♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Keith makes Bridget chiles en nogada, Dan explains the science of why oil shimmers, and Elle makes Julia tacos gobernador.

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

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♪♪ -Chiles en nogada is what history looks like if you fashion it into a recipe.

Now, in Mexico, they make the dish to celebrate their independence from Spain, and the recipes use ingredients that are native to Mexico, as well as those that were brought over from the Spanish.

Now, it's a project of love, for sure, but Keith is here, and he's going to show us how to make this wonderful dish.

-Yeah, if you've never had this dish, you're in for a real treat.

It comes from the Puebla region of Mexico, and what it is is a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with a savory picadillo and topped with a rich, luxurious walnut sauce.

And what's special about it is that the ingredients represent the colors of the Mexican flag, so red, white and green.

-Okay.

-And we're actually going to start with the green part of the flag today... -Verde.

-...which are poblano peppers.

So we have eight large poblano peppers here.

Poblanos are great for a couple reasons.

They have nice flavor, but they're also large, so we can get that picadillo in there.

Our first step will be to peel these and roast these.

So I have the broiler set up 6 inches from the broiler, and we're just gonna slide these in and let them brown and char on the first side, which will take 4 to 6 minutes.

-Okay, great.

-Check our peppers.

-Mmm.

-Smells great.

-Oh, smells fantastic.

-Great.

So we've got char on the first side.

I'm just gonna flip these over, -get char on the second side.

-Okay.

-We don't want to cook these too, too long.

We just want to char them really quickly.

Check on the second side of our chiles.

-Ooh.

-And we are looking good, yeah.

-Good color there.

-Good color.

-Mmm.

-Look perfect.

-Oh, smells so good, too.

-Now I'm just gonna transfer these over to this other tray here.

Now, normally when you're roasting peppers, the procedure is to cover them, right, to help steam, help get that skin to remove easily.

-Right.

-But we're actually gonna skip that step.

We're just gonna let these cool on the counter on a tray.

And the reason is, is that we don't want to continue to cook the peppers.

We want to keep them firm.

We want them malleable enough to peel them but not overcooked so when we stuff them, they get all shredded and fall apart.

-Okay.

Makes sense.

-So, while those are cooling, we're gonna start on the savory aromatics to our picadillo, and we're actually gonna use the broiler again.

So, I'm gonna take two plum tomatoes, 8 ounces of tomatillos that have been peeled and rinsed.

I have a half of a white onion that's been quartered, one jalapeno, and three garlic cloves that are unpeeled.

Now we're gonna go back under the broiler.

We want to get char on these just like we did with the peppers, because it's gonna add a lot of kind of smokiness to that picadillo.

Excellent.

So, I'm gonna let those broil, turning them every 4 minutes or so until they're browned on all sides, which will take about 12 minutes.

-Perfect.

-It's been 12 minutes.

We can check on our aromatics.

-Ooh.

Smells great again.

-Yeah.

Look at all that great charring.

-Mmm!

-It's gonna be great in our sauce.

So, those need to cool down for a little bit.

-Okay.

-While that is happening, we can focus on our poblanos.

They've been cooling for 10 minutes, and now we can take the skins off and de-seed them.

Just start with a paring knife and my fingers and just kind of peel back that skin.

It should come off really easily.

That was beautiful.

-That was impressive.

-Now, we want to leave the stem on that.

That's part of the presentation.

But we need to get all the seeds out.

So I'm just gonna take a paring knife, start right at the top, and go down almost to the end, about 1/2 inch from the end, and I'm just gonna open that up.

Then I'm gonna take a pair of scissors and just kind of snip that seed portion off and then take a spoon, scrape out any of those bits in there.

So I'll just get rid of that.

By the time I'm done peeling those, those veggies should be cool, and then we can focus on our picadillo.

-Lovely.

-Our eight chiles are peeled and seeded.

They look beautiful.

They're gonna be ready for stuffing, but we can leave those aside for the minute... -Okay.

-...and then focus on our picadillo.

So, the vegetables are now cool enough, and I can peel them and get them into our blender.

So, we have our garlic, and it's really easy to peel this because the clove has shrunk in here, so you can just kind of pull it back and just pull that little clove out.

-And that goes right into our blender.

-Very nice.

-I'll take the top off of our jalapeno.

We don't want to chop that.

And then I'm also gonna take the root end off of these onion pieces.

And then I can just take a pair of tongs and take our tomatillos.

