Cook's Country

-Today on "Cook's Country," Christie makes Bridget a new recipe for shashlik-style beef kebabs.

Jack challenges Bridget to a tasting of cumin, and Bryan makes Julia the ultimate Adjaruli khachapuri.

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

-Today, we're making shashlik.

It's a dish originating in the Caucasus and Central Asia regions that's popular in Russia and its surrounding areas.

-Shashlik is similar to shish kebab -- big pieces of meat are speared onto large "V"-shaped skewers called shampuri, then grilled over a narrow box of coals called a mangal.

-Now, in mainly Muslim Dagestan, shashlik is made with lamb.

But in the region of Georgia, pork is more popular.

-And in Azerbaijan, which is on the coast of the Caspian Sea, the dish is made with sturgeon.

-Of course it is.

But today, Christie is gonna show us a great beef version of shashlik that we can make at home.

So let's head into the kitchen.

We were lucky enough to find a beautiful version of shashlik.

It was from the Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn.

That inspired us to go and look up recipes for shashlik.

We've got Christie here, and she's gonna show us a perfect, beautiful version of shashlik that we're making.

-The published recipes that we found all had one thing in common -- a really intense savory marinade.

And it also had a lot of onion.

-Really?

-Lots of onion.

Yes.

So that's where we're starting.

I have 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion, 1/4 cup of vegetable oil.

I have 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.

This gave us a really nice, tangy, vibrant marinade without making the meat mushy.

-Okay.

-And then some savory elements.

I have four garlic cloves, a tablespoon of soy sauce, which is just gonna give us some nice umami and depth, a tablespoon of kosher salt, and also a tablespoon of sugar, which is going to give us some nice balance.

But it's also gonna help to get us to that really good, dark, crusty outside that we're looking for with this.

-Caramelization.

-Char.

Now for the spices.

I have a teaspoon of earthy ground cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander.

So a little bit of a citrusy flavor.

-A little floral, too.

-Mm-hmm.

And 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.

And then I think the most interesting ingredients -- We could definitely taste cinnamon and get a little heat from cayenne.

-Interesting.

Cinnamon?

-Cinnamon.

And I'm only using 1/4 teaspoon of each.

And then one bay leaf.

Bay leaf is one of those things that if it's not there, you really miss it, but you're not quite sure what it's doing.

Well, it's giving you some earthy flavor.

It's giving some citrus flavor.

And I just took one leaf and crumbled it up.

-Okay.

-So now I'm gonna get my top on, and I'm just gonna blend this until it's nice and smooth.

About 30 seconds.

-Okay.

-Mmm.

You can really get those warm spices.

-That's my kind of smoothie.

[ Both laugh ] That smells amazing.

-Now this is the marinade, but we're also going to save 2 tablespoons of it and use it a little later, and I'm gonna put the rest into a gallon zipper-lock bag.

So this is all ready to go.

Shashlik is really a kebab.

And when we make kebabs, we usually like to use steak tips because they're really, really beefy and inexpensive and they have that kind of loose grain that will just sort of suck up and provide nooks and crannies for marinades.

-Yes.

-You're feeling it, right?

-It's a flavor sponge.

-Yes.

So we like to start with the actual original cut, which is flat meat.

-Flat meat.

Gotcha.

-Yes.

So I have 2 pounds of flat meat.

I've already prepped some.

I'm gonna cut this one.

If there's any kind of surface fat, you'd want to get it off.

But this looks really good.

So I'm just going to cut this into 1-inch pieces.

-Alright.

-So that's all cut.

Now I'm just gonna put this into my bag.

-I'll hold that open for you.

-Thank you.

And I'm usually like to keep the bag in something just in case there's spillage in the fridge.

-Hope for the best.

Prepare for the worst.

-Exactly.

So I'm just gonna squeeze all of the air out of the bag before I seal it.

And then I'll kind of squeeze the bag a little bit so that I can make sure that all of the meat gets coated in the marinade.

Alright.

That looks good.

We're ready to go in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to two hours.

-Alright.

-Now, Bridget, not all shashlik is served with a sauce, but we did come across one version that we really liked.

It was really interesting.

They used the sliced onions that had been in the marinade, and they caramelized them and then put them into a yogurt sauce.

