Cook's Country

[ Theme music plays ] -Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan and Julia make a foolproof version of a Brooklyn classic, prosciutto bread.

Jack challenges Bridget to a tasting of provolone.

And Ashley makes Bridget the ultimate drop meatballs.

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

-Lard bread from Southern Italy is a rustic loaf with rendered pork fat and small pieces of cracklings worked into the simple dough.

-It sounds so good.

Now, it was not only a clever way to use up kitchen scraps, but the extra fat added flavor and made the crust super crisp.

-Immigrants brought the bread with them in the early 1900s and tinkered with the recipe, swapping cured meats for cracklings, using olive oil instead of lard, and adding a little cheese.

-It just gets better and better.

Well, it's also known as prosciutto bread today, and it's still made all over Brooklyn, home to several family-owned businesses that have been making this bread for generations.

-And today we're bringing the bread to you.

Let's head into the kitchen with Bryan.

Unless you live in Brooklyn, you're probably gonna need a little bit more of a description of what prosciutto bread or lard bread is.

And since Bryan here grew up eating this stuff, he's gonna tell us.

-That's right.

I remember very specifically when I was 12 years old, walking down the street with my brother and my uncle.

My uncle was ripping off hunks of bread filled with meat of some kind.

And I remember thinking it was the most delicious thing I ever had.

And I remember it like it was yesterday.

The next day I asked him, "What was that bread that we were eating?"

He's like, "I don't remember what you're talking about."

So it went on like that for the next 30 years.

Nobody knew this bread that I was talking about.

I didn't have a name for it.

Eventually, I met a woman from Brooklyn.

She said, "You know what you have to try when you come to New York is prosciutto bread."

I said, "Does that have chunks of meat in it?"

And she said, "Yes, it does."

We're gonna start off with the star of the show, and that's prosciutto.

-That's some thick prosciutto.

-Yes, you want to go to the deli counter, ask them to cut some big slabs.

These are 1/4-inch slabs of prosciutto.

You never find this otherwise precut in the deli case.

-That's right.

-So we're gonna cut this into 1/2-inch pieces.

So, prosciutto goes into a bowl.

And now the prosciutto's got a few sidekicks.

One of them is capicola, and the other one is pepperoni.

A lot of different bakeries in Brooklyn do it with different types of meats.

Salamis, things like that.

These are just the three that we settled on, but they could be mixed and matched however you see fit.

-Well, it's probably a good way in a bakery or a deli to use up the ends of the meat.

-Yes.

-You kinda cut them into chunks and throw them into bread.

And that's kind of how it was originally developed.

-Exactly.

-Throwing up the odds and ends.

-So this is sweet capicola.

You could use hot if you wanted to, if you like the bread a little bit spicier.

Finally, we have 3 ounces of pepperoni.

So we have 3 ounces of prosciutto, 3 ounces of capicola, and 3 ounces of pepperoni.

Now, some versions also contain cheese.

This is 5 ounces of 1/4-inch-thick sliced provolone.

And, again, we'll just cut it in the same 1/2-inch size pieces that we did with the meats.

So, let's make the dough.

We have 3 cups of bread flour in the mixer already.

To that, we're going to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of instant yeast and 1 teaspoon of table salt.

I'm just gonna whisk that together to combine it.

And to that, we're gonna add 6 ounces of a mild lager, and it's room temperature.

'Cause we want to allow the yeast to start working as soon as possible.

We have 6 tablespoons of room-temperature water.

Add that there.

And then we have 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

And usually, you have to let the bread ferment to get that nice, yeasty flavor, and this speeds it up.

So, we're going to turn the mixer on low, slowly add this beer mixture.

We'll let this mix for about 2 minutes until the dough just starts to come together.

Okay, so now that the flour's fully hydrated and we have a basic dough in there, we're gonna turn it up to medium speed and let it go for about 8 minutes to really knead the dough and develop the gluten.

Okay.

It's been 8 minutes.

Take a look at the dough.

-That is a solid-looking dough right there.

-Nice and chewy, a lot of gluten developed.

So now we're gonna add all of our meats and cheese as well as a good kick of black pepper.

That's one of the characteristics of this bread is a heavy hand with black pepper.

-All right.

-So this is 1 1/2 teaspoons of the black pepper, and we're gonna let this mix for about 2 minutes on low speed until it just starts to come together.

However, at that point, not all the meat and cheese will be worked into the bread.

We'll have to do a little bit of counter work.

-Gotcha.

That dough has some Brooklyn attitude, that's for sure.

Both the dough and the meat, they don't want to combine so easily.

