♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "America's Test Kitchen"... Keith shows Julia a foolproof recipe for pan-seared shrimp with peanuts, black pepper, and lime.

Adam reveals his top pick for petty and utility knives.

And Elle makes Bridget the ultimate shrimp risotto.

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

♪♪ -17 years ago, I cooked our recipe for pan-seared shrimp, and it was a great method.

The first thing, before we start pan-searing the shrimp, is that we like to take the whole peel off.

And, in fact, that old recipe was developed by Mr. Keith Dresser and he's back today to show us an updated way to do it.

-Yeah.

That's what I love about the test kitchen -- we never stop innovating and learning.

So, even though I created a recipe so many years ago, that was really great, we've learned more and we've actually created an even better recipe, which I'm going to show you today.

I have 1 1/2 pounds of extra large shrimp here.

That means 21 to 25 shrimp per pound.

I just have a couple more that I need to peel and devein here.

Really quite a simple process.

I start with taking the legs off.

Kind of scraping down there, and then I just take the side of my thumb and kind of hook it over the side of the shell, peel it off in one big fell swoop, then come back and we actually want to take the tail off here.

-Interesting.

-We're not going to leave the tail on here, so.

-Makes them easier to eat.

-Yeah.

No spitting shells out of your teeth.

-[ Laughs ] But also, shell on shrimp will have a fresher, more moist texture.

-Okay, that's looking pretty clean.

Now, I want to stress that we're using shrimp that aren't treated, so, no salt, no other additive, just plain old shrimp here.

-Right.

That means, when you go to the store and you look at the back of a package in the freezer, you should only see one ingredient, and that's shrimp.

-Again, pinch that, take that off.

And one final step of deveining.

So just take a tip of a paring knife.

Run it down the back.

You don't want to cut too, too deep in here.

You just kind of lay it down, hold it with a paring knife, and pull that right out.

Okay.

So, this is our first improvement right here, is we're actually going to season the shrimp with some salt before we cook it.

So I have 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt here.

That salt is going to work into the muscle fibers of the shrimp, help it retain moisture, and also season it.

Okay, so we're just going to let that sit at least 15 minutes, up to a half an hour, let that salt do its job.

-Okay.

-So, while that's happening... -Mm-hmm!

-...I'm going to make a spice mixture that's going to season the shrimp after we sear it.

So, I'm going to start with 2 teaspoons of coriander seed, 1 teaspoon of black pepper.

You can use a spice grinder, if you want to, but I really find, with a small amount like this, it's really easy to use a mortar and pestle.

Plus, we're not looking to really break it down super, super fine.

We want it to have a little bit of coarseness to it, so it's much easier to do that in the mortar and pestle than it is a spice grinder.

I'm just going to let the weight of this do its job.

You really don't have to press very hard.

If you have any stubborn bits, you can kind of push down on it, but you don't want to pound up and down because what you'll end up with is seeds all over the countertop.

-Oh!

That's very fragrant.

-The coriander is going to be great.

A little bit of a citrus flavor.

Okay, that's good.

You can hold onto that, so it doesn't roll off the counter.

-[ Laughs ] -Just going to transfer this over to a bowl.

Now, I'm going to add 1 teaspoon of paprika, one minced garlic clove, to this.

1 teaspoon of sugar, for some sweetness.

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, to help season.

And 1/8 teaspoon of pepper flake, for a little bit of heat.

Just going to work this in here.

-Mmm!

-Okay, so, that's our spice mixture.

It's been 15 minutes and that salt has penetrated into the shrimp, seasoned it, and it's going to keep it moist.

But, I want to get rid of any excess moisture before we sear because we know that, if there's moisture on the outside, it's not going to sear well.

Put it onto a paper-towel-lined plate.

I just want to get the tops of these and make sure it's super, super dry.

Okay, I think that is looking good.

Going to transfer these over to a bowl.

This is one departure from my old recipe way back when.

We're going to actually add some oil to the shrimp, rather than oiling the pan.

-Ha!

-And so the idea here is that, if you put the oil on the shrimp, everything is really well-coated and, once it gets into the skillet, you have really perfect contact.

So, if you've ever cooked in a nonstick skillet, you know how the oil kind of spreads over the sides and you're kind of chasing it around.

Here, if we put the oil on the shrimp, we get good contact right from the get-go.

So I have 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and I'm also going to add just a little bit of sugar here, 1/8 teaspoon of sugar, and that's going to help with browning and kind of bring out the sweetness of the shrimp.

-A little bit of sugar goes a long way to help the shrimp, which cook pretty quickly, get a little browning.

