♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Lan makes Bridget lamb barbacoa... Adam reviews countertop steam ovens... and Erin makes Julia rajas poblanos con crema.

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

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♪♪ -Today we are making a fabulous barbacoa from Mexico.

Now, barbacoa usually entails whole animal cooking, often goat, lamb, maybe beef, and pieces of the meat are seasoned, wrapped in leaves, and then cooked very slowly in an underground oven.

Now, considering that I do not see any shovel around, that means I'm not digging a pit.

I'm really glad.

But Lan's here, and she's going to show us how to make a great version of barbacoa that we can make in our own kitchen.

-Bridget, I'm so excited to show you this recipe.

Barbacoa is a cooking method you find across parts of Mexico, and I spoke to two Mexican chefs who are at the top of their games to learn how to make this recipe -- Iliana de la Vega and Cristina Martinez.

-Mm-hmm.

-Now, one of the things they taught me was that, depending on the region, the flavors will really vary.

The cooking method stays the same.

The one that I'm going to show you comes from Oaxaca because I was really enchanted by the flavor profile.

So we're going to start with guajillo chilies, and I'm going to stem them by just popping them off.

These are little dried chilies.

When you purchase them, make sure they're nice and glossy-looking and they are pliable.

You don't want them to crunch when you bend them.

That means they're old or weren't stored properly, but after you pop them open, this is really easy.

You just want to empty out the little seed pocket and then rip the chili into approximately 1/2-inch pieces.

-Okay.

-You don't have to be precise for this, and you're going to need six of these.

Next up, we're going to toast these to just bring out some flavor.

I've got a 10-inch cast-iron skillet here.

These are going to go right in.

I want to set this to about medium high.

I'm going to stir these as they toast.

The chilies are going to become more pliable and they'll brighten in color just the tiniest bit.

This should take anywhere between 2 to 6 minutes.

-Gotcha.

-These are going to go right back into that bowl.

These are going to be the base of my marinade.

But before I can blend them, I want to soften them.

I'm going to pour 2 cups of hot water right onto the chilies.

I just want to make sure they're covered.

And these are going to sit for 20 minutes to just hydrate.

While we wait for those chilies, let's get to the lamb.

So, this is a whole animal method.

But we're going to use a boneless leg of lamb because I thought boneless leg of lamb was a lot easier to work with.

It's fairly uniform across the country.

I want to make sure the leg of lamb has a fat cap, but not a really thick one.

This looks great.

There's nothing here that's more than about 1/8 of an inch thick.

-Mm-hmm.

-That's perfect.

If there were more here, I'd trim it off.

-Nice.

-But I'll put this fat cap side down, open it up.

And now I'm just looking for bits of fat and gristle we don't want to be eating later, and I'm just going to trim them out.

In order for this to cook evenly, I want to make sure it's about uniformly thick, about 1 1/2 inches.

Since this part is so much bigger, I want to cover it with plastic wrap, give it a quick pound to thin it out.

The last bit of prep is just cutting this crosswise into three approximately equal pieces.

They don't have to be perfect because the rate at which this cooks is really dictated by how thick it is.

And they're uniformly thick.

-Gotcha.

It's a low and slow method.

-It is.

These are going to go right in this bowl.

Now we just need to wait for our guajillos to finish soaking and we can make our marinade.

-Great.

-The guajillos have been soaking for 20 minutes, so it's time to get them out of that liquid and make our marinade.

I'm just going to gently pour.

Try not to make too much of a mess.

And these chilies are going to go right into our blender.

-Okay.

-Chilies are in here.

We're actually going to use some of this chili water as well.

-Okay.

-It's got a lot of flavor.

And it'll be the liquid element of our marinade.

I need 2/3 of a cup.

This will go right in.

-Okay.

-And then just a couple more ingredients.

I have 4 garlic cloves here.

4 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt.

This is 2 1/2 teaspoons.

It's Mexican oregano.

Next up, 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar.

1/2 of black pepper.

2 whole cloves.

1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin.

We'll pop a lid on this.

I'm going to puree this until it's really smooth.

That's going to take about 3 minutes.

-Okay.

[ Whirring ] [ Whirring stops ] -It's been 3 minutes.

