Cook's Country

♪♪ -"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

♪♪ Today on "Cook's Country"... Bryan visits San Diego and shares his version of ahi-chile tostadas... Jack explains the differences between lard and shortening... in the library, I'm talking chorizo...

and Lawman makes skillet corn with Mexican chorizo.

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

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

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

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Mariscos trucks are everywhere in San Diego.

Drive down any street, and you might happen upon some of the best Mexican seafood the city has to offer.

As soon as I got off the plane, it was time to eat.

The menus are chock-full of fresh seafood options like ceviches, aguachiles, fish tacos, and cocktails.

And the star of the show is always the beautiful lime-bathed seafood.

San Diego's mariscos scene is definitely impressive, but nothing quite matched the flavor and creativity of one truck -- in the parking lot of a liquor store on Beyer Boulevard, right next to the train tracks in Chula Vista.

-I think... -[ Train horn blares ] Yeah.

-That's good.

[ Laughs ] That's good.

-I hear the little "ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding."

I've been here 17 years.

You don't think I know when it's coming through?

-Chef Jorge Fuentes runs a food truck now called Fuego Marino, where he serves up fresh mariscos daily.

-So, when you see "Mariscos," the name of the restaurant comes after "Mariscos."

So a lot of people -- "Oh!

Mariscos?

You own Mariscos?"

No.

"Mariscos" means "seafood truck."

♪♪ -When I met him, he arrived on his motorcycle with fresh ahi tuna in tow from the nearby market.

-We are really traditional.

You know, we got our baja fish taco.

We got our cocktails and ceviches, but then we got twists, you know?

I use ahi.

I use chimichurris.

I use arugula.

I use aiolis.

Regular mariscos trucks, they don't use that.

Not many other people do it.

They're afraid of taking a twist on a taco.

-Jorge isn't afraid to experiment in the kitchen.

His take on mariscos is infused with a sense of improvisation and creativity.

-I'm not afraid of mixing anything with anything, so I break boundaries.

I don't -- I don't stay at one thing.

-Yeah.

His food journey started as a kid in Tijuana, or "TJ," as he calls it, His dad crossed the border every day to work as a chef at the famous Hotel del Coronado and other restaurants in San Diego.

-At the age of 15, I started working with my dad.

He was the head chef at, uh, four restaurants here in San Diego.

So food was in my blood since I was little.

I wanted to kind of skip it for a while.

And I had a car lot.

I had a construction business.

And everything brought me back to the food.

-But rather than following in his father's footsteps by cooking in traditional restaurants, Jorge forged his own path by opening a food truck.

-I wanted a shack like Mexico.

I wanted something that people come up and they can eat standing like we do it in TJ, you know, with, like, a little shack.

So this is the only legal way of doing it here in San Diego.

-I hopped into the truck with Jorge to see some of his most inventive creations.

-Gaucho basically is smoked tuna, octopus, red onions -- cooked in chimichurri.

On a flour tortilla.

Avocado and aioli.

-But the real standout on Jorge's menu is his ahi-chile tostada, a play on aguachile but using ahi tuna instead of shrimp.

-The ahi tuna tostada.

I love sweets, but on seafood there's only one fruit I like to mix, and that's pineapple.

So it's fresh ahi tuna.

We got ahi here now that we picked up at the store this morning.

With pineapple, red onions, cucumber, and serrano peppers.

I coat the ahi tuna with olive oil so it doesn't oxidize as fast and it doesn't look brown.

So it's really good.

Top seller.

Another thing that I've been selling a lot here.

-Jorge's playfulness in the kitchen shines through in the flavors and textures of these creative takes on classics.

♪♪ Where does all that creativity come from?

-Me.

My stomach.

Yeah?

-[ Laughs ] Craving food.

♪♪ -Bryan, Jorge looks like such a cool dude, rolling in on his motorcycle with fresh tuna just to make tacos.

-Yeah.

Tuna in the sidecar.

That's what we love about -- about Jorge.

-Well, and I also loved hearing about his dad, who was a chef, because you could tell cooking was just in Jorge's blood.

-Yeah.

You know, he's so creative.

He's, you know, innovating in the space.

He grew up with this food, and now he's riffing on it and he's creating his own combination.

He's got this pitch-perfect palate.

Just really an amazing food truck.

And, actually, his dad's working on the food truck with him.

-Oh, really?

-One day a week.

Yeah.

-Aww.

-So...great family.