-Now, here is the other really weird thing, is I'm going to put the shrimp into a cold pan.

-Wow!

That's not sautéing.

-No, it's not sautéing.

-[ Laughs ] -So, usually, you put the shrimp into a ripping hot skillet to get it brown and, by the time you get the last shrimp in, the first one's overcooked.

-[ Laughs ] True.

-So, by starting in a cold skillet, we ensure that they have really good contact right from the beginning.

You get a nice even layer, so it's not going to buckle as much.

It's all about ensuring good contact with the shrimp and the pan surface.

-Hard to believe you can start with a cold skillet and still get a good sear because they're so small, they're going to cook through so quickly.

-Yeah, you're going to have to trust the process.

-[ Laughs ] -Okay, so I'm just going to turn this on high heat and what we're looking for is that first side to get spotty brown and start to turn pink around the edges.

-Okay.

[ Sizzling ] -So it's been about 3 minutes and what I'm looking for is just a little bit of browning on this and you can see it's starting to turn pink.

-Oh, wow!

-That's great.

-That's incredible, just 3 minutes, starting in a cold skillet.

-I'm going to shut the heat off now and we've gotten browning on one side, but we don't want to continue over really high heat.

We're going to quickly turn these over and get the second side to cook through.

All we need is a couple minutes with residual heat from the pan to finish cooking.

-Those look beautiful.

-Yeah.

So, even though the pan was quite crowded... -Mm-hmm.

-...and we had a cold start, that little bit of sugar and that high heat has really turned these nicely brown.

So we're just going to let the pan do its business and come back and we'll take the shrimp out.

It's been 2 minutes and you can see that the shrimp is nicely cooked.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's juicy.

It's plump.

We have this nice brown side, but it's not overcooked.

So, I'm just going to transfer this over to the platter.

We want to get the shrimp out of here so they stop cooking.

So, remember that spice mixture we made earlier.

We want to cook that out and get that warm.

Remember, we had a clove of garlic in there.

We don't want raw garlic.

We want to cook that out.

So I'm just going to turn our heat back to high and add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil and that spice mix that we made earlier.

Take a rubber spatula and cook this.

We're not going to cook this for long, just about 30 seconds, and we just want that to become fragrant and cook that garlic out.

Smells good already, doesn't it?

-Smells delicious.

-Yeah.

It's been 30 seconds, and this is nice and fragrant.

I'm going to shut the heat off.

Take this off.

Now, I'm going to add the shrimp back to the pan, but I'm going to keep it off the heat.

[ Sizzling ] Again, we don't want any more cooking here.

We just want to marry the spices to the shrimp.

I'm going to add 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro, 1 tablespoon of lime juice.

-Mmm!

Those are some bold flavors.

I like that.

-You just want to toss this together.

Again, this is off heat.

We're not really looking to cook the shrimp any more.

We just want to make sure that everything is well-coated.

Okay, I think we are ready to go back to our platter here.

Scrape all this goodness out of here... -Mmm!

-...right onto our shrimp.

I have one last addition.

I have 3 tablespoons of roasted salted peanuts.

-Ooh!

-A little crunchy, a little salty.

That's it.

-Load 'er up.

-Load 'er up, okay.

-Oh, yeah.

-Let's go.

[ Laughs ] -For me?

Definitely.

[ Laughs ] This is my kind of food.

-I like that.

I'm going to give you a lime wedge, in case you want a little bit more lime on there.

-Oh, peanuts, lime, and cilantro?

Great combination.

Alright, I'm going in.

Mmm!

Perfectly cooked and tender.

You get that seared flavor, that browning, that spice mixture.

-Yeah.

-That's something else.

Well, they're nice, fresh, interesting flavors, too.

-Yeah.

-It's not just the same old garlic, butter, and lemon.

I mean, this has real flavor to it.

Keith, I'm really digging these new flavors on this shrimp.

Thank you.

-Oh, I'm glad you liked it.

-So, if you want to make Keith's all-new, fabulous seared shrimp, salt the shrimp for 15 minutes before cooking, start the shrimp in a cold skillet, and let them finish cooking off the heat.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a brand-new recipe for pan-seared shrimp with peanuts, black pepper, and lime.

♪♪ Nice job.

-It should last for another 15 years, right?

-[ Laughs ] Here's hoping.

♪♪ -You know, there's room in that knife block for more than just a chef's knife or a paring knife.

So, Adam's here and he's going to tell us more about utility or petty knives, and why we should include those, as well.

