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Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen Season 18 Episode 24
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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 travels to Minneapolis to learn about Hmong cuisine
00:43and then grills Hill Tribe chicken with poissot for Julia.
00:48I share the history of Italian fonduta.
00:50And Ashley prepares tomatoes with fontina sauce and cornichon dressing.
00:54That's all right here on Cook's Country.
01:09The city of Minneapolis is known for its beautiful lakes and parks.
01:14It's a diverse place that's home to a large Hmong community,
01:17a minority group indigenous to East and Southeast Asia.
01:21I came here to meet with Yia Vang, a Hmong chef and restaurateur,
01:25to learn more about his culture and cuisine.
01:28You know, you have your American culture, your Western culture, and you have your Hmong culture.
01:31And when these two cultures collide, you create this beautiful third culture.
01:36The Vietnam War displaced much of the Hmong population,
01:39and many people sought refuge in the United States.
01:42They mostly settled in California and Minnesota.
01:44And today, the U.S. is home to the largest population of Hmong people outside of Asia.
01:49When you have a group of people that does not have a land of their own,
01:52a home of their own, or a country of their own, or an anthem of their own,
01:55you're constantly moving.
01:57You know, when war determines where your next location is going to be,
02:01no matter where you are in the world,
02:02if there's another Hmong person there, that's home.
02:07Yia started Union Hmong Kitchen to share his family's home cooking with the people of Minneapolis.
02:12We really wanted to introduce people to Hmong food,
02:15because a lot of times, Hmong food gets categorized under Chinese food,
02:19Lao food, Thai food, Vietnamese food.
02:21And so we just broke it down into the very basic elements of Hmong food,
02:25where it is a rice, a protein, a vegetable, and some kind of hot sauce.
02:29For me, it was digging into these dishes that we grew up eating.
02:34And while the restaurant offers an expression of Yia's parents cooking,
02:37he wanted to take me back to the source that inspired it all.
02:41We're confined to the way we do it here in the restaurant, right?
02:44If you really want to experience Hmong food,
02:47you have to be invited, or you get to be invited, into a Hmong household.
02:54Yia asked me to join him at his parents' house to do just that.
02:57So we headed out to the suburbs where Yia's mom, Peng, and his dad, Nia,
03:01were cooking up a feast.
03:06My mom is also micromanaging my dad right now.
03:09Saying, oh, yeah, you want to put that over there, you know.
03:11So it's funny, right?
03:12Like, he is the person grilling, but then it's her who's like,
03:16no, no, no, no, you want to turn that.
03:18It's like every family, right?
03:19Yeah.
03:20They were grilling up lemongrass pork sausage and fresh turkey and scallion sausage
03:24that Peng had prepped earlier.
03:26It's a real team effort, with the women doing a lot of the prep inside
03:29and the men grilling outside, with a little bit of guidance.
03:33Like, was there turkeys in the hills of Laos?
03:35No.
03:35But we have turkey here, so just use it.
03:37You know, it's that resourcefulness, right?
03:39Hmong are a hill tribe from the mountains,
03:41and Yia told me that grilling is the main way they cook their proteins.
03:45Yeah, we might have this little fancy grill here,
03:47but in the mountains of Laos, it's literally a fire on the ground,
03:50and then you just, you know, kind of makeshift some kind of little grill rack
03:54on top of it, and then you just cook.
03:56Once the meats were grilled, I headed inside to learn more
03:59about the all-important hot sauce from Yia's aunt,
04:02a staple on any Hmong table.
04:04You can really smell the chilies kicking in.
04:06Oh, yeah.
04:07Spicy, yeah.
04:07Yeah.
04:08Okay, you'll hold it like this.
04:09Okay.
04:09Yeah, like for your hand, okay.
04:11Yep.
04:12Uh-huh.
04:12Yeah.
04:13And just take a break and just, just smell it, like...
04:16I can smell it.
04:16I don't even have to lean in.
04:17Yeah, dude.
04:22And trying not to sneeze and cough.
04:24So our mom was warning that this is,
04:26the heat level is high on this one.
04:28Finally, it was time to eat.
