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," Morgan and I make tuna poke and salmon teriyaki poke, Jack and Julia taste freeze-dried backpacking meals, and Christie makes malasadas.

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

The Hawaiian word "poke" means to cut or slice.

It's also the name of a wildly popular dish of seasoned raw fish, and it is showing up in fast-casual restaurants all over the mainland.

Morgan is here.

She's going to tell us how to make it at home.

-Yeah.

And we're going to make two versions today.

Actually, I'm going to make one, and you're going to make one.

-Okay.

-I have some fish here, of course.

Fish is the most important part of poke.

You can see here I have a pound of salmon.

Now, this is farm-raised salmon.

I'm actually checking to see if there are any pin bones.

Often, the fishmonger will remove them, but I like to just drape it over a bowl, and then you can see them poke out if they're in there.

And then take the pliers and actually pull them in the same direction that the fish is going.

And that'll avoid damaging the fish.

When you're shopping for your fish for poke, you really want to start talking to your fishmonger.

So you want to tell them that you're planning to serve it raw and ask when it came in.

Ideally, it should have come in within a day.

And then you also want to look at the fish.

So it should be moist but not wet.

It should also smell clean but not fishy.

And then when you press it, it should just give a little bit but not actually, like, hold any sort of dent.

It shouldn't be soft.

So this is looking great.

I'm going to actually cut this into 3/4-inch pieces.

I like to use a ruler for the first one to kind of guide myself along.

And then from there, I have a model piece, so...

I'm also using farm-raised salmon here.

It's not wild salmon.

I love wild salmon to cook with, but farm-raised salmon goes through a specific kind of inspection by the FDA, and it has to be frozen a certain amount of time, and that kills off any parasites.

It sounds more scary than it is.

When you actually are cooking wild salmon or farm-raised salmon, it would kill off anything.

But if you're serving it raw, you really want to go farm-raised.

-I really love that you mentioned the food-safety aspect here, because I bet this is the kind of dish that would make people at home feel a little bit intimidated because of the safety concerns.

-And I think a lot of people are intimidated to serve -- I was going to say cook raw fish -- but serve raw fish at home.

But I think it's actually not that hard.

You just have to be really careful and thoughtful about it.

Once you know the basics of it, like, you know to talk to your fishmonger, you know what to look for with raw fish... You can even see how I'm storing these.

Like, your fish is being held over ice.

As soon as I cut this, I'm going to put this back over ice.

It is very important to keep your fish really, really cold while you're cutting and while you're prepping it.

This also is meant to be served cold.

Honestly, when I get this back from the fishmonger, I'll store it in the fridge over ice because it's actually even colder than the fridge.

Okay, so now, your turn.

So time for you to cut your tuna.

This is a pound of yellowfin tuna, and I've already cut into planks for you that should be 3/4-inch thick.

-And we want to make the same dices here, about 3/4 of an inch?

-Exactly.

So that's beautiful.

-This is just so lovely and buttery.

I can already tell.

The texture of it is great.

-Yeah.

And it's so vibrant.

It's stunningly pretty.

-So I will put mine back on ice, as you did.

-Yep.

We got to keep it cold.

So I'm going to quickly wash my hands.

Okay.

So for our two different kinds of poke, I have two different sauces.

For the salmon one, I'm doing something that's inspired by Martha Cheng's cookbook, "The Poke Cookbook."

-Love that.

-I'm making a teriyaki-style sauce for it.

So here I have 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of mirin, which is a sweet sort of wine, and then I have 2 teaspoons of ginger and one minced garlic clove.

Now, to dissolve the sugar, I'm actually going to pop this in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, until it's nice and steamy.

[ Microwave beeps ] So, nice and steamy.

And I'm just going to stir this to dissolve that sugar.

So it's going to need to cool.

I don't want to actually cook any fish with this.

And while that cools, we can make your sauce.

-All right.

-You'll see you have 1/4 cup of onion.

So this is sweet onion.

It's really important to use a sweet onion here because it's a little more mild, and the fish is so mild, you want something nice and mild to go with it.

To that, you're going to also add 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.

-Okay.

-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for you.

2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil.

2 teaspoons of ginger.

And a garlic clove, a minced garlic clove.

Got you some heat -- 3/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

-That's quite a bit of heat.

-So you're just going to stir yours together.

-Okay.

-And you're not going to cook yours.

So, actually, with yours, it's so nice because it's so bright, it's so fresh.

It's a little more of a nod to that traditional version, which typically was just fish and seaweed and salt or soy.

-Right.

Okay.

That looks like that's well-mixed.

-Great.

