Table of contents for November/December 2025 in Cook's Illustrated

At a recent editorial meeting, we were reviewing Quick Tips ideas submitted by our readers, and one of them involved needle-nose pliers. Someone voiced skepticism about whether the tip would really be helpful to home cooks, because “Who keeps needle-nose pliers in their kitchen?” Um, I do. Nowadays I keep them handy for pulling pin bones out of raw fish fillets. However, the original reason they became part of my kitchen-tool arsenal years ago was because of a Thanksgiving turkey. I had been dating my then-boyfriend, Eric, for a year or so, and I very much wanted to cook a fancy holiday meal for his family. I had planned to brine the turkey but realized that wasn’t realistic given the space challenges of a New York City apartment. So I…

The first thing you notice about Chongqing chicken is the chiles. They’re heaped onto the platter in such a dazzling explosion of red that the chicken itself is almost hidden. And that’s deliberate. This dish—a classic in its name-sake southwest Chinese city where it’s called lazi ji, as well as through- out the nearby Sichuan province—is designed to impress and engage. Diners are invited to dig with their chopsticks for the morsels of crispy fried chicken buried among the dried chiles that are central to the local cuisine, all the while inhaling the peppers’ roasty fragrance. When you do pluck a piece of chicken from the pile and pop it into your mouth, the reward is equally exhilarating: First comes the crust’s craggy crunch, followed by the tingly buzz and…

Everybody loves lacinato kale. Its deep blue-green tint, svelte profile, and pebbly ridges set it apart from the rougher, tougher curls of conventional red and green varieties and have made it the universal darling of desk salads and morning smoothie routines. All for good reason. But to me, one of the most appealing traits of this variety (also called Tuscan, dinosaur, and flat-back kale) is that both the leaves and the stems are nice to eat, so there’s no waste. You can even enjoy them both raw and cooked. The key is to be strategic about how you treat each component so that you’re getting the best out of both. Here are a pair of recipes that celebrate using it all: a tabboulehinspired salad that’s bright with orange, lemon, and…

Lush and decadent, a chocolate terrine wouldn’t be out of place as the grand finale to a high-end restaurant meal. But this special dessert, which tastes a lot like a rich, thick pot de crème, is eminently doable in a home kitchen, too, requiring little more than good chocolate, a loaf pan, and time. Like a meat terrine or pâté, a chocolate terrine is baked and chilled well in advance of serving. Come dessert time, either decorate the entire oblong block or portion it into slices and add a garnish or two—a rosy swirl of raspberry coulis, a spray of mint, or a velvety dusting of cocoa powder—and you’ve got a glamorous treat to impress everyone at the table. With just a handful of familiar ingredients—chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, and…

Coffee is complex. Unroasted, the beans are ashy green with an earthy and grassy smell. Although coffee’s flavor is determined by a multitude of things—from the variety of the coffee beans to how they’re processed—one of the biggest variables is how the beans are roasted, which transforms the raw taste into something nuanced and delightful. –V.S.L. HOW COFFEE IS ROASTED: Coffee companies cook the beans in an oven-like device called a roaster until the water inside them becomes steam and expands, causing the exteriors of the beans to pop. After that, coffee beans continue roasting to develop nutty, rounded flavors. LIGHT ROAST: Light roast coffee doesn’t spend much time in the roaster, which allows it to retain some fruity aspects and minimizes how much the flavor is altered by heat. Light…

Precisely Split or Level a Cake Layer When she needs to split a cake layer in half horizontally or level off a domed cake, Jeannie Russell of Wausau, Wis., wraps a stack of cardboard cake rounds in plastic wrap and then places them in the bottom of a cake pan. When she puts a cake on top, the layer extends above the rim of the pan. She can then use the rim as a guide to slice the cake evenly. Compost in Your Freezer Tanya Statum of Primm Springs, Tenn., stashes vegetable scraps and coffee grounds in a sturdy paper bag in the freezer until she’s ready to take the bag outside to her compost heap. Freezing helps the scraps break down quicker, and the paper bag, a source of…

