♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Welcome to "America's Test Kitchen" at home.

Today, I'm making chicken schnitzel with an apple fennel remoulade, Adam's talking cooking thermometers, and Keith's making a delicious potato roesti.

We've got a lot in store today, so, stick around.

♪♪ -We make breaded chicken cutlets all the time for dinner, but the first time I made chicken schnitzel, my daughter said, "These are fancy," and I knew just what she meant because the chicken is pounded thin, the breadcrumbs have a very fine, even texture, and, as the chicken cooks, the coating puffs up.

So the key to making a good chicken schnitzel is, first, to start with the right cut of chicken.

Now, these are boneless, skinless breasts and you want to make sure you get them between six and eight ounces.

That's because you want them big enough to cut in half, into good cutlets.

Alright, so, first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to trim off any fat right along the outside.

You can see this white line here.

Just kind of trim that off.

There we go.

And sometimes in this corner, there's a little knob of cartilage and a little bit of vein, so we'll cut that off.

Alright, so that looks pretty good.

Now, to make a cutlet, you want to lay it flat on the board and rest your hand flat on top and then, using your knife, you want to go right through the center, horizontally, through the cutlet.

And it's not a bad thing to open it up and see how you're doing, seeing that it's even.

And then you can just take your time and open it right up, make it as even as possible.

This is fun because this is where it makes a little heart.

And I've seen recipes that leave schnitzel in this nice big piece and, when you pound it out, it's as big as your head.

And that's fun, but they're very hard to cook evenly that way.

So cutting them into these smaller sizes, it's just more efficient.

I'm just going to finish up these last few cutlets and wash my hands and then, we can get to pounding.

Alright, so, now it's time to pound the cutlets to a nice, even thickness and that's going to make them cook at the same rate and make them tender.

So it's easiest to do this between sheets of plastic wrap and you can just use a small piece of plastic wrap and do them one at a time or you can do it catering-style, like I like to do, which is do them all at once.

So you lay out a big sheet of plastic wrap, you put all the cutlets down.

That was four boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so it's eight cutlets.

And then, a nice, another long piece of plastic wrap over the top.

And, now you get pounding.

So you really want to focus on that thicker end of the piece of chicken and you want the whole cutlet to be about 1/4 inch thick.

Alright, that looks pretty good.

Because the cutlets are nicely spread out, it's a great time to season them, and the seasoning won't get all over your counter.

Now, we're going to use a total of 2 tablespoons of kosher salt.

I know it's a lot, but there's no other seasoning anywhere else in this recipe -- not in the breading, not in the egg, not in the flour -- so you really want to season these cutlets well.

And a good amount of pepper, about 1/8 teaspoon of pepper per cutlet.

Flip them over and don't forget the second side.

I'm just going to now set these cutlets aside, right back on the cutting board, and we can move on to the breading.

For the chicken schnitzel, we're going to use a classic bound breading, which involves flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs.

We're going to use two large eggs.

But, the trick here is to add a little bit of vegetable oil, about 1 tablespoon.

This will help loosen the eggs up, but also help make that egg coating a little more flexible.

That'll help that coating puff as the chicken cooks.

So you just want to, with a fork, whisk together the eggs and that vegetable oil.

So we have the flour with the eggs and, last, but not least, the breadcrumbs.

So, taking each piece of chicken into the flour.

You know, I know a lot of people that are really good at using one hand for the dry ingredients and one hand for the wet ingredients, but I get it all mixed up and I wind up with breaded fingers, so I find it easier just to use a pair of tongs.

You want to shake off any excess flour.

Just a thin coating.

Right into the egg.

Want to make sure it gets fully covered.

You want to hold it up and let that egg drip off.

And right into the breadcrumbs.

Now, you can't just use any breadcrumbs, if you want to make a good schnitzel.

You need very fine, very dry breadcrumbs, the kind you buy in a canister at the supermarket.

You want to make sure they're unseasoned because the seasonings in those breadcrumbs usually don't taste very good.

So, packing the breadcrumbs on, shaking them off, and we're just going to lay it onto a wire rack.

Alright, so I'm just going to continue to breed all of these cutlets.

These cutlets now need to sit for about five minutes to really help that coating set before we cook them.

♪♪ While that breaded chicken is resting, I'm going to make a quick fennel apple remoulade that tastes delicious with the schnitzel.

So a remoulade is a classic French sauce that's based on mayonnaise.

So this is 1/4 cup of mayonnaise.

Now, traditionally, the remoulade has a lot of capers in it and usually some herbs, but, this time, we're punching it up and adding some vegetables, so it's almost as much a salad as it is a sauce.

Mustard is another classic flavoring, and this is 2 tablespoons of whole-grain mustard.

