Episodes - Cooks CountryTV

Forgotten Cakes

Join us as we re-create two classic cakes from the 1960s. Christopher Kimball shares tips for error-proof baking, and Jack Bishop reveals which milk chocolate won our taste tests.

Chocolate Blackout Cake

It’s been over 35 years since once-renowned Ebinger’s Baking Company in Brooklyn closed its doors. We set out to recreate one of its most beloved recipes.

Strawberry Poke Cake

This cake was invented in 1969 to increase Jell-O sales. But when we made the recipe, we encountered dull strawberry flavor and soggy boxed-mix cake. Here’s the fix.

Milk Chocolate

Flavor and creaminess defined our favorites among 10 brands.

Sunday Dinner

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Sunday Dinner

Learn how to make an unforgettable garlic roast beef and mashed potato casserole. Christopher Kimball also reveals what you need to know to select the perfect cut of meat.

Sunday-Best Garlic Roast Beef

We wanted to find an alternative to prime rib that’s less expensive and faster to cook—without sacrificing flavor.

Mashed Potato Casserole

Mashed potato casserole, with the promise of fluffy, buttery, creamy potatoes nestled under a savory golden crust, is the perfect make-ahead dish during the holiday season.

Liquid Dish Detergent

We wondered how "natural," more ecologically friendly detergents stacked up against traditional supermarket brands.

Feeding a Crowd, Italian-Style

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Feeding a Crowd, Italian-Style

Everyone loves Italian food. We share the secrets to making extraordinary meatballs and marinara and the perfect “Sunday gravy”—a slow-simmered sauce with several kinds of meat.

Meatballs and Marinara

We wanted a way to make big meatballs that were tender and moist and had enough structure to hold their shape.

Italian Sunday Gravy

Italian gravy is a hearty tomato sauce cooked with everything from meatballs to pork chops. Our tests helped uncover which meats yielded the best taste, texture, and convenience.

Jarred Pasta Sauce

Just as important as what our tasters did like—good tomato flavor and a chunky texture—was what they didn't like: overpowering dried herb flavor.

Large Saucepans

A large saucepan is a true kitchen workhorse—we tested seven models to help you choose the right one.

Southern Regional Recipes

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Southern Regional Recipes

We share the test kitchen’s method for simplifying Lexington-style pulled pork, and explain how to make the perfect Memphis coleslaw—a barbecue-joint staple.

Lexington-Style Pulled Pork For Charcoal Grill

Lexington-style barbecue requires hours and hours of grilling. We found the way to simplify this classic recipe without sacrificing flavor.

Memphis Chopped Coleslaw

Our Memphis slaw is studded with celery seeds and green peppers, and is tossed with an unapologetically sugary mustard dressing that’s balanced by a bracing hit of vinegar.

Hot Dogs

Americans spend $1.5 billion on store-bought hot dogs. We compiled a 20-person tasting panel to determine where that money should be spent.

Tabletop Grills

Can you bring restaurant-style tabletop grilling home?

Autumn Supper

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Autumn Supper

Making pork roast is tricky. Which cut is best and how do you keep the meat moist? Our unique seven-hour recipe will change the way you think about the other white meat.

Old-Fashioned Roast Pork

Cooking a pork roast is tricky, as the lean meat quickly dries out in the oven. Here are the tricks to keeping roast pork moist and flavorful.

Cranberry-Apple Crisp

Although it’s hard to imagine that apple crisp needs much improvement, we liked the tartness and texture cranberries added to one of our favorite standard desserts.

Pepper Mills

Pepper mills come in a vast range of styles and materials, but what really matters to us and other serious home cooks is performance.

All-American Picnic

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All-American Picnic

Learn to make super-crunchy fried chicken. Pair it with our classic potato salad, or with the potato chips that won our taste test of top brands.

Extra-Crunchy Fried Chicken

We wanted to create juicy, rich tasting fried chicken at home without the big mess, and with a crust as crunchy as KFC.

All-American Potato Salad

Most potato salads aren’t what they could be—the potatoes are mushy or the vinaigrette is bland. Here’s how to make perfect American-style potato salad every time.

Hard-Cooked Eggs

Hard-cooked eggs are prone to greenish-colored yolks and sulfurous odors. Our tests uncovered what causes the problem and how you can make perfect hard-cooked eggs every time.

Potato Chips

There are endless chip varieties and flavors, but which bag of plain chips should the purist reach for?

Easy As Pie

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Easy As Pie

Bridget Lancaster explains how to a make foolproof pie crust and then prepares an incredible raspberry chiffon pie. Jack Bishop searches for the best store-bought pie crust.

Raspberry Chiffon Pie

A chiffon pie is pretty, but it often tastes more like sweet foam than fruit. Our tests found a way to make a chiffon pie that's creamy, light, and packed with fruit flavor.

No-Fear Pie Crust

When it comes to frustration, few kitchen tasks can rival that of making pie dough. We set out to find pie dough that we could make without fear.

Pie Crusts

While tasters didn't find any store-bought crusts comparable to homemade, they thought one would do in a pinch.

Steakhouse Favorites

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Steakhouse Favorites

Learn the technique for perfectly broiled steaks, and discover the secret to super-stuffed potatoes. Adam Ried tells us which steaks knives make the cut.

Broiled Steaks

We usually rely on a red-hot skillet or the grill for putting a crusty sear on steaks, but we wondered if our oven’s broiler could do the job just as well.

Super-Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Picture the perfect stuffed baked potato, with garlic, herbs, and cheese packed into a perfectly crisped potato-skin shell. Here’s how we recreated this steakhouse classic.

