What’s in a cookie? At its most basic, a cookie is the perfect balance of fat, sugar, eggs, and flour. Drop cookies are easy to mix and bake and the formulas are incredibly versatile. In this class, you’ll go from cookie rookie to cookie rockstar. We’ll teach you the rules of baking and how to break them to dial in your perfect crispy, crunchy, soft, chewy, or gooey cookie. Each cookie recipe also includes fun and creative ways to “upgrade” your next batch with unique additions and flavorful enhancements. On your mark. Get set. Let’s bake some cookies!

American Drop Cookies Class

Macarons—those delectably light mini-meringues of French descent—involve a series of sophisticated techniques that can take time and practice to perfect. You often see them only at the finest bakeries—the colorful confections all lined up in a row—because they’re notoriously finicky, even for pastry chefs. But learning to make macarons is remarkably simple when you can see how it’s done, with step-by-step instructions. This class is designed to help you succeed in mastering the macaron. You’ll learn each part of the process with entertaining and informative high-definition videos, succinct step-by-step instructions, and background information on the science of macarons. We also provide recipes for various flavors and colors, so you can apply the skills you’ve acquired to making macarons again and again. ChefSteps founder Grant Crilly, who instructs this class, learned how to make macarons the hard way: he spent hundreds of hours reading cookbooks, trying and failing, his garbage can littered with colorful cookie shells night after night. He finally succeeded after attending a class in Paris with macaron expert Pierre Hermé, mastering the different techniques by taking visual cues from learning in a hands-on, guided workshop. Grant developed this class with his own experience in mind.

French Macarons

Take a look around you. Where are you reading this? What time of day is it? Are you alone in your kitchen, or stuffed on a crowded commuter train, dreaming of what you’ll make for dinner? Point is—you’re going to want to remember this moment. Because this is the moment you began a journey that will fundamentally change the way you cook. This is the moment you discovered sous vide. You’ve no doubt heard of sous vide, a cooking method in which food is cooked at a consistent temperature in a water bath, often first wrapped in plastic and, afterward, quickly seared on the stove or grill. And maybe you associate it with high-end restaurants, high-concept food, and high-priced equipment originally designed for a chemistry lab. But as home cooks around the world have begun to discover, this remarkable technique—which yields perfectly cooked food, predictably, with very little oversight—is no longer the exclusive domain of bold-named chefs and mega-rich mega-geeks. And while cooks who regularly use sous vide often opt to invest in equipment such as immersion circulators and SousVide Supreme baths, in the last few years, a number of affordable models have emerged for home use. But forget the gadgets for a minute. For this class, you’ll need a pot, a stove, a digital thermometer, some plastic bags, and an open mind. Yup, with nothing more than those basic tools, you’ll cook the best steak you’ve ever eaten, fork-tender salmon with a bright pea purée, and a juicy pork chop accompanied by an addictive romesco sauce. Once you’ve worked through the recipes, we believe you’ll be the latest convert to a cooking style that will revolutionize the way we cook food. We’ll also outline the basics on best practices for food safety and offer a list of books to consult as you continue down the road to sous vide mastery. Remember this moment. It’s the moment you took the first step toward becoming the kickass cook you always knew you could be.

Sous Vide: Getting Started

There comes a moment in every meat lover’s life when it’s time to push the barbecue skills to the next level. Maybe you’ve mastered your smoker but you’re looking for a way to save time without sacrificing flavor or texture. Maybe you’ve only just invested in a smoker and need inspiration for how to work with it. Or maybe you’re a total barbecue beginner—a wide-eyed neophyte who has only dreamed of unwrapping a rack of ribs and pondering the possibilities. Wherever you are, you’re about to go further. Because here at ChefSteps, we are unabashedly obsessed with all things barbecue—and stoked to share what we know. Our founders scoured the country to study regional styles, bringing the best tips, techniques, recipes, and religious experiences back to ChefSteps. And don’t think you need a smoker to get going. Our Apartment Ribs—an excellent starter technique—offer an opportunity to cook up a smoky rack in even the tiniest of urban kitchenettes. How do we do it? The same way we do everything—by understanding the science behind the smoke. Get started by exploring the 20+ recipes we’ve assembled here. From meats, to sauces, to sides, to sodas, they’ll take your backyard parties to a whole other level. And for the meat nerds among us, get ready to go deeper: We provide detailed directions for controlling your smoker. We’ll show you how to select the best wood for the job. We’ll debunk common myths and offer clever tricks for barbecue success. (Hint: Ice is involved in one of them.) We’ll advocate combining sous vide cooking with smoking and describe how it can save you hours of time while yielding consistently killer results. (Heretical? Definitely. Try it, however, and we’re convinced you’ll become a convert.) We’ll tell you what to read, where to eat, and how to learn even more—all to add to an ever-growing legion of bonafide barbecue freaks with a serious passion for smoked meat. As always, feel free to ask questions in the discussion section. As you may have noticed, it doesn’t take much to get us talking barbecue.

Barbecue

Microgreens have recently emerged as some of the best-loved garnishes in fine dining—and it’s easy to see why. Tiny as they are, these young plants pack remarkably intense flavors, vibrant colors, and interesting textures. Bursting with nutrients, they also get high marks from the health food community. Only problem is that microgreens are hella pricey; you’re lucky if you can find them for $30 a pound. Our solution: grow your own! Cultivating these wee plants requires some care and maintenance, sure, but it’s also super fun. Once your bed is buzzing along, you’ll have a ready source of good-for-you greens that you can use to make elegant salads and hors d’oeuvres toppers; brightly beautiful purées, soups, and smoothies; and so much more. Plus, there’s something distinctly satisfying about growing gorgeous food that will turn an ordinary plate into something pro-worthy. In this project, we walk you through the steps of successful microgreen growing and offer recipes (savory ice cream, anyone?) that make the most of these lovely little plants. No garden? Not an issue—it’s easy to cultivate them indoors, and you can do so year round. Because really, what could perk up the cold winter months better than a pretty crop of cute little plantlets? Nothing, that’s what. So let’s stop talking and start planting. It’s time to grow microgreens.

Microgreens

Make the classic Canadian snack at home. We’ll show you how to prepare perfectly crispy fries, squeaky cheese curds, and delicious gravy, all from scratch. Serve classic Old-School Poutine, or try our modernist “new-school” version—printable recipes included.

Poutine

It’s that time of year again: The shop windows are filled with sweaters and corduroys. The checkout line is stocked with Scotch tape. “Back to School” posters herald the beginning of a new season. So what’s an adult to do when the kids spend all day Sunday gluing pipe cleaners to a Little House on the Prairie diorama due Monday? Don’t worry—we’ve got a big-kid project for you. This is Salmon 104 °F, the dish that launched ChefSteps in 2012, developed by cofounders Chris, Grant, and Ryan to teach culinary students and faculty a series of techniques that would take their cooking skills to the next level. (ChefSteps trivia: Chris and Grant once instructed the faculty at Rhode Island–based culinary school Johnson & Wales; they launched ChefSteps.com as part of a plan to develop free-to-learn curricula for non-culinary students who wanted to tackle new skills.) Salmon 104 °F remains one of our favorite projects for teaching new skills and honing culinary expertise. By making the four simple recipes herein, you’ll cover a culinary curriculum that spans everything from pickling to vacuum compression, brining to sous vide, and blanching to thickening with hydrocolloids. We’ve assembled four component recipes into a ChefSteps Project—a weekend enterprise that will help you learn new things while preparing a beautiful, restaurant-quality dish for family and friends. Each component can be made days in advance and refrigerated so that you have a simple, yet impressive, plate that’s easy to put together at a moment’s notice. And for those of you who skipped art class, never fear: we’ve got tons of artsy plating ideas to get those creative juices flowing. So sharpen your knives, don a cute new apron, and get a killer playlist in order—it’s time to go back to school. No pipe cleaners required.

Salmon 104 F

Remember your first truly sharp knife? That bad boy cut clean and clear through tomatoes and onions and salmon and steak, shaming its dull drawermates. With a good knife, once-mundane tasks become suddenly pleasurable and satisfying. You can chop and slice for hours, comfortable and cramp-free like the kitchen ninja you were born to be. But if you want that knife to continue working at peak performance, you have to show it some love. That means cleaning it properly, storing it properly, honing it regularly, and sharpening it to maintain the blade. In this class, you’ll find all the information you need to learn to hone and sharpen like a pro. Which pro? How about blade sage Daniel O’Malley, owner of the epic knife emporium the Epicurean Edge in Kirkland, Washington, and a foremost expert on selecting and maintaining the world’s best chopping-and-slicing tools. Through video demos and clever tips and tricks, O’Malley walks us through the theory and technique of sharpening knives using Japanese waterstones—the badass little blocks that master bladesmiths have used for hundreds of years. Yes, you can always outsource your sharpening, but where’s the fun in that? We wager that once you’ve tried blade shaping on your own, you’ll fall in love with this ancient, relaxing ritual, as well the sense of satisfaction that comes with caring for your own steel. Knives are, without a doubt, our most important tools in the kitchen. If you want them to last a lifetime, you need to treat them right. We’re here to show you how.

Knife Sharpening

Everyone has a favorite burger, and this juicy, cheesy masterpiece is ours. To our minds, a burger should be something you can wrap your mouth around, with distinct components and clean, unmuddled flavors. This made-from-scratch, French-inspired American sandwich fits the bill. Inspired by the French dip, the Au Jus Burger is about as elaborate as a ChefSteps burger gets. But it’s also awesome, and it’s totally replicable at home—provided you’ve got time. We start five days ahead, preparing, then resting, our Brioche Burger Buns for optimal texture. Then we subject some swiss cheese to our Melty Cheese Slices technique—giving it all the creaminess of a Kraft Single while maintaining the flavor of the European fromage. On game day, we sear the patties, then drop them in a sous vide bath, leaving us free to prep the other ingredients while the burgers cook. Then, when the time is just right and our guests are gathered round the picnic table with napkins tied dutifully around their necks (this burger is messy, after all), we finish the job with caramelized onions and a horseradish-spiked version of our mayo, drizzle Beef Demi-Glace all over the burger, and serve it piping hot. “All that work for a burger?” you might ask. We enjoy every minute of it. You can always simplify matters by using store-bought brioche buns and cheese (or making our buns just two days in advance—they’ll still be spectacular). But at the end of the day, what excites us about this project is that it’s a beautiful, restaurant-style dish you can re-create at home, with magically delicious results. Plus—what can we say?—we’re willing to bend over backward for a kickass burger. Are you?

