- Next step is to fold in the cheese. - What does that mean? What does fold in the cheese mean? - You fold it in. - I understand that,
but how do you fold it? Do you fold it in half
like a piece of paper and drop it in the pot? Or what do you do? - David, I cannot show you everything. - Okay, well can you show me one thing? - [Host] Hey, what's up guys? Welcome back to "Binging with Babish" where this week we're taking a look at the enchiladas from "Schitt's Creek". As well as answer the question
that plagues the Rose family, Just how does one fold in the cheese? But first things first, in
order to make enchiladas we gotta make an enchilada sauce, for which we have a
variety of dried chilies. The majority of which are a bunch of cherry red guajillo chilies. These have a nice round fruity flavor. They're a little bit smoky
and they're not too hot. Then over on the sweeter,
smokier side of things we've got some dried ancho chilies, which are just a dried version of my very favorite chili, the poblano. And then I've got a couple
optional pasilla chilies, which are kind of the best of both worlds. They're smoky, fruity, and earthy. Using a variety of chilies like these in your enchilada sauce is gonna help give you a deeper and more complex flavor. Now to turn these chilies
into our salsa roja we must first remove
their stems and seeds, and then cut them into one inch segments. We're doing this because
the stems are stems and because the seeds
hold most of the heat. So while this is still gonna
be spicy it's not gonna be see things that aren't there kind of hot. We're also gonna peel and cut
a medium onion into chunks. Halve two plum tomatoes. And peel three cloves of garlic. And then we're headed
over to the stove top where we're first going
to dry-roast our peppers. This, just like toasting any spice, is gonna help deepen its flavor. So we're just gonna hit these in a dry pan over medium heat for
like one to two minutes. You don't wanna see any smoke, you just wanna smell beautiful smells. Then we're setting those aside. And directly into our hot pan go our onions and tomatoes
to char a little bit. We just want our vegetables to
pick up a little bit of color to add some nice roasty
flavors to our sauce. Once achieved, our chilies
are headed back into the pot, along with just enough
water to cover everybody up, as well as the three
aforementioned garlic cloves. Then we're bringing this whole
mixture up to a bare simmer, maybe with a generous
pinch of Mexican oregano. This is not only going
to soften our vegetables to a blendable state, it's gonna provide the perfect environment in
which to cook our chicken. Three large breasts that
we're going to butterfly, so as they cook faster and more evenly. You can pound 'em out between
sheets of plastic wrap if you like for even more
optimal results, either way. We're killing the heat
under our vegetables and nestling in our chicken. This is going to gently coax
them up to a state of doneness, unlike the somewhat traumatic process of straight up boiling them in water. So we're gonna end up with juicier, tenderer chicken for our enchiladas. Once nestled we're going to cover them and let them sit for 15 minutes, which should be just enough
time to bring them up to an internal temperature
of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. So we're going to evacuate our chicken out onto a plate and begin the process of turning these vegetables
and liquids into a sauce. And since we want a
relatively smooth sauce we're gonna do so in a blender. I'm starting by straining out the solids, and then adding just enough
cooking liquid to cover them, so we get a nice thick consistency. We want something with the consistency like canned tomato sauce,
thin enough to pour, but thick enough to stand up for itself. Go ahead and taste for seasoning. Obviously it's gonna need
a few generous pinches of kosher salt and
several tantalizing twists of freshly ground black pepper. Blend it one more time to combine. And our salsa roja is ready to rock. Now to contend with our fillings. We're gonna simply shred our chicken into nice little shreds. We're going for something almost with the consistency of shredded chicken. You'll know when to stop when your chicken is fully shredded. And then I want some more hot
poblano on poblano action. So I'm removing the seeds and stems from and cutting in half three
fresh poblano peppers. And like we have several
times on the show before we're going to fire-roast them
directly on the stove top. This can be a sort of
intimidating experience, especially when your fire
alarm inevitably goes off. But just turn on your fan, open a window, apologize to the neighbors, and roast them until their exteriors are fully blackened. Then we're piling them
together in some aluminum foil and wrapping them up like a
little poblano pepper package. This is gonna allow the
peppers to steam a little bit, both softening their flesh and making their skin
super easy to peel off. That sounds way more gruesome than it is. Using gloved hands, because poblanos can be wildcard spicy sometimes, we're gonna scrape off all
those carbonized exteriors, revealing perfectly roasted
poblano peppers underneath. I doubt this is what they
did in "Schitt's Creek", but these were on sale
