Legendary Eats Season 4 Marathon

from italian beef sandwiches in chicago to pork roll egg and cheese in new jersey spicy lamb noodles in new york to cuban sandwiches in miami these are the 11 legendary dishes we explored across the country in 2020 a generous helping of golden yellow rice sits underneath 12-hour marinated chicken seared until tender roasted gyro meat sliced straight from the vertical spit pack together with crisp lettuce tomato onions and peppers along with a few delicate slices of pita served soft and warm from the stove but it's the extra creamy secret white sauce and notoriously spicy red sauce that made the halal guys chicken and jar platter and new york legend the word halal refers to a specific way of butchering meat in the religion of islam but in new york because of this one food cart people also use halal as shorthand for a whole collection of street meats sandwiches and combo platters the most famous of which is a platter with only five key ingredients it's like one of my favorite foods to eat so i came the first time i remember and i ate it and i was in love instantly and it was like one of the best things i've ever in my life until now yeah they're egyptian just feels like feels like home yeah combination sure the combo platter starts with a layer of golden yellow rice which is made from scratch off-site before heading to the cart this basmati rice takes the longest to make stirred for over 45 minutes and prepared in 40 pound batches enough to fill 60 to 70 platters but really it's the chicken that takes the most care and attention it's always marinated for 12 hours and although the recipe is secret middle eastern street meats generally use a marinade of herbs lemon olive oil salt and pepper the halal guys wait to chop the chicken until it's fully cooked this way it stays tender and becomes as juicy as can be after we cook it and well done we cover up by the bitter bread you will get the flavor of the chicken in the pita bread next comes the beloved beef gyro which is half cooked on a vertical spit another secret recipe the seasoning likely has a mix of traditional gyro spices like salt pepper paprika and oregano cooks shave it as soon as the meat becomes a dark brown color using a mechanic slicer rather than a knife because it's quicker and more consistent back at the cart the gyro shavings are placed on the stove and chopped into even squares initially the halal guys serve gyro meat in long shavings like many other halal food vendors but they switch to smaller pieces in order to keep up with demand and finally but maybe most importantly comes this question white sauce all over yeah just like just all of the chicken places okay no problem like a lot of it yeah you have to get the sauces most importantly the white sauce i personally never asked the exact name of it but that really makes the meal it's just white sauce right i think we all call it white sauce carts across the city have tried to mimic the recipe but the halal guy says no other place has cracked the code based on the to-go packets of white sauce this creamy substance is a combination of mayo black pepper vinegar salt and a few other ingredients but one thing we're sure about the red sauce isn't for everyone we call the ice sauce 9-1-1 because it's very very spicy i personally have not tasted it what ever never i don't eat spicy i cannot tolerate spicy the sauce has a scoville rating between 100 000 and 130 000 which is over 40 times hotter than tabasco the cart guys won't let you walk away without telling you just how spicy it can be and recommend taking a couple of packets to go rather than drizzling too much on your platter i love the white sauce and i love spicy so definitely love the red sauce too recommend both next time we'll get barbecue okay wait that's barbecue oh dude thirty years ago there were few halal carts in manhattan until the halal guys opened one on west 53rd and 6th avenue it didn't take too long to win over customers particularly cab drivers looking for an easy way to eat halal at that time they didn't find any halal food in new york city so they came up with the idea there's a lot of muslims here why can't we provide full halal meal for muslim cabbies and it started that way now street meat is everywhere but those cabbies have spread the word about the platters and gyros specifically from the halal guys you have deals for cab drivers okay like better pricing couple of bucks cheaper something discount not to mention there's even an express taxi line for drivers only it's unfair but this is their policy that if you're a cab driver you don't have to wait in the line you just skip from here and we give your your santosh whatever that means you keep going so halal street food has become a staple meal for new yorkers in a rite of passage for visitors the cart has been praised by magazines radio stations and celebrities just something you have to try it's like you can't go to new york and not try hello guys what does it remind you of home love sweetness not sweetness spiciness oh my god the chicken is so tender the rice is exquisite and the white sauce i would die for the white sauce just how the white sauce complements the chicken and