♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Becky makes Julia mushroom bourguignon.

Jack challenges Bridget and Julia to a head-to-head tasting of veggie burgers.

Dan uses a soda can and some science to explain cooking with aluminum, and Lan makes Bridget white bean and mushroom gratin.

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

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

-Plugrà European-style butter was created for all chefs, cooks and bakers, slow-churned with 82% butterfat for a smooth texture and more pliability for flaky crusts.

Plugrà -- from professional kitchens to your home.

-Sur La Table, where you can discover an assortment of provisions for your next meal or gathering from cookware and tools from a wide variety of kitchen brands to hands-on cooking classes.

Visit us at surlatable.com.

♪♪ -When I say the word "stew," most people think of big pieces of beef cloaked in a rich gravy.

But today, Becky's going to show us how to make a hearty, comforting pot of stew but swap out the meat for mushrooms.

-You're going to love this one.

-I can't wait.

-So there's a few qualities that any starring component of a stew should meet.

It should be inherently savory.

It should have the ability to build a nice fond, and it should have a nice balance of tenderness and resilience.

So as the food cooks, it softens up, but it maintains its structural integrity.

-Yeah.

-And mushrooms check all those boxes.

-They do.

And they have a beefy flavor, for lack of a better word.

-They do, they do.

So we're going to make mushroom bourguignon.

-Ooh!

-Yeah.

The famous stew from Burgundy, France.

-That's right.

With a lot of red wine.

-Oh, yes.

There's going to be plenty of red wine.

So of course we're starting with mushrooms.

Portobellos are perfect for this.

They have a nice meaty flavor and they're big.

So you can get that nice meaty texture too.

-Yep.

-So I'm just going to take out the stems.

We don't need those.

I'm going to do a total of 2 1/2 pounds of portobellos, and you want to make sure and leave these gills on.

They add really nice flavor and a really nice deep dark color.

So I'm going to cut these into about 1-inch pieces here.

And these are already cleaned.

If they're a little bit dirty you could wipe them off with a damp paper towel.

So now we're going to start cooking.

So we'll do some medium-high heat.

And then I have 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a 1/4 cup of water.

-Hmm.

-And I know, yeah, that sounds a little unusual when you're trying to build fond, but it is a good way to kind of jump-start the process when you're trying to brown mushrooms.

So we're going to bring that to a simmer for a minute.

Alright.

So you can see our oil and water are simmering there a little bit.

So let's go ahead and add in the mushrooms.

And the pot is full, but like I said these are going to cook down a little bit.

And I'm going to season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Just give that a little stir.

Alright.

So I'm going to put the lid on.

We're going to let these cook down for about 10 minutes.

I'll stir them occasionally.

And we're going to have all those juices start to come out of the mushrooms.

-Okay.

-Alright.

It's been 10 minutes.

Let's take a look at what's going on here.

-Wow, wow.

-Look at all that liquid that's come out.

That's awesome.

-Mm-hmm.

-So we're going to let this cook for another 10 or 12 minutes with the lid off.

And by that point all this liquid will have evaporated.

And we should have a nice dark fond on the bottom of the pot.

-Okay.

Well, as Becky mentioned, adding water to the pot to help the mushrooms brown seems counterintuitive, but if we cook mushrooms in oil, only the part that's in contact with the pan cooks and dries out.

That's because mushrooms can be up to 70% air, which acts as an insulator and prevents the pan's heat from conducting throughout the mushroom.

If we add just a little water and cover the pan, the mushrooms cook all the way through.

That's because now we're cooking with steam, which readily carries heat to the rest of the mushroom, so it cooks from all sides.

The even heat helps collapse the airy structure, and the denser mushrooms can now brown more easily.

And that's why you add water.

-Alright.

It's been about 10 minutes.

You can see all the liquid is gone.

-Yeah.

-These are nicely cooked.

Now I'm going to take them out.

Okay.

Now we have medium-high heat.

I'm going to put in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

And then I have two carrots that are sliced about 1/4-inch thick and a shallot that's chopped up.

We're going to cook these for 3 or 4 minutes until they start to soften.

Alright.

These veggies are starting to smell good.

-Mm-hmm.

-Getting a little bit soft there.

Now I'm going to add four cloves of garlic that are smashed.

We're going to let those go for about a minute until we start to get that nice garlicky aroma.

Alright.

Now I'm adding 3 tablespoons of flour.

-Mm-hmm.

