♪♪ -"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

♪♪ Today on "Cook's Country," Christie makes roast pork loin with 40 cloves of garlic...

I tell the story behind all that garlic... Adam reviews hand mixers... and Lawman makes orange upside-down cake.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

♪♪ ♪♪ -Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic is a classic recipe that can sound a little shocking at first because, yes, it does use 40 cloves of garlic.

But that garlic doesn't wind up tasting harsh and raw, but rather takes on a soft, creamy, nutty flavor that really enhances the simple flavor of the meat.

Today, Christie is going to take that recipe and make it work with pork.

-Julia, pork has such a naturally mild, sweet flavor, so the sweetness of almost caramelized garlic plays really nicely with it.

-I love the idea.

-But we didn't want this just to be a one-note wonder.

Not all garlic all the time.

-[ Chuckles ] -So we're using a seasoning rub with some fresh herbs and some spices that's going to increase the complexity and also give us a nice fresh pop of flavor.

-Good idea.

-So we were really inspired by the flavors of porchetta, right?

-Who's not?

-[ Laughs ] Rosemary and thyme work so nicely with it, so I have a tablespoon of minced, fresh rosemary and 2 teaspoons of minced fresh thyme.

-Mmm.

-I have 2 teaspoons of ground fennel.

Take a whiff.

-[ Inhales deeply ] Ooh.

You know, I don't use ground fennel enough, and it's such a good pairing with pork.

-So good.

A tablespoon of kosher salt.

A teaspoon of ground black pepper and then 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes just to give us a little kick.

I'll just mix this together.

Now, I'm going to use all of this on our pork roast.

This is a three-pound boneless pork loin roast.

-Mm-hmm.

-And you can use the center cut or the blade cut.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're just gonna cover it.

Use all of this.

-Now, I notice you left the fat cap.

-You want to leave some on because this is a very lean cut of pork.

And so it gets basted a little bit with that fat when it renders.

Don't forget the ends.

I'll transfer this to some plastic wrap.

Gonna seal this.

Now after I wash my hands, we're going to put this in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour or up to 24 hours.

Julia, we're going to roast this pork, but we're now start on the stovetop.

-Mm-hmm.

-Get some good browning.

So I have 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil that I'm heating in a 12-inch oven-safe nonstick skillet over medium-high heat till it's just smoking.

And that's what's happening right now.

-You're going to roast the meat in that skillet?

-We are.

Stovetop to oven.

Super simple.

-Love it.

-So we'll let this brown on all sides.

It's going to take us about seven minutes to get the whole thing nice and brown, but that's going to pay off so much in terms of flavor.

-Mm-hmm.

-While that's doing its thing, let's talk about the star of the show.

-The garlic.

-The garlic, yes.

So to get 40 cloves of garlic -- and we're going to use 40 cloves of garlic -- you're probably going to need 3 to 4 heads.

Now, you can use pre-peeled garlic if you prefer.

-I have to say, the fresh garlic tastes better.

Especially if you're making a recipe where garlic is the star of the show, using fresh is really ideal here.

-Right.

-I have to get it here.

-Please.

So we're just breaking these up right now.

-So they all still have their skins on them.

-Right.

-Now, do we have to take the skins off?

-Now, I have a little trick that we're going to try.

I do like to cut off just the woody ends.

-Mm-hmm.

-That's going to make it a little easier for the paper to come off.

And I'm going to throw these in a bowl while I do that.

Oh!

-Oh, that looks beautiful.

-Gorgeous.

-Yeah.

-So much good flavor here.

Alright.

So, here's the trick.

I've got my bowl.

Now, you can put another bowl on top of it, kind of facing it like a sandwich.

-Yep.

-Or you can put a plate on top.

We're just going to shake these really vigorously.

-That's a workout.

-Let's see where we are.

Now, the friction from all of the cloves rubbing together should make the skins pop off pretty easily.

-Oh, it's mostly there.

-But like you said, this is some really fresh garlic, so... -Yeah.

-...I might have to do a couple passes.

-Alright.

You want me to take a turn?

-Sure.

-Alright.

Let me at it.

I did go to the gym this morning, so... -[ Chuckles ] There you go.

[ Laughs ] -Cha, cha, cha.

Oh, look at that.

-Nice.

So, this pork is really nicely browned on all sides.