the spices that it's marinated in i really loved it i regret not trying it sooner now i'm going to spend the rest of my life eating more of it yeah you have it right now right yeah all right no problem enjoy your food sir thank you so much thank you have a wonderful day thank you thank you fresh rolls of french bread sliced down the middle loaded with thinly sliced marinated beef that soaks into the bun topped with piles of sweet peppers and jordanera all laid across the beef soaked in a top secret juice it's this classic combination of seasoned beef peppers in a mouthwatering gravy that makes the italian beef sandwich a legend in chicago there are plenty of spots to get an italian beef in chicago but johnny's in elmwood park is full of customers lining up to get their hands on its juicy sandwich as soon as the doors open at 11. i've been here since high school yeah the flavor of johnny's beef is different than anywhere else been in the neighborhood almost 30 years and i love their people and it's number one beef in town you know the beef in the world it's better than john there are a few ways to order your beef from johnny's if you ask for juicy the entire sandwich gets dipped into a container of beefy juices making the bread soaking wet if you ask for a dry then no gravy if you opt for dipped then your meat is lightly drenched in the juice they dip the bun in the juice make it even soggier i need to take a shower after this this is awesome i like it good flavor and everything johnny's beef starts off with roasting 300 pounds of a lean and tough cut of beef either top or round sirloin to simultaneously marinate the beef and make its famous juice a special spice mix is poured into the large valve meat it's a pretty simple process adding the seasoning to the meat it's just going to cook down that's a secret you can't tell us no one knows this but three people maybe i see that's it some things you can't in there a lot better left unsaid so now we're just gonna add water to it and it'll start cooking and who created the spices johnny came from his mother-in-law way back in the day and then your son-in-law said the recipe's under lock and key wherever so that's that's secret can't tell you lock and key yeah they won't give them nobody to season it well that i can't disclose it's in a locking key in a vault somewhere that's a secret oh also none of the employees sees it absolutely not they will never do that they don't want nobody to know their flavor that's how secretive it is just the process is more important than anything else every day the same way and we're ready to go the meat cooks in the gravy for a few hours until it's tender and well seasoned it's cooled off in the fridge overnight to ensure easy slicing the next morning staff trim off the fat and bring over the slabs to an automatic slicer meat is sliced very thin as you can see very thin you don't want to go too thick okay it's not a steak it's a it's a beef sandwich you want thin very thin meat that you can almost see through once the pan is filled to the brim with paper thin slices of beef it's either refrigerated or sent out to the front for assembly there's 15 pounds in each pan we cut 10 12 15 pans depending you know the weekend gets even busier the assembly of the sandwich starts off with french bread that's specially made for johnny's from toronto bakery a local bread company in chicago it is long narrow in shape and has a thin crust french bread holds our juice very well with the sandwich with the peppers doesn't make it fall apart that is the authentic way of making an italian beef without good bread what's inside is nothing this is just an italian beef sandwich johnny style spoon of gravy sweet peppers right there and what is the juice made out of i can't tell you no no secret secret seasoning and then sweet peppers that's the usual that's our usual what about hot peppers a peppers jar right here gives it a lot more flavor i mean the seasoning enough is is is spicy that just makes it even better we have our own recipe that somebody makes for us for our gardener but the sweet peppers are made in-house every day and if you want juicy do you dip the entire thing back in get the tire and thing back in there okay now we're gonna go to juicy beef suite oh my god i'm salivating this is beautiful and there you go there's a juicy beef sweet and what do you prefer fat with hot peppers juicy beef sweet and hot peppers the most common sandwich is a juicy beef with sweet peppers it's kind of like the soup kitchen from seinfeld we have to be very specific just follow the ordering procedure and you will be fine [Laughter] medium turkey chili you know anything about a hot dog stand or a beef stand in chicago you don't say the word ketchup no why not because it just doesn't go they'll give it to you on the side but you shouldn't be asking for it it's kind of an unspoken rule negative no cheese cheese is not an authentic way of making a beef sandwich it's going to hide all the flavor that we have in our juice and you don't want to do that people love cheese but you're not going to find it at johnny's both the juicy and dry varieties of johnny's beef have drawn tourists and celebrities into the