♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen"... Keith makes Julia spaghetti all'assassina... Jack challenges Bridget and Julia to a head-to-head tasting of whole canned tomatoes... and Elle makes Bridget triple mushroom pasta.

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

"America's Test Kitchen" is brought to you by the following.

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♪♪ -Spaghetti all'assassina, or the assassin's spaghetti, is a dish from the city of Bari in Italy, which is on the Adriatic Coast.

And it's a very simple dish, but it has a unique cooking method, which Keith -- Keith the Killa -- is going to show us how to make today.

-At first glance, this is spaghetti with tomato sauce, but you said a unique technique.

And that unique technique of simmering and frying the pasta in one skillet is what makes it so great.

It has this super-concentrated tomato sauce, and the texture of the pasta runs from soft to al dente to crunchy.

It's absolutely fantastic.

-I can't wait.

-So the method is called risotto torta.

So it's cooking the pasta like rice where you're adding small amounts of broth to the pasta, letting that cook down and reduce, and then adding a little bit more.

So we're going to start with our tomato broth.

So I have 6 cups of water in that medium saucepan.

I'm going to add 1/4 cup of tomato paste to that.

-So this is similar to making risotto where you'd have a broth going on the side and slowly add it to the dish.

-Correct.

And I'm also going to add a teaspoon of sugar to that.

That will just balance the tomato's acidity, give it a little bit of sweetness.

So I'm going to whisk that in there.

That looks good.

So I'm just going to turn that on medium-high.

I'm going to let that come up to a simmer.

Once it's up to a simmer, I'm just going to turn it down to the lowest possible setting on our burner and put a cover on that.

-Okay.

-While our broth is coming up to a simmer, we can focus on our skillet and start to cook some of our aromatics.

I have 1/3 cup of olive oil in this 12-inch nonstick skillet.

It sounds like a fair amount of oil, but we're going to be frying at the end, and you're going to thank me because we're gonna have a lot of starch in there, and it will stick like crazy if you don't have some oil.

To that oil, I'm going to add 2 cloves of minced garlic.

I'm going to add 3/4 teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes.

-Hello!

-Hello!

-[ Laughs ] -It's spicy.

We want it spicy.

And that's where the name "assassina" comes from.

So I'm just going to turn this skillet on medium.

And we're going to cook that until that's nice and fragrant, which will take about 2 minutes.

It's been cooking for 2 minutes, and you can smell that garlic already.

Now, I'm going to add 1 cup of tomato passata to this.

-Interesting!

Now, that's not an ingredient we've called for a lot in the past.

-No.

Relatively new to us.

It's similar to a tomato purée, but rather than the tomatoes being cooked, the tomatoes are raw, so it's a lot brighter, a lot more acidic.

I'm also going to add 1 and 3/4 teaspoon of table salt.

And that's going to season our pasta.

Just want those flavors to kind of meld for that passata to reduce a little bit, which will take 4 minutes.

It's been 4 minutes, and our passata has been cooking and it's slightly reduced.

So now I'm going to add our pasta.

I have 12 ounces of spaghetti here.

Try to get that into an as even layer as possible.

You can't get it fully even.

But that looks perfect.

And I'm going to start adding our broth.

So this is our first addition.

I have 1 cup of tomato broth.

It's really important to kind of be diligent about stirring at the beginning.

Get that sauce in between there and stir.

And this is going to take 4 to 5 minutes for that to start absorbing in there.

And then we'll come back and add a little bit more broth.

Okay, you can see a lot of that moisture has been absorbed into the pasta.

And the pasta is actually starting to soften a little bit, so it's shaping into the form of the skillet.

And you can also see the oil starting to break a little bit and sizzle around the edges.

-Yeah.

You can hear it.

-[ Sizzling ] -So that is the first cup.

So now I'll add another cup, and I'll continue to stir this and kind of separate the strands, making sure the sauce is in between those strands and it's not sticking, especially up here and here where they're kind of pinched together.

-This is so interesting!

I have to say, I've never cooked pasta like this.

-Yeah, it takes a little while because you have to keep stirring it, but it's well worth it -- promise.

Okay, so I'm just going to continue stirring this, making sure that I shake the skillet and get in between the layers of pasta.

