Cook's Country

♪♪ -"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"... Carmen and Julia grill up a Korean classic -- kalbi... and I tell the story of how the Korean community in L.A. adapted the dish.

Adam shares our recommended vegetable and fruit peelers.

And Christie makes shredded carrot and serrano chile salad.

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

♪♪ -Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills, including the Eminence 605 with an LED touch panel and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

♪♪♪ ♪ ♪♪ -Kalbi is an iconic Korean dish made of grilled, marinated short ribs with a sweet soy flavor.

Now, the recipe is pretty straightforward, but the trick is to make a nicely balanced marinade and choose the right cut of beef.

And today Carmen is gonna show us how it's done.

-That's right, Julia.

Our recipe for kalbi was developed by Judiaann Woo.

She's an expert in Korean cuisine, and, thankfully, she's a friend of "Cook's Country."

-Mm-hmm.

-She and her sister Yong worked together to make a accessible recipe for the home cook for kalbi.

It all starts with a flavorful marinade, so let's go there.

The first step is dissolving 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar... with 2/3 cup of soy sauce.

We're gonna dissolve this over medium-high heat, just stirring occasionally to make sure all that sugar is dissolved.

And I can see this sugar is completely dissolved.

This is a clean bottom here.

We're gonna turn the heat off and let this cool completely off heat.

-Okay.

-So let's move on to the rest of our marinade ingredients.

-Alright.

-We're gonna use a blender for efficiency here.

-Okay.

-We're gonna use one coarsely chopped onion.

This will yield 1 cup.

And 6 garlic cloves.

Now, a lot of recipes for kalbi utilize Asian pear.

Asian pear provides sweetness to the dish, but it also tenderizes the meat.

Judiaann found that when she went to the market, it was very expensive... -Mm-hmm.

-...but also inconsistent in quality, so she found a clever workaround.

We're gonna use 1/2 cup of canned pineapple... -Mmm!

-...along with 3 tablespoons of its liquid.

This is gonna provide the sweetness that we need for this recipe.

And the tenderization is gonna come from kiwi.

We're gonna use half of a ripe kiwi here.

-That's very clever.

-And we're gonna process this until completely smooth.

This will take about 30 seconds.

[ Whirring ] It's been about 30 seconds, and this mixture is ready to go into our baking dish.

So we have our onion mixture here.

I'm gonna add to that 2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil.

-Ooh!

-This is gonna add that smoky, nutty flavor that we really enjoy.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I'm also going to add clear rice wine.

Clear rice wine, you can find in any reputable Asian market.

I'm gonna use 1/4 cup of that.

And now to this we're finally gonna add our cooled soy-sauce mixture.

Our marinade is ready.

It's gonna infuse our meat with so much tasty goodness.

Let's move on to our meat.

-Okay.

-Fun fact, Julia.

"Kalbi" directly translates to "rib."

-Hm!

-And that's what we have here.

We have 3 pounds of flanken-style short ribs cut 1/4-inch thick.

So, when Korean immigrants first started making this dish in California, they shop locally at Mexican immigrant butcher shops, which makes me really reflect upon my own history as a child of immigrants.

We always look for what's available to recreate those flavors of home in our new home.

And if you see here, it's definitely cut across the bone.

There's some bone shards on this.

We have to rinse them off, so let's head over to the sink.

I'm so glad I'm doing this, Julia.

There are so many little bones on the surface of this meat.

We have to make sure to pat these completely dry.

We don't want to dilute our flavorful marinade.

-Ah.

Makes sense.

-And I'm gonna be a little careful of how I place these in the marinade.

I'm not gonna stretch out the meat.

I'm not trying to separate the meat from the bone.

So I'm gonna use my hands rather than tongs.

And I want to make sure all of these fit in here, so I'm going to make sure to shingle them or line them up like little soldiers.

That way, I'm getting maximum surface-area coverage on all of these ribs.

We're gonna scoop everything on top to make sure everything is ready to get grilled.

These ribs are ready to get transferred to the fridge.

They'll stay there anywhere between 24 hours to 48 hours.

-Hm!

-The longer they stay, the more soft they'll become, the more flavorful they become.

So, if you'd be so kind as to put some plastic wrap and put them in the fridge, I'm gonna wash my hands.

