Cook's Country

-Today on "Cook's Country," Christie makes Bridget a classic version of sliders, Jack challenges Julia to a tasting of ketchup, and Bryan makes Julia the ultimate Croque Monsieur. That's all right here on "Cook's Country." -Before the 1900s, hamburgers weren't really considered to be a quick dining option. And then in 1916, a short-order cook named Walt Anderson, who was from Wichita, Kansas, opened a hamburger stand. -Now, Anderson had very little money. He used a piece of flat iron as a griddle and convinced a butcher to start him off with five pounds of ground beef -- as long as he paid the butcher back the same day. -After hawking little hamburgers for a nickel apiece, Anderson paid back the butcher with a big bag of change. -And business was good. People started buying the burgers by the sack, and Anderson's little stand morphed into a building. -Together with his new partner, Billy Ingram, Anderson created the brand White Castle. -Now, over the years, the cost of beef went up, and the burgers shrank in size, eventually becoming known as sliders. -They're so tiny. But that's what we're making today -- sliders, with Christie. So let's go ahead into the kitchen. Small burgers does not mean small problems, as Christie is going to explain now. My problem with small burgers is that they're just small. I want more. -

Laughs

Well, that's actually the problem with sliders. Because they're small, you have to make a lot of them... -Gotcha. -...to satisfy you. -To satisfy me. Exactly. The Burgermeister. -Exactly. So that means you have to have everything organized before you start cooking so you can keep making all these burgers. And all of the burgers have to be the same size so that they cook evenly. -Ah. -Got it? -So we're making smart sliders. -Yes -- very smart. -Okay. -So let's start with the beef. I have 1 1/2 pounds of 85% lean ground beef. And I'm going to be a little particular here. -Oh, really? -

Laughs

Well, I'm using a scale. -I like this. -We want to make sure that these are exactly the same size, and this is the best way to do it. -It really is. -So we're going to portion this out into 12 2-ounce balls. -Okay. -Notice that I've covered the scale with some plastic wrap so I can weigh the meat and not get it all gross. -All right. Just into a ball? -A perfectly round ball, please. -Okay. -No footballs here. If you have a nice round ball, it's going to flatten out into a perfect disc. -Okay. -And that's what we want. -All right. I will do my best. -Thank you. -Will work for sliders. -

Laughs

-Now, this might look a little fussy, but it really is a smart way with any kind of burger. You want to make sure that they're the right size. So get out the scale. Use it every once in a while. It'll pay off. -So we'll just keep rolling these until we have 12 perfect spheres. Bridget, to make sure that these patties are perfectly shaped, I'm actually going to start with a zipper-lock bag. -Okay. -This is actually a trick that we developed when we were making tortillas. So I'm just going to start at the open end and cut along the sides. So as you can see, now we have a perfect place to put one of our little balls of beef. -Okay. -And it's just sturdier than plastic wrap. It's a lot easier to use repeatedly. -Gotcha. -To make sure I press it perfectly even, I have a glass pie plate so I can see my patty as I'm making it. -And I'm just going to press down until I get to a 4-inch-wide patty. And that looks like we're just about there. So they're very, very thin. -Mm-hmm. -They're going to cook really quickly. And they're easy to peel off. So I'm just going to keep pressing these until I have 12 patties. Then we'll cover this with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until we're ready to cook the patties. -Okay. -And all of this can be done up to 24 hours in advance. -That's good to know. -Yeah. Bridget, you can't have a good slider without cheese. -That is the law. Exactly. -I think so. In my house anyway. And I have the best cheese for sliders right here. -Yes! -Six slices of American cheese. -Thank you, American cheese. -This is no place for snobbery.

