- 2 hours ago
Cooks Country S18E22 From Texas With Love
Category
馃摵
TVTranscript
00:04Cook's Country is about more than just getting dinner on the table.
00:09We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.
00:14We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook.
00:20And we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.
00:25We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.
00:31This is Cook's Country.
00:37Today on Cook's Country, Brian heads to the barbecue capital of Texas, Lockhart.
00:43Then he makes his version of barbecued chuck roast.
00:47I share the history of ranch dressing.
00:49And Kelly makes a refreshing tomatillo and bib lettuce salad with tomatillo ranch dressing.
00:55That's all right here on Cook's Country.
01:13In a state that's well known for its incredible barbecue, Lockhart, Texas might just take top honors.
01:22The barbecue capital of Texas, as it's officially known, is home to a few of the most celebrated barbecue joints
01:28in the country.
01:29And today, I'm headed to an institution that's been in business for over a century.
01:35Kreitz Market.
01:36Kreitz was opened in 1900.
01:39It's an example of the classic German-style meat market that's common in this part of central Texas,
01:44which is settled by German immigrants in the mid-1800s.
01:54We've been doing it for over 100 years.
01:58Pit master Roy Perez has been the guardian of tradition at Kreitz since he took over the pits in 1987.
02:04I've been here for 37 years.
02:08And in 37 years, I've taken maybe a week's vacation.
02:12And, uh, because I just love working here.
02:15At Kreitz, they do just about everything the old-fashioned way.
02:19Their eight-brick barbecue pits are fueled by smoldering hot coals,
02:23always shoveled over from the previous day.
02:25When I first started, I remember when the boss man said,
02:29If I ever catch anybody here using paper to start the fires, they're going to be fired.
02:35When Kreitz Market moved to a new building on their 99th anniversary,
02:39it was Perez who dragged a metal washtub filled with hot coals from the old restaurant pit
02:43to the new location up the street.
02:45In a sense, the same fire has been burning in these pits for over a century.
02:51As with most great barbecue, the key to Kreitz's success is all in the technique.
02:57Roy shows me how to build a fire by stacking the logs to maximize airflow,
03:01then carefully adding the hot coals to get the blaze started.
03:09All right, so does that look good?
03:10Is that acceptable?
03:11Yes.
03:12Smoky enough?
03:12You're ready to put an apron on and get working.
03:16On any given day, Roy is cooking a variety of meats in these pits.
03:19Sausage, beef ribs, even boneless turkey breast.
03:23And while brisket is the undisputed king of Texas barbecue,
03:27Kreitz serves up another specialty that's less common on barbecue menus around here.
03:32Beef shoulder clod.
03:33The shoulder clod is a large boneless cut, which, as the name suggests, comes from the shoulder.
03:39It's big in flavor and size, often ranging from 13 to 21 pounds.
03:44It's a lean piece of meat, naturally tender.
03:47A brisket, you have to cook it to where it gets tender.
03:51This one, you don't have to worry about.
03:52I mean, you could sell this rare, medium rare, and it's always going to be tender.
03:57The clods are seasoned simply the night before.
04:00Just salt, pepper, and a little cayenne.
04:03Then they go in the fire to cook for four to five hours.
04:05But while the process may seem deceptively simple, that's only because it's second nature to Roy after all these years.
04:12Like I said, years of experience, you know, how to keep it, you know, if you need more wood.
04:17And also, like all the factors, is it humid outside or is it cold?
04:23So do you need more wood on the fire or less?
04:26You know, it's just so many factors.
04:28You don't just throw the meat in and forget about it.
04:31And while many barbecue joints pride themselves on low and slow cooking, at Kreitz, they turn that formula on its
04:37head.
04:39They keep their pits at a scorching four to five hundred degrees, nearly twice as hot as other places.
04:45I mean, we do it old school.
04:47Yeah.
04:47We just put the raw meat on, get it done, sell it, and out the door.
04:52So it's hot and fast rather than low and slow.
04:54Yes, sir.