♪♪ -The first Korean immigrants arrived in Los Angeles in the early 1900s to work in agricultural jobs and continued to arrive throughout the following decades.

Then, in 1965, the U.S. government relaxed its immigration policies, opening the door to a larger wave of immigration from the Korean Peninsula.

Today the Korean diaspora is still concentrated in Los Angeles.

Koreatown, just west of downtown L.A., is home to the largest Korean population outside the peninsula.

Many restaurants in the neighborhood serve traditional Korean fare like kalbi, a marinated beef dish.

But discerning diners may notice that the cut of short rib used in Los Angeles is slightly different from what you'd find in Korea.

And that's because whole cows are butchered differently around the world.

Koreans in Los Angeles used a cut of ribs that was available in Mexican markets known as tablitas.

Over time, the cut has also become known as Korean style ribs or L.A. style ribs.

Here at "Cook's Country," we turn to our friend and recipe developer Judiaann Woo for a kalbi recipe with tender meat and complex flavor.

♪♪ -It's been 24 hours, Julia, and we are ready for these short ribs to hit the grill.

-Okay.

-I'm gonna first adjust my temperature to medium.

-So this grill's been heating up with all the burners on high.

You definitely want to get the grill hot first.

-Absolutely.

That's very important.

And now we have to clean and oil our cooking grate.

-And it's so much easier to clean a grill when you're about to cook and it's nice and hot because all that baked-on gunk comes right off.

[ Sizzling ] So, I'm interested why we're cooking over medium heat here.

Because you think it's a thin cut of meat.

You want a nice char on it.

It's gonna cook quickly.

And you'd want a higher heat level.

-That's right.

You would think that.

But we do need to render our fat.

So we're gonna get a nice slow melt on all of the fat here, and that's gonna create a really deep, rich flavor.

I'm gonna give you a very important job... -Okay.

-...which is the squirt bottle.

-Ohh!

I love it!

Flame control!

-[ Laughs ] If you see any flames, go ahead and put them right out.

We've got our last piece on.

-Well done, Carmen!

-Made it work.

It's been about 6 minutes, Julia, and we are ready to start flipping our ribs.

I'm looking for that deep caramelization, that browning.

No scorching.

These smell great already.

-They do.

-And these will take another 6 minutes to cook on the opposite side.

12 minutes total cooking time.

These ribs are ready to come off.

I'm gonna transfer them over to my big plate.

-Those look incredible!

-And they smell even better.

-They do!

-We're gonna let this rest for 5 minutes.

And that will just help all the juices stay where they need to be.

-Mm-hmm.

-This meat has rested, Julia, and it is ready to serve.

-Ah.

About time.

-The way I like to do this is to use kitchen shears.

I'm just going to snip in between the bones, and I can cut the bones right out.

-Mm-hmm.

-This meat already feels tender in my hands.

-Oh, does it?

-Yes!

It's delicate.

-I just like how it got all nice and crisp around the edges.

-Mm-hmm!

That's all that fat that rendered off in the grill.

-Mm-hmm, and the sugar in the marinade.

-Absolutely.

That should be enough for now.

-Okay.

-We could eat this just as-is.

-No kidding!

-But I would love to build something special for you.

We're gonna make a ssam.

So you'll see here a spread of delicious accompaniments for our ssam.

So, first, we're gonna take a lettuce leaf.

-Okay.

-And with our beautiful chopsticks, we're going to take our perfect portion of rice.

-Alright.

-We're gonna flavor our rice with ssamjang.

-Okay.

-Ssamjang is a seasoned soybean paste that you can find at any Asian market.

-Mm-hmm.

-I like a little spicy.

This has some spicy and umami notes to it.

-Okay.

-And I tend to like those flavor profiles.

-Yeah.

Me too.

-I'm gonna grab one of our kalbi.

-Alright.

-Right here.

-Alright.

-And, of course, our kimchi.

Kimchi is that fermented cabbage.

It has a lot of great flavor.

It looks really beautiful just like this.

-It does!

-Can wrap it up and make sure that everything is contained in the lettuce.

-Okay.

-Mmm!

-That's very good.

-Mmm!

-Mm-hmm.

-The meat's perfectly cooked.

It has a ton of flavor.