Flatfish such as flounder and sole are quick-cooking, ultraconvenient—and finicky. Their delicate flesh is quick to tighten up and dry out over fierce heat, but if you go too easy on the sear, the fragile fillets can tear or break when you attempt a flip. But those who can nail the process are handsomely rewarded: Done right, flounder and sole are buttery, flaky, mild, and sweet, the perfect canvas for a variety of punchy sauces and toppings. Achieving that ideal just takes some strategy—and I’ve got you covered there. I pan-seared dozens of flounder fillets to find a more foolproof cooking method and walked away with four game-changing tweaks to the formula. Follow this basic recipe (it’s simple enough to commit to memory) and I bet it won’t be long…

Per the New York Times’ former longtime food critic Craig Claiborne, billi bi is “the most elegant and delicious soup ever created.” I’m inclined to agree. The creamy, mussels-studded French invention (created, allegedly, by Norman chef Louis Barthe and named for a favored restaurant patron called Billy) is the very picture of refinement, whether it’s served up in petite portions for a first course or in heartier bowls for a sumptuous meal. But perhaps the best thing about billi bi is that its elegance comes near effortlessly. The recipe is simple—steam mussels in wine, water, herbs, and alliums until the shells open; shuck them (it takes 5 minutes, tops); and strain the broth. Whisk together cream and a couple egg yolks—a French trick called a liaison, which is responsible for…

KEY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WINNER STUMPTOWN COFFEE ROASTERS Roaster’s Pick PRICE: $23.00 for 12 oz ($1.92 per oz), ships free COFFEE IN OUR SHIPMENT: Medium roast from Bella Vista Farm, Antigua, Guatemala COFFEE QUALITY:  SPEED:  CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES: COMMENTS: Run by an established coffee brand, this responsive subscription changes its selection every two weeks. Our Guatemalan coffee had notes of “candied nut,” “apricot,” and “chocolate.” COUNTER CULTURE Single Origin Subscription PRICE: $19.00 for 12 oz ($1.58 per oz), plus $6.00 shipping COFFEE IN OUR SHIPMENT: Light roast from Cinco de Junio Cooperative, Las Sabanas, Nicaragua COFFEE QUALITY:  SPEED: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:  COMMENTS: This coffee company is known for its variety of single-origin offerings, which change every two weeks. The coffee we received was “fruity” and “nutty.” PACHAMAMA COFFEE COOPERATIVE…

Fat Separators We often refrigerate stocks overnight so that we can skim off the hardened fat in the morning. For quicker results, you can use a fat separator to defat stocks and pan juices. During our testing, we preferred models that drained liquid from the bottoms of their bases, leaving the fat on top. We found them more effective at decanting stock than models designed like mini pitchers, which let more fat drain out with the liquid. Separators fitted with large, tall-sided strainers provided us with bigger targets to hit when pouring stock and mirepoix from an unwieldy roasting pan and kept liquid and solids from splashing overboard too. It was also important that the strainers had lots of small holes, which allowed stock to drain quickly without letting…

Orzo is a rice-shaped member of the pastina family—tiny pastas that are often stirred into soups or stews. But this petite pasta has the potential to become the centerpiece of a cozy meal when it’s given a risotto treatment: Gradually pouring in small amounts of hot broth while stirring slowly liberates the orzo’s surface starch, creating a lush, creamy sauce. The process just takes a little patience and time. Years ago, I came up with a shortcut that significantly reduces the manual work for risotto: Add most of the liquid to the rice in the beginning stages of cooking and let the agitation of a vigorous simmer coax out the starch. The process is mostly hands-off and the results are just as lush and satisfying. Turns out that it works…

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Bok Choy Primer Vegetal and slightly mustardy with a touch of sweetness, bok choy lends crisp texture and vibrant color to countless stir-fries, braises, and soups. Bok choy is in the same species—Brassica rapa—as napa cabbage, choy sum, other Asian greens, and even turnips. Like other Brassica species, Brassica rapa shows a lot of variation. Even within the bok choy subspecies (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis), there are quite a few different varieties. We found that most varieties are interchangeable in recipes. Here are a few of the most common ones that you might encounter at your supermarket. –D.Y. BOK CHOY The variety that typically carries the label of simply “bok choy” is large with straight white stems. The leaves are flat and dark green, emerging from the top of the…