Cook's Country

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- I think I'm home I think I'm home How nice to look at you again Along the road Along the road Anytime you want me You can find me living right between your eyes, yeah Oh, I think I'm home Oh, I think I'm home -Today on "Cook's Country," Christie makes Bridget the ultimate grilled, thick-cut, porterhouse steaks, Adam reviews paring knives, Jack challenges Bridget to a tasting of crumbled blue cheese, and Lan makes Julia the best Caesar green beans. That's all right here on "Cook's Country." -The original American steak house dates all the way back to the 1700s when taverns in large seaports held private dinners called "beefsteak feasts." -Now they were also known as "feeds," and they were an all-men, no-frills, "eat with your hands" event that focused on three things -- eating beef, drinking ale, and rubbing elbows. -Now local butchers brought their juiciest steaks and chops, to grease the wheels of fellowship and trade with visiting ship captains. -By the late 19th century, the feasts included well-to-do merchants and politicians from the town. And after women got the right to vote in 1920, female patrons were finally admitted, and the atmosphere was elevated with decor, cocktail menus, and silverware. It was the beginning of the modern steak house. Well, today Christie and I are creating our own beefsteak feast out on the grill with the grandest steak of them all -- the porterhouse. There's steak, and then there's steak, and then there's the king of steaks. That's the porterhouse. Now, this costs a little bit, and it can be tricky to cook, but Christie is gonna show us how to get it right on the first try. -We are gonna make great steaks today, but you have to keep in mind that these are expensive steaks. -Heck, yeah. -Each one of these is gonna run you about $50, so I want to make sure they're done right. -There you go. -What we have here are actually two steaks on one bone. We've got the nice lean tenderloin on the one side and the more marbled strip steak on the other side. And these two steaks don't cook the same way. -No, they don't. So, that was our challenge, was to find a way to make them cook perfectly with a rosy interior, and a crusty exterior on the grill, in the same amount of time. Well, we're starting with two 2.5- to 3-pound porterhouse steaks. And you'll notice they're about 2 inches thick. And that thickness is really important to making sure that they cook evenly. Now, we always talk about how fat equals flavor. But too much fat can cause flame-ups on the grill. These look great. You only want to have about a quarter inch of fat along the outside. So, I'm gonna start out by just patting these dry. Now, we're gonna season these, and I'm using kosher salt. It's easier to see and distribute evenly. A teaspoon of salt on each side of each steak. So, these look good. -Yes, they do. -I'm gonna transfer these to a pretty large plate. And we'll let these chill in the fridge anywhere from an hour to 24 hours. Bridget, I got the grill heated up while we were waiting. I started by opening the vents all the way on the bottom and then I lit a full chimney of charcoal briquettes, that's six quarts. I know that the briquettes were hot enough, when they were partially covered with ash on the top. And then I poured them into an even layer on half of the grill. Then I put my grate on, covered it, open the vents, and now I just let it heat for about five minutes. Now I want to get the grill oiled, so dip some paper towels in a little oil. So, before we put them on the grill, I'm gonna pat them dry, because they won't start to brown until they're dry. -And where we salted them inside and let them sit with the salt on them, that salt pulls up a little bit of that moisture to the surface. So, you're just really getting rid of that. -Right. So, I'm gonna add about 1/2 teaspoon of pepper to both sides of each steak. In order to get the really great sear, we needed to use really intense heat. The problem is we have two very different steaks connected by the same bone. Place them directly over the heat. -So, they are over those coals? -They're directly over the coals, but this is the tenderloin, and this is facing the cool side. Strip steak can handle the heat, but the tenderloin is so lean. -You've got the strip steaks facing the hotter side of the grill, but that leaner filet, it's facing the cooler side. And what are we going to be facing? How long are we waiting here? -6 to 8 minutes with the lid off. We're just gonna look for a really nice brown sear on the bottom. -Oh, I'm gonna be looking. Smells amazing out here. -It does. And I took a little peek, and I think we're ready to flip. We need to flip these so that the tenderloin is still oriented the same way. So, I'm kind of gonna go tip to tail, rather than side to side. -All right. -If you get any flare ups, you can just move your steak over to the other side of the grill for a minute or so, until it subsides. Don't spray water on it. Look at that crust. -Those are things of beauty. So, how long are we gonna have to wait on the second side? -Just another 6 to 8 minutes. -All right, I can do that. -You can. -Are they done yet? Are we there yet? Are they done yet? -If I have to come over there...