-You know, Bridget, a chef's knife and a paring knife are both kitchen essentials... -True.

-...and, to be perfectly honest, a petty knife or a utility knife, which slots in between the two, size-wise, not a kitchen essential.

But, now that we've tested them, I am so smitten with these knives.

-It's your essential.

-They are really pleasurable to use and they're really handy.

So, we had this lineup of 10 different petty or utility knives.

They used to be shaped differently historically, but those differences have diminished over time and now, petty and utility are used interchangeably.

-Okay, gotcha.

-So we have our lineup of 10.

The prices that we paid ranged from $28 to $215.

And we had a squad of testers with different hand sizes and dominances try a bunch of different tasks.

-Okay.

-They minced parsley.

They quartered mushrooms.

They broke down whole raw chickens.

And they also used them to slice hard salami, hard cheese, as well as tomatoes and chicken breasts that were cooked with the skin on.

Not to put too fine a point on it -- sorry about that... -Nice.

Boy you're sharp.

-...testers loved [ Laughing ] these kni-- That's good.

Testers loved these knives.

They were really, really great to use.

They were all impressively sharp right out of the gate.

I want you to try -- try this one.

-Alright.

-And make slices out of that cooked chicken breast right there.

-Which is hard to do, when you have the skin still on there.

-And, if you want it really pretty, with a little sliver of skin attached, that's not easy to do.

-Now, that's actually quite nice.

-Isn't that great?

The knife is sharp.

Also, the blades were slender.

They ranged from 1.4 to 2.3 millimeters at the spine, and testers loved that about them.

They also loved them for tasks where you use the point of the knife for a finer kind of thing.

Why don't you try slicing a shallot with that one.

-Okay.

Same knife?

-Yeah, same knife.

That's fine.

-Alright.

So it's more about using the tip.

-Right.

You're not using the whole blade.

You're using the tip.

-It's quite nice, as well.

-Isn't that incredible?

-Yeah.

I certainly don't mind that.

-They're so fantastic that way.

So, because all these knives were so pleasurable to use, it was really small design factors that made the difference for testers.

One of them was weight.

Why don't you use this one to cut a couple more slices of chicken or mince shallot -- whichever you want to do.

-Let's go with this chicken.

It's a little different grip there.

-Right.

It's not downright heavy, is it?

-Oh, no.

-None of these knives were heavy, but, the first one you used was closer to about 3 ounces in weight.

The second one you used was closer to 4 1/2 ounces.

-Okay.

And testers really preferred the lighter knives because they just felt that much more nimble.

-It feels almost effortless.

-Exactly.

Handles -- testers liked handles that were about 4 1/4 inches long.

Another word about the handles -- for some of the testers with larger hands, they found that a few of them didn't have a ton of clearance underneath the handle for their knuckles.

-Knock your hand.

-So they're knocking their hands on the cutting board.

They liked them to have at least 1/2 inch.

And this one actually had the most, at 3/4 inch, so that was the best for big-handed testers.

You know, any of the knives that landed in the top of the rankings, I would love to have in my knife block at home, but we were forced to make choices here... -As we do.

-...and there was an overall winner, and it was this knife right here.

This is the Tojiro 150mm petty R2 powdered-steel knife.

It was $117, and we loved it.

-And I love it.

-And you love it, too!

-Yeah.

-However, if you want to spend a little less money, there was also a best buy, which is this one.

This is the Mac PKF-60 pro utility knife.

It's 6 inches, and this one was $72.

-There you go.

Petty knife, but a big help in the kitchen.

And our winner is the Tojiro 150mm petty R2 powdered-steel knife, and it retails for $117.

Phew!

That was a mouthful.

-It is.

But it's a great knife.

♪♪ -You'd think that shrimp risotto would actually taste like shrimp, but, no, it's like restaurants that serve it to you have taken a vacation from the crustacean.

Well, we're going to make an excellent version here and show you how to make it at home, and Elle is the perfect person for the job.

-That's right.

Well, this recipe is all about the shrimp.

-Okay.

-So I have here 1 pound of extra large shrimp.

We have to peel it and devein it and I have my good deveining shears here.

I love this because it makes it so easy.

-Just making that slit down the back.

-That's right.

And then, just peeling off here.

We're also taking the tails off.

Tails and shells.

-[ Laughs ] -And we're going to save those for later.

-Alright.

-Okay?

So I'm just going to use my knife to get this vein out of here.

Also going to cut these shrimp into thirds, make sure that every spoonful has shrimp.

And also, they cook faster... -Right.

-...when they're cut into pieces.