So, the thing about all these mariscos trucks throughout San Diego is I'd say 90% of the mariscos that you eat are served on tostadas, which are fried corn tortillas, so that's where we're gonna start today.

-Okay.

-Yes, you can buy those, but we're gonna make our own fresh.

We're gonna fry up our corn tortillas.

We have four yellow corn tortillas there.

We're looking for 350 degrees in our oil here.

-Okay.

-So we're working with about 2 cups of oil.

-And you could use either vegetable or peanut oil here.

Both work well.

-So there we go.

Right at 350.

And we're just gonna drop one tortilla at a time right into the oil.

-Okay.

-And we'll just give it a light press with a potato masher just to keep it flat.

We're not looking to create a taco bowl, so we don't want to weigh down heavily in the center, because otherwise the sides might tend to pop up.

Just really trying to keep it flush and flat.

We'll let this go for about 60 seconds until it crisps up on the first side.

So that's been about 60 seconds on the first side.

We'll give it a flip.

And now we don't need to press any further.

We'll just let it cook for about 30 seconds on the second side to get nice and crispy.

Alright.

So that tostada is nice and crispy.

-Mmm!

-I'm gonna shake off the excess oil, put it on a paper towel-lined sheet.

-Mm-hmm.

-I like to just give it a few seconds on one side, flip it over to the second side just to wick away any of that surface oil.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then anytime anything comes out of the fryer, you want to season it with a little bit of salt right away, so we're just gonna sprinkle it lightly with salt.

And we're gonna continue frying until we finish all four of our tostadas.

The thing I love about Jorge is how playful he is with his menu.

You know, he has "ahi-chile" instead of aguachile.

Now, the difference here is aguachile is traditionally made with shrimp that's flash marinated in lime juice, serrano, cilantro.

He's using ahi tuna, so he changed the name on the menu to "ahi-chile."

-I love it.

-He's a fun guy.

So he's got a few different ingredients here.

The garnishes for the dish are going to include English cucumber.

We need about 3 ounces, or 1/2 cup.

-To peel or not to peel.

That's always the question in my house.

-He peels, so... -So you peel.

-I peel because he peeled.

-He peels, you peel.

-These are thin-skinned cucumbers.

They're not like the thick, waxy skins of a hothouse cucumber that, you know, you can definitely feel as you chew, so...- Mm-hmm.

-Then we're going to slice this in half lengthwise, and then we're just gonna slice it really thin.

Now we're gonna add a little bit of red onion.

We're looking for about 1/2 cup of red onion.

-Mm-hmm.

-Thinly sliced.

I like to take off the first rounded part so we get some nice slices.

That looks like about 1/2 cup.

And then we're going to add some serrano chili.

So we'll just slice this up into thin rounds.

You could use half.

You could use the whole thing.

I think we're gonna use the whole thing.

One of the most interesting ingredients he adds to his ahi-chile is a little bit of chopped pineapple.

-Huh!

-So let's cut in about 1/2-inch pieces.

3/4 cup of pineapple into 1/2-inch pieces.

Let's talk about the star of the show, which is the tuna.

-Mmm!

It's gorgeous!

-Thank you.

I brought up the entire tuna loin here just to show you.

We're only gonna need a pound of this, but I wanted to point out a few key factors here.

When you're shopping for tuna, you want to keep an eye out for the bloodline.

The recipe calls for 1 pound of usable sashimi-grade or sushi-grade tuna.

-Mm-hmm.

-So if you buy a piece that has a little bit of bloodline, you're gonna have to account for that waste.

So maybe buy 1.25 pounds.

And the same holds true for this belly portion here, down here at the back tail portion of the loin that has a little bit more sinew in it, and that sinew is similar to the sinew on a steak.

It's a little stringy, a little tough to chew through, so you want to avoid that.

So we'd like to cut from the head of the tuna loin here.

So I'm gonna cut off three 1/4-inch-thick slices.

I say maybe... About three of these equal a pound or so... or at least give me enough to work with.

Want to turn on the scale there?

-That is gorgeous, Bryan!

-Yeah.

It's -- I love this dish.

1 pound of usable tuna right there.

-Nicely done.

-Nailed that, huh?

-Yeah!

-So we're gonna cut this into three 1/4-inch-thick chunks.

-Okay.

Now, are you gonna trim anything away?

-No.

-Are you looking for anything that you don't want in the dish?

No?

This loin is perfect?

-This is all usable stuff right here.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So now we're just gonna cut this crosswise into three 1/4-inch chunks.