Both laugh

It's the best melter. And I'm just going to cut this into quarters. -Gotcha. -So we'll have little pieces to put on our little burgers. Each slider will get two pieces. Now, the sliders also need a good sauce -- a burger sauce. And this is one that's starting with 1/4 cup of mayonnaise. I'm also adding 2 tablespoons of ketchup... -Two of my favorite things there so far. -

Laughs

...and a teaspoon of sweet pickle relish. -Mm. -I'm also adding a teaspoon of distilled white vinegar, teaspoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of pepper. So all of these ingredients add up to something that's very much like a Thousand Island dressing or a special sauce, if you will. -Special sauce. Now, this is the perfect burger sauce, 'cause it's tangy, it's creamy. -And you already have all the ingredients in your fridge. -You know I do. -Right? -Exactly. -Now, you can make this ahead and just leave it in the fridge till you're ready to use it too. -Perfect. -Great for your party. Now, we also have to have the perfect bun. -Not any bun will do. -No. It has to be a 2-inch bun. Because our burgers are gonna shrink when they cook. You can find slider -- like specific slider rolls. Sometimes they're a little big. These are actually dinner rolls. And I think these are the way to go. -Yes. -I'm just gonna cut this in half. Now that they're separated, I'm going to spread some of my burger sauce on each of the bottom buns. I told you -- This is all about being organized. -Ah. Gotcha. -So, while I do this, would you mind grabbing the burgers? -Sure. -So we're fully seasoned here. We want to make sure that the burgers taste just as good all by themselves. -Okay. -So I have 1 teaspoons of kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. You're seasoning both sides. -So I hope the fact that you've seasoned them means that cooking is coming. -It is. We are almost there. -Okay. -In fact, I have a teaspoon of vegetable oil in my 12-inch nonstick skillet. I'm gonna turn the heat on to medium right now. -Mm-hmm. -And then we just need to wait until it starts to just smoke. -Okay. -It's time to cook these sliders. -Yes. -

Laughs

My oil's nice and hot. Now, I'm only doing half of the sliders at a time. We don't want to overcrowd the pan.

Sizzling

All right. Now I have 1/4 cup finely chopped onion, and I'm going to spread that out amongst all six patties. And then I'm going to press them into the burger with my spatula. -Ah. Instead of having to cook the onion separately. -Mm-hmm. And I'm only cooking these burgers for about two minutes uncovered. You really don't want to move them. All right. We are ready to flip. -Ohh. That's some good color there. -Okay. Now, moving quickly, two slices of cheese on each patty. And then I need the bun tops on top of the cheese. Now I'm adding 2 tablespoons of water to the pan. -Mm. -Try not to hit a bun. We're gonna cover it, cook it for 90 seconds. The thing about sliders that we love -- Think about those soft buns from White Castle. -Mm-hmm. Right. -So by putting water into the pan, putting the lid on, we're creating and trapping steam, which softens the buns, melts the cheese, and it's actually going to help cook those onions so that they're soft rather than crunchy. Okay. It's 90 seconds. You ready? -I am so ready. Ooh. Oh, super soft. -You see how you have those soft steamed buns? So we don't want to dillydally. -Ohh. -They're so soft and squishy. And hot. -And hot! -

Laughs

-Christie, you are some line cook here. -

Laughs

So now I'm just gonna tent this side to keep these warm. Gonna clean out the pan, wipe it out with a paper towel, and then we're gonna do the other six. Oh, my goodness. -Unbelievable. -Well, thank you. -They're beautiful. I can't believe how fast these came together. -Well, what are we waiting for? -All right. -I suggest we try some of the first batch. These are gonna be super hot right now. -Gotcha. All right. I'm gonna start off with one. I love that you gave me a tiny plate... -For your tiny burger. -...for a tiny burger. -

Laughs

-It's so soft. -Mm-hmm. -Mmm. -Mm-hmm. -The steaming-buns thing -- on point. -I just love the really seasoned burgers. -The sliders are tender. The beef is beefy. You started off with a great cut of beef. But like you said, it's really well seasoned. And the sauce. -Mm-hmm. -It is special. -And it's the best cheese. -Mm-hmm. It's true. But what makes these real sliders is that caramelized onion. -Mm. -Perfect. Just pressing it into the meat and flipping it so it got some heat from the bottom of the skillet. It was basting in those beef juices. Beautiful. This is great. Uh, you're hired. -Thank you. -You start on the line tomorrow. -I'm ready. I'm ready. -You better be ready for it too. These sliders are incredible. And they start with a little bit of precision and prep. Press small portions of beef into patties and then make a special sauce and saut the burgers. Press chopped onion into the meat, top with cheese and the bun tops, steam with a little bit of water, then slide those burgers onto the bun bottoms and eat 'em by the dozen. So from "Cook's Country" -- they're small in size, but huge in flavor -- sliders. Eat 'em by the platterful. Mmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Cheers and applause