For about 5 to 7 minutes until that liquid is almost all absorbed.

Our second addition of broth has reduced down, and now it's time to do a little flip.

So I want to flip this to make sure that the pasta is cooking evenly.

Most of the cooking is happening in the bottom, so I want to make sure that the top pieces go to the bottom, bottom pieces come to the top.

So the easiest way is to take two thin spatulas, and I'm going to separate them and do it in two batches.

-Whoa!

-Yeah.

And you can see we're getting some caramelization in there.

-Yeah!

-And that's exactly what we want.

That's going to add a ton of flavor to this dish.

I'll flip the second side over like that.

Straighten that up a little bit like so.

More broth.

This is our third cup of broth.

Add that.

Just like we've been doing in the past, make sure we separate those strands.

And then wait another 5 to 7 minutes.

-Okay.

-Third addition of broth has been absorbed by the pasta, and now it's time for another cup.

Mhm.

-This is fascinating!

Even though it's just broth going on pasta, how the pasta is reacting is really unusual.

-Yeah, it's a transformative process... -Yeah!

-...that's really fun to watch.

Okay, again, another 5 to 7 minutes.

We'll come back, and we'll do a second flip at that point.

-Okay.

-Fourth cup of broth is now absorbed.

And we've been cooking for about 20, 25 minutes.

And now it's time for a second turn, just like last time.

And, again, turning is going to even out the cook and also even out some of that browning.

-That browning looks delicious, by the way.

-I think that's the best part of this dish.

Okay.

Because the pasta is starting to cook, it's not going to stay in these nice, perfectly long strands.

But that's okay.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I'm going to add one more cup of broth here.

Now, after the fifth cup of broth, it's getting really pretty close, and so what I'll do is I'll let this cook down.

And as it's cooking down, I'll keep testing for doneness.

If at the end of 5 or 7 minutes, it needs a little bit more time, I'll add a little bit more broth, 1/2 cup at a time.

But this might be it.

-Okay, So this dish is perfect for spill-prone eaters like myself because the sauce winds up inside the pasta.

Let's take a closer look.

When you cook pasta the traditional way, heat and moisture work together to cook the pasta's starch, allowing it to soften and absorb water from the outside in.

In fact, 12 ounces of pasta will absorb about 18 ounces of water during cooking.

For spaghetti all'assassina, instead of boiling the noodles in water, we cook them directly in a brothy sauce of tomato paste, tomato passata, and water.

The spaghetti still absorbs 18 ounces of liquid, but now the tomato sauce is inside the pasta.

This allows us to get noodles that are jam-packed with flavor without any extra sauce on top or on my shirt.

-Our fifth cup of broth has been absorbed by the pasta.

Now I just want to go in and grab a strand to see if it is ready.

Perfect.

Just the perfect al dente.

So, at this point, you don't need any more broth.

We're actually going to increase the heat.

We want to promote more browning.

So I'm going to go up to high.

I'm just going to leave the pasta, without stirring it, for 3 to 5 minutes until that bottom is nice and brown and crisp.

And, actually, if we get some charring on there, that's a good thing.

Been cooking this for about 3 minutes, and I've been kind of periodically checking underneath there with a spatula to see how it's going.

And it looks beautiful.

So I'm going to cut the heat.

-You can smell it, too.

You can smell the change in the pasta.

You can smell -- Oh, that's what I smelled!

-Yeah.

-Is that alright?

-Yeah.

That's okay.

That charring is a good thing.

-Okay.

-You want some charring there.

So I'm just going to kind of stir this in so we get a wide range of textures when we serve this.

-Okay.

-So I'm just going to have one final addition of 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Going to add a nice fruity flavor to this.

Ooh!

-That looks so good.

You know, you usually think of charring on pieces of meat.

Like, out on the grill, you think char is good.

Rarely do you think charred pasta is good, so this is kind of a first for me.

-Well, I think you will enjoy it.

-Alright.

Mmm!

There is so much more flavor in this dish than it looks like.

It is packed with tomato flavor.

I got the kick of the heat.

Hello!

-Yeah, it does have a kick to it, doesn't it?

-The garlic.

But it's the texture of the pasta.

There's some al dente bits, some tender bits.