That goes in there, and our two tomatoes.

Okay.

Veggies in there.

Couple more things to add.

I have 2 teaspoons of chipotle chile.

-Mmm.

-A little heat, a little smokiness.

I also have 2 teaspoons of fresh oregano.

Love the flavor.

1 1/4 teaspoons of table salt, -1 teaspoon of cinnamon... -Mmm!

-...and 1/4 teaspoon of clove.

Just a little bit of those sweet spices, but they're really gonna come out in the end.

It's really a lovely flavor.

And 1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin.

-Oh, lovely.

-So, I'm gonna put the lid on.

I'm gonna blend this for 1 to 2 minutes until that sauce is really smooth.

-Okay.

-[ Blender whirring ] -It's been 2 minutes.

We can check our sauce.

It's looking pretty good.

-Oh, beautifully smooth.

-And I can smell the char -from that.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Okay, so, that is our sauce, and now we can turn to the stove, where we'll start cooking our meat.

-Okay.

-I have 1 tablespoon of lard that's been heating in the skillet over medium-high heat.

You can use vegetable oil if you want to, but we're making the picadillo with pork, so why not use lard and kind of double down on that pork flavor?

-You don't have to sell me.

-[ Chuckles ] So, I'm just gonna add this to the skillet.

1 pound of pork.

I'm gonna add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

So, I'm gonna press this into an even layer.

Idea is that we're gonna create a nice surface area that's gonna brown and get some of those caramelized flavors in there.

It looks good, so we're gonna let that go without stirring for 2 minutes until we start to see some browning -around the edge.

-Okay.

-It's been 2 minutes, and you can start to see some browning around the edges there.

So I'm just gonna continually stir this with my spatula, breaking that pork up into 1/4-inch pieces until there's no longer pink.

It's been a couple minutes, and you can see that the pork is no longer pink.

I'm just kind of running through that, make sure we don't have any large pieces of pork in there.

So, now I'm gonna add 1/4 cup of dry sherry.

That dry sherry is gonna add a caramel-y, nutty flavor, and what we're looking for is that sherry to reduce down -to almost nothing.

-Okay.

-So we want the pan almost dry before we go to the next step.

Okay, that sherry has reduced down, and I'll just take our tomato and tomatillo mixture -- Oh, you can smell that cinnamon and clove come out.

-Incredible.

-Okay, so this is all mixed in.

-Mmm.

-And we've gotten this up to a simmer.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna turn this down, and we want to maintain a gentle simmer.

We want to reduce that tomato-tomatillo sauce down so it's coating the pork.

We'll know it's done when we take a spatula, drag it through, and that trail that it leaves, it won't fill back in.

-Okay.

-Picadillo has been simmering over here for 10 minutes, and you can see that trail, as I drag that through, nothing is gonna fill in there.

So, we've built up a lot of kind of savory flavors in here.

Now we can get to the sweet elements in this, -which I really love about this picadillo.

-Yes.

-So, I'm gonna add one Bosc pear, cut into 1/4-inch pieces.

One peach, same thing.

We've cut that into 1/4-inch pieces, peeled it.

I have 1/3 cup of raisins.

I'm also gonna add some salty element -with some sliced green olives.

-Mmm.

-That's 1/3 cup.

Some texture with some pine nuts.

That's 1/3 cup.

I have 1/4 cup of fresh parsley.

-Gorgeous.

-And then 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice... -Wow.

-...for some tartness.

Yeah, so, we have all the flavors.

We have the savoriness of the pork, the sweetness of the fruit, salty from the olives, texture from the pine nuts, and some tartness from that lemon.

A lot of traditional recipes will continue to cook this... -Mm-hmm.

-and cook that fruit into there, but we're actually gonna cut the heat now, and we're gonna let the fruit soften with the residual heat.

What we really like is to kind of keep those pieces of fruit with a little bit of texture, so when you eat it, you get these little pops of sweetness.

-Mmm.

-It's a great way, and it kind of contrasts with the savoriness of the pork.

-Lovely.

Alright.

-So, that's gonna sit for 10 minutes and let that fruit soften.

While that happens, we can focus on our nogada sauce.

-Fabulous.

-So, nogada is a walnut sauce, and it starts with Mexican crema.

So we have 1 1/2 cups of Mexican crema in here.

Crema, cultured dairy product much like sour cream.

It's I think a little bit more tangy, more savory, a little salty, adds a lot of flavor.

