How to Make Herb-Crusted Pork Roast and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

[Music] um [Music] today on america's test kitchen becky shows bridget how to make the perfect herb-crusted pork roast adam reveals his top pick for potholders dan uncovers the science of bubbly beverages lisa reviews glass water bottles and al makes julia roasted fingerling potatoes right here on america's test kitchen [Music] pork loin is like the blank canvas of the meat world at least it tastes like one and that is unless you do something serious to that notoriously lean cut of meat but lucky for us becky's here and she's going to show us something special to do with pork loin that's right i have a center cut pork loin and it's sort of the poster child of the other white meat camp's true it's got a compact uniform shape it's attractive it makes really nice slices but it's a little bit on the lean side it needs some adornment right it's utilitarian not necessarily celebratory let's change that we are going to change that and we're going to start by brining the meat okay so let's make a brine we have a half a cup of table salt into two quarts of water and a quarter cup of sugar so we'll just stir that until it dissolves here sugar is a great way not only to add flavor but it's also going to help later on with browning okay that's looking pretty good so here's our pork roast it's a two and a half to three pound center cut okay pork roast and you'll see this has a really nice fat cap on beautiful and we don't definitely don't want to take that off that fat tastes good right right so i am going to score it though i'm going to make some incisions here a quarter inch apart trying just to go in the fat and not to hit too much of the meat this is going to help the herb paste that we'll be adding later it'll give that something to cling to nice it'll also make the meat a little bit easier to brine it'll brine up a little bit more quickly we like that i do okay now i'm just going to go the other direction quarter inch apart again little diamond cross hatching you got it okay so we're just about done with our cross hatching here and now i'm going to create a pocket in this roast we're going to make an herb paste and we're going to put that herb paste inside the roast so that every bite gets some of that yummy goodness i'm going to start a half an inch from the end of the roast here i'm going to stick my knife in and you're going right into the center too yep i don't want to cut through this side but i want to go as deep as i can okay so i'm just using short strokes here to create this pocket all right that looks pretty good so we're going to be able to put a nice amount of our herb paste in there all right let's put our pork in to our brine now if you happen to find enhanced pork that's pork that's been injected with a salt water solution you don't want to brine it because then it'll turn out too salty okay and you'll know it's been enhanced because it'll say so right on the label it'll talk about the salt so if you buy that just skip this step and you can just season the meat right before you brown it okay so if you don't mind since my hands are all full of pork we'll put that in the fridge for an hour and then we'll make sure to pat it dry when it comes out of the fridge all right now let's get going and really start some nice flavorings for the pork you weren't kidding you're doing some jujin here i have some plans here excellent okay we're gonna start by making a nice bread crumb crust that's gonna add a little bit of texture and a little bit of flavor to the outside of the pork so i have one slice of white bread we'll put this in the food processor and we just want to pulse this up until it's ground up that'll be about 16 pulses okay all right that looks good we'll take those out so you should have about one cup of crumbs okay so now let's flavor this up a little bit okay a tablespoon of olive oil that'll help it brown extra virgin yes okay two tablespoons of parmesan cheese and here's one shallot that i minced and that's about three tablespoons and then an eighth of a teaspoon each of salt and pepper now just use a little fork here mix that up just want to get that oil distributed smells good already so there is our bread breadcrumb topping okay now let's make our herb paste all right let's start with a third of a cup of parsley you could also use basil what we're doing is we're using a good amount of a tender sort of mild herb and then we're gonna really bump things up with some potent stuff and now two tablespoons of fresh thyme that smells so good it's an herb paste mmm it's kind of citrusy i love that smell so good and then we have a teaspoon of fresh rosemary you could also use a half teaspoon of dried rosemary if you want but you don't want to use dried thyme when we tried that and made the spice paste taste kind of dry and dusty and good definitely go for the fresh then we have six tablespoons of parmesan cheese okay three tablespoons of olive oil there's one clove of garlic minced up and an eighth of a teaspoon each of salt and pepper so then we'll just pulse this up in the food processor until it's nice and smooth that'll be about 12 pulses okay that looks nice and smooth and it smells amazing oh my gosh oh wow so good right all those herbs if this doesn't do anything to the pork loin nothing can oh so fresh yeah super fresh i love that rosemary yes all right now let's put this all together okay here's our pork roast nice and dry now i'm going to measure out a quarter cup of this paste okay now i'm just going to stuff that pocket that we made earlier we're just going to get right in there i'm probably going to use my fingers you want to get it all the way back into the meat all right so we'll just push that in there and what's nice about this is it's not a big bulky stuffing it's just a really really potent paste so you're not going to risk all of that tumbling out later on that's right it's going to give you