Mastering Egg Cooking and the Science of Brining Meat

What’s the secret to making a fluffy omelet or the perfect pie dough? In this interview from 2012, Jack Bishop, now senior content advisor at America’s Test Kitchen, debunks cooking myths and highlights some of the surprising finds from the show’s cookbook, The Science of Good Cooking.

Bishop tells us that water is one of the key parts of the perfect pie crust. You need it to roll out the dough, but it also forms gluten which makes the dough chewy. So, how can your pie dough be both soft and easy to handle? Use science—and a little bit of vodka.

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