Au Jus Burger

You know that legendary George Mallory quote about why he climbed Mount Everest? “Because it’s there,” he said. Well, here at ChefSteps, that’s how we feel about candy-making. When we’re standing in the grocery store checkout line, staring at a brightly packaged bundle of Starburst or gummy bears, it’s in our nature to want to reproduce these textural wonders at home. Manipulating textures, after all, is what chefs do. You may think these classic sweets are impossible to create at home, but trust us: they’re not. Yes, you’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to be precise. And if it’s Starburst-style chews you’re after, you’ve got to be pretty ripped as well. (Ever seen someone “pull” saltwater taffy? Yeah, we’re going to be doing a lot of that.) The more delicately limbed among you may opt to start with our juicy Pâte de Fruit or the classic Haribo gummy bear recipe, reproduced here. Black licorice lovers—don’t be shy, we dig it too—wait until you try our toothsome version, laced with anise essential oil. Not into the anise-flavored stuff? We’ve got the formula for other flavors too. Backing it all up: a primer on the basic science of confections, so you can bone up on the ingredients that determine each candy’s unique texture. Sure it takes a little focus, but hey—it’s not rocket science. It’s not extreme mountaineering either. It’s candy-making. And it’s one of the more satisfying things you’re likely to achieve without risking frostbite. NOTE: The recipes in this class require a digital thermometer.

Chewy Candy

Oh, hey there, cooking enthusiasts. Now that you’ve learned the basics of sous vide cooking—and served your friends and family fork-tender salmon and the most delicious steak, like, ever—you’re ready to move on to the next level. In this class, we show you everything you need to harness the predictive power of sous vide, preparing seafood dishes that rival the stuff at fancy restaurants, transforming cheap cuts of meat into savory showstoppers, and whipping up fancy, foolproof desserts for a crowd. Those of you who love food science, fear not: we’re sharing plenty of illuminating theory along the way—plus simple tips and tricks you’ll use every time you enter the kitchen. So tie on an apron and get ready to crush it at your next dinner party, or just next Wednesday. It’s time to go beyond the basics. So, what do you get? You get 28 original recipes. Subscribe to this class, and you’ll also get free updates featuring recipes and techniques developed exclusively for this class by the ChefSteps kitchen development team. From highly addictive Kung Pao Ribs to life-changing Crème Brûlée, you’ll never run out of ways to impress your friends and family. Everything you need to turn cheap, tough meat cuts into tender steaks with flavor that far exceeds pricey stuff like prime rib. Six original fishes dishes—from a low-key weeknight curry to the best fish sticks you’ve ever tasted—plus the science behind brining and curing seafood for leveled-up texture and appearance. A primer on cooking in canning jars: Make no-fuss, silky crème brûlée, flan, yogurt, and chicken liver pâté. Whether you’re serving two or twenty, this essential technique is totally foolproof. Quick tips on how to prep and plate sous vide–cooked foods like a pro. A complete guide to sous vide equipment and packaging. A map of sous vide cooking featuring time-and-temperature settings for any food you feel like cooking. Plus, learn to manipulate time and temp to customize your cook and get the perfect doneness and texture! Techniques for preparing vegetables to keep them bright and snappy—you know, just the way you like ’em.

Sous Vide: Beyond the Basics

Spherification is kitchen alchemy, a technique that enables you to imbue a flavorful liquid with the appearance of being solid, an illusion that’s broken when the spheres burst with flavor as they’re eaten. ChefSteps’s course on spherification will help you prepare dishes that surprise and delight your family and friends by making the impossible possible in your kitchen. Enroll with ChefSteps for helpful step-by-step demonstrations of the relevant techniques, use our reliable recipes as a starting point, and get the support of a friendly community of experienced cooks and world-class chefs who will answer your questions.

Spherification

Welcome to the ChefSteps air frying class! In-depth guides about the mechanics and science behind air frying; delicious and innovative recipes that demonstrate the versatility of the technique; a primer on designing meals made entirely in an air fryer, with accompanying proof-of-concept recipes; a tip sheet on the different kinds of air fryers on the market; we’ve got it all, and a whole lot more. Air frying has a devoted and fast-growing following, for good reason: The air fryer is a powerful, efficient cooking tool that utilizes time-tested technology to deliver delicious results. In this class we’ll explain the science behind that power and provide you with everything you need to know how to get the most out of your air fryer. Let’s get cooking.

Air Frying

How do you take your coffee? We bet you have a tried-and-true answer—maybe you prefer it with a spoonful of sugar, a spot of half-and-half, hazelnut syrup and whipped cream, black, or just-give-me-the-damn-coffee-before-I-cut-you. The thing is: It doesn’t matter how you take it. If you take it every day, it should be perfect. Shouldn’t it? This class is about just that: Dialing in your daily brew—choosing your favorite roasted beans, picking the perfect brew techniques, and refining your recipe—until that morning ritual isn’t just about caffeine intake, it’s a full-on culinary experience. To create this one-of-a-kind class on all things home brew, we teamed up with two coffee experts—James Hoffmann, founder of the renowned London roastery Square Mile Coffee and author of The World Atlas of Coffee; and lauded coffee consultant Ben Kaminsky, cofounder of Boston’s Barismo and a three-time World Tasting Champion. Whether you’re new to home brewing or come bearing serious coffee skills, this class will offer you one-of-a-kind insights, exclusive game-changing techniques (sludge-free French press! amazing dairy-free latte!), and practical advice from coffee’s cutting-edge experts. And to round out this crash course in everyone’s favorite caffeinated beverage, we offer four killer ChefSteps recipes, including a novel technique for coffee “chocolate,” a bitters recipe to instantly up your cocktail game, a coffee-infused butter to spread all over your steak, and a flavor-packed rub that perks up any protein in a flash. And when it’s all over, we’ll ask you again: How do you take your coffee? Your answer: My way.

Coffee

Welcome to the ChefSteps seitan class! Seitan is one of the most miraculous foods in the world. You can imbue it with almost any flavor, mold it into almost any shape, and manipulate it to produce almost any texture! It’s a blank canvas, and the only limit on its potential is your imagination. Seitan is so versatile because it’s made of pure gluten, the protein in wheat flour that makes the vast world of bread possible. This class is designed to give you the competence and confidence to master making seitan dishes of all kinds. With in-depth guides explaining the science behind why gluten and starch molecules behave the way they do, a suite of interrelated recipes that demonstrate how to produce all kinds of wheat meat wonders and unlock the culinary potential of starch, step-by-step videos to guide you through our seitanic rituals, and so much more, this class is meant to show that seitan is for everyone. Whether you’re looking for an alternative source for plant-based protein, you want to explore the intricacies of a centuries-old technique, or you just have a thing for culinary alchemy, this class will give you the ability to transform a bag of flour into all kinds of uniquely delicious things. Nuggets, hot dogs, and hams are just the beginning. Welcome to the wide world of wheat meat.

Seitan

Whether you’re a beach bum or a homebody, we’ve got a clambake for you. Here you’ll find recipes and instructions for throwing a full-blown beach clambake, complete with raging fire and cooler of beer, and for a home clambake hack, served inside a dutch oven with fresh seaweed and beach rocks. We’ve got techniques for breaking down whole crabs, cleaning geoduck, and making spicy, salty garnishes—so whether you’re staying home this weekend or hitting the beach, you’ve got dinner plans on lock.

Clambake

It’s a solid. No, wait, it’s a liquid. Great god of super-cool science, it’s both. In this class, you’ll learn the basics of fluid gels—substances that act like a solid when left alone but become liquid when stirred or blended. You’ll use fluid gels to form liquid layers in a verdant vegetarian parfait. You’ll create a deconstructed Orange Creamsicle dessert that presents Fresh Orange Fluid Gel in two ways—in gel and foam form. You’ll learn how fluid gels make great salad dressings that coat vegetables completely, and you’ll create a Beet Fluid Gel that lends a pop of color and flavor to delicate blini hors d’oeuvres. Enroll with ChefSteps for helpful step-by-step demonstrations of the relevant techniques (including detailed plating tips), showstopping recipes that have been thoroughly tested in our kitchen, and access to our community of chefs and home cooks. Break out the blender and start drafting that guest list—by the time you’ve completed this class, you’ll have all the makings of a magical modernist dinner party.

Fluid Gels

We’re just going to say this: We think you should have a whipping siphon (also known as a cream whipper or whipping canister or whip cream thingy), and a high-end one at that. Yup, that glimmering canister that your barista uses to top that hazelnut latte belongs in your home kitchen, too. Why? Because the best whip cream thingies do a heck of a lot more than whip cream. And we can teach you to do all sorts of amazing stuff with one—from fizzy, fresh-juice sodas to no-fail hollandaise, from creamy, homemade burrata—whut?—to spongy feather-light cake. Yeah, you can make a cake in a whipping siphon. Crazy, right?

Whipping Siphons

Welcome to the new and improved ChefSteps espresso class! With everything you need to know to master this uniquely delicious method for brewing coffee, all in one place, this class is designed to put the skills of a professional barista within reach, no matter your skill level. In-depth explainers for the fundamental techniques and principles behind espresso? Check! How-to videos from leading espresso experts for dialing in your machine, learning the nuances of latte art, and mastering an array of café-quality drinks? Of course! Recipes, tips and tricks, and killer creative coffee ideas from our team of chefs? You know it! Guides, graphics, and glossaries to get you fluent in the lingo for a lungo? Certo! With a whole lot of help from coffee-industry veteran Sarah Dooley, Breville’s U.S. manager for Beanz.com, and a few key assists from L.A.-based barista and coffee shop owner Charles Babinski, we’ve created an espresso resource unlike anything available elsewhere. Let’s get brewing.

Espresso

Ice cream may seem like the simplest of lazy-day treats, but delving into the science can mean the difference between a coarse-and-crispy frozen fail and the smooth, creamy stuff they serve at your local parlor. Plus, it’s a whole lot of fun. Just in time for summer, we’ve assembled a class that will make a master out of anyone willing to cool things down in the kitchen. Go hi-tech with Aerated Green Apple Sorbet or a Root Beer Float Cryosicle, or keep things folksy with our classic mint chocolate chip. Planning a dairy-free party? We’ve got a pistachio gelato that’s going to blow your milkfat-free mind. Along with 14 recipes for frozen desserts that will surprise and delight your guests throughout the year, we’ve got plenty of ideas for toppings, plus tips and techniques to make the most of your ice-cream-making equipment—whether you’re churning in a stand mixture with dry ice or a state-of-the-art Carpigiani contraption. So stock up on cones and fire up the backyard speakers—you’re about to show the neighborhood a whole new take on the ice cream social.