04:48I pile on my plate with rice, braised mustard greens, sausages, and hot sauce,
04:52and listen to the stories being told around the table.
04:56Food is a universal language.
04:58Like, to me, it's, like, incredible to think about that, you know?
05:00Yeah.
05:00It's like a grandmother who can't communicate with her grandkids because of, you know,
05:03the language barrier, but, but when they come over and they see this and they put it
05:07down, they, like, they know it.
05:08This is the only language you need, yeah?
05:10Yeah, absolutely.
05:11Throughout my visit, Yia translated for his family.
05:14But with every bite I took, I felt like I understood their story a little more clearly.
05:18What I always tell people is this, that our cultural DNA is intricately woven into the
05:23foods that we eat.
05:24If you want to know our people, you got to know our food because our food is actually
05:27our story.
05:36Brian, I love how Chef Yia talks about his heritage and food in the same breath, as though
05:41they're so intertwined, you can't have one without the other.
05:44Yeah, absolutely.
05:44And this recipe was so interesting to me, personally, because I said, Yia, can you make
05:49me something that's indicative of Hmong culture here in Minneapolis?
05:52And he said, you know, my dad made this dish the other night, and I'm going to make it for
05:56you.
05:56And it's, it's a really interesting, just, this is weeknight cooking.
05:59You know, I think a lot of times we associate cultural recipes with being a lot more involved,
06:03but, you know, there are weeknight dinners as well.
06:05Yeah, it's grilled chicken, but it's the flavors that make it.
06:08Right, and there's a little something extra there, too.
06:09Okay.
06:10And it starts with this sauce.
06:11It's called Kwa-sa, which means pepper sauce.
06:14This sauce is based on a sauce that Yia's mom makes.
06:17So we're going to start off by chopping up one cup of cilantro leaves and stems.
06:21So I like to just start by kind of bunching it all up, and then a nice medium chop here.
06:28So we could just drop that into our bowl.
06:33Next, we're going to mince up a red Fresno chili.
06:36Okay.
06:37So this is a mild chili.
06:39We're just going to take off the stem, and we're going to chop it with the seeds.
06:41It's got a little bit of heat, but not as much as something like a Thai chili.
06:46Incidentally, if you did want to use something spicier and you love heat, which this is typically a very spicy
06:51sauce,
06:52you could use a couple of Thai chilies with the seeds.
06:56You could also use the red Fresno without the seeds entirely.
07:00We'll add that Fresno to our cilantro.
07:04Now that I have the cilantro and the Fresno in there, we're going to add two tablespoons plus one teaspoon
07:09of lime juice.
07:10We have two tablespoons of fish sauce, so just slightly more lime juice than fish sauce.
07:14Gotcha.
07:14And then two minced garlic cloves.
07:16This sauce is really one of those things that you're going to have in your life.
07:20It's so good, and it's so simple, too.
07:23So we'll just give this a mix.
07:24All right, so now we're going to make the spice rub for our chicken.
07:28This is very simple.
07:29We start off with one tablespoon of kosher salt.
07:31To that, we're going to add one and a half teaspoons of granulated garlic, one teaspoon of black pepper, and
07:36one teaspoon of smoked paprika.
07:39The spice rub is done.
07:40Now we're going to talk about our chicken here.
07:44We are going to butterfly this chicken.
07:46This is a three and a half to four pound chicken.
07:47And we're going to butterfly it a little bit differently than we have done in the past here at the
07:51test kitchen.
07:52Traditionally, we've always removed the entire backbone, so we cut either side of the backbone and save it for stock.
07:57But he and his family, they don't let anything go to waste, and they're going to cut one side of
08:01the backbone and keep the backbone intact for grilling.
08:03So you can do this with a pair of kitchen shears.
08:05I like to do it with a chef's knife.
08:07The way I like to do this, you just kind of find this little tail here, also called the Pope's
08:11nose, and we'll just run our knife right alongside of it.
08:15You know, just start the incision right there.
08:17And I find the closer you are to that spine, the easier it is to make that cut all the
08:21way through.
08:22If you go out a little further, then you're running into rib bones, and it gets a little bit more
08:25sticky.
08:26Especially down towards the neck.
08:28Right.