It's been browning for about seven minutes.

-It's beautiful.

-We're just about ready to hop in the oven, but we're going to add the garlic.

-Okay.

-Thank you so much.

-Yeah, my pleasure.

-The garlic is going to go in the skillet around the pork because we're going to cook the garlic in two stages, and the first is to get it nice and soft and roasty in the oven.

So I have my oven set -- middle rack, 300 degrees -- and we'll roast this until the pork reaches 130 degrees, which will take between 40 and 50 minutes.

-Okay.

♪♪ -Richard Olney was an American painter who moved to France in the 1950s and fell in love with Provencal cuisine.

He wrote a cookbook called "Simple French Cooking," which contained a recipe for chicken, oil, salt, a bouquet garni, and four whole heads of garlic all braised together.

The dish was Olney's interpretation of the classic poule au pot, or chicken in a pot.

Back in America in 1954, James Beard published a recipe that made garlic the headliner by specifying exactly 40 cloves.

He loved the drama of cooking chicken with 40 cloves of garlic and often demonstrated the recipe on TV.

Now, almost every publication has their version of the dish from Bon Appétit to "The Silver Palate Cookbook."

At "Cook's Country," we gave the 40 clove treatment to our other favorite white meat -- the juicy pork roast.

♪♪ -Oh, that smells delicious.

-Oh, my goodness.

So gorgeous.

[ Vocalizes excitedly ] -[ Inhales sharply ] Wow.

Look at that beautiful garlic.

-I know.

I just went all soprano on it.

-[ Laughs ] You did.

-[ Laughter ] -Alright, so we need to check.

Remember, we were cooking this to an internal temperature of 130 degrees.

It's going to carryover cook later, and we want to get it closer to 145, 150 before we eat it.

That looks good.

-Alright.

Now we can take the pork roast and move it over to our carving board so it can rest.

-Mm-hmm.

Take a little nap.

-Mm-hmm.

And I'll tent it with some foil.

Alright.

So that's good.

Now, stage two of the garlic cookery.

-[ Chuckles ] -Obviously, you can see that the garlic is super, super tender.

-It's beautiful.

-I'm going to heat my stovetop back up to medium-high heat.

And now we're going to take a little time just to make sure that the garlic is sizzling and then it's even a little bit more lightly golden brown.

So it's kind of golden now.

-Mm-hmm.

-We'll give it a little more time to pick up some more flavor.

-Yeah, it's a little spotty golden at the moment.

-Mm-hmm.

This you really want to use the visual cue.

So, this garlic is not going to need a lot of time because you can see the side that was flush against the bottom of the pan really has some nice browning already.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic usually has a nice light cream sauce, and we're going to stick with the same idea for the pork.

I'll start with 1 1/4 cups of chicken broth.

-Mm-hmm.

-And that's just going to amp up that nice, savory, warm flavor.

And then we'll add 1/3 of cup of dry white wine to give us a nice punch of acidity.

And then, of course, 1/3 of a cup of heavy cream.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then because we used some nice fresh herbs in the seasoning rub for the pork, we're going to recall one of those flavors and add 2 teaspoons of minced, fresh thyme.

-Mmm!

Garlic, white wine, and thyme?

What's not to like?

-I know.

So we'll bring this up to a boil.

We'll let the sauce reduce until it gets a little thicker.

It'll take about 10 minutes to get to that point.

We want just a little over a cup.

But we're also looking for viscosity, and basically we want the sauce to be able to cling to the back of a spoon, which means it will cling to the pork.

-That makes sense.

-And this is perfect.

So this has been simmering for about 10 minutes.

And we want this to cling to the spoon.

And if you run your finger across, you can see that the sauce isn't going to keep running off the spoon.

-That's right.

-So that's what we want.

This is perfect.

-Looks wonderful.

-We'll just keep this warm.

I have my heat off.

This pork has been resting for 20 minutes.

-Et voilà.

-Et voilà.

-It looks very relaxed.

-It does, doesn't it?

So it's time for us to slice this.

-Oh, what a pretty pork loin.

-Look how juicy this is.

-Ooh, I like how you're slicing it thin.

In my house, this is where people get a little impatient and the slices get to be the size of pork chops.

-[ Laughs ] No, I think pork loin roast is just nice to have some delicate slices.

-Mm-hmm.