Ice Cream

We’re guessing you’ve made a burger before. In fact, we’ll bet you’ve made a damn good burger and have a solid argument about why yours is hard to beat. We’ll bet you have a favorite burger joint, a favorite ground beef, and a better-than-average topping combo. But let’s get one thing straight: this class isn’t about how to make burgers. It’s about leveling up and designing your very own chef-quality sandwich, with professional-style condiments, fresh burger buns, and homemade fries to match. Whether you’re making a snappy mushroom patty augmented by caramelized onions or a beefy burger topped with ChefSteps’s Homemade Ketchup and Kewpie-Style Mayo, this class will walk you through each step of mastering a restaurant-level burger. You’ll bone up on the science of making Melty Cheese Slices and learn how we ran trials to come up with our perfect patty. You’ll re-create classic commercial condiments in your own kitchen. And in the end, you’ll wind up with a whole new appreciation for this most American sandwich. Best of all, we designed the techniques here with predictability in mind—meaning you can plan your next party knowing your guests will get a memorably great sandwich. No, the ChefSteps Burger Class is not about making ordinary burgers. It’s about developing the culinary know-how to create a true gastronomical experience of your very own. Who knows? You may discover something so groundbreaking that you’ll quit your accounting job to open a burger joint. And if you do, please invite us. We kinda love burgers.

Burgers

Welcome to the ChefSteps countertop oven class: 13 articles of scientific insights and practical tips; a section on baking that everyone can access; 6 new recipes, plus bonus content for Studio Pass members only. The large ovens installed in home kitchens were invented and moved into homes after World War One. At the time, a large oven was an unbelievable innovation for home cooks. But what felt brand-new in 1918 is pretty outdated now. What is today’s upgrade on the large oven that can level up your cooking immediately? The countertop oven. In this class, we show you the science of how a countertop oven works—whether you are roasting, broiling, or dehydrating—and why you should choose a particular cooking cycle for that meal you want to make. We also have some incredible new recipes, with extensive video tutorials and scientific explanations of what is happening while you cook. Of course, we also have tips and tricks for you, including hacks and other tools you can use to make your countertop oven as useful as any other oven. We have made the baking section of the class— including recipes for amazing chocolate chip cookies, plus savory and sweet soufflés—available to everyone. As well, we share some classic ChefSteps recipes we have re-tested in countertop ovens and found success. For Studio Pass members, we have an incredibly detailed guide—with videos for every step—to making croissants. We have vegetable jerky, red cabbage with creamy koji sauce, gluten-free chocolate soufflé, and what Grant believes might be your new favorite lasagna. Now, let’s get cooking.

The Countertop Oven Class

For any cook who’s ever burned a steak, destroyed a perfectly good piece of fish, or rubberized a chicken breast, this is the class for you. With just one simple and versatile technique, you can achieve mouthwatering, flavorful results every time, in your own kitchen. All you need is an oven, a pan, and a thermometer—we’ll show you the rest. We’ll empower you to choose, purchase, and cook tender cuts at home with confidence. The class includes lessons on how chefs shop for meat and seafood, information about which cuts work for which preparations, and clear, simple steps for cooking tender cuts of meat. If you have questions, please ask. Our culinary support team is standing by.

Tender Cuts

Ambitious cooks are a restless bunch—the better we get, the more challenges we seek. When you’ve reached the point at which you can masterfully replicate great recipes at home—anticipating timing issues, controlling temperatures, making confident corrections when problems arise—it’s time to start designing your own dishes. Here, we share the steps that we use to create dazzling and delicious composed plates. We offer up the recipe for one of our own successes—a flavor-packed, texture-driven soup/salad hybrid we served at a recent dinner. Re-creating the recipe at home will provide essential practice; as you prepare it, you’ll think about how each component came to be part of the unified whole and how the steps we outline might apply to your own original creation. Once you’ve worked through the project, you’ll be all set to break out on your own, developing a dish to amaze and delight your nearest and dearest. Be sure to share photos in the discussion—we can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Design a Dish

ChefSteps is for people who love to cook. Get recipes, tips, and videos that show the whys behind the hows for sous vide, grilling, baking, and more.

Thanksgiving

Eggnog heralds the arrival of the holiday season, and our version takes advantage of some modern techniques to boost flavor and texture.

A new holiday tradition is born. This sous vide eggnog recipe is easy to perfect and epically delicious.

Modernist Eggnog

Cran-pari (Cranberry Aperitif)

Our drink of choice. The Cran-pari Negroni Sbagliato, with Prosecco.

Negroni sbagliato recipe with cranberry bitters.

Cran-pari Negroni Sbagliato

And egg-less eggnog that’s all about the flavors and aromas of vanilla and warm spices, suspended in a liquid that has the consistency of heavy cream.

Vegan Eggnog

Christmas is right around the corner, after all.

Our sous vide eggnog recipe is the silkiest, most delicious version going. Add a shot of rum and your holiday party becomes the stuff of legend.

Eggnog Cocktail

We all love Champagne, but we don’t love the hefty price tag. This technique makes “champagne” that tastes great, almost instantly, for cheap. And unlike traditional bottled Champagne, this method will also give you fresh, carbonated, fizzy grapes that you can enjoy in or alongside your glass of bubbly. 

We’re calling this “champagne with a lowercase c” because it’s not made in the Champagne region or the Champagne style, but it’s a fun way to give any wine you like a bubbly boost. Perfect for dinner party toasts during the holiday season and ringing in the new year, you can carbonate white, rosé, and even red wines—just make sure to pick out a bottle, carton, box, or can of wine that you enjoy drinking. (No point in going through this process using a wine that tastes horrible to begin with.) You can even make sparkling non-alcoholic wine (or “cider”) by carbonating grape and apple juices. 

Using a one-quart [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/how-siphons-work whipped cream canister] (aka whipping siphon or iSi siphon), we carbonate wine with CO2 to get plenty of bubbles and highlight grape flavors. Adding sliced fresh grapes provides a little sweetness and tannins that, along with the carbon dioxide, make cheap wine taste a little bit brighter. To keep your bubbly color consistent, choose grape varieties with skins that match your starting wine. (Green grapes for white wine, purple grapes for red wine.) You can also get creative and mix and match to add different color and flavor notes. 

A whipping siphon allows us to manipulate pressure with soluble gasses in order to alter the texture, color, flavor, and temperature of liquids and solid ingredients. Originally created to aerate high-fat liquids like cream into foam, chefs soon realized that the same technology could be used to produce [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/getting-bubbles-in-your-beverage carbonation], cavitation, [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/awesome-technique-alert-infuse-fruits-and-veggies-with-flavor-in-a-flash infusion], and more with a vast array of ingredients.

From [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/fresh-juice-soda fresh juice sodas] and bubbly [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/carbonated-celery-gimlet cocktails] to [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/bright-fluffy-whipped-hollandaise fluffy hollandaise] and [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/skinny-whip-2-0 vegan whip], we use [link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NY6PVO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B002NY6PVO&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=chefsteps02-20&amp;linkId=76b7ec890d858bbe9ed09ea36be46b55 iSi siphons] to create a variety of beverages, garnishes, and more. Unlock the world of delicious possibilities and learn how to master your iSi siphon in our [link https://www.chefsteps.com/classes/whipping-siphons Whipping Siphons Class].

It’s easy to transform cheap wine into sparkling bubbly with a whipping siphon.

How to Turn Cheap Wine into Bubbly “Champagne” (and Make Fizzy Grapes)

Mulled Wine

This ruby-red bubbler is a refreshing pop for your taste buds.

You don’t need a soda maker to make tart-and-tangy Cranberry Soda. Instead, whip out that whipping siphon and start carbonating!

Cranberry Soda

Bracingly boozy, with earthy coffee notes and hints of spice and oak.

Espresso martini recipe by James Hoffmann

Modernist Espresso Martini

Our homage to Winston Churchill, who loved washing down his breakfast with whiskey—after smoking a cigar.

Churchill’s Breakfast Cocktail

Douglas Fir Daiquiri

Strong, sophisticated, and smooth. The Clooney of cocktails.

Yard Bird Cocktail

Our Byrrhgroni is a carbonated twist that replaces London Dry with Old Tom gin and the sweet vermouth with the richer but less sweet flavor profile of Punt e Mes.

Byrrhgroni Cocktail

Our twist on the gimlet trades Rose’s Lime Juice cordial for our own tonic of green apple juice and topped with a velvety lemon juice foam.

Our twist on the gimlet trades Rose’s Lime Juice cordial for our own tonic of green apple juice, which replaces tart citric acid with equally refreshing malic acid.

Apple Gin Gimlet

The Groundhog

The Bitter End Cocktail

If you like to sip on Campari cocktails during the long, leisurely meals of the holiday season, this recipe’s for you. That’s right, a Campari-like aperitif made with cranberries.

Transforming sweet and tart cranberries into a bitters is pretty straightforward, although it did require a fair amount of testing to get the flavor, color, and texture just right.

Using vodka as the base alcohol made sense because it has a neutral flavor and, once diluted with the cranberries, the mixture hits the right ABV. The ratio of ingredients I settled on also hit an acceptable brix (the amount of dissolved sugars in the solution); the Cran-pari clocks in between 22 and 26 brix. However, since cranberries have a fair amount of pectin, the solution would gel at room temperature. To prevent that, I added Pectinex, an enzyme that breaks down pectin, which keeps the cranberry-infused vodka fluid even when cool.

To preserve the color of the cranberries and keep the enzyme in Pectinex active, I used a relatively low-temperature sous vide bath to infuse the vodka. The low temperature also has the benefit of preserving as many aromatic flavor compounds as possible from the orange pith and botanicals—a mix of gentian root, dried rhubarb, Angelica root, wormwood, and ginseng—I infuse into the mixture to give it a Campari-like complexity.

About that pith: Orange is one of the defining flavors of Campari, but when I infused orange zest into the mixture, the aromatic oils it contains overpowered the other flavors. By using just the pith, I got just the right amount of bitterness and orange flavor. Don’t toss the zest, though; save it for garnishing your [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/cran-pari-negroni-sbagliato Cran-pari Negroni Sbagliato]!

A Negroni is a classic cocktail for a reason: the bitterness of Campari, the sweetness of sweet vermouth, and the floral, juniper notes in gin come together for an elegant, eminently sippable drink that also just happens to be beautiful.

While almost everyone is familiar with a Negroni, not as many people know about its lighter, brighter, and more bubbly cousin: the Negroni sbagliato. The “mistaken” Negroni still has the Campari and sweet vermouth, but instead of the gin, you top the mixture off with Prosecco.
 