08:28And so what we want to do is we want to split this thing open.
08:31So another thing we've done in the past, and we typically put the chicken like this, and we get a
08:37flat liner, and we clear it.
08:38Yeah, you do CPR.
08:39But sometimes the chicken will split as easy if you put it on the skin side.
08:43It's not always, but you get a little bit more leverage to press it down.
08:47Nice.
08:47You see, once you've exposed the keel bone, you know that both sides are going to sit flat on the
08:51grill.
08:51This is going to be a little bit heavier and higher because it's got the backbone attached.
08:55Gotcha.
08:56Now we're going to tuck these wingtips underneath.
09:00Okay.
09:00And I like to make sure the legs are oriented in the same way.
09:03And then we can just transfer it over to his sheet pan home.
09:07And we are going to season.
09:09I like to start by seasoning the underside of the chicken because I like to make sure I have enough
09:13to season the skin side.
09:15So we'll just go ahead and start sprinkling.
09:17Just get everything, especially any exposed meat, those little armpits.
09:22You know?
09:24And then we'll flip it over.
09:26Now we can go with the rest of the seasoning right on top.
09:29If you want to make it ahead of time and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours,
09:33it's totally fine to do that.
09:34So I'm going to wash up and then we can head out to the grill and start cooking.
09:37Great.
09:38All right, Julia, I have four and a half quarts of charcoal briquettes and we'll scatter those evenly over the
09:42grill.
09:45I like to dump them out in just one pile and then use my tongs to scatter them around and
09:48nice and even.
09:51Okay, so we're going to throw the grate on top here, cover the grill and let it heat up for
09:56a good five minutes.
09:57All right.
09:58You'll note that the top and the bottom grill vents are fully open.
10:02Okay, the grill grate is heated up for five minutes.
10:05Smoking.
10:06Nice and hot and now we'll just clean off the grill with our wire brush and then we'll brush it
10:13with a little bit of oil.
10:16And now we're ready to put the chicken on the grill.
10:19So we're going to put it on bone side down.
10:21And so, you know, typically when we cook chicken, we're always concerned about getting the thighs or dark meat cooked
10:27all the way through.
10:28When you're cooking a chicken like this, especially on the grill, you'll note that the breast is so much thicker
10:33than the thigh, which is pretty much in direct contact with the coals.
10:37So for this first stage of cooking, we're going to temp the breast.
10:41So we're going to put the probe right in the thickest part of the breast.
10:43And we're going to wait until that gets to 135 degrees, which takes about 45 minutes.
10:46Okay, once it hits that temperature, then we'll flip it over and cook the second side.
10:50Gotcha.
10:51All right, Julia, it's been about 45 minutes.
10:53We can take a look at our chicken.
10:55Oh, wow.
10:56It's looking gorgeous.
10:57That is beautiful.
10:58Right up at 134 degrees there.
11:00So at this point, we could remove the probe, flip the chicken over, and really start to brown that skin
11:04side.
11:05Just kind of gently nurse it.
11:07Nice.
11:08And carry it over.
11:09Okay, so now we're going to reinsert the probe into a thick part of the breast.
11:14Again, the breast is going to be our guiding light on this chicken.
11:16And then we're going to cover it and let it go until it hits 160 in the breast and at
11:20least 175 in the legs and thigh.
11:23So we'll let this go for a good 15 minutes until we hit temperature.
11:26All right, Julia, we're at 160.
11:28Nicely done.
11:30And we'll take a look at this chicken.
11:32You mind holding that tray for me?
11:33Oh, it smells so good, Brian.
11:34So I'm going to pull out this probe first.
11:36Okay, set that aside.
11:38And then I like to remove it with this fork here and then support the legs and then drop her
11:43on over here under the tray.
11:45Oh, that is gorgeous.
11:47Yeah, and it smells so good, doesn't it?
11:48Yes.
11:49So all that's left to do now is let it rest for 20 minutes and then we can start carving
11:53it.
11:53All right.
11:54That's a good-looking bird, Brian.
11:56Thank you so much.
11:56So she's been resting for 20 minutes now and we're ready to go ahead and start carving.
12:00So I always like to start by removing the leg-thigh joints here.