To this shrimp, I'm going to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and I'm just going to toss the shrimp and salt together.

What this does is it seals in the moisture for the shrimp, so that, when we cook it, it's not all dry, rubber shrimp balls.

-Nobody wants dry rubber shrimp ball risotto.

-I don't.

-[ Laughs ] -I definitely don't.

So that's good.

And we're going to start working on our shrimp stock.

That's how you really get that flavor of the sea in your risotto.

It's not just risotto and shrimp.

-Right.

-It's a shrimp risotto.

-Love it.

Putting the "shrimp"... -Yeah.

-...in "shrimp risotto."

-That's right.

And also, because we don't want to waste anything, we're going to use our shrimp shells to make that stock.

-Tons of flavor in there.

-So I have in my Dutch oven 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over high heat.

Okay, Bridget, it looks like our oil is shimmering.

I'm going to add our shrimp shells.

-Mmm!

-Yeah.

And I'm just going to cook these for about 2 to 4 minutes, until they're spotty brown.

-Alright.

Starting to develop some flavor there.

[ Crackling ] -Oh, yeah.

-Popcorn shrimp.

-[ Laughs ] Okay, so, it looks like our shrimp shells are nice and spotty brown.

I'm going to add to the shrimp shells 7 cups of water.

[ Sizzling intensifies ] Little deglaze.

-Yes!

-Right?

I have two bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 15 peppercorns.

-Exactly?

-Exactly 15 peppercorns.

-I've known a few chefs that would count that.

-It was counted.

-[ Laughs ] -Okay, Bridget, so, our stock has come to a boil.

I'm just going to reduce the heat to low... -Okay.

-...and let it simmer for only 5 minutes.

The flavor compounds are very volatile, and, if we let it go over five minutes, we lose it all into the air.

-Alright.

Okay, Bridget, it's been 5 minutes and our stock has come to a really good simmer.

It's time to get it out of the pot.

If you could turn it off for me.

Thank you!

-You've got it.

-And I'm just going to take everything out.

I'm ladling for safety.

-Especially when you have a bunch of solids, like big, chunky pieces in there, it's a good idea to start with a ladle.

-Yeah.

Alright, so I'm just going to use my spatula and press any remaining juices out of the shrimp shells.

So I'm just going to leave this here.

So, in the same pot, I'm just going to put 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium heat.

-Great.

-And, while that's melting, I'm going to keep building flavors with vegetables.

I have here fennel.

-Mmm.

-I'm going to just cut off the stalks.

We don't need that.

I love the licorice smell of fennel.

I'm halving it lengthwise and I'm going to remove the core.

I'm just using the tip of my knife, following the outline of the core.

I kind of love that about fennel -- it just tells you what to do.

You don't even have to think about it.

Alright.

Pop out that core.

Okay, so, now, I'm just going to finely dice this fennel, treating it like an onion.

Okay, so, we have all of our prep done.

Let's start building shrimp risotto.

I'm going to add the fennel bowl that we just chopped fine.

One onion, medium onion, also chopped fine.

Alright, I'm going to add 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda.

And this baking soda is going to cause the pH in the fennel to rise.

It's going to make it soft.

It'll probably make the onions disintegrate, but we want a nice, tender vegetable... -Mm.

-...so that's perfectly fine.

Okay, so it's been about 8 minutes.

All we wanted was for the vegetables to get soft, not brown.

-They are soft.

-Yeah, they're ready to go.

So I'm going to add 2 minced cloves of garlic and just let that cook for 30 seconds, just till it's fragrant.

Oh, yeah.

Smell that?

-Soon as you smell it, it's done, right?

-Yeah.

It's done.

That's right.

Now, I'm going to add 1 1/2 cups of Arborio rice.

We're using Arborio rice because it's high in amylopectin, which is the thing that gives it its creaminess in the risotto.

-Kind of made for the job.

-Yeah, yeah.

Now, I'm going to make sure that all the grains are coated and we're looking for the edges to be translucent.

-Okay.

-Okay?

You can actually see it.

It has happened already, so I'm going to go ahead and add 3/4 cups of white wine for deglazing.

-Alright.

-Alright, and I'm just going to... -Ugh!

-...yeah, get like all of this good flavor from the bottom and the sides of the pot.

And we're still just building flavor here, right?

We're going to have the flavor of the sea.

We have the flavor of the herbs.

We have a little bit of acidity from the white wine.

-We've covered all the food groups... -All the food groups.

-...land, sea, wine.

-That's it.

Alright, so we're looking for the wine to be fully absorbed.