The flavor from the fruit, that sweetness, with a little bit of acidity, you can really taste.

-It's really coming through in that meat.

-Yeah!

-And I feel like just a lot of balance of flavor here.

I might make a couple more.

-Yeah!

-[ Laughs ] -I like this!

I also like that it's a communal meal.

You can sit around and talk and eating out of the same bowls.

I really like that style.

And then with the other flavors, the ssamjang and the kimchi.

And then sort of the rice is a nice mild foil.

And then the wrapper of the lettuce.

Carmen, this is really fun.

And the flavors are so potent.

I really love it.

Thank you.

-It's my pleasure.

-There you have it.

If you want to learn how to make this iconic Korean dish, start by making a marinade with onion, canned pineapple, and kiwi.

Rinse flanken-style ribs under cold water to remove any bone.

And grill the ribs over a hot fire.

From "Cook's Country," with special thanks to Judiaann Woo, a great recipe for kalbi.

I love this.

-It's so good.

It's like a party.

-It is a party.

It's a party in my mouth.

It's great.

-[ Laughs ] ♪♪ -Before the advent of the vegetable peeler, if you wanted to get the skins off your vegetables, you just had to flip over a knife and slowly scrape it off.

But look at us now.

We've got a lot to choose from.

And Adam's gonna lead the way.

-The glory days of vegetable peelers, Bridget!

-I think we're in it.

-They should all be quick and easy to use.

They should be sharp and take off just enough skin so that you're not digging into whatever produce you're peeling and wasting food.

Our lineup was 18 different peelers, and the price range was $4 up to $21.

-Okay.

-There are two different orientations.

You can see that this one is a straight peeler.

The blade is parallel to the handle.

Most American cooks will know about this because this is familiar.

-Oh, yeah.

-We all have them.

-I think that's peeler 1.0.

Right?

That type?

-1.0.

Peeler 2.0 is the Y-peeler.

This one, the blade is perpendicular to the handle.

Maybe a little less familiar for some American cooks.

We had a squadron of testers with different levels of experience and different hand dominance do all kinds of different types of produce.

There were carrots, and we did timed trials on the carrots, and we measured the thickness of the peels just to make sure we weren't getting too much carrot flesh on there.

-Sure.

-Butternut squash like the one you have in front of you.

Potatoes.

Celery root.

And those are really craggy and gnarly, hard to peel.

Pieces of fresh ginger and also lemons.

We were taking off strips of zest for cocktail garnishes.

-Yeah.

-My favorite test, personally.

-And that better be thin.

-Gotta be thin.

-'Cause if it's too thick, it gets bitter.

-You don't want any of that white pith on there.

-No.

-Regardless of the orientation, there are a couple of things you want to look for.

The blade should be sharp, and it should ideally stay sharp.

Some of the blades that were stainless-steel got noticeably duller by the end of our testing.

Carbon-steel blades, on the other hand, like this one, stayed nice and sharp.

Now, these require a little bit of extra care.

You should wash them and dry them after every use.

That'll help prevent rust build-up, which isn't dangerous, but it's also not something you want on your peeler.

And you can also oil it just a little bit every now and then to help prevent the build-up of rust.

-Okay.

-Another thing that you want is the blade to have enough swivel so that it will work with the contours of the vegetables and the fruit that you're peeling.

And I want you to try -- Try this white one that's right in front of you.

-Okay.

-And try that on your butternut squash there and tell me what you think.

-Well, right there in the crook, where the bottom of the squash meets that neck, right?

That is -- You're gonna get a huge ch-- Look at that.

You're gonna start getting a huge chunk of the squash with it.

-Exactly.

You know, if there wasn't enough swivel, you had a hard time at those crooks and those curves.

-Yep.

-Sometimes it would slide right over the peel and not take anything off.

Now, why don't you try the black one, which has a little more swivel to it?

-Oh, yeah.

You can see it.

There it goes.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's a lot easier.

A lot smoother.- -Isn't it?

-Yep.

-That works really well.

-And a lot thinner.

-Another thing that you really want is to have enough space around the blade for the peels to pass through easily to prevent clogging.

-Okay.

-And it also helps if you can see what's going on.

You get space around the blade, so you actually have some visibility in terms of what you are peeling.