You know, so, this is a more expensive cut of fish, but, you know, at the end of the day, we're using 100% of it.

-Yep.

-And we can just drop this back into our bowl.

-Gorgeous!

-We're almost ready to eat.

But first we need to prep our garnish.

I have a couple of slices of avocado.

So I want to cut the avocado in half.

Kind of twist it off so the seed comes separate.

And then I use a spoon just to scoop it out.

And then we want to get some of that nice, you know, look of the avocado.

You could obviously use any of this, but we're just gonna make a few thin slices like this.

Alright, so now we can add the rest of our ingredients, all of our garnish to our tuna.

-Okay.

-We have our combination here of cucumber, red onion, pineapple, and serrano chilies.

Gonna add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.

This is 1/4 cup.

This is definitely not a traditional ingredient in most aguachiles, but it adds a much-needed richness.

So now we're going to add some flake sea salt.

-Mmm!

-This is a tablespoon, which seems like a lot, but it's definitely not as dense as kosher or table salt.

So we're adding a tablespoon.

It not only adds the salinity that we need in the dish, but it adds a textural crunch which is really pleasant.

-Now, if you didn't have it and you were substituting table salt, you'd use a lot less.

-A lot less.

And then we're gonna add a teaspoon of black pepper.

And we're gonna add 1/2 teaspoon of Jugo seasoning.

Give it a taste.

-Mmm!

Yes, please.

-This is like a Mexican version of Maggi seasoning.

So it's a little bit more pungent, a little bit more viscous, but it adds a nice umami to it.

-Yeah.

It's like a fruity soy sauce.

-Right.

And we'll mix this up.

And we're gonna hold off on adding our lime juice until this is all mixed because, like I said, the lime juice will begin to immediately cook the fish.

And that's the difference between an aguachile and a ceviche.

Ceviche spends time with the lime juice, and it's fully cooked by the time you eat it.

Aguachiles tend to be a little bit more raw.

So I have a very specific amount of lime juice here.

It's 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of lime juice.

-Goodness, Bryan!

You couldn't round up?

-You know -- No, you can't.

It's absolutely perfect the way it is, so... -Okay.

-We'll add this in.

Alright, so, once that's all incorporated, you can see that the fish is just beginning to turn slightly opaque around the edges.

-Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

-That's the lime juice denaturing the proteins and starting to cook the fish.

-It works fast.

-Okay.

So now I can just portion you up.

-Alright.

-So we have our tostadas here.

So we're just gonna give you a nice, healthy portion.

-Ohh!

-And it is healthy.

It's, you know... -Actually, it really is.

-...fruits and vegetables, raw fish.

-Mm-hmm!

-And we'll add a little bit of garnish of avocado on top.

-That looks gorgeous, Bryan.

-So good.

-[ Both laugh ] -I love all the colors.

This is a looker!

I'm going right for a piece of tuna.

-I'll join you.

-Mmm.

-Hm.

Right away you get that pineapple coming through, right?

-You do.

And the dressing that you put on there.

There's some black pepper.

You get the lime juice, obviously.

-Mm-hmm.

-Alright.

Now I'm going for a little of everything.

-That serrano is coming through nicely.

-Yep.

That's, uh -- I can feel it.

-Hm.

-Mmm!

I love all the flavors together.

A little bit of creaminess from the avocado.

Bryan, this is awesome!

And it's so easy to put together, but it really -- it really does transport you to California sunshine and fresh seafood.

Bryan, this has been really fun.

Thank you for showing me how to do this.

-You're very welcome.

-If you want to make this killer tuna tostada, start by frying corn tortillas into tostadas.

Purchase sushi-grade tuna, avoiding the bloodline and the belly.

And add lime juice just before serving.

From "Cook's Country," with special thanks to Jorge Fuentes, a great recipe for ahi-chile tostadas.

I'm coming with you next time.

-Alright.

There's always -- -I don't want to miss out on a trip like this.

-[ Chuckles ] There's always room.

There's always room in the sidecar.

-[ Laughs ] ♪♪ -1911 was an important year in food history.

It was the advent of Crisco.

Scientists figured out how to take liquid vegetable oil and, through a process called hydrogenation, turn it into a solid fat.

It was sold to us as healthier than lard, which was the fat of choice in the 19th century, because it was made from vegetables rather than animals.

And when I was growing up, there was no lard in our house, and there was definitely shortening in the pantry.

Well, it turns out most of that nutrition science was wrong.

