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 shows Julia a version of okra and shrimp stew.

I share the story of the Gullah Geechee people in the Carolina Lowcountry.

Adam reviews lightweight Dutch ovens, and Julia makes pickled shrimp.

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

-Okra and shrimp stew is a classic Lowcountry dish, and Morgan's here to tell us more.

-Yeah, Julia, so this is brought to us by Amethyst Ganaway, who's a recipe developer from North Charleston, South Carolina -- the Lowcountry.

-Yep.

-And she actually learned this recipe from her grandmother, which makes me so happy, because I think grandmothers are the best cooks.

-Mm-hmm.

I agree.

-And her grandmother would start with a smoked ham hock, so she would make a ham hock broth.

Here, I have a pound of smoked ham hocks I'm gonna add to 4 quarts of water.

It's a really simple broth.

-Yeah.

-So I'm also going to add one onion that I'm going to quarter through the root end.

-And that's just to make it easier to fish out later.

-Exactly.

So I'm going to cut it into 4 pieces, keep that root end intact.

Easy in, easy out.

And then I also have a bay leaf.

Just a little extra flavor.

I'm going to bring it to a boil over high heat.

We're boiling.

I'm going to reduce this to medium-low and put the lid on slightly ajar.

This way it'll evaporate a little bit, concentrate those flavors a little bit, but you still have a good amount of control.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I'm just going to let this simmer until that ham hock is nice and tender, which will take about 3 hours.

-While the marshy coastal area of South Carolina known as the Lowcountry charms tourists, it offers much more than a beach vacation.

The Lowcountry is home to the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of West Africans who were sought after and enslaved for their rice-farming skills.

The Gullah applied African cooking techniques to ingredients that were readily accessible -- fresh seafood, wild game -- and African foods like rice, okra, peanuts, and benne seeds.

Many Gullah dishes such as Frogmore stew, Hoppin' John, and shrimp and grits are now known outside the Lowcountry.

One of the most popular is okra gumbo, sometimes known as shrimp and okra stew.

The rich combination of tender okra, savory meat broth, and sweet seafood has invited various adaptations over the years, but the oldest was published in 1881 by Abby Fisher in her cookbook "What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking."

We hope that our recipe at "Cook's Country" lives up to Abby Fisher's remarkable legacy.

-Okay, it's been 3 hours and you can start to smell it.

-You really can smell it.

-Hello.

-Ooh.

-This is like liquid gold in cooking.

It's smoky.

It's porky.

It's rich.

It's like a backbone to so many soups and stews.

I'm going to just go ahead and discard this onion and bay leaf.

They have already done all the work they're going to do.

I mean, I would be happy to drink this plain.

It's like an elixir, I think.

-[ Laughs ] -But you also can use it for collards.

You could use it for Hoppin' John.

You can cook, like, green beans in it.

It just has so much flavor going on.

So I'm going to put these ham hocks here to cool.

I am going to use those later.

Now I'm going to measure out some of this broth.

I want to make sure I have 8 cups to start with, and that's just to make sure I have the right stew texture at the end.

-On the nose.

-Nice.

If you have extra, you can just save it, use it for all sorts of stuff.

Too little, you can just add water.

Totally fine.

Now I'm going to use the same pot to start the base of the stew.

So I have a tablespoon of veg oil.

I'm just gonna heat this over medium-high heat.

And the only thing better than a smoked pork broth is more smoked pork.

-[ Laughs ] -So here I have 12 ounces of andouille sausage.

-I want to say, that is the most beautiful piece of andouille I have ever seen.

-Yeah, this is a specialty brand.

And so this is actually a little thicker than a lot of andouille you buy.

I'm going to cut it in half lengthwise.

If you have something that's a little thinner, you don't need to go through that.

I'm going to cut this into 1/4-inch thick pieces.

Just go down with my knife.

Andouille is actually already cooked, but I am going to brown it... -Mm-hmm.

-...just because then it helps render out some of this fat.

You can see how there's a lot of nice fat in this.

-Yeah.

-And it's going to add some nice extra richness to the stew, a little roasty flavor.