-No, all right, so we're gonna knead it for a little bit to incorporate the meat and the cheese a little bit better.

So we're gonna hit it on a lightly floured counter.

-That's a lot of meat and cheese you're trying to put into that dough.

-Yep.

It's okay.

[ Laughs ] -You're force-feeding it.

-All right, so just knead it until you can get all the meat and cheese to stick to it.

So I'm just kind of folding it over and pressing it with my hand, a quarter turn every time.

Push anything else into it.

-I don't think I've ever seen a bread so stuffed with things.

I love it.

-All right, so that's most of it incorporated.

We're just gonna shape it into a ball here.

And we're gonna transfer it to a lightly greased bowl.

Okay, and then we're gonna cover it with a little bit of plastic wrap.

And we're gonna let this dough rise at room temperature until it's doubled in size, and that takes about 1 1/2 hours.

Okay, Julia, you can see that the dough has doubled in size.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's only taken us about an hour and a half to get there.

So, we're gonna divide this dough in half because it makes two loaves of bread.

In order to get it perfect, I'm going to weigh the dough and split it in half.

We're looking at about 21 ounces per loaf.

All right.

So, you're gonna shape one loaf, if you don't mind.

-All right.

I don't mind.

-Okay.

So we want to shape these into baguette style, about 12-inch logs.

In order to do that, we want to press them out to knock out any of the air.

And we're looking for an 8"x5" rectangle.

-All right, I'm gonna borrow your ruler.

Let's see.

8x5, all right.

-I'm there, too.

The shaping goes like this.

We're going to take the top edge of the dough and fold it down to the midline.

-Okay.

-Just press it in there.

-Now, I see a lot of these meats and cheeses are wanting to pop out.

Just poke them back in?

-That means it's working.

-[ Laughs ] -It's perfect.

Now we're gonna take the bottom edge of our rectangle and fold it up to the midline.

It's not a massive fold, but this little technique here helps reduce any odd rising in the dough.

-So give you a nice, even loaf out of the oven.

-Exactly.

It kind of prevents the air pockets from forming.

Okay, so now we've pinched that in there to seal it.

And we want to flip the dough over.

-Okay.

-And we're just gonna give it a light roll.

So we get a 12-inch log.

And that's basically already there.

And then on the ends, you want to just taper off the ends a little bit.

-Okay.

-Perfect.

-All right.

-Okay, so we're gonna transfer them to a rimmed baking sheet.

I'm gonna dust the sheet with a little bit of cornmeal.

The cornmeal will help keep the dough from sticking to the sheet, and it'll also help give a nice, crunchy bottom to our loaves.

-Mmm.

-Okay, so I'm gonna throw mine on there first.

We're gonna let these rise until they're slightly puffy, which takes about 45 minutes at room temperature.

And you notice, we gave ample room in between the loaves, about 3 inches.

So when they expand, they don't touch each other, okay?

-No touching.

-So we're gonna cover this with greased plastic wrap and let it sit for about 45 minutes.

-All right.

-Okay, Julia, it's been about 45 minutes, and you can see that the dough is nice and puffy.

Poke it, and it just springs back very slowly.

-Mm-hmm.

-And before we go into the oven, we're gonna give it a vertical slash down the length of it, starting about 1 1/2 inches from each end and going about 1/2 inch deep.

And this helps it expand a little bit as it's in the oven.

Okay, so now we're ready to throw this into a 450-degree oven right under the middle rack.

And we're gonna let it cook until it hits about 205 degrees, and that takes about 25 minutes.

-Not too long.

-You could smell it, huh?

-Ohh, that smells good.

Ooh, ooh, ooh.

-All right, so internally, these should be somewhere between 205 and 210 degrees, so.

-Which is the general temperature you want to bake all your breads to to make sure they're baked all the way through.

-So we're gonna let these cool on the wire rack for about 3 hours and come back and tear into them.

-All right.

-It's been a painful 3 hours, but we can finally tear into this, and in the style of Brooklyn, we're gonna rip you off a hunk here.

-Oh!

-That's for you.

-Thank you.

It is like a sandwich inside.

Boy, I could really smell that pepper.

-Yeah.

-Mmm!

Mm-hmm.

-That's been 30 years in the making, the long-lost bread of my childhood.

-I love the little bit of beer in there.

You don't taste beer, but it just adds a fermented bread flavor.

It's really hard to get with such a quick rise as we had with this bread.

And each of the meats, they'll all taste different, so you get a little pepperoni pocket, and over here, I have a little prosciutto pocket.

I like this.