That's looking great.

-Nice and smooth.

-Yeah.

This is going to go right over the lamb.

-Mm!

-So, I'll give this a quick toss to make sure the meat is nicely coated.

Let's talk about our cooking setup.

Traditionally when barbacoa is made, a large pit is dug in the ground.

You build a big fire.

After the fire has died down, you get a large pan that goes underneath.

And anything from potatoes, beans, rice and a bunch of aromatics, a little bit of water, maybe some beer, goes into that pan.

On top of that, you have a mesh that holds the meat above the pan.

So we're not doing any of that.

-Okay.

-No, we're going to actually use a Dutch oven.

So I'm starting with a little ramekin.

It's -- You want something that's about 1 1/2 to 2 inches tall.

It's going to go right in.

And I want to make sure it goes in right side up.

Next up, all of our consommé ingredients.

This is 3 cups of water.

And I just want to make sure I'm avoiding that ramekin.

Um, next up, I've got a can of garbanzo beans.

We're going to use that bean liquid to get that starchy consistency in the broth.

Um, next up, I have 8 ounces of red-skinned potatoes that I've cut into 1/2-inch pieces.

-Fantastic.

-Right in.

And then we get to our flavorings.

I have 1/2 a small white onion.

It's going to go right in.

2 carrots that have been peeled and halved crosswise.

2 bay leaves.

-Mm-hmm.

-2 garlic cloves and 1/2 a teaspoon of kosher salt.

So, rather than a screen, we're going to use a little plate.

This is an -- You can use an 8- or a 9-inch plate.

It's going to go right on top of that ramekin.

It'll hold the meat above the liquid because we're not braising here.

We're cooking in a moist environment.

-Mm-hmm.

-Next, we have our lamb.

And we're not going to waste any of this marinade either.

It's going in as well.

Right on top.

-Oh, thank goodness.

Alright.

Oh, look at that.

-The other little trick I have is to turn this burner up to high.

What I want to do is to bring that liquid to a boil before I pop it into my 325-degree oven.

It's just going to speed up cooking a little bit because this burner is going to bring that liquid up to temperature a lot faster than the oven.

-Exactly.

-So, we're just about coming up to a simmer.

I'm going to shut this off and pop a lid on this.

And this is just going to go right into a 325-degree oven on the lower middle rack for about 3 hours.

-Oh, some really great smells coming out of this oven.

-It sure is.

-Oh!

Mm.

-Now, to make sure this lamb is done, I'm just going to pop this lid off.

-Oh!

-It's steamy.

-Very steamy.

-Just give it a quick poke with a paring knife.

I want to make sure that the knife goes in and comes out without any resistance.

-Okay.

-Nice and simple.

-And this is good?

-This is good.

So, way too hot to handle right now.

-Yes.

-I'll just leave the lid on and let this rest for half an hour.

-Okay.

Great.

-So, let's have a look at this lamb now that it has rested.

I just want to transfer this to a cutting board.

Now, before we move on to that, I want to take all these juices on this plate.

Just tip them right into that pot of consommé.

Some other things also need to come out -- this ramekin that we won't be serving.

-Yes, that's too crunchy for me.

-[ Chuckles ] Our aromatics, which have done their job and we don't need them.

So, this consummated barbacoa is best when served piping hot.

So I'm going to just turn the heat on and let this come to a simmer.

-Great.

-Now for the lamb.

That marinade we made -- it has a tendency to stain.

So I'm going to use tongs rather than slipping on a pair of gloves.

But I just want to cut these pieces into maybe 1/2-inch-thick slices crosswise and then give it a toss.

That's enough to get us pieces of meat that fit great in a taco.

-Great.

-I'm going to measure out 1/2 cup of this broth.

It's got so much great flavor.

I want to use it to moisten that meat just right over the top.

-Lovely.

-And quick toss.

I've got some 6-inch corn tortillas for you here.

-Lovely.

Mm.

-First up, I love thinly sliced radish on here.

It just adds a little juicy freshness.

Next, some chopped white onion.

Now I'm adding a little cilantro.

And last up, I have a spicy tomatillo salsa.

You can find this recipe on our website.

