Here in the test kitchen, we demand a food processor that can handle lots of chopping, slicing, and shredding while delivering professional quality results, and we think home cooks deserve the same. It had better be able to not only puree a dip and whip up creamy mayonnaise but also cut fat into a pie crust in seconds, grind beef into hamburger, and knead heavy pizza dough. And of course we want our food processor to be simple to use and quick to clean, or why would we ever bother hauling it out? We bought eight full-size food processors, priced from $59.99 to $299.99, with capacities of 11 to 14 cups, a size we deemed big enough to handle most recipes. We put each model through 21 tests, measuring their performance on a range of tasks, all while comparing construction and user-friendliness.

When you flip try our recipes or buy food we’ve recommended in a taste test, you’re not just getting our personal opinions; you’re getting the results of our signature testing method, which is the backbone of everything we do here at America's Test Kitchen. This longstanding method was developed and refined over the years with input from sensory scientists who study how to determine which food is objectively the very best. Read on for a guide to America’s Test Kitchen’s signature brand of sensory science and six ways we put that science to use in the test kitchen.

Classic breaded chicken cutlets are often plagued by a soggy, greasy, unevenly browned coating. Our first improvement was to ditch the usual homemade bread crumbs in favor of drier, crunchier panko. To streamline the traditional multistep breading process, we ditched the flour and found that we got a more delicate crust. Whisking salt right into the egg meant we could skip seasoning each cutlet separately, and there was no need to pat the chicken dry before starting since there was no flour in the mix. To make sure the frying oil was at just the right temperature, we added a pinch of panko to the skillet with the oil and waited for the crumbs to turn golden brown before adding the cutlets. Letting the cutlets rest on a wire rack lined with paper towels ensured that they were not greasy and retained their crunch.

Kitchen tongs can do more than you might imagine. Tongs are one of the most basic and important tools we keep in the kitchen. A good pair makes lots of tasks—like flipping vegetables and removing meats from braising liquids—simpler and safer. In addition to the uses we’re all familiar with, our team of test cooks has discovered these clever functions for your ordinary kitchen tongs.