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 Albuquerque and makes New Mexican bean-and-cheese turnovers with green chile...

I tell the story of the tomato clubs... and Ashley makes Southwestern tomato and corn salad for Bridget.

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

♪♪ -There are few things better than a road trip through New Mexico in the late summer, especially when it's a food road trip.

Hot dang chile.

I'm not gonna swear on TV, but -- and when you're traveling through the world's chile pepper capital, you don't need a map to find some great food with a little extra kick.

Pull off I-25 into any small town... You guys want to just drive down there and see what's up?

...you're sure to find locals roasting 40-pound bags of fresh green chilies... Alright, here, we're getting into the thick of it down here.

...or drying red chilies on their roofs.

I'm looking for a chile roaster.

I rolled down my window just a little bit [Sniffs] and start smelling.

Smelling for the roasted chilies.

I visited the Land of Enchantment to learn what makes New Mexico chilies so special.

My first stop, straight to the experts at New Mexico State University.

So, this is the famous New Mexico #9.

-Absolutely.

This is the grandmother of all New Mexican-type chilies.

-Danise Coon is a senior research specialist at the Chile Pepper Institute.

And she showed me around their teaching garden, a 4-acre outdoor classroom.

-It showcases over 150 different types of chile peppers from four of the five domesticated species.

-She taught me why New Mexico has some of the world's hottest chilies.

-The chilies that we grow here in New Mexico, mainly because of our overall environmental conditions, lend more to more concentrated flavors.

So New Mexican chilies have a really intense flavor.

-And what about red chilies?

Everything starts off green, correct?

-The green is the immature, mature stage, if that makes any sense whatsoever.

And then, from the green stage, they'll eventually start turning red.

And that's called the mature stage.

The sugar content skyrockets, vitamin A skyrockets, heat levels probably kind of taper off, but the sugar kind of counteracts the heat level in the red chile.

It feels like it's less hot, but it's probably got the same capsaicin amount as the green chile.

-All that information was fascinating, but I couldn't eat it.

So I set back out on the road in search of some more chile goodness.

Oh, a chile stand right there.

A giant statue of a guy and a hot dog.

Soon enough, I found myself in Hatch, proud home of the Hatch chile pepper.

Pretty cool.

The town's got, like, this artsy Key West in the desert sort of vibe to it.

Seems a lot of fun.

Before I left, I washed down a chile cheeseburger at Sparky's with a refreshing red chile-mango lemonade.

Further up the freeway at the Owl Bar in San Antonio, the Chile King himself, owner Adolph Baca, served me up some chile cheese fries... That's exactly what you think is going to be like.

It's pure awesome.

...and another chile cheeseburger.

It's one of my favorite burgers ever to hit my mouth.

Smash patty, green chile, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions.

It's like eating a salad with a side of meat.

Finally, after hours on the road, I visited Mary & Tito's Cafe, an Albuquerque institution that's been feeding happy customers for more than 60 years.

-My father opened it in 1963.

He was a retired firefighter, and he loved to cook.

And so he told my mom when he retired, he was going to open up a restaurant.

-Antoinette and her sons, Travis and Jordan, have been running things since Antoinette's dad, Tito, passed away in 1990.

-He just -- He loved people and he loved cooking.

And he just loved for people to enjoy what he was making.

-Tito's most iconic creation is his Mexican turnover.

Filled to order with beans, cheese, or meat.

They're always smothered in green or red chile.

-He loved Italian food and he loved calzones.

And he said, "I'm gonna have my version of a calzone."

And that turnover is his version of a calzone.

We just don't bake it.

We deep fry it.

-I had to try some of these Mexican turnovers, but, first, there was a question I needed to have answered.

Green or red?

-Your choice.

-"Your choice"?

-Yeah.

It would be different layer.

If you want, you can go both, as well.

Okay.

-And a lot of people do red and green on top.

-Is there a special name for that?

-Yes, there is.

-People like to use the word "Christmas."

-I know, I've heard that.

-A lot of locals roll their eyes at the term Christmas, but... -We do.

-...to each, their own.

-I'm curious what your opinion is.

I mean, I feel like I should just make a choice.

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] Is that how you guys feel about it?

-Yeah.

That's how I feel.

-Yeah.

I commit.

-And commit I did, with a carne adovada turnover smothered in red chile and a bean-and-cheese turnover smothered with green chile, and just a few other things to keep me filled up.

All covered in the pride of New Mexico, of course.

Green chile is super special.

It's got a nice grassiness to it.

A little bit hotter than the red stuff.