For our twist on the Negroni sbagliato, we went a couple steps further, subbing in our homemade [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/cran-pari Cran-pari] for the Campari and dry vermouth for the sweet vermouth, the better to let the cranberry’s tannic flavor shine. A 1:2:3 ratio of dry vermouth, Cran-pari, and Prosecco also yielded a beautiful crimson drink with just the right amount of bubbles. It’s a cocktail you can drink (a couple of) on any occasion.

Eggnog heralds the arrival of the holiday season, and our version takes advantage of some modern techniques to boost flavor and texture. Enjoy it plain or hooch it up with a nice shot of rum or bourbon.

Put a little time into making this milk-washed punch and you won’t need to shake any refills at your cocktail party. The final punch is deceptively lush and seductive. Plus, the milk-washing process helps to preserve the punch, which means a big batch can sit in your fridge for a long time. Having a cocktail party? Pull out a pitcher of this elixir and pour it into glasses filled with glacier ice. 

Where did milk washing come from? In the last decade or so, with the renewed interest in mixology and old-school cocktails, people are making milk-washed punch again. Why? The first printed recipes for milk-washed punch date back to the early 1700s in England. After spending years in London, Benjamin Franklin published his own recipe for milk punch in 1763, which started with 6 quarts of brandy. Alcohol then might have been a little harsher than we can buy today. Once refinements in the distillation process improved the taste of commercial alcohol, the practice fell out of popularity. 

**But how do you “wash” alcohol with milk? The casein protein in the milk binds with the bitter polyphenols and astringent tannins in the alcohol—all the stuff that makes the alcohol acrid and murky. If you pour it all through a sieve into a container, you leave that raft of bitterness behind.**

What remains is the taste of the cleanest alcohol possible, with a bit of sweet and creamy texture from the whey—a clear and full-bodied alcoholic punch.

Your friends will love this drink. And what, they might ask, is this?

And you can tell them, it’s milk-washed punch! 

Tell them you found it at ChefSteps.

Also, if you like epic—make Glacier Ice for your Punch
[fetchActivity a-little-bit-of-glacier-in-your-glass]

Milk-washed punch is easy to make, clear, and delicious. We’re bringing back a technique from the 1700s. Your cocktail party will be fantastic.

Clarified Milk-Washed Punch

Also known as _gløgg_ in Norway, _glühwein_ in Germany, _vin chaud_ in France, and _Глинтвейн_ in Russia, this ubiquitous winter warmer enjoys a versatile reputation as both a good way to get rid of cheap wine and a luxurious holiday treat. You might just as well encounter the stuff in a dive bar as at a fancy Christmas party, and the truth is that it’s equally at home in both places. Mulled wine has survived throughout the centuries in cultures worldwide for good reason: there’s still nothing better than a hot, spicy cocktail on a chilly night. 

Ancient Romans are thought to have originally developed recipes for mulled wine for two reasons: first, to flaunt expensive foreign spices such as cinnamon and clove; and second, to mask an overly strong or sour wine. For this elevated version, we start with a bottle of decent full-bodied wine (try zinfandel, syrah, or cabernet) and add Angostura bitters, sweet vermouth, and whole spices for a rich, sophisticated flavor profile that works well as a lavish holiday goodie or a casual winter warmer. Be careful not to simmer too long, and keep the lid on the pot, or you’ll evaporate all the alcohol. (After all, what’s a good mulled wine without a good buzz to match?) And whether you’re serving it to distinguished guests or your sloppiest drinking buddies, good hosts in every country serve it piping hot.

We’ve come to expect more from our sodas, like antioxidants and vitamin C, and this ruby-red bubbler delivers. Tart and tangy, it’s a refreshing pop for your taste buds. You might even say it’s crantastic! Okay, maybe that’s more like something your mom would say. 

For the freshest juice, purée your own cranberries. Or buy pure cranberry juice for soda on the fly. Just charge your siphon three times, chill, and serve. For an adult version, add a shot of vodka and a lime wedge, and you’ll have yourself one spruced-up cape cod cocktail. Mom’s going to love that.

Let’s talk pie dough. Pie pastry made well—whether flaky or tender—is one your family and guests will remember for years to come. All memorable pies are built on the foundation of a great pie dough. So are tarts, galettes, bar cookies, hand pies, or pasties. 

Take the time to make good pie pastry. Whatever you fill it with will probably be the best bite of food you will eat that day. So, let’s make some damned flaky dough to bake into a golden treat. 

Pie dough is all about choosing the right ingredients, then using the right techniques to make those ingredients even better. The way you do the mixing, chilling, forming, and baking—it matters. Follow the guidelines we have laid out here, then use whatever quality flour and any type of fat you have in the right ratios? You will make good pastry.  

You can scale the fat up or down and play with the ingredients here to make a different kind of pie. Need a workhorse dough that is sturdy and holds filling well? Decrease the fat content and bump up the hydration. Want to add more richness? Add some egg, sugar or a tropical fat like coconut oil or palm shortening. Using a combination of fats and flours will level up your pie dough game. Play with adding some buckwheat flour into your wheat flour for more nuttiness, and add some red palm oil in place of some of the butter for a darker golden hue on the crust. 

Our pastry chef, Matthew Woolen, makes pie dough with a patient technique that even some of the experienced bakers on staff have never seen before. And this makes the flakiest pie dough we have ever eaten.

Perfect Pie Dough

Beware! Once you make this Super Apple Pie, you might find that your favorite family apple pie suddenly tastes of cinnamon and sugar and not much else. This one tastes like **apples.**

Sometimes around here we try crazy food experiments, just to see what happens. Grant said to Matthew one day, "Hey, how many apples do you think you can get into a pie?" 

It turned out to be 114. 114 apples in one pie! 

How? 

If you use apples in their raw form, you can stuff about 12 apples into a ridiculously high-domed pie. But, if you play with the form of those apples, you can intensify the flavor dramatically. We used freeze-dried apples, dehydrated apples, and apple juice concentrate to pack in a little more than 100 apples. 9.5 freeze dried apples + 5 1/2 dehydrated apples + 6 cans of concentrate (16.5 apples per can x 6 cans = 99) = 114 apples in one pie. That is a whole lot of apples. The result was an intense candy-apple pie. 

We also put apple in the crust by making a powder of freeze-dried apples.  

We hydrated freeze-dried apples with apple concentrate, then freeze-dried them again. After the second freeze-drying, we hydrated the apple mix a second time and made our pie filling from those apples and the dehydrated apples, lightly cooked with butter and spices and married together with an apple-vanilla gel. The final apple filling is such an intense sweet and sour apple flavor that we needed some a la mode to help cut the tartness. So of course, we made ice cream out of the apple pie too.

Look, sometimes we try these creative exercises and they flop hard. We learn the boundaries and dial back to something that makes more sense. But this one? This crazy experiment worked. This Super Apple Pie has super-intense apple flavor and super-acidic notes too. It’s singular. 

Honestly, though, it might ruin the experience of eating your favorite pie after you make it. So, be sure you want this before you make this.

This super apple pie uses dehydrating, freeze-drying, apple concentrate, and apple gel to intensify the taste of apple pie. It has the equivalent of 114 apples in one pie.

Super Apple Pie

An ultra-smooth, ultra-creamy, egg-less pudding with all the flavor of a (good!) pumpkin pie.

There’s nothing worse than taking a bite of a pumpkin pie with a curdled texture and muddy flavor, especially if you’ve spent hours putting it together. This pudding recipe, based on [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/vegan-no-bake-chocolate-custard my recipe for egg-free chocolate “custard,”] comes together in just a few minutes and its flavors are clean and clear, all pumpkin and pumpkin spice with no eggs or dairy to get in the way, with the super creamy and super smooth texture of the best custard you’ve ever had.

The technique is simple—all you need is a scale, a blender, a pot, and a food processor—even if [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-science-of-fluid-gels the chemistry of fluid gels] is a little complicated. A combination of cashews, coconut oil, and the [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/unlock-your-hydrocolloid-starter-pack super hydrocolloid] low-acyl gellan thickens and enriches the puréed pumpkin base without compromising any of its flavor.

The one caveat to using gellan is that it's always important to use a precise digital scale—accurate to 1/10th of a gram—to measure it out. A little goes a long way; add too much, and the mixture will become too firm. 

You can fill a jar or a serving cup with the pudding and top it with some [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/skinny-whip-2-0 Skinny Whip 2.0] for a totally vegan dessert. But if you and your guests are fine with a little dairy in your diet, top it with streusel for an elegant home run of a Thanksgiving dessert, or pour the hot custard straight out of the blender into a blind-baked pie crust, let it set, and you’ve got an excellent “custard” pie.

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Pudding

When it comes to building deep, delicious flavor, pecan pie has it all. The molten, molasses goodness of brown sugar, the aroma of real vanilla that permeates every room of your house and reminds you that a vanilla pod really is the fruit of a flower, and, of course, the pecans themselves. Here, in our version of this southern classic, they range from crispy and candied on top to soft and nut-buttery inside.

Combined, these ingredients make for a pie filling that clearly demonstrates why the phrase “ooey-gooey goodness” was invented. (We even check the temperature toward the end of baking to make sure it hits the perfect ooey-gooey goodness we’re after.)

Along with a double handful of pecans, we tip our hat to the pie’s southern roots by adding a shot of bourbon to the filling, which lends its own complex nutty, woodsy, and brown-sugary notes while amping up every other flavor in the mix. Do we stop there? No, we do not. That amazing filling goes in our shatteringly crisp [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/buttery-flaky-all-purpose-pie-crust-pate-brisee pâte brisée, aka Buttery, Flaky, All-Purpose Pie Crust], sealing the deal. Our recommendation? When the desserts hit the table, reach for this one first. It’s got a way of going fast.

Deep Dish Pecan Pie

Are you daunted by the task of making a pie? (You’re not alone.)  What if you don’t own a pie pan? Or you don’t have the time to wait for the pie dough to rest, then blind bake the shell, and then let it cool down? We have the answer for you. Make a galette. 

To make a galette, all you need is an oven, a sheet to bake it on, pie dough, and a filling. And you also have the chance to do it free-form and call it rustic. Galettes are much easier to make than pies. 

A galette—which originates from France—first meant “flat cake,” which could be used to describe unleavened flatbreads, very dense cakes, or even crepes. In the last century, however, it came to mean a free-form pie baked without the help of a shell. (In Italy, this is known as a crostata.) Whatever you call it, this rustic flat pie without a top crust is delicious. 