-And remember we had olive oil in here.

So I'm building a roux, but this is a vegan roux.

Alright.

Here comes the fun part -- 1 cup of wine.

You want to use a nice dry red wine.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're using Pinot Noir.

That's the signature wine of Burgundy.

-That is.

-Let's start building some nice umami flavor too.

I've got 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

Tablespoon of tomato paste and then miso.

So I've got 2 tablespoons of white miso.

You could also use red.

And that in particular has tons of umami and tons of savory flavor.

Alright.

So I just want to whisk that all together.

Alright.

Now for even more mushroom flavor, I have an ounce of dried porcini mushrooms, and dried porcinis, they have some of the biggest umami potential in all of the food world.

I mean, these guys really pack a punch.

So that's an ounce of dried porcinis.

Then I've got some bay leaves.

Just drop in two of those and six sprigs of fresh thyme.

-Mm-hmm.

-And lastly I have 4 1/2 cups of water.

I'm making sure to scrape up all the fond.

There's even fond on the side of the pot.

But I want to scrape up all those delicious brown bits.

That's where we built that flavor.

We want to make sure it gets into the liquid here.

So I'm going to bring this up to a vigorous simmer.

I'm going to let it go for about 25 minutes.

I'll check it occasionally and stir the bottom of the pot.

It's going to reduce down to have the consistency kind of like heavy cream, like really glossy and a little bit thick.

-Mm-hmm.

-Yeah, it's going to be so good.

Looking pretty good.

-That's gorgeous.

-Smelling really good.

-Yes, it does.

-Yeah.

It's been cooking for about 25 minutes.

You can see how thick that sauce is.

It's so glossy, just like heavy cream.

-Yep.

-So if you'll give me a hand here, I want to strain this out because we want to get rid of the solid.

-Right into the strainer?

-Yep.

-Ah!

Alright.

-So now I just want to press here to make sure we get all that delicious sauce out.

I just want to press on the solids.

-Alright.

You said you wanted 2 cups?

-Yeah.

We should have about 2 cups.

-You're a little shy.

-A tiny bit shy?

Okay.

That's fine.

I'm going to add a tiny bit of water then just to come up to 2 cups.

Okay.

I think that's perfect.

-Alright.

-Alright.

So now let's put this back in.

I mean, that is a really special sauce.

-That is a gorgeous gravy.

-I can't wait for you to taste this.

And now I'm adding 1 cup of thawed frozen pearl onions.

-A classic with bourguignon.

-Yep.

And this is a great place for frozen.

You don't have to deal with peeling them.

They're nice quality and they taste really nice in here.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then we'll add our mushrooms back to the pot, of course.

-The meat of the matter as it were.

-That's right.

And then I have 2 more tablespoons of that Pinot Noir.

And this is just going to freshen up the pot a little bit.

Give it a little extra zing, a little extra acidity.

So we'll stir that in.

Alright, I'm going to turn the heat on low, Julia.

And we're going to let this go for another 20 minutes just until those onions are tender.

And we'll let all the flavors come together one last time, then we'll be ready to eat.

Okay.

It's been 20 minutes.

Ooh.

-Oh!

-Smell that.

-That is gorgeous.

Oh, it has such a rich, mushroomy smell.

-Yeah.

Really nice.

I'm going to add 1/4 cup of chopped parsley just to freshen it up here.

-Nice.

-Stir that in.

Alright.

And I've got some creamy Parmesan polenta over here that we're going to serve underneath the stew.

It's going to be a really nice accompaniment.

-And you can find that recipe on our website.

Oh, this looks perfect.

-Oh!

Alright, let's add this beautiful stew.

-It is gorgeous!

-So glossy.

-Yeah.

Mmm.

More.

Mmm!

I can't wait to try this.

-Bon appétit.

-Bon appétit.

I'm going right for a mushroom.

-Yeah.

Of course.

-There is so much flavor.

Holy cow.

There's just layers and layers.

It has such a, for lack of a better word, beefy flavor.

-Yeah, but we can really taste the wine.

-Yeah.

-So rich and cozy.

-Mm-hmm.

-Really deep, dark flavor.

-You can taste the individual flavors.

You can taste the mushrooms.

You can taste the wine.

A little bit of garlic.

-Yeah.

Those onions are so good too.

And the sauce is just so silky.

I love the texture of the sauce.

-The sauce is so complex.

-Yeah.