-We Americans love our ketchup. In fact, National Geographic says that over 97% of Americans currently have ketchup in their kitchens. And today Jack's gonna tell us which brand is best. -This is a really fascinating manufacturing problem, is how do you create something when everyone is in agreement about what ketchup is? There's one brand that dominates. -Right. Mm-hmm. -You know, it's Heinz. And so this tasting is a sort of interesting case study in how manufacturers compete in a category where basically one product defines ketchup. You're gonna need to tell me about that face. What were you tasting over there? -This one tastes like a Bloody Mary with lots of Worcestershire sauce in it. -Well, that's one way to compete, right? -Yeah. Right? -It's probably not ketchup. And I think that's what we found in this tasting, was most of the companies tried to do something odd. And most of our tasters were like, "Uh, no. That's not acceptable." It wasn't bad in the sense that it may not have tasted bad, but it wasn't ketchup. Whether it's odd spices, lime juice, green bell pepper, our tasters and the studio audience was able to ferret them out and say, "No, thank you. Give us real ketchup." -Yep. -So, what do you think of these four samples? -This is ketchup, and these are interesting experiments. This one has a lot of Worcestershire. Like I said, it'd be a great base for a very salty cocktail. This one tastes like crushed tomatoes. And this one, if you watered it down and put little pasta O's in it, it would taste like it came from a can. It's very sweet. It doesn't have a ton of flavor. And it has a very weird, gelatinous texture that I didn't like. So this is ketchup. These guys are...interesting. -Hmm. -Yeah. -Okay. Well, then we're gonna need to start down here. You picked the absolute classic. Heinz. So this actually came in second. -Really? -The studio audience did not taste this because I threw this in here as a bit of a ringer for you. -Oh. -Go down to the end here. -Oh! -That's Heinz organic. -Really? -And this was actually the winner. The difference, besides the fact that, obviously, they're using organic tomatoes, is that that's sugar and this is corn syrup. -Really? -That has some impact. Now, the colors are quite different. -They are. If you look at that, that's quite a bit darker. -Yeah. The brand you picked, which is the traditional, is actually the color that seems traditional to me. Yeah. -But, you know, it's Heinz and Heinz, which tells you something about how people perceive ketchup. -Right. Let's try this one, which had a really interesting flavor. -So this is Hellmann's. The mayonnaise company is now, "Well, let's make ketchup." -I didn't know they made ketchup. -So honey -- which our tasters thought, "Uh, we like honey but not in ketchup" -- and we're not sure what the spices are. Labels just say "spices," but we felt like it had a different flavor profile than the thing that our brain says -- "Heinz ketchup is what ketchup should be." -Yep. And last? -Is Sir Kensington. -Ooh! My, my. -Now, this one has green bell pepper... -Oh. -...which is not an ingredient in Heinz and has lime juice in it. And it's interesting. -It's interesting. -But it's not the thing that I want to put on my French fries. -Yeah. It wouldn't go with French fries. That's what I was just thinking. -You're buying ketchup for French fries. Let's just face it. You know, and maybe a burger. -That was interesting, Jack. Thank you. -You're welcome. -So there you have it -- The best ketchup is Heinz organic tomato ketchup, at $3.69 for a 14-ounce bottle.

