to show you.

So, I'm going to cut off a little bit here, and I'll cut this off, too, so I have a nice, flat surface, and I'm just going to use my knife and go around.

And it looks like I'm cutting away huge amounts of the peel, but that's okay, because it's only a waste if you're not going to use it again.

I keep these things in a zipper-lock bag in my freezer, and it goes into rice or stocks or soups.

Now, to grate this, I'm going to use a rasp-style grater, because it really does a great job of turning this into a pulp and quick.

And I need 1 tablespoon.

Alright.

You can see the juice coming out there, too.

That's a good sign.

See if that's close.

So, that looks like a tablespoon.

In that goes.

Now, also going to add some garlic.

And I'm kind of lazy.

So what I like to do is buy garlic in bulk that's already peeled, and I put it in a zipper-lock bag, and I keep this in my freezer.

I just bring a couple of cloves out so that they can soften a little bit.

And then since these are frozen, they actually grate beautifully on that same rasp grater.

Of course, you could always use a garlic press or mince it yourself.

Two garlic cloves in with the ginger.

So, for our other ingredients, I've got some soy sauce here.

This is just regular soy sauce, and I need 3 tablespoons.

So, packed with sodium but packed with those glutamates.

So this is what really makes this flavorful and also helps to season the meat quite quickly.

And I'm using sake.

Now, sake is a fermented beverage.

It's made from polished white rice, and it's got a light, almost herbal flavor that we love here.

I'm using 2 tablespoons.

But if you don't want to use sake, you can actually use vermouth.

I've got 3/4 teaspoon of sugar.

That's a 1/2, and then a half of 1/2.

That would be 1/4.

And 1/8 teaspoon of table salt.

So, let me whisk all this together.

I'm going to put this aside for a moment while we work on our chicken.

Now, traditionally, bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are used, but we're using boneless, skinless, because it's a whole lot easier than having to remove the bone from a bunch of chicken thighs.

So, I've got here 1 1/2 pounds of chicken thighs, and we do need to do a little bit of work, just some trimming.

So take one of these here.

Good to have a very sharp knife.

You can also use kitchen shears for this.

And I just want to get rid of any of this fat that's on here, because it really won't render.

It's a very quick cooking time, and that fat will stay underneath the coating, and we don't want that.

And then once most of the chicken has been trimmed, we're just going to cut it into strips somewhere between 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches wide.

And that's going to give us even more of that beautiful coating.

Alright, so, I'll continue to trim these chicken thighs and then cut them into strips.

Alright, so, all of this chicken goes in.

Alright.

I'll just toss this, make sure everything's coated, and we're going to let this marinate for 30 minutes.

♪♪ Arguably, the best part of this chicken is its super-crisp coating.

Now, there are a couple of different things that are used for the coating.

Most often used is potato starch, but that can be a little difficult to find in some markets.

Now, an alternate that's often used is cornstarch, and that's what I'm going to use today.

For now, all I need to do is measure 1 1/4 cups of cornstarch.

There we go.

Now I'm going to dip the chicken one piece at a time from the marinade right into the cornstarch.

And it can get a little tricky and a little bit messy, so I'm going to do my best to stay nice and neat.

This hand is marinade hand.

This hand is cornstarch hand.

Now, I've also lined a rimmed baking sheet with some parchment paper, 'cause this is where I'm going to place the chicken after they are coated.

So, you take a piece, and we let any of that marinade kind of drip back down there.

I'll plop it right into my cornstarch.

Then I'll use this hand to coat it, make sure it's well coated, and then I do want to shake off any excess.

So there we go.

Alright, so, I'm going to continue to dredge these in cornstarch.

Then after that, I'm going to let all of the pieces sit for a little bit.

That way, the cornstarch can fully hydrate.

And during that time, while the pieces are hydrating, I'm going to heat a quart of vegetable oil up to 325 degrees.

I'll do that over medium-high heat.

We're about ready to fry.

The oil temperature is almost up to 325.

But I wanted to give you a look at this coating.

You can see where it's changed color.

I coated these first, and you can see they're almost completely brown.

These were the ones that I coated at the end.

They still have quite a few white patches.

But I did save some of this marinade, because we want to take the back of a spoon and just add a little bit of the marinade to any of these dry, white patches.

We want them to gel up completely.

Oil is up to 325.

It's time to fry.

I'm only going to fry half of these at a time, and I'm going to use tongs to lower them in one piece at a time.

A nice single layer there.

Alright, that looks great.

Now, these don't take a lot of time to cook.