and they're just too good to not put in my enchiladas. But something they did
do on "Schitt's Creek" is try to figure out just what it means to fold in the cheese. About the only context
in which I could imagine you could fold in cheese
when making enchiladas would be with a simple queso. So I'm making a roux out of three tablespoons each flour and butter, cooking those together
for one to two minutes, and then slowly streaming
in two cups of whole milk. Until a thick white sauce is formed, otherwise known as a bechamel. This is what it looked like
David was constantly stirring when they got into the fight about the folding of the cheese. Which, after we kill the
heat, is the very next step. We're gonna add in our eight ounces of shredded queso de Papa. And then, you guessed it, we're gonna-- - If you say fold in one more time. - It says fold it in! - [Host] Yes, using a rubber spatula we're going to fold in the cheese. Which basically just means stirring gently from the bottom upward, folding
liquid up over the cheese, so as to help it melt gently
and not break the sauce. So in the end, we are greeted
with a nice smooth queso, which is gonna make it perfect
topping for our enchiladas. The last integral ingredient
of which is corn tortillas. Which, as you can see, fresh out of the package are
pretty brittle, and fragile, and will not respond well to rolling. So to make our tortillas more flexible and amicable for enchilada use we need to first fry them in
a little bit of vegetable oil. We're heating this oil over medium heat until just shimmering,
dropping in our tortillas and frying only a few seconds per side. We do not want them
turning brown or crisp, we just want them to be nice and flexible, and to increase their tensile strength. Once fried we're gonna
drain on some paper towels. Rinse and repeat with at
least a dozen more tortillas. Once everybody's fried up, we are at long last ready to assemble. So ready your dipping and rolling station. And I'm gonna add another
cheese into the mix, some oaxaca cheese. Which is sort of like
a Mexican mozzarella, and pulls apart like string cheese. So it's gonna be perfect to stack alongside our chicken and poblano peppers. We're gonna pour some of our salsa roja into a shallow dish or pie plate. And at long last assembly
can begin in earnest. We're starting by dipping and thoroughly coating our tortilla on both sides with the salsa roja. Layering some chicken, oaxaca
cheese, and poblano peppers in the center of the tortilla,
taking care not to overfill. Then once all the fillings are in place we're gonna roll the tortilla around them as tightly as we can without breaking it. And then we're going to
place them seam side down in an awaiting pre-oiled casserole. Then all we gotta do is rinse and repeat until the casserole is full. Depending on the size and
shape of your casserole, you might have to engage in some goofy enchilada orientations to
make sure that it's filled, but it's all gonna kind of look the same once smothered, sauced, and baked. First, we are generously
drizzling it with our salsa roja. Topping it with some more
shredded queso de Papa, which is basically just
a medium yellow cheddar. And then last, but certainly not least, a very generous drizzle
of our cheese sauce. This, just like in say a mac and cheese, is going to brown up, and bubble, and permeate every nook and
cranny of our enchiladas. Which, now that they are fully assembled, are headed uncovered into a
400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Until they look like how
I just described them, lightly browned, bubbly,
and delicious enough to eat while they're still way too hot. But, as with all great things, we must exercise a little bit of patience and let these sit for at least
10 minutes before digging in. A serving size is generally
two little enchilada rolls, which just like the
Rose family I'm going to dig into using plastic cutlery. And as I predicted, I'm going to burn the
ever-loving Schitt's Creek out of my mouth, because
these are just too good to wait until they've
cooled down properly. I am by no means an enchilada expert, but these appear to be a shining example. The sauce has a deep,
rich, and complex flavor. It's spicy without being too spicy. The chicken is moist and flavorful. And it's super duper cheesy. It's a small wonder that these enchiladas were a shoe-in for the Clean Plate Club. And an even smaller wonder that I decided to forget about what I said about serving sizes and
plate up another pair, this time with a generous
drizzle of Honduran crema. I hope this has taught
us all a valuable lesson about food, family, and
the folding of cheese. (dynamic music)
Fold in the Cheese!!!!
I would just like to say that I’ve been debating between cooking enchiladas or tacos tonight for the past hour and this was the first thing on my front page when I opened reddit. Haven’t uttered a word about this internal debate or searched anything on my phone either. My phone is reading my mind. Guess I’m having this for dinner tonight!
I would eat the Schitt outta those!
Totally adding this to my dinner list
I feel dumb for asking this, but didnt he have an episode back in August where he said the episode was gonna be his last? The breastfast apocalypse one? So was this just a final "oh, I wanted to do this one" and now he's done?