00:00Nothing says comfort food more than diner food,
00:02and nothing screams diner more than Waffle House.
00:04I'm cooking up Waffle House's
00:05three most popular menu items.
00:07I'm gonna start with the patty melt.
00:08I think that is just like the quintessential diner option.
00:12From there, I'm going with the hash browns.
00:15Scattered, covered, smothered, and chunked.
00:18And then finally, ending it off with,
00:20you're at the Waffle House, you're gonna have a waffle,
00:22and down here, the most popular waffle to order
00:25is the pecan waffle.
00:26Waffle House, in particular, sells a ton
00:30of the Texas patty melt, which adds bacon to it.
00:33And what's wrong with that?
00:34Nothing.
00:35What's great about diner food
00:36is that everything is usually made very quickly.
00:38Great recipes to do for dinner on your busy nights.
00:42I'm gonna take my bacon and get it going.
00:44This is gonna create a little flavor base
00:45at the bottom of our pan, too.
00:46I'm cutting it in half so that it better fits on the bread.
00:49I forgot to mention about how I am an expert at this,
00:53because I did work at the Waffle House.
00:56Is it two or three eggs?
00:57Two, unless you say triple.
01:01Order up!
01:02I like my bacon well done and crispy.
01:09I'm gonna take out some of the fat,
01:10but I can leave all that brown stuff,
01:12because that is flavor.
01:14Every patty melt needs some onion.
01:16Waffle House has theirs diced up.
01:18Typically, I would do thin slices.
01:21We're also gonna need this diced onion for our hash browns,
01:24so I'm gonna go ahead and just dice it for both.
01:26When it comes time to cook,
01:27you've gotta have everything prepped,
01:29because at Waffle House, you are a short order cook.
01:31So I'm just gonna use the same skillet
01:33and get my meat in there.
01:35It is a four ounce beef patty.
01:38I like to start it in kind of a ball shape.
01:40That way I can flatten it down in the skillet.
01:42You want it to get caramelized and crusty
01:44on that first side before we flip,
01:46but I'm gonna go ahead and season it
01:47with the salt and pepper now.
01:49Flip the burger,
01:52and then add in the onions to the other side.
01:56Okay, while that goes,
01:57we've gotta toast the bread and melt the cheese.
01:59Bread goes down and the cheese goes on top.
02:01It's two slices of American cheese.
02:03So when your burger is pretty much done,
02:05you're gonna place it on top of the onions,
02:08and then we're gonna put the bacon on top of that.
02:12Bread is toasted.
02:14And now it all comes together.
02:21Come on now.
02:25Oh, look at that.
02:27That is gorgeous.
02:29It's not a good burger
02:30if it's not dripping grease from the bottom.
02:3610 out of 10, perfect patty melt.
02:38We might be having a Waffle House dinner tonight at my house.
02:41Mm, that is so good.
02:45100% of the time if I've been to Waffle House,
02:47then 100% of the time I have gotten hash browns.
02:50The most popular hash brown order is scattered,
02:54smothered, covered, and chunked,
02:56which means these get scattered on the grill.
02:59Scattered, smothered, covered, and then chunked ham.
03:04So for the ham, I'm using a very inexpensive ham steak.
03:11This is really easy to dice,
03:13and then you can get it kinda looking like your onions.
03:15When I worked there,
03:16everything cooks in this like melted buttery mixture.
03:20That was used in copious amounts,
03:23especially in the hash browns.
03:24So I'm going to make a liquefied buttery situation,
03:28but I want to use butter,
03:29so I'm gonna melt this and add oil to it.
03:31If you do that, the oil's gonna increase the smoke point
03:34for the butter and help it not to burn
03:35as we cook in the hot skillets.
03:38Butter melted, and I'm going in with vegetable oil.
03:41Just kinda like give that a little whisk.
03:43All right, back to our cooking station.
03:46Heat up a skillet.
03:47I like to use a nonstick skillet for this,
03:48and then you wanna get it pretty hot,
03:50so you're trying to mimic that of a griddle.