I'm going to pop my teriyaki one in the fridge for about 15 minutes to cool down, and then we can also pop our fish in the fridge, and then we can get the other pieces together because we need a few crunchy elements in here.

-Sounds good.

-So like all good things, poke needs some textures.

So I've got some different things going on.

I'm going to add one small avocado.

I've seen people cut them all different ways.

I really like to just put them almost like I'm shucking an oyster or something.

Like, I put a towel over my hand to protect it, and then I cut it all the way around.

And this way, if my knife slips or anything, my hand is well-covered.

And then pop it open.

I mean, people have different ways of doing this.

Again, as long as my hand's protected, I'll just go in with my knife and get that pit and just give it a little twist.

So now I'm just peeling off the skin so that it's nice and easy to access, and then I'm going to cut them into 1/2-inch pieces.

So it's going to add some nice creaminess next to that fatty salmon.

I'm just going to add these to a bowl, where I'm going to add all my ingredients here.

So then I also have an English cucumber.

So for this, I'm actually only going to use about a quarter of it.

I'm looking for about 1/2 cup.

So this is really nice because you don't have to peel it.

So I'm just going to cut a tiny bit off, give myself a nice, flat surface to work off of, and then cut 1/2-inch pieces.

So I've got my 1/2 cup there.

I also have one Fresno chili here.

I actually like to just press them down and get really nice, thin half rings.

And then one more crunch-factor ingredient -- some scallions.

So I'm actually going to separate my whites and my greens with this.

I'm going to slice these all thin on a bias.

My whites go into this bowl with the mix-ins.

I'm going to put aside the greens as a garnish.

So now, your turn.

-Okay.

-So for you, I also have three scallions.

Again, you're going to do your whites and greens separately.

Yeah, I feel like it's nice.

Yours has both those sweet onions and the scallions, so you get a lot of different allium flavor going on.

The only crunch factor I have for you right now is these macadamia nuts.

For you, I have 1/3 cup of salted, dry-roasted macadamia nuts.

The original version had a nut called a kukui nut.

That's a very mild, fatty nut, like a macadamia nut.

You can mail order kukui nuts, but it's a little harder, and this is available at most grocery stores.

So you're trying to get these pretty fine.

I think you're looking pretty good.

That looks pretty finely chopped to me.

And now it's time to assemble, so we can just grab our stuff out of the fridge.

Toni, look at all these beautiful colors.

It is time for us to assemble our poke.

-Smells so amazing in here.

-I know.

I am going to add to my salmon, I'm going to add that teriyaki mixture that I made.

It's cooled off now.

2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil to mine, a teaspoon of kosher salt.

I am going to add in all these crunchy, creamy elements.

So I have my English cucumber, my avocado, my Fresno chili, and those scallion whites.

Now, I'm going to really gently toss this because that fish is pretty delicate.

I also have an avocado in here that's pretty soft.

So I'm just going to kind of nicely fold it.

I do want to incorporate everything in there, but just nice and gently.

Okay, so this one is ready.

It is time for you now.

-Okay.

-Add that dressing to your tuna.

You have your dressing, you have your tuna.

So now it's time for the nuts.

-That looks like a lot.

-It does look like a lot.

But they're good.

They're a fun little treat in there.

And then scallion whites only, not the greens yet.

-The whites.

Right.

-And then you're also going to gently fold yours.

-Okay.

And, yes, spinning the bowl is part of the folding process.

-Gosh, I just -- Like, this is one of those foods that it just, as you watch it, it just becomes more beautiful.

-Yeah.

-Fish is glistening, everything's nicely coated, and you can smell that ginger, you can smell that garlic.

For our already beautiful dish, we have our scallion greens that we can sprinkle on top.

You can sprinkle yours, as well.

-Okay.

-So I also have some furikake.

Now, this is a Japanese seasoning.

You can often find this in the grocery store or order it online.

This one has some seaweed in it, it's got some bonito flakes, and it's got some sesame seeds, so it adds a really nice crunch, a really nice savoriness.

-That's pretty.

-It is really pretty.

-Okay.

-And it's the moment.

Time to eat.

Now, I'll get you some of the salmon if you would trade me some tuna.

-I will do that.

-I'm so excited.

I can't tell which one I'm more excited for.

So you want to make sure you get all the crunchy and creamy elements in here, all the textures.

-Right.

Oh, I'm so excited to try these.

-Me too.

I don't know which one to start with.

Okay, we'll start with tuna.

-Okay.

With the tuna.

-Mm-hmm.

-You can really taste that ginger.

It's just popping out of the fish.

-I know.

It's so fresh and so elegant.

