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," Christie makes Julia vegetarian chili, I talk about the history of chili cook-offs, Bridget joins Jack for a tasting of Kansas City-style barbecue sauce, and Ashley makes jalapeo cheddar scones.

That's alright 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 to suit every level, our mission is to ignite your passion to pursue the art of grilling.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

-On a hot August day in 2015, a woman named Mama T entered her chili into the competition at the Chili Pepper Festival in Honolulu.

Now, Mama T, whose real name is Trisha Gonsalves, is a reggae singer, activist, and vegan, which means that her chili was vegan, unbeknownst to everyone else at the festival.

Now, she did let everyone in on the secret as they were tallying results at the competition, and everyone bust out laughing when she won first place.

Inspired by Mama T, we thought it'd be good to have our own version of an award-winning vegetarian chili, and Christie's here to show us how it's done.

-You do not need meat to have award-winning chili that's hearty, filling, and savory.

-Mm-hmm.

-To start, we're going to make our own chili powder, and we're actually using two kinds of dried chilies here.

I have anchos, which are dried, ripe poblanos, and they're going to give us some sweetness, some raisiny flavor but not really much heat.

And I also have guajillos, which are dried mirasol chilies, and these are a little more tangy, a little more bright.

And these do have a little heat.

I have an ounce of ancho chilies, that's probably two to three whole chilies, and then half an ounce of guajillo, which is probably more like three to four chilies.

What I'm going to do is stem them.

Might want to work over a little bowl.

So we'll seed them.

Once I've taken the seeds out, I'm going to tear them into about one-inch pieces.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I'll do the same for the ancho.

Alright, now, once you've prepped them, we're going to put them right into our Dutch oven.

I'm going to turn my burner to medium heat, and we're just going to toast these.

Now, we're not looking to get a lot of color.

They will deepen in color.

They're pretty dark to begin with.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I find that using the smell, using my nose is a better indicator of where they are in the process.

-Right.

-Can you smell that?

-Mm-hmm.

Smells great.

-Smells so good.

Alright, I'll turn off my heat.

Now, I'm going to put these in a bowl.

We're going to put them into a puree.

So I'm going to hydrate them.

I have some hot water here.

I'll just pour the water over the top just to cover them.

Now, I'm just going to let them sit for about five minutes to rehydrate, plump up a little bit so they'll be easy to puree.

My chili has been sitting for a few minutes, so they'll be great in the blender, but now we want to get rid of this excess liquid, so I'm just going to strain this.

Whew!

I can still smell these.

[ Both laugh ] Alright, now, I'm going to transfer these directly to a blender.

[ Tapping ] Now, I have a few more elements that comprise the more liquidy element of the chili.

I have a 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes... -Okay.

-...and their juice.

Alright, then I have a cup of water.

This is 3 tablespoons of soy sauce.

-Interesting.

-It's going to give us this really nice, savory depth, and, of course, some seasoning.

Now, here's the third chili.

Some of us in the test kitchen took to calling this four-chili chili... -[ Laughs ] -...because we're using four chilies.

This is chipotle in adobo... -Mm-hmm.

-...so this is just canned chipotle in adobo.

You can use one to three chilies depending on how spicy you like it.

And then we do need a little salt.

This is 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.

This is going to make a pretty big batch of chili.

-Mm.

-So we need some flavor.

Now, I'm just going to blend this for one to two minutes until it gets nice and smooth.

[ Blender whirs ] Alright, it's been about a minute-and-a-half, but see how nice and smooth that is?

-Yeah.

-That's what we want.

Just going to clean this up, and then we're going to start cooking.

Julia, I have a 1/4-cup of extra virgin olive oil heating up in our big Dutch oven.

-Mmm!

-We're going to build the flavor base of this chili now.

I have one onion that I've chopped.

That oil is nice and hot.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's been heating over medium-high until it's just shimmering, so it's ready for us.

And I also have one chopped poblano.

-That's the fourth chili!

-The fourth chili.

Right.

So this is the fresh chili that we're using.

I'm also adding 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt.

So this is our flavor base.

