♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen"... Vallery makes Bridget turkey sausage lasagna, Jack talks all about sugar, and Antoinette makes Julia chocolate sorbet.

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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Slow-churned with 82% butterfat for a smooth texture and more pliability for flaky crusts.

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-Smithey.

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Thoughtfully crafted.

Made with passion.

Used with passion.

Welcome to the world of Smithey.

-On an American Cruise Lines journey along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, travelers retrace the route forged by Lewis and Clark more than 200 years ago.

American Cruise Lines' fleet of modern riverboats travel through American landscapes to historic landmarks where you can experience local customs and cuisine.

American Cruise Lines.

Proud sponsor of "America's Test Kitchen."

-GreenPan Frost.

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GreenPan Frost.

♪♪ -You remember the '90s?

I sure do, because there was grunge on the scene, everybody was wearing rollerblades, and ground turkey all but shoved ground beef out of the meat case at the supermarket.

Well, ground turkey can be great, and it can be used in a lot of classic dishes.

And Vallery's here, she's going to show us a dish that uses ground turkey that was inspired by someone very special.

-This turkey lasagna is inspired by my mother.

She would make it for our family when I was growing up.

It was the '90s, so low-fat was having a moment.

It was all about ground turkey and cottage cheese, so those ingredients found their way into a lot of our meals, and I'm using them in this recipe today.

-Okay.

-Let's make our meat sauce.

I've got a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil heating over medium.

And once it's shimmering hot, I'm going to add a large, finely-chopped onion.

And I have a teaspoon of table salt.

So, I want my onions to soften, I'm gonna stir this occasionally.

It's going to take about five minutes.

-Okay.

-Our onions have softened.

I'm going to add one pound of sweet Italian turkey sausage.

The casings have been removed for this.

I'm going to just break this up.

-Okay.

-And I've got half a pound of ground turkey.

I'm going to sprinkle a half teaspoon of black pepper over the meat.

-Great.

-So, for this sausage, you can find it in bulk with the casings already removed, or you can buy the links and just remove the casings.

So, I'm just going to cook this, breaking up the meat, until it's no longer pink.

It's going to take about five minutes.

Can you keep an eye on this while I crack our fennel seeds?

-I am happy to work for lasagna any day.

-I have two teaspoons of fennel seeds.

I'm gonna lightly crack them.

By lightly cracking them, we're releasing their very fragrant aromas, and it's just going to bring out more of that sausagey flavor, because Italian sausage, it has that fennel aroma already, so we're just amping up that flavor.

-It's the best part of the Italian sausage, right?

It's that fennel, little garlic fennel.

-Exactly, and the ground turkey just rounds out that flavor.

-Love it.

-Alright, so, we're just going to keep stirring this until the meat is no longer pink.

-Okay.

-So, our sausage and turkey is no longer pink.

We're going to add tomato paste.

I've got two tablespoons of tomato paste.

You want to give it a stir while I add some ingredients?

-Of course!

-I've got six minced garlic cloves.

Here are those two teaspoons of fennel seeds that we crushed.

-It's that almost licorice flavor.

-Yeah, it's almost like anise.

-Yes.

-And I've got a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

We're going to let this cook for two minutes so that the flavors develop.

-Okay.

I know the aromas have already developed.

That smells incredible.

-Our flavors have developed.

-It just keeps getting better and better.

-I've got 28 ounces of crushed tomatoes.

-Okay.

-And I've got 15 ounces of tomato sauce.

So, we've added tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce.

We're getting a really robust tomato flavor.

The tomato paste, it gives that umami richness and it even helps thicken our sauce.

And I've got a tablespoon of Italian seasoning.

Italian seasoning, it's an awesome spice blend.

It has basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, marjoram.

It's a way to get a lot of spices without having to fill your spice cabinet with all of those different spices.

-Seriously, how many of you have marjoram in your spice drawer right now?

-Alright, this is now simmering.

I'm going to reduce the heat to low.

We're going to cover it, let it cook for about 20 minutes until it starts to thicken slightly.

-Okay.

-So, while that's simmering, let's prepare our lasagna noodles.

So, I've got 15 curly-edged lasagna noodles.

And nobody likes overcooked, mushy lasagna noodles.

-Nope.

-So, what I like to do, I like to add my lasagna noodles to the pan I'm going to roast my lasagna in, and I cover them with boiling water.