Only about 4 to 5 minutes until they're cooked through, and they'll change and become a beautiful browned color, and that's how we're going to know that they're done.

The pieces are so small, we don't even need to use an instant read thermometer to check the interior temp.

So I'm going to keep an eye on this, set my timer for about 4 minutes, and then we'll move on.

[ Sizzling ] That's a good sound, sound of bubbling meat and fat.

Oh, yeah.

Alright, but this looks pretty good to me.

You can see that they've got a gorgeous brown crust.

Let them drain for a moment, and then I'm going to put them on a wire rack here that I've lined with some paper towels just to finish draining.

Oh, yeah.

So now I'm going to allow that oil to come back up to 325 before I fry the remaining batch of chicken.

Oh, I think the second batch might be my favorite.

Look how beautiful these are.

Let's get these out.

And that was 8 minutes total frying time for these.

Great.

We'll give that second batch just a moment to drain, but I'll go ahead and start plattering the first batch.

Now, this chicken needs nothing at all, no adornment, but here's a couple of options.

Now, lemon is a perfect option.

It's quite traditional, because that burst of acidity is great for cutting through any kind of fatty foods.

I'm torn because I wish you were here, but then that would mean I would have to share.

I'm going to be greedy and tuck in right away.

And I could break out the knife and fork, but come on.

It's fried chicken.

Chicken thighs were made for this.

Meaty, and then, that marinade makes them so juicy.

But it's that crispy and hot coating on the outside.

Mmm.

It shatters when you bite into it.

It was just cornstarch on the exterior, but when you think about it, it really wasn't.

It was cornstarch mixed with that marinade, and that marinade had tons of flavor in it.

So every single bite is just a big burst of flavor.

It's not often when something so easy is so delicious.

You're going to want to make this, too.

And remember, the keys are to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs and moisten any patches of dry coating before frying.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen" at home, the unbeatable, super-crisp, and juicy karaage.

♪♪ Delicious.

♪♪ -I've never met a noodle that I didn't love, and that includes soba noodles.

Traditionally, soba noodles are made with just two ingredients, buckwheat flour and water.

And despite the name buckwheat, it's not related to wheat at all.

It's actually related to sorrel and rhubarb in a family called pseudo-cereals.

That is one odd family reunion.

But to get back to the point, because buckwheat is not a member of the wheat family, it doesn't form gluten when the flour is mixed with water.

And so, therefore, you don't get that springy, noodle-like texture that you get with wheat noodles.

It makes the noodles more difficult to cook.

So you have to really stir gently, 'cause they can fall apart.

So, traditional 100% whole buckwheat noodles have a dark color.

You see these are the darkest ones on the board.

That indicates that they've got more buckwheat flour.

Also means they're going to have more buckwheat flavor.

So all those roasted, earthy, toasted notes, you're going to find them in 100% buckwheat flour pasta.

At the opposite end, this brand only has 30% buckwheat flour.

You can see the noodles are quite light.

And frankly, for a lot of our tasters, we felt like this brand in particular was just a little too mild.

It really wasn't enough buckwheat to really feel like you were having soba noodles.

In the middle is the brand that has the moderate amount.

So this is 80% buckwheat and 20% wheat flour.

See the color is somewhere in between.

We felt like it had a really nice flavor, and so you got that woodsy note that you expect, those earthy notes.

But it also was a little easier to cook, less likely to fall apart or turn mushy if you just slightly overcooked it.

So remember, buckwheat is your friend, and as usual, the middle choice is the best choice.

♪♪ -Whether you're draining pasta, rinsing rice, scooping out fried food, or making a cocktail, we've got the right strainer for every job.

First, our favorite colander for pasta.

This is the RSVP Endurance colander.

And this thing is a game-changer.

It has little, tiny holes all over so it drains instantly, a nice, tall base so everything is up off the bottom of the sink and nothing can wash back in.

It's got a nice, wide diameter here, so it's an easy target for pouring, and the sides are high enough so nothing washes up and over, but not so high that it's hard to pour.

It's made of stainless steel, so it's rust-free.

It's nice and sturdy.

It's lightweight.

The handles stay cool.

And all in all, this RSVP Endurance colander is a "Test Kitchen" classic.

Next, our favorite fine mesh strainer.

It's perfect for rinsing rice before cooking or to wash or drain a few vegetables, to strain sauces, sift flour, even sprinkle some confectioners' sugar.

This is our favorite by Rosle, and it's nice and sturdy, so it's not going to bend out of shape or snap or rust.