And the texture of those whole-grain mustard when those little seeds pop in your mouth is one of my favorites.

Capers, as I mentioned, is a traditional ingredient.

This is the caper brine.

Just 1 tablespoon adds a good little zing.

Last, but not least, a little bit of lemon, about 2 tablespoons or so.

I'm just going to use this citrus press to get the lemon juice out.

That's about one.

That's about two.

Alright, so I'm just going to whisk this together.

And some capers.

Just 2 tablespoons of capers.

Now on to the main attraction.

First up, an apple.

And I'm going to cut this apple into matchsticks without having to core it, first.

We're going to cut around the core.

So I'm going to slice down on one side, spin the apple, down on the other side, and just cut around the core, so you have a straight core.

And sometimes I save that to nibble on it later.

Now, taking one of these pieces, I'm going to slice it about 1/4 inch because that's what you want, 1/4-inch-thick matchsticks.

Slice it into nice planks and then, you can slice each plank down into a nice matchstick.

That's it for the apple and I'm going to put it right into the dressing.

Next up, we're going to add some celery, and this is four stalks of celery.

So I'm going to trim off the ends.

And notice I trimmed off the edges on a bias.

That's because I'm going to slice it nice and thin on a bias, which I just think looks really pretty in a salad.

Alright.

Celery goes into the bowl with the apple.

And, last but not least, the fennel.

This fennel has beautiful fronds on top.

And, while I'm going to trim most of them off, I'm going to save a few of the pretty-looking ones because that's a nice herb garnish for the top.

And on to the bulb of the fennel.

So the first thing you want to do is cut it in half.

And the bulb has an oval shape, so I like to cut it lengthwise and then work with each half independently.

So I'm going to trim off the bottom and then open it up.

You can see this core on the inside.

I'm going to use the tip of my knife to cut that core out.

There we go.

And then, laying the bulb flat, I'm just going to slice it crosswise into very thin slices.

If you get down to the end, and you don't have a lot to hang onto, start to pull apart these pieces, and you can slice them individually.

And then we'll just repeat that for the second half.

And that's it for the fennel.

Going to add it to the bowl.

So now just toss it all together, make sure everything's nice and evenly coated with that dressing.

Alright.

A little bit of salt and pepper because we didn't put any in that dressing.

So I'm going to use my good finishing salt here.

Fresh ground pepper.

Toss it in.

Now it's time for those finishing fronds, which have a very nice, delicate flavor, and it's nice to use as much of the whole part of the vegetable as possible.

Just going to mince them up like they're an herb... ...and I'm going to sprinkle it on top.

That's it for the apple-fennel remoulade.

We also have a terrific recipe for cucumber dill salad.

That tastes pretty good with chicken schnitzel, and you can find that on our website.

Time to fry the chicken schnitzel, and what I have in this pot is 2 cups of vegetable oil that I'm heating up over medium high heat and the trick is to get the oil good and hot, right around 350 degrees.

You have to tip the pot on its side.

You have to let that oil pool to one side of the pot.

There we are.

Alright.

So, now, time to add the chicken.

I'm only going to add two, maybe three cutlets at a time, depending on their size.

I'll start with two.

And this is the other key to making a good schnitzel, is to shake the pot gently as it cooks because you want the oil to lap over the top of the cutlets.

That way, they'll cook evenly and you'll get a nice, sustained puff on the coating.

We're going to cook these for about a minute and a half on each side, till they're nice and golden.

[ Sizzling ] Ooh, beautiful.

Alright.

Flip them over and cook for another minute and a half.

Now, these cutlets are so thin that they will definitely cook through in just two to three minutes.

You don't really need to take a temperature of the meat, but you do want to keep taking a temperature of the oil, so that it maintains around 350 degrees.

[ Sizzling ] These are beautiful and they are ready to come out.

I'm going to put them on a paper towel-lined tray.

And you can see that puff.

That is a good schnitzel.

Alright, just going to flip them over once or twice, try to get any extra oil off.

Oh, that puff.

That is a good puff.

Alright, I'm going to keep these warm in a 200-degree oven while I finish frying the other cutlets.

Oh, you can see this one's puffing so much, it's sticking right out of the oil.

That's a good sign.

Alright, flip them over so they can cook on the second side.

Oh, look at that puff!

Very happy with that.

Alright, keep these warm in the oven while I cook the last batch.

Time to eat.

Look at that schnitzel.

Look!

Now, for a hefty dose of this salad because I love this salad.

Give it a little stir, first, make sure that dressing is nice and incorporated.

Mmm.

Ah, a little more.

Last, but not least, a little squeeze of lemon, right on the chicken.

Oh!

That's a beautiful piece of chicken, right there.

Mmm!

Alright, I got to point this out.