I'm going to actually turn it cut-side down and I want both sides to get nice and browned.

Just arrange them.

It's like pork jigsaw over here.

-[ Chuckles ] That's a good smell.

-I'm just going to let this go until it's lightly browned on both sides, which will take about 5 minutes total.

So it's been about 5 minutes, and you can see how nice and brown these are.

-Mmm!

And it left a nice fond in the bottom of the pot.

-Yeah, you can see a little bit of pork fat in there.

I'm going to turn this off just so they don't overcook at all.

And then we can build the rest of our stew.

-Okay.

-Of course, you can't have okra and shrimp stew without okra.

-[ Laughs ] Nice.

And I'm glad to see you have fresh okra here.

-This recipe does actually work well with frozen or fresh, but when I get fresh, I like to use it.

-Mm-hmm.

-So to prep okra, I just cut off the top and then the bottom.

-Mmm.

-And then I cut this into -inch pieces.

-And that's what it looks like when it comes frozen too.

-Yeah.

Often when it comes frozen, you don't have to do any prep on it.

-Now, okra is the edible seed pod from a plant in the mallow family.

And as Morgan said, you can find it fresh or frozen, but if you're buying it fresh, which I recommend, look for pods that are 3 inches or smaller, because if they're much larger than that, the okra tends to be a little tough.

-Yeah, I feel like okra sort of gets a bad rep.

It's such a bummer to me because it has so much good potential.

Like, it has a pretty mild flavor... -Mm-hmm.

-...but I think people think of it as slimy, and it can be a little slimy sometimes.

But what it really can do in something like this is it thickens the stew, so it adds this really nice body and creaminess to it.

-Mm-hmm.

So how much okra is in this stew?

-This is a pound of okra before prepping.

So now I have my ham hocks from earlier.

A lot of people aren't too familiar with ham hocks.

I grew up with them in the South, so I love them.

There's a little bit of edible meat in here.

So this part is not.

That's very gelatinous.

It has nice smoke flavor, so it's great for broths, but this little pink meat in here is, like -- -Oh, so good.

It's like the best-tasting ham you've ever had.

-Exactly.

It's so salty, smoky.

It's kind of like barbecue, but it's a little more, like, deep and dark.

-It actually never makes it into my recipes because those just become little nibbles for the person cooking.

-I know, they're like -- they're like chef snacks.

But it's worth scavenging these to get all you can.

This I'm just going to chop up.

Honestly, you could shred this.

It's so tender at this point after that 3-hour cook.

-Aww, such a little pile of ham hock meat.

-I know, but it's so delicious.

It's worth it.

Sometimes you can see them if they have a big pocket of pink meat.

Those are the ones you want to look for.

But sometimes you just get these, and you still got all that delicious broth from this, so... -That's right.

-So I'm going to put this back over heat, medium-high, and I'm going to add this broth from earlier.

And then my pound of okra.

I'm just adding everything in and then letting it simmer and let time do the work.

-Okay.

-And then I have my little bit of meat.

Here, I have a cup and a of baby lima beans.

-Mm-hmm.

-You don't want the big ones.

They can be a little starchy.

You don't want full-size adult lima beans.

These are also called butter beans.

-Yeah.

-So I'm gonna add these right in.

You can see they're still frozen.

Just letting them simmer.

They become a little more creamy this way.

I also have a can of diced tomatoes.

This is just a standard 14.5-ounce can.

-I love how easy this is.

-Yeah.

2 teaspoons of table salt.

We didn't add any salt to the broth earlier because the ham hocks have a good amount of salt.

I have a teaspoon of pepper, a teaspoon of onion powder, and then I also have a double dose of garlic.

-[ Chuckles ] -So I've got 4 minced garlic cloves that give it a little bit more of a fresh bite.

And a teaspoon of granulated garlic.

-Ooh, I love the one-two punch of garlic.

I actually learned this trick just a few years ago, and now it's a standard in my household to use fresh and powder.

-It's like a pro-tip.

-[ Chuckles ] -And then a teaspoon of paprika.