That'll take about 2 to 3 minutes.

-Okay.

-Okay, so, now, we're ready to add our shrimp stock.

So we're going to start with 4 cups.

For me, that's going to be 4 ladles.

I love that we made this quick stock for the risotto.

-Five minutes.

-Yeah, yeah.

We won't have to be cooking it very long.

That's kind of the joy of this recipe.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's not the kind of risotto you have to babysit.

It comes together really quickly.

-I mean, you kind of broke a risotto rule at the beginning there, you know?

It's like a little bit of stock at a time.

Wait till it's reduced.

That was 4 cups that just went in there.

-That's right.

And it's going to come together super fast.

Okay, so this vigorous simmer we have going on here, it's kind of acting as the stir that we would do for a traditional risotto.

-Great.

-Yeah.

It's going to release all of that starch on our behalf... -Ah!

-...so that's it.

We only need to stir it twice.

We're going to cover it, let it go for 16 to 18 minutes, and we'll be ready to roll.

♪♪ Okay, so it's been about 16 to 18 minutes.

We've stirred this a couple of times.

-Alright.

-Right?

And it's time to finish it off with 3/4 cups of stock.

-Look how creamy it already is.

-I know.

I'm going to keep stirring, gently, for another 3 minutes, to get more creaminess... -Alright.

-...out of this risotto.

-Ugh!

-Yeah.

It's already looking pretty amazing.

-There's some goodness going on in there.

-Oh, yeah.

Alright, so gentle stirs for 3 minutes.

Bridget, this risotto is practically done.

-It's creamy and dreamy.

-Yes, it is.

I'm going to amplify that dream by adding our salted shrimp that we made earlier, and we're going to take it off the heat.

If you could turn that off for me.

-You got it.

-The shrimp is just going to cook from the residual heat of the risotto.

I'm going to put in here 1/2 cup of Parm because it's only appropriate.

-It's the law.

-Yes, it is.

Alright?

And I'm going... -[ Gasp ] -...to cover it... -Ohhh.

-...and let it sit for 5 minutes.

-Sounds good.

-Okay, so it's been cooking for 5 minutes off-heat, right?

-That's right.

-Letting the shrimp cook... -[ Gasp ] -...in the residual heat of the risotto.

Look how beautiful that is.

-The shrimp are all plump and pink.

-Oh, man.

And that Parm in there.

So I want to finish this off with a little bit of brightness.

I'm adding 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest.

1 tablespoon of lemon juice, because we're using all the ingredients of everything in this recipe.

-[ Laughs ] -2 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

-A little bit more creaminess there.

-More creaminess.

And then, 1/4 cup of chopped chives.

Alright, I'm going to just... -Ugh!

-...stir that all in.

Isn't it gorgeous?

-That is beau-ti-ful!

-Mm-hmm.

Now, this is what a shrimp risotto is supposed to smell like.

-You're right.

It smells like shrimp.

-Alright, I'm just going to give it a little taste.

Okay, so a little salt.

-Okay.

Always a good idea to season right before serving.

-Mm-hmm.

A little pepper.

-Mmm!

-That looks great.

Alright.

Just give it a little stir.

I think we are ready to have risotto.

-Every time you stir that, it just releases more... -[ Laughs ] -...and more of that smell into the air.

-I know you love risotto, so I'm not... -[ Laughs ] -...going to be shy about it.

Okay, so, I have some lemon wedges.

Alright.

Some Parm to top.

-[ Gasp ] [ Contented sigh ] -I think we're ready.

That shrimp is so juicy and tender.

-It almost melts.

-Yes.

A little salt goes a long way.

-There's zero rubber bounciness going on.

-Zero.

-I love that.

It was that last-minute addition of the shrimp.

But you did so much cooking with the shrimp stock, that was the backbone.

-That's the backbone.

The risotto is tender.

It's creamy, even though we didn't cook it for a long time.

-You could've just stuck with onion, but you put that little bit of that anise flavor in there.

-I mean, go big or go home.

-[ Laughs ] Thanks, Elle.

This is spectacular.

-Thank you.

-Well, if you want to make this luxurious shrimp risotto at home, create a flavorful shrimp stock, using just the shells, soften onion and fennel with a little baking soda, and add the shrimp to the pot and cook off-heat during the final minutes.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," a creamy, delicious, easy, and dreamy, shrimp risotto.

And you can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes on our website.

That's americastestkitchen.com/tv.

♪♪ I thought maybe this was going to be gone by the time I got back.

-That's because I like you.

-[ Laughs ] ♪♪ ♪♪