Man, it's super fantastic.

As the sun set on my New Mexican road trip, thoughts of the people I met and the food I ate lingered like a hot pepper on the tongue.

-But it's hot.

-Yeah.

-It feels hot.

-I don't know why I'm going to take another bite, but I will.

-[ Laughs ] -And I knew I'd be back for more.

♪♪ -Bryan's back from New Mexico and ready to show us how to make those savory turnovers.

-Yes, I am back.

And I also have a newfound love of green chile smothering everything.

that I eat.

-Was it just in your clothes?

-It was in my clothes, in my soul, in my body, on my mind.

-I love it.

-I love it, too.

-The thing I really liked about the story is how Antoinette said her father was inspired by calzones to make these turnovers.

And I love that sort of melting-pot idea of American food.

-It's so great.

And the wonderful thing about Mary & Tito's is that everything is made from scratch right there in the kitchen.

The recipes are simple, yet full of flavor.

Really, you know, from-the-heart family recipes.

-I love it.

-So, we are going to make those turnovers here today, and we're going to start with our turnover dough.

So, I have 2 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour here in this bowl.

To that, we're going to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of table salt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.

We're just going to whisk that together to combine.

Okay, now we're going to work in 6 tablespoons of lard that we've cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled.

We're rubbing the lard into the flour here till the whole thing looks like the texture of wet sand or so.

-Okay.

-This is kind of what we're looking for -- this kind of look of wet sand here.

-Mm-hmm.

-Alright?

Now we're going to add 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cold water.

You could switch over to a spatula.

Just begin working the flour into the water.

We're really just looking for the dough to start coming together.

You can see that most of the dry flour has been absorbed.

-Mm-hmm.

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

And we're just going to knead it a few times to really bring it all together.

-Well, that came together really quickly.

-Yeah.

So we're going to divide this dough into 8 equal pieces.

We're going to weigh the whole dough here.

-Alright.

-So, if you don't have a scale, you could just do this by eye.

-Yeah.

-Alright, now we're going to just take our dough balls, and we're just going to run them on the counter here into nice, tight balls.

-Can I do one?

-Yeah, please do.

-Alright.

See how easy the dough is to work with?

-Yeah.

-The last one.

We're going to refrigerate it until we're ready to use it, for at least 30 minutes.

We're going to cover it with some plastic wrap, but you can really make this up to two days in advance.

-Okay.

-We're going to start working on our refried-bean filling for our turnovers.

-Mmm!

-Here in the skillet, coming up to temperature and melting nicely, 4 tablespoons of lard that we've melted down over medium heat.

And we're going to add one cup of finely chopped onion.

Cook that onion until it's nice and soft, and it takes about 4 minutes.

Our onions are nice and soft.

To that, we're going to add 2 cans of pinto beans that we've drained off here.

These are 15-ounce cans.

And we're also going to add 1 cup of chicken broth and a teaspoon of table salt.

And while these cook, we're just going to start mashing these with our potato masher.

We're going to cook these and mash them until we get the consistency of refried beans.

Takes about 8 minutes or so.

-Well, those look like refried beans.

-Yeah, they taste like refried beans, too.

But -- But even better.

So, we're just going to give a final taste for salt.

And plenty seasoned.

Really nice.

So we're going to let these go into a bowl here and let them cool completely before we start filling our turnovers.

Let's talk about chilies.

-Alright.

-When you're in New Mexico, all green chile sauces are made with Hatch green chilies.

Okay?

Hatch is a catch-all phrase for any chile that's grown in Hatch, of which there are over 150 different varieties.

-Oh!

-So the term is a little bit vague, alright?

-Interesting.

-And outside of New Mexico, it's hard to get Hatch green chilies.

So we're going to be using their cousin Anaheim chilies.

The chili's a little bit more watery, and the base level of heat is a little bit lower.

-Interesting.

-So because the base level of heat is a little bit lower, we're going to throw in a jalapeño.

-Yeah, even up the playing field.

-Yes.

We have 2 pounds of Anaheim chilies here, along with our singular jalapeño.

In order to char these chilies nicely, we're going to throw them under the broiler.

The broiler is set to high, and the oven rack is about 6 inches from that broiler element.

They'll let them go on both sides for about 5 minutes per side until the skin is nicely blackened.

Julia, look at these gorgeous chilies.

-Ooh, I can smell them.

-So, we're going to throw these into the bowl here.

I'm going to let them cool down for a bit.

Now, a lot of people will think that when you put the chilies in a bowl, cover them with plastic wrap, that's to help the skin steam off.

