More Tex-Mex Favorites

America's Test Kitchen From Cook's Illustrated Season 7 Episode 13

Overview:
We love good Tex-Mex, but depending on which part of the country you live in, chances are you’d be better off preparing it yourself at home. We wanted to take a look at two Tex-Mex favorites, chicken fajitas and huevos rancheros, and create authentic, tasty versions we could stand behind.

Chicken fajitas aren’t as easy a proposition as beef fajitas. Beef, by nature, packs a lot more flavor, while chicken fajitas seem to rely on a host of condiments to mask its lack of flavor, or worse, its dry texture. We wanted tender, juicy chicken, and we wanted it well seasoned. We wanted the same for our vegetables—too many vegetables in fajitas are treated as a bland afterthought. As for the tortillas, we wanted warm, soft tortillas, not the brittle tortillas we’ve often encountered in restaurants due to poor heating methods. Huevos rancheros are the answer to a hungry man’s (or woman’s) breakfast. But too often we’ve stared at what looks like a dish of fried eggs crossed with nachos. First, we wanted to get rid of all the unnecessary entrapments, paring back this breakfast classic to its tasty essentials. We’d need to focus on the fiery roasted salsa that typically is part of this dish, but making salsa with out-of-season tomatoes is a gamble. And without access to fresh corn tortillas, we needed to find a way to turn rubbery supermarket corn tortillas into a crisp, not greasy, base for our eggs. Last, we needed to figure out how to coordinate cooking the eggs with the other elements, so that everything comes together simultaneously—hot and fresh.

Recipes:

Chicken Fajitas for Charcoal Grill

Chicken Fajitas for Gas Grill

Chicken Fajitas Indoors

Chunky Guacamole

Huevos Rancheros

Refried Beans

Tasting Lab: Supermarket Refried Beans

Equipment Center: Do Grill Pans Really Grill?

Genre : Documentary

Actors : Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Christopher Kimball, Jack Bishop

Release Date : 2007-03-31

Duration : 25 menit

Rating : ⭐ 0/10 (0 votes)

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Other Episodes (Season 7)

Meatloaf Dinner
1. Meatloaf Dinner
Streamlined Chicken Skillet Suppers
2. Streamlined Chicken Skillet Suppers
Best Beef Stew
3. Best Beef Stew
Sunday Roast Chicken and Stuffing
4. Sunday Roast Chicken and Stuffing
Two Ways with Pork
5. Two Ways with Pork
Faster Family Favorites
6. Faster Family Favorites
Lighter Family Favorites
7. Lighter Family Favorites
Fish and Chips at Home
8. Fish and Chips at Home
Chicken Kiev
9. Chicken Kiev
Meat and Potatoes for Company
10. Meat and Potatoes for Company
Staying in For Chinese Take-Out
11. Staying in For Chinese Take-Out
Not Your Average Stir-Fry
12. Not Your Average Stir-Fry
More Tex-Mex Favorites
13. More Tex-Mex Favorites
Even More Italian Classics
14. Even More Italian Classics
Flambé at Home
15. Flambé at Home
Hearty Eggs for Breakfast
16. Hearty Eggs for Breakfast
Summer Cooking
17. Summer Cooking
Barbecued Brisket and Corn Fritters
18. Barbecued Brisket and Corn Fritters
Beer Can Chicken Dinner
19. Beer Can Chicken Dinner
Rainy Day Barbecue
20. Rainy Day Barbecue
Strawberry Cream Cake
21. Strawberry Cream Cake
Dark Chocolate Desserts
22. Dark Chocolate Desserts
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake
23. Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake
Easy Apple Desserts
24. Easy Apple Desserts
Favorite Citrus Desserts
25. Favorite Citrus Desserts
Lighter Cheesecake
26. Lighter Cheesecake


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