Cheers and applause

-A Croque Monsieur is a traditional Parisian sandwich that became popular in the early 20th century. Now, if you translate the word "croque monsieur," "croque" means "crunch," and "monsieur" means "Mister." So it winds up being Mr. Crunchy. So Bryan's here to show us how to make it. -Also known as Mr. Crunchy in my day. You know why this sandwich is still popular? It's because it's completely over the top. -Mm-hmm. -You have salty, sweet, smoky ham in the middle, Gruyre cheese, Parmesan, and a cheese-injected white sauce that drenches the whole thing. I mean, what's not to love? -I'm in. -We're gonna begin by toasting all of our bread ahead of time. So we're gonna do that in the oven. And I have eight slices of hearty white sandwich bread that I'm going to lay onto the sheet pan that I've lined with aluminum foil and gone ahead and sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, because we're gonna melt the cheese over these sandwiches, and we don't want the sandwiches to stick to the tray later. -Easy cleanup. -Exactly. So we're gonna brush this bread with 4 tablespoons of melted butter. I know what you're thinking -- That's a lot of butter. -I was just thinking -- That's a half a stick. -You know, this is not a recipe to pull punches on. We're all in with this recipe. We tested a lot of different types of bread. And in the end, we really liked the subtle sweetness of this hearty white sandwich bread. It goes really well with the salty ham. So we'll brush the second side here with melted butter. Okay. We're going to toast this in the oven, as I mentioned. We have the oven racks set 6 inches from the broiler element, because at the end, we're gonna broil the sandwich. The oven is preheated to 375 degrees. We're gonna toast this bread for a total of 13 minutes. But we're gonna flip it over after the first 10. -All right. -Okay. So now we can turn our attention to our white sauce. We're gonna make what's called a Mornay, and the basis for that is a Bchamel. It's basically a thickened milk sauce, okay? So we have 2 tablespoons of butter that we've melted here over medium heat. And to that we're going to add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. What we're making here is called a roux. And this is the way we're gonna thicken our sauce. So the butter's melted, and we're gonna whisk in the flour until it's fully incorporated and there's no lumps remaining. And we want to cook this mixture for about one minute just to cook off the raw taste of the flour. -So a roux is part flour, part fat, usually 50/50 in terms of volume, and it is a thickening agent used for sauces. Now, the more you cook a roux, the less thickening power it has. If you think about a gumbo, you cook that roux for a long time until it gets nice and brown and the flour toasts. But it doesn't thicken as well as a white roux, which is only cooked for about a minute. -So you can smell that the roux begins to get a little bit nutty, and that's perfect. It's been cooking for about a minute. Now we're gonna whisk in 1 cup of whole milk. I like to go a little bit slow with it and just keep on whisking as I'm adding it so I don't get any lumps. Now, you notice I'm using this flat whisk. -I know! -This thing is great, especially when you're working with a small saucepan, because it really lets you get into the corners so you don't get those pockets of uncooked roux. So, Bchamels have a tendency to scorch on the bottom. So you don't want to walk away. You want to keep whisking every so often. We're gonna bring this to a boil. You can see that it's starting to boil. And we can just shut this off. Now that it's reached a boil, that's as thick as it's gonna get. It's reached its full thickening potential there. So while the sauce is still hot, we're going to incorporate 1 cup of shredded Gruyre cheese. -Ooh. -Yeah. Don't be shy with the cheese on this one. 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, teaspoon of table salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. And nutmeg is a traditional addition to these white sauces in France, so a pinch of nutmeg. And we're just going to whisk this all together. We wanted a thick Mornay because we're gonna apply this to the bread and we want it to stick on the bread rather than run right off of it. Okay. So that's nice and smooth. We can set this aside for a few moments. We'll go back and check on our bread. And when the bread's all toasted, we're ready to assemble our sandwich. -All right. -Our toast is beautifully light, golden brown. So now we're ready to assemble our sandwiches. So, we're gonna remove four slices of this toast to a plate and we're gonna begin assembling the sandwiches on our prepared sheet pan. Begin by adding 1 tablespoon of our Mornay to each piece of bread -That Mornay actually almost looks like mayonnaise. It is so thick. -It thickens up pretty nicely. You can work with this when it's fully chilled. I like it when it's just still a little bit warm because it spreads nice and easily. -But I see what you mean. It's nice and thick, so it'll stick to the bread. -Mm-hmm. Okay. Now we're going to spread the Mornay evenly over each piece of bread. It does spread very much like mayonnaise. -