And that's not really true, because look at these skins right now.

If you look at them the wrong way, they'll fall off.

-[ Chuckles ] -So, what we're doing by covering the bowl is we're trapping the steam and we're continuing to cook the flesh of the pepper, which is important because you want it to be nice and soft and tender.

Okay?

So we'll just let this sit for a good 10 minutes, until they're cool enough to handle.

-Okay.

-It's been 10 minutes.

We can uncover our chilies here.

Get that waft.

You know -- -Oh, it smells grassy... -Yes!

-...but a little bit charred.

-So, we are just going to begin peeling the skins off.

You can do this a couple ways.

I have a spoon here for you.

I like to just start it off.

Like I said, you barely even need the spoon.

They'll almost peel themselves.

-Oh, yeah.

Is one of these bowls for skins?

-Yeah.

-Alright.

-Just throw your peeled chilies up there in the corner.

And one thing you never want to do is you never want to wash them.

-Yes.

-You never want to remove all that kind of roastiness that you've just imparted on those chilies.

Now we'll give them a chop.

So, I'll just remove as much of the seeds as we can.

Now, with the jalapeño, we're going to leave the seeds in.

So, we're just going to chop off the stem.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then we're going to go ahead and dice this into a 1/4-inch dice with the seeds in there.

Again, leaving the seeds in there gives us a little bit of extra heat, which will mimic those New Mexican Hatch chilies.

Alright?

And we'll just chop all these up in 1/4-inch pieces.

Alright, so, we're going to clean up.

I'm going to wash my hands and get back and start making our green chile sauce.

-Okay.

-We're ready to build our green chile sauce now.

And I have 2 tablespoons of lard we've melted over medium heat there.

To that, we're going to add 1 cup of finely chopped onion.

We're going to let this cook down until it's just beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.

Our onions have been cooking for about 3 minutes, and they're just beginning to soften.

To that, we can add 3 minced garlic cloves.

All of that, cook for 30 seconds to get all fragrant.

And now we're going to add a tablespoon of all-purpose flour.

And this is really just to help thicken our green chile sauce.

So we'll cook that for a minute to take the raw edge off of the flour.

And now that that flour has been cooking for a minute, we're going to add a cup of chicken broth, a teaspoon of table salt, and all of our Anaheims and our singular jalapeño.

-Mmm.

-So we're going to let this come to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium low, and we'll let it cook for a good 6 minutes, until it's nicely thickened and tightened up.

It is finally time for us to roll out and fill our turnovers.

So, Julia, if you want to give me a hand.

-Yes, please.

-Start off by flouring your counter.

-Alright.

Thank you, sir.

Get set for you.

A dough ball for you and a dough ball for me.

-Oh, yeah, these are nice and cold.

-Yeah.

So, a little flour on top.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we're going to roll these out into 7-inch circles.

I always like to start off by just pressing it flat with my hand.

Then, we can switch over to the rolling pin.

-Alright.

Any tricks here?

-I typically just roll from the middle outwards, in one singular direction, and I turn the dough a quarter turn each time.

-Okay.

Yeah, I'm good.

-Alright, great.

Now we're going to add the cheese.

So, I'm going to go with 1/4 cup of cheese for each one of these.

-Okay.

-So, you want to measure out the cheese?

Put it in your hand.

-Mm-hmm.

You're going to give it a squeeze.

-Alright.

-Okay?

And that's just to keep the cheese put while you fold it over.

-Okay.

-And so this is a mild cheddar.

We have -- All day, we have about 2 cups of cheddar.

-Okay.

-Now we're going to add our beans.

So, we're going to add 1/4 cup of our refried beans that have been fully cooled.

-Right on top of the cheese?

-On top of the cheese.

-Alright.

-We're adding 1/4 cup of refried beans to each one of these.

And now we have a little bit of water.

Just want to take your brush, and brush the edge of the dough with a little bit of water.

-Alright.

-Now we want to fold the turnover over top of our bean-and-cheese mixture here.

-Alright.

-And press on the far side, just to seal it.

-Okay.

-When I'm doing this, I also like to kind of press down and push the filling outwards to the sides because it tends to group up in the middle.

-Yeah.

That's a lot of filling.

-That's a lot of turnover.

-[ Laughs ] It is a lot of turnover.

-Then, just go ahead and press it to seal.

-Alright.

-Alright?

And then we're going to go back to our water.

-Uh-huh.

-And just lightly moisten the edge of this arc here.

-Okay.