a lot of bang for your buck all right so our pork is stuffed and now we're going to tie it up so that when we brown it we hold all that paste inside the meat okay i just have some kitchen twine here and we'll just tie it at about one and a half inch intervals and even if you're not stuffing a pork loin with anything it's a good idea to tie it up before you cook it pork loins tenderloins beef tenderloins all of these kind of cylindrical shapes they'll cook much more evenly if you tie it before browning and cooking all right so this is looking good here and i'll just give this a little trim here gotcha get rid of some of the ends okay so i have two teaspoons of olive oil heating up over medium-high heat here we're going to use that pan to brown the pork okay but in the meantime i'm going to season the roast with a half teaspoon of pepper it doesn't need any salt because it was brine that's right unless we were using the enhanced pork in that case we would use one and a quarter teaspoons of salt okay at this point let's get the underside here there's so much flavor going into and onto this pork it doesn't stand a chance so good it will relent to the good flavors that's right it has no choice that's right okay so we're seeing some shimmering happening put the pork in fat side down that's the part that's going to get the most browning okay oh that's good okay that means our pan was hot enough if you didn't hear that sizzle take it out and try it again yeah so this will take about 10 minutes to brown on all sides all right all right so we're getting there it's been about seven or eight minutes and we just have one more side to brown jeez look what brown can do for you oh doesn't look gorgeous it's stunning yeah and you see it stayed nice and compact with the tying that we did and you can't see that herb paste anymore but we have that secret that it's in there so okay it's gonna be good stuff it's been about 10 minutes i think we're looking good here oh yeah that looks beautiful that's beautiful so i'm putting the pork on a wire rack on a baking sheet that's lined with aluminum foil now i'm just going to snip off that twine we just needed that while we were browning it all right there's the last one so here's the rest of the herb paste remember i used a quarter cup and now we have some left over we're going to spread that on top of the fat cap and that has the parmesan cheese in it to attach all those bread crumbs when it hits the hot pork their aromas start to come out right okay that's yeah that smells amazing okay all right and here's our bread crumbs we're just going to pack this on top we're going to just press it on there to make a nice crumb crust oh yeah you're turning this into something very special yeah this is for company i hope i'm company of course you want to come over yes exactly you know we're having you know it's going to be good okay so this is ready to go we're going to put it in a 325 degree oven for 50 to 75 minutes until it hits 140 degrees okay all right so it's been about an hour let's grab the roast oh doesn't that look pretty uh yes it looks incredibly beautiful i'm following the aroma oh my gosh so good let's take a check here the temperature we're looking for 140 degrees and there it is nailed it nice okay so this needs to rest for 20 minutes you just need to hold on 20 more minutes hands off very crispy on the top yeah i know right i know i want to touch it too all right 20 minutes and then we'll dive in okay all right so it's been 20 minutes you're inhaling it you're taking it all in i am and i know i had to wait but it really especially for something like pork roast that's so lean you want to let it rest for a good 20 minutes so all those juices can be reabsorbed by the meat and i promise it's still nice and hot okay good so i'm going to carve this into about half inch slices okay oh wow isn't that gorgeous that's kind of amazing you want to be a little bit careful when you carve it you don't want all that herb paste to go gushing out so just take your time i mean i know that you put parmesan cheese in there as acting kind of like a glue yeah but i have expected to all squish out i should have had faith in you oh you can see it's juicy too see all the juices wow so good okay smells amazing all right take a look at that juicy i mean it's super juicy yeah it really is you can see all the juices can you hear me crunching that first bite was delicious and even though i got a little bit of that herb paste you can actually taste the pork too yeah the pork has a really nice flavor it's nicely seasoned it's beautifully juicy it's really juicy and we have just the right amount of those potent herbs the rosemary and the thyme and then all the parsley to give it some bulk pork loin that's beautiful and juicy and fully flavored whoever said it couldn't be done they didn't know that you were around that's right i did it meat who knew becky didn't eat exactly yay becky well there you go if you want the best dressed up roast pork that's really easy to do score the fat cap on a pork loin create a pocket and then brine it create a crumb topping with bread crumbs parmesan and shallot and an herb paste with parsley garlic and olive oil spread the paste inside the pocket tie it all up and then brown that roast all over remove the twine coat the top with more herb taste and crumb mixture and then roast it slice it and serve so from america's test kitchen to your kitchen a fabulous company ready herb crusted pork roast so i'm coming over on monday and tuesday okay i know just what to make and wednesday thursday let's not go overboard [Music] i've known a few macho cooks who think that potholders are for wimps and in fact i remember years ago adam i don't know if you remember we were at a dinner party and adam slid a pair of contraband pot holders to the spouse of one of these macho cooks you know i have some pretty tough kitchen hands but i believe in potholders me too you know you do not want to trifle