04:55Finally, the shoulder clod is ready to come off the pit, and it's time for me to try it myself.
05:00Roy, this is absolutely amazing.
05:02I'm just like, I'm getting this beef steam facial here.
05:07There you go.
05:07Let me know what you think.
05:08All right.
05:13Man, I cannot believe how good it is.
05:16There's a smokiness to it, but it comes in, you know, second place to that.
05:24How beefy it is, you know?
05:25It's just like you get that pure essence of beef, nice seasoning on the outside, but it's just so well
05:31balanced.
05:32Not too tough, not too tender.
05:34Let me ask you a question.
05:35Yeah.
05:35Does it need barbecue sauce?
05:37No, absolutely not.
05:38Exactly.
05:39And later on, if you want to sit down and add barbecue sauce, help yourself.
05:44But at least give it a chance before you cover it up with sauce.
05:49Yeah.
05:49We put so much hard work into it that we hate for you to cover it up.
05:54After seeing all the hot, smoky work that goes into creating truly incredible barbecue,
05:58any fantasies I had about opening my own barbecue joint someday are definitely out the window.
06:03But I know that if I'm craving some of the best smoked meat in the country,
06:06all I have to do is book a trip to Lockhart, where I'll find my friend Roy Perez dutifully manning
06:12the pits.
06:13So I'm going to sit here by myself and eat this entire plate of barbecue.
06:16Seriously, I am.
06:34I have a question.
06:35Go ahead.
06:36I saw that big thing of barbecue, that huge platter of barbecue.
06:39How long did it take for you to finish that?
06:41Did you?
06:42I actually did.
06:43It took me a few minutes.
06:44It took me a few minutes.
06:45I was full, for sure.
06:47Yeah.
06:47But no regrets.
06:48Yeah.
06:48In honor of Kreitz and Roy Perez, we are going to focus on a chuck roast.
06:53So their shoulder clod, it's a big hunk of meat.
06:56Obviously, we're not going to do that.
06:57We're using a chuck eye roast here.
07:00And the great thing about the shoulder clod and the chuck eye roast is it's got an incredible amount of
07:04beef flavor.
07:05You know, it's really rich.
07:07There's a lot of intramuscular fat.
07:09And using a five-pound chuck eye roast here, we could easily fit it on our 22-inch kettle grill.
07:14So we're going to start off by making our rub.
07:17And it's going to be a very simple rub.
07:18So we have one and a half tablespoons of kosher salt here.
07:21To that, we're going to add one and a half teaspoons of pepper and a quarter teaspoon of cayenne.
07:27And that is basically the Kreitz rub.
07:31So we'll just mix this together.
07:33So typically, you might find this cut with a nice fat cap on top.
07:37But today, ours doesn't have any fat cap.
07:39If you had a fat cap that was bigger than, say, a half inch, you might want to trim it
07:42down to a quarter inch.
07:44But a little bit of fat on this meat is pretty good.
07:46But we do want to dry it off a little with some paper towels to make sure our rub is
07:50going to stick to it.
07:51And now we're just going to sprinkle it all over with our seasoning mixture here.
07:56And the great thing about seasoning it on plastic wrap is when we wrap it up in the plastic,
08:00all that seasoning is going to adhere to the meat and just come in close contact with it.
08:06And we just wrap this up nice and tidy.
08:09I like to make sure as I start to fold it, I get all the seasoning back on the meat
08:13first.
08:15And then just wrap it in like that, wrap it in like that.
08:19Okay.
08:20So this is going to go into the refrigerator for at least 18 hours.
08:23But if you can do a full 24 hours, it'll be that much better.
08:26And during that time, that salt is going to help penetrate the meat and really change the structure of the
08:31protein so they hold on to a lot more moisture as they cook.
08:33Great.
08:34All right, Bridget, before we head out to the grill with our meat that's been curing for 24 hours, we
08:39want to make a wood chip packet.
08:41And these wood chips have been soaking in water for at least 15 minutes.
08:45You can go for a little bit longer if you need to.