12:04Because it's the easiest.
12:06Right.
12:06And we'll come back to this in just a minute.
12:08Let's set that aside.
12:09Do it from both sides.
12:10And this side has the backbone.
12:12Right.
12:12So we may hit a little bit of turbulence, but no, it just, sometimes you, it wants to pull the
12:17entire backbone off, but not that time.
12:20And then we'll take off these wings.
12:23Those wings look incredible.
12:24And you want to just kind of, I always like to lift the chicken up and kind of work into
12:28it.
12:28Okay, so when it comes to removing this second wing, the side with the backbone, we just have to contend
12:34with the backbone a little bit.
12:35So we just want to knock that out of the way.
12:36That was easy.
12:37Yeah.
12:38And just kind of push it out of there.
12:39And then, again, you lift, kind of pull, expose that joint.
12:45And with the breast, since it's all bone-in pieces here, let's keep with the theme and just go right
12:52through it.
12:53And then I think it's always easier to eat these big chicken breasts when they're cut in half.
12:57So I like to slide the knife through until they hit that resistance of the bone and then push it
13:02forward.
13:02Put my hand on the front and then push through on the back end to pop through that bone.
13:07Then we have our leg quarters here and we're going to go right through here.
13:12There's a little joint between the drumstick and the thigh.
13:16You know, when you butterfly a chicken like this, the backbone is still attached to it.
13:19You know what I'm talking about.
13:19Yep.
13:20And like you could come through and you can either just pull it off when it's cooked.
13:24Right.
13:25You pull it off with your fingers very easily.
13:26Okay, so we can plate this up.
13:29One of the best things about watching Yeo plate the food is that it's all very artistic without meaning to
13:33be artistic.
13:34It's just all really beautiful.
13:37Okay, so we have a beautiful array of garnishes here.
13:40And the first thing that we're going to garnish with is pickled mustard greens.
13:44Never had them.
13:45So to me, I love it.
13:46It's a little salty, a little fermented, nice texture, a little crunch.
13:50I think it's called ham choy in the grocery store.
13:52It adds a nice earthiness and a little bit of vinegary pop.
13:55So I just kind of like scatter it around here.
13:57And you can put on as much or as little of that as you want.
14:00I tend to use about a cup for one whole chicken here.
14:04And some pickled red onions.
14:06I love pickled red onions.
14:07I mean, who doesn't?
14:08These things are just, they're just so great.
14:10You just have a jar of them in your refrigerator.
14:12You can find a recipe for those on our website.
14:15That's right.
14:15And then we're going to go with a quarter cup of fresh cilantro leaves.
14:21And then we have some torn mint leaves.
14:23Again, about a quarter of a cup.
14:25And then finally, we're going to finish it off with a couple of thinly sliced scallions.
14:30Oh, that's gorgeous.
14:32Can I serve you up a piece of chicken here?
14:34Yeah, I want to try both the white and the dark meat, if you don't mind.
14:36It's not a problem at all.
14:39Some of the mustard green.
14:41And then on top of this, we're going to hit it with our croisserie.
14:45A little pepper sauce.
14:49All right.
14:49Oh, I am looking forward to this.
14:57Mmm.
14:59Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that taste.
15:01There is a lot of flavor.
15:03Yeah.
15:03And it's so fresh tasting.
15:05Mm-hmm.
15:05The chicken is perfectly cooked.
15:08And try a little bit of that pickled mustard green.
15:12Mmm.
15:13So good.
15:14Wow.
15:14Brian, this is incredible.
15:15I mean, it's pretty simple, too.
15:17So simple.
15:17Simple sauce.
15:18Simple garnish.
15:20A really simple spice rub.
15:22Taste the fish sauce, the lime juice, the cilantro, obviously.
15:26The mint's a nice cooling effect.
15:29Mm-hmm.
15:29When you eat this dish, you just have to smile.
15:31Yeah.
15:31It's that good.
15:32Brian, this is fantastic.
15:34You're very welcome.
15:36If you want to give this Hmong-style grilled chicken a try, start by making croissant with
15:40fresh cilantro and a Fresno chili.
15:43Butterfly the chicken and season with a smoked paprika rub.