Steak Knives

Which set of steak knives can really cut it?

Electric Knife Sharpeners

When your kitchen knives go dull, is there a quick, cheap, and easy way to restore their cutting edge and get back to cooking?

Barbecued Chicken

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Barbecued Chicken

Grilled chicken with barbecue sauce seems simple. So why does this recipe often fail? Our unique method guarantees perfect results. Serve with our easy baked mac and cheese.

Classic Barbecued Chicken

Our foolproof recipe for barbecue chicken produces perfectly cooked meat that boasts intense flavor from the grill and a liberal application of tangy-sweet barbecue sauce.

Classic Barbecued Chicken on a Gas Grill

Our foolproof recipe for barbecue chicken produces perfectly cooked meat that boasts intense flavor from the grill and a liberal application of tangy-sweet barbecue sauce.

Best Potluck Macaroni and Cheese

So many macaroni and cheese recipes slump into a runny mess. Our baked mac and cheese is creamy, sturdy, and rich.

Barbecue Sauce

In one supermarket, we found more than 30 varieties of barbecue sauce. In the end, we found a few brands that came pretty close to homemade.

Regional Chops

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Regional Chops

Learn to grill double-thick chops and how to give them authentic smoke flavor. The test kitchen also perfects a recipe for whiskey-glazed pork chops.

Smoked Double-Thick Pork Chops

We’ve discovered how to get great taste, good color, and perfect tenderness out of grilled double-thick chops.

Smoked Double-Thick Pork Chops on a Gas Grill

We’ve discovered how to get great taste, good color, and perfect tenderness out of grilled double-thick chops.

Tennessee-Whiskey Pork Chops

A popular restaurant serves a “Jack Daniel’s” pork chop that sounds better than it really is. The concept, however, sounded good enough that we wanted to perfect it at home.

Top Kitchen Essentials

Those items that we feel are essential in every kitchen.

Midwestern Favorites

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Midwestern Favorites

Learn to replicate fall-off-the-bone Chicago-style ribs and discover the secrets to Cincinnati’s unique chili. We’ll also reveal the winner of our cheddar cheese taste test.

Chicago-Style Barbecued Ribs

Chicago ribs are typically smoked at about 200 degrees for at least eight hours. This slow-and-low cooking method delivers the moist, tender meat that defines Chicago ribs.

Cincinnati Chili

Warm spices and a host of unexpected garnishes lend this regional chili its unique flavor. We wondered if we could recreate this Midwestern dish in our test kitchen.

Cheddar Cheese

Supermarket cheddar cheeses can be pale imitations of authentic farmhouse cheddars, but they are cheap and widely available. Some are even worth eating.

California Grilling

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California Grilling

Bridget Lancaster teaches Christopher Kimball how to cook a garlicky tri-tip roast on the grill. She also prepares California barbecued beans and Santa Maria-style salsa.

California Barbecue Tri-Tip and Beans

We'll show you how to avoid the charred exterior and very rare center that often plagues grilled barbecue tri-tip, while pairing it with our convenient version of barbecued beans.

Santa Maria Salsa

Unexpected ingredients like celery, dried oregano, and Worcestershire transform this from ordinary salsa.

Salsas

Can jarred salsas make a decent alternative to homemade?

Essential Grilling Gadgets

What equipment do you really need to cook outdoors?

Diner Favorites

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Diner Favorites

Enjoy a diner-style brunch at home with impossibly tall and fluffy omelets, crusty, deeply browned home fries, and the best store-bought orange juice as judged by our tasters.

Fluffy Diner-Style Cheese Omelet

Our goal: impossibly tall and fluffy diner-style omelets that are loaded with cheese and other fillings.

Short Order Home Fries

A diner breakfast simply isn’t complete without a side of crusty, deeply browned home fries. Here’s how to replicate them at home.

Orange Juice

High-end orange juices claim to taste better and fresher than ordinary not-from-concentrates. At twice the price, are they a sweet deal?

Cast-Iron Skillets

Is cast iron the original nonstick pan? Do recent innovations improve on this traditional kitchen workhorse?

FEATURED EPISODE: FORGOTTEN CAKES

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Strawberry Poke Cake

Milk Chocolate

Sunday-Best Garlic Roast Beef

Mashed Potato Casserole

Liquid Dish Detergent

Meatballs and Marinara

Italian Sunday Gravy

Jarred Pasta Sauce

Large Saucepans

Lexington-Style Pulled Pork For Charcoal Grill

Memphis Chopped Coleslaw

Hot Dogs

Tabletop Grills

Old-Fashioned Roast Pork

Cranberry-Apple Crisp

Pepper Mills

Extra-Crunchy Fried Chicken

All-American Potato Salad

Hard-Cooked Eggs

Potato Chips

Raspberry Chiffon Pie

No-Fear Pie Crust

Pie Crusts

Broiled Steaks

Super-Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Steak Knives

Electric Knife Sharpeners

Classic Barbecued Chicken

Classic Barbecued Chicken on a Gas Grill

Best Potluck Macaroni and Cheese

Barbecue Sauce

Smoked Double-Thick Pork Chops

Smoked Double-Thick Pork Chops on a Gas Grill

Tennessee-Whiskey Pork Chops

Top Kitchen Essentials

Chicago-Style Barbecued Ribs

Cincinnati Chili

Cheddar Cheese

California Barbecue Tri-Tip and Beans

Santa Maria Salsa

Salsas

Essential Grilling Gadgets

Fluffy Diner-Style Cheese Omelet

Short Order Home Fries

Orange Juice

Cast-Iron Skillets