Boiling water par-cooks the lasagna noodles.

We're going to let them soak for about 15 minutes until they're soft and pliable.

That way, when we bake our lasagna in the oven, they're going to be perfectly cooked with a nice texture with some bite to them.

-Got it.

-And what I like to do when I'm soaking them, I'll just check on them every so often and make sure that they're not sticking together.

We drained our noodles and transferred them to a towel-lined pan, and we're letting those dry.

And I went ahead and I patted dry our baking dish.

So, let's check on our meat sauce.

It's been about 20 minutes.

Gonna give it a taste... Mmm!

That is excellent.

I'm just gonna add a pinch more of salt and pepper.

-Okay.

-So, our sauce is ready to go.

Let's go ahead and get our cheese ready.

I've got four ounces of fontina cheese.

You're not going to find fontina cheese in every lasagna, but it works so well here because it has this rich umami flavor, it's salty, and it melts so creamy.

-Definitely.

-Do you mind giving this a shred for me?

-I get to work.

That's awesome.

-[ Laughs ] -So, while you're shredding that, I'm going to work on the rest of our cheese.

I've got two cups of cottage cheese.

So, we talked about how my mother would make this in the '90s.

Look, I love cottage cheese because when it melts, it gets so creamy and creates almost like a béchamel sauce for our lasagna.

-Without the work.

-Exactly!

And I've got 1.5 cups of mozzarella that was shredded from a block.

I like using the block cheese and not the pre-shredded stuff because it's going to melt better.

It doesn't have any additives.

-Right.

-So, this combination of cottage cheese with mozzarella is just going to be so rich.

And we're going to add half of that fontina here, as well.

And I've got a quarter teaspoon of table salt and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper.

-Okay.

-We season every layer.

-Okay.

Even the cheese layer.

-Even the cheese!

So, I'm just going to gently mix this together.

And you know, if you're looking for fontina in your grocery store, you're not going to find it with, you know, the cheddar or the string cheese.

Go to your specialty cheese section where you're going to find imported cheeses like, you know, Asiago, Parmesan, that's where you'll find fontina.

-Yeah, and it's a good idea to get a younger fontina, something that's creamier.

As they age, they can get more like Parmesan, which is very flavorful, but it doesn't melt as easily.

-Right.

So, we've got half a cup of mozzarella, and I'm going to add the other half cup of fontina and just lightly mix this.

And this is going to be the cheese that we sprinkle on top of our lasagna.

We are not shy with the cheese around here.

Let's assemble this lasagna.

-Let's do it.

-Alright.

Our bottom layer is going to be 1.5 cups of meat sauce.

And I like to start with meat sauce so that it won't stick to the bottom.

And we're doing thick, hearty layers here.

This is going to be a hearty lasagna.

-Okay.

-So, I'm just going to spread this meat sauce evenly on the bottom, and I'm going to add five lasagna noodles right on top.

-Okay.

-And it's okay if they're overlapping a little.

Just make it fit.

-Make it work.

-Make it work.

So, I'm going to spread about 2/3 cup of our cottage cheese, mozzarella, fontina mixture right on top of the noodles.

And I'm just going to use a little angled spatula to spread it.

And the nice thing about cottage cheese, when it's cold, you have these big cheese curds, but when they melt, it's just so creamy.

It's perfect for lasagna.

And now, I'm just going to repeat this.

I'm going to do another 1.5 cups of the meat sauce.

Spread this nice and thin.

Get five more noodles.

Alright, and I'm going to add more of our cheese mixture.

Just going to spread it in an even layer, about 2/3 cup.

I'm just going to do this one more time.

Another 1.5 cups of meat sauce.

Spread that evenly.

There is something a little bit meditative about doing something like this.

-Yes.

-Meat, noodles.

And we'll do our last 2/3 cup of cottage cheese mozzarella mixture.

-Alrighty.

-An angled spatula is perfect to paint cottage cheese on lasagna noodles.

They don't call it culinary arts for nothing.

-True!

-Now, the last thing is to top it with our mixture of mozzarella and fontina.

I'm just going to sprinkle this on top in an even layer.

By heating it, the cheese is going to get golden and almost caramelized, bring out more richness from that fontina.

Alright, so, we're going to cover this with aluminum foil.

I sprayed vegetable oil spray so that the cheese won't stick to it when we're ready to remove the foil.

We're going to bake this in the middle rack of the oven at 400 degrees until it starts bubbling.