The mesh really drains and strains thoroughly.

It's easy to clean, and we really love these little hooks on the handle, so you can just prop it up on the bowl or a pan.

It's a little bit pricy, but you're never going to have to replace it.

Next, when we're deep frying or blanching or boiling, we really love using a spider skimmer.

Now, a spider holds more than a slotted spoon, and that wide cage really makes it easy to catch food and drain it fast.

Our favorite tea strainer by Finum is terrific.

It gives tea leaves plenty of room to expand and infuse, and it has a very fine mesh, so it catches any little, tiny particles, and it drains fully.

This really simple shape is so easy to fill and to clean, and it slides right into mugs or teapots.

And finally, our favorite Hawthorne strainer by Cocktail Kingdom.

This helps you hold back ice or ingredients like fresh mint or lemon after you mix drinks.

It lets you control the fineness of the strainer, and it's really comfortable and easy to use, so you get professional results.

With each of these tools, you're ready to drain anything.

Cheers.

♪♪ -Hearty soba noodles are a staple of Japanese cooking, and I'm going to be using them in a cold salad today with lots of fresh veggies and a super flavorful dressing.

So, when you're shopping for soba noodles for this recipe, it's good to look for a brand that lists some wheat flour along with the buckwheat flour in the noodles.

That's because the wheat flour helps to temper the bitterness of the buckwheat a little bit, and the gluten that the wheat provides also helps to make the noodles a little bit springy, which is really nice.

So we need 8 ounces of the noodles, and this is an 8.8 ounce package.

Don't tell anybody, but I'm just going to eyeball it a little bit here.

We're going to use almost the whole package.

I have 4 quarts of water already boiling here, and you'll notice that I'm not adding any salt to the water.

That's because most brands of soba are already salted, and we're also going to be combining them with a really flavorful dressing, so no salt needed.

These take about 5 minutes, but you want to keep a close eye on them.

So, into the pot, and I'm going to set my timer.

[ Timer beeps ] So, while the soba cooks, I'm going to move on to some nori.

Now, nori is a seaweed, and it adds a really nice, briny, umami flavor to the salad, also a little bit of crisp texture.

I'm going to toast mine up over a gas flame.

You can also buy pre-toasted seaweed snacks.

Those work great here, and then you can skip this toasting step.

But I like to do it over a gas flame.

You can see it's a little bit floppy and chewy now.

We're going to toast it just to crisp it up a little bit, and it'll enhance its flavor a little bit, too.

So, I just have a low flame here.

You'll see it start to shrink up a little bit.

See how it's changing color a little bit?

That's exactly what we want.

Ooh, there we go.

Okay, I didn't catch it on fire.

[ Laughs ] Alright, so I'm going to come back over here, and we're going to cut up the nori.

You can see already that it got nice and crisp.

So, I'm just going to cut it into strips, here.

Wow.

[ Chuckles ] Extremely crisp.

Now I'm going to cut them crosswise to make nice, thin, little crispy bits to go throughout the salad.

Alright, so, the nori's ready to go.

I'm going to go back and check the noodles.

They have about 30 seconds, but I'm going to give them a quick test here.

Mmm.

Okay, perfect.

Those taste great.

They're earthy.

They're nutty.

They have a ton of personality, and they're going to be really nice in my salad.

So I'm going to take them over to the sink and drain them.

This is a really important step.

I'm going to rinse the noodles in lots of cold water.

This is going to remove all the starch that coats the noodles.

If I left that on, the noodles would clump in the salad.

But I want to chill them down here, and I want to rinse off all that starch.

We need a sweet and savory dressing to complement the earthy noodles, so I have a bunch of tasty ingredients here, and we'll start with some fresh ginger.

I'm going to just cut that gnarly end off.

And then, to peel ginger, use a teaspoon.

And that way, the only thing that comes off is that papery skin, and you don't lose any of the flesh.

Okay, so we just need 1 teaspoon of that.

Alright, teaspoon into my bowl.

So, lots of flavorful ingredients are going into this dressing.

We're going to start with a tablespoon of water.

That's just going to help mellow it out a little bit.

We don't want it to be too strong.

Next up is mirin.

It's a Japanese rice wine.

And you can find this in Asian markets or even in the Asian section of your supermarket.

So, we need 3 tablespoons of the mirin.

My mom got me this measuring cup, and I love it.

I use it all the time.

It has measurements for tablespoons.

It will hold up to 4 tablespoons.

So it's perfect for recipes like this when you're doing multiple liquid ingredients.

So, in goes the mirin.