08:46And these are post-oak chips.
08:48Perfect.
08:49Because it's Central Texas barbecue, we're using oak today.
08:52So there's two cups of chips, been soaking.
08:54So we're going to put all the chips right here in the middle of a piece of foil.
08:59And we're just going to fold it up.
09:01We want to make a packet that's about 8 by 4 inches.
09:05So we'll fold in the sides.
09:08We found that this particular size, especially for our grill setups that we typically use in 22-inch kettle grill,
09:14like an 8 by 4-inch packet is enough to really get the chips smoking but not smother the coals
09:19beneath.
09:19Got it.
09:20So that's why it's important.
09:21Well, the smoke's an ingredient, so you've got to get it right.
09:24Yeah, you've got to get it right.
09:24Now we're going to cut two 2-inch slits into the packet.
09:27And that'll be ample room for the smoke to come out and for the fire to breathe.
09:32Okay.
09:33So we'll grab our meat and we'll head out to the grill.
09:34Sounds good.
09:35All right, Bridget, we have six quarts of charcoal briquettes burning over here,
09:38and that's going to provide a really intense heat.
09:40So we're going to pour the coals into the grill, and we're going to bank them steeply on one side
09:44of the grill.
09:44Okay.
09:45So that's going to give us that high heat, but it's going to be flowing right across the meat.
09:49So I'm going to just dump these coals in there.
09:51Nice.
09:53You want to take the tongs and kind of bank them up a little bit more steeply.
09:58Right.
09:58Because you don't want any of the coals directly underneath the meat.
10:01And on top of that, we're going to throw our wood chip packet.
10:05Then we can put our grate on top.
10:09All right, we're going to cover the grill up and let that go for about five minutes
10:12so the grate could heat up and those wood chips begin to smoke.
10:15I should mention, too, that both the bottom and the top grill vents are fully open,
10:19so we get a lot of nice air circulation.
10:21Okay.
10:22All right, so the grill's been heating up for five minutes.
10:24You can see the chips are just beginning to smoke, and that's because we soaked them,
10:28so there's a little bit of delay before they ignite.
10:30Okay.
10:31We're going to clean the grill.
10:34Wipe it down with a little bit of oil.
10:37Now we can throw our chuck roast onto the grill.
10:41We're going to keep it away from the fire, all the way here on the cool side of the grill.
11:14Okay.
11:15It's going to come off.
11:16Oh, what a reveal.
11:18It's so gorgeous.
11:19And you can smell that kind of wood smoke coming through.
11:22It's so nice.
11:23So we're going to just transfer this right to our cutting board.
11:26Or my mouth.
11:28And we can pull out the temperature probe, which is extremely hot.
11:32Set that aside.
11:33And then we're just going to cover this with a little oil and let it rest for 20 minutes.
11:37Okay.
11:38I'll race you inside.
11:40Now, Bridget, this roast has been resting for 20 minutes.
11:44The goal here is we're going to slice it really, really thin,
11:46and so we're just going to lean in.
11:51Just nice, thin slices.
11:53You can smell how smoky that is.
11:55Absolutely.
11:55I can see it, and that huge smoke ring there.
11:57That smoke ring is just phenomenal.
11:59You know, there's so much intramuscular fat throughout that everything remains juicy.
12:04So can I give you a little meat here?
12:06You can give me a lot of meat.
12:07All right.
12:08Perfect.
12:09There you go.
12:11I'm going to add a little bit for myself.
12:16Okay.
12:17We're all set.
12:18And that was just salt, pepper, cayenne, right?
12:19Salt, pepper, cayenne.
12:20That's the Trinity at Crites Market.
12:22Nice.
12:23Central Texas style.
12:24Very simple rub.
12:25Right.
12:25Okay, so now before us, we have white bread.
12:28Every order at Crites Market gets a stack of white bread like this.
12:32Yes.
12:33I never really eat it, but I feel like it's a symbolic gesture that needs to be on our table
12:37here.
12:38A few pickles.