I'm just going to stir everything together.

It's over high heat right now.

Once it comes to a boil, I'm just going to reduce it to medium and let it simmer until it's a stew-like consistency, which will take about an hour.

-Okay.

-So you can see it definitely looks different.

-It smells delicious.

-Yeah.

So it smells nice and smoky, and you can see how it's definitely thickened a good amount.

The okra's done its job.

-Yeah, but I like how the sauce straddles that line between soup and stew.

-Mm-hmm.

-So it's a brothy stew.

-Yes.

I'm gonna turn this down to low.

Let that go just a few more minutes.

And of course, you can't have okra and shrimp stew without shrimp.

-Finally.

-Finally, the shrimp.

So I have a pound of 26/30 shrimp.

-Mm-hmm.

-Ultimately, I want them to be about the same size as the butter beans or the okra, so everything sits on your spoon nicely.

-Makes sense.

-So I'm just going to cut them into thirds.

Very simple.

-These have already been peeled and deveined.

-Already peeled and deveined, making prep work easy.

So this is already over low heat.

I'm just going to add in my shrimp and let them cook nice and gently.

You don't want to overcook them.

-Alright, just stir them in.

-Yes, please.

-They're submerged.

-So I'm just going to cook this 3 minutes until the shrimp are just opaque.

So you can see the shrimp are cooked through.

-Mm-hmm.

-They're just opaque.

-That looks delicious.

Now, we're going to serve it over rice... -Yeah.

-...so that sauce has something to dig into.

-Yes.

So here you go.

-Oh!

-Look, I got you some -- a little bit of ham hock.

-Oh, good looking out.

-A little gold.

Okay.

-Put a little more sauce up -- a little more liquid.

Yeah.

-Yeah.

Let's give you a little more of this delicious broth.

-Oh, yeah.

-Okay.

-Oh, that smells amazing, Morgan.

-Yeah, I love the smell of this.

It makes your whole kitchen smell delicious.

-[ Chuckles ] It makes the whole neighborhood smell delicious.

-Yeah.

-This is the kind of thing where people outside of your house know you're cooking something good.

-Oh, yeah, I know.

This is how you win over neighbors and friends.

-[ Laughs ] -Before you dig in, Amethyst said she would serve it with hot sauce to cut through some of the richness.

-Mmm.

-So I have hot sauce for us.

-Alright.

I'm a big hot sauce fan.

Mmm.

-I went for the broth first, so mine's, like, smoky, porky, rich.

But there's so much more going on than just that.

You get the shrimp and the vegetables.

-And the okra really has a silky texture.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it thickened that broth nicely.

The broth, it was so simple.

There's not many ingredients, but it has such a depth of flavor.

-Exactly, and then the okra just does its magic to it and, like, becomes so creamy and rich.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it, like you said, it hovers that texture between a soup and a stew.

-And I agree with Amethyst that a little bit of hot sauce is perfect.

-Mm-hmm.

So good.

-Morgan, this is absolutely delicious.

Thank you for showing me how to make it.

-Well, thank you for cooking with me.

-So if you want to make this classic Lowcountry dish, start by making a broth with ham hocks, simmer the stew uncovered to help it thicken, and add the shrimp at the very end.

From "Cook's Country," a terrific recipe for okra and shrimp stew.

-Ooh, I think I got a little ham hock nugget in here.

-Oh, that's the lucky bite.

-Mm-hmm.

-You won the lottery.

-Mm-hmm.

-My favorite Dutch oven sits with a place of pride on my stovetop, partially because I use it so much, but mostly because it's so heavy.

So Adam's here, and he's going to tell us all about lightweight Dutch ovens.

Now, we want a lightweight Dutch oven, but we don't want a Dutch oven that's a lightweight.

-That is very true.

That one -- our favorite -- you know that's heavy.

Weighs almost 13 pounds.

That's too much for a lot of cooks.

So -- -That's without stew in it.

-[ Chuckles ] Exactly.

So we were looking for a lighter-weight alternative.

We have eight different pots here.

The price range was $40 at the low to $295 at the top.

