♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Dan grills Bridget Peruvian pollo a la brasa.

Adam reviews countertop ice makers, and Lan makes Julia Malaysian grilled chicken satay.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

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♪♪ -Today we're making pollo a la brasa.

It's a dish from Peru that takes whole chickens and cooks them rotisserie style over embers.

Nice wood fire.

Now, the Peruvians love it so much that they give it a national holiday.

We love it so much that we're giving it some attention here in the test kitchen.

And Dan's got a great recipe for us.

-That's right.

This is my favorite way to eat a chicken.

The cooking method is amazing.

So much flavor.

And the sauces that we're gonna get to are incredible.

We're gonna start with a really nice marinade that's based off of some beer.

We're doing a beer-can-chicken style on the grill.

So we're gonna use the can here as well.

We're gonna pour out 1/2 cup of beer.

We've got 2 tablespoons of pureed or minced garlic.

You need that garlic.

2 tablespoons of lime juice.

Now, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

This is gonna bring a ton of umami savoriness to it.

Also some salt, which is gonna help keep our chicken really juicy.

-Mm-hmm.

-2 teaspoons of table salt.

2 teaspoons of yellow mustard.

And some spices.

So I have 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, and a teaspoon of ground cumin.

So just whisk this up.

Alright.

Let's head over to our pollo.

So I have about a 4-pound bird here.

Our first step is to make as many channels and access points for that marinade as possible.

-Okay.

-So you can do this with a wooden spoon.

I actually really like doing it with my hands.

-Yeah.

So a lot of people might just marinate it as is.

But really the marinade has a hard time getting through the skin.

-It definitely does.

So this does a couple of things.

As I mentioned, it makes, you know, space for all that marinade to go in.

But it also helps separate the skin from the meat.

And that's gonna help it render on the grill.

So that is beautiful.

I'm gonna tuck our wing tips.

Alright.

So I'm gonna transfer to a big bowl here.

And this is where it just gets messy and fun.

So I'm gonna use our marinade, and I'm gonna pour it in.

We're gonna get it in a cavity.

We're gonna get it between the skin and the meat.

And then we're gonna get it all over the exterior as well.

-You are not playing around here.

-Not playing around.

And we're gonna cover this with plastic.

This is gonna go into the fridge for 24 hours.

I'm gonna flip it halfway through so that the top is also sitting in that marinade as well.

Bridget, have I ever told you that mayonnaise is my favorite sauce on the planet?

-You know who you're talking to, right?

-You're the mayonnaise queen.

-I am one-third mayonnaise... as I'm standing here.

-It's just the greatest thing ever.

And what's so amazing about it is you make this permanent emulsion out of just oil and a little bit of egg.

And then once it's at this stage, you can add so much to it and it doesn't break.

It stays together.

It makes everything creamy.

So the Peruvians have done it right with these two sauces here that go with chicken.

This first one is an aji verde and it starts with mayonnaise.

This is 1/2 cup.

These are super-simple blender dressings.

And now we have a jalapeño.

This has been stemmed and seeded and then chopped up.

So I've got 3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro.

I've got 2 tablespoons of cotija cheese that's been grated.

2 tablespoons of lime juice.

And then I have 2 tablespoons of huacatay paste.

Now, huacatay is an herb.

It's called black mint.

It's gonna bring a really nice depth to this.

And finally one minced garlic clove.

-Alright.

-Okay, great.

Now we're gonna combine it in the easiest way possible, which is just blending for about a minute in the blender.

-Sounds good.

Lovely green sauce.

Smells great, too.

Very fresh.

-Our next sauce is another fabulous one.

Again, it's gonna start with mayonnaise.

So this is 1/2 cup of mayonnaise.

Okay, and here is our aji amarillo paste.

It's based on the aji chili, which is so fruity.

That's what I really love about it.

-Right.

-Like, habanero-level fruity but much less spicy.

-Nice.

-So you can use a lot of it.

So this is 2 tablespoons of aji amarillo paste.

-Mmm.

-I have a tablespoon of lime juice.

One minced garlic clove.

And then finally just a teaspoon of the huacatay.

This is gonna give some nice background to it.

That looks beautiful.

Alright, so let's move over here.

We've got our chicken that's marinated overnight.

And we have our setup over here with our rest of our beer can.

So I'm just gonna give this a quick spray.

So that's just to lubricate it a little bit.

So what we're gonna actually do is have our chicken vertical so we can get heat on all sides.

-Right.