-Ooh.

Sounds great.

-Yeah.

So that's what we're gonna do, except I'm starting with fresh onions.

I have one onion that I've chopped fine.

And I'm putting it into a cold skillet with 1/3 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

And I'm going to use that 2 tablespoons of the reserved marinade.

Now we are going to caramelize them.

But first, we're going to cook them.

So I'm gonna cover them, turn my heat to medium high.

So it's gonna take five to seven minutes.

But I will go in and stir it around every once in a while.

-Okay.

-It's been about six and a half minutes.

So let's take a look.

-Ooh.

Mmm!

[ Sizzling ] -All the water's gone.

-Yeah.

-The onions have softened, and they're actually starting to brown now.

Just gonna give them a stir, and I'll turn my heat down to medium, because now that they've started to brown, we want them to maintain that nice, even browning, caramelization, not burning.

-Right.

-So I'm just gonna let this cook uncovered now for 8 to 10 minutes until they're well browned.

Bridget, it's been almost 10 minutes.

-Where did they go?

-[ Laughs ] It's almost onion jam at this point.

-Yeah.

They're really broken down and caramelized.

Oh.

[ Sniffs ] You can smell the sugars.

Mm-hmm.

-They smell great.

So this is the look that we want.

I'm just gonna transfer them to my bowl, try to get all the good stuff off the bottom.

Now I'm adding 1/2 cup of plain whole-milk yogurt, not Greek.

It's a little too tight, a little too thick.

So I'm also adding 1/3 cup of chopped fresh cilantro and 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice.

I'll just stir that all together.

Now, there is salt in there from the marinade, but I'm just gonna taste it to see if it needs anything else.

-Okay.

-Mmm.

Just gonna do a little bit.

It is time to skewer.

So I have six wooden skewers that are soaked in water for half an hour.

Make sure they don't burn on the grill.

-Right.

-'Cause it's gonna be hot.

So we're gonna skewer the meat right on.

We're not wiping off any of the marinade.

That's why it was important that it be a little more paste-like than drippy.

-So it'll cling to the meat.

Got it.

-And we want to pack these on really tightly so we don't have burning skewer tips.

-I'm gonna follow your lead.

-[ Chuckles ] So we have our job cut out for us.

We're just gonna finish skewering the meat, and then we're gonna head out to the grill.

-Sounds good.

-So I've been heating the grill with all the burners on high for about 15 minutes, so it should be nice and toasty in there.

-Nice and hot.

-So we'll just clean the grill.

So we'll oil the grill and then get to it.

Alright.

So I'm leaving my burners on high, and we'll pop these on.

Gonna do this with my long tongs.

[ Sizzling ] Hear that sizzle?

-That's a good sign.

-A very good sign.

-Oh, you're getting some of that aroma as soon as it hits the hot grill grates.

Gorgeous.

-Now we'll keep it closed.

This whole thing is gonna go really fast.

I'm gonna go in and turn these every two to three minutes so we can get a nice, even char all the way around.

And we want to make sure that we hit a higher temperature than we normally do.

We're looking for 135 to 145.

-Great.

Okay.

-I think it's probably time.

-Oh, time to flip.

-Ooh!

Yes.

-That is some pretty color there.

-That is a pretty color.

-Oh, yeah.

That's gorgeous.

-That's what we're looking for, Bridget.

I think we're ready for another turn.

-Alright.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Mm-hmm!

-So we were going to turn it three times all day.

So we have one more left to do.

I think we're ready.

-[ Sniffs ] Smells ready.

-Oh, yes.

This is really hot.

So I'm gonna temp this on the platter.

-Very smart.

-So we're looking for 135 to 145.

-136.

-Yeah.

So we can take the rest of them off.

-Mmm.

The smells.

Almost caramelized-onion smell.

Oh, so good.

The spices.

-The great thing is that this is just about ready to eat.

We're just gonna tent it with some foil to cover it.

We want to let it rest about five minutes, which is really just taking it inside.

Bridget, we're rested.

We're ready.

Are you?

-Five long minutes.

That's all I'm gonna say.

-[ Laughs ] There you go.

-Oh.

Beautiful.

-Don't forget some sauce.

-Believe me, I won't.

-Alright.

Very tender.