-When you add too much water here, it's going to make it a little bit difficult to crimp.

So you want to begin by folding over the corner.

And I like to just kind of push it over my finger... -Uh-huh.

-...and pull back, push it over my finger.

-A lot like making a pie dough crimp.

-Right.

-It looks really nice, actually.

-Yeah?

Alright.

-That looks really great.

-Oh, thank you.

I got a little funky at the end, but I see.. -That's alright.

You're a first-timer.

-Exactly.

-Alright, so, we'll continue rolling out the remaining doughs and filling them.

-Mm-hmm.

-And you know, the great thing about these is you can make them a good 24 hours in advance and keep them in the refrigerator.

-Nice.

-Let's keep on rolling the dough, keep on filling them.

-Okay.

-I have 2 quarts of peanut oil coming up to 375 degrees.

Before we drop our turnovers in, though, we want to put a little bit of an air hole in the top of each one.

-Aha.

-About a 1/2-inch air hole for the steam that's created while we're frying them.

We'll check our oil temp.

Looking for 375 degrees.

There we go.

Perfect.

Now we can add four of our turnovers.

We'll just lay them in there nice and easy.

-Okay.

-We'll let these fry until they're nice and golden brown.

Takes about 3 minutes per side.

So, these have been frying for 3 minutes, and we'll just give them a flip.

-Ooh-hoo-hoo!

Those are beautiful.

-So, yeah, nice and golden brown already.

-Mm-hmm!

-Another 3 minutes on the second side.

Alright, so, these have been frying for a total of 6 minutes.

-They smell delicious.

-And they look delicious, too, don't they?

-Goodness, those are gorgeous!

Oh, I can see those little blisters in the dough.

-Okay, and we'll just drop the remaining four turnovers in the hot oil and let them go for a total of 6 minutes -- 3 minutes per side.

-Okay.

-Here is our finished green chile sauce.

You see, it's thickened up nicely.

-Oh, yeah.

-Nice and warm.

-It's beautiful.

-Yes.

-I love the golden color of these.

-These fry up so nice.

-And that blistery top.

-Love it.

Alright, and we're not done yet.

We are going to smother our turnovers with the green chile.

-Oh, yum!

-Get a nice layer on top.

-So it's as much about the sauce as it is the filling.

-Oh, absolutely.

Again, we're in New Mexico.

-[ Chuckles ] -How dare you!

-[ Laughs ] Mmm!

Ooh, there's a kick.

That's good.

-So good, right?

-Oh, man.

The flavor of those chilies -- it's so grassy.

-Mm-hmm, and you get some of that smokiness from the broiling that we did.

-Yep.

-The refried beans are so good.

-So good.

And the cheese is all melty, and that dough is perfectly crisp.

-Look at that.

-Mmm!

Oh, Bryan, I could see why you wanted to come home and make this.

This is incredible.

-Mmm.

Thank you.

-If you want to make Bryan's favorite dish from Mary & Tito's down in Albuquerque, start by making a simple handmade dough, roast and chop peppers to make a green chile sauce, and wrap the dough around refried beans and cheese and shape into turnovers.

From "Cook's Country," with special thanks to everyone at Mary & Tito's.

New Mexican bean-and-cheese turnovers with green chile.

♪♪ -You don't need me to tell you that fresh-from-the-vine tomatoes taste amazing.

You also don't need me to wax poetic about the beauty of an heirloom variety or to convince you that tomatoes are easy to grow in your garden.

So, instead, let me tell you about how tomatoes once empowered young girls with self-confidence and income of their own.

I'm talking about the tomato clubs.

In 1910, a young schoolteacher in western South Carolina, named Marie Samuella Cromer, founded the first tomato club to teach farm girls how to grow, can, and market their own tomatoes.

She wanted the girls to "not simply learn how to grow better and more perfect tomatoes, but how to grow better and more perfect women."

Between 1911 and World War I, tomato clubs spread across the Southern U.S.

The clubs provided rural students with a way to keep learning even when they weren't in school.

It also provided a way to earn money while staying out of dangerous factory jobs.

Each girl farmed a tenth of an acre, which would produce more than her family could use, so that she could market and sell the rest.

Club members worked together to brand and price their products and negotiate with retailers.

Many girls put this money toward educational expenses, like books and tuition.

And here at "Cook's Country," we celebrate the power of the tomato by showcasing it in a beautiful Southwestern tomato and corn salad.

♪♪ -The end of the summer means it's a race for me to eat as much of that beautiful summer produce as I possibly can.