Look at that puff.

[ Laughs ] That's why chicken schnitzel is so elegant -- it has that souffléd look and that delicate crust.

Mmm!

It's such a simple recipe, but, when it's done right, man, does it taste good.

So, if you want to make the ultimate chicken schnitzel, remember to use fine, dried breadcrumbs, heat the oil to 350 degrees, and shake the pot as the chicken cooks.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen" at home, a marvelous recipe for chicken schnitzel.

♪♪ -Whether you're cooking meat or poultry, baking bread, other baked goods, even boiling water, to make coffee or tea, if you know the temperature of whatever it is you're cooking, that will help ensure the best results.

That's why we've tested so many different thermometers over the years at "ATK," and here are a couple that we feel like everyone should have.

No kitchen should be without a digital instant-read thermometer.

This is our favorite.

This is the ThermoWorks Thermapen Mk4 and we love it for a lot of different reasons.

Number one, it's super accurate.

Number two, it's quick to register temperatures, on average, about 2.2 seconds, in our tests.

It's got big, legible digits that are really easy to read and they rotate, so they're always going to be upright, no matter how you're holding the thermometer.

Also, it's got an automatic shutoff and, even better, it's got an automatic wake-up function, so you don't have to stop to turn it back on mid-task.

You can calibrate it, as well.

It's $99, so it's not cheap, but we think it's worth every penny.

If that's too much money for you, good news.

The same company, ThermoWorks, makes our best inexpensive digital instant-read thermometer.

This is the ThermoWorks ThermoPop.

Just like its big brother, it's accurate, it's quick to register temperatures, usually around 3 seconds, on average, in our tests.

The readout's a little smaller and you have to use the functions manually, not automatically, but it's only $29, so you do save a bunch of money.

Now, an instant-read thermometer is for spot-checking the temperature towards the end of cooking.

A digital probe thermometer will monitor the temperature while you're cooking and, better yet, it will sound an alarm when you reach a finished temperature that you program right into it.

It's got a couple of parts.

This is the temperature sensor that goes into the thickest part of whatever you're roasting.

You run the wire out through the oven door, plug it into the receiver, program in your finish temperature, and this will sound an alarm when you get there.

This is our favorite.

It's also by ThermoWorks.

It's the ChefAlarm.

It's $59.

This was accurate, easy to use, and you can calibrate it.

If $59 feels a little bit steep to you, we have a best buy probe thermometer.

This is the Polder Classic digital thermometer and timer.

It's got the same basic functions -- you can program in a temperature, it will sound an alarm, it's got a timer, and it's just $25.

Now, we've done a lot of testing of home ovens and we've found that the temperature can vary by as much as 50 degrees from a set temperature of 350 degrees.

That means you should always use an oven thermometer, so you know how hot your oven actually is.

This is our favorite.

This is the CDN ProAccurate oven thermometer.

It's about $9.

It's accurate.

It's easy to read.

It's got a nice, wide base, so it sits nice and stable on the oven shelf.

You should absolutely have one of these.

In fact, I actually have two oven thermometers because the temperature inside your oven can vary in different spots.

So don't buy just one, buy two.

♪♪ -Ice cube trays are used for a lot more things than just ice, these days.

You can use them for leftovers, for dips, for spreads.

Let me show you what I have in my freezer right now.

Right now, I have ice coffee cubes in here so that I don't have to water down my ice coffee.

These are smaller ice cubes.

They're about 1 teaspoon in size, and it comes with a lid.

In this tray, this holds about 1 tablespoon.

I froze leftover red wine from a bottle that I wasn't going to drink and they're in perfect-size cubes, so, if I am following a recipe that calls for 1/4 cup of wine, I'll grab four ice cubes and put them into my pan sauce.

And this one holds about 1/4 cup, if filled halfway, and I use this one a lot.

And let me show you how I use it.

Here, I've made a batch of red-pepper dip.

It has almonds and garlic.

There's a bunch of good things in here.

And cut the corner off of this bag.

I'm going to squeeze it.

Makes it a little easier to transfer into each cube.

So I like to make double batches of dips and spreads and freeze them in cubes.

If I have last-minute visitors coming over, I can grab some tapenade and some muhammara and put together a really nice, quick spread.

And you have to keep in mind that, when things freeze, they expand, so I don't want to fill this all the way up.

I'm filling it about half full.

Now, all I do is I tap it, so that they're flat.

Tap, tap, tap.

To protect them from freezer burn in the freezer, I'm going to cover each one of them with a very thin layer of extra virgin olive oil.

Olive oil will do a good job of protecting them, plus, it tastes good, so, when it defrosts, it's going to add a little bit more flavor to my dip.

It's as easy as that.

So, ice cube trays are really handy to have on hand for leftovers and for planning ahead.

