Chak's Editorial: America's Test Kitchen and the Techniques by Yan Can Cook and Jacques Pepin

You have seen long time cooks Bridget Lancaster and Julia Colin-Davidson. And on TV, they are often joined by Cook's Illustrated team of people like Dan Souza, Jack Bishop, and many others.

I have seen countless episodes of America's Test Kitchen on television for more than 15 years, but the techniques for me came from the shows produced at the studios of KQED in San Francisco. Maybe both Bridget and Julia watched "Yan Can Cook," hosted by Chinese celebrity chef Martin Yan or the Jacques Pepin series named "Fast Food My Way," "Essential Pepin," or "Jacques Pepin: Heart & Soul." These shows were only part of my inspiration for my own recipes created right at home, and sometimes even reminds me of another recipe from one another. Take for example the Jacques Pepin's popover and America's Test Kitchen's German pancake. The recipe may look similar, but not really the same in terms of ingredients.



America's Test Kitchen may have their headquarters in Boston, but the southern portion of Santa Clara County is home to garlic. Gilroy Garlic, specifically. The southern portion of Santa Clara County is home to three towns with zip codes: Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and San Martin (the latter word in "San Martin" is not pronounced as "Martin", as in singer "Ricky Martin"; it's "MAR-TEEN"). In spite of the cancellation of the 2020 Garlic Festival, the first year of the Garlic Festival came in 1979, and since then, the Garlic Festival has attracted thousands of visitors on the last weekend of each July that generally takes place on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I do like going there each year for the garlic topping contest by Christopher Farms, of which at the end of the contest, everyone who waits patiently gets to have a free-for-all garlic. The garlic used in the contest are the Monoviso types, which is my preferred type for any recipe involving garlic - and many cooking shows have utilized it without mentioning "Gilroy".

America's Test Kitchen staff on TV have used garlic in many of their recipes, ranging from 1 to 30. Maybe they have tried Jacques Pepin's garlic soup, which used a leek and 15 large cloves of garlic. Maybe they have seen Martin Yan minced some garlic and/or ginger using the side of a large butcher's knife and pounce it very hard that the garlic or ginger have been minced in only one pound of a knife. But what is not known to many viewers is the garlic that many of us home cooks use garlic that may have come from China, but professional chefs prefer using the Monoviso variety from Christopher Ranch in Gilroy, which produces a strong garlic flavor that I like that I often use to prevent any bloody nose. And in many of my recipes, I use a huge deal of garlic - even tried the garlic soup that Jacques Pepin made on TV!

Eggs is another big item in many of my recipes, but the proper way to break an egg does matter. The concept of doing that to make cakes, or to make scrambled eggs (recipe to follow for "Garlic Omelette" to follow) came from Jacques Pepin. He trained our viewers like me that for scrambled eggs, the proper way to break an egg is to crack the egg on a flat surface and not against the bowl, then open up and the egg comes out without the bacteria. Cracking an egg against the bowl, according to Pepin, pushes the shell into the egg and introduces bacteria, which to many is very bad for health. In addition, to separate an egg yolk from the egg white, he ask all viewers to use clean hands to scoop up the yolk and gently pull the yolk away from the white. Those methods by Jacques Pepin I often hear are even endorsed by Cook's Illustrated; in that case, the America's Test Kitchen episode where Julia did the proper way of breaking an egg in making Eggs Benedict (the episode includes the German pancake mentioned earlier, which was compared to Jacques Pepin's popover).



My recipe for the Garlic Omelette, which is customized to any preference, pays tribute to the hard growing workers in Gilroy who works very hard to get the garlic for consumers of all ages.

For the Garlic Omelette:

2 to 3 eggs
1 to 2 tbsp butter
2 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced (depending on preference)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Whisk the eggs onto a bowl until the egg whites are no longer visible. Add garlic, salt, and pepper and whisk until combined. In a pan, add butter over low heat until melted, then add the egg mixture and let it set for a few minutes (depending on doneness), occasionally stirring the mixture before folding the mixture in half. Invert the omelette by changing hands so that the omelette can be turned onto the plate, then serve immediately.

I'll be surprised if America's Test Kitchen does a recipe similar to what I have, but this recipe can be customized or adjusted to have less or more eggs, egg yolks, or garlic. I just hope that one day, the team will be in Gilroy to see the garlic for themselves.

Original Work by Kyle Chak
E-mail: chak595301@gmail.com
Twitter/Instagram: @KyleSChak
Video Credits: KQED, America's Test Kitchen

NOTES:
1. For techniques from Martin Yan's Yan Can Cook, see the videos shown here.
2. For the omelette techniques from Jacques Pepin, see the YouTube video here.