One of the reasons we like a galette is that, with the crust folded up and over part of the filling, it has more crunchy edges than a regular pie. A galette can be savory—heirloom tomatoes with Parmesan and thyme; zucchini with ricotta and lemon zest; potato leek with marjoram—to make an easy dinner. Typically, however, we think of galettes as sweet. 

Fill a galette with any fruits you desire. Autumn fruits like apple and pear are always good. However, here in the Northwest we also have blackberries, huckleberries, cranberries, quince, and persimmons. Depending on the season you could fill a galette with figs, stone fruit or rhubarb.

Here we have given you a recipe using fresh fruit, spices and citrus zest. You could swap out the apples with pears or quince. If cranberries are not your thing, just leave them out and maybe replace with raisins, dates or another berry.

You can make a winter fruit galette destined to please everyone at the Thanksgiving table. All the guests will rave about your dessert. You don’t have to tell them it was much easier to make than a pie.

Make a galette instead of a pie! It's flat, with folded-over edges, filled with fruit, still dramatic, with none of the fussiness of a double-crust pie.

Apple Cranberry Galette

Pumpkins are lovable in their decorative form—you get to pick your favorite one in the patch, plump and round and simply funny-looking—but we can all agree that pumpkins are especially fawn-worthy when they’re in the form of delicious pie. This Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie is creamy, warm-spiced, and not too sweet. And the coolest part? The filling comes together in a blender, no oven required. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure type of pie: Buy the crust or make it? Get tang and texture from sour cream, heavy cream, or buttermilk? These are life’s important questions. And the answer is always pie.

This creamy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie is made in a blender for maximum ease. It’s perfect for dinner parties, when you want to free the oven.

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

When it comes to quintessentially American desserts, there are few more revered than apple pie. Classically double-crusted and filled with fresh fruit and warming spices, there’s a reason it’s an anchor of any Fourth of July picnic or Thanksgiving dessert spread. Never mind that the apple pie isn’t strictly an American invention—a hat tip here to its medieval European ancestors. But heck, there’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_Town,_New_Mexico">a town in New Mexico named after apple pie</a>. It’s a national treasure. 

Our take on apple pie is the ultimate exercise in avoiding that nemesis of bakers everywhere—a soggy bottom. And, boy, do we have some [link /activities/tips-tricks-the-secret-to-crispy-pie-crusts pie-perfect tips for you]. First, we use a cast-iron skillet to keep all that helpful heat inside the pan. Then we make sure everything from the crust to the filling stays nice and cold, right up until the pie goes into the oven. Then, to cap it off, we use our patented triple-bake method to get that luscious sear. 

Oh, and when you cut into that crispy, crackly lid? You’ll get an intensely apple filling in a light caramel that’s just the right amount of sweet. We round the flavor out with a hit of bourbon for depth and a hint of lemon for freshness. It’s a blue ribbon shoo-in. Get your forks ready, friends—this scrumptious taste of tradition tends to disappear quickly.

Our apple pie is sheer perfection—tart apples in a just-sweet-enough caramel, all wrapped in our trademark triple-baked crust. It’s a classic holiday showstopper.

Skillet Apple Pie

Step up your Thanksgiving leftovers with this new take on a pot pie. It’s faster—no need to deal with pie dough, and can even be prepped ahead of time. It’s also lighter than your average pot pie with an amazing savory soufflé topping. It’s not just pot pie. It’s *popped* pie! 

The soufflé topping is loaded with cheese and potato purée, making this dish one part pot pie, one part cottage pie, and one hundred percent creative, cozy, and satisfying. It comes out of the oven molten hot, so a short rest is essential (if you don’t want to destroy the roof of your mouth, that is). Just like its sweet dessert counterpart, the potato soufflé will sink slightly as it cools, but it won’t be dense or dry. You’ll end up with a light, fluffy, and flavorful “crust” that will for sure leave everyone asking for a second serving.

Forget everything you know about pot pie. This “popped” version has a fluffy, cheesy potato soufflé topping that’s sure to surprise and delight your dinner guests.

Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey Popped Pot Pie

With the building blocks of classic poutine in place, we’re putting a Thanksgiving twist on this Canadian classic. Whether you need a hangover cure, a stick-to-your-ribs snack, Black Friday fuel, or just want a delicious, creative way to clean out your fridge, this turkey poutine can do it all. 

Below you’ll find a roadmap to choose your own adventure to perfect poutine. You can make epic cheese curds from scratch, or speed up the process with a delicious cheddar cheese sauce. Generously drizzle on gravy or turkey jus gras, add leftover turkey meat, assemble, and enjoy.

Air fry some french fries, make some cheese curds (or cheese sauce), grab your leftover gravy and shred some turkey. We're about to make Thanksgiving poutine.

Air-Fried Turkey Poutine

A staple on many Thanksgiving tables, stuffing rarely disappoints. No matter what mix you make, whether you add some sausage, diced green apples or dried cranberries, it’s always moist and flavorful. The one thing that would take stuffing to the next level: **texture.**

Our [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/behind-the-scenes-waffle-iron-frenzy waffle iron frenzy] a few years ago showed us just how many things you can successfully “waffle.” With those experiences in mind, we worked out the best way to waffle stuffing.

Below, you’ll find our tips and tricks to kick your next batch of Thanksgiving stuffing up a notch. You end up with the perfect bite every time—a delicious balance of moist, crisp, and flavorful. Plus, these waffles have plenty of nooks and crannies to catch and hold your gravy.

This is an easy way to level up your favorite store-bought stuffing mix, whether you want to serve a new style of stuffing at Thanksgiving or find a fun way to level up leftovers. You could even give your holiday meal a makeover—fried chicken and waffles style—with these “stuffles” and our [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/extra-crispy-fried-turkey KFC-style 24-piece fried turkey].

Level up leftovers or serve a new style of stuffing with these crispy and flavorful stuffing waffles.

Tips & Tricks: Waffle Your Stuffing

This turkey pot pie is no joke. It is rich. It is thick. It is perfect for this season of holiday indulgence or for any time you need a healthy dose of comfort food—like, say, after an election. What makes it special? The filling is totally traditional—its savory, herby flavor will evoke your fondest memories of Mom’s Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s the crust, however, that’s breaking barriers: **use [link /activities/tips-tricks-the-secret-to-crispy-pie-crusts this sweet little secret] to make your pie crust *extra* crispy**, so even as the filling stands as a glowing tribute to Mom’s culinary genius, the crunchy, flaky crust will be an accomplishment all your own.

This turkey pot pie is part traditional—the savory, herby filling will remind you of Mom’s Thanksgiving leftovers—and part rogue—its extra-crispy crust will amaze your holiday guests.

Classic Double-Crusted Turkey Pot Pie

Picture this: You’ve just spent the last 24 hours cooking, eating, and sleeping. You’re exhausted and your stomach hurts. Your fridge is filled to the brim with pie and other delights, and dinner rolls and biscuits are everywhere. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and your tryptophan hangover is in full force. It was a holiday after all—you were allowed to indulge!

You could go for the ceremonial leftovers sammie, crusty bread piled high with everything and slathered in gravy. [link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2xi7B3mkr0 In some households, the leftovers sandwich is more important than the Thanksgiving meal itself]. But let’s be honest: after a full day of overeating, don’t you just want something light and refreshing? Better yet, something that showcases the outstanding turkey you spent hours cooking?

Author, culinary instructor, and friend of ChefSteps Andrea Nguyen’s got you covered with this recipe for (leftover-) turkey pho. Traditionally served for breakfast at Vietnamese market stalls, pho is the perfect post-holiday meal. It’s light and refreshing even when made with hearty meats, and with sweet-and-savory broth, long, slurptastic noodles, and fresh herbs, this is one bowl of comfort food that won’t put you down for the count. 

*OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS: A New Series from ChefSteps 
At ChefSteps, we love to cook. And we love to share our top tips and techniques with you. But we’re not the boss of everything, and we learn from our friends and colleagues every day. That’s why we created Other People’s Ideas, a new series starring our favorite subject experts. These talented folks are here to help you tackle everything from soup dumplings to pizza pie—and have a ton of fun along the way. You down with OPI? Yeah you are. Let’s do this.*

Thanksgiving leftovers need a little boost. Get creative in the kitchen with Leftover Turkey Pho, a recipe from cookbook author and culinary genius Andrea Nguyen.

Leftover Turkey? Make Pho! With Andrea Nguyen

One of the best parts—perhaps the best part—of Thanksgiving is leftovers.

And as much as we like to eat slapped-together turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce (and smothered in gravy) and stuffing waffled to crispy perfection (and smothered in gravy), T-Day leftovers can be used to create all sorts of other crazy things.

Check out the video above to watch as our five chefs go nuts with Thanksgiving leftovers. Use it as inspiration or just take it all in as some postprandial entertainment—it’s up to you. All we know is that this was an excellent day to be in the studio kitchen!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Five chefs make five dishes using Thanksgiving leftovers.

5 Chefs 5 Ways: Thanksgiving Leftovers

If you’ve ever wondered how to make pomme purée, the silkiest, smoothest mashed potatoes beloved by Michelin-starred chefs all around the world, you’re in luck: We have a step-by-step method you can use to replicate them at home.

This dish is often referred to as Robuchon potatoes, in honor of Joël Robuchon, the chef who mastered the preparation. Robuchon’s innovation was, in retrospect, pretty simple: He figured out how to incorporate an over-the-top amount of milk and butter into a potato purée without producing any gumminess at all in the final product. 

The key to the dish is to break up the cooked potato into very fine particles without overworking the starches, which will make the purée gummy. Adding milk and butter to the passed potatoes helps to lubricate these fine particles, and the fat they contain serves as a slight buffer against overworking the starches. However, it can’t guard against it completely, so it’s important to pass the potato purée through a fine-mesh strainer while it’s hot. The warm purée will pass more easily through the fine holes of the strainer, and the quicker you can get it through the strainer, the less you’ll work the starches.

To improve your chances of success, we call for fingerling potatoes, for a couple of reasons. First, fingerlings are quite similar to French ratte potatoes, which are the ones typically used in this preparation in France. Second, you can cook fingerlings whole, with their skins on, until they’re completely tender and they won’t fall apart, which limits the amount of water they’ll absorb; the less water in the potato purée, the less gummy it’ll be. Finally, fingerlings taste, for lack of a better word, very potato-y, and their flavor stands up well to the relatively large amount of fat you’ll incorporate into the purée.