-In order to do that, we're gonna use the beer can.

We got a little weight in there, which is nice, from the liquid.

And that helps hold it steady.

Okay, great.

So we have it on here and this is perfect.

The bowl helps catch everything and we can transfer it out to the grill this way.

Okay, I'm gonna wash my hands up, and then we're gonna get to our wood-chip packet.

So we love a little bit of smoke on this chicken.

It mimics that rotisserie where you have fat and juices dripping off and then flaring up and kind of kissing the chicken with a smoky flavor.

-Mmm.

-So we're gonna mimic that with a foil packet here.

So I have a cup of dry wood chips.

No need to soak.

And I'm gonna arrange them basically kind of 8 by 4 inches.

It's spread out that way so that you get nice heat hitting all of the chips at the same time.

And then I'm gonna fold this over.

Airflow is incredibly important when it comes to smoking versus burning.

So if you were to take these and just put them, you know, put them in the fire there, they're gonna catch on fire.

-Right.

-We want them to smolder.

So I'm gonna cut two 2-inch slits in the top here.

It's grill time.

-Nice.

-Let's go.

So we're gonna do a really cool grill setup here, Bridget, where we're gonna basically mimic a rotisserie.

-Mm-hmm.

-That starts with this disposable aluminum pan in the center of the grill.

That's gonna allow us to split the coals on either side, so we don't have heat coming up from the center that just torches the chicken.

-Right.

-So I've got 4 quarts of coals here, about two-thirds of a chimney.

And it's ashed over on top.

So I'm gonna dump half on this side and half on this side.

Okay.

So we want great smoke flavor.

We have a perfect smoke packet here.

-Right.

-And that's gonna go on one side of the coals.

Okay.

And then we put the rack right on top and we cover.

We'll let this get really nice and hot.

It takes about five minutes and we'll see some smoke start as well.

-Okay.

-Alright.

This grill is hot.

I can feel it from out here.

And I see little wisps of smoke.

So we'll take the lid off and I'm just gonna scrape it down.

Great.

So I'm not gonna bother oiling this.

Our chicken isn't really gonna touch the grill very much.

I'm gonna place it on with the wings facing the fire.

I'm gonna cover the grill.

We're gonna orient this so that we have our vent open across from the wood packet so we get the best draw right over the bird.

-Okay.

Gotcha.

-And the bottom vent is open, too, so we get really nice flow here.

So we're gonna cook this and turn -- a quarter turn every 15 minutes.

-Oh, okay.

-And that's what's gonna really give us that rotisserie-style cook.

So it takes about an hour to an hour and a quarter.

It's been 15 minutes, so it's time for our first quarter turn.

-Oh-ho-ho!

Wow.

-Already getting nice and smoky.

-A lot of color there.

-Okay.

So I'm gonna use some paper towels and tongs here.

-Okay.

-And you're just giving it a nice turn.

-Oh, the smell!

-Alright.

Lid goes back on.

So another 15 minutes, we'll do the same thing.

So it's been about an hour and a quarter.

-Okay.

-We did lots of rotating.

And now you finally get to see the fruits of our labor.

-Mmm.

Oh, gorgeous!

-Isn't that unbelievable?

-That's a centerfold of a chicken if I've ever seen.

Now, that's amazing.

-Okay, so we're gonna look for about 175 in the thigh here.

Looks like we're 172.

So that's perfect.

So the easiest way to get this off is just a few paper towels like this.

So we're gonna let this rest for 15 minutes, and then we can get it off the can and get to eating.

Okay.

Our beautiful pollo has been resting for 15 minutes, so it's time to get it out of here.

We'll bring it over to the cutting board, and then I'm gonna hold on to the chicken and just kind of work the can out of the bottom.

There we go.

So I'm just gonna use a nice sharp knife.

I use a chef's knife a lot of times for carving.

-Mmm.

Look at that.

-So I'm just following the breastbone down.

Start angling my knife this way And then what I like to do is one last cut over here to separate the skin.

-That skin is well-rendered, too.

Beautiful.

-Yeah, so you can tell it's super thin.

I'm just gonna cut these in half and just give it a little press down... till it starts to pop.

Pull.

And now I'm just gonna go back here.

The little line that... -Mm-hmm.

-...you can see in the bottom here in terms of where you cut through and split it.

-Gorgeous.

Prettiest chicken I've ever seen come off the grill.

-Let's do a little breast.

And I think you got to go for...the drum.

-Lovely.