We did not go by nomenclature here.

When we were shopping for the pots, the name Dutch oven gets thrown on all different kinds of pots.

We were going more by capacity and dimensions.

-Okay.

-These all have a capacity of 6 to 7 quarts.

They're all much lighter weight than the big guy there.

About 6 pounds at the maximum.

-Oh, okay.

-And that's with the lid, which is usually a pound or 2.

-Right.

-And the side heights are all right around 6 inches.

-Okay.

-Now, I'll tell you, the ones that did the best in the cooking tests were the tri-ply models.

These two are a clad construction, and tri-ply means there's three layers of metal, a core of aluminum, which is superconductive and distributes heat evenly, sandwiched in exterior and interior layers of stainless steel, which is durable and non-reactive.

-And easy to clean.

-Easy to clean -- key.

These things did a terrific job at searing meat because they heat up quickly and transfer that heat pretty evenly.

They did a nice job of developing fond, which as we know, is the king of flavor.

-That's right.

-You got to have the fond.

We baked bread in these also because that's a super popular technique.

-Mm-hmm.

-For bread baking, you're gonna want to stick to that really heavy cast-iron model.

-Because it really keeps its heat.

-It retains the heat like a pro.

-Yep.

-Another thing that testers like just were a few physical characteristics -- the design factors, if you will.

One of them is the cooking area.

At least 9 inches.

Wanted it to be as generous as possible.

The other thing is the side height.

This one is about an inch lower than some of the others.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's 6 inches tall, and that just made it easier to get in there with utensils to see what's going on.

Also, the handles mattered.

Bigger handles are better because these things get filled with food, you're wearing oven mitts.

Small handles like that -- not so good.

-Mm.

No, you could only use a couple of fingers to get this out of the oven.

-Exactly, and that's -- it gets bulky with the oven mitts.

So the winner was this number right here.

This is the All-Clad D3 stainless stockpot with the lid, 6-quart size.

Terrific pot.

We love the construction, we love the performance.

We love the materials.

We love the dimensions.

The price we loved a little less.

It was pretty steep at $295.

-Oh, okay.

-So there is a best buy.

This is the Tramontina 6-quart tri-ply clad stainless steel pot.

It shared materials and construction with the winning pot.

It was a lot less expensive at $120.

-Huh.

-You have to give up about 2 inches of cooking space, but if it fits the budget, it'll do a good job.

-And they're both 6 quart.

-And they're both 6 quarts.

-There you go.

If you want to buy the winning lightweight Dutch oven, it's the All-Clad D3 stainless stockpot.

It's 6 quarts and it runs $295.

Or if you want to go for the best buy, it is the Tramontina 6-quart tri-ply clad stainless steel pot, and it runs $120.

You know, one of the best perks of my job is I get to travel with the fabulous Julia, and we go everywhere.

Now, on a recent trip to Charleston, we ate a huge seafood tower.

It was magnificent.

It was filled with clams, all sorts of oysters, condiments, and something called pickled shrimp, which I couldn't get enough of.

Luckily for me, Julia's here, and she's going to make pickled shrimp today.

-Mm-hmm.

Now, this recipe was inspired by that style we had on that seafood tower, which was glorious.

-That was some time.

-I've become a huge fan of pickled shrimp since our visit, and it's almost replaced shrimp cocktail in my house... which, you know in my house... -Ooh.

-...shrimp cocktail is a big deal.

-It's a huge deal.

-Yeah, but this has more flavor.

It's more interesting, and it's easy to make.

-Okay.

-So we're going to start with 2 pounds of shrimp.

Now, these are extra large, the 21/25, and they've been P&D -- peeled and deveined.

-Oh, that's the industry speak.

-It is, 'cause sometimes it says that on the bag.

-Right.

-And when you're buying shrimp, if you're buying frozen shrimp, you want to look at the ingredient lists because, as you know, you only want to see one ingredient on that bag.

-Shrimp.

-You got it.

Anything else means there are preservatives and the shrimp aren't going to taste as good.

-Exactly.

-Okay.