-And the little bit of the crunch of the nuts adds just the right texture.

-Mm-hmm.

I love how cold it is.

I feel like that's actually really nice.

-I think so, too.

-I feel like it, like, adds to it.

I think the fish is so rich, and then, like, you get a little bit of almost -- It's not quite creaminess but just richness from that dressing.

Then you get those nuts and the different, like -- the scallion whites.

You get all these different textures.

-There's a buttery quality.

Love it.

Shall we move to the... -The salmon teriyaki.

-Now, this one makes me feel like I want to make sure I can get all of those crunchy elements in every bite.

I know that's impossible, but... -That was so good of you.

I just went in straight for the salmon.

I was like, "This is great."

-Wow, that's completely different.

-I know!

But it's still -- Like, I love the teriyaki because it's a little sweet, with that sugar and the mirin, the creamy avocado, crunchy cucumber.

-It's really nice.

So good.

-Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

I kind of feel like we're in Hawaii.

-Thank you, Morgan.

-Thank you, Toni.

It was fun to get to cook or, I guess, just cut with you.

-I loved cutting with you, too.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

-And if you would like to make our delicious light and fresh pokes at home, keep your fish fresh and cold, whip up a flavorful sauce, and add some nuts or vegetables for a crunchy element.

From "Cook's Country," light and delicious salmon teriyaki poke and tuna poke.

This was so good, Morgan.

I think I might make this as an appetizer at my next dinner party.

-Well, as long as I'm invited, I'm in.

-All right.

You are.

-If you're an avid hiker, you know how hard it can be to make a healthy, hearty meal after a long day on the trail.

And luckily, there's a new batch of freeze-dried meals that are supposed to be light as air and easy to carry.

-Yeah.

I want you to hold this because it's almost like air.

-Oh, my goodness!

-That's dinner.

-This weighs nothing.

-Yeah.

There's no chopping involved.

You simply open the bag, add the water, close the bag, sit around for a couple minutes, and dinner is served.

-Oh, wow!

-And we tasted 22 of these meals.

This one actually comes with a flavor packet of chicken broth.

If you look inside the bags... -Oh, wow!

-...you're thinking, "Okay"... -Astronaut food.

-..."astronaut food."

-Yeah!

-It doesn't look that promising.

-You know, it's better than some of the stuff I've eaten on the trail, so I'm interested.

-I'm going to taste with you.

-Okay.

-We're going to start with a chili mac and cheese.

-That sounds good.

-Let's dig in and see what we think.

Could be better.

I mean, the chilies are okay, but there's not enough cheese in this one.

-I could make this without buying a fancy packet.

-We can do better.

And so, I'm going to start with one of the ones that we really liked from a company called Peak Refuel.

And this is beef stroganoff.

You know, this has got noodles in it, so it's the entire stroganoff, the meat, the sauce, and the noodles.

-Oh, it's got meat in here.

That's the hardest thing when you're on the trail, getting enough protein, and meat is not something that backpacks easily.

-It's actually kind of good.

When we did the tasting, people were hiding the leftovers to take them home.

-I love that.

Mmm!

-It's creamy.

It's delicious.

The mushrooms are nice.

The beef is a nice texture.

-Yeah!

-The noodles are not soggy.

-Nope.

This is great.

-Next up, we have something from a company called Packit Gourmet.

And this is Dottie's Chicken and Dumplings.

-Ooh!

-They're trying to do a lot of things.

This is actually the packet I opened up.

-Oh, is it really?

-That was the before.

This is the after.

-The after looks a lot better.

-It's almost like chicken and slicks.

-Yeah!

-What I'm surprised about this one is the vegetables still have some texture.

-Oh, they do.

And color.

-It's got that little packet of chicken broth, gives it a nice chicken flavor.

It's kind of homey tasting.

-Yep.

-And would be something that I'd be really happy to have at the end of a long day on the trail.

-Exactly.

-For me, though, desserts are always the biggest issue.

It's like, "Okay"... -Dessert.

[ Laughing ] -Well -- Well, it's like, "Okay, you're going to have raisins or dried apricots," right?

-It's true, it's true.

-Like, that's dessert.

-No.

I want banana pudding, okay?

-Oh, really?!

-Yeah.

So this is also from Packit Gourmet.

-All right.

What are the chunks in there?

-You tell me what you think they are.

-Mmm!

Freeze-dried bananas.

-It's freeze-dried banana.

There's pieces of, like, cake/cookie in this.

-This is really good.

You'd kind of knock the socks off your camping buddies.

-It's really good.

And again, all of these, you simply open the package, add the boiling water, close it up, wait, and then you are ready to dine.