-So here's our aji amarillo and some aji verde.

-Looks incredible.

Which one should I go for first?

-I'd try the amarillo first.

-Alright.

Mmm.

That's big flavor.

-It's so good.

The aji chili -- I love how it's so fruity.

And you've got the garlic in there.

Obviously mayonnaise is the greatest sauce on the Earth.

-Yeah.

-It just brings it all together.

It's amazing.

-I'm gonna go for the verde.

So different, but they're complementary to each other, too.

-Mm-hmm.

-I love that you're serving it with both.

-Exactly.

I think they're kind of a tribute, each of them, to the chili.

-Right.

-Right?

So you have jalapeño here, which is grassy, the aji, which is so fruity.

-Mm-hmm.

This was fantastic.

Just not enough for leftovers in my opinion.

-I know.

I'll get another one going.

-Alright.

Sounds good.

You're gonna definitely want to grill this chicken at home.

And it starts by applying a flavorful marinade inside, outside, and under the skin of the chicken.

Position the chicken upright and grill, smoke slowly and serve the chicken with two sauces made with green and yellow chilies.

So from "America's Test Kitchen" and Peru, it's pollo a la brasa.

Now, you know we could have just gone there and eaten it.

-I mean, you said you didn't have it in your budget.

♪♪ -The one thing you can never have enough of at a party is ice.

So Adam's here today to show us the best countertop ice makers on the market.

-And, man, can a countertop ice maker be your savior at a party if you need it for a home bar that's not plumbed in with an ice maker.

-Ahh.

-Also, for RVs and boats, they're great.

-Interesting.

-We tested nine different countertop ice makers.

The price range was $109 up to $649.

-Wow.

-And between the nine, they made three types of ice.

-Okay.

-Right here, we have bullet ice.

-Okay.

-And that's cylindrical and hollow.

-Mm-hmm.

-In front of that silver machine, we have square ice.

-Oh, yeah.

-Which is square.

-Yep.

-And in front of this machine, this is nugget ice or pellet ice.

-Ooh!

-You know those little tiny pieces of ice you get at some bars and soda fountains and stuff that people love to chew?

That's the stuff.

-Oh, that's exciting.

-These are not freezers per se, so they're not gonna keep ice cubes frozen indefinitely.

-Oh.

-If the ice isn't used, taken out of the bin, it's gonna start melting.

The water will drop into a collection thing underneath and it gets recirculated.

-Okay.

-There are sensors to sort of keep an eye on that and recirculate it.

In terms of the design and the performance of these, it has to make nice ice, Julia.

-Pretty much one job.

-Most of them did.

A couple of them didn't.

-Ohh.

-There were two machines where the cubes came out stuck together rather than separate and discreet.

They got marked down for that.

So you want to have a control panel that's reasonably simple to decipher and use.

Ice production is another important factor.

You want as much ice as you can get.

This one had the highest output... -Ooh.

-...at 2 pounds of ice per hour.

-Ooh, that's a lot.

-Some of them were close on its heels at about a pound and a half of ice per hour.

You can tell from looking at these that some of them are obviously kind of big and bulky.

-Yeah.

-Others are a lot smaller.

-Mm-hmm.

-This was one of the most compact.

It's smaller.

It was also one of the lightest.

The weight ranged from 15 pounds to 43 pounds.

-Wow.

-This was about 17 pounds, and this one had a nice, sturdy grab handle.

-I noticed that.

-So it's really portable because it's easy to move... -Hmm.

-...which testers definitely appreciated.

-Yeah, especially if you're not gonna keep it on your counter all the time.

-All the time.

Cleaning was an issue.

Some of these had automatic self-cleaning cycles.

Those were really appreciated by the testers.

So our favorite one of these ice makers for most people is this one right here.

This is the Igloo Premium self-cleaning countertop ice maker.

It's $153, so the price is good.

-Mm-hmm.

-It produced enough ice.

It's reasonably light and compact.

It had a really good control panel, a great self-cleaning cycle.

-Oh.

-If you are an ice aficionado and you must have that nugget ice that you can chew, this is the GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker.

You have to have a budget for your nugget ice.

This one is $649.

-Oooh!

-And it's, um, you know, it's bulky, it's heavy.

It's still pretty movable.

If you have to have your nugget ice, you have to have your nugget ice.

And then again, this was the Newair and that was our production champ.

-Gotcha.

Adam, this is fascinating.

Thank you.

-I am coming to your next party, and I want a nice, tall, icy drink.