So now we're going to cook them, and we're going to cook them really gently, almost like potatoes, because we're starting in cold water.

-Okay.

-So this is 4 cups of cold water.

We're going to add 2 teaspoons of salt.

We're going to add the shrimp right to the cold water.

Put this over medium-high heat.

We're going to bring the water up to a temperature of 170 degrees.

That's 5 to 7 minutes.

And then we're going to take it off the heat and let them finish poaching.

-Interesting.

-Mm-hmm.

Nice and gentle.

That way they stay good and juicy and don't taste like rubber.

-Okay.

-This has been cooking for about 6 minutes.

And again, we're looking for the temperature of the water to be 170 degrees.

There we go.

Perfect.

-Of course it is.

-So I'm going to turn the heat off now and put the lid on and just let the shrimp hang out in that warm bath, finish cooking very gently.

Again, that just makes them taste tender.

-Nice, so they're not going to curl up and become those little rubber balls.

-That's it.

And that'll take another 5 to 7 minutes.

-Okay.

-It has been 5 minutes.

Oh, look.

Perfectly curled shrimp.

-Lovely.

-It's that telltale sign that they're cooked through.

And now, rather than dumping this into a sink and putting all sorts of water out to cool them down, which I think waters out their flavor, we're going to do something clever.

This is 8 cups of ice.

I'm going to add it right to the pot.

That's just going to chill everything down.

Have that shrimp stop cooking.

And also it just saves a lot of mess rather than doing this at the sink.

I mean, aren't these beautiful?

Look at that.

Have you seen more perfect looking shrimp?

So we're going to let this sit for about 5 minutes.

Then I'll drain them and I'll put them on paper towels and let them dry.

And we can make the pickling liquid.

-Pretty and pickled.

-[ Chuckles ] Here are those shrimp that cooled in the ice water for 5 minutes.

Then I drained them and they're resting on a bed of paper towels awaiting their pickling liquid.

-Okay.

-This is a very rustic pickling liquid.

So we're going to start with 2 garlic cloves, and we're not going to slice them.

We're just going to smash them.

Just want them to release their flavor into the oil.

Into the bowl they go.

Now we're going to add a cup of cider vinegar.

Going to temper that with 1/4 cup of sugar.

3 bay leaves.

A teaspoon of allspice berries.

Teaspoon of coriander seeds.

And teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

Just going to whisk this together.

And to really infuse all these flavors into the cider vinegar, I'm going to put this in the microwave for just 2 minutes till it's nice and fragrant.

-Okay.

-Alright, Bridget.

Ooh, smell that.

-Whoa, that's pickle-y.

-It is.

Look at the garlic.

It only happens every once in a while, but sometimes you get garlic and acid, and it does the magic blue.

-[ Gasps ] Yes.

-I love that.

-What does that mean?

Does it mean something?

-It means we're lucky.

-Oh.

-Yeah.

-That's it?

-That's it.

Yeah.

So I'm just going to give this a quick whisk, make sure all that sugar is dissolved.

I'm going to set this aside just for a minute or two.

Let it cool.

-Okay.

-The meantime, I'm going to slice an onion.

This is one red onion.

Want about a cup of sliced red onion.

And I'm going to slice it pole-to-pole, which I like.

Cut it against the grain so you get those graceful arcs rather than this way where you get those rainbows.

I feel like those rainbows, they get a little wormy when they soften.

-Yes, there's all those little fault lines in the onion, and then that's where they start to kind of pull apart and fall apart.

-That's right.

I'm going to angle the knife as I slice through the onion about halfway through.

I like to tip it on this other side and then it becomes a game -- How close can you go?

Pretty good.

Alright.

We're going to also add some big wedges of lemon.

Sometimes I like to go in and just make sure any of those seeds that you can see are out.

I don't like the seeds in there.

-My husband calls them pips.

-Aww, that makes them sound so less annoying.

-Yeah.

No, they're still annoying.

-[ Laughs ] Alright.

Those lemons have been fully de-pipped.

We're going to set the onions and lemons aside while we finish the pickling liquid.

-Okay.