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So, I'm just gonna flip these, 'cause you can see that we've got a really nice crust on both sides. -Beautiful. -So, now I'm going to move them over to the cool side because we want to cook them the rest of the way over indirect heat. -All right. And I like the way that you face the bone towards the hotter side. -Yes, it's acting like a heat shield, kind of. And that's just gonna help deflect a little bit of the heat so that the steaks can cook gently over on this side. So, now I'm gonna leave the lid on for this last phase. We're gonna let this go 4 to 6 minutes, flip the steaks, and then another 4 to 6 minutes. -Gives me plenty of time to go sharpen those steak knives. -You've been so patient, Bridget. But I think it's time to check. They look great. -Yes they do. -And we can't just temp them anywhere. We found the best, most reliable place to check it was about three inches from the tip of the strip steak. Now, I'm looking for a temp between 115 and 120. -117. -117. Now, that temperature might seem a little low, but the thing is that these are big steaks, and they're going to continue to cook once we take them off the heat. After about 10 minutes of resting, they're gonna hit 125 -- perfect medium rare. -And we're gonna be feasting here in how many minutes? -10 minutes. -All right, 10 minutes. So, I'm just gonna cover them, tent them lightly with foil, keep them warm in that time. -Yes, yes. Longest 10 minutes of my life, I have to say. -Well, you're about to be rewarded. These look so good. -I mean, come on. Look at this. Before she tucks under, that is an insanely gorgeous steak. -And we're going to serve it so that it looks kind of like this. But we first we have to take the meat off the bone. -Yes, we do. -So, I'm just using a boning knife here so it can carve right near the bone. And sometimes you have to kind of wiggle around to find the shape of it. -Oh, my gosh! Yeah, it's the same color from the center to the exterior. -That was the strip, so now I'll just carve the tenderloin off the other side. So, I'm gonna leave my bone. Keep that. And we'll go about slicing the beef. I just want to cut this pretty thin. Oh, my goodness. -Like butter. It's slicing like butter. -I know. I'm just gonna kind of tuck the meat back in along the bone. -That's stunning. -And now we'll carve the tenderloin. -Cannot forget that guy. -

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-But look at the color of the tenderloin, as well. They both hit medium rare. -They both look like "buttah." -

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-Now, we could eat this right now. -Oh, yes, we could. -I mean, we are going to eat it right now, but a little melted butter. So, I'm adding 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt to the butter. -Heck, yeah. -We're just gonna drizzle this all over. And now we just want to season a little bit 'cause there's a lot of meat here. Kosher salt, a little pepper. Okay, can you hand me a plate? -Oh, yes, I will gladly work that way. -So, here, is the strip. -And tenderloin. -And there is your very, very tender tenderloin. -Beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. They're the same color. -Same color from edge to edge. Beautiful. -

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-"Juicy" is not even close to what these slices of steak are. And it tastes super beefy with that salting method that you used. Really enhanced the flavor. -Right. -You know, I love that method of keeping the tenderloin away from the fire. Kind of shielding it a little bit. It's not overcooked at all. Christie, the steak is medium rare, but well done to you. Absolutely perfect. -