We'll let this cook until the vegetables soften and the onion just starts to brown.

3 to 5 minutes.

Okay, Julia.

Look.

I have got just a bit of browning starting with the onions.

-Mm-hmm!

-Now it's time to add our aromatics.

So I have 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, another umami bomb, and 6 garlic cloves that I've minced.

2 tablespoons of ground cumin.

And a tablespoon of dried oregano.

Now we're going to let this cook for a little longer than we normally do.

Normally, aromatics, we think 30 seconds just till we can smell them.

-Mm-hmm.

-But we want to cook this tomato paste, so we'll let this cook for 1 to 2 minutes until we really see that tomato paste starting to brown a bit.

-Okay.

-Julia, you can see that that tomato paste is sizzling.

We've got some fond started in the pot.

Now I'm going to add 2 1/2 cups of water.

So it'll just deglaze a little bit.

Get all that good stuff off the bottom.

We're going to put our chili paste back in.

Now, we can't have a chili without beans.

-Mnh-mnh.

-Right?

So I have three 15-ounce cans of beans that I've rinsed and drained.

We've got some black beans, red kidney beans, and pinto beans.

And it's nice to have a variety.

-Mm-hmm.

-They have different flavors.

They do have different textures.

-Mm-hmm.

-If you don't want to use three, you can use two.

It's just nice to have a little assortment.

Alright.

Get this in there.

-That's really starting to come together and look like chili.

-It is, but here's our surprise ingredient.

This is 3/4 of a cup of pearl barley.

-Interesting!

-It's a nice, chewy grain.

-Mm-hmm.

-It gives it the texture that we associate with chili.

And it'll fill in the gaps between the beans and the chili pure.

Alright, now, one more surprise ingredient.

1/2 an ounce of dried porcini mushrooms.

Now, this is not going to make the chili taste like mushrooms.

-Mm-hmm.

-But it is going to add a really big pop of umami.

-Mm-hmm.

-I've rinsed these.

Now I'm just going to chop them fine.

Alright.

All of our elements are in.

Now that's looking like a chili, right?

-Mm-hmm.

Sure is.

-I'm going to bring this up to a boil, and then I'll reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer until that barley has softened and become more tender, about 35 to 45 minutes, and I'll go in and make sure I stir it so nothing settles to the bottom.

-You'd be hard-pressed to find a more controversial dish than chili.

Among chili heads, opinions about what constitutes a proper chili are closely held and hotly contested.

To some, chili is beef with spices.

Others believe it must contain tomatoes.

Beans?

Yes or no.

Meat?

Are you Team Chunks or Team Chopped?

But who gets to decide?

Well, obviously it's the ICS, or the International Chili Society.

The ICS held their first chili cook-off in 1967.

In those early days, chili cook-offs were big parties full of alcohol and antics, and women were barred from competing.

In Texas Monthly, writer Joe Nick Patoski described the events as "a lost weekend for overgrown boys."

But in 1970, several women organized a women-only cook-off called Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned Chili Competition.

The top three finishers in that cook-off gained entry to the original contest, and in 1974, Allegani Jani Schofield was the first woman to take top honors in the ICS competition.

Her winning chili included canned tomatoes and masa.

Today there are lots of chili cook-offs held around the country, and people of all genders are welcome to compete.

Here at "Cook's Country," we are chili-inclusive and made our version vegetarian-friendly.

-Now, that looks like chili!

-It may look like chili, but we need to make sure that that pearl barley is tender because actually pearl barley -- different brands react a little differently.

The pearling is how they polish the outside of the barley, so some polish more, some less, and that will affect how long you have to cook it.

Mmm!

-Barley's good?

-I'm really excited for you to try this.

-[ Laughs ] -We're going to let this rest off the heat now for about 10 minutes just to let everything kind of meld together, and then we'll be ready to taste.

-Alright.

Oh!

-This is looking so good.

Nice and thick.

-Mm-hmm.

-So, last thing -- I have 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro.

We've got so many earthy flavors, a lot of savoriness here.

We need a little fresh kick.

-Love it.