I wanted to get to the soft -- oh, the inside.

That pillowy inside.

-Fluffy, but chewy.

This bread is great if you're low carb, too, 'cause it's half meat.

-[ Laughs ] That's true.

Bryan, this is incredible.

-Thank you.

-So if you want to make this incredible Brooklyn-style bread, start by cutting prosciutto, pepperoni, capicola, and provolone into 1/2-inch pieces.

Using bread flour, water, beer, and olive oil, make a simple dough in a stand mixer, then knead in the meats and cheeses and let it rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Shape the dough into two long loaves and let it rise again before slashing the top and baking in a hot oven for 25 minutes.

From "Cook's Country," Bryan's famous prosciutto bread with provolone.

This is killer bread.

-Thanks.

-I'm loving this.

-Me, too.

-Whoo!

[ Cheers and applause ] -The original cheese that turned a steak and onion sandwich into Philly's beloved cheesesteak is provolone.

And today, we're asking Jack, which American sliced provolone won our tasting?

-I have some amazing cheeses for you to taste, but first, I want to do a little history lesson.

-Okay.

-So we're gonna go -- we're in the North End in Boston, or maybe we're in Florence in an Italian market.

-Same thing, right?

-Yeah, and there's beautiful cheeses tied with ropes, bell-shaped, hanging from the ceiling along with the prosciutto.

That is provolone.

-That's real provolone.

-Yeah, and we're not actually tasting that today.

-Oh, great, thanks.

-But I thought I should at least show you it.

So this is what we're tasting.

-Okay.

-Sliced, deli style, made in America provolone that can go in a sandwich.

It can go inside a stromboli.

If you are in Italy, or maybe if you're in the North End here in Boston or Little Italy, anywhere in the U.S., you will see, this is dolce.

So this is aged up to four months.

This is a piccante.

-Hmm.

-Aged up to 3 years.

-So it's not actually sweet.

-No, it is not sweet.

It is sweet compared to the sort of very funky, sharp.

-Sharp.

-This is really a table cheese.

This is -- The dolce is similar to what you're gonna be tasting today.

But it's aged a bit longer.

These are basically aged two weeks to two months as opposed to the dolce that might be up to four months.

So, you can start tasting.

-Okay.

-All provolone is a cow's milk cheese.

It is made in the same process as mozzarella.

The curds are -- they're kneaded.

One thing, though, that's very different is enzymes are added.

And so when they make the dolce, they use an enzyme that is from cow's milk.

When they make the piccante, it is from goat, which gives it a much funkier flavor.

-Tangy.

-The American cheeses, they're usually using vegetable-based enzymes so that the cheese is still vegetarian.

-Gotcha.

-Yeah, so we did two more tests.

The next test we did we made this beautiful stromboli.

-Where was I that day?

-You were not here, and we actually found it was too difficult to taste because with the salami and the bread and everything else.

This is a mild cheese.

It doesn't have a lot of personality.

And so we then did simple quesadillas.

-I like that.

-Okay, all right.

So the thing you're looking for is, the salt level varies a little bit here.

I wouldn't say there are really any bad cheeses.

They have some slightly different personalities.

Some of them have a little bit of smoke flavor that you might or might not detect.

We didn't really have a feeling whether that was a positive or a negative.

It just -- Some people thought that has a little smokiness to it, and that actually is something that they're adding.

You're really looking for butteriness, nuttiness, milkiness.

-Yeah, all of these would be absolutely suitable.

This one, to me, is definitely the mildest.

-And is that a good thing?

-Not necessarily.

I like my cheese to taste like something.

Followed by that, and this is -- I love that, but I have a feeling that's just from a world away from these.

That's my favorite.

This is my next favorite.

These two are the mildest.

This actually has some flavor.

It's a little bit saltier.

-Okay.

All right, so -- -I'm gonna keep eating them.

[ Laughter ] -So are you -- are we making a final decision?

-Yes, yes.

Favorite, number two.

-All right, well, let's start with your favorite.

-All right.

-So, you chose the Italian dolce cheese.

-You know, I loved the texture of it.

It's granular.

It's drier.

It's really flavorful.

-Do you think sometimes I'm nicer to the audience than I am to you?

Actually, they didn't get this cheese.

-[ Gasps ] [ Laughter ] It's good to be the host.

-I wanted to make the point that, first of all, you can use this cheese as a melting cheese inside a stromboli.

You wouldn't want to do that with the piccante 'cause it's a really very different cheese.

-Sure.

-But this is actually a cheese that you could put on a board with some apples or apricots.

-Gorgeous.

-And a nice bottle of wine.