-'Bout time.

There you have it.

If you're in the market for a countertop ice maker, the one we think works best for most people is the Igloo Premium self-cleaning countertop ice maker at about $150.

♪♪ Across Southeast Asia, there are many versions of grilled marinated chicken skewers known as satay.

And today, Lan's gonna make us a version from Malaysia called satay ayam.

-Julia, have you ever had satay ayam?

-Mnh-mnh.

I'm excited.

-Oh, it's so good.

The chicken is marinated in this really flavorful paste and then threaded onto skewers, popped over hot coals.

Gets this really great char.

It's tender, it's juicy, and there's this awesome peanut sauce that goes with it.

-Oh, nice.

-Yeah, I've got two stalks of lemongrass.

I love this stuff.

I'm just gonna trim the ends off and cut this off.

-Ahh, it smells so clean.

-Delicious.

But it's very fibrous.

And we want this to not be chewy in our satay paste.

So I'm gonna cut these in half.

I'm gonna go ahead and soften them up a little bit with a meat pounder.

-The kitchen just got very aromatic.

-Yeah.

I want to mince these stalks before I process them.

Right into our food processor.

This is galangal.

And if you can't find fresh, that's fine.

You can use frozen.

It's a rhizome.

It's related to ginger.

And I'm using an inch of galangal here.

Um, I'm gonna peel it.

And you could use a peeler for this.

But, really, any small, sharp knife will do.

I'm gonna mince this as well.

It's also a little fibrous.

This doesn't have to be perfect because it's all going in the food processor.

That's it for our knife work for now.

Um, I've got three shallots here that I've chopped.

3 tablespoons of water.

-Okay.

-1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

1 tablespoon of packed brown sugar, three garlic cloves chopped.

I've got some ginger as well.

This is an inch of ginger that I've cut into eighth-inch-thick coins, 2 teaspoons of table salt to season that chicken, 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric.

And then, for some heat, I'm using red pepper flake.

Um, you can use anywhere between 1/2 teaspoon to 3/4 of a teaspoon.

-What are you doing today?

-What do you think?

-You went all in, didn't you?

-Sure did.

-[ Laughing ] -Um, so I'll just pop this on, and I'm gonna process this until everything is a homogenous paste.

That's gonna take about two minutes, and I'll stop halfway through to scrape down the sides.

I'm going to use part of this for our peanut sauce.

So we'll reserve 1/3 cup of this mixture and use it later to start our sauce.

-Ahh, double duty.

-Here we go.

Um, and then the rest of this is for marinating our chicken.

So I'm gonna dump it into this bowl.

Use a big bowl that's gonna hold all of that chicken.

Couple last additions.

I've got 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander just to flavor that chicken.

I'll give that a quick stir.

One last step.

I'm going to cover this and microwave it for a minute and a half.

And that's just to make sure that that raw ginger in there cooks so it won't turn our chicken mushy.

-So as Lan just mentioned, you have to cook the ginger or else it'll have a negative effect on the chicken.

Here's why.

Ginger naturally contains an enzyme called zingibain.

Zingibain is a protease enzyme, which means it breaks down muscle protein.

When raw ginger comes in contact with a chicken, the enzyme snips the meat's protein, breaking up the muscle and giving it a mushy, unpleasant texture.

To denature the zingibain enzyme without affecting its flavor, we give it a zap of heat in the microwave before using.

Now with that meat-tenderizing enzyme deactivated, you can get all the ginger flavor without having it turn the chicken mushy.

-Alright, Julia.

Next up, the peanut sauce.

-Mmm.

-Want to take a guess at what we're gonna need?

I've got 1/3 cup of dry-roasted peanuts here.

-Mm-hmm.

-These are unsalted.

And they're gonna go right into this food processor.

Same one as before because that paste is also gonna flavor our peanut sauce.

-Right.

-So I want to finely grind these by processing for 15 seconds.

Okay.

So that can hang out here.

-Okay.

-We don't need them quite yet.

We're gonna start by cooking out our herb paste.

I've got 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil here, and it's going into a medium saucepan along with that third of a cup of reserved paste.

I'm just gonna cook this medium-low heat until a fond forms.

Julia, you can see that this paste is kind of browning.

It's picking up color.

It's not that vibrant yellow anymore.

-Mm-hmm.

It's sticking to the pan.

-Yeah, and the corners are starting to pick up great color.

I've got 3/4 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of tamarind concentrate.

And then last step -- 1 tablespoon of packed brown sugar, and peanuts.