-Okay.

-Mmm!

-Look at that.

-The color of this is just gorgeous, Christie!

-It's so earthy... -Mm-hmm.

And vibrant.

-Alright.

Now, this is delicious all by itself, but we got to add some toppings.

So maybe just a little lime.

-Alright.

-A little cheese.

Little sour cream maybe.

-Thank you.

-And then I love some nice, finely chopped red onion.

-Mm-hmm.

Alright.

Mmm!

That is so meaty!

-All that umami.

-Yeah!

And the barley really could fool you into thinking that there's ground meat in there.

-Mm-hmm, but if you don't like ground meat, it's not meaty.

-No.

-It's just got that perfect consistency.

-Yeah.

And the layers of flavor.

I'm not picking out the mushrooms or the soy sauce or even any of the individual chilies.

It's just together.

It's a really hearty base that definitely tastes like chilies.

This is competition-worthy chili.

Thank you for showing me how to make it.

-You're welcome.

-If you want to make this killer vegetarian chili, start by using a combination of dried, fresh, and canned chilies.

Add lots of umami in the form of soy sauce, tomato paste, and porcini mushrooms.

And stir in pearl barley, along with three types of canned beans.

From "Cook's Country," a competition-worthy recipe for vegetarian chili.

I have to say, I like this as much as ground-beef chili, if not a little bit more.

-Barbecue sauce can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but for a huge chunk of at least this country, barbecue sauce means Kansas City style.

And here to walk me through a few options for Kansas City barbecue sauce is Jack.

-Yeah, this is gonna be super fun.

We tasted 11 different Kansas City barbecue sauces.

-Ooh.

-The definition here, as most people understand it, is kind of tomato/molasses-forward.

-Okay.

-Although that's not actually the history.

Now, if you want to start enjoying barbecue sauce while I give you a little history...

The original sauce was just lard, cayenne, and vinegar.

-Sounds great.

-Yeah.

Dates back to the early 1900s.

And eventually tomatoes and sugar.

That can be in the form of ketchup, molasses.

The national brands that we think of as barbecue sauce -- so KC Masterpiece, Bull's-Eye... -Right.

-...Heinz, Sweet Baby Ray's -- they all are basically what I would call Kansas City style barbecue sauces because they've got that sweet and smoky thing going, as well as herbs and spices.

-Right.

-So I've chosen four sauces that are pretty different from each other.

-Really different.

-So we tasted both some of the national sauces that I just mentioned, as well as local brands from restaurants in Kansas City, because of course, you can now mail-order barbecue sauce wherever you live in the country.

-Mm-hmm.

-The restaurant sauces tended to be more herbaceous, more vinegary than the sort of sweet, smoky national brands that we think of as Kansas City barbecue sauce.

Impressions of these four sauces here?

-Hm!

Big differences.

This one tastes like "straight out of the bottle" supermarket sauce for me.

It's molasses.

It's sweet.

It's clingy.

And it has lots of smoke flavor already built into it.

-Okay.

-This one has a chili profile that I actually really like.

It's not too sweet.

Definitely some heat in there.

I actually really appreciate that.

This one definitely feels like it has some sort of a sweetener in there, but I like that there's a celery-salt flavor that keeps coming through that I really, really like.

-Hm!

-And then... this one.

It's the saltiest of the bunch, I would say.

Still a really good flavor.

It tastes a little smoked, but not like a liquid smoke.

I would say these three, I really -- I would eat any of these.

This one's my -- edged out as my favorite.

This one is probably my least favorite, but -- -And as usual, your tasting notes are perfect.

This is Bull's-Eye.

This is, you know, a classic kind of sugar-and-smoke-forward supermarket sauce.

You know, we like it, especially for somebody who wants a lot of smoke coming from the barbecue sauce.

-Right.

-Let's look at this one, which you really love.

This is Gates.

-Hm!

-You know, there are lots of famous -- And I would say, at this point, Gates is probably one of the two most famous places.

-Yeah.

-You've probably been there.

-Landmark.

Yeah.

It's a landmark.

Yes.

I have been there a couple times.