I'm not sure the rest of these cheeses would really merit going onto a cheese board.

-It'd be the deli plate instead of a cheese board.

All right.

I'm gonna go for my second place.

-So, you chose Sargento.

We liked all of the deli cheeses fine.

-It's a little smoky.

-This is one that has some smoky flavor.

-I kind of like that.

-This was the least favorite of the studio audience.

-It reminded me of smoked gouda, which I absolutely love, so I probably shouldn't have picked it for this, but -- -Well, the expert panel recommended all of them.

-Okay.

-I mean, we felt like there were differences, but none of them were significantly better or worse than the rest.

Even though there are all these different options, there aren't that many options.

-When Jack's not here, he's working at the U.N. as a diplomat.

[ Laughter ] All right, I'm gonna go for this one.

-So that was the expert panel, Organic Valley.

That was their top choice.

The second choice for the studio audience.

-You're right here?

-Yeah, they liked the Galbani.

That was the favorite here.

Just eked out a win within the studio audience.

-Interesting.

We're all so different, aren't we?

-We are different.

-[ Laughs ] Well, there you go.

There are no losers, but if you want to pick up the winning brand of our tasting, it's Organic Valley Provolone Cheese Slices.

Runs $6.89 for 6 ounces.

[ Cheers and applause ] For years, we've told you that great-tasting meatballs always start with browning.

It might be on the stovetop or in the oven.

But a recent trip to South Philly had us rethinking everything we knew about meatballs.

And speaking of meatballs, Ashley's here.

She's gonna tell us what we found.

What did we find?

-Well, we found that you can make drop meatballs and get just as good of a result as if you made them the traditional way, the browning way.

-So, no browning?

-No browning.

Now, we're gonna use just ground beef for this meatball.

We're gonna start by making what's called a panade.

Now, as you know, panades are used for things like meatballs or for meatloaf.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it's when you want to make sure something stays tender during cooking and retain its shape.

So usually, we use fresh bread crumbs or panko bread crumbs, but today, we're gonna be using saltines.

And the main reason for that is because we found that there was less moisture in the saltines, and it made the meatballs less gummy.

-Okay, so we don't want gummy.

We don't want soggy, but we also don't want fragile.

-Exactly.

-This is gonna help with that.

-Yes.

This is 22 square saltines, so I'm going to crush the saltines with this rolling pin.

I am gonna get them nice and fine.

I don't want to get them too coarse, 'cause I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat a meatball with a big chunk of saltine in the center of it.

-Right.

-All right.

This will yield about a cup, and I'm just gonna transfer these finely crushed saltines to this bowl.

And then for the milk portion, this is 1 cup of whole milk.

I'm just gonna add this in here, and I'm gonna let them sit for about 5 minutes until the saltines have had a chance to soften.

All right, so using this fork, I'm just going to mash it all in until a nice, smooth paste forms.

That looks good enough.

All right, and now the meat.

So this is 2 pounds of 85% ground beef.

And then we have 2 ounces of grated Parmesan cheese.

1 teaspoon of dried oregano.

1 teaspoon of garlic powder.

1 teaspoon of salt, then 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Using my hands.

Get in there.

You don't want to work it too much 'cause if you do, naturally, the ground beef, it will get tough.

So just until everything is nice and thoroughly combined.

We're gonna need 24 scant 1/4 cup meatballs.

I like to do my first meatball, being precise, and using the actual measuring cup.

Because that way, I can gauge what the rest of the meatballs need to look like in regards to size.

-Okay.

-So now just using my hands.

Again, not handling it too much.

We're gonna do 24 total.

So normally, we add egg to meatballs when we need it to provide structure.

We are gonna be dropping them into the sauce.

We didn't need that structure.

-'Cause the hot sauce is going to set it.

-Yes.

So we're gonna finish up these meatballs, put them in the refrigerator, and they can be held for up to 24 hours in advance, which is a great make-ahead option.

But if you are gonna store them in the fridge, just be sure to put some plastic wrap on top.

All right, so the meatballs are in the fridge.

Now it's time to focus on the tomato sauce.

This is 10 cloves of garlic, and today, I'm just going to be smashing the whole, peeled cloves of garlic just like so.

You turn your knife to the side and boom.

-You're just cracking it a little bit.

-Exactly, yep.

I'm gonna do this to all 10.

-That's a lot of garlic, but the reason that this works in this recipe is because Ashley did not mince the garlic, and instead, she's leaving the cloves whole.

Every time you cut through garlic, or, really, any member of the allium family like onions, you're releasing flavor compounds.