-The peanuts.

-The peanuts.

They're coming back.

They're gonna go right in here.

Now, I want to give this a good stir.

Scrape up any of that fond, any of those brown bits in the corners of the pot.

I'll let this come back up to a simmer, and we're gonna cook this until it reduces to about 1 cup of sauce.

That's gonna take 8 to 10 minutes.

-Okay.

Alright, Lan, you had me suit up with gloves.

-We're gonna be in this satay paste in a minute.

Before we get to that, though, I've got some chicken here.

2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

Now, I want to cut these into strips that are 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide.

It's gonna go right in and I'll give it a good toss.

So after this paste came out of the microwave, I popped it into the fridge to let it cool.

I didn't want to start cooking before we got outside.

Yeah, this looks great.

Nice and coated.

I've got two of my skewers here and I'm gonna hold them so they're about an inch apart.

And I'm actually gonna thread the chicken onto both skewers at the same time.

-Interesting.

-The other thing you want to keep in mind is to leave a little bit of space between these pieces of chicken.

-Mm-hmm.

-We want to expose as much surface area as possible for great browning.

And we're gonna get four sets of skewers.

So we'll keep going until we get all this chicken skewered.

This chicken can hang out in the fridge for four hours, but we're not gonna do that.

We're going right outside as soon as I wrap up the sauce.

This has been cooking for 8 to 10 minutes.

You can see it's tightened up quite a bit.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's gotten a lot darker.

This is just gonna hang out here.

I'm gonna pop a lid onto this, and it's just gonna keep warm while we're outside.

Alright, Julia, I snuck out and got us set for grilling.

I have 7 quarts of charcoal here spread into an even layer.

It's gonna help us build a really hot fire because we want to get that charring.

This has been preheating for five minutes.

I want to give it a quick scrape to clean off any debris.

-Yep.

-Now, to make sure that there isn't sticking, I'm gonna start by oiling these grill grates.

-Mm-hmm.

-Oiling the grates is a good start, but we need a little bit more oil to prevent sticking.

We don't want that paste stuck to our grill.

-Mm.

-I've got 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil here.

And I'm just gonna brush this on these chicken pieces just very lightly.

Little insurance against sticking.

And these are just gonna go right on the grill.

-Oh, that smells so good.

-Doesn't it?

-Oh, when the spice paste hits the hot fire.

-Now, because that fire is so hot, this is actually gonna go pretty fast.

I'm looking for that first side to get some nice grill marks and some nice charring.

That usually takes about five minutes.

Julia, it's been about five minutes, and I think we're getting there.

-Okay.

-Let's have a peek.

Now, the nice thing about having two skewers is you can just... -Oh, look how easy that was.

-...flip the whole thing over.

They don't spin.

Now that they're all flipped, I'm gonna let the grill do its thing on the second side.

We're looking at 3 to 5 minutes to let that chicken come up to 175 to 180 degrees.

-Okay.

-Julia, it's been five minutes, and these are looking really tasty.

-They smell amazing, Lan.

-They smell amazing, don't they?

Let's, uh, let's have a look at the second side.

-Gorgeous.

-Looks great.

So these are gonna come right off, land on our sheet pan.

Let's head inside.

-Yes, please.

-I know you want to dive in, but we have one last thing to do.

I'm gonna finish this peanut sauce.

I'm gonna gently reheat it.

You can see, this has really thickened up.

And I just want to loosen it up with a tiny bit of water just so it pours nicely.

And I'm just gonna add a touch at a time, stirring it in.

There's no science to this.

-The color of this chicken is magnificent.

That sauce looks delicious.

-Oh, it's so tasty.

I can't wait for you to try it.

-I'm gonna try the chicken without the sauce to start.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mmm.

The flavor keeps on developing as you eat it.

-There's a lot going on there.

Right?

-There's a lot there.

-Try it with the sauce.

-Alright.

The chicken is perfectly moist, too.

I'm so glad you used thighs.

-Right?

And we got all that great char on there without drying it out.

-Lan, this is terrific.

Thank you.

-Oh, it's my pleasure.

-If you want to try this terrific Malaysian version of chicken satay, make a fresh, aromatic paste using lemongrass, galangal and ginger.

Microwave the marinade to temper that zingibain enzyme in the ginger and use a double skewer method for the chicken.

From "America's Test Kitchen," an incredible recipe for grilled chicken satay.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and select episodes at our website -- americastestkitchen.com/tv.

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