Is it kind of a lot of work for mashed potatoes? Maybe. But when you’re eating spoon after silky spoon of a legendary chef’s signature dish alongside a sous vide pork chop in the comfort of your home, we’ll bet that, when you think about it, it won’t seem like a lot of work at all.

Stovetop pomme purée recipe (french-style mashed potatoes)

Perfect Pomme Purée

If you’re going to take the trouble to make duchess potatoes—a potato purée enriched with egg yolks and piped out all fancy-like—you might as well load them up with flavor. 

A fully loaded baked potato is straightforward. Fully loaded duchess potatoes? Not so much. Since duchess potatoes are piped into pretty rosettes, incorporating the large amount of fat characteristic of a loaded baked potato into the egg yolk–enriched purée leads to some structural issues: The ridges on the rosette don’t hold and the rosette itself deflates, since the puréed mixture is too soft. 

So, we incorporated about as much fat—bacon fat, butter, egg yolks, sour cream, and cheese—as the potato purée could reasonably handle without losing its structure, which produces rosettes that retain their ridges and shape once baked. 

In fact, they’re just firm enough that you can carefully pick them up and pull off the finishing move: piping more chive-spiked sour cream into their bases.

Duchess potatoes recipe with bacon, cheese, sour cream, and chives.

Fully Loaded Duchess Potatoes

Smooth and creamy potato purée is one of the simplest and most satisfying things to eat in the world. Lots of cooks have their own tried-and-true methods for silky Robuchon-style potatoes, but we believe our sous vide method is the easiest. (Our low-fi [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/perfect-pomme-puree stovetop version] is great, too.)

We bag up and cook thinly sliced potatoes with milk and butter and cook them until tender. Instead of using a blender or food processor to whip the potatoes, which often leads to a gluey paste, we pass them through a food mill, whisk them into the milk and melted butter used to cook them, and then pass the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer to produce a super-smooth purée. The finished potatoes have a rich, undiluted flavor because they’ve been infused only with butter and milk, without any flavor loss from simmering the spuds in water. This is pomme purée you can be proud of, and it’s perfect every time.

EDITORS’ NOTE: We read the comments, and we heard you! We retested and updated this recipe’s method so you don’t have to pass the purée through a #10 and #50 sieve. (We get it: Not a lot of home cooks have those.) Instead, we call for ricing the cooked potatoes through a food mill or potato ricer and then passing the potato-milk-butter mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. We also adjusted the thickness of the sliced potatoes down to 1/4-inch and increased the cooking time to 45 minutes to ensure that the potatoes are fully tender before passing them.

Sous Vide Pomme Purée

In our search for the perfect spud, many contenders have laid claim to the crown—from [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/thick-cut-french-fries thick-cut French fries] to [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/pomme-puree pomme purée] and the [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-ultimate-potato-salad ultimate potato salad.] But now, we think we’ve found a new queen to reign supreme. 

These golden brown air-fried potatoes are the best of the best, thanks to a two-stage cooking process in which you boil the spuds until they're just tender, smash them, then slide them into an air fryer to quickly crisp their outsides without drying them out. The resulting potatoes have the creamy, fluffy center of a perfect baked potato and the crispy, crunchy, salty exterior of the greatest French fry. 

Simultaneously casual and elegant, these taters make an excellent snack or appetizer. (Snacketizer!?) A great sidekick to your weeknight-meal main, these are the ideal eye-catching accoutrement for your luxurious dinner party superstar (rib roast, anyone?)

We keep it simple with cracked black pepper, fresh rosemary, and garlic, but you can make these your own with the herbs and seasonings you love.

The greatest smashed potato this side of the Mississippi is made in an air fryer. For real. Creamy and fluffy on the inside and crispy out the outside, you may never eat potatoes any other way again.

Crispy Air-Fried Smashed Potatoes

While you can argue about whether pommes aligot is the most delicious combination of potato and cheese in existence, it’s hard to argue that it isn’t the most impressive. A potato purée that you can stretch anywhere from 6 to 10 feet, as if it were some mutant melted mozzarella? Poutine could never.

Getting pommes aligot to take on that texture is a little tricky, as you know if you’ve ever had a bad version. Done incorrectly, what you get is greasy and gluey cheesy mashed potatoes, with not a bit of stretch in sight.

The texture of melted cheese basically depends on the behavior of casein proteins at different temperatures. At lower temperatures, the casein proteins in the cheese cross-link with one another with the assistance of calcium, which results in rope-like fibers that can both stretch and can stick to one another. As the temperature increases, the bonds holding the casein proteins together break and collapse, and the cheese takes on a fluid consistency. 

The addition of starches, fat, and salt—in the specific case of this recipe, that means the potato purée—improves the cross-linking between casein proteins, which further enhances the stretchy, stringy quality of the cheese, but you still have to be careful with temperature control. Heat the cheese/starch/fat/salt mixture too high, and the proteins will coagulate and the cheese will break; instead of stretchy cheese strings, you’ll have a starchy purée and a puddle of fat.

Making a great pommes aligot, then, consists of two challenges: Creating a potato purée with just the right amount of fat, starch, and moisture that it will, when combined with cheese, readily produce that stretchy texture; and preventing the mixture of cheese and potato purée from being heated past the point at which that texture disappears completely.

And as much as pommes aligot is a fun example of the wonders of culinary alchemy, in the end, the main reason you want to make it is that it’s delicious: rich, cheesy mashed potatoes with a uniquely stretchy and chewy texture.

Pommes aligot recipe (cheesy mashed potatoes)

Ultra-Cheesy Pommes Aligot

The best twice-baked potato? Bake it three times!

Or at least that’s what I initially thought. Twice-baked potatoes have a lot going for them—cheese, sour cream, bacon, and chives mixed with potato, come on!—but they also almost always have leathery skins. A third trip in the oven seemed like a simple way to give them a boost. But it wasn’t so simple.

My first impulse was to [link https://www.chefsteps.com/classes/airfry air fry] the scooped skins, but after many trials, they remained stubbornly leathery. Deep frying yielded a better texture, but they didn’t look very appealing, to say the least. But then I remembered a kind of deconstructed twice-baked potato we used to serve when I worked at [link https://canlis.com/ Canlis]: a twice-baked potato filling set in a small cocotte, broiled just before serving so it was crispy and browned on top. All it needed was crispy skin.

If I was going to go the deconstructed route, it made sense to deconstruct the skins, too. After baking and scooping the flesh out of the potatoes, I cut the skins into strips and fried them, which yielded crispy, fry-like potato bits that I could shower all over the individual serving dishes of loaded baked potato.

Technically, this is more of a twice-baked-then-broiled potato with fried crispy skin on top, I guess. But once you taste it, I’m pretty sure you won’t care what it’s called. You’ll probably just think it’s the best version of twice-baked potatoes you’ve ever had.

Thrice-baked potato recipe with crispy fried potato skins

Thrice-Baked Potatoes

Smashed potatoes are delicious and easy to make and hard to mess up: boil some spuds, mash ’em with a fork, and mix in some dairy and fat and you’ve got an excellent side dish for almost any meal. 

Great smashed potatoes, however, are just as easy to make, and all they require is some attention to detail. First, pick the right kind of potatoes; second, cook them with a little precision; third, incorporate some good butter and cream; finally, glam them up a bit with some finely sliced chives. The result is an everyday staple, all glowed up. 

We use fingerling potatoes because they taste great and have a creamy cooked texture, but they aren’t too starchy. Since their skins are relatively thin, you don’t even have to peel them; just give them a good scrub, simmer them until they’re fork tender. Once drained, all you have to do is mash them roughly with a fork, mash in the butter and cream, then fold in the sliced chives.

Creamy Smashed Potatoes

“Should I brine my turkey?” “Is ‘brining’ just a fancy word for ‘salting’?” “What does a brine even do?” “I’ve got to brine my bird for 5 days??”

For many home cooks, the questions of when and whether to use a brine (and why!) mostly come up during the holidays, when you’re getting a big old turkey ready for Thanksgiving. 

There are several different brining methods that you can employ, each with pros and cons. To help you decide whether or not you want to brine your bird, we’ve created a decision tree/flowchart. If you find you do want to use a brine, we’ve created a chart to use as a quick reference guide for brine ratios and timing for standard poultry parts and weights, as well as a poultry brining calculator spreadsheet that you can use to input the precise weight of your bird (or bird parts) to get the exact measurements for the brine of your choice, along with suggested brining times.

The Ultimate Guide to Brining Turkey

Silky [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/how-to-make-a-quick-pan-sauce pan sauces] and rich [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turkey-gravy gravies] can make a good meal great.

The beauty of pan sauces and gravies is they’re not just delicious liquids, they’re delicious emulsions. That means they’re made up of tiny globules of tasty fat completely surrounded by and suspended within water (fortified, hopefully, with some of the tasty brown bits of fond scraped up off the bottom of the pan).

But if that emulsion breaks, which can happen in the blink of an eye while it’s reducing on the stove, all that beauty disappears. The silky smooth sauce splits into a greasy mess that you certainly don’t want to pour over a beautiful plate of roast turkey and fluffy mashed potatoes.

Don’t worry, though, the fix is in, and it’s easy. How do you save a broken pan sauce or gravy (and your meal)?

Just add water!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED: 
Skillet or saucepan 
Broken pan sauce or gravy 
Water or stock 
Whisk

A tip to save a broken pan sauce or gravy—add water.

Tips &amp; Tricks: How to Fix a Broken Pan Sauce or Gravy

Once you know how to properly butcher one kind of poultry, you can pretty much butcher any kind of poultry. Turkeys, chickens, Cornish hens, pheasants—they all have the same structure (or “morphology”).

Here we show you how to break down a turkey—which, due to its size, is an excellent demo bird—into its wings, crown, and legs for great presentation, as well as how to remove a wishbone and preserve the delicious oyster meat. After some practice, you may never buy pre-portioned poultry again.

How to break down a turkey into a crown and leg quarters.

How to Break Down a Turkey: Crown and Leg Quarters

If you know how to break down a turkey, you also know how to break down chicken, Cornish hen, pheasant—any bird, really, since they all have the same structure (or “morphology”).

Here we show you how to break down a turkey and separate its breasts and legs so you can [link /activities/a-better-way-to-turkey-cook-that-bird-sous-vide-for-the-best-feast-ever cook them sous vide] and use the carcass for stock or gravy.

How to butcher a turkey and separate it into breasts and leg quarters.

How to Break Down a Turkey: Breasts and Leg Quarters

One way to improve flakiness and boost layers in a pie crust is to add a bit of booze, typically vodka. But how much do you add to ensure proper hydration, keep the dough manageable, and still get great results? And are you limited to the liquor store’s least flavorful option?