-Ooh!

And there's a little coconut in there.

Mmm!

-So, you ready to hit the trail?

-This is really impressive.

I think these kind of have a life outside of hiking.

I mean, if you were making an emergency kit in your basement, some of these would be perfect.

-All right, at least you're not going to do a dinner party.

-Jack, thank you.

This was really eye-opening.

-I agree.

-So next time you're ready to hit the trail, stock up on some good dinner options.

-Today we're making malasadas, which are fried pieces of dough, kind of like a doughnut.

Now, they're beloved all around the world, especially in Portuguese-settled communities, including those in Hawaii.

Now, that's where we took our inspiration.

And here to show us more about malasadas is Christie.

-Bridget, malasadas are not just doughnuts without a hole.

-Right.

-These have a distinctive texture.

They're kind of crispy on the outside.

They're soft and chewy on the inside.

And they have a slightly eggy flavor that's just fantastic.

So they may have originated in Portugal, but you can find them all over the United States.

-Right.

-And we're going to make them today.

-Yeah, I love that, in Hawaii, Fat Tuesday, the Tuesday before Lent, is sometimes referred to as Malasada Day.

-What a day to look forward to.

So we want to make sure that we're doing these right.

We want to make sure we get that correct, slightly chewy texture.

And so, we're going to start with bread flour.

-Okay.

-You know, bread flour has a higher amount of protein, which is going to allow us to develop more gluten, which is going to give us more structure and more chew.

-Right.

-I have 2 1/4 cups of bread flour here.

-Okay.

-And to that, I'm going to add 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant or rapid-rise yeast, and 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.

-Okay.

-That's the dry part of the mix.

-Okay.

-Now, malasadas get their richness from a combination of dairy and eggs.

-Okay.

-So I have two whole eggs, large, as well as 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter that I've melted and then cooled.

-Let it cool.

-And you see all kinds of dairy, from half-and-half to evaporated milk is very common.

-Right, right.

-But we actually liked the flavor and texture of whole milk.

So we're using 3/4 cup of whole milk.

So I'll just whisk this together, make sure those eggs are broken up.

And now we'll add it to our dry mixture.

So I have my dough hook on, and I'm going to start this on low speed, and we'll let this go just until everything has combined.

It'll take about two minutes until it looks like an actual dough.

-Okay.

-Okay, so now it's starting to look like a dough.

-A beautifully sticky dough.

-And we want it to get even stickier.

So we're going to let this go on medium speed now for about eight minutes, until we have a really nice, uniform dough that looks shiny and sticky, okay?

-Okay.

Shiny and sticky.

Got it.

-Yes.

Eight minutes.

-All right.

-Thank you.

-Yeah.

-Okay, Bridget, obviously, we can see that the dough has come together.

-Ooh, stretchy!

-Right?

It looks nice and smooth.

-Good gluten.

-Right.

It's got stretch, but it's also high-hydration dough, which is going to make the dough light and chewy.

But you know what the downside of a high-hydration dough is.

-It's a little sticky.

-It's very sticky.

-Yes.

-So I have a bowl scraper here that I've sprayed with vegetable oil spray.

-Okay.

-And I'm going to put this all into a greased large bowl.

-Lovely dough, though.

-Mm-hmm.

Now, I'm just going to cover this, and we're going to let this rise at room temperature until it's doubled in size, which will take about an hour and a half to two hours, depending on the temperature of your room.

-Okay.

-Bridget, this dough has definitely doubled in size.

-It's gorgeous.

-It's just grown.

-That's a good sign.

-One step closer in our malasada journey.

Now, instead of getting our whole counter all sticky... -Right.

-...we're going to confine our space and use a rimmed baking sheet.

-Okay!

-So I have a tablespoon of vegetable oil, and I'm going to pour that in here and just spread that around.

Actually, you know what?

I'm just going to use my fingers because I need to get my fingers greasy before we do this.

So I'll take my dough.

Oh, I don't even have to use -- -Yeah.

-Look at that.

It's like, "Please let me out."

[ Both laugh ] Now, we're just going to take this dough... -Oh, my gosh.

-...and spread it out in the pan.

I'm going to deflate any, you know, big bubbles.

Just press it out a bit.

Now, these are only supposed to be about 3/8, so slightly less than 1/2 inch thick.

-Okay.

-So you can spread them out a good bit.

Now, I have my bench scraper here, and I'm even going to give that a little rub with some of the grease that's on my hands so it will release.

And I'm going to divide this up.

I want 12 pieces.

-Okay.

-So that's why I was trying to get it into a fairly even rectangle, just so I know that my pieces are even.