with protecting yourself against painful burns and screaming hot pots and we are here to tell you which pot holders to slide to your friend the next time or slide into your own potholder drawer we tested nine different sets of potholders the price range was seven dollars up to sixty dollars for a pair and there were a few different materials involved down there we have just plain old cotton next to it we have silicone coated the red one is nomex with kevlar the yellow one is suede this one has silicone dots this one is just neoprene that's cool rubber believe it or not there was a lot of testing involved testers included people with more and less kitchen experience different sized hands and what we had them do is maneuver bakeware into around and out of the oven that included cake pans pie plates and cookie sheets they also use the pot holders to carry a really heavy cast iron dutch oven filled with four quarts of simmering water they use them to pull a skillet with a four pound roast chicken out of the oven and they also held on to cast iron pans that had been heated to 350 degrees for as long as they could durability and appearance is always an issue so we tested that by staining each of these with marinara sauce that had been spiked with turmeric oh my goodness and then washing it five times and inspecting them for any lingering stains so as you can imagine some of these protected their hands against heat some didn't two that were not great were this one here oh and the green one down at the very end old standard you know they were okay for bakeware with thinner rims not great for heavier cookware testers wanted to get a more complete idea of what was going on sort of technically speaking and so what they did was they rigged each potholder with thermocouples they put them in where the user's hand would go they put a 350 degree cast iron skillet on each one and use temperature tracking software to chart the temperature rise oh wow and it was interesting it mirrored the kitchen experience perfectly so these three and that red one down by you did a great job protecting hands against heat in fact the temperature rise was only up to about 85 to 95 degrees whereas the worst performers in the group the temperature rose to 163 degrees oh that's a hot hand that was a seriously hot hand but it didn't have to do with material what it had to do with was the thickness of the potholder which makes sense testers found that if they were about 4.4 millimeters or thicker there was good heat protection however there was also a problem because the thicker it is the less maneuverable it is absolutely for instance that guy is 9.3 millimeters thick it's a little mitt like i wouldn't be able to grab a handle very securely if you're pulling a cake out of the oven or a pie with delicate edges and you're using that you might just end up denting it by accident because it's not as maneuverable as it should be in the end there were two winners the overall winner is this guy this is the oxo good grip silicone pot holder 28 for a set of two it's a pocket style so you have silicone on one side you have fabric on the other and you can slide your hand in like so great heat protection one caveat it did not bounce back from our durability test both the silicone and the fabric remain stained after all those washings so it's how it looks not how it performs exactly the performance was great it just looked a little stained if you are not a pocket kind of girl i'm not a pocket if you're just a plain square kind of girl this neoprene number here is the san jamar ulti grips hot pad 18 for a set of two looked great after the testing and it doesn't have that pocket so there you go if you're in the market for a new set of pot holders check out the oxo good grips silicone pot holder which is about 28 for two or the san jamar ulti grips hot pad which is about 18 for two this bottle of champagne has been sitting in an ice bucket it registers about 32 degrees now i'm not opening it to celebrate but actually to prove a point now joe here is also opening a bottle of champagne but his has been sitting in a 93 degree water bath so here's the thing all of these champagne bottles contain the same amount of carbon dioxide but temperature and pressure affect how much of that gas can be dissolved in the wine warm liquids can't hold on to nearly as much gas as cold ones so when the bottles are opened and the pressure is released the warmer ones contain a lot more undissolved gas which expands instantaneously propelling the champagne all over gel thanks joe meanwhile in this nice cold champagne the co2 stays right where we want it in the wine so you can use this information in two ways when making your own seltzer water at home always start with the coldest water possible for the bubbliest beverage and when it comes time to open any carbonated beverage you want to get those bottles as cold as possible or prepare to get wet [Music] glass water bottles are popular because they keep water tasting good and some people want alternatives to plastic or metal we tested six priced from about eight to thirty eight dollars we put them through a bunch of tests we filled and drank from them we opened and closed the lids a million times we tried to stain them we shook them upside down we washed them a bunch and we even dropped them and we gave them to testers to take home these bottles went to yoga classes and then we took them on trains in cars and to the grocery store the good news none of them leaked and many even survived the drop test the real differences came down to design this one gorgeous but what a pain to fill this little narrow neck and this lopsided loop makes it extra hard to put the lid back on straight in one try this one makes a hideous scraping sound when you screw the metal cap onto glass this sleeve trap dirt and this one has seven parts you have to hand wash now our winner is this one it's called the life factory 22 ounce glass bottle costs about 23 dollars