-Mm-hmm.

-And the char is just unbelievable.

-Great char on the outside.

I love it.

-Little bit of that beautiful yogurt sauce.

Mmm.

-Mmm.

-Flavor explosion.

-Mm-hmm.

Really intense.

I love the fresh cilantro in the sauce, too.

I feel like you get the tanginess from the sauce and then that fresh herb kind of hits you.

-Mm-hmm.

And the meat's cooked perfectly.

It's not chewy at all.

-Right.

-It's really, really flavorful.

-It's so intensely meaty.

I think it would be delicious without the sauce, but I'd miss the sauce, too.

-Tangy, warm, complex, caramelized, char, beefy.

I mean, it's an all-in-one.

-I've never had anything that tasted like this before.

-Me neither.

There you go.

You've got to make shashlik at home.

And it all starts with a great marinade.

Now use some of the mixture to marinate pieces of flat meat.

Then cook the rest of the mixture with onion until it's all browned.

Stir the onions into yogurt to make a sauce and then thread the beef on the skewers.

Grill until it's all well charred and then serve with that onion sauce.

So from "Cook's Country," the warm-spiced and unexpected shashlik-style beef kebabs.

I wonder if the other side tastes as good as this first side.

I'll have to find out.

-I think it merits exploration.

-Mm.

[ Cheers and applause ] Well, the ancient Egyptians purportedly used this for mummification process.

But we use it to make tacos.

It's cumin, and Jack's here.

And he's gonna tell us which one we should buy.

-A lead that has mummies and tacos.

-Right.

But we use it in so much more than just tacos, though.

-We do.

It is everywhere.

-It's everywhere.

-I think this is the spice I use the most because it's used in so many cuisines.

Indian cuisine, Middle Eastern cuisines, Mexican cuisine.

You can use a fair amount of it, as opposed to some spices where -- You know, I like to think of, like, allspice.

1/8 teaspoon is plenty.

So these are all ground cumins that we heated in oil and then tossed with rice.

-A little blooming there.

-A little blooming.

You get the flavors to come forward.

You're looking for earthiness, roastiness.

Citrus is okay.

You don't want bitterness.

That's not a nice note.

We did a salad.

We did a spice rub.

I felt like this was actually the most representative way to taste it.

In the salad, it was raw.

It was in a vinaigrette.

And it really didn't get all of the flavors that come out from heating, and the chicken, there's a lot else going on.

This is pretty plain with the white rice.

So we looked at all of these different ground cumins.

The texture did vary.

Some of them were a little gritty, and some of them were finer, but all of them are recommended.

So did you know that instead of salt and pepper in ancient Rome, they had salt and cumin on the dinner table?

Cumin was the default, I think because cumin makes things more interesting without being a bully, because a lot of other spices, honestly, it feels like you're tasting that spice, as opposed to the cumin, which is a team player.

-Right.

We're looking at you, clove.

Right?

[ Laughter ] -Yeah.

I mean, I think I still have, like, the same jar of cloves that I had 20 years ago because how much of it can you possibly use?

So... -This is really difficult.

-Yeah, I'm gonna throw you a hint.

If it gets really bitter, because, you know, you can go from earthy and roasted to bitter, that's a flaw.

-Okay.

-And it shouldn't really be bitter.

It also should have a lot of personality.

I mean, yes, it's cumin, and it's relatively mild-mannered, but it shouldn't be bland.

There's nothing else here except for oil and rice.

-It's really hard for me to pinpoint specific flavors in here.

This one, I don't know if I'm looking for it, but there's a little bit of a tannic thing going on.

So maybe that's the bitterness.

Not quite sure.

This one, it's amazing that there's the same amount of cumin in these.

-Yeah, I asked the same question when these samples came out.

And they were like, "Yes, Jack.

We measured them very carefully.

They're all exactly the same."

-This one is a little bit bland to me, but I'm really being picky here.

This one, I think, has a bit of a more assertive flavor, but I'm getting texture.

If I had to, like, say, we were on national television and I had to pick one... -I wasn't gonna tell you.

Yes, you're forced here to pick something.

-I think I would pick this one, but I would be really happy with all of them.

I might have to use a little bit more of this to get more assertive flavor, so... -The good news is, you agree with the studio audience and the expert panel.