-A little thinner, too.

-A little thinner.

And I'm also gonna add 1 1/2 cups of walnuts.

So in that goes.

I'm also gonna add 2 ounces of goat cheese.

We like the body that the goat cheese adds, tanginess, too.

1/4 cup of water, just loosen that up to make it blend easier.

I have 1 tablespoon of honey for just a little bit of sweetness.

1 teaspoon of dry sherry, kind of mimic the sherry flavor in our picadillo.

-Great.

-1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of table salt.

So, I'm just gonna put a lid on this, and we're gonna let this blend until really smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

And I'll go in with a spatula to make sure that we get the sides.

We want this really, really smooth and creamy.

[ Blender whirring ] Picadillo has been sitting for 10 minutes, and that fruit has softened slightly.

Ready to stuff our peppers.

I have a 1-cup measure here, but we're only gonna use 3/4 cup of filling in here, so... -Okay.

Kind of eyeball 3/4 cup.

I'm just gonna open up our chile, spoon that in ever so gently.

Okay, now that I have the 3/4 cup in there, you can kind of go back and shape these a little bit so it looks like a perfect little chile.

-A perfect pepper.

-Beautiful.

Now when this slit is on the top here, you can kind of roll that over.

Chiles are all stuffed, ready to eat.

-Well done.

Well done.

-They look nice, don't they?

-Yes, they look great.

-Very happy.

So, I'm just gonna take a spatula, and I'll put one on your plate.

-Thank you.

-And one for me.

-Now, we have the green.

-Right.

-Now we're gonna move on to the white... -Yes.

-...which is our nogada sauce.

-'Cause the Mexican flag.

-That's right.

-We're going back to that.

Okay.

-So, I'm gonna pour about 1/2 cup of sauce on this.

Look at that sauce.

Really smooth, really creamy.

-That is like porcelain.

-And now for the red for our flag, I have some pomegranate.

-How fun is that?

-And the final garnish, some parsley leaves, reinforce that green color.

-It's 100% a celebration dish here.

I mean, look at the care put into this.

[ Sighs ] I've got to admire it for a hot minute here.

-I know.

You don't want to eat it, do you?

-Uh, that's not true.

-It's a feast for the eyes.

-[ Both laugh ] -Alright.

The poblano cut nicely.

Getting a little bit of picadillo in there.

Oh, my.

I'm gonna need a minute.

-That picadillo is amazing, isn't it?

-That is -- -All the flavors going on?

-Ah.

Love it.

-The briny olives.

-Mmm.

-And you get the little pops of fruit from the peach and the pear.

-The spices in there.

That little bit of chipotle.

[ Popping lips ] Perking it up.

But it had, what, cumin?

It had some clove.

Cinnamon?

-Cinnamon.

That cinnamon's really prominent.

-Mm-hmm.

Right.

-I also like the fact that the poblano and the sauce have a little bit of bitterness to them, and it kind of rounds out the savory and sweet components in that picadillo.

-This is a masterpiece here.

It's colorful.

it's complex.

It's celebratory.

It's everything that you want.

-Every bite gets better.

-Yeah.

You have more bites to go.

-[ Laughs ] I do have more bites to go.

Keith, thank you so much for showing this to us.

-You're welcome.

-Well, if you'd like to make this grand dish, it starts by using the broiler to char poblanos, tomatoes, tomatillos, and aromatics.

Stir fruit, olives, and nuts into the hot picadillo mixture to gently soften their texture.

Use a blender to make the nogada with crema, honey, and walnuts, and spoon that luxurious sauce over the filled chiles right before serving.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," this beautiful product of Mexican pride, chiles en nogada.

Double batch.

-Of the picadillo?

-Of everything.

♪♪ -When you watch our shows, you hear this line all the time.

-We know it's ready because it's shimmering.

-Mm-hmm!

-You can see it shimmers as soon as it hits the pan.

-Our oil is shimmering here.

-It's one of our favorite visual indicators, because when the oil shimmers, it means it's hot enough to saute.

And then you hear that sizzle.

-1/2 cup of onion.

Oh, yeah.

-[ Oil sizzling ] -But why does shimmering mean it's hot enough?

And why don't we do this with water?

Check this out.

In this glass pot, I have regular vegetable oil at around 325 degrees.

Watch what happens when I pour in room-temperature oil that I've dyed dark blue.

The colder blue oil is more dense, so it sits on the bottom.