15:46Then start the chicken skin-side up on the grill, then flip and brown at the end.
15:50From Cook's Country, with special thanks to Yiveng and his family, grilled hill tribe chicken
15:56with croissant.
15:58This can go on anything.
16:00Yeah.
16:00I can see why you make big batches of it.
16:07A fondue-da is a rich cheese sauce from northern Italy.
16:11It's a close cousin of the more well-known Swiss fondue.
16:15But while fondue is made of different cheeses and eaten from a communal pot, fondue-da is
16:21traditionally made with fontina cheese and served individually.
16:25In Europe, fondue-da is pretty straightforward.
16:29It typically includes fontina, egg yolks, and truffles.
16:33It's not the same story in the U.S.
16:36Here, fondue-da recipes haven't stuck to a specific formula and have included a variety
16:41of ingredients.
16:43In the early 1900s, American newspapers described fondue-da as a polenta casserole.
16:50At the 1939 World's Fair in New York, the Italian Pavilion restaurant served a similar
16:56European version of fondue-da with white truffles, but with butter instead of egg yolks.
17:02And by 1969, chef Hector Boyardee developed a fondue-da recipe.
17:07His version included canned spaghetti sauce with mushrooms, Swiss cheese, red wine, and garlic.
17:14Today at Cook's Country, we introduce some southern Italian flair into the mix with a fondue-da
17:20that's rich and creamy and pairs perfectly with a tomato salad.
17:31I think of fondue as a winter dish, probably because it's associated with that apres ski
17:37culture.
17:37But what if you want fondue in the middle of summer?
17:41Well, you call Ashley because she's going to show us how to make the Italian cousin of
17:45fondue, fonduta.
17:47So a colleague of ours recently had a fontina fonduta, and it is absolutely delicious.
17:54I'm so excited to make it for you today.
17:56Me too.
17:56And best of all, it's great all year round.
17:58You can have it in the summer, spring, fall, or winter.
18:01Okay, great.
18:02So naturally, if it is made in the summertime, you probably have some gorgeous ripe tomatoes
18:08on hand.
18:09These are lovely.
18:09Yeah.
18:09So this is a pound of what's called cocktail tomatoes.
18:12They're also called Campari tomatoes, and you can also find Kumato tomatoes as well.
18:17But heck, if it's the summertime and you have your hands on some other types of tomatoes,
18:22go hog wild and use those if you wanted to.
18:25Great.
18:25Farmer's market, backyard, the best type of tomato.
18:27The best type of tomato, exactly.
18:29So again, we have about one pound here.
18:32I'm going to just start by cutting these into one-inch thick wedges.
18:36Okay.
18:37All right.
18:38I'm going to season the tomatoes now with some salt and pepper.
18:41I've got a half a teaspoon of both.
18:44So now we are going to make the dressing.
18:48So this dressing is, again, I know I'm setting this up, but it is so good.
18:52One of my all-time favorites, cornichons.
18:55No stranger to the fondue.
18:58So I have a quarter cup that I'm going to slice thin on the bias.
19:04Few more ingredients.
19:05I have one finely minced shallot.
19:09I've got three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
19:12Brine from the cornichon.
19:14Why not, right?
19:15Why not?
19:16More bang for your buck.
19:18I've got one tablespoon here.
19:19And finally, just a quarter teaspoon of salt.
19:22Well, I'm just going to whisk this together.
19:25Again, cannot be easier.
19:26No, especially since you're doing it.
19:29I see what's going on.
19:30So I'm going to let these hang out as well.
19:33Okay.
19:33Now we're going to move on to our cheese sauce.
19:36So I've got two cups of heavy cream, and I'm just going to bring that to a boil over medium
19:40-high heat.
19:41But in the meantime, I need to prepare the cheese for our fontina fonduta.
19:46Here I have some large holes on the box grater, and I have two ounces of a young fontina.
19:52And that's important because it's going to melt a lot nicer than if you were to use an aged fontina.
19:57Right.
19:57As soon as the cheese starts to age, it gets a little bit of that crystallization, and it has a
20:01hard time melting.
20:02Exactly.
20:03There we go.
20:04And then finally, I've got some parmesan.
