Transcripts

Jack Bishop, Executive Editor for America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Illustrated Magazine…

And what happens are two things. One; food is much more likely to stick in a cold pan and two; you don't get browning and browning is all about flavor. And if you get a chicken cutlet that sticks to the pan and doesn't brown very well, it's not going to taste very good. And so what we say is heat the oil with the pan and the oil should really start to shimmer. That's the way you know the pan is nice and hot.

And good cooks know the importance of measuring ingredients carefully.

Especially when you're baking. I think the big issue this year is dry ingredients go in dry measuring cups. Those are the ones with handles they're plastic or metal and that you can level off the top, even just a tablespoon or two too much flour or too much milk will change the texture of the cake.

And when you cook Jack says always use unsalted butter.

Well, two reasons we think unsalted butter actually tastes better. But the main reason is about saltiness of your food. Different companies add different amounts of salt and all of our recipes and most recipes that you see in other cookbooks are developed for unsalted butters.

Tomorrow why your oven temperature is probably way off. I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.