-Yeah, and I would say, of the local sauces, it was a fairly on the sweet side, um, but not as sweet as the national brands.

-Okay.

And then this one.

-So, this is Jones.

This is two sisters.

Family restaurant that dates back to the '70s, so not quite as old as Gates Barbecue.

This is sort of jammy.

Our tasters were like, "Pineapple!"

Now, there's no pineapple in the ingredient list, but, like, "fruity" and "jammy" kept on coming up in the tasting notes.

-Is there honey in it?

-We can't tell from the label.

-Don't know.

-There does seem like there's a lot of black pepper in there.

-Yes.

-And you can actually kind of see the black pepper if you really get in there with a spoon, and it's a really great sauce.

-Yeah, I would put this on a lot of different things.

I mean, it's suitable for that.

And then this one... -So, this is Arthur Bryant.

-Oh, yeah.

-So, this is the most savory.

You said salty.

It's also very salty.

It's herbaceous.

-Mm-hmm.

-I would say it's the least sweet of the three local sauces that we have here.

It's probably the least sweet of anything on the table.

-Yeah, I mean, it's really good flavor.

It tastes -- It tastes like roast beef.

A little bit like roast beef in there.

But I still think I like Gates the best.

-That's your bottle of choice?

-That is my bottle of choice.

But you may have a different choice at home.

Why not do your own taste test of Kansas City barbecue sauces?

I promise you won't be disappointed.

The precursor to the modern-day scone likely originated back in Scotland centuries ago, and they were very different.

They were yeast-risen, often made with oats or barley, and cooked on a griddle directly over a fire.

How rustic!

Now compare that with modern-day scones that are sometimes decadent and full of fruit, usually served with breakfast or brunch or anytime you're having tea.

But Ashley's here with a very different perspective on scones -- or "skons," as you may have it -- showing us a savory version.

-You said it.

So we are going to be making today a jalapeo and cheddar scone.

-Yes, please!

-Mm-hmm.

Here I have 15 ounces, which is 3 cups, of all-purpose flour.

I also have 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter that I've been chilling, and I cut it into 1/2-inch pieces.

Now I have some sugar.

I have 1/4-cup of granulated sugar.

Here I've got a good amount of baking powder.

This is one tablespoon.

And, finally, a little salt.

I've got 1 1/4 teaspoons of table salt.

So I'm just going to process this for about 15 seconds.

[ Whirring ] Now a little bit more butter.

I've got 6 more tablespoons of the same chilled butter.

So I added the butter in two different stages.

Adding it in that first stage is going to help to coat the flour, and that's going to prevent the flour from absorbing too much liquid.

Now, I added the second stage at this point because that's going to give us that signature flaky scone texture.

-Mmm!

If you were to add it all at the beginning, it would be too worked in, you wouldn't get flakes.

-Exactly.

Yeah.

-Okay.

Got it.

Got it.

-And now I've got some cheese.

This is extra-sharp cheddar cheese.

It's 6 ounces.

And, again, I cut it into 1/2-inch pieces.

-Okay.

-We really preferred the pieces, the actual chunks, because it gave us gooey pockets of cheese in our finished scones.

Now I'm going to pulse this until I see pea-sized pieces, and that should take about 10 to 12 pulses.

[ Whirring ] Alright.

So now I'm going to transfer this dry mixture into this bowl here.

Now, I've got some jarred jalapeo.

So it's 1/2-cup total.

And what I'm going to do is you want to make sure to absorb any of the excess moisture because that will affect the hydration level of the scones.

But these look really nice and dry.

So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to chop them.

Just going to add this to this bowl here.

Alright.

I'm just stirring it just to make sure that the jalapeo gets coated with all the flour in here.

Now I'm going to make a well in the center.

And then over here I've got a cup of whole milk and then I've got one whole egg plus a yolk.

And I'm going to beat those together.

Alright, so now I'm going to add the liquid into our well of dry ingredients here.

-Lovely.

-So I'm going to fold everything into the center, working outwards in, just like that.