12:39I'll take some pickles.
12:39Okay.
12:41You know, it's just got a little bit of pinkness to it.
12:44It's still juicy, though.
12:45Yeah, you can see that in there.
12:47Mm-hmm.
12:51Beef salt smoke.
12:52That's all you need.
12:54You can even try with a little slice of pickle.
12:56Mm.
12:57Good idea.
12:57I should also say that we're breaking a cardinal rule at Crites Market.
13:00There's a sign that says, no forks.
13:03Forks are at the end of your arms.
13:06Even the very exterior.
13:08Mm-hmm.
13:08It's still moist, but oh my goodness.
13:11That's the smoked bonanza right there.
13:12I love the little lines of intramuscular fat.
13:15Oh, yeah.
13:16Just a gorgeous, luxurious cut for not a lot of money.
13:19Absolutely.
13:20Like I said, it's just a ton of flavor.
13:22It holds onto the smoke really well.
13:23And it just stays juicy.
13:25Stunning.
13:27Thank you so much, Brian.
13:28This is Blue Ribbon.
13:29I'm so glad we could share it together.
13:31And you're a winner.
13:32No.
13:32If you want to make this great Texas barbecue, it starts with rubbing a chuck-eye roast with salt, pepper,
13:37and cayenne and refrigerate for at least 18 hours.
13:41Bank charcoal on one side of the grill and add the wood chip packet onto the coals.
13:45Smoke the roast on the cooler side of the grill for two hours.
13:49So from Cook's Country, and a special shout-out to the folks in Lockhart, Texas, barbecue chuck roast.
13:56How are you doing?
13:57I was about to say, are you picking up your fork again?
13:59No.
14:01No way.
14:02I'm never using a fork again, Brian.
14:10Once upon a time, there was an iconic condiment that got its start, of all places, on a dude ranch
14:17in Santa Barbara, California.
14:19In the 1950s, the Hidden Valley Ranch was a typical dude ranch, offering guests activities such as horseback riding, hiking,
14:27and fishing.
14:28But its owners, Steve and Gail Henson, also hosted banquets, where they served their own house dressing, made with buttermilk,
14:36herbs, and spices.
14:38Guests loved the recipe so much that the Henson started selling packets of the dry mix, along with instructions for
14:46adding buttermilk and mayonnaise.
14:47It became so popular that they closed the ranch and turned it into a full-time factory.
14:54They named their product Hidden Valley Ranch.
14:57Today, the term ranch dressing is generic for this style of creamy dressing, and it's even served as a dip
15:04for pizza and chicken wings.
15:06And here, at Cook's Country, we create our own spin on the classic ranch recipe to dress our tomatillo and
15:14bibb lettuce salad.
15:22Tomatillos are a husked nightshade fruit, known for their firmness and their tart floral flavor.
15:28Now, usually they're cooked to soften the texture and tame the tartness, but today, Kelly's got a recipe for us
15:33that uses them raw in a salad.
15:35That's right. You wouldn't expect that, right?
15:37No.
15:38Well, before I developed this recipe, I had never had them raw before, but I'm fully converted now.
15:43Okay.
15:44They're just bright, punchy, and they make an amazing palate cleanser, especially when used in the form of a salad.
15:49So, that's what we'll make today.
15:51I can't wait to try it.
15:51Yeah.
15:52So, I like to start with the star of the show, which are tomatillos, these gorgeous green gems.
15:57Aww.
15:58Here, I have a pound and three ounces, so a heaping bowl, and we're just going to start by taking
16:02their jackets off.
16:03I love that you called it their jackets.
16:05Yeah, a little coat check.
16:06The jackets are called calyxes.
16:08The way you know that they're ripe is actually when the calyx or the jacket is a little bit separated
16:12from the fruit.
16:13So, when you're at the grocery store, you really want to look for one where the jackets are starting to
16:18peel away.
16:19Okay.
16:20Now, those are all off.
16:21And I'm just going to give these a little rinse off.
16:25And I like to give each one a little bit of love.