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-Well, you dropped some serious coin on these steaks, the good, ol' porterhouse, so it pays to know how to grill them the right way. Season 2-inch thick steaks with kosher salt and refrigerate. Grill the steaks directly over the fire, with the tenderloin facing the cooler side of the grill until charred on both sides. Finish the steaks over the cooler side, keeping the bone facing the hotter side, and let it rest. Then carve, slice, and rearrange the meat around the center bone. Finally, drizzle with seasoned melted butter. These are worth every penny. So, from "Cook's Country," and the meat-eaters club, the best thick-cut, porterhouse steaks, that you can ever make. -A paring knife has a short flexible blade, which is perfect for certain tasks like peeling, poking, pitting, and even paring. And today, Adam's going to tell us which paring knife is a cut above the rest. -It may be small in stature, but it's important in the kitchen, Julia, because you're right -- These have the smallest, most agile blades in the knife block. We tested eight different models. The blades are all three to four inches long because in the past, testers have determined that that's the optimal blade length. The price range was a low of $8.76, to a high of $49.95. -Not bad. -Now, we had a brigade of testers. There were men, there were women, there were novices, there were experts, people with different hand sizes and knife skills, and they used all the knives to slice small blocks of cheddar cheese, to peel and slice pieces of ginger, to peel, quarter, and core apples, to section and peel oranges, and to hull strawberries. Now, they're looking for a couple of different things. Obviously, sharpness, and they tested that by holding a piece of paper up, slicing through both at the beginning and the end of the testing to see whether it retained sharpness. They're also looking for handle comfort. A lot of times, whatever you're working with, you're holding up. You don't have the stability of a cutting board, and I would love for you to demonstrate that for us. There's a Victorinox knife right there. Why don't you to try peeling the apple? -All right. Right, you're holding it up. I would never do this. -Exactly. -So, holding it up in the air, this knife is pretty good. -Testers were looking for the handles to almost disappear into their hands, so that the blade was like an extension of it. Now, there is a concept in ergonomics called "affordance," and what that means, really, is the simplicity of design, that will make a handle comfortable for lots of different hand sizes, lots of different grip positions. And testers felt like that knife had it. That knife with the larger handle, is the Shun, and I want you to give that one a try. -All right. Oh. Huh. The handle, it's thick on this side and thin over here. It feels like it's making my hand slip towards the blade, so I'm having to grasp it even harder. -That is exactly what the testers said. Now, a lot of times, when you're working with a paring knife, you're using just the tip of the blade, so it's got to be sharp from stem to stern. I would love for you to core a tomato with the white one over there. That's the Dexter Russell. -Oh, geez. Oh, wow. I feel like my hand is far away from my thumb, and it's not going through the tomato so well. -That's exactly the case. The testers really felt like the tip wasn't sharp enough on that. Now, there are a couple of other aspects of the blade that testers look for. One is flexibility. You want a little bit of blade flex to get around those curves. They were also looking for the thickness of the spine. Now I'll show you. This one has a very thin spine. This one has a somewhat thicker spine. 1.5 millimeters versus 1.2 millimeters. And testers really found that when they were working with the knife that had the thicker spine, it felt duller, because they were dragging more metal through whatever it was that they were peeling. -Yeah, it makes it less agile. -Right. So, in the end, this was the knife of choice. This is the Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox 3.25-inch spearpoint paring knife -- $9.47. One of the testers even commented that she thought this knife made her knife skills better. -Ooh! -That's not bad for a knife that costs less than 10 bucks. -So, there you have it -- more money doesn't buy you a better paring knife. Instead, go for the Victorinox Swiss Army Fibrox Pro 3.25-inch spearpoint paring knife at just $9.47.