So I'm just stirring until a shaggy dough forms, and that's pretty important because you don't want too much gluten to develop.

That would be a really firm scone, which -- That's not what we want.

-That is exactly the opposite of what we want.

-Exactly!

Alright.

So that is a good-looking shaggy dough.

Now I have some bench flour here.

I'm just going to put that down here on the board just to prevent any kind of stickiness.

And now...get everybody out.

So it's a pretty sticky dough.

So just -- If you need to put a little bit of that bench flour on your hands, go ahead and go for it.

Now I'm just going to turn this three times.

Again, we don't want to work this too much.

So I'm just going to kind of gather it together.

Turn.

Turn.

-That's actually -- That's -- That's good baking right there.

-Mm-hmm!

So that was three turns in total.

And now I'm going to form this into a 15x3-inch rectangle.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to use my bench scraper to help things move along here.

And then using my hands, I'm just going to help to kind of manipulate this.

And my bench scraper is a little sticky, so just go ahead and rub it with some extra bench flour.

So that is 15 by 3 inches on the nose.

And now what I'm going to do is I'm going to cut this rectangle into 6 equal rectangles.

-Okay.

Lovely!

-Okay.

So now I just need to cut these into two triangles each.

Alright.

Almost done.

This is a rimmed baking sheet lined with some parchment paper.

And I'm going to put the scones on here about an inch apart.

-You can see how tender they are.

-So now I'm just going to grab some plastic wrap... because these are going to go hang out in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes, but you can have them in there for up to 24 hours if you wanted to do a make-ahead.

The dough needs to chill so that it will retain its shape.

Bridget, these scones have been in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

-They are firm.

-They are firm.

Yeah.

We're going to go into the oven now.

So I have a preheated oven at 425 degrees.

Oven rack is at the middle position.

And I'm going to bake these for about 15 to 17 minutes until they're light golden-brown on top, and I'm going to go in there halfway through baking and just rotate the sheet.

Oh, wow!

Gor...geous.

-Come to me.

Come to me!

-Yes.

-[ Gasps ] -Although they are beautiful... -They're looking mighty pretty.

-They look mighty pretty.

They're about to get even mighty prettier... because we're going to add a honey butter to the top.

-Ohh!

-So I've got 3 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter.

And I'm adding that to some honey -- a tablespoon and a half.

I'm just going to combine the two together.

Now I'm going to brush the tops of the scones with our honey butter.

-Ohh!

-I know.

As if it couldn't get any better, it just did.

Alright.

So I'm going to put these back in the oven just for a little bit -- 3 to 5 minutes -- until they get just a little bit more golden-brown.

Ooh, boy!

-Oh, my goodness.

[ Gasps ] -Yeah.

-Ooh!

-The butter is even sizzling!

-Mmm!

-And as you can see, just that few extra minutes gave us that gorgeous light-brown color.

So I'm going to let these cool for about 10 minutes, and then we get to dig in.

-Fantastic.

I think they're cool enough to eat.

-I think they are cool enough to eat.

It's been a long 10 minutes.

-Mmm!

-Hm!

-Beautifully flaky.

-Mmm!

-There's the pockets of cheese.

Look at that little chunk of cheese there.

-Whoa.

-Mmm-mmm!

I got a little hit of that briny, spicy jalapeo there.

-Not overpowering.

Super light and flaky.

-I love that little hint of honey.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's a beautifully well-developed crust, too.

Sometimes you get scones and they're just dried out on top.

This is still really nice and moist up here... but craggy and crunchy.

-Yeah.

-These are fantastic.

Thanks so much, Ash.

-You're very welcome.

-Well, why don't you try these savory scones?

Super easy to do, and all it takes is a little hands-on work.

Add the butter in two stages -- first directly to the dry ingredients and then with the cheese for tender texture.

Add pickled jalapeos for a bright flavor punch.

And then brush the scones with a mixture of honey and butter.

So, from "Cook's Country," the tangy and cheesy jalapeo cheddar scones.

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.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

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CooksCountry.com/tv.

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-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 to suit every level, our mission is to ignite your passion to pursue the art of grilling.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.