It's gonna take about 25 minutes.

-Let me pull that out for you.

-I'm gonna remove the foil.

Oh, yeah.

-Oh, yes!

-Let's finish it off by broiling it.

-Okay.

Door is closed.

-And I'm gonna adjust to broil.

We're going to let this broil until the cheese is golden and slightly crispy.

It's going to take about three minutes.

-Oh!

Look at that gorgeousness!

-That bubbling cheese.

-Yum.

-Is it done?

-It's done.

-Okay, good.

Oh, my goodness!

-Look at that.

We're going to let this rest about 15 minutes before we dig in.

Are you hungry?

You ready?

-I am ravenous.

-Okay.

So, let's give it a try.

-Look at that.

Look at those perfect striations here.

The layers, the history that went into building this lasagna.

Time to eat?

-I think so!

-Okay.

-You've waited long enough.

-Yes, thank you.

Getting a nice layer there, a little bit of the meat sauce, a little bit of the dairy in there.

-That fennel in the meat sauce is just shining through.

-Absolutely.

A huge, huge Italian sausage flavor.

Yeah, definitely.

The noodles themselves are still a little al dente.

They're not overcooked at all.

The sauce, you precooked it, so it's really super concentrated with all that tomato.

-Right.

I mean, that's why it's nice, and thick, and robust.

-Yes!

-And it's not overwhelming with cheese.

It just adds that perfect salty creaminess.

-You're right.

I mean, it is more like a layer of béchamel than actual cottage cheese in there.

Now, I have to confess something.

I took a little peek to see what the folks online were saying about this.

-Okay.

-Yeah.

And some of our members absolutely love this.

In fact, there was one person that said for anybody that was doubting the turkey, do not doubt the turkey, do not doubt the recipe.

And she made it twice in one week.

This, twice in one week.

-Oh, wow.

-Yep.

-Don't doubt turkey and don't doubt Mom.

-No!

And we will never doubt you, either!

Thank you so much for showing us how to make this masterpiece.

-Thank you Bridget.

-So, if you want to make this fantastic lasagna at home, it starts by creating a savory meat sauce using Italian turkey sausage, cracked fennel, and Italian seasoning.

Soak curly lasagna noodles in hot water to soften and use three kinds of cheese, cottage, mozzarella and fontina, for a rich, creamy texture.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," an incredibly satisfying and luxurious turkey sausage lasagna.

Alright, we're calling your mom, getting more recipes.

-Yes, absolutely.

That's what I do every week.

♪♪ -We love to bake in the test kitchen, so we use a lot of granulated sugar.

And we've heard from viewers that they're interested in raw sugars or organic granulated sugars, and can they be used in our recipes?

So, before I answer that question, let me explain how cane sugar is made.

So, they take the plant, they get juice out of the sugar cane, they put it in a centrifuge to get the crystals separated from the liquid, that liquid really is molasses, and then dry it.

At that point, you have raw sugar.

Now, that processing happens, usually, where the sugar cane is grown because sugar cane is very perishable.

There's a second level of processing that can occur anywhere where the raw sugar is shipped to another plant, it is dissolved in water, they then add bone char, and as the name implies, it is from animal bones.

It's used as a charcoal to remove impurities, and also to get that really bright white color that you get from the classic granulated sugar here.

At that point, the liquid is put back into a centrifuge, dried again, and you have what we would call classic granulated sugar.

So, this definitely matters if you're vegan.

So, if you're vegan, you don't probably want to be using a product with bone char which comes from animals.

So, you want to be looking for a raw sugar.

The easiest way is to look for the word "organic" on the label, which means there are no animal products involved.

So, what about in the kitchen?

So, to find that out, we decided to make cookies and cakes.

Three ways to think about this, one is the color.

And honestly, unless you're making a sugar syrup and brushing it on something really light or putting it in a cocktail, you're not going to notice this sort of light, tawny color from this middle sample.

You may notice it in the sugar syrup, but once you put it on something, it's going to be really hard to see the difference.

Second thing is moisture level.

So, the less processed raw sugars have a little bit more moisture in them.

And we noticed in the cookies, they were slightly chewier.

But it is a pretty minor impact.

Last thing is actually the texture of the crystals themselves.

So, this is definitely the coarsest thing on the table.

And we did find in cookies that don't have a lot of moisture, like, think of shortbread, you're going to notice the crystals on your tongue.