quaint store front since 1961 but it's the local community and surrounding neighbors that keep the lines long and the orders coming through i can smell it from my backyard so it's pretty irresistible to come and get it the line gets all the way out there and saturdays and friday all the way down the alley there's always a line you know i don't like waiting in line this is the only line i've waited it's an amazing place it really is it really is nice to see people come in see people all the time regular basis their loyalty is is nice it really is it is amazing that you memorized this recipe and then nowhere don't get difficult yeah but i mean that that's then then you have to show up to work every day every day i have to be here wow yes and if i'm not i will put it in a container like i did for you guys today right in advance so you'd have to kill me if i ever found out exactly garlicky lachon marinated for 24 hours paired with sweet ham brined for seven days topped with two slices of swiss cheese and pickles for a punch of vinegar and extra crunch all layered onto plush cuban bread brushed with lard and pressed until warm and crisp it's this classic combination of flavors pressed between cuban bread that made the cuban sandwich a legend in miami ham and cheese is one of those classic combinations it's straightforward but you may see it served differently depending on where you go like down in miami where little havana is a haven for cuban cuisine and this classic marriage of meat and protein defines their go-to sandwich cuban sandwiches in miami are like pizza to new yorkers the cuban sandwich is the pinnacle and if you meet the top then you are meeting us at sanguita miami for cubans we can make anywhere on a slow day 80 sandwiches on a busy day 150 cubans alone at sandwich day miami daniel and rosa spend the most time preparing the meat to make a true cuban sandwich they prepare ham and roasted pork called lachon our lechon and our ham we use the same part of the pork which is a boneless pork butt for us we find that it tends to be one of the most tender parts of the pork one gets cured and the other one gets marinated is really the only difference between the two the curing process starts like this each ham is wrapped and injected with a salt and water solution made with spices like garlic allspice cloves and coriander then it sits for seven days building flavor by soaking up that brine whereas the lechon marinates for one to two days before it goes inside the oven to roast and when it's finished you end up with this beautiful crust on the outside the gold that obviously is contributed to the roasting with all of the sugars and the honey that's in the ham and so it's nice and tender it's definitely juicy really creates a power of flavors when you pair it up particularly with the ham which is a little bit sweeter what may be as important as the meat is the loaf of bread it sits between a cuban sandwich simply wouldn't be the same without cuban bread cuban bread for cubans is what they're trying to say mexicans right what the arepa is to the colombians or the venezuelans right it's just part of our dna but what makes this bread different than say french or italian bread it's gotta have fat there's a lot of people who may make cuban bread but they only use water for us it was really important to be authentic and to make sure that we didn't take the lard out of the process because it truly does make a huge difference with the cuban bread with flavor texture everything and while other spots may opt for yellow mustard sandwiches miami adds a drizzle of its homemade spicy mustard and if customers catch themselves craving mayo i tell them that cubans are not made with mayonnaise that i'll be happy to put it on the side but that i will not be a part of ruining the cuban sandwich with mayonnaise after a drizzle of mustard comes equal parts lechon and ham two slices of swiss cheese and pickles i love the cuban sandwich because there's something about the mustard the pickles the fattiness of the pork there's something about that combination of flavors that's really layered that hits home for me the way you really palletize it correctly most people put mustard and pickles together and you don't do that it's too much vinegar it punches you in the face it's overpowering you need to separate them and give it a complimentary meat and finally the whole sandwich heads to the plancha where it's pressed and finished off with one more thing once it's being warmed we glaze on lard and the lard that we use is the same lard that's rendered from the ham and the lechon that we make the lard is what really helps kind of diffuse the heat it's a very high heat index so it doesn't burn unlike butter meat's nice and tender the bread is nice and crisp gives you that crunch this is how i remember okay so how do they open up a shop like this up in wisconsin more than 60 of the us's cuban population lives in florida and a third of miami-dade county in particular where sandwich calls home is made up of cuban americans hence why the cuban sandwich has become a mainstay here i have people all the time everyone comes into town and that's the one question they have where can i