And next up, we have toasted sesame oil, and that adds a really nice, nutty taste.

We need 2 tablespoons of that.

Put that in.

And then, miso is really important to this dressing.

It adds sweetness, it adds some umami, and it also adds really nice body to the dressing.

And that's important because we want a thick dressing that's going to cling nicely to the noodles, and the miso really helps to deliver that.

Actually, I think I'm going to use my little, cute, little measuring cup again to get 3 tablespoons of that.

And this is white miso, but you could use yellow, brown, or red.

Any of them will work.

Okay, so, that's 3 tablespoons.

And then we have a tablespoon of sesame seeds.

That will just add a little bit of crunch and sort of echo the sesame oil that we already added.

A tablespoon of those, and then some pepper flakes, a 1/2 teaspoon.

You can certainly use less.

Okay.

Now we're just going to whisk that up.

I guess this is my day for tiny, little -- tiny, little tools, my little, tiny measuring cup and my little, tiny whisk that I absolutely love.

If I had a big whisk for this job, it would be a little bit bulky.

But for this little dressing, it's perfect, and it's fun to use.

I'm just going to blend that up.

You really want to blend in that miso.

It's time to put the salad together.

So, I have my soba noodles that are all drained now, and they're nice and cool because I rinsed them in cold water.

And you can see they're not sticking at all, which is exactly what I wanted.

And now we have our miso dressing, so we'll add that in.

Okay.

Toss that together.

Alright.

Looks great.

Smells great.

We'll set those aside, and now I will prep all the veggies.

Let's start with cucumber.

So, this is an English cucumber.

We're going to use about 1/3 of it.

So I'd say that's about 1/3.

I am going to quarter the cuke.

We like English cucumbers.

They have a nice thin skin, so you don't need to take the skin off.

Just going to use a teaspoon, scrape out the seeds.

The seeds will water down the dressing.

Okay, so, there's our cukes, and I'm going to slice these thin on the bias like this.

So, I'm slicing all of the vegetables strategically today.

I have a different cut for each one.

I want the veggies to tangle up in the noodles versus falling towards the bottom of the bowl.

So for the cukes, these nice, thin, long strips work really well.

Okay, there's our cukes.

And now I have four radishes, and these will add a nice, peppery bite to the salad.

Just going to trim off their ends here.

Okay, so, I'm going to cut my radishes in half and then into nice, little, thin slices to make half-moon shapes.

Nice, little shape, and nice color, too.

I mean, radish is such a beautiful color.

I would wear a radish-colored shirt if I could find one.

Okay, there's our radishes.

And now I have 4 ounces of snow peas.

And first, you want to take the string off of the snow peas.

Not all of them have a string, but you can just pull off the little tip here and pull down the string.

Okay, now, for the snow peas, we chose to do matchstick cuts, so I'm going to stack some of them up vertically like this and then just cut them straight down.

And so that gives you this nice, long shape that will tangle with the noodles.

Okay, and finally, I have three scallions that'll add a nice, mild, oniony taste to the dressing.

So I'm just going to cut off the ends here.

And these, I'm going to cut on the bias into thin strips.

Want to do a couple at a time.

So, we're using the white and the green part of the onion.

Alright, so, there's all our veggies.

Time to mix up the salad.

So, I'll take my dressed noodles here, and I'll put in all these beautiful veggies on top.

So pretty.

And our nori strips that we toasted up earlier.

Put those in.

If I was serving this, I would probably bring it to the table with all the veggies on top and then kind of toss it at the table -- Kind of dramatic way to serve it.

And you can see all those veggies, all those different cuts are getting tangled in the noodles as I toss here.

Mmm.

I think that is ready to go.

So I'm going to put it on a platter here.

Alright, that is a pretty good-looking salad, if I do say so myself.

I love that earthy, brown color of the soba noodles and then, all the beautiful vegetables.

It looks healthy and delicious and just what I want to have for lunch.

I'm going to dig in here.

Alright, there's no delicate way to do it.

I'm just going to dive in.

Mmm.

That is really good.

The dressing is savory and sweet from the miso.

You can taste the sesame oil and the sesame seeds.

It's subtle.

It's refreshing.

Delicious.

I really hope you'll make this salad.

And if you do, remember you want to rinse the noodles really well so that they don't clump.

You want to make a nice, thick, flavorful dressing that'll cling to the noodles, and you want to chop up those veggies in different shapes so they tangle up inside the salad.

So from "America's Test Kitchen" at home, one of my favorite recipes, chilled soba noodle salad.