When we turn on the heat, we start to see convection currents, where the blue oil rises up as it heats.

The differing densities of the cool and hot oil refract light differently, so that as the currents swirl through each other, it's visible to the naked eye.

Now, this is what produces that shimmering appearance.

We don't use this visual indicator with water because it is less viscous and quickly mixes when heated up.

Fortunately, water comes with another built-in temperature indicator.

I think they call it boiling.

♪♪ -Tacos gobernador or "governor's tacos" is the house special at the Los Arcos restaurant in Mazatlan.

It's said that the chef created this recipe years ago, when the governor of Sinaloa came to visit, and he wanted to create something special.

Since then, this recipe has taken on a life of its own, and Elle's gonna show us how to make it.

-That's right.

Tacos gobernador is a shrimp and vegetable taco... -Mmm.

-from the Baja region of Mexico, and it's quickly toasted in a skillet.

-Okay.

-But first, we have to do -a little prep.

-Yeah.

Always.

-Yep.

And we're gonna start with peppers.

-Okay.

-Alright?

First we're gonna start with a poblano pepper.

It's a very flavorful pepper but not spicy.

-Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

-Yep.

So I'm gonna just seed it and core it.

I'm just gonna cut this into 2-inch matchsticks.

I'll just cut these in half.

-Nicely done.

-Thank you.

Alright, now I'm gonna do the same with this serrano pepper because I don't like a spicy taco.

-Mm-hmm.

-But if you like it a little spicy, you can leave in the ribs and the seeds.

-Okay.

-Alright.

Since this pepper packs a little bit more heat, I'm gonna mince it instead.

Alright.

I'm just gonna add it to the bowl with our poblanos.

Okay, now that we have the peppers done, I think we can start heating up the skillet.

-Oh, wow.

-So, we have a 12-inch nonstick skillet with 1 tablespoon of butter here.

-Okay.

What level heat?

-Medium.

-You got it.

-Thank you.

So, I have here 1 pound of medium shrimp with the tails off.

I've chopped them into bite-sized pieces.

I'm just gonna finish off these last few shrimp.

Alright.

-Alright.

Ooh!

This pan is ready.

-It's ready to go.

So are we.

So we're gonna go ahead and add our shrimp to the pan.

Now, this cooks really quickly, only about 2 minutes.

We want the shrimp to be opaque.

As soon as they turn opaque, they're done.

-Look at all that liquid that comes out.

I imagine that would make a really soggy taco, -which is the worst.

-Oh, my gosh.

-It's the worst.

It's the worst.

-Yeah.

-And I'm glad you mentioned that, because these are now done, and so I'm gonna take them off the heat, and I'm gonna actually drain this juice out of the shrimp, because we don't want soggy tacos.

Alright, so, the shrimp is done.

It's draining.

I'm going to add to this pan another 2 tablespoons of butter... -Mm-hmm.

-...over medium heat.

Can you crank that heat for me?

-You got it.

-Thank you.

And now we're gonna start to cook our vegetables.

Alright, so, this is ready.

It's a little foamy.

I'm gonna go in with our peppers and also one onion, sliced thin.

Okay, so this is gonna take about 6 to 8 minutes, because it takes a little longer for the vegetables to get that textural cohesive bite that we're looking for.

Alright, so it's been about 8 minutes, and the vegetables have softened and started to brown.

So we're ready to start building that flavor profile that is synonymous with the Baja region of Mexico.

-Mmm.

-And that starts with two minced cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of Mexican oregano, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of coriander... ...and 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

So this only needs to go for about a minute, right, just to get that -- There it is.

-The aroma.

-Can you smell it?

That aroma.

-Mm-hmm.

Let those spices bloom.

-Alright.

These are two plum tomatoes, just cored and chopped very fine.

It only takes about 4 to 5 minutes for the juices from these tomatoes to evaporate.

Pretty quick.

We've cooked out all the juices from the tomatoes here.

-It looks really flavorful.

-The governor is a lucky guy.

-[ Laughs ] -Alright, I'm gonna take this off the heat, and I'm gonna add -1/3 cup of chopped cilantro.

-Mmm.

-This is gonna add some earthiness to our tacos.

And I'm gonna just transfer it to a bowl.

Alright.

And we are now ready to add our shrimp.

-Okay.

Look at all that.

That would have made a very wet taco.

-Yeah.

So, we don't even need those juices.

All we need is this good shrimp here.