Shortening isn't really any better for you than lard.

And, in fact, until they reformulated it recently and got rid of the trans fats, it was probably worse for you than lard.

Now I would say it's a tie.

And, in fact, when you think about them, it makes sense that they look the same.

You know, we've got white fat here.

It's kind of solid.

And white fat here.

And they can be used interchangeably in recipes because they're both chemically the same.

They're 100% fat.

That said, I'm definitely Team Lard.

And I promise I will explain, but let me first explain why you want to be using either one of these rather than butter.

Now, I still use butter in biscuits and pie dough because it's delicious and is there for flavor.

But I also use lard along with that butter.

And that's because butter is 80% fat and 20% water, and the lard and the shortening are 100% fat.

And so what you're really doing when you're adding any of these solid fats into the flour is you are shortening the gluten strands.

That's where the word "shortening" comes from.

Butter does it.

Shortening does it.

Lard does it.

And the lard and the shortening also, because they don't have any water, will not promote gluten once you add the liquid to the biscuit dough or to the pie dough.

The butter does.

Adding either shortening or lard with the butter kind of gets you the best of both worlds, and you get a tender, flaky pie dough or beautiful, tender biscuits.

Now, in terms of why I like the lard better than the shortening, you have the option of getting 100% natural lard with no preservatives.

Also, it's more sustainable.

If we're going to eat meat and we're going to eat pork, what do we do with all the leftover fat?

Turn it into lard.

Now, we did a lard tasting.

Yeah, that was a fun tasting.

And our favorite was from U.S. Dreams.

Now, unfortunately, this is a mail-order brand, so the funky label, accordingly.

And so it's pretty expensive.

But it's 100% pork lard.

No preservatives.

Does not have a super-porky flavor.

You're not gonna taste your pie dough and say, "Oh, that's got pork in it."

It's really a little savory.

There is a supermarket option from Morrell.

This, again, has a very light flavor, clean flavor.

Worked really lovely in pie dough and in biscuits.

So let's go back to the 19th century and use lard along with the butter for flavor when we're making our pie dough and our biscuits.

You're gonna get amazing flavor and incredible texture.

♪♪ -Sausage has been around a long time.

In fact, it's believed that the first sausage was made around 7,000 years ago.

Sausage makes an appearance in Homer's "Odyssey," and the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great banned sausage in the 4th century because of its association with paganism.

Chorizo is one of the most well-known sausages.

In Spain, chorizos can be fresh, dry, cured, mild, or spicy... and are usually flavored with paprika, peppers, and garlic.

Drier versions are usually sliced and served as tapas, while fresh styles are often used in cooking.

Mexican chorizo is a fresh sausage made with chilies and vinegar.

And in Louisiana, chaurice is used in gumbo, jambalaya, and other Cajun and Creole dishes.

While many styles of chorizo can be found throughout regional cuisines in the U.S., the Mexican style is most popular, thanks in part to our shared border.

Mexican style chorizo is found in everything, from tacos to queso fundido to soups and stews.

It's even been served at fast-food chains like McDonald's and Chipotle.

And here at "Cook's Country," we think Mexican chorizo pairs beautifully with sweet corn.

♪♪ -Sautéed sweet corn is one of the things I love to eat all summer long.

It's simplicity at its best, but sometimes I'm lookin' to jazz things up a bit.

And luckily for me, I know this guy -- Lawman.

He's gonna show us a great way to cook summer corn.

-I absolutely love street corn.

-Oh, yeah.

-And today I'm gonna make a fork-friendly version.

I'm gonna add some of my favorite meat -- chorizo.

-Oh.

That sounds great.

-So you want to start with the star of the show -- corn.

-Hm!

Oh.

Okay.

Got it.

-You want to make sure that you use fresh, seasonal corn.

You don't want to use frozen corn here.

-Right.

-So here I have four ears of corn that I've cut the kernels off.

I have one left.

So, what I like to do is cut the cob in half... and then cut the kernels off like this... -Nice.

-...so that when it hits the cutting board, it doesn't end up on the floor.

-Perfect.

-After I cut off the kernels of the last cob, you're gonna have 3 and 3/4 cups.

-Perfect.

-And next we have 4 scallions.

So I'm just gonna trim them.

You want to separate the white from the green.

The white, we're gonna mince.

We're just gonna slice these thin on the bias.

Now we finished prepping the scallions.

Now we're gonna prep some herbs.

I have oregano over here.

You want to chop about 1 tablespoon of oregano.