Something like this, for instance, which was designed to slide over your finger and you're peeling like this.

Can't see a thing.

-I gotta try it.

-Give it a shot.

-No.

It's completely covering up everything you're doing.

Also, not a lot of swivel there.

-Not a lot of swivel.

-Alright.

-Not comfortable to use.

That one, testers universally thought this was awkward.

You want a handle that is fairly neutral in shape and has a nice soft coating.

Something like this that's just gonna make it easy for righties, lefties, for people to grab it in different positions.

A neutral handle, speaking ergonomically, has good affordance.

Just a lot of variation there.

-Okay.

-Testers chose winners in both of these styles.

This one, this is the Kuhn Rikon original Swiss peeler.

It's $5.

This was not only the winning Y-shaped peeler.

This was the winning overall peeler.

It is super light.

-Yeah.

Look at that.

-It's super effective and efficient.

It's comfortable.

And we have been using these in the test kitchen for a decade, so we know they really stand up to a lot of use and even some abuse.

-Yeah.

And they're really affordable, too.

-They're $5.

-Exactly.

-If a straight peeler is sort of more your jam, you don't want to go with the Y-peeler, this is the OXO Good Grips swivel peeler.

You had one of those earlier on.

It's $12.

And this was the testers' favorite straight peeler.

It was nice and sharp, nice and comfortable.

-Yeah, and it's a good idea to incorporate both of them into your kitchen.

Sometimes you want to peel away.

Sometimes you want to peel towards you.

And it's great to have both tools on hand.

-Got to have those peeling options... -You do.

-...in the glory days of peelers.

-Very appealing.

Ha ha ha!

Oh, boy.

Well, why don't you get yourself a new vegetable peeler?

If you want to pick up the winner, it's the Kuhn Rikon original Swiss peeler, and that runs about $5.

Now, if you want a straight peeler, then look no further than the OXO Good Grips swivel peeler.

That'll set you back only 12 bucks.

♪♪ It sure does seem like everything old is new again, including retro side dishes like carrot salads.

I happen to remember some of those older ones, and they were definitely on the sweet side, and they contained things like...raisins.

We're not gonna talk about that anymore because Christie's here and she's gonna show us the way with a thoroughly modern carrot salad.

-Absolutely.

You know, Bridget, the way that you prep vegetables can completely change the way you experience them.

-Hm!

-So, for a carrot, for instance, it's hard, it's dense.

If you shred it, now you have all this surface area where your sauces or your dressings can cling.

You soften the texture of the carrot, and you also soften the intensity of the flavor, which, in the case of a carrot, is not a bad thing.

-I'm all for that.

-Right.

They're very intense.

So, before we get started with the carrots, we should talk about different kinds of carrots and things we should look for.

-Okay.

-So you want to look for smaller carrots, small, medium.

They tend to be juicier and more tender.

Big carrots start to get woody and kind of tough.

-Yes, they're great for, you know, propping up an old table.

-Or feeding horses.

-Right.

-If you can find the really fresh ones with the green still attached to them, they're gonna be the best flavor.

Now, we're shredding these, and you could totally use a box grater to shred them, but you're gonna get a finer shred and it's gonna take a lot less time if you use that shredding disc that came with your food processor.

It's on already.

Okay.

So we're gonna turn this on.

Now, this was a pound of carrots that I already peeled.

We wanted to really amp up the flavor in this.

No raisins here.

-No honey.

No raisins.

-No honey.

No raisins.

There will be a little sweetness.

-Okay.

-But it's gonna be balanced by a lot of other really big powerhouse ingredients.

-Lovely.

-So I'm gonna start with a nice allium base.

I have some scallions here.

I'm just gonna trim these.

We're gonna use the whites and the greens.

I want nice, thin slices.

And I'm looking for about 1/4 cup.

-Okay.

-I'm gonna put these right in my big bowl.

We also will use some garlic.

So I'm just going to give my garlic a mince.

You could use a garlic press if you like.

So now we'll add some nice fresh herbs.

-Mmm!

-So I've got cilantro here, and I've got some mint.

-Ooh!

-Now, we know that we can use all of the cilantro -- stems and leaves.

And I'm just gonna give this a nice chop.

Now I'm going to pick some mint.

So, with mint, obviously we don't want the stems because they're so thick.