And then you get a crunchy bit like that kind of mixed in.

-Uh-huh.

-Mmm-mmm-mmm!

-Yeah, it really does pack a punch.

-Yeah!

Thank you.

-Welcome.

-If you want to make this killer pasta dish, start by making a tomato broth and a tomato sauce in separate pans.

Cook the spaghetti in the sauce, periodically adding broth and flipping it over.

Finish cooking over high heat until the spaghetti begins to char.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a terrific recipe for spaghetti all'assassina.

You don't even need, like, cheese or anything on this.

It is perfect as is!

♪♪ -So I have some news.

I've changed my mind about something earth-shattering.

-Okay.

I'm intrigued.

-[ Laughs ] -For years, I've been telling people on "America's Test Kitchen" you should just buy American canned tomatoes.

-Mm-hmm.

-Right.

-I think I may have been wrong.

-[ Gasps ] -Really?!

-No!

-Yeah.

Now, it's not really my fault.

-Okay.

-Um, the way we were tasting the tomatoes gave the American brands a leg up.

So these are San Marzano tomatoes from Italy.

You see they're long and skinny.

They have very thin walls, so you get more of the flavorful jelly inside.

But they're much softer.

There's no calcium chloride, that firming agent that the American tomatoes, which look nice and firm -- is because they got this calcium chloride.

What you can't see is they also have four times as much salt.

And they have citric acid to make them punchier.

And so when you do a tasting right from the can, as you guys know, saltier foods always win taste tests.

-Mm-hmm.

That's right.

-And when we did the taste test then with sauce, which is what you're tasting now -- it's a very basic, simple sauce -- the results flipped on their head, and we decided we should really just be prioritizing the sauce tasting because who eats canned tomatoes right from the can?

-Not too many people.

-[ Laughs ] -So in addition to San Marzano tomatoes -- D.O.P., from Italy, they've got the label, they're more expensive -- and the classic American style, there is a third choice on the table.

There are now "San Marzano style" tomatoes from the U.S.

We thought this was really kind of confusing because they're kind of halfway in price point between the more expensive Italian tomatoes and the cheaper American.

Some of the brands are closer to the Italian tomatoes in the sense they're longer and skinnier.

One brand didn't have the calcium chloride, the firming agent, but a lot of the brands, we were like, "Okay, this is the same as their American product."

Right.

-And in most cases, we thought, "San Marzano style?"

If you really want San Marzano tomatoes, you should be getting the thing from Italy, not the faux product from the U.S.

-Right.

-We still like American tomatoes, you know, especially if you want something that's got more acidity to it, but our winner is actually from Italy.

So you've been tasting the sauces.

So these are very simple sauces, obviously.

-My shirt's been tasting, too.

-[ Laughs ] I can count on you for that, Julia.

You want to go first and tell me what you're thinking about the samples in front of you?

-First of all, the sauce is delicious.

-Yeah.

-They're all passable.

-The second one is my least favorite.

It's a bit watery.

It's just -- It has a little less flavor than the others.

I like all the others.

I really like number one.

-Okay.

-It's -- It's lovely.

Um, it's -- I like the texture of it.

-And what about the texture?

-The texture is just a bit smoother.

In some of these, there are chunks, which I'm guessing is the calcium chloride, and I don't like that in my sauce.

They still taste a little raw, whereas the others it feels like a cooked sauce.

And so I like the texture.

It tastes like a sweet tomato.

-Okay.

-So I like that.

"C" is good.

"D," I get more of those chunky bits, but the flavor of "D" is better than the flavor of "B," but they're -- So I guess "A" and "C" are kind of my favorites.

"D" is great.

"B," least favorite.

but I'd still eat it for dinner.

-Yeah.

Well, Bridget?

-Ditto.

[ Laughter ] -What, you're making her do all the work?

-Yeah.

Kind of.

I mean, she -- she nailed it.

I was thinking the same thing.

The chunkier, "D," I would maybe make a salsa, like, put together salsa with it, because you want that chunkier texture.

But, again, same thing.

This one had the least amount of flavor.

-Okay.

-Still delicious.

I am going to switch these two.

I really like these two.

This one was a little too sweet for me.

-Okay.

-This one I found -- I don't know.