Laughs

-The best cheesy mayonnaise you've ever had in your life. Now we're gonna layer on about 3 ounces of ham per sandwich. And I like to use the old deli- commercial folding technique so you get some nice height and texture in the sandwich. This is 12 ounces altogether of Black Forest ham. -The kind of Black Forest ham you find at the deli here in America is very different than the traditional Black Forest ham you'd find in Germany. The deli ham is brined quickly, it's cooked, then flavored with a bunch of sweet things on the outside to make a glaze, whereas in Germany, it is a strictly regulated product. In Germany, the hams are smoked for three months, flavored with a variety of unique things, including juniper berries, and then sometimes dipped in cow's blood to give that iconic dark coating. And the texture of a traditional German ham is also quite different. It is almost more like prosciutto, and it's sliced very thin. -We've got our ham layered onto the bread now, and so we're going to apply Mornay to the top portion of the sandwich. So each piece of toast now gets 2 tablespoons of Mornay. All right. Now that each piece is coated, we're gonna invert those, Mornay-side down, on top of the ham. So another 2 tablespoons of Mornay over top of each sandwich. -You're giving that tablespoon a workout. -Now I'm going to spread this on top of the bread. And as we're spreading this, you want to make sure that we get all the way to the edge, because underneath the broiler, these edges are the first part of the sandwich that's gonna start to char and burn a little bit. It's not a make-or-break thing, but... -It's a Mornay insulation? -Yes. -

Laughs

-In some countries, they insulate their whole house in Mornay. That country is France. Okay. And now on top, we're gonna add 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. -Goodness. -

Laughs

-This is taking ham and cheese to a whole new level. -And then on top of that, just a slight 1 cup of shredded Gruyre cheese. -

Laughs

Just a slight 1 cup. -

Laughs

We'll just divide this cheese evenly among the sandwiches. All right. -Bryan, that looks like something else. -Oh, it is. It is. So now we're gonna bake the sandwich, still at 375 degrees, on that upper middle rack of the oven, about six inches from the broiler element. I'm gonna bake it for five minutes to get the sandwich hot throughout, and then we're gonna switch it to broil and nicely brown that cheese on top. Julia, let's take a look at our sandwiches. You can see that that cheese is nicely melted. The Mornay is beginning to flow from the sides. That means it's getting nice and hot on the inside there. So we're going to put these back in. We're gonna switch the oven to broil, and we're gonna let these go until they're nice and spotty brown on top -- somewhere in the neighborhood of five minutes. But you want to stay close to the oven so you can keep an eye on these, 'cause they'll burn in no time at all. Julia, these sandwiches look amazing. You know they're ready when they're bubbling on top and spotty brown around the edges. -Mmm.

Laughing

Ohh! -Crispy and bubbly. -That's a sandwich. -You see why it was important to push that Mornay all the way to the edge. -Oh, my goodness. -If you were to put a fried egg on this croque monsieur, it would change to a croque madame. -Yes, ma'am. There are actually lots of variations on this sandwich. There's a croque provencal that has a sliced tomato. There's croque Bolognese, which you'd ladle Bolognese sauce in there. And there's more, with potatoes, blue cheese -- The list goes on. So as much as I want to dig into this right now, that looks pretty hot. -Let's let it cool for a few minutes and come back and dig in. All right, Julia. Are you ready to dig in? -Oh, am I. Oh, goodness! -I'll recommend that you eat it with a knife and fork. This is not a pick-up-and-eat- with-your-hands kind of sandwich. -All right. I'm going right for the corner. Mmm. Mmm, mmm, mmm. -This is one of my all-time-favorite sandwiches, -Oftentimes when I eat a croque monsieur, the bread is really soggy, it's soaked up too much of that wet Mornay, so it's just not very good. But here, the toast still has some texture. -Right, and that's one of the main reasons why we toast the bread in the beginning, because we didn't want to eat a soggy sandwich. I mean, who does, right? -Not you, Mr. Crunchy. -

Laughs

I got a name to live up to. -

Laughs

Oh, this is good. You can taste the Gruyre. You can taste a little bit of the Parm, and that pinch of nutmeg really tastes great with the ham. Bryan, this is amazing. Thank you. -You're very welcome. That's Mr. Crunchy, by the way. -Oh, yeah. Sorry, Mr. Crunchy. If you want to make this iconic Parisian sandwich, brush white bread with melted butter and toast it in the oven, make a thick Mornay sauce, then assemble the sandwiches and top with sauce and extra cheese. Bake the sandwiches for five minutes and finish under the broiler to brown the top. From "Cook's Country," a killer recipe for croque monsieur. So, if you put an egg on it, it's a croque madame. That's a Mrs. Crunchy. -Right. And I'll bet you they're happily married. -

Laughs

The whole Crunchy family.

Laughs