-That pickling liquid has cooled off just a little bit.

Now we're going to turn it into more of a marinade, which I love, because it means it's like a dressing.

You can dip bread into it.

Sometimes take a little of it and toss it with some salad greens to go with the shrimp.

-Mmm.

-Yeah.

It's an all-purpose marinade.

So this is a cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Just want to whisk it in.

We're going to add a 1/4 cup of minced capers, 2 tablespoons of minced fresh dill, 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard.

-That was one of the things about the pickled shrimp that we had -- they were so briny and tangy.

-Yeah, tasted great on a hot day and made you thirstier for the other things they served there.

-Like beer.

-[ Laughs ] This is a tablespoon of hot sauce.

Tablespoon of a sauce that I never can pronounce correctly.

Worcestershire sauce.

-You said it.

-Oh.

-Not "Wooster" sauce?

-[ Laughs ] It's when I try I can't say it.

Last but not least, 1 teaspoon of salt.

Gonna whisk this together.

You can tell this is going to be good because this is just so fragrant.

Into the marinade go the lemons, the onions, and last but definitely not least, the shrimp.

-Shrimp hammock.

-[ Laughs ] Oh, when you see this sitting in your fridge?

-It's beautiful.

-Isn't it pretty?

-Ooh.

-Now, this shrimp really does need to sit in this marinade for a little bit in order for it to really absorb the flavor.

At least 3 hours, up to 48 hours.

The longer it sits, the more flavor you get.

-Great.

-Now I'm going to put a plate on top just to help keep that shrimp submerged.

-And tasters at bay.

-[ Laughs ] It's true.

It is another taster barrier.

Alright, we're going to cover this with plastic and put it in the fridge.

-Okay.

-Here is the finished shrimp.

Isn't it beautiful?

-It is beautiful.

I just love this on a summer day.

Makes sense.

When we were together traveling in South Carolina -- -'Cause it was hot.

-It was hot, and this was so welcome.

It's serving time.

Now, I forgot to mention, I did stir this a few times while it was resting in the fridge just to make sure everything had good access to that marinade.

-Okay.

-Oh, I gave you a nice piece of lemon.

I make heavy serves.

I think you know this about me already.

-That's why I'm here.

-[ Laughs ] Oh, and you have to have some of that dressing.

-Yes, please.

-Oh, yes.

Mmm.

-It's actually creamy.

-Isn't that neat?

-Yeah, it's gorgeous.

-Alright, now I have some bread there for you just to help sop up some of that beautiful sauce.

-This would be great with a salad, though, too.

I've heard people eat salads.

-[ Laughs ] -This would be great with that.

Want to take a moment here.

This is absolutely stunning.

-Isn't this nice?

You can picture yourself outside on a nice summer day.

-Yes.

-With friends.

Yeah, I love it.

-Glass of white.

-Mm-hmm.

Alright, so one trick -- just stab your fork and you can... Oh, just a little fresh lemon.

-Scared me there.

I thought you were going to eat it.

-[ Laughs ] Isn't that dressing something else?

I mean, it's sweet, it's tart.

-That is so good.

That sends me right back.

-I also love how the dressing isn't too sweet.

-Mmm.

-I really don't like it when it's sickly sweet.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's got a good vinegar punch.

You taste the lemon.

The capers help.

-It's not too sweet, but it's really well balanced.

-Yeah.

-It's got a little bit of those warm spices coming through.

The allspice I can really get.

-Mm-hmm.

Brings the house down when I make this for a cocktail party, because people just keep going back and back thinking, "What are those flavors?"

-What a great alternative to shrimp cocktail.

-Mm-hmm.

-But the best part of it, just thinking about all those memories.

-Yeah.

-Good times.

-[ Chuckles ] -If you want to make this great shrimp dish at home, cook the shrimp gently, add ice to the cooking water to cool down the shrimp, and let the mixture marinate for at least 3 hours.

So from "Cook's Country," the briny, savory, a little bit puckery pickled shrimp.

And you can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season along with product reviews and select episodes, and those are all up on our website.

That's CooksCountry.com/tv.