03:53Then you're gonna take your shredded hash browns,
03:55that are partially thawed,
03:57and scatter them.
03:59So once you scatter them, you leave them alone.
04:01These actually take the longest
04:04because you want them to get obviously cooked through,
04:07but brown and crispy on the other side.
04:09I'm starting to get some browning around the edges,
04:11and add in a little more of our buttery goodness.
04:13It really helps it to get browned and flavorful.
04:17And I'm also gonna put some on the other side of the skillet,
04:21and get my onions and ham really.
04:23Smothered and chunked.
04:27So now I'm gonna flip these.
04:28Probably have to do it in two pieces.
04:31Oh yeah.
04:33Cheese goes on top.
04:35And we scoop it onto the plate,
04:36and then there's usually some little remnants
04:38that they put on top.
04:40Order up.
04:41Scattered, covered, smothered, and chunked.
04:47Tellin' y'all, it looks just like the picture.
04:52Oh yeah.
04:53Perfect bites.
04:58Simplest things are the best things.
05:01Can't do a Waffle House episode without making a waffle.
05:04The recipe I'm using is an existing recipe
05:07we have at All Recipes for a copycat Waffle House waffle.
05:11I will be adding in some chopped pecans
05:13because what we're making down here is a pecan waffle.
05:17So I'm gonna get my dry ingredients going first,
05:19starting with a cup and a half of flour.
05:22And then two tablespoons of cornstarch.
05:25I think the cornstarch is what's gonna help it
05:26get a little crispy around the edges,
05:29which is what you want.
05:32Teaspoon of salt.
05:33And then a half a teaspoon each
05:34of baking soda and baking powder.
05:37That's your dry ingredients,
05:38so I'm gonna give those a whisk.
05:40Okay, and then for the wet.
05:41Just a quarter cup of sugar.
05:43And then one egg.
05:46And then a quarter cup of softened butter.
05:49Teaspoon of vanilla extract.
05:51So I'm gonna stir that together first
05:53and then add in the liquid.
05:56Butter should probably have been a little softer,
05:59but it'll work.
06:01I'm gonna whisk this together
06:02until this is all incorporated and smooth.
06:06That's good enough there.
06:07And now you add in the liquid.
06:09Liquid here is a mixture of half and half
06:12and buttermilk.
06:13Okay, so now our wet goes into our dry.
06:20Lumps are normal.
06:22So you don't wanna over mix here.
06:24Right when it comes together,
06:27it is mostly done.
06:29The catch is you gotta refrigerate it.
06:31This is a great recipe to do the night before
06:34and then it's ready for you in the morning.
06:35So you can do it overnight, but you wanna let it
06:37refrigerate for at least an hour.
06:41Rested and ready to become a waffle.
06:44Okay, so I'm going to stir the pecans right in.
06:48At this point, again, if you don't wanna do this part,
06:50just make the regular waffles.
06:51They're gonna be so delicious.
06:54And then as they cook,
06:55they're going to infuse the waffle with that pecan flavor.
06:58Spray it up.
07:01Extra insurance.
07:03In we go.
07:05If you are gonna take the time to make the waffles,
07:11then make a huge batch, whether it's too many or not,
07:14because you can freeze them
07:16and then you can just pop them in the toaster.
07:18She's a beaut.
07:21Butter for sure.
07:23Let that get going into the nooks and crannies.
07:28Love the little flecks of pecan throughout.
07:32It's gonna give you good texture.
07:34It's gonna be buttery, salty, sweet, all the things.
07:38Mm.
07:40It is just the right amount of sweet.
07:42Not too sweet because the waffle's not that sweet.
07:44The only sweetness you get really is from the syrup.
07:47That little crunch of the pecan.
07:49It just makes these taste like elevated.
07:54We went three for three, y'all.
07:56You've gotta try one of these recipes.
07:58Whether you do it on your outdoor griddle
07:59as a fun family night,
08:01or on a Saturday morning for breakfast,
08:03you can make the Waffle House your house.
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