-Okay.

-You picked the winner, Simply Organic.

We felt like it was the best of what were all good choices.

It's delicious.

And it has a really nice flavor.

Works salads, roasted dishes, spice rubs.

-Balanced.

-Yeah.

It's great.

-Alright.

And this one.

-McCormick.

I'm sure you have lots of McCormick spices in your pantry.

-I have this one.

-It was middle of the pack.

It's fine.

I mean, as I said, these are all recommended.

It had a bit less personality than the Simply Organic.

-Alright.

And then this one.

-This one had some of the -- You said tannic.

The expert panel said bitter notes.

It wasn't bad.

Again, it still ended up being recommended.

But it was our least favorite among the choices.

-Still totally suitable.

-Yeah.

It's still cumin.

-I would still eat that chili.

-Yes.

I'm sure you would.

-Well, there you go.

The winner of the cumin testing was Simply Organic ground cumin.

And it's $8.59 for a bottle.

[ Applause ] -The country of Georgia, located between Turkey and Russia, is famous for its cheese breads.

Now, these breads can come in a variety of styles and shapes and sizes.

But the most famous one is this narrow, long, canoe-shaped bread filled with molten cheese.

Today Bryan's gonna show us how easy it is to make at home.

-That's right.

We're gonna be making our Adjaruli khachapuri.

So I'll break it down into its elements here.

"Adjaruli" means it's from the region of Georgia called Adjara.

And "khachapuri" can be broken down to mean "khacha," which is cheese curd, and "puri," which means "bread."

-Ah, makes sense.

-Adjaran cheese bread.

There you go.

So we're going to start with the dough.

And this is a simple dough that comes together in the food processor.

It's about 60% hydration, and it's a really easy dough to make.

So we have 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour in the food processor.

And to that, we're going to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of instant yeast, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.

That's table salt.

And we're just going to process this to combine all the ingredients.

About three seconds.

Now, with the machine running, we're going to add our liquid.

We have 1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons, of cold water, and I'm going to add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

This really helps to make the dough more pliable and easy to work with.

So we'll turn the machine on and add this, and we're gonna wait for the dough to come together as one cohesive ball.

Okay.

You can see that dough came together in a matter of seconds.

It takes about 30 seconds.

-Oh, yeah.

It's like a sticky pizza dough.

-So we're going to turn the dough out onto the counter.

And we're just gonna give it a few turns so it comes together nicely into a cohesive ball.

To knead the dough by hand, you just give it a push and a quarter turn or so.

And this is really just to make sure it all comes together as a cohesive ball.

We're gonna knead the dough for about a minute on the counter.

Then I like to just spin it on the countertop here to make a nice tight ball.

And we're gonna place it into a grease bowl.

We're gonna let it rise at room temperature until it's nearly double in size.

And that takes about two hours.

I visited Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, New York, and I went to several Georgian restaurants to watch them shape this bread.

-Ooh, I bet that was fun.

-It was really cool.

And a couple things I learned.

One is that it could be very complicated.

Two, that it doesn't have to be that complicated.

So I'm gonna show you one of the simpler versions of it.

We're gonna roll our dough out on a 16x12-inch sheet of parchment paper.

That kind of acts like a ruler for us.

We're looking for a 12-inch circle of dough.

-Okay.

-We'll flour it up.

So we're gonna place the dough on our floured parchment paper.

I just want to press it out into about an 8-inch circle.

It's easier to start this off, kind of eyeball the circle.

I typically have a little bit of trouble rolling perfect circles, but I'm feeling like I'm gonna be lucky today.

Okay, so once we've got about an 8-inch circle, we're gonna go with a rolling pin.

We're gonna push it out to about 12 inches.

We're good.

Throughout Georgia, there are many different ways to shape khachapuri.

But Adjara happens to be on the coast of the Black Sea.

And so they make a little boat shape.

So we're gonna begin by rolling in the dough by about 2 1/2 inches.

And we're gonna spin the parchment paper and roll the other half in.

And we're looking for about 7 inches from side to side.

Great.

And now we can take our end pieces here.

And we're gonna roll them into the center line.

And then we just pinch.

Okay, again, we'll do the same with the other side.

And then, again, we just pinch the sides.