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Well, when you hear blue cheese, do I think of Cabrales, Stilton, Gorgonzola? What about pre-packaged crumbed blue cheese at the supermarket? Well, are they any good? Jack's here, I hope with the answer. -And I'm gonna change your mind, 'cause I have a feeling you are prejudiced against these crumbles. -Yes, I am. I like bleu cheese -- bleu cheese. E-U, not necessarily U-E. Yeah, I know what you're saying. These are actually labeled "blue crumbles," which is not that, really, encouraging. But it tastes better than it reads, so why don't you dig in? A couple things that we learned -- our winning cheeses are actually made with raw milk. And you know enough about cheeses that I know you know that raw-milk cheeses are always better than pasteurized milk cheese. -Always. -Pasteurization where they heat the milk up, yes, it kills bacteria, but it also kills flavor. And so, when a cheese is aged long enough, over 60 days, it can be made with raw milk. Our top two cheeses were made with raw milk, the bottom three with pasteurized milk. So, that was the first thing we learned. Second thing is the amount of blue-ness, um, if you can call it that, really vary quite a lot. And that depends on the amount of oxygen the cheese gets during the aging process. They can either get oxygen in there by making the cheese less dense and more porous, or they can actually put holes in it to get oxygen deep into the cheese. And the more oxygen, the more bacteria, and the more blue you get. And this is a big range between -- it could be feta in one case, to "that's a lot of blue." One of the big differences here is what they're tossed with to keep them from sticking together. So, they're crumbled, and they're moist, and they're sticky. So, there are two choices -- potato starch, or cellulose. And the cellulose gives a bit of a powdery dryness to it that even carried over when we made dressing, where we melted them on crostini, and even in the dressing, we felt like the ones that were tossed with the cellulose were a little dry. And our top two choices, again, besides being made with raw milk, they were both tossed with potato starch. So, anything you're noticing as we start tasting? -Some very distinct blue cheese here. I mean, really strong, a little bit peppery, teetering towards Cabrales or something like that. Absolutely my favorite. I would think that you would take a piece of really good blue cheese, and crumble it yourself, and you put that in there, and I'm pretty sure that's what you did. -I think I changed your mind. -This one -- definitely tangy, but then so are socks that you don't wash after a week. I mean, I've heard that. I don't know that for sure. Although, the more I eat it, the better it gets. So, I'd say, one, two, three. -All right, do you want to start? -With the winner? -We'll start with the winner. You chose the Roth Buttermilk Blue Crumble. Studio-audience favorite, expert-panel favorite. We thought, like, it had a good amount of blue flavor, nice texture. It did not seem like it came from the supermarket already crumbled. It tasted like really good blue cheese. -And it's really balanced, too. And let's go with my runner-up. -So, this is Stella. This was in sort of the bottom of the rankings. Our tasters generally thought it didn't have enough of the blue-ness to it. I mean, it has tanginess, but it wasn't really blue enough for many of our tasting. -Yes, it tastes almost yogurty, if that's a real word. -We'll go with that. -And... -And this was the Boar's Head. Tasting panel thought this was actually really blue. And many people thought there was too much going on on this one. It landed in second place. It's a good cheese, but it felt like it wasn't as balanced as our one from Roth. -You definitely changed my mind. I mean, these two are great, even this one. It's got that little bit of tang that I think I might like. I'm not quite sure. -Good job. And I changed your mind. -You sure did. Really great pre-crumbled blue cheese. Well, it's out there. You should go out and pick yourself up some. Our winner is Roth Buttermilk Blue Crumbles, and they run $3.99 for 4 ounces.