Your eyes, when you tasted it, you lit up.

[ Both laugh ] -This is spectacular.

Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-If you'd like to make this wonderful mushroom bourguignon, cut portobello mushrooms into large chunks with the gills intact.

Use a number of umami bombs, including dried porcini, miso, and soy sauce, and add a splash of red wine at the end of cooking to reinforce its flavor.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a terrific recipe for mushroom bourguignon.

This is incredible.

-Oh!

I love it too.

-Mmm.

♪♪ -In response to Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, the plant-based burgers that are mimicking ground beef, the true veggie burgers, the ones made with grains and plants, have really upped their game.

These used to be terrible.

I mean, honestly, really inedible.

Punishment I think.

That is not the case.

We tasted 12 brands and we recommended 10 of them.

-Not bad.

-Now, I want you to dig in here.

I think it's helpful to divide them into three categories, and it really depends on what you're looking for.

The first is what I would call bean-based burgers.

They may have grains in them as well, but they're going to be very bean-forward.

I like a good bean burger.

And so they're an example of that on the table.

The second is what I would call the earthy savory category, where there's going to be sort of really things with umami, maybe mushrooms in them that really give it a lot of earthy and savory notes.

The third bucket is true vegetables, where you see chunks of vegetables.

Either it's got lots of green, leafy things in it, or maybe you can see pieces of carrots or sweet potato and it says, "Oh, this is made with like homemade, real vegetables," and it is a vegetable burger.

It's not pretending to be ground beef.

-Right.

-It's truly vegetables.

So those are the three categories.

And we actually found one of each style that we recommended and that is our favorite.

There are some that go wrong.

They shouldn't be dry.

They shouldn't have hard, crunchy bits in them.

So I've given you a lay of the land.

Why don't you go first, Julia?

Something.

Any impressions?

Things you're liking, things you're not so sure about?

-Yeah, I buy these.

I know this burger patty very well.

I love these.

I eat them honestly for breakfast.

Sometimes alongside an egg.

They have peas and edamame.

They're very green-tasting.

I feel like I know what this is.

-Okay.

-This is delicious.

I've never had whatever this is.

It's thick as you said.

So it has this size.

It has visible chunks of vegetables, which I like.

This one's terrible.

I'm looking.

I was like -- And I'm into these things.

I love vegetable burgers.

I cannot find a reason to eat this.

It is dry.

It is flavorless.

And this one is lovely.

I mean, it's black beans and corn and it has a southwestern flavor, which is a nice change of pace.

-Okay.

And your impressions, Bridget.

-Well, I don't eat these probably as much as Julia does, so I might have a little bit of a different perception.

This one is very tasty.

It's got that southwestern kick to it.

I actually really like that.

This one tastes like risotto to me.

The second one.

It's creamy.

It's really good flavor.

You mentioned mushroom and I think that's that particular one.

This one I really, really like the sweet potato.

That's what I'm guessing what that is.

It's not a carrot.

It's sweet potato.

And what I like about this one over the other ones was it has a somewhat natural burger shape, as if you were forming it by hand, not too into the pressed patties like this one.

I agree with Julia, there's not much that it's good for unless you play hockey.

It might be great for that, but it is really pretty tasteless and that might be the best thing about it.

[ Laughter ] -So if you're going to take one of these veggie burgers home with you tonight -Probably this one.

-C. Okay.

-Well, I already have this one at home.

So I'm going to take one of these home to vary it up a bit.

But you can tell I've almost finished this B.

So, you know, I'm going to say B.

-Okay.

Um... Why don't we start with the skeptic?

-Uh-oh.

-You picked the favorite of what we call the veggie-forward.

This is The Actual Orange.

I believe it has sweet potato and carrots.

-Oh, there you go.

-And it has chunks of real vegetables.

The ingredient list actually reads pretty much like a recipe you might make at home.

We liked its larger size.

It works really nice in a burger.

It's a little soft because it's so big, but it's got nice flavor.

You liked C as well.

And if you really want something that says, "Hey, I'm healthy and I'm made from vegetables," C is a great choice.

Now for B, you picked one of our other favorites.

Now, this is dr. Praeger's mushroom risotto.

-Ah!

-So we tasted several of the dr. Praeger's.

And we liked the mushroom risotto because it had, as I said, that earthy savory category.

There's some peas in it and there's some other sort of nice vegetables in it.

It's a little on the thin side, but it's got just a lot of flavor in a thin, little patty.