-And a little bit of lime?

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Alright.

-We want to dig in while it's hot.

-Oh.

-How good is that?

-Vibrant and lively, that's for sure.

Just a little bit of spice there, but nothing I can't handle.

-I could just put this in a mug and just sip this.

-Mm-hmm.

-Be perfectly happy.

-And rich.

The lamb juices.

Oh, my goodness, that's rich.

Mmm.

Mmm.

So tender.

-Mm-hmm.

-Buttery.

That meat is so silky.

I love the radish.

Nice and crunchy.

A little peppery, but the flavors -- There's a lot of rich, deep, developed flavor going through.

I love that.

Lan, this was spectacular.

Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-Well, if you want to give barbacoa a chance in your own kitchen, it starts by creating your own makeshift barbacoa cooking vessel using a ramekin and Dutch oven.

Elevate marinated pieces of lamb above the vegetables before cooking in the oven to finish.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," the magnificent lamb barbacoa.

I'm thinking consommé.

Yeah.

-Get it while it's hot.

-That's right.

♪♪ -My first big job in a professional kitchen was at a health spa.

And we used electric steamers to cook everything from vegetables and grains to meats, like chicken and fish.

Now, today, that technology has been shrunk down to size so it can fit on your countertop.

And today, Adam is going to tell us which countertop steamer is worth the money.

-So, Julia, you know that a traditional oven uses hot air and radiant heat to cook food.

These steam ovens use moist air, which actually conveys heat more effectively and more efficiently, so you can cook food faster and a little more evenly.

And restaurants have known this.

I mean, these are fixtures in restaurant kitchens, as you found out a couple of years ago.

Just a couple, when you were in a restaurant kitchen.

We were curious, though.

I mean, these are now being shrunk down into countertop steam ovens.

They're making the leap from restaurant kitchens to home kitchens, and we wanted to know what was the benefit for home cooks.

So we have three steam ovens here.

The price range was $430 to $599.

-Okay, so not a minor investment.

-No, no.

And you really want to think about that when you're going to do these.

Now, they have purely steam functions.

So that's like what you were using in the restaurant.

The food is completely enveloped in moist air at about 212 degrees.

It's terrific for delicate proteins, like fish or chicken.

It's great for vegetables.

They also, because they're ovens, they have steam bake.

-Oh!

-They can also convect and they can combine the two.

So sometimes these are called combi ovens for that combination.

-Oh, oh.

That's fascinating.

-But in steam baking, you are injecting steam into the bake mode, and that's terrific for breads.

One of the things it does is it kind of softens the surface of the loaf as it begins to bake, and that means that the crumb can expand with less resistance and you end up with a taller loaf.

One of the things that testers particularly liked about this model -- it's the Anova Precision Oven -- is that you can inject steam in 5% increments all the way up to 100%, whereas those two in front of you were fixed at 10%.

-Ooh, that seems handy.

-Yeah.

And you can also inject steam manually whenever you want to.

And that was helpful for our testers.

There were other cooking tests, of course.

There was the salmon.

There was also making toast and baking cookies.

-Huh.

-You know, the toast and the cookies were about two things.

Number one, the evenness of the heating, because you can see how it toasts and whether it's heating evenly.

And number two, because these are bulky, it occurred to testers that people might want to replace like a toaster oven with them, and they should be able to make toast.

-Ah, makes sense.

-So there was the toast and the cookies.

They used the broiler function to melt cheese on the toast for toasted cheese sandwiches, steamed vegetables, roasted a 4-pound chicken, and in the top contender, they also steamed whole whitefish and made Basque cheesecakes... -Oh, yum.

-...those really beautiful dark cheesecakes.

And they tested the accuracy with a temperature tracking app.

They set the ovens to 350 degrees and let them go for 8 hours to see how they did.

All of that cooking gave them a couple of ideas about designs and features.

Number one was the control panel.

And to be perfectly honest -- Yeah, you can try and turn that one on down at the end.

This is new technology to a lot of the testers, and it was sort of confusing initially.

And they found that some of them required a much deeper, longer dive into their user manuals than others.

That one in particular had sort of a confusing control panel.

The Anova that's in front of me, less confusing.