I like using a bench scraper because it's sharp enough to cut through dough, but especially when you have slippery hands and slippery surfaces, it's much safer to use than a knife.

-Very good.

-I'm going to go four this way.

All right, now, we're just going to take these -- make sure they're separate -- and then we're just going to take your fingers and kind of work these out, more or less, into a disc shape.

-Okay.

-I mean, they're really almost there.

We're just going to kind of make them a little bit rounder and flatten them out if we've got any big bubbles.

-Oh, and these basically will bend to any shape you want them to be in.

-They're little blobs of potential.

-That's right.

-[ Laughs ] -Look at these.

-I think they look pretty good.

-I think -- I think they look spectacular.

-All right, so I'm going to take my plastic wrap from before, and we'll just cover this, and we're going to let this proof until they're nice and puffy.

And that'll take about half an hour.

-Oh, not long at all.

-No.

Bridget, look how nice and puffy our little discs are.

-Just a little bit puffy.

-Mm-hmm.

After 30 minutes.

So now they're ready to fry.

-Okay.

-I have two quarts of vegetable oil in my large Dutch oven.

It's over medium-high heat.

And I wanted to get the oil all the way up to 350 degrees.

-Okay, gotcha.

-We want to keep it between 325 and 350 the whole time we're frying.

-So it's going to get a really nice, crisp exterior.

-Mm-hmm.

-[ Clicks tongue ] Nice.

-And we're only going to do four at a time.

We're going to do three batches so we don't overcrowd the oil and drop the temperature too drastically.

Now, I am going to use some of this oil that's still here on the pan to very carefully pick these up and drop them in.

-I do love that you're kind of putting them away from you.

So if there is any splattering of oil, it's going to happen over there.

-[ Laughs ] -But you're doing this beautifully.

-Thank you.

-Mmm!

-And these are only going to take about three minutes, and I'll flip them halfway through.

-Okay, great.

-I can see they're getting some nice color.

Beautiful.

-[ Gasps ] -Give them a flip.

You're just a little excited.

I know.

-That's a good sound.

-Okay, it's been about another minute and a half.

Let's see what the other side -- Ohh!

-Oh, beautiful.

-Look at that.

-Perfection!

Ahh!

-Oh, that is nice.

All right, so I'm going to very carefully remove these.

I have a wire rack set inside another rimmed baking sheet.

And I'll just transfer these.

All right, this oil has to come back up to 350 before we can do the next batch.

-Right.

-So we're going to toss these in some sugar while they're still nice and warm.

-Love it.

-So I have a cup of granulated sugar here.

I'm just going to give them a little toss.

-Mmm!

Yes!

-We'll kick it old school here.

-Mmm!

-Okay, second batch.

-Yes.

-All right, I'm going to get a little greasy again.

All right, my heat is back up to 350.

It's actually dipped a little bit now -- 340.

-That's all right.

-That's okay.

It's in the window.

-Yes!

-And we're just going to cook this another three minutes total, flipping halfway, and we'll sugar each batch as they come out.

-Love it.

-Are you ready?

-Yes!

-Can you smell?

-Yes!

-Oh, it's that, like, just fried... -Ohh!

-Three batches done.

-These are gorgeous.

Oh, still warm.

Gorgeous.

-There's nothing like the smell of a freshly-made malasada.

-They float away.

-Mm-hmm.

-But not fast enough.

I'm going to catch one.

-Okay.

Mmm.

-Heavenly.

-Mm-hmm.

-Ethereal, puffed, angelic, gorgeous.

-[ Laughs ] -Mmm!

-You are the queen of synonyms.

-Crispy exterior is gorgeous.

-Mm-hmm.

But it's -- it's a little chewy, but it's also soft.

-Yeah.

-It's like a delicate chew.

-Oh, these are gorgeous.

Look at that beautiful crumb inside.

Cooked all the way through.

-Well, I think it's helpful that they were kind of thin.

-Mm-hmm.

-You know, we stretched them out, and they weren't that thick to start with.

They're so puffy.

And, oh, my goodness.

And not too sweet.

-Mnh-mnh.

You do get a little sweetness from the sugar, obviously.

But the dough itself, it just really contrasts that.

These are gorgeous.

You definitely have to make these beautiful doughnuts at home, and it starts with bread flour and milk to make a sticky dough.

Pat the dough into rounds and then fry and toss in sugar.

It doesn't get much better than this.

So, from "Cook's Country," malasadas.

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.

All right, I'll share.

-[ Laughs ] You're too good to me.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for fail-proof recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews -- CooksCountry.com/tv.

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