-Sure.

-In terms of A, up front here, this is the MorningStar Farms spicy black bean.

Now, of the bean-based burgers, this was our favorite.

There's corn in there.

It's just a lovely southwestern-style burger.

And then to show you that things can still go wrong in the land of veggie burgers, the MorningStar Farms Mediterranean chickpea -- there are kind of hard bits of things in there that seem like they didn't get cooked.

It's really just not a good patty at all.

So there you have it.

There's a veggie burger that even Bridget likes.

-Thanks a lot.

♪♪ -Aluminum like we have here is a great heat conductor, but in the test kitchen we don't recommend using aluminum skillets.

Why is that?

Aluminum is highly reactive with wet, acidic foods like tomatoes, citrus juice, and vinegar, which leach aluminum into the food, making it taste bad and causing surface pitting on the pan.

But that got us wondering about aluminum cans.

Soda is wet and acidic, and it often sits in the can for a long period of time.

So how is it that we don't end up drinking aluminum?

To find out, we set up an experiment.

I'm here in the lab.

First things first, safety.

We took this can of soda and sanded it to expose the aluminum.

Then I set up a rig and put it in a 10% solution of lye, or sodium hydroxide, for about two hours.

Now check out what happened.

♪♪ The lye removed all of the aluminum, leaving this behind -- a bag of soda.

Nearly all cans contain an epoxy coating that prevents corrosion.

If that coating weren't in place, the acidic cola could eat through the can in a matter of days.

So if you want to cook with aluminum, we highly recommend that it be sandwiched between layers of stainless steel, like this clad skillet.

Or look for a pan that is anodized or one coated in a nonstick treatment like Teflon.

Wow.

♪♪ -Coming up with main course vegetarian options that feel substantial or even special, that can be a little bit tricky.

But lucky for us, Lan's here and she's got a great option that's going to make everyone happy at the table, vegetarian or not.

-Bridget, we're making a white bean gratin and it's inspired by cassoulet.

I love the textures and the hearty savoriness of that stew, I guess we'd call it.

And I wanted to infuse this dish with that vibe, if not those actual flavors.

Alright, let's get started.

I've got a 12-inch skillet here, and it's oven-safe because this is going to be seeing some heat later.

-Okay.

-But before we get to that, I'm going to heat 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat until the oil starts to shimmer.

-Alright.

-Bridget, you can see the little shimmery lines in there.

That means the oil is ready to go.

-Okay, lovely.

-I've got 10 ounces of cremini mushrooms.

They're going right in.

These were trimmed and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick pieces.

I'm going to season with 3/4 teaspoon of table salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Now, these are going to go for anywhere between 8 to 12 minutes until they're really well browned.

-Okay.

-Now, I've got a boule here, a kind of a rustic country loaf.

And I'm going to make a topping for this gratin.

Often you find a raft of crusty bits on top of a cassoulet.

Sometimes they're bread crumbs.

And so we're going to make 1/2-inch-thick bread cubes from four to five slices of this bread.

I'm looking to yield about 5 cups.

This topping is going to bring a lot of nice texture to the dish.

I'm looking for 5 cups of bread crumbs.

Alright.

So bread is going to go right into this bowl.

I'm going to season it up with just a couple of things.

I've got 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 3 tablespoons of minced fresh parsley, and another 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

And we'll just give this a nice toss until those cubes are well coated.

-Okay.

-This looks pretty great.

That's it.

So, this is going to be our topping.

And we'll set this aside for now.

-Okay.

-Bridget, it's been 10 minutes.

And look at this great color.

I'm going to turn this heat down to medium.

And to this I'm going to add one small onion that I've chopped finely.

Now, I just want to cook this till the onions are translucent.

And that's only going to take 4 to 6 minutes.

-Okay.

-It's been 4 minutes.

I've got five cloves of garlic here that have been minced.

I've also got 1 tablespoon of tomato paste.

And last up, 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced thyme.

-Okay.

-And I just want to cook this really mashing that tomato paste into the skillet so that it can toast out and brown too.

And this is going to go a little slowly because we're cooking at medium-low heat at this point.

It's going to take maybe 2 to 3 minutes.

-Okay.

-Now that we've built that fond, I want to get it off of the bottom of the skillet.

So I'm going to deglaze this with a 1/3 cup of dry sherry.

And I just want to scrape it all up.

The water in that sherry really does a great job of cleaning up the bottom of the skillet.