So the less you cut it, the less you slice and dice and mince it, the less of that strong flavor you're gonna get.

So this is gonna give a buttery, rich developed, but balanced garlic flavor.

-So now I have 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

I have the 10 smashed, peeled garlic cloves.

And I'm just gonna set this over a low heat.

We want the two things to come up to temperature at the same time.

That way, the garlic won't burn or scorch, which is the worst way to ruin your sauce.

-And you can't cover it up.

-That's exactly right.

So I'm gonna cook this for 10 minutes.

And I'm gonna go in there with some tongs every so often and just make sure the garlic is getting nice and golden brown on both sides.

-Sounds good.

-Let's get a look at the garlic.

-Smells so good.

-I know.

So here is 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

I'm gonna keep it on low heat and just add that in there and just cook them for about 30 seconds until you start to smell that crushed red pepper smell.

And it really turns a nice, beautiful burnt orange, as well.

All right, now let's get going with the tomatoes.

Here we have 2 28-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes.

1 teaspoon of salt.

Okay.

Now, I'm gonna add in the meatballs that have been in the refrigerator.

-The brownless meatballs.

-The brownless meatballs.

I'm not dropping them.

I am placing them.

I'm gonna bring these up to a simmer, then I'm gonna cover the pot, bring it on over to the oven, which has been preheating at 400 degrees, and I'm gonna cook them covered for 40 minutes until the meatballs are tender.

-Mmm, smells heavenly.

Oh, wow.

-Now, that's what I'm talking about.

-It's Vesuvius.

-It is Vesuvius.

-Oh, it smells so good.

Look at that.

-That's a whole meatball.

-That is.

That's not a broken-up piece of a meatball.

Just simmering in the sauce in the oven is the key.

-Yeah, in the oven, yeah.

So we have the ambient heat of the oven.

And it cooked together at the same rate.

So I am gonna leave those uncovered to cool while we make some pasta.

-Okay.

-Now here I have 4 quarts of water that I brought up to a boil.

Gonna add 1 tablespoon of salt, mix it up a little bit there.

And then we have a pound of pasta.

I'm just gonna go in there with some tongs, loosen everybody up a little bit.

So now we're gonna cook this for about 8 minutes until the pasta is al dente.

-Sounds good.

-All right, so I am going to just moisten the pasta with some of the tomato sauce.

Just a couple spoonfuls.

And a lot of people put olive oil on the pasta, which always cracks me up because then that means that the sauce isn't going to stick to your pasta.

But I do like to moisten it with the sauce, and that will help to ensure that it doesn't stick together.

-Yeah, it doesn't take a lot of sauce to do that.

-Mnh-mnh.

All right, I'm gonna add 3 tablespoons of chopped basil to our sauce here.

-Good idea to add it at the last minute so you retain that basil freshness.

-All right, and then I'm just gonna gently stir the basil in, being sure not to disrupt those balls that we worked so hard to keep intact.

All right.

It's dinner time.

-And I have to say, I love your proportions here.

-Thank you.

-It's pasta with sauce and meatballs.

-Exactly.

Garlic is peeking out in there.

And it's actually broken down really nicely.

2 meatballs sound okay?

-Yes, yes.

Whatever gets the plate to me faster.

-Would you like any cheese?

-Sure.

-All right, and this recipe is great for so many reasons, but one of them is because it makes enough for 2 pounds of pasta.

So I only made 1 pound of pasta today, so that means I get to hang onto the rest of the sauce, freeze it, save it for later.

-I love it when you build in leftovers.

-I know.

-Great idea, all right.

I'm gonna have the pasta in a minute, but for now -- oh, these are super tender.

-Mm-hmm.

My mouth is watering.

-These are unbelievable.

-Yeah.

-Great flavor inside.

Lots of beefy flavor inside, but I really thought that these were going to just kind of solidify, but they are incredibly tender.

This is so bright and fresh.

It still tastes very developed because the meatballs were cooked in the sauce, so the sauce took on some of that beefy flavor, as well.

Perfection.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So, for super tender meatballs, crush saltine crackers, and then mash them with milk to make a panade.

Mix in ground beef, Parmesan, spices, and seasonings.

Divide and roll into 24 meatballs and chill.

Cook smashed garlic cloves in olive oil, add crushed tomatoes, and then nestle in those meatballs.

Cook them in the oven until tender.

Stir in basil and serve with spaghetti.

So, from "Cook's Country," the easiest drop meatballs.

And you can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season along with tastings, testings, and select episodes on our website.

It's CooksCountry.com.

Mmm.

So tender.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

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