get a cupid sandwich it's part of generations and generations and generations of food so here in miami it's only natural for it's part of our culture it's part of our dna it's part of the fabric of our culinary landscape that's my cuban no one's ever really elevated the sandwich has been like a traditional staple with you know store-bought ingredients but no one's really taken to that gourmet level of making everything from scratch down from the pickles to the mustard how they brine everything you taste it you taste all the quality i think the cuban sandwich with time has kind of become something we put on the back burner where it's like a really affordable fast food that you kind of just grab and go but we wanted to take it back to the old school where people really took the time and care to create their meats and and to really curate a beautiful sandwich that you can truly enjoy and that sandwich they've mastered is one of the best cubanos you'll find in miami with customers coming from across the world to try it we've had people come in and show us magazines they're magazines from europe says that we must try this cuban sandwich and it's surreal and we're humbled by the by the whole thing honestly you know you put something in motion you put all of your effort in love you feel like it's something that is going to be appreciated and then once they try it the gratitude and and enjoyment that you see in their eyes when they're actually trying honestly makes all of it worth it everybody loves a good sandow and every every culture has a sandwich this is our our sandwich and our culture in a bite you know it's kind of the whole package you get the different flavors the different textures i love myself a grilled cheese with an addition of meat but but this is just its own thing it's the cuban sandwich a half pork half beef sausage grilled until perfectly charred and brown dressed with tangy yellow mustard and crunchy white onions but it's the final touch smothering the whole thing in homemade chili cooked down for hours to hone the sweet and smoky flavor that makes the half smoke from ben's chili ball a legend in washington dc washington dc is a city rich in history but it's this famous nine-block stretch on new street once known as black broadway that has contributed to some of the city's most defining moments and while this block has struggled through generations of ups and downs ben's chili bowl which first opened its doors on august 22 1958 was there through it all it's just the same way that it did like 10 years ago and my grandparents stayed the same way which is 20 years ago it never changes inside the small kitchen that has kept washingtonians fed for generations as a world of secrets so many in fact that the family goes as far as to prep brown paper bags full of ben's original spice mix so that even the chefs remain clueless to the final touches this magic bag we make every day and only the family has this secret some people get their jarvis license some people get a bar mitzvah we get the magic spice mix recipe this is kamal ali one of founder ben and virginia's three sons all of whom left successful careers in their own rights to help keep the family legacy alive what is your mom going to do to you if you ever gave away this recipe big trouble she's i'm not too old to put forget put over her knees and mama virginia agrees oh no we raised him well the chili sauce begins with simple fresh ingredients ground beef topped with roughly chopped white onion green peppers and tomatoes loaded into a large stockpot chain restaurant and other people are making it they're going to have exact measurements and everything this is how we do it here we're going to pour it in we're just going to toss in these peppers and onions and what we're going to do is we're going to give it a good covering once all the ingredients are combined and covered with liquid the sauce is left to boil and bubble for about an hour and a half until the meat is cooked and the vegetables are nice and soft ensuring a silky smooth texture when it's cooked down to about half the amount a pot is left to simmer for an additional 45 minutes so the flavor can really develop so now it's simmered all those spices are getting together in there and having a party kamal kicked us out of the kitchen to add some ali family secret finishing touches but when we came back the chili was reduced down to a rich and creamy sauce that he churns with a metal spoon to add in some air and positive vibes we add in some community skirt we added lots of love a little bit of black lives matter this year every year of course every year and we come out with this nice smooth consistency after the chili sauce is left to cool on a bed of ice it's taken to the production line where the iconic half smoke really comes to life the house smoke is unique to washington and it is washington's signature dish now it begins with a half pork half beef sausage cooked on a hot griddle until charred on all sides the sausage is placed on a lightly steamed bun before being doused with yellow mustard sprinkled with chopped white onion and finished with that famous chili sauce the meat is perfectly seasoned except i got the bun