♪♪ -I have a couple potato lovers in my house, one of them being me, so potato roesti is a dish that we make a lot.

Now, potato roesti is a crisp cake made with shredded potatoes, that hails from Switzerland.

And it's a versatile recipe.

It can be served with fried eggs for breakfast.

It can be served with a roast.

It can be served a hundred different ways.

So let's get started with the potatoes.

Our favorite potato for this was a Yukon Gold potato.

Medium moisture, medium starch, and they have a great buttery flavor.

So I'm just going to peel 1.5 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes.

I like to peel the ends of my potatoes, first, and then you can just go around and do the sides really easily.

Okay, the potatoes are peeled, and now we can get into shredding them.

Now, I'm going to use a food processor today because it makes really long shreds that stick together and make a nice network.

You can use a box grater, but you want to make sure you get the longest shreds possible.

Okay, so we have our potatoes shredded and you can see that we have some nice, long shreds here.

Now, Yukon Gold potatoes are almost perfect, but sometimes they have a little bit too much starch, which makes them gummy.

So I'm going to rinse the starch off the potatoes, so we can get the perfect amount every single time.

Okay, I have plenty of water in there.

We've gotten the starch off the potatoes.

Now, I can drain them.

We want to mix the potatoes right in this bowl, so I'm just going to wipe it out and get rid of any excess starch.

Now our potatoes are too wet, so I'm going to take this towel and I'm going to wring out as much moisture as I can.

It's best to do this in a couple of batches and, that way, you can get all of the moisture out.

Gather up the sides.

Make a ball.

Like that.

You can really put some muscle into this.

I'll take that and dump that right into our bowl.

Okay.

We'll do this again.

Second batch is done.

We've gotten rid of the potatoes' natural starch.

Now it's time to add back the perfect amount of starch.

So I'm going to do that using cornstarch.

I have 1 teaspoon.

I'll just sprinkle that over the potatoes.

We're also going to add 1/2 teaspoon of table salt and some black pepper.

I like a lot of black pepper in my roesti.

I'm just going to stir this together with a fork.

I've got 2 tablespoons of butter starting to melt in this 10-inch nonstick skillet.

Now, I really like to cook my roesti with butter.

I think it adds much more flavor and it really pairs well with the Yukon Gold potatoes.

Now that it's melted, I'm going to add the potatoes.

You could also use bacon fat or duck fat, too.

Now that I have the potatoes in there, I'm going to leave these unpacked and loose and I'm going to cover it for the first six minutes.

That cover's going to trap the steam and it's going to rise up through that loose network of potatoes and cook the potatoes evenly.

♪♪ It's been six minutes, and let's check on our potatoes.

You can see that the potatoes have taken on this translucent color, which means that they're actually almost cooked.

So now it's time to pack it down, form a nice, tidy cake, and continue to cook it until it's nice and golden brown on the bottom, about four to six minutes.

And, as it cooks in that four to six minutes, I'll continue to press down on the top of it.

It's been about six minutes and I've been pressing on this occasionally and I can see that the potato cake is nice and golden brown around the edges.

So it's time to flip.

Now, if I were brave, I would do it in one fell swoop, but I'm not.

I'm going to do it the safe way.

So I'm going to slide this out onto the first plate.

I'm going to take a second plate and invert it on top of that cake and then flip the whole thing over.

Oh, perfect on the first side.

Now it's time to cook the second side.

I have 2 more tablespoons of butter here.

We'll add that to the skillet and let it melt.

Okay, our butter is melted and I'm going to slide this potato cake back in.

Oh, perfect.

I'll tidy up the sides, press it down, and we're going to cook this on the second side for about seven to nine minutes, until that side is golden brown.

♪♪ It's been nine minutes, and the second side is well browned, but it's not time to eat yet.

I'm going to shut the heat off and let the cake sit in the pan for five minutes.

The starches will gel a little bit, and it will make a nice, cohesive cake.

The roesti has sat for five minutes in the pan, and now it's time to eat.

Looks beautiful.

Feeling a little hungry, so I'm just going to cut this into quarters.

The edge part is always the best of the roesti.

[ Crunching ] It's really great.

The texture's outstanding.

The exterior is super crisp and the inside is super, super creamy.

It's two polar opposites.

And the flavor is also off the charts.

It's buttery in a couple different ways.

You have the butter that we cooked the cake in, but also, the Yukon Gold have a nice buttery flavor that matches that.

So, if you want to try making this potato roesti at home, here are a couple of things to remember -- start with Yukon Gold potatoes, make sure that you control the starch, and start cooking in a covered pan.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen" at home, the perfect recipe for potato roesti.

-Thanks for watching.

You can get all of the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and more at our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.