We’re not here to just add a bit of alcohol and call it a day. We pushed the percentage to the max to find the hydration breaking point. From how the raw dough handles to the pastry’s layers, lift, and flavor, here’s what you need to know about replacing some of the ice water in your dough recipe with liquor.

Here’s how you add alcohol to your pie crust for epic layers and maximum flakiness.

Tips & Tricks: Level Up Your Pie Crust Layers with Liquor

Adding more layers to your biscuits is as simple as 3x3.

Three folds, three times, plus a generous rest (chill) in between each step will equal epic height, way more layers, and the lightest, fluffiest, flakiest biscuit you ever ate. 

Get ready to take your favorite biscuit recipe down to flaky town.

Here’s how to make your favorite buttermilk biscuits the tallest and flakiest biscuits ever.

How to Turn Any Biscuit into an Ultra Tall and Flaky One

Tying a butcher’s knot is a useful skill that every omnivorous cook should have in their bag of tricks.

A butcher’s knot is commonly used to tie roasts and steaks, making them more compact and evenly shaped, which in turn ensures even cooking. It’s a simple slipknot, which means it’s quick to execute and you can cinch it tight by sliding the knot up the string. 

Of course, you don’t have to use a butcher’s knot. A simple knot will do the job, too. But the benefit of a butcher’s knot is that it’s more secure, and thus less likely to come undone during the cooking process, and it’s easier to adjust to the exact dimensions of whatever you’re tying.

When tying meat, it’s important to cinch the knot just enough: it should be neither too tight nor too loose. Slide the knot up until the string cozily hugs the meat, then set the slipknot in place by tying a basic knot on top of it.

Check out the video above for a video demo of the process.

How to Tie a Butcher’s Knot

Turkey and pumpkin pie always steal the spotlight, but we think the *real* MVP of Thanksgiving is gravy. Whether you only put it on potatoes or drizzle it across your entire plate, you can’t deny the delicious magic of this sumptuous, savory sauce.   

While whisking is of the utmost importance (no one wants a taste of dry flour lumps and clumps), there are so many ways to thicken sauces—from roux and starch slurries to emulsification and even reduction. 

We’re unlocking the proper ratios of the two most common thickeners—cornstarch and all-purpose flour—to make gravy across the viscosity spectrum, from thin to ultra-thick.

Do you make a roux or whisk in some starch? How much should you use for a thick or thin sauce? We’re demystifying these common thickeners to give you the gravy of your dreams.

Great Gravy! How to Thicken Anything With Cornstarch or Flour

A well-made, oven-cooked prime rib is a thing of beauty. Just ask the denizens of the UK and her former colonies, who have served that stuff at holiday feasts since around the Industrial Revolution. **It’s bloody delicious, govna.** But it’s also expensive, which is why we seldom eat it outside the festive season—and why its preparation inspires plenty of hand-wringing. 

So while we love a holiday tradition as much as the next guy dressed in a Santa suit, we recommend that this year, you cook that gorgeous hunk o’ meat sous vide. For one thing, your roast is guaranteed to come out just the way you like it—always important when we’re working with the pricey stuff. And then there are the results:&nbsp;**silky**, **oh-so-juicy meat that boasts an incredible amount of beefy flavor**. More good news: instead of shooing small children away from the oven as you nervously monitor dinner, you can spend some time making feast-worthy side dishes, wrapping last-minute gifts, or watching&nbsp;*Love Actually*&nbsp;for the umpteenth time. (All hail Emma Thompson, our one true sovereign.)

Adapted from our own [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/standing-rib-roast traditional rib roast recipe], this method calls for some trussing and trimming, plus a rub of fresh herbs that crisp up when we give the beef a little post-cook sear in the oven. You can skip the nips and tucks or ask your butcher to perform them. And if you don’t like the herbs we list here, ask your own favorite sage cook if she has thyme to make some suggestions, or just see what bay wants. Point is, you got options. So go forth and make the best rib roast you’ve ever eaten, secure in the knowledge that your meat will come out perfect every time. Because that, dear holiday host, is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Learn the simple steps of preparing a sous vide prime rib (rib roast) recipe that’s a surefire showstopper.

Herb-Crusted Sous Vide Prime Rib (Rib Roast)

This overnight pork-shoulder ham is ridiculously easy to make and better than any grocery store ham.

The ham at the store is typically made from the hind leg of a pig, from hip to thigh—the leanest and therefore toughest part on the animal. That’s why the ham you find wrapped in fishnet-stocking netting at the store is brined—sometimes for weeks—before it’s smoked. 

If you make your own ham with a richer cut of meat, like pork collar, it’s going to be better all around. Pork collar can be tough to come by, which is why this recipe calls for pork shoulder, the most succulent and flavorful cut.

Give it an overnight brine and cook it low and slow using sous vide, then walk away. An hour before dinner, crank your oven, glaze the super tender ham, and it’ll be ready in 20 minutes.

This overnight ham—made with an overnight dry brine and some time with a sous vide—is so much better than the typical ham. And SO EASY to make.

Sous Vide Pork Shoulder “Ham”

This Ultimate Beef Wellington that Grant has created is, in his own words, “No-holds barred—epic.” It is level 11. Turn it up. 

Imagine a perfectly cooked tenderloin, wrapped in a layer of rich mushroom duxelles insulation, swathed in prosciutto, which is enrobed in a flaky pastry crust sturdy enough to stick to the rest of that deliciousness. This is the best kind of savory pie, made into a roll, so you can slice off thick pieces for serving. 

We decided to pre-cook the tenderloin before assembling and baking it. This ensures that the juices and drippings from the meat stay far away from the pastry. You want your Welly crisped to perfection. No one wants a soggy dinner. 

The most critical layer in the Wellington is the mushroom duxelles. Think about the mushrooms as the insulation of your house. Do not throw your mushrooms into the food processor and blitz them into a purée. You wouldn’t want to use wet sludge as the insulation of your house. You want a well-cooked duxelles with the mushroom as little studded pieces. This will allow diffused, gentle heat to move through that insulation to reach the meat.

And for the pastry? You want a dough with higher hydration that can be worked more than the flaky, tender crust of American pie dough. Most recipes out there call for puff pastry, which is an option if you want to buy some from the store. However, if you want to make this all from scratch, then use our [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/buttery-flaky-all-purpose-pie-crust-pate-brisee Pâte Brisée] to make your Beef Wellington.  

This is one of those intricate dishes that requires you to do all the work ahead of time. However, the fact that all the work is front-loaded allows you to enjoy the presentation and eating. Here at ChefSteps, though, making something like this isn’t just about impressing. Everything you will learn in making this dish will help make you a better cook. 

Give yourself a challenge. Take the time to make this Beef Wellington. You will feel so damned good when you put this on the table, knowing you worked through every step yourself.

This is the most epic version of Beef Wellington, a showstopper dish your guests are sure to love eating over the holidays or for Sunday lunch.

The Ultimate Beef Wellington

Porchetta—a whole boned out pig, seasoned, and roasted until the skin is crisp and the meat is meltingly tender and juicy—is almost impossible to get right at home. We say almost impossible because it can be done, it’s just a project. We enlisted the help of master butcher Kevin Smith to show how it’s done with our [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/ultimate-roast-porchetta Ultimate Roast Porchetta], replete with tips and detailed butchery demos so you can confidently execute it yourself.

But we also wanted to develop a porchetta recipe that’s more approachable and forgiving. Unlike our roast porchetta, this sous vide version doesn’t require a special order cut of pork from a craft butcher, there’s no five-day minimum waiting period to air-dry pork skin, and you don’t need an advanced degree in butchery or knot-tying. 

This is delicious, easy, hands-off porchetta that you can start tonight with a piece of pork belly from the grocery store and have it on the table for an epic dinner tomorrow, without ever breaking a sweat. It gets you most of the payoff of great porchetta—succulent, juicy, well-seasoned pork—with a fraction of the effort.

Easy Sous Vide Porchetta

Real-deal porchetta is a beautiful thing: A whole, boned-out pig, seasoned with fennel and garlic, roasted until the skin is crispy and glassy and the meat is meltingly tender and juicy. Chop it all up for a delicious mix of lean and fatty meat with shards of crunchy skin, stuff it into a sandwich, and you’ve got one of the most iconic Italian street foods.

Making it is obviously a chore—like whole hog barbecue, it’s almost exclusively done by professionals who sell to large crowds. And a lot of places choose to go with a more manageable preparation, using pork belly and loin to approximate the blend of meat, fat, and skin of a whole pig. But even the smaller preparation is extremely hard to do well, and it’s often done poorly.

This recipe gets all the details right, but it’s a project. It requires a special order cut of high-quality pork, time to properly dry out the skin, some butchery technique, a sharp knife, and a two-stage cooking process. 

The skin: Nothing can ruin a beautifully roasted pork belly and loin like hard, impossibly chewy skin. There are two keys to getting pig skin super crispy in an oven: getting it dry and cooking it hot. The less moisture in the skin, the quicker it dries out and crisps in the oven, and using an intense blast of heat right at the start of the cooking process rapidly converts any remaining moisture into steam, puffing the skin up so as it dries it forms a glassy, crunchy crust.

The meat: Porchetta should have assertively seasoned meat, and it should be luscious and juicy, both of which are challenging because it consists of a lean, whole muscle that’s technically “overcooked” and dry above [f 140] encased in a very fatty, tough cut that’s only palatable when thoroughly cooked through to a higher internal temperature of [f 170]. 

Our process is engineered to nail every one of these goals:

-Using a specific cut of pork—skin-on belly with the loin attached—guarantees that the loin will nest neatly in the belly, with enough skin to completely the entire roast. 
-Air-drying the pork in the fridge dries out the skin and intensifies the flavor of the meat. 
-Trimming the belly guarantees that you have enough skin to fully encase the roast. 
-Butterflying the loin maximizes surface area for seasoning. 
-Scoring the skin encourages fat rendering during roasting. 
-A high-heat start puffs and crisps the skin, and a low-temperature roast gently brings the meat up to temperature.

While it isn’t a whole pig, we get that it’s still a big endeavor, but there’s no arguing with the results. This is the ultimate roast porchetta.

Ultimate Roast Porchetta

Impossibly tender, exquisitely seasoned, and showered with bright-green herbs and crunchy seeds, this sous vide leg of lamb is a showstopper for any special occasion. 