crispy on the outside juicy on the inside chili laced up that masa gives that little tang good to go i'm a native washingtonian so you can't live in washington dc and not come to ben it's made with love this family who built this is a love story you know and it's a african-american black love story the love story that built this empire began with ben and virginia ali over 60 years ago when he stopped by the bank she worked at and decided to chat her up he had the nerve to ask me to call he wrote a little note with his phone number and his name of course i didn't call him this was 1957. you don't call a man you don't know and the rest is history we had 51 years together before he died yeah quickly into their relationship ben and virginia decided that they wanted to own their own business having worked in restaurants to pay his way through university the two decided to lean into a tasty chili recipe ben had cooked up we needed an ideal location we found that ideal location in this community on the street called black broadway and just like that ben's chili bowl was born in the early days the newlyweds worked day in and day out serving the affluent black community of black broadway standing as a meeting ground for some of the biggest names in history everyone from duke ellington to stokely carmichael to mlk himself have swung by for a bite of the half smoke dr martin luther king had a satellite office at 14th and u so whenever he was in town he popped into the chili bowl we'd have an opportunity to chat with him for a few minutes and listen to his dream and the watch on washington that took place in 1963 we were a part of and we were here to perhaps prepare food for some of those folks that came in very early so it breaks my heart today to see that we're still now struggling and fighting for those same basic human rights that we fought for so many years ago already active community leaders in the civil rights movement when protests broke out after the assassination of mlk benz was one of the only businesses allowed to stay open bidding protesters as well as first responders late into the night now stokely carmichael told me that he had a talk with the commander and said we need a place together we need a place for the city officials for even activists and and for the first responders to be able to come in and feel safe and have something to eat it was a meeting place for the civil rights movement for entertainers celebrities no matter what was going on in the country around the world ben's had his hand on the pulse of the community it was a usual place for unusual people that comes and everybody could be usual you know what i mean and meetings have been held in some of these booths meetings that impacted people's lives all over the country destruction from the protests caused residents to flee the area and this community continued to face detrimental setbacks over the decades from drug trafficking into the black community in the 70s to destructive metro construction throughout the 80s and large-scale gentrification through the 90s all of which over time effectively erased black broadway off the map through it all ben's chillable has remained even becoming obama's first surprise pit stop leading up to the 2009 inauguration but despite the hype virginia lives to make sure the place feels like home to everyone who walks in she and then during his lifetime they brought along their family so that their family would continue along after them and that is an important thing because ben is gone and one day i'll be gone and virginia will be gone but the legacy of the chili bowl will continue to live because the children have made that a part of what they do it's a family affair and i'm so so grateful for that i like being able to come in and meet and greet our patrons and treat them as guests coming into my home it's been an interesting 62 years i've not had a boring moment it's very tasty have you tried one [Laughter] if i'm being perfectly honest i've somehow gotten through my life without ever having a chili dog so i've absolutely no idea what to expect from this but i will say just smelling it it smells like summer it smells like a family barbecue it smells like sweet and a little bit spicy it's goddammit this is so good so the chili it doesn't have a lot of texture to it which is where the onions the onions have that crunch that you really want that fresh sweet crunch the mustard on top has like a little bit of a sweetness but the chili overall it's thick it's rich it's spicy but in that way then it's like a flavorful spice it's not a hot spice so it feels like you could just keep eating it because it's never gonna like hurt your mouth i've never had a chili dog before and it's so much better than i was expecting like i feel like i've been missing out on this my entire life when i came here my hair was long as yours but look what happened them chili dogs are delicious fresh dough cut into perfect rounds dozens fried in piping hot oil a minute on each side only flipped when golden brown and lightly crisp stacked up on a long rod and drenched in a thick honey glaze hung up on two metal hooks to let the excess glaze drip down so that each donut is evenly