Last couple of ingredients.

We don't have the fancy flageolets, but we do have a creamy white bean.

These are Great Northerns, and I've got two 15-ounce cans of them.

Now, if you wanted to use another white bean, it's totally fine.

I'm also using that bean liquid.

There are a lot of starches dissolved in there and they'll help thicken the gravy for this dish.

-Nice.

-I also have three carrots that have been halved lengthwise and cut into 3/4-inch lengths.

I'll just stir this right in.

Now, that starchy bean liquid, it's pretty good, but clearly there's not quite enough gravy here.

As I add more water, we're going to need a little help thickening.

To do that, I've got a tablespoon of all-purpose flour and a cup of water.

I'm just going to put this right in.

I'm just going to whisk it into my cup of water.

Really I'm just making sure there are no lumps because we don't want a lumpy gravy.

-Gotcha.

-And this can go right in here.

Now that everything is in here, we'll just turn this up to high and let it come to a boil.

So when I say this has to come up to a boil, I mean, it has to come up to a boil.

If we were to stick a thermometer into the center of that, the liquid at the center is not hot enough.

What ends up happening is your carrots end up undercooked.

So you really have to be patient.

It's totally okay to get in there and stir this around a little bit, but you want to make sure that you're seeing bubbles across the surface of the skillet.

Alright, Bridget, see that burbling right over there?

-Burbling, yes.

I see burbling.

-We are good to go.

I'm going to shut the heat off and add our topping.

These bread cubes are just going to go right on top in an even layer.

I'm just going to scatter them right over the surface.

I don't like to dump the bread directly on top, because then it gets really hard to move things around if they land in the wrong spot.

-Right.

-So now that this is set up, we're going to finish it in the oven.

That's going to help it cook more evenly.

The bottom of that pan won't scorch.

So I have a 300-degree oven.

And I've set the oven rack to the middle position.

And we're going to pop it in there for 40 minutes.

-Huh.

-Looks great, right?

-Doesn't look much different.

-It hasn't changed a lot on top.

But that gravy has thickened up nicely.

Those carrots are tender.

And to finish it, we're just going to put some color on top.

-Okay.

-So I'm going to set this to broil.

And I'm actually going to flip the light on.

It's going to take anywhere between 4 to 7 minutes for the bread to toast depending on your oven.

And once it starts to brown, it can go to burnt in no time.

So I really want to hover during this phase.

-Good idea.

Okay, that looks different.

-Looks great.

Look at that browning.

So out this comes.

-We're well past great.

That looks fantastic.

-Yeah, yeah.

This is a little hot.

So we're going to let this rest for 20 minutes.

Not only will it cool but that gravy will thicken up slightly too.

-Mm!

-It's been 20 minutes.

I have one final garnish.

Just a sprinkling of parsley.

This is 1 tablespoon.

-Mm.

-Great.

-Now a moment just to appreciate the beauty of this.

If you were to serve this at a table, vegetarian or not, you'd have people tucking into it.

So much appeal here.

-Yeah.

I actually love this for Thanksgiving.

Can I serve you some?

-Please.

-Nice big scoop.

-Mmm.

-Make sure you get some mushrooms and carrots in there.

-And gravy.

-Yeah.

Ready to dive in?

-I sure am.

Alright.

I'm going to tuck into a mushroom here.

Incredibly savory, really big umami flavor there.

And the little bit of tomato paste helps too.

-It really does.

It's not so much to make this too tart or too tomatoey.

It doesn't come off, I don't know, pasta-y in any way.

Just nice and savory.

Touch of acidity.

-Mm.

The beans add heft.

They're creamy, but they're not overcooked even though they're canned.

-It brings all the textures you find in a cassoulet, but in a lighter, more vegetarian way.

-Thank you, Lan.

This is spectacular.

Well, if you'd like to make this substantial dish for your vegetarian friends or for yourself, then it starts by creating a super savory base with sautéed mushrooms, tomato paste, and sherry.

Add creamy white beans along with their liquid and top with seasoned cubed rustic bread for a super crunchy top.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," white bean and mushroom gratin.

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.

These mushrooms are so meaty.

-They're really great, aren't they?

-Or is meat mushroomy?

Now I'm questioning everything.

-[ Chuckles ] -Let us help you with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for the newest seasons, failproof recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews at americastestkitchen.com/tv.

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Visit us at surlatable.com.

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