The cookie itself will be a little sandier.

It's not a good thing or a bad thing.

Some people actually quite like it, but it is definitely different than the really fine crystals of a classic granulated sugar.

Now, once you add liquid a couple of eggs, certainly a cup of milk in a cake batter, the sugar is going to dissolve and there are not going to be any textural differences.

So, if you're vegan, it matters, and you want to be looking for an organic brand of granulated sugar.

If you're somebody who just loves to bake, you can use any of the products on the table and you're going to have good results at home.

♪♪ -The main difference between chocolate sorbet and chocolate ice cream is that sorbet doesn't contain any dairy, but that doesn't mean it can't be just as creamy and smooth.

And today, Antoinette's going to show us how it's done.

-I am, and I have a secret ingredient to make sure it comes out smooth and creamy every time.

-Intriguing.

-Yes.

Let's get into it.

-Okay.

So, in our saucepan, I have 2 1/4 cups of water.

We're going to heat this over medium-high heat.

-And this would normally be milk if you were making ice cream.

but it's water.

-Right.

And it's still going to be creamy, though.

So, to that, we're going to add half a cup of Dutch processed cocoa powder.

Now, when we were testing this, we did natural and Dutch processed, and we found that the low starch content, high fat in the Dutch process gave a smoother, creamier sorbet.

We're going to add in 3/4 of a cup of sugar.

-Alright.

-Next, we're going to add in 1/4 of a cup of corn syrup.

-An invert sugar.

-Absolutely.

So, this is going to help depress the freezing temperature of water o that we can reduce those ice crystals from forming.

-A-ha!

That's how you get it nice and smooth without having dairy.

-Absolutely.

Then, we're going to add in an eighth of a teaspoon of salt just for flavor.

Next, last but not least, our secret ingredient, which is one teaspoon of low-sugar pectin.

-Interesting.

So, pectin, that's a thickener when you're making jams and jellies.

-Yes.

And in this, what it's going to do, it's going to help trap those water molecules so those ice crystals can't form.

-Okay.

-Then, we just want to give this a stir until everything dissolves and that cocoa powder blooms.

And that's just when the oils in the cocoa powder are released and we get that chocolatey flavor.

-Okay.

So, low-sugar pectin looks just like regular pectin, but the box you'll find in the store is pink, and that makes a big difference.

Low sugar has been formulated to do its thing with less sugar compared to regular pectin, which relies on the sugar for thickening.

So, when you're shopping, be sure to buy the Sure Jell in the pink box.

-It's been about five minutes.

We have a nice simmer going on, as you can see, and everything is dissolved.

-It smells delicious already.

-Smells so good.

So, we're going to turn off the heat, and then we're going to add in eight ounces of bittersweet chocolate that we've chopped fine.

-Okay.

-And then, half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

-Okay.

-So, we'll add that in here, and then just whisk until that chocolate melts and everything is dissolved.

Remember, we want this to be really smooth, so even though it is dissolved, we are going to pop it into our blender just to make sure everything is nice and combined and the chocolate is emulsified.

-Okay.

-So, we're going to add our mix.

We'll pop this back onto our blender.

Now, we're blending because we want to make sure that all of our ingredients are nice and dissolved.

We want a smooth, velvety texture at the end, so this just ensures that that happens.

-Love it.

-About 30 seconds.

Okay, so it's all nice and blended.

Now, we want to chill our base, but we're going to do something called super chilling.

So, I have two bowls here.

In the first bowl, I'm going to add one cup of our mixture.

-Okay.

-And then, we'll put the remaining mixture in our large bowl.

And then, we're going to cover both of these with plastic wrap.

-Alright.

-Now, our large bowl is going to go into the refrigerator to chill completely, while the small bowl is going to go into the freezer to freeze completely.

-Okay.

-And that can be anywhere from 4 to 24 hours.

-Our chocolate sorbet has a really smooth texture thanks to our freezing method, in which we freeze a small portion of the base separately.

When sorbet freezes slowly, as it does in many home ice cream makers, its texture can get grainy as the water freezes into crystals.

The ice crystals in a sorbet start out tiny, but as they churn around for a while, water freezes onto existing crystals, causing them to grow.

Once they get too big, they give the dessert a coarse texture.

For this recipe, we super chill a portion of the base in the freezer, then stir it back into the rest just before churning.