coated and perfectly sweet it's the special way that this simple dough is fried and glazed that make peter pan's donuts a legend in brooklyn and beyond hours before customers fill the stools at the u-shaped countertop bakers at peter pan are busy making donuts this is definitely a green point staple people wait here for 45 minutes an hour just to get a doughnut i got a doughnut it's no lime it's so life bakers come to work at midnight to make dough from scratch they start with the shop's popular yeast donuts since those take the longest to make bakers measure out flour and sugar with the scale before dumping each ingredient into an industrial steel mixer the mixer blends flour sugar milk butter and eggs on a typical day bakers go through about 40 pounds of flour to make a thousand donuts the only machine left back there is to mix it but everything is done by hand you saw he was hand cutting every donut and hand glazing them and it makes a difference bakers roll the dough about an inch thick any thinner and the donuts will shrink too much when they fry then they cut the donut into perfect rounds some with holes and others without depending on whether the donut has a filling now the donuts head into the proofing cabinet to rise typically yeast donuts need about three hours to rise which is why bakers start their shift overnight but the timing can change based on a few factors like the weather that day in the winter peter pan's donuts can take up to four and a half hours to rise but when it's hot or humid it's much less than that summertime with the humidity i mean you don't even have to put them in the proof box you know as you're cutting them and leaving them on the rack they have proofings about 35 donuts fry until they turn golden brown about a minute on each side yeast doughnuts head directly to the glazing station but cake doughnuts need to cool for a few minutes otherwise they'll break apart bakers line up 10 donuts on a long rod and submerge them into a thick honey glaze they hang the rod on two metal hooks because if you just leave it flat it sort of sits on the top and it's too sweet this way it really runs off the whole donut there's blueberry buttermilk sourdough and the shop's best sellers honey dipped and red velvet cake flavors i don't think you can come here and not get a glazed donut it's just like your classic go-to donut not too much going on simple airy but yet filling and glazed like just as well as all the others that glaze is everything that's the best part about this donut to be real to be honest the red velvet's good i love red velvet flavoring but the glaze is like such an even coat and thin it looks like they're soaking the glaze onto each donut but it's actually just like a thin coating that dries perfectly on top and it spreads so well throughout both the classics and the new varieties have drawn in tourists celebrity customers and movie crews over the last 70 years but it's the faithful locals that keep the shop so busy i've been in the neighborhood for eight years i have breakfast here three times a week at least this donut is just so good and it's not just for the police for the mail lady six circles of pork rolls sliced a half inch thick sear it on the flat top until the edges are crisp stacked with two fried eggs and four slices of yellow american cheese sandwich between a hard kaiser roll it's this contentious cured ham that made the pork roll egg and cheese a legend in new jersey in other parts of the country a breakfast sandwich typically means egg cheese and some sort of meat but at slater's deli in new jersey the sandwich wouldn't be complete without pork roll or i usually hold killer ham i'm from north jersey but i've been practicing pork roll is a smoked ham that's already pre-cooked that people eat is a breakfast sandwich and it's a religion in new jersey an absolute religion i mean people are nuts over it it's like nothing you've tasted it's very salty very oily but you want the oil right because that's what you know you put it on a roll that's great the smoky salty processed meat is sold like this in hefty six pound logs of ground pork that's been spiced smoked and cooked before it's shipped to delis across new jersey the pork is sliced on number eight all the time this way it's the same thickness and the same texture all the time if it's sliced too thin it'll shrink up on the grill and it just won't be the same even though the product is pre-cooked ralph sears it on the flat top for three to four minutes if somebody asked for a well done i got the weight i put on it so that gets kind of quick yeah brownies are quicker he makes those slits along each slice otherwise the meat would curl up while cooking meanwhile rao fries two eggs and tops each with a slice of yellow american cheese this is an old trick a little bit of water a lot of steam watch it's amazing the way it melts the cheese all six slices of pork roll eggs and cheese are sandwiched between a hard kaiser roll if you ask ralph the eggs go on the top or between the pork roll but never below if you put the egg on the bottom when you go to cut it it just falls all over the place there's no way it's going to stay together so it has to be done that