And I'm really excited today because Ashley's here and she's going to make me a salad that features two of my favorite -- juicy, ripe tomatoes and gorgeous luscious corn.

I hear it's got a little Southwestern kick to it.

-It sure does.

-Oh, yeah.

-So, as you know, tomatoes, especially in August around here in New England, don't need much of anything... -Right.

-...to make them as delicious as they really are.

So this salad is really going to highlight all of the best flavors of fresh tomatoes... -Mmm.

-...and some fresh corn, right in their peak season.

-Fantastic.

-Mm-hmm.

-Sold, sold.

So, first, what I'm going to do is, I've got 1 1/2 pound of heirloom tomatoes.

You can use mixed tomatoes, but I am such a fan of heirlooms.

All that matters here is that they're ripe.

And you know they're ripe when they are good and heavy, they're full of juice, and the smell.

You can't beat that fruity tomato smell.

So I'm going to cut these into 1/2-inch wedges first.

I'm going to cut these in half crosswise.

-Okay.

-This salad is as simple as it gets.

-Okay.

-So, just as I go, I'm just going to kind of arrange them on a single layer on this platter.

And because I'm using a few different colors, I'm going to have a chance to get a little creative and kind of mix and match.

Same thing.

1/2-inch-thick wedges.

-I really love the black tomatoes especially.

They're a little bit sweeter, often.

-Yeah.

-Oh, yeah.

-Alright, last one.

So pretty.

-Beautiful.

-Next up, Bridget, salt and pepper.

-Okay.

-It's important to season the tomatoes at this stage, because you want to season as you go.

So, I have some corn here, but you'll notice I don't have any pots or pans out.

-Right.

-So we're going to be eating this just cut off the stalk.

-And we can do that because... -It's fresh.

-That's right.

-And it's ripe.

-So, what I'm going to do is, with my flat side of the corn here, I have this dish towel.

Any kind of towel will do.

What you want to do is use the towel to collect every single kernel of corn.

-Okay.

-Just run my knife flat, all the way down.

And guess what?

I'm going to go directly on top of the tomatoes.

-Mmm.

Oh, nice.

-Yeah.

-Alright.

So we need to make a little bit of a dressing.

So, I have 1/4 cup of some extra virgin olive oil.

And you want to use good extra virgin olive oil here if you have it.

And then I have some minced jalapeño.

This is 1 tablespoon, and I have a tablespoon of some minced, fresh shallot.

-Nice.

-I have some lime juice here, 2 teaspoons.

Finally, I have some salt and pepper.

I have 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

-Okay.

-So, I'm just going to whisk this together until combined.

I'm going to spoon this beautiful dressing over the tomatoes, over that corn.

-Mm-hmm.

-Our last two ingredients.

This is queso fresco.

It's also sold as queso blanco.

It's a cow's milk cheese.

It has a little bit of that tangy flavor, but it is so delicious and crumbles beautifully.

So this is 2 ounces.

Finally, I have some whole cilantro leaves.

-Gorgeous.

-And this is 2 tablespoons.

And just put them all over the salad.

Are you ready for some salad?

-I've been ready for this for a while.

This is gorgeous.

-If you don't mind, I would love to serve you some salad here.

-I almost don't want to eat it, it's so pretty.

-I know.

I know.

-How impressive is this?

-Oh, it's just so simple to do.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Mmm.

-Alright.

I'm going to tuck into one of these tomatoes here.

A little bit of cheese.

-Mm-hmm.

-Mmm.

-Mm-hmm.

-Vibrant.

-The jalapeño, the shallot -- it doesn't only give you flavor, it also gives you really beautiful crunch, nice texture.

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

The corn are like little sweet croutons in the salad.

-Mm-hmm.

Yes.

-Nature's croutons.

-Mm-hmm.

[ Laughs ] If you ask me what kind of food I would marry... -Mm-hmm.

-...it would be a ripe tomato.

-It would?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

-I can see why.

You did good.

-Thanks, Coach.

-Yeah.

Thank you.

-[ Laughs ] -Well, if you want to make this beautiful salad that celebrates the very best of summer, it starts with seasoning wedges of ripe tomatoes directly with salt, sprinkle with freshly cut corn kernels, and then spoon a lime-jalapeño dressing all over the salad.

So, from "Cook's Country," a beautiful salad straight from the garden.

It's a Southwestern tomato and corn salad.

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-mmm-mmm.

♪♪ -Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for fail-proof 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 16 TV seasons, with over 600 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, scan the QR code on your screen or order online at cookscountry.com/tv.

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