So I'm just gonna pick off the leaves.

So I can slice through it first.

-Beautiful.

-Alright.

So 1/3 cup of each of our herbs.

We need something crunchy.

So we're gonna add some peanuts.

So this is 1/2 cup of dry roasted peanuts.

We'll just give these a chop.

Just to break them up a little.

You want to have some presence in the salad.

Alright.

Into the bowl we go.

-Oh, that's gonna be so good.

-Alright.

Now we're gonna add some heat.

-Mmm!

-And some kind of juicy crunch, too.

I have serrano chilies.

Now, you can use one.

You could use two.

-Mm-hmm.

-I know you like some spice.

-I like a little spice.

-Right.

-But if you didn't want them to be too spicy, you could also cut them in half lengthwise and take out the ribs and the seeds.

And the ribs are where most of the heat is.

-Right.

-And that'll tame it a little bit.

-Perfect.

-We want some juice.

We want some juice and some acidity and a little bit of sourness.

-Mmm!

-So I have two limes here.

First I'm going to zest them.

This smells so good.

So we want 2 teaspoons of zest, and we can usually get that from one lime.

Alright.

So we have our 2 teaspoons of zest.

And now we'll cut these in half.

Now, we've seen some different ways of juicing citrus.

I like to use my tongs as kind of a reamer.

So 3 tablespoons of juice.

So I can dump all of my carrots into the big bowl now.

Look at those shreds.

-How pretty.

-You would not get that precision from a box grater.

-That's beautiful.

-Isn't it pretty?

-Mm-hmm!

-It's so -- I mean, it's bright in color, bright in flavor.

Now, to really pump up the flavor, we're gonna add a few more ingredients in the umami direction with some fish sauce.

-Mmm!

-This is a tablespoon of fish sauce.

-And salty.

-Now I have a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil.

-One of my all-time favorite ingredients for anything.

-It's so nice, and that nuttiness is gonna play nicely with the peanuts.

-Mmm!

-Then I have a tablespoon of sugar.

This is just granulated sugar.

You could use brown sugar if you wanted.

And then a teaspoon of salt.

And now we're just going to toss this.

Now once all that green stuff comes up off the bottom of the bowl... -Mmm!

-Isn't that pretty?

-[ Gasps ] -Now, this smells so good.

But we're just gonna let it sit here to let the flavors meld for about 30 minutes.

-Okay.

-And then we'll be ready to taste it.

-Lovely.

-Well, we've been melding.

Are you ready?

-This still looks absolutely vibrant and gorgeous.

And I can actually smell it, too, which is a good sign.

It's a good thing that it's still at room temp.

-Mm-hmm.

Exactly.

-Yep.

I'm so ready.

-Alright.

Let me serve you.

-Mmm-mmm-mmm!

That is an avalanche of flavor.

-Mm-hmm.

-Oh, but the carrots are just perfectly softened... -Mm-hmm.

-...from the dressing and being allowed to sit.

They're still nice and crisp and crunchy.

-The lime juice and the fish sauce.

It's very balanced, but it's -- -It's balanced.

A little bit of the crunch from the peanuts.

Mmm!

Got a little bit of heat.

-Mm-hmm.

I got one, too.

-A little bit.

This is going on my rotation of summer salads.

Perfect balance.

Way to wake up a carrot.

Christie, spectacular.

-Thanks, Bridget.

-You got to try this carrot salad.

I'm saying those words.

It's fantastic!

Use the food processor to quickly shred carrots.

Toss the carrots with peanuts, fresh herbs, and chilies.

Season with a flavorful dressing, and let it all meld for at least 30 minutes.

So, from "Cook's Country," the fantastic shredded carrot and serrano chile salad.

You can get this amazing recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes.

And those are all on our website -- CooksCountry.com/tv.

Alright, I'm going in for a chili.

-Go for it.

Me too.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for the newest seasons, failproof recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews.

CooksCountry.com/tv.

"The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook" includes every recipe, tasting, and testing from all 17 TV seasons.

With over 650 recipes, it's our most comprehensive collection of "Cook's Country" TV recipes ever.

The cost is $24.99 -- $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our online shop at CooksCountry.com/book.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills, including the Eminence 605 with an LED touch panel and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

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