-I love seeing that seasoning rub along the edges.

Alright, I'm going to start plattering this.

It's so nice when a relatively simple dish like this can be company-worthy.

-Mm-hmm.

That's beautiful, Christie.

-Thanks, Julia.

Very excited about this.

-Me, too.

[ Laughter ] -Alright.

I'm just going to give my sauce one more little stir.

-Ohh.

-I seriously think that garlic is just going to melt into nothing as soon as it hits the pork.

-Mmm.

-Alright, so I'm going to give this... -Mmm!

You're going to drape it.

-Drape it.

-Oh!

The color of that sauce is something else, Christie.

-It is gorgeous.

I know we're going to fight over the garlic cloves.

[ Laughter ] And I'm ready for you.

-I think there should be plenty for each of us.

-[ Laughs ] -I can't get enough of the color of that sauce.

That just looks like liquid gold.

-Oh, boy.

-Don't hesitate to put some more goodness on top of that.

-Some more goodness on top?

-Just a little bit.

Yes!

-There we go.

-Oh, thank you.

-Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, this is going to be a... Well, I'm supposed to get 10 cloves of garlic if I've -- if I counted right.

-Now for the true test.

[ Gasps ] Just like garlic butter.

Mmm!

The herbs on that pork really come through.

-Mm-hmm.

-That is lovely.

Makes me feel like I'm in Tuscany with garlic and rosemary and thyme.

Oh, man!

-It really pops.

I'm getting that black pepper and a little bit of the red pepper flakes.

So, you know, that pork is really standing up to the garlic.

-Mm-hmm.

The sauce is everything.

It is delicious.

The pork is perfectly tender, and I love how you sliced it thin.

Mmm!

I love how the garlic has taken on sort of a buttery, nutty flavor.

It's not harsh at all.

-I'm not the biggest garlic person in the world.

I mean, I like it, but this I can get behind.

This is just... garlic perfection.

-Yeah, it's garlic perfume.

[ Laughter ] Christie, this is amazing.

Thank you.

-Thank you.

-So, if you want to make pork with 40 cloves of garlic, start by seasoning the pork with an herb rub.

Roast the pork and garlic together in a skillet and caramelize the roasted garlic before finishing the sauce.

From "Cook's Country," a new classic -- pork loin with 40 cloves of garlic.

This is definitely going into rotation at my house.

-[ Chuckles ] -The sauce is incredible.

-Mm-hmm.

♪♪ -Stand mixers are great for those heavy-duty kitchen tasks, but for the little jobs, a hand mixer might do.

Adam's here, and he's going to tell us all about them.

-These represent the happy medium in the mixing world, Bridget, between the stand mixer, as you said, for the heavy-duty work and doing everything manually with a whisk or a spatula.

These are actually a great solution if you don't want to use the stand mixer or if you have a limited budget or limited space in the kitchen.

We have eight different models here.

The price range was $20 up to $130.

-Big difference.

-They all come with the standard beater attachments which are fitted in there.

A lot of them also come with these -- either a whisk, one or two, or these little spiral-shaped dough hooks.

And we tested these along with the beaters, and, spoiler alert, just keep them in the drawer.

They're pretty worthless.

-Gotcha.

-Now, one of the tests was to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookie dough.

-Which you brought with you, right?

-Oh, we're having a major cookie fest after this.

[ Laughs ] That taught us a lot about the beaters themselves.

One was we liked them a little larger as opposed to a little smaller.

You can see that these are pretty narrow.

-Almost like wire.

-This one has these posts that ran all the way through the beaters to the bottom.

That caused some of them to get gummed up in the cookie dough and therefore mix a little less efficiently.

Testers were much more impressed with wider, more spacious beaters.

These were the best.

These are 2 1/4 inches wide, so they didn't get gummed up as easily.

And even better, you can see that the bottom is lined with silicone, so you don't get that telltale clattering between the metal beaters and the mixing bowls.

-Boy, hand mixers have come a long way.

-Boy, have they come a long way.

Now, there were other tests.

One of them was whipping cream, which is something these are great at.

And testers noticed something in both the cream whipping and when they were mixing the dry ingredients for the cookies... -Okay.

-...that some of these mixers tended to spray either cream or dry ingredients around when you started them up, some didn't.

So we pulled out the tachometer and we measured the revolutions per minute at every speed.