And I'm gonna give our vegetables and shrimp a mix.

-That looks lovely.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm gonna just give it a little salt and pepper to taste.

-Alright.

-Alright, it's time to start building our tacos gobernador.

-Mmm.

-Are you excited?

-I am, actually.

-Okay.

-You are the governor today.

-Oh, I like it.

-So, we're starting with eight 6-inch corn tortillas... -Mm-hmm.

-...that I have wrapped in a damp towel -and microwaved for 30 seconds.

-Aha.

-This keeps our tortillas pliable and easy to work with.

-Yes.

-Okay.

-We had little steam in there.

-Oh, I like it.

-Alright, so I'm gonna build one.

I'm gonna show you how it's done, and then we'll work together and make some more.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So I'm gonna brush the bottom side with a little oil.

That's nice.

Alright, flip it over, and I'm gonna add 1/4 cup of Oaxaca cheese.

-Now, if you didn't have Oaxaca cheese, you could substitute Monterey Jack?

Absolutely.

Alright, and I'm filling the bottom, but I'm leaving about 1/8 inch around the edge of the taco.

-Okay.

-Okay?

And then we'll do the same thing with our filling, about 1/4 cup of filling, but on one side.

We've done the cheese on the bottom so that the cheese can have maximum contact with the pan.

-Mmm, and melts.

-So it melts.

Oh, yes.

Oh, yes.

-You know what it is.

-Uh-huh.

Uh-huh.

-Alright?

And so we're gonna move it to the pan, and then we're gonna give it a fold.

-Cold pan.

-Cold pan.

And then we'll keep building tacos.

-So four at a time?

-Four at a time.

These look great.

Alright, so, we're ready to cook.

These are gonna go on medium-high heat -for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm gonna leave you to keep your eye on these, and I'm gonna go assemble the rest of the tacos.

-Okay.

You're leaving me in charge.

-You got this.

-[ Laughs ] -You did a good job!

-[ Laughs ] Thanks.

-I knew you could.

-I paid very close attention.

-Good.

Oh, look.

These are ready to flip.

-Nice and spotty brown.

-Ooh.

-The cheese is melting.

-Mmm.

-Alright.

These look spectacular!

-They really do.

-So, these only need another 2 minutes.

-Mm-hmm.

-We're gonna keep them warm -in the oven... -Okay.

-...and then we're going to make our next batch of tacos.

-Okay.

-These look amazing.

And -- -They -- They do.

-And they're done.

-And they're done!

-Yeah, they're done.

And we're just gonna move these to the back of our wire rack.

Okay.

One for me, -and this beautiful one for you.

-Yeah.

I love the lacy cheese on the outside.

-Mmm.

-These look fantastic.

-They do.

-I think we should dig in.

-I have some condiments.

-Yeah.

-Right?

-Is that a Mexican crema?

-It is a Mexican crema.

-Yum!

And we have some lime wedges.

I like a little lime, and my favorite hot sauce.

-Nice.

-So, are you a hot sauce gal?

-Oh, yeah.

-Okay.

-I have a collection of them at home.

-Oh!

-Different hot sauces for different dishes.

-I'm coming over.

-Yeah, you are.

-You're a hot girl.

-[ Laughs ] -Alright.

-Alright, so, what's -- Do you open these up -to put them on?

Oh, okay.

-Yeah, you can open it up.

-[ Gasps ] -Because we melted that cheese, it's gonna seal right back up.

-Look at that cheese.

-Yeah, that looks fantastic.

Put a little crema in there for you?

-Little hot sauce?

Oh, yeah.

-Yeah.

Okay.

And then a little lime, a little spritz of lime there for some freshness.

-Close this back up.

-Close it back up.

-That's pretty spectacular.

The tortillas got really crisp in the skillet.

I wasn't expecting that.

Usually I think you have to deep fry them to get them crisp.

-Mmm.

-And aren't you glad that we didn't let any of that sogginess get involved here?

-Yeah.

And you can taste the shrimp.

Because you cooked them on their own with nothing, that shrimp flavor really comes through.

But then you have the onions and the peppers.

There's a little kick.

Elle, these are spectacular.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-If you want to make these tacos from Mazatlan, start by chopping, sauteing, and draining the shrimp before combining it with the vegetables.

Layer the shrimp and cheese into warmed tortillas, then cook them in batches in a nonstick skillet.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a very cool recipe for tacos gobernador.

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

-Mmm.

-Oh, yeah.

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