20:06I have one and a half ounces here that I'm going to just grate over a rasp-style grater.
20:12It's just the best way, especially when you want to have the parmesan melt really nicely.
20:17It has these really light, feathery little wisps of parm.
20:21Yes.
20:21And you definitely want to use the real parmesan here.
20:25The pre-grated often has other additives in it.
20:27Yeah, it usually has a little bit of cellulose in it, which is just a plant fiber material to prevent
20:31it from sticking together.
20:33But it will also prevent it from becoming nice and creamy.
20:36Exactly.
20:37All right, Bridget, this cream is looking a little different now than it was.
20:41Definitely.
20:42It's been about 15 minutes.
20:43I went ahead and reduced the heat from medium high down to medium low.
20:46Okay.
20:47And I let it simmer until the cream now measures about one and a half cups total.
20:51Okay, and you started at two.
20:53Exactly.
20:53Okay.
20:54So now off the heat, I'm going to add our cheeses, the parmesan, that fontina.
21:00And now we don't want the cheese sauce to break at this stage.
21:04Right.
21:04So that's why adding it off heat is going to ensure that it will stay nice and smooth and not
21:10broken.
21:11So I'm just going to whisk this until the cheese is fully melted.
21:15And finally, one quarter teaspoon of some salt.
21:19Okay.
21:20All right, now at this stage, the sauce may look a little bit on the thin side, but just rest
21:26assured, it's going to thicken up slightly as it cools.
21:29Because now I'm going to be pouring the sauce onto this gorgeous platter.
21:32Oh, we're almost done.
21:33Yes.
21:34And I'm just going to pour it evenly over the bottom of this platter.
21:38Mmm.
21:39I know.
21:40All right, so now you can kind of use your inner artist.
21:43Oh, my gosh.
21:44I know.
21:44And just spread it into a beautiful, even layer.
21:47So we've got the seasoned tomatoes.
21:51Any way you arrange this, it will not look bad, I promise.
21:56Here we have that cornichon dressing.
21:59Oh, my gosh.
22:00Mm-hmm.
22:01So finally, I've got two teaspoons of beautiful, fresh, fragrant thyme.
22:06How lovely is this?
22:07Ah, I know.
22:08And finally, some flaky sea salts.
22:11Add a little bit of that crunch, that texture.
22:14Gorgeous.
22:14Yeah.
22:15And we have some toasted bread here for us.
22:17Okay.
22:17Which, trust me, you are going to want.
22:19All right, I'll take a wee piece here.
22:20Okay.
22:22And then, there we go.
22:25Mm-hmm.
22:27Right now.
22:28Oh, mm-hmm.
22:31Mm-mm-mm.
22:34Bon appétit.
22:35Yes, and to you.
22:42Mm.
22:44That's unbelievable.
22:45Not too rich, not too heavy.
22:47It's just doing all the things I want it to.
22:49That sauce is so creamy.
22:51But I love how pickly briny it is, too, because of the cornichon.
22:54And it may have seemed like a good amount of salt, because we did add it at a few different
22:58stages.
22:59But as you can taste now, I really think it's important to do it that way.
23:03It doesn't taste salty.
23:04It tastes seasoned.
23:05Yeah, exactly.
23:06Big difference.
23:07Yeah.
23:07And it really draws out the freshness of those tomatoes.
23:10They are perfection.
23:11Mm-hmm.
23:11This isn't just creamy.
23:13It's dreamy.
23:14Ooh.
23:15Positively.
23:15Summery.
23:16Cheesy.
23:17Tomato-y.
23:19Perfection.
23:20Thanks, Ashley.
23:20You're very welcome.
23:22Well, if you want to make this great dish, make a tangy dressing using tart cornichons and shallots.
23:27Add fontina and parmesan to a reduced cream mixture off-heat.
23:32And arrange seasoned tomatoes on the fonduta, then drizzle with the dressing.
23:36So from Cook's Country, tomatoes with fontina sauce and cornichon dressing.
23:41You can get this beautiful recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes.
23:48And those are all on our website, cookscountry.com slash TV.
23:55Now, this set out at a party.
23:57Mm-hmm.
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