That's RPMs.

-Mm-hmm.

-At the lower speeds, the RPM range was 230 to 740.

And sure enough, it was the ones with those higher RPMs that were spreading cream and dry ingredients around when we started them up.

The flip side of that was the RPMs at the higher speeds, which ranged from 860 to 1,310.

And the ones with the higher high speeds, the higher RPMs, those were actually more efficient at blending.

They were -- did a much better job.

In the end, it was this number here that is the hand mixer to beat.

This is the Breville Handy Mix Scraper.

It's a fantastic hand mixer.

It was also the most expensive one here at $130.

But we feel like you get what you pay for with this one.

-Okay.

-It's got terrific features.

It's got these silicone-coated beaters that were nice and wide.

-Loving those.

-It's got a light... -[ Gasps ] -...that shines into the mixing bowl.

You know, sounds silly.

Kind of useful.

It really helps.

It's also got a built-in counter... -Ooh!

-...that counts the elapsed time while you're mixing, and it's got a pause button too.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Last thing, testers really appreciated this trigger-style release.

Pull it up... -Oh!

-...the mixers come right out.

Small thing, but actually it's a lot easier to get them out than pressing the buttons in the other ones.

-Oh, my gosh.

I think mine are permanently attached.

-Stuck in with cookie dough?

-Cookie dough and eggs.

-This one was the best buy because $130 is a lot of money for a hand mixer.

This one is the Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus nine-speed hand mixer.

It was $80.

It's also a completely solid choice.

It does a really good job, and you can save some money.

-Amazing.

They've come a long way.

-They certainly have.

-Yeah.

Thanks to Sir Mix-A-Lot here, you can go out and buy the winner, and that is the Breville Handy Mix Scraper.

It retails for about $130.

Or you can go for the best buy, and that's the Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus nine-speed hand mixer, and it retails for $80.

♪♪ I love a good upside down cake.

It brings back all these retro memories of the Technicolor pineapple rings and the Day-Glo maraschino cherries.

But those aren't the only fruits that deserve the upside down treatment.

Lawman's here, and he's representing Team Orange.

-I am.

I remember sitting in church for what seemed like hours thinking about if the stained-glass windows were made out of melted lollipops.

-Mm!

-The upside-down cake has that same appeal to me.

-You went to church in a "Hansel and Gretel" book?

-Yes.

[ Chuckles ] So here I have three types of oranges.

We have our navel orange, Cara Cara orange, and a blood orange.

Now, each one of these oranges is going to bring a different color to the cake.

Your navel orange is going to bring orange color.

-Sure.

-The Cara Cara has a reddish hue.

It's more like a pink grapefruit.

Then the blood orange has a deep crimson color.

Now, you don't have to use three different types of oranges, but the cake is not going to look as stunning.

-Okay.

-So to get started, I need 2 teaspoons of zest.

I'm gonna zest one of the oranges.

It's a lot easier to do that when the orange is intact.

-You learned that once, right?

-Exactly.

Now, it doesn't matter really which orange you choose.

-Okay.

Oh, you can smell the orange already.

-Now, next, we're going to peel the oranges.

We found that peeling by hand works the best.

I'm going to have to use the knife to just make a little incision just so I can get into this orange.

-So you mention it's better to peel these by hand.

Is that because the knife would just take off too much of the exterior?

-Exactly.

So now that I have them peeled, we're going to cut them into 1/4 inch rounds.

-Oh, so you get all those pretty little star-shaped segments in there.

Look at that beautiful Cara Cara.

-And now for the blood orange.

-Ooh!

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

They're all falling apart.

-So even if they fall apart, that's fine.

We only need a few good rings.

And even the ones that are apart, once we put them into the pan, we're going to lay them flat.

And then the batter is going to go on top, so they're going to look whole when the cake's baked.

-Perfect.

-So now we're going to make the cake base.

-Okay.

-I have 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt.

Combine that, and we're gonna put that aside.

Now it's time to mix the wet ingredients.

-Okay.

-I have 1/2 a cup of sour cream... 2 large eggs... 1 cup of sugar... 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract... 2 teaspoons of zest.

We're just going to whisk this together for about a minute.

So now this is nice and smooth.

-Yep.

-I'm gonna add 6 tablespoons of unsalted melted butter.

-Great.

-We're just going to whisk this together.