This rapidly brings down the starting temperature of the entire mixture, allowing us to churn for less time so the ice crystals freeze faster and have less opportunity to grow large.

And that's why super chilling a part of the base makes a super smooth sorbet.

-So, I have our super chilled base here.

We have our refrigerated base here.

Before we combine them, let's see what our temperature is here.

-Okay.

-41 degrees.

-So, about 40 degrees.

Before you add the super chilled batch.

-Exactly.

Now, before we do this, we do need to scrape it.

So, I'm going to take this spoon.

-You're just breaking it up into small pieces so it'll dissolve more quickly?

-Correct.

-Gotcha.

-If we leave it big, it'll just take a long time to melt.

So, we're going to add this to our refrigerated.

And then, I'm going to give this a stir until it's all combined.

So, we've got both of our mixtures nice and combined.

As we can see, no lumps or clumps.

Let's take a temp here to see where we are now.

31 degrees.

-Wow, so 10 degrees' difference, which really matters in the finished texture of the sorbet.

-It absolutely does because we want the least amount of time in this ice cream maker as possible.

-Okay.

-So, before we transfer this into our ice cream maker, we don't want chocolate everywhere.

So, let's move it into this big measuring cup and we're just doing this so it's easier to pour.

I'm going to grab our canister that we've had chilling in the freezer.

-Yeah, there are lots of different types of ice cream makers that you can use in your home.

Some, you have to pre-freeze the canister, which is really important.

Others you don't have to, they actually freeze on their own.

-Absolutely.

So, let's get this going.

We're going to put our piece in here, put on the lid.

So, we're ready to add our base to our ice cream machine, but before we do that, we want to make sure we turn it on first.

-Okay.

-So, that's important.

If we were to add this in without turning it on, our base would seize up in here and wouldn't get a churn.

So, we're going to let this churn until the consistency is that of like a milkshake, and it lightens a little bit in color -- about 15 to 25 minutes.

-Okay.

That looks like a milkshake to me.

-It does!

It's perfect.

So, it's been about 20 minutes, let's go ahead and turn it off and let's transfer it into an airtight container.

-Oh, it looks good enough to eat, Antoinette.

-We're almost there.

So, we just want to press on the top to make sure we don't have any air bubbles in here.

-Gotcha.

-And then, we will pop this in the freezer for at least two hours, but you can enjoy this for up to five days.

-It wouldn't last five days in my house.

-Not even five minutes.

[ Both laugh ] Ready for some sorbet?

-Am I?

-Let's do it!

Now, we did let this sit out on our counter for five minutes before serving.

-That makes sense.

-Yeah, so it's easy to scoop.

-Oh, yeah.

-Delicious!

-It really did set up.

Ohh!

That is a picture perfect scoop.

-It is.

-My goodness!

-Yum!

-Oh, wow, Antoinette.

Look at that color.

That color tells you a lot of what you need to know here.

Mmm!

That is delicious.

-Very rich.

-Very rich!

Really creamy.

-So much chocolate flavor.

-Mm-hmm!

You know, this recipe has five stars on our app, and I can see why.

A lot of our members were commenting how you couldn't tell that it wasn't ice cream.

And I agree, if I hadn't watched you make it, I would not know there was no dairy in here.

It's so creamy.

-So creamy.

-But the one thing unlike ice cream, it has a really strong chocolate flavor.

Mmm!

Antoinette, this is incredible.

Thank you for showing me how to make this.

-No problem.

-If you want to make the ultimate chocolate sorbet, start by adding corn syrup and-low sugar pectin to the sorbet base.

Use a blender to fully incorporate the chocolate and cocoa powder, then freeze a portion of the base before churning the sorbet.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a smooth, rich, creamy chocolate sorbet.

You can find 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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"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.

-Smithey.

Cast-iron and carbon-steel cookware.

Thoughtfully crafted.

Made with passion.

Used with passion.

Welcome to the world of Smithey.

-On an American Cruise Lines journey along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, travelers retrace the route forged by Lewis and Clark more than 200 years ago.

American Cruise Lines' fleet of modern riverboats travel through American landscapes to historic landmarks where you can experience local customs and cuisine.

American Cruise Lines.

Proud sponsor of "America's Test Kitchen."

-GreenPan Frost.

The frozen-treat maker that makes ice cream, sorbet, slushies, and more with a built-in chiller that goes from fresh to frozen.

GreenPan Frost.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