A whole, bone-in leg of lamb is a pricey hunk of meat that can be tricky to cook it using conventional methods, because it’s irregularly shaped and has a big insulating bone running right through its center. It’s a roast that seems designed to be cooked sous vide, since using a temperature-controlled water bath guarantees that every last inch of it is cooked to the same level of doneness. Sous vide also delivers better results than conventional roasting, thanks to increased enzymatic activity that takes place within the meat as it cooks during the relatively extended cook time. 

A final high-temperature roast browns the exterior to provide all the toasty aromas and flavors produced by [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/mastering-the-maillard-reaction Maillard browning], and the juices from the cooking process are transformed into a glaze that pairs perfectly with a cascade of fried herbs and caraway seeds that we use to garnish the top. It’s a spectacular presentation for the best cooked lamb leg you’ve ever had.

Master leg of lamb with this sous vide recipe that covers butchery, how to control gamey flavor, and how to make a gorgeous centerpiece dish your guests will love.

Ultimate Sous Vide Leg of Lamb

We all know the stories. “The Ugly Duckling.” “The Frog Prince.” “She’s All That.” We can’t help but root for a seemingly homely hero who undergoes a transformation that reveals the true beauty lurking just below the surface. And everyone lives happily ever after.  
 
Our favorite culinary version of that fable is the one that stars the humble beef chuck roast, a cut often overshadowed by its two polished pals, [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/perfect-every-time-center-cut-tenderloin-roast tenderloin] and [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/win-the-holidays-with-herb-crusted-sous-vide-prime-rib-rib-roast prime rib]. Ridiculously inexpensive and often unfairly packaged as low-quality stew beef, chuck is in fact one of the most flavorful [link https://www.chefsteps.com/cuts cuts on the cow]. It’s a [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/decoding-tough-and-tender-cuts relatively tough muscle], so it’s got tons of beefy flavor, but it also has a fair amount of connective tissue. The trick is to bring out all that beefy succulence while slowly transforming the tough parts into a tender roast you can serve slice by silky slice.  
 
The best way to turn a chuck roast into a centerpiece worthy of a fairy tale feast is to cook it sous vide. We’ll walk you through the process, including techniques for trimming and trussing—the roast equivalent of removing a pair of oversized glasses and adding a little lipstick—plus [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/presearing-for-sous-vide presearing] for maximum flavor. Once the chuck roast comes out of its tenderizing temperature-controlled bath, we cover it in an herbaceous rub and finish it in a hot oven to get a beautiful crust. Carve it up into generous slices and serve it up to your flabbergasted friends and family, wicked stepsisters, and all.

Want to feast well on the cheap? This sous vide beef chuck recipe rivals any pricey prime rib preparation and costs far less.

Herb-Crusted Sous Vide Chuck Roast

When you cook a center-cut beef tenderloin roast for your friends, the pressure is on. You want to make sure the meat emerges perfectly cooked and gorgeous—especially considering you’re working with one of the most expensive items at the butcher shop. But don’t worry, ambitious host or hostess. We’ve totally got you. Whether you’re new to the cooking game or were the second runner-up on last season’s *Chopped*, **a juicy, flavor-packed roast is totally in your wheelhouse**.

What’s the secret? Sous vide. **When you cook a cut like this sous vide, you know exactly how and when it will come out—the results are totally predictable.** Instead of babysitting your meat, go forth and make some [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/thick-cut-french-fries Thick-Cut French Fries], a [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/beef-demi-glace Beef Demi-Glace], and some [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/caramelized-carrots Caramelized Carrots]. Set the table. Make a Spotify playlist. Do what you want! The roast is going to be great. Seriously.

Here’s a foolproof way to impress your guests with a tender, flavor-packed tenderloin roast cooked sous vide.

Sous Vide Beef Tenderloin Roast

Imagine the best Peking Duck you’ve ever had. That crispy, amber-toned skin. That juicy, melt-in-your-mouth breast meat. Those **deeply nuanced**, **deeply aromatic flavors**, expertly engineered to send your pleasure sensors a-spinnin’. Now imagine you made that duck—and at home. 

Sound like a stretch? We get it. Topping last-meal lists the world over, this legendary Chinese dish—famously favored by such boldface dignitaries as Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, and Fidel Castro—is complex and showy. **So complex and showy, in fact, that we often assume it’s outside the purview of home cooks.** But while Peking Duck is mind-alteringly delicious enough to build lasting bridges between one-time geopolitical adversaries, it’s also just something people cook for dinner. And trust us, we’re not just blowing air between your skin and your back meat when we say it’s something you can make for dinner. We’re going to show you how.

But before we do, let’s get our proverbial ducks in a row: it ain’t gonna be easy, and it ain’t gonna be quick. Your kids may ask why you cleared all their Go-Gurts and juice boxes out of the fridge. Your neighbor may inquire about how that air compressor got from her garage shelf to your kitchen counter. And your significant other may well wonder about an Amazon email ensuring a bucket of maltose is on its way. The trick—as with many challenging yet rewarding tasks—is to break the process down into clear steps, patiently moving through each until you arrive at the finish. And oh, what a finish: **we’ll show you how to carve your bird in the manner of the best Chinese restaurants**, making the most of every morsel. So when you serve that cracklin’ duck alongside paper-thin pancakes or pillowy steamed buns, your guests will have the very special pleasure of feasting on one of the world’s great foods. 

But if you’re anything like us, your sense of satisfaction will come way before the heaping platter hits the table. It’ll come when you head out to the Chinese grocer to procure your bird and when you gather your tools—brush, tweezers, a blowtorch if you’ve got one. It’ll come again when you stealthily sneak into the Johnsons’ garage to relieve them (temporarily!) of that aforementioned air compressor and yet again when you bathe your long-necked buddy in a spice-laced poaching tea. Secure in the knowledge that your duck will be delicious, you can garner satisfaction at every step along the way—the satisfaction that comes from making something rather than simply ordering it. From exceeding your own expectations. And from doing something not because you have to, but because it feels freaking great to feed people an amazing dinner you made your own self. When it all comes together and you’re pinching that first crispy bit between chopsticks, **we predict you’ll feel like you can achieve most anything**. And as far as extraordinary food is concerned, that may well be true. But let’s leave the high-stakes feats of diplomacy to the pros.

Imagine the best Peking Duck you’ve ever had. That crispy, amber-toned skin. That juicy, melt-in-your-mouth breast meat. Now imagine you made that duck at home.

Ultimate Peking Duck

Want to create a super-succulent ham that puts store-bought stuff to shame? To make this showstopping, flavor-loaded centerpiece dish, we brine a pork shank for three days, then cook it, glaze it, roast it, and serve. Golden-brown and gorgeous, this homemade ham will bowl over guests, who will henceforth revere you as the meat master you always knew you could be. 

Cut from the upper leg of the pig, shanks are small enough that you can serve them one per plate (personal hams!) at a decadent dinner party or prepare one or two for your family as part of a special Sunday supper. Don’t be afraid to brine a bunch at a time—leftover ham comes in handy when you want a delicious sandwich filler for a tailgate party or some salty meat to pork up your breakfast omelet. Also, you can always prep in advance, then reheat whenever you’re ready to serve—cooked shanks will last for two months in the fridge, good to go when you need an incredible weekday dinner in a flash. However you use them, we think you’ll love showcasing your newfound shank skills. Because this here is a dish that tastes as good as it looks. And damn, does it look good.

Succulent and full of flavor, this Homemade Honey-Glazed Ham is the perfect centerpiece to any holiday feast. 

Homemade Honey-Glazed Ham

Seitan ham! “Seit-ham”? Nah. “Sei-ham”? Um … what about, “Heim”? Yuck. Okay, whatever! Seitan ham!

[link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/homemade-honey-glazed-ham Glazed ham] is a traditional centerpiece for big holiday meals, and this recipe for a mock ham made from seitan is for anyone who’s gone plant-based but still has a nostalgic yearning for classic preparations they used to eat before they went vegan. It’s got all the hallmarks of a glazed ham: a sweet, sticky, and burnished glaze encasing a salty and savory interior that has a texture reminiscent of cured and cooked meat.

Of course, there are some caveats. [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/seitan Seitan] is a great meat protein replacement, but it’s never going to be meat. We can make it resemble ham in texture, and we can make it look and taste fantastic, but no one will ever confuse it for ham. But with a little attention to detail, we can get it pretty close.

Since appearance is important, getting the seitan to take on a rosy hue similar to meat cured with sodium nitrite was pretty important, too. And easily done: Just like in my [link https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/wheat-meat-pro-shoo-t Faux-sciutto], replacing some of the water in the seitan with beet juice yields a meat-like coloring. This is entirely optional (and I like the contrast of the burnished crust and the blond interior of an uncolored seitan), but if you do choose to do it, it helps to add ascorbic acid, as that will preserve the vibrancy of the red color even after prolonged cooking.

Seasoning the seitan is also pretty easy to do: Blend it up with umami-rich ingredients like miso and tomato paste to make it taste savory and salty and a little sweet, just like a ham.
Nailing the texture was slightly more difficult and time-consuming. Seitan by itself is chewy and a little rubbery, since it’s basically pure gluten, and gluten isn’t water soluble. Think of a piece of good, chewy bread: All the chew is from the gluten being sheared by your teeth into itty-bitty pieces, all the soft silkiness is from the starch gel that makes up a lot of the crumb. Seitan doesn’t have any of that silky softness … unless you add it in. Oil helps things along by giving the seitan richness, but the real key to altering the texture is incorporating starchy chickpea flour. Not a lot, since ham has a texture that is also kind of chewy; just enough to mimic the mouthfeel of gelatin and fat in a cooked leg of pork.

For the glaze, I ended up doing many, many trials, using a number of over-complicated recipes. I tried several gastriques, or vinegar reductions, as well as iterations on those gastriques. But when I tried a simple glaze of pineapple juice, brown sugar, and maple syrup, it had just the right acidity and sweetness. And as long as you keep the glaze from over-reducing and reaching temperatures past the thread stage ([f 223]–[f 235]), it’ll have the perfect consistency for brushing on layer after layer to get a sticky, hammy glaze.

By far the most interesting part of this recipe to me is the shaping of the ham and cooking it so it retains that shape. I tried roasting the seitan to approximate the way you’d roast a ham, but it just didn’t work. Steaming yielded much better and more consistent results, and steaming also opened up the possibilities for shaping it. As long as your mold fits into a steamer, you’re all set. For this recipe, I chose to go with a triangular shape—well, the shape of those canned hams you can buy at the store—using a mold made from a strip of cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil, but I’ve got a little tip below for experimenting with other shapes.

Glazed Seitan Ham

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