16:29Nice rub down.
16:30And I'm just going to drop them on this paper towel-lined rimmed baking sheet.
16:35Mm-hmm.
16:35Just to absorb any excess liquid.
16:38And now, we're going to towel them dry.
16:42So, we're actually going to use these tomatillos in two different ways today.
16:45A little bit in the dressing and the rest for the salad itself.
16:49Oh, clever.
16:49Yeah.
16:49So, I'm just going to start by weighing them out.
16:51These tomatillos are, they're pretty dense.
16:53So, this should only take one or two tomatillos.
16:55Looks good.
16:56It's about three ounces.
16:57Right?
16:57Now, we're going to use this to make the dressing.
16:59Okay.
17:02So, today we're going to be making a spicy tomatillo ranch.
17:05Oh, very cool.
17:06Yeah, it's super delicious.
17:08So, the base of the ranch is actually going to be the tomatillo itself, and it's going
17:11to add this pop of brightness and acidity, almost like buttermilk would to ranch.
17:16Oh, that makes sense.
17:17Yeah.
17:18So, I'm just going to quarter these guys.
17:22It's all going to be blended, so it doesn't need to be super precise.
17:25And because we're making a ranch, of course, we need pops of fresh herb.
17:29Mm-hmm.
17:29So, I'm just going to chop the cilantro.
17:31I'm looking for two-thirds of a cup, and here I like to use both the stems and the leaves.
17:39Just pack that right in, and all of this will be built right in the blender.
17:43I love it.
17:44Nice and easy.
17:45Yeah, super simple.
17:48Great.
17:48And we're also going to be adding some chives in.
17:51That just adds an allume-y hit, so I find that it adds a lot of complexity.
17:55And I'm just looking for two tablespoons of minced chives.
17:59Again, these will be blended, so I'm not too hard on myself with my knife skills.
18:05Looking for about two tablespoons packed in.
18:09When I think of ranch, I think of dill.
18:12Absolutely.
18:12That's what makes ranch ranch.
18:14Yep.
18:15So, for the dill, I like to just give them a rough chop as well.
18:18Just having fun with our herbs today.
18:21I am looking for a tablespoon of this, and into the blender again.
18:26And like I mentioned before, this is a spicy ranch,
18:28so we're going to add a jalapeno in there.
18:31We're going to keep the seeds in.
18:33Yeah, you are.
18:33And the ribs.
18:34Everything in there.
18:35I've just removed the stem and given this a rough chop.
18:38And all of that goes in there.
18:40Our goal today is to have a super creamy, luxurious, rich ranch.
18:45So to achieve that, I'm using one-third of a cup of mayonnaise.
18:49And I'm also adding one teaspoon of granulated garlic,
18:52as well as a half teaspoon of table salt.
18:55And a quarter teaspoon of black pepper.
18:58And like I mentioned before, the tomatillos can be pulpy.
19:01So I want to blend this for a whole 90 seconds.
19:10Great.
19:11So that was a whole 90 seconds.
19:13Let's see if our patience paid off.
19:15And now I'm just going to transfer it to a serving vessel.
19:19So the dressing we'll reserve for later.
19:21And now we can move on to the salad itself.
19:24So I had a remaining one pound of tomatillos, if you remember.
19:27And so for the remaining, I'm just going to slice them as thin as possible.
19:31And I like to slice them with the stem side down just to anchor it a little bit.
19:36It's flatter that way.
19:37Why make life harder?
19:39And I start by slicing one half.
19:42I like to give the tomatillo a little rotate and then start on the other half.
19:47And I'm going as thin as possible.
19:49You want to aim for about an eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch.
19:52And like I mentioned before, the tomatillos are actually quite tart.
19:55So I want to give them a little extra love just to balance out their flavors.
19:59So I'm going to do that by macerating them.
20:01Okay.
20:01Which basically just means coating them in some sugar.
20:05Here I have one teaspoon of granulated sugar,
20:08as well as a half teaspoon of table salt.