And we just want to make sure that we have our 7x12-inch shape still.

-Right.

'Cause you want enough room in the center for the cheese.

-Right.

Because we have a lot of cheese.

Right.

And one other benefit of rolling this out on the parchment paper is that it makes this shape easier to transfer to the baking sheet.

-It's a sling.

-Yeah.

Alright.

So now we're just going to cover this lightly with plastic wrap.

We're gonna let it rise a second time until it's just slightly puffy.

And that takes about 30 minutes.

Our dough has been proofing for about 30 minutes.

You can see it's nice and lightly puffed, and we are ready to talk cheese.

-Alright.

-So traditionally in Georgia, they'd use a combination of sulguni and imeruli cheeses.

Sulguni is very similar to mozzarella in that it's very stretchy, and imeruli is a brind cheese similar to feta.

And since we can't get those Georgian cheeses here on a consistent basis, we are, in fact, gonna use mozzarella and feta.

6 ounces of each of these.

It's about 1 1/2 cup of each.

And then toss them together in this bowl.

And you want to really finely crumble the feta, because we're gonna want to make sure at the end that all this cheese is nice and smooth inside our little cheese boat.

So this seems like a lot of cheese for this little boat.

-Sure does.

-And that's because it definitely is a lot of cheese for this little boat.

But the boat won't sink -It's not gonna overflow?

-It's not gonna overflow.

I mean, if a couple of little strands jump ship, that's okay.

But we want to mound it up in the center, and as this cooks, this will fill in all those crevices and come out nice and even.

-Okay.

-So we're gonna cook this for about 15 minutes in a 450-degree oven.

-Super-hot.

-What we're looking for is for the cheese to start bubbling and to be browned in spots.

Julia, let's take a look at this.

-Goodness!

-You can see the crust is nice and brown, and the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown in spots, as well.

So I would say this is a near perfect specimen of Adjaruli khachapuri.

-And all the cheese fit in the boat.

None of it spilled over the edges.

-But that's not all.

We're going to add an egg yolk and a pat of butter to this and stir it in, so one egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter.

-Goodness, you're basically turning the cheese into a cheese sauce.

-Exactly.

-[ Laughs ] By adding just a little more richness.

That egg yolk will cook through completely with the heat of the cheese.

So it's very safe to eat.

-Exactly.

So we're gonna stir this up with the tines of a fork.

This is the best tool for the job.

Start off slowly until you get that egg yolk and the butter incorporated and melted.

And we're gonna just work it until those cheese curds melt in with the mozzarella.

You can see there's gonna be a perfect moment when the cheese is just cool enough and the curds are just melted enough that you can really get a nice, tall cheese pull.

-This definitely does seem like it's something you would do for company.

That was a good one.

That was almost above your head.

-There was nearly a record.

I'd like to imagine in Georgia along the Black Sea, they have contests for the largest cheese pull.

Okay, so you could see that our feta curds are nicely incorporated into the mozzarella.

It is cooled down enough to eat.

So we're gonna transfer our cheese boat to our platter.

-Oh, that looks pretty.

-And now the best way to eat this... -I was just about to ask you that.

-...is with your hands.

-Yeah.

-So I like starting off with a little point.

Just go in, dig deep, and pull off a nice wad of cheese.

-Oh, it's kind of like fondue in a way.

-Yeah.

-Only a little better.

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Usually feta, when you bake it, it's a little hard, a little crumbly, a little dried out.

But this is lovely.

It has that silky texture.

-Yeah.

And that's thanks to the mozzarella.

It really does its job here.

-This has the perfect balance of flavor, a creamy texture, and that lovely warm bread so that you don't actually ever get enough.

You can just keep eating it.

The snackability quotient is very high on this.

-Exactly.

-I could see this would be fun at a party.

-Yes.

-Bryan, this is incredible.

Thank you.

-Thank you.

-So if you want to make this classic cheese bread, start with a simple pizza dough made in the food processor and let it rise on the counter, roll the dough out and fold into a boat shape, then fill with a mixture of feta and mozzarella and bake until browned and bubbly.

Before serving, stir in an egg and a knob of butter.

From "Cook's Country," an incredible recipe for Adjaruli khachapuri.

This is definitely party food.