And now we can add the dry to the wet.

-Okay.

-Just looking to combine this so that you don't see any more of the dry flour.

Put that aside.

For the top of this cake, we're going to create a caramel.

And a lot of times, you're using brown sugar... -Sure.

-...but in this cake, we're going to use 1/2 a cup of white sugar because that's going to allow the flavor of the oranges to come through easier.

-Okay.

-So I have 1/2 a cup of sugar.

I'm adding 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt.

Just gonna combine that up.

-Mm.

-As I've been saying, this cake is a stunner, and it would be a shame if you put the cake in there and you can't get it out of the pan.

-Right.

-So here I have a nine-inch cake pan.

I've sprayed it with vegetable spray.

There's parchment in there.

It's been sprayed again.

I'm not taking any chances.

-Nope.

Alright.

-I'm going to add 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, our caramel mixture.

You want to make sure when you're sprinkling the sugar it's in an even layer.

-Gotcha.

Mm!

-Although I don't think anyone will be mad if there's extra caramel anywhere on the cake.

-I wouldn't be mad, that's for sure.

-Now we're going to add the oranges to the cake.

And you want to make sure that the oranges are in a nice even layer.

-Okay.

-I'm just alternating the colors of the orange.

There's no right or wrong way to do this.

You just want it to look nice.

Now, you're going to definitely have some oranges left over.

These are what I would like to call a cook snack, because the cake's gonna take about an hour to bake.

This will tide you over until you're ready to eat the cake.

So now that we have the oranges laid out, we're going to add our batter.

Now, you want to use a nice rubber spatula to smooth it out.

You're smoothing out the top of the cake, which is actually what?

-The bottom.

Otherwise, we'd been making right-side-up cakes.

-Nobody wants that.

-No.

-Now we are baking at 350 degrees for about 50 to 55 minutes until the cake is nice and golden brown.

-Okay.

[ Inhales sharply ] Oh, that smells good.

-It's been about 50 minutes.

Now it's time to check the cake.

I'm gonna use a toothpick.

Put it in right in the center, and no cake should be left on the toothpick.

Now we're going to let the cake sit for 20 minutes.

-Okay.

-It's gonna cool a little bit.

It's been 20 minutes.

Now I'm going to take a paring knife.

I'm going to loosen up the edges a little bit.

I heard something.

-Oh.

Let's hope it was the cake.

Oh, beautiful.

Look at that!

-Unfortunately, we have to wait one hour before we can eat it.

It's been an hour.

-Yes, it has.

-We've made it through.

One last step.

I'm going to add some orange marmalade.

I have 2 tablespoons.

It's been heating in the microwave for about 20 seconds so it's nice and fluid.

We're just going to brush it right on the top of the cake.

-Oh, beautiful.

-It's going to give it a nice sheen and it's going to accentuate that orange flavor.

Now it's time to eat this cake.

-Thank goodness.

Kind of a showstopper of a dessert.

I mean, as easy as that was to put together, this is absolutely beautiful.

-I mean, this is my go-to bring it to family function cake because everyone's going to rave about it.

-Yeah.

-You knew that it didn't take much time at all.

-Yeah, but they don't know that.

-No.

-That's pure orange.

Anytime there's orange and vanilla involved, I think it's such a beautiful pairing.

This is so beautiful.

-It's sweet, but not too sweet.

-That's exactly right.

I mean, that's definitely sweet.

You had caramel in the the bottom of that pan, but there's a brightness from the oranges that just cuts through, and the whole cake is super moist.

I mean, it's like -- it's almost a juicy cake.

-The oranges.

There's some nice tartness.

-Mmm, mmm, mmm.

And the cake is really tender.

Very buttery.

Beautiful.

Thanks, Lawman.

-Thank you.

-And if you want to make this cake, it's all about pushing that orange flavor.

Use whole oranges and orange zest.

Make a caramel with white sugar, and brush it all with a beautiful orange marmalade.

So from "Cook's Country," orange upside-down cake.

And you can get this great recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes.

That's all on our website, CooksCountry.com/tv.

I got to say it.

Orange you glad you came?

-[ Chuckles ] -Visit our website, where you can sign up for the free "Cook's Country" e-mail newsletter for even more of the recipes and stories you love from the magazine and the TV show.

cookscountry.com/cooks.

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