20:11And that salt and sugar is really going to do several things.
20:14It's going to infuse with the pulp to add a sweet and savory balance to the fruit.
20:21But while it's doing that, it'll also draw any excess moisture
20:23so that our salad isn't waterlogged.
20:26And it'll also help to soften the skin slightly and just soften the fruit overall.
20:31So how long do you have to let them sit?
20:32So I'll let these rest for 10 minutes and just let the salt and sugar do its work.
20:36Okay.
20:37So it's been 10 minutes and let's see what the macerating did for us.
20:42Oh, look at all that liquid.
20:43Yeah.
20:43That would have ended up in our salad.
20:45And the flavor of the tomatillo is super concentrated as well.
20:48So I'm going to drain that out because I'm not looking for that to be in my salad.
20:54And here I have the leaves separated from one seven ounce head of butterhead lettuce,
21:00sometimes called bib or bossan variety.
21:02I'm just going to add the tomatillos right on top of the lettuce.
21:07And using my hands again, I find this just to be the most gentle way.
21:11I'm just going to give these a toss together.
21:13And now that these have mingled a little bit, I'm just going to start to platter them.
21:18So you really want to find the biggest platter that you own for this salad.
21:22And that really just helps all the leaves breathe and everything to have a lot of room to spread out.
21:29And I find that liquid can begin to pool on the bottom.
21:32None of that is attractive.
21:33So we really want to let everything shine.
21:36And now that we have everything nice and spread out,
21:39we have a big canvas for drizzling our dressing over it.
21:42So this is the dressing we made before.
21:45And I'm just going to drizzle a half cup over the salad.
21:48And the remaining dressing you can pass on the side during dinner,
21:51or you can save that in the fridge for up to four days.
21:54Oh, nice.
21:55Yeah.
21:55Right on top of this, continuing the green on green on green,
21:59roasted salted pepitas, also known as pumpkin seeds.
22:03And I'm adding about two tablespoons here.
22:05This just adds another pop of color, but also some crunch and a nice salty burst.
22:11Ready to dig in?
22:12Yes.
22:13Great.
22:13Give you some nice balance of leaves and tomatillos.
22:19I can't wait to try this.
22:21All right.
22:23I'm going right in for a tomatillo with a whole bunch of dressing on it.
22:27Nice.
22:30You get the tartness of the tomatillo, but it's mellowed.
22:33It's rounded on the back end because of, I think, the macerating.
22:37Oh, there was a little heat in the jalapeno.
22:39Oh, but it's good.
22:40It's good.
22:42That's a really good ranch.
22:44It's like a modern version of a ranch.
22:46You're right.
22:46The acidity is there, the creaminess from the mayonnaise, but it tastes greener.
22:51It tastes fresher.
22:52And I find that even though it's spicy and herbaceous, the sweetness of the tomatillos
22:58kind of acts as a balance.
22:59Yeah.
23:00And the butter lettuce is almost like a nice mild foil because you've got the spiciness
23:04of the dressing.
23:05You've got the tartness of the tomatillo and then just the mild butter lettuce.
23:09How do you feel about raw tomatillos now?
23:10Mmm.
23:11I love it.
23:13Kelly, this is really eye-opening and delicious.
23:16Thank you for showing me how to make it.
23:18Thank you for joining me.
23:19If you want to make this super green tomatillo salad, start by blending the tomatillos with
23:24lots of fresh herbs and mayonnaise to make a punchy dressing.
23:27Macerate the tomatillos and let them drain for 10 minutes.
23:30Then assemble the salad on a wide platter.
23:33From Cook's Country, Kelly's very own tomatillo and bib lettuce salad with tomatillo ranch.
23:39You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews
23:44and select episodes at our website, cookscountry.com slash TV.
23:49You know, I didn't even mention the pepitas.
23:51I love their little crunchy salty bites.
23:55They really pop up in there.
23:56Mmm.
23:57Mmm.
23:57Mmm.
23:57Mmm.
23:58Mmm.
Comments