It tastes like stewed tomato sauce, which I just love.

-I should say everything on the table is recommended.

So the good news is there are no bad choices here.

So let's start with our winner, which was actually, "A," the Cento.

Now, this is a San Marzano tomato from Italy.

You said it was smoother, and that's because it doesn't have that calcium chloride.

And so one of the advantages of the Italian tomatoes is they break down much faster than the American tomatoes.

So if you want a really smooth sauce, Cento, besides having a wonderful flavor, will get you there much faster.

Let's go to "B."

-Okay.

-So "B" is the Red Gold.

-Hm!

-This was actually the runner-up.

Now, I will say tomatoes will change, right?

It's a crop.

And so this was our best buy.

It was second place.

This is an American tomato, the Red Gold.

You both were less enthusiastic about the Red Gold here.

"C" is the Hunt's San Marzano style.

So this is a tomato -- It's from California.

It's not from Italy.

Of the American San Marzano style, this was the one that we felt like was the closest to the real thing from Italy.

It was a little softer because it didn't have that calcium chloride.

And you thought it was delicious.

You loved it, as well.

And so... I also then, "D," put the regular Hunt's in here just so you can see the difference.

This has got the calcium chloride, and it's sort of traditional, what we would think of as an American canned tomato.

So...really interesting.

I love that you both liked "A."

-Yes.

-You're validating that.

Now, the bad news is those San Marzano tomatoes are probably two bucks more a can.

-Right.

-Ah.

Okay.

-Yeah.

So -- Well, it costs money to get a can of tomatoes from Italy to Boston.

-Yes.

That is true.

That is true.

-But interesting that if we really think about how to taste these differently, we came up with different results.

-Also love that you can't make a wrong choice.

They're all recommended.

-Yeah, that is good news.

And so, you know, if you see something on sale or if they don't have the brand, this is a case where you won't make a mistake at the supermarket.

♪♪ -Some people refer to mushrooms as superfoods.

They're full of nutrients, sure, but they're also full of flavor.

And that's why I call them a mega food.

Now, here to make a pasta dish that's going to bring out the very best of mushrooms is the wizard Elle.

-That's right, and what better way to achieve that earthy, savory profile than by using three mushrooms?

-Oh.

Triple-mushroom threat.

-Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

-Alright.

-And we're going to start by making a crispy mushroom, which is going to add a little flair to our pasta dish.

-Love it.

-And we're using our first star mushroom, the maitake.

-I love these.

-Also known as hen-of-the-woods.

And if you don't have this, you can replace them with cremini mushrooms.

-Okay.

Great.

-Alright?

So these look really good.

You will need to do just a little trimming.

I kind of try to take out, like, that big bone piece, but to keep the good leaves, right?

And tear them apart.

We need 1/2-inch pieces here, so I'm going to just, like, tear some of these pieces that seem big.

I have 2 tablespoons of olive oil in there.

Alright.

So our oil is shimmering.

It's time to put the mushrooms in.

-Great.

-So I'm just going to move these around to make sure that they're all kind of on the surface.

We don't want to stir these very much.

We're just going to let them cook for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Follow me over here to my special project called making duxelles.

-Oh.

Gorgeous.

-Yes.

It's a French preparation of mushrooms, but we're also going to start with our second mushroom.

-Okay.

-This is a dried porcini mushroom.

And it is not unusual that we would soak a dry porcini mushroom.

In this case, we don't need to.

We just gave it a rinse to get the porcini dust off.

-Right.

-Right?

And I have about 1/4 ounce here.

Just gonna add that to the food processor.

I have one shallot.

And three cloves of garlic.

-Nice.

-And I'm going to process it for about 10 to 15 seconds.

That looks good.

And it smells good, too.

Let's hop back over here to our mushrooms.

They are actually doing exactly what we need them to do, which is to just brown around the edges.

And now that it's done that, we can give it a stir.

-Okay.

-And then just let them go for another 7 to 9 minutes.

Alright.

Let's come back over to the food processor.

So I'm going to scrape down the sides of this bowl.

Our third and final mushroom.

This is a pound of white mushrooms.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're just going to go right into the food processor here.

-Yeah, they are the workhorse, I think, of the mushroom world.

-They are, and I think the most adaptable.