They appreciated that.

They also felt like, ideally, you should be able to put a standard baking dish into one of these things.

-Mm-hmm.

-You want to try and put this baking dish here into the white one?

-Alright.

-This is a 13x9 baking dish.

Kind of a standard.

-Mm-hmm.

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] Yeah.

-Nailed it.

-[ Laughs ] Not going in.

That felt like a shortcoming to testers.

You know, the reality is that one of these will probably supplement a traditional oven.

So you'll be covered, but still, it should be able to fit.

So of the three that we tested, this was absolutely the testers' favorite.

This is the Anova Precision Oven.

It's about $599.

-Ooh!

-And there were a bunch of reasons they liked it.

It had the most straightforward control panel that required the least deep dive into the user's manual.

This was the one that let you inject steam in 5% increments... -Oh, yeah.

-...that they love that adjustability all the way up to 100%.

It's got a built-in probe thermometer.

-Those are handy.

-Yeah, those are really, really useful.

And we really like that.

And it's made beautiful salmon, like really moist, flaky, evenly cooked salmon, tall, fluffy, beautiful loaves of shokupan.

The toast from this thing was golden perfection.

It was even.

It was beautiful.

And the Basque cheesecake was impressive.

And it's also, on top of all that, it's got a pretty useful sous-vide function.

-No kidding?

-No kidding.

-Wow!

This thing can do a lot.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Thanks, Adam.

-Steam on Julia.

[ Both laugh ] -So there you have it.

If you're ready to enter the world of combi ovens -- that's a steam-injected countertop oven -- Check out the Anova Precision Oven at about $600.

♪♪ Rajas poblanos con crema is a classic Mexican dish featuring roasted peppers in a tangy, creamy sauce made with Mexican crema.

And as our good friend Pati Jinich says, it's often used as a filling for tacos or quesadillas.

And really, anything goes as long as you don't eat it for dessert.

-Absolutely.

-And Erin's here to show us how it's made.

-I certainly am, Julia.

And we're going to start with the chili.

And, really, which chili you use is all dependent on what region you're from.

-Ah, makes sense.

-Pati's from Mexico City, and they really focus on poblanos.

So we're going to go with poblanos.

And a poblano chili is really like an earthy vegetable chili.

And it rates a 1,200 on the Scoville chart.

A bell pepper is zero.

-Mm-hmm.

-A jalapeño is 5,000 and a habanero is 400,000.

-Ooh!

-I know.

So the fact that this is a 1,200... -Mm-hmm?

-...it says it has a little bit of a kick, but it's really manageable.

-Nice.

-So we're going to go with 1 pound.

I'm going to stem it.

Cut it in half and remove the seeds.

Okay.

So now what we're going to do is we're going to actually roast these.

-Okay.

-So I'm just going to arrange all of these on this rimmed baking sheet.

Our goal is we want to broil them so that we char that skin.

-Ah, nice.

-Charring of the skin is where all the flavor comes from that we want.

But first I'm going to just make sure that these lay flat.

-Mm-hmm.

-Because when you broil something, you want it to be flat so it chars evenly.

I have a rack set to about 3 to 4 inches away from the actual heating unit.

So it's going to take about 5 to 10 minutes and you want to spin it halfway through.

-Oh, I can smell them from here.

-Aha.

-Ooh!

-Gorgeous.

Perfect.

Love this.

-I have to say, if you've never roasted peppers before, this, Erin, would look trashed.

-Like -- Like a mistake, yes.

Nope.

Totally on purpose.

So, as you can see, the skin is black, it's blistered, and it's perfect for the next stage.

So what we're going to do is just stack them up, and we're going to let them steam.

And rather than dirtying another bowl, we're just going to wrap them up in this foil.

-Ah!

-Super basic, super simple.

And we're just going to let this hang out for about 10 minutes.

Alright, Julia, so it's been about 10 minutes.

And these have steamed nicely, and the flesh is softer, which is good.

Now I'm just going to kind of spread them out, and now we're going to remove the skin.

If it's stubborn, I use a paper towel to kind of help to grip it and it just comes right off.

-Nice.

-So it's super easy.

-Want me to help you?