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-Caesar dressing is all thanks to one man, Caesar Cardini, who was a restaurateur in the early 1900s, and he owned restaurants both in California and in Mexico, and as rumor has it, he just whipped the dressing up one night for friends, and it became an instant hit. In fact, in 1953, the International Society of Epicures, declared it "the greatest recipe to originate from the Americas in 50 years." And it is still as popular as ever today, and people use it to dress up all manner of things beyond mere lettuce leaves, including green beans. -This dressing is kind of magical. It's got so many really big, bold, flavors, and yet it manages to heighten the flavor of the green beans, instead of masking it. It's a beautiful salad. It starts with the green beans. I'm starting with 1.5 pounds of green beans, and I'm just going to trim the rest of them. -Okay, now, are you a two-sided trimmer? Oh, you are. I just trim the one side 'cause I like the little pointy ends. -I have to say I trim both sides, but it's because I'm lazy. I can just cut off one end, flip 'em around, neaten up the edges, and then cut of the other, and I don't have to pick through them. It's pretty great. So, let's get these in the bowl and start cooking. -All right. -I have four quarts of boiling water, and I'm adding 1.5 teaspoons of salt. You want to make sure they're seasoned. Just gonna add these beans. We're going to make sure the water's at a full boil, give it 5, maybe 7 minutes, and then we'll have a look and make sure they're done. In the meantime, let's get the croutons going. -Ooh, one of my favorite parts of Caesar salad are the croutons. -So, here, I have 3 ounces of a really nice baguette. It's been cut up into 1/2-inch pieces. And I'm just going to add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and season it up with 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. -And I'm not seeing any salt here, and I'm guessing that's because the dressing is gonna be salty enough for everything. -You got it. So, just a quick stir to make sure they're nicely coated, and let's toast them up. I'm going to use medium-high heat, and it's going to take about 5 to 7 minutes. I just want to stir them occasionally, but not constantly, to make sure that they have some time to brown. Julia, it's been about 7 minutes. Let's have a peek. -They look nice and a bright green. -I'm just gonna taste this guy. It's nice and pliable, which is a good sign. -And I heard a little bit of crunch, which is what you want. You don't want them all the way soft through. -They're pretty perfect. Let's get these out of the water. Don't these look great? -They do -- nice bright green, still steaming hot. -Right? Now, if I had been at the restaurant, I would have dunked these into an ice bath, but I never actually have enough ice for a proper one. So, instead, I'm going to spread them out on this towel-lined, rimmed baking sheet. The towel will wick water away from the beans, which means that our salad won't be soggy, and in the meantime, there's plenty of space for these to cool off. So, our croutons look great. I'm gonna make sure they're nice and toasty. -I better test it. -Yeah. And let's get them back into that bowl we used earlier. Time to make the dressing. I've got three anchovy filets here, and I'm just going to run a knife through them. They're the key to this dressing and the key to this salad tasting amazing. Want to make sure that they're really minced. This looks pretty great. So, I'm going to scoop up these anchovies, and they'll go into this bowl with 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Next up, I have 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire. -These are all very potent ingredients. -Right? 3 cloves of garlic that have been minced. 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Last up, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I'm going to whisk, and you'll notice there's no egg in this dressing. -I did notice that, 'cause a classic Caesar dressing usually starts with a raw egg or a raw egg yolk. -That classic dressing is also really thick and really creamy, and it sort of coats everything. And I want the green beans to kind of come through, so this is going to be a little lighter, looser dressing. -Oh, nice. -This dressing, however, does have the extra virgin olive oil. I've got 3 tablespoons, and I'm just going to whisk as I drizzle it in. This looks great. Going to add this to our bowl of croutons. And then our green beans. Last element -- the cheese. I have Parmesan here, and I'm going to use about 2 ounces of Parmesan, but instead of grating the cheese, I'm going to shave it. I like these shards. They have a beautiful shape that complements the long, slender beans. I'm going to use about 1 ounce into the green beans right now. If I were to add it all now and toss it, I would break up some of those beautiful shards. But I do want to make sure some of that cheese gets a nice coating. It's 2 ounces of cheese for this salad -- 1 right now, 1 on top. It sounds great right? -You can hear the texture in the bowl -- the clinking of the croutons. -And more cheese for the top. -Little garnish -- little cheese halo on top. -Maybe not a little. Right? You can't have too much Parm. -That's my style right there. Gorgeous. I mean, this really elevates green beans from Tuesday-night status. -Yeah. You ready to try this? -Of course. Doesn't that look good? I love how the dressing doesn't have any yolks. It's more of a vinaigrette. -The green beans taste sweeter because of that savory dressing. You get all those flavors without that heavy, heavy texture. -And you're right. The green beans taste sweeter because of it. And I know the croutons are good, 'cause I've already tried it, but now with the dressing.

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-They're still nice and crisp. Tiny bit of chew to them. -Perfect. To make this company-worthy green beans, start by giving the beans a quick boil in salted water, then drain them and spread them out, over a towel-lined baking sheet to cool. Whisk the dressing together by hand using potent ingredients including anchovies, Dijon, and raw garlic. Finally, garnish the salad with shaved Parmesan and homemade croutons. From "Cook's Country," an easy but showstopping recipe for Caesar green bean salad. You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season along with tastings, testings, and select episodes at our website, CooksCountry.com. -Let us help with dinner tonight. Visit our website anytime for access to this season's recipes, taste tests, and equipment ratings. Or to watch current-season episodes, log on to CooksCountry.com.