These mushrooms can actually take on any flavor that you give them.

-Sure.

-And I love that about white mushrooms.

Okay, so I'm going to just process these mushrooms for an additional 40 to 55 seconds and scraping down midway.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So it's been 9 minutes.

-Mmm!

-And these look beautiful.

-They look fantastic!

-Right?

I'm going to turn the heat off.

And it just needs a little salt and pepper to taste.

-Okay.

-I'm going to get them out of the pan.

So I'm going to put this back on medium-heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter.

[ Sizzling ] Alright.

Butter's foaming.

That's what we need.

And it's time to go in with our duxelles.

-Mmm!

Duxelles cooking is one of of the most heavenly aromas in the world.

-It is.

-Shallot and the mushroom.

Driving off all that moisture.

Gorgeous.

-It's like mushroom butter.

-It really is.

-Right?

Super soft.

Cooks pretty easily.

So I'm just going to add to this 1 teaspoon of salt.

-Okay.

-So now that I have the salt in there, we're going to cook this much like we did the maitakes.

We're not going to stir it too much.

We don't need to bother it.

Maybe a little bit... -Okay.

-...from time to time.

-Just check on it.

-Just check on it.

And we're looking for it to brown, and that'll take about 10 to 12 minutes.

-Okay.

-Okay.

I can tell by the look on your face that you know that this duxelles is ready.

So I'm going to take it off the heat.

-That smells so good!

-It really does.

It really does.

And now I'm going to just add some ingredients to add a little unctuousness to this dish.

-Hm!

-So I have 1/2 cup of heavy cream here.

Alright, so I'm going to add a little acidity here by putting in a tablespoon of lemon juice.

-That makes sense.

-A little bit of pepper.

About 1/8 of a teaspoon.

-Great.

-Yeah.

I'm going to give this a stir.

So I have a pound of campanelle pasta going into just this mere 5 cups of water.

What we're doing is creating a starchy water base.

I'm also going to add a little salt.

Teaspoon of salt.

-But this is a huge departure.

It's usually for 1 pound of pasta, dried pasta, you get 4 quarts of water.

-That's right.

But here we're creating more of a starchy base for our pasta.

Less water, more starch, creamy pasta.

-Really smart.

-So we're just going to let this go for 6 to 8 minutes.

Right?

We're looking for the water to be at a partial boil.

-Okay.

-And we're also going to just cover it slightly.

Alright.

So it's time to check this pasta.

I think we are good to go.

We don't need to drain it.

I'm going to take it off the heat.

Let me just move it over here.

And we're pretty much ready to start building our pasta.

We have a duxelles that's ready.

-Mm-hmm.

-Gonna go in with that.

So I'm going to add 1 ounce of Pecorino Romano.

And I'm just going to give it a vigorous stir for about 1 to 2 minutes.

This is going to activate that starch, get our duxelles well-incorporated and folded into those beautiful pastas.

-Getting your duxelles all in a row?

-Yep.

This looks delicious!

Are you ready to eat?

-I am very ready to eat.

-Me too.

-This looks fantastic.

-This is for you.

We'll start light.

We can always go back for more.

-I love it.

It's a true pasta course.

-Yes.

And then I'm just going to take the pot.

How about that?

[ Both laugh ] So I'm going to put a little of our crispy mushrooms, a.k.a.

mushroom croutons, on the top here.

Such a pleasing dish.

A little parsley garnish for you?

-This is... -I'm fancy!

-Five-star restaurant here.

-Are you ready?

-Yeah.

Oh, my gosh!

Every bite... is a deeper and deeper flavor.

-Yes.

-This is umami-packed.

This is gorgeousness in a bowl.

-Well, thank you.

I'd expect nothing less.

-Anything for you.

-Thanks, Elle.

Well, if you want to make this wonderful dish, it starts by sautéing maitake mushrooms for a crisp topping.

Create a duxelles by cooking down button mushrooms and dried porcinis.

And boil the pasta in just 5 cups of water and then toss in the mushrooms and Pecorino until nice and creamy.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," the splendiferous triple mushroom pasta.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes.

And those are all on our website -- AmericasTestKitchen.com/tv.

The Mistress of Maitake.

-At your service.

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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