-Yeah, that'd be great.

So now comes the word "rajas."

"Rajas" actually translates to "strips."

So I'm going to cut our roasted poblanos into half-inch-wide strips lengthwise.

Okay, Julia, so we're going on to the next steps of our filling.

So I have 2 tablespoons of butter that's melted in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.

And I'm going to add 1/2 of a white onion.

White onion is the onion of choice in Mexico.

So I'm just going to cook the onion until it's softened.

It's going to take about 6 to 8 minutes.

Alright.

So our onions have softened.

Now I'm just going to add 2 minced garlic cloves.

And I'm just going to cook this for about 30 seconds just until it's aromatic and you can smell it and it's fragrant.

Okay.

Now we're going to add our rajas.

Adding our rajas and -- Thank you.

1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

And 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper.

I'm just going to cook this for about a minute until it's warmed through and the flavors kind of start to marry.

-Mm-hmm.

-Our last ingredient is Mexican crema.

-Mm-hmm.

-So this is 3/4 of a cup of Mexican crema.

Mexican crema is often dubbed like the table cream.

It's kind of in between heavy cream and sour cream.

So it's a little thicker and more savory than heavy cream, but it's -- and it's a little less tangy than sour cream, so if you can't find it, you can go ahead and use heavy cream.

So we're just going to cook this until it starts to become very thick and clingy.

And it takes about 2 to 3 minutes.

-So, it's common knowledge that you should reach for a glass of milk if you need relief after eating spicy food.

Here's why.

The spiciness of food comes principally from a compound called capsaicin.

When capsaicin is eaten, it activates receptors on our tongues that send painful heat signals to our brains.

In our rajas recipe, we combine crema, fermented cream, with poblano peppers.

Dairy products, like crema, contain a unique protein known as casein.

When casein encounters capsaicin, it's believed to bind the spicy molecule and prevent it from coming in contact with our taste buds.

As a result, although the rajas contain a pound of chili peppers, it's not as spicy as you might expect because some of the capsaicin is bound by casein and therefore it can't stimulate our tongues in the same way.

And that's why milk is the answer when things get too spicy and why the crema tempers the heat of the rajas.

-Alright, Julia, so you can see, um, when I do that with the spatula, it leaves a trail.

-Mm-hmm.

-Our rajas have been coated, and we are ready to go.

This is good.

-That looks delicious.

-Smells so good, doesn't it?

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're almost there, Julia.

So let's char some corn tortillas.

-Okay.

-You want to help me?

-Yes.

-Okay, so corn tortillas, you can heat up in the oven, in the microwave, at any time there's an open flame.

I just go right for that.

-Yep.

-Alright.

You can take a couple.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-I like mine really well charred.

-Excellent.

This is the fun part.

-Oh, yeah.

Oh, I'm flipping it twice.

Yep.

You gonna put it right in the tortilla?

-Just gonna put it right in the tortilla.

-All these smells of the toasted corn tortillas, of the roasted poblanos, of the garlic when it hit that butter, I mean, they're very simple flavors.

Yeah.

I'm just going to use a fork.

I want the -- I want the straight deal to start.

Mmm.

It almost has a creamy cheesy quality.

-Yeah.

-Almost like the perfectly grilled cheese, that first bite that's really creamy.

-Yeah, yeah.

-And roasted poblanos.

And just a little bit of garlic, a little bit of onion.

-Yeah.

-Man, this is delicious.

-It's heaven.

I could live on this.

-Uh-huh.

Mmm!

And it's the flavor of the crema.

-Mm-hmm.

-A little tangy, a little aged.

-Absolutely.

Another way that you can prepare this is by adding corn.

-Mm!

-It's so fabulous.

It just adds a little bit more sweetness and also, like, charred because you can char it and it's fabulous.

-Nice.

And that is called elote, or "with corn."

And you can find that recipe on our website.

-Absolutely.

-This is incredible, Erin.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-If you want to make this traditional Mexican dish, roast poblano peppers until charred under the broiler, let the peppers steam before peeling and slicing, and sauté them with white onion and finish with crema.

From "America's Test Kitchen," with special thanks to Pati Jinich, rajas poblanos con crema.

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

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