has a rounded bottom edge and thick walls that actually kept it in one piece when we dropped it three times has the widest mouth so it's easy to fill the lid is easy to grab and it went on and off with minimal effort and the whole thing goes right in the dishwasher it's our new favorite purple peruvian ruby crescent and russian banana are all varieties of fingerling potatoes and while the range of colors sizes and shapes are fun they represent a basic cooking problem because they won't all cook at the same rate so elle is here today to show us a universal way to cook them what and all that's right you can't just throw fingerling potatoes on a roasting pan in a hot oven it won't work well as you said fingerling potatoes vary in size so the key to cooking them is making sure that they've all reached the same doneness at the same time yeah that's not easy to do not at all fingerling potatoes are often mistaken for new potatoes when in reality they are a mature variety of potatoes that offer a beautiful earthy nuttiness so in the test kitchen we've tried cooking these on a sheet tray tossed in oil at 450 degrees but they dried out because the temperature was too high and the oil had a tendency to clump up on the sheet pan that's right the oil stains the sheet pan and no matter how hard you scrub you can't get that off you can't get it off but we found that steaming the potatoes worked well for the skins and for the proper doneness and the way we did that was by using a 13 by 9 baking pan so first we're going to put the potatoes in the pan this is two pounds of fingerling potatoes scrubbed clean to them i'm going to add three tablespoons of vegetable oil and now again you could use any variety of fingerling potato here such as russian peruvian or ruby crescent that's right okay all right so the oil's in i'm just going to give it a toss we just have to make sure they're fitting snugly in the pan and flat to the surface yeah so it's a single layer but they are cramped this cramping is actually going to work in our favor because they're going to bathe in the steam of their friends that they're so close to and the steam is going to give us even doneness so i'm just going to cover it tightly with foil it's going to go in the oven at 450 degrees on the middle rack for 15 minutes okay all right it's been about 15 minutes take this foil off those are beautiful oh look at all that steam all right so these look great i'm just going to give them a shake these need to go for another 20 minutes i'm going to come back and give them a shake about halfway through and they'll be ready when they're spotty brown okay so let's work on the extra special part of these fingerling potatoes that's the herbs i have fresh sage i'm gonna chop it we're looking for about two teaspoons of sage so i also have some thyme here and i'm also looking for two teaspoons all right that looks great so i'm going to put these herbs together and i'm going to cut into it a half a teaspoon of salt you're making seasoned salt that's right chopped fresh herbs can really stick to your fingers but with that salt in there it'll make them easier to sprinkle all right perfect so i'm just going to put these in a bowl and set them aside for potato so today we're using fresh sage and thyme to flavor our salt but we have lots of other flavoring variations which you can find on our website okay it's been 20 minutes let's take a look those smell like really good roasted potatoes oh they're beautiful nice and spotty brown they're gorgeous i'm just going to test these for doneness i'm going to use the tip of my paring knife starting with the larger ones and if the knife goes in easily as it has then they're done so i'm just going to go into the bowl with these and i want to use all the oil that we had in the pan that's going to help for our herbs to stick okay all right i'm going to sprinkle our thyme and sage and salt all right give it a good toss oh that smells good yeah that's divine oh goodness okay so let's platter them up i know you'd be tempted to eat these right now i very much am tempted they're beautiful they need at least five minutes to remove hot potato yes all right so it's been five minutes i am ready to eat these potatoes i don't know about you this is my kind of meal just potatoes okay oh look how fluffy the insides are oh yeah that skin is so thin you almost can't detect it it's barely there and the potato is so tender perfectly cooked all the way through it's like a mini baked potato but the skin is nice and tender i think this is my favorite herb combination they're not overpowering they're just fragrant that's right and every potato has flavor oh these are terrific great recipe thank you so much so there you have it if you want to make the best roasted fingerling potatoes crowd them into a baking pan toss with a little oil and cover tightly with aluminum foil put them in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes then remove the foil and let roast for about 20 minutes longer before serving simply toss with a mixture of fresh herbs and salt and let them rest for 5 minutes from america's test kitchen to your kitchen the final word on roasted fingerling potatoes you can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season along with our tastings testings and select episodes at our website americastestkitchen.com these are great i mean really great thanks for watching america's test kitchen what'd you think well leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make or you can just say hello you can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description and don't forget to subscribe to our channel see you later i'll see you later

Channel: America's Test Kitchen

Views: 102,144

Rating: 4.9344263 out of 5

Keywords: pork roast, roasted potatoes, cooks illustrated, cooking, americas test kitchen, cooks country, recipes

Id: TwDePBIbq38

Length: 23min 59sec (1439 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 30 2021