You can use Greek or Mexican oregano.

If you don't have fresh, you can use 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of dried.

-Okay.

Great.

-That's 1 tablespoon of fresh oregano.

Next I'm gonna chop 1/2 cup of cilantro stems and leaves.

-Okay.

Great.

-So that's 1/2 cup of cilantro.

And to add some more flavor to this dish, we're gonna pickle a shallot.

-Mmm!

I like pickled shallot.

-So I'm gonna cut this into thin rings.

And to pickle this, I have... 1/4 cup of red-wine vinegar... a tablespoon of granulated sugar.

Gonna stir that together.

Now I'm gonna add the shallots to the brine.

Gonna microwave it for about 45 seconds.

The heat's gonna activate the brine.

It's gonna slightly cook the shallots, and it's gonna infuse it with all that flavor.

-[ Beep ] -Okay.

Ooh-hoo-hoo!

-Now I'm just gonna cover it with some plastic wrap.

-Mm-hmm.

-The cover is gonna trap the heat.

And the shallots are gonna cook slightly and absorb all that briny flavor.

-Mmm.

-So, while the shallot's pickling, let's build our dish.

-Okay.

-I have 8 ounces of Mexican style chorizo.

It's raw, or fresh.

If it's in the casing, you want to remove that because you can't eat that.

-Okay.

-So this one, I've removed the casing.

And we want to cook it in a 12-inch nonstick skillet for about 4 to 6 minutes until it's well-browned.

-And that's just a cold skillet.

So starting it in a cold skillet.

-And we're going over medium-high heat.

-Okay.

-And I'm gonna use a wooden spoon to break it up.

-So we just want little chorizo crumbles.

Is that it?

-I'm gonna say chorizo chunks.

-Ooh!

Yeah!

-The chorizo looks great.

It's well-browned.

It's gonna add some nice porky flavor to the dish.

-Mm-hmm!

-Now I'm gonna add our minced scallions.

Then two minced garlic cloves.

And I'm just gonna cook that for about 30 seconds until fragrant.

Now we're gonna add the corn.

Add a little oregano.

And 3/4 teaspoon of salt.

We're gonna cook this for about 6 minutes until the corn is spotty brown.

What this is gonna do is it emulates the grilling of the corn.

And because it's cooked with the chorizo, it's gonna soak up all that chorizo flavor.

-Mmm!

[ Sizzling ] -As you can see, the corn has some nice color to it.

-Beautiful.

-Chorizo is well-browned.

So now I'm gonna take it off heat.

-So many aromas happening all at the same time here.

-We're gonna drain the pickled shallots.

Gonna add that right to the dish.

Now I'm gonna add the cilantro.

-Ahh.

-Scallions.

And a tablespoon of lime juice.

-Nice.

-Gonna bring it over here.

Give it a nice stir.

Make sure everything's incorporated.

-Oh!

That's beautiful!

-We could serve it like this.

-Mm-hmm.

-But we're a little bit more sophisticated than that.

-Oh.

We are.

-So we're gonna add it to this nice wide platter.

So I'm gonna add 2 ounces of Cotija, crumbled.

-Nice.

Salty.

-Now, see how all the bites are gonna have cheese?- -[ Laughs ] Yeah!

-And I have 1/4 cup of Mexican crema right over the top.

-And if you can't find crema at your supermarket, we've got a great substitute recipe for it on our website.

Whoa.

This is a little bit more than just my sautéed corn and butter.

Hot dog.

This looks amazing.

-[ Laughs ] -Oh, my goodness!

Mmm!

I just put a whole shovelful in my mouth.

I got lots of that chorizo.

Pickled shallots are incredible.

Really, really bright.

Ohh!

So herby, too.

-The brightness of the shallots and the lime juice plays off that salty Cotija.

-Again, I keep going back to the chorizo because I saw you rendering the fat in the pan.

And it is all over everything.

It's beautiful.

All the spices that are in the chorizo.

It's a wonder ingredient because you don't have to add a lot more.

-Exactly.

-There's so much going on on this plate.

Thanks so much, Lawman.

-You're welcome.

-Well, if you want to take summer corn and turn it into something spectacular, it starts by browning flavorful chorizo in a skillet.

Add corn, fresh oregano, and then cook them until lightly charred.

And finish the dish with quick pickled shallots, Cotija, and crema.

So, from "Cook's Country," skillet corn with Mexican chorizo.

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

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

Mmm!

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

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

CooksCountry.com/tv.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

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