way ralph opts for a brand of pork roll called taylor which is where the debate over the true name of this meet begins story goes that a man named john taylor created the first pork roll originally calling it taylor's prepared ham he was forced to remove the word ham from the name because it didn't meet the definition of ham created by the pure food and drug act of 1906 so he decided to call it john taylor's original taylor pork roll instead hence the confusion i call it taylor ham pork roll i call it my mom's from north jersey so i grew up on taylor ham and cheese if you look at the package it says taylor so they're kind of right what's the right answer yeah i it's portable to me while there's no official line separating the people who call it pork roll versus those who say taylor ham according to ralph the cutoff's woodbridge usually after woodbridge it's pork roll if you go further north than woodbridge it's taylor ham that's that's the cut off i see forget what you call it one thing is for sure pork roll egg and cheese is a rite of passage in new jersey no matter what time of year it is we can sell nothing else but we will pull tons of people how many uh pork roll cases would you say you go through in a week in the summertime probably 50. 50 cases how much we need to lose weight six pounds so 300 pounds a week yeah that's a lot of horrible it's a lot of processes there's not a lot of not a lot of healthy people coming in here that's for sure there's nothing really nuts about it i mean it's just something that people grew up on here and it stuck with them forever you know and you can't get anywhere else there's no other state you can get it from you can buy it in a supermarket in other states in the packages you know what i mean the pre-sliced packages but it's not the same can i get it been a while since i've said that it's been a while since i wore teens and cheese looks messy okay first impression i'm familiar with the sandwich very familiar being from new jersey but this thing is the largest pork roll egg and cheese sandwich i have ever seen and i'm just gonna try to attempt to you know eat it in a good solid bite if you've never had pork roll i think you would be surprised by how salty it is because it's definitely saltier than regular ham and then also if you think about canadian bacon and how thick that is it kind of resembles that but it's also a meat and a product all of its own it has like just a uniquely salty spicy smoky flavor and this bee wants it too whoa okay in terms of texture it's thick a little bit crisp on the outside but it's not like crunchy in any way it's like in the field of breakfast meats like bacon or sausage just it's different sometimes i can't describe it i don't i don't even know where it comes from could you imagine eating an entire family six slices of pork roll is a lot normally a normal pork roll egg and cheese from what i have seen is like two to three slices max and then your egg and your cheese and you got your whole complete meal but to have six slices that is a meal in itself i though i do enjoy pork roll this you have to love it to have this much of it in a sandwich it's a taste of my childhood i guess is the best way for me to explain it you know my mom always made it at home or we went to the deli and got it so we went to jersey state i have trained myself for this video to stay purple otherwise it's obviously taylor hanna it's purple oh my god nicole pastry dough mixed until soft patted down and rolled an eighth inch thick cut into perfect two inch squares that fly through the air into piping hot oil fried until puffy and golden brown finished off with a sweet blanket of powdered sugar it's the expert way that these pastries are cut and fried that makes cafe dumond's beignets a legend in new orleans people compare beignets to donuts funnel cake and other sugar topped fried pastries but those who've been to cafe du monde know them as a thing all their own it's our like decorative it's who we are i mean it's everything about it you come here it i can't describe it i'm just looking at it because it's like heaven in a bag beignets start out as a simple pastry dough at cafe du monde where the bakers are meticulous in the way they mix each batch mix until you get all the lumps out took it smooth it's about 10 minutes the most as for what's inside that mixture i can't tell you that's the secret based on the ingredient list from cafe de man's own beignet mix the dough is made with wheat and barley flours buttermilk salt and sugar once it's fully combined only touch can tell whether it's ready i checked it to make sure it's just the right feeling for it to throw i don't want too soft or just right i don't want to do it hard see i have to feel it don't make it too stiff being starting to shrink up then curtis puts the dough through a rolling machine i'm rolling it down so i can run it through the cutter first that sets flour off get them ready to go into the grease uh plenty of times still had the marks on my arm cafe dumont fries beignets in cottonseed oil because it's like a peanut oil the grease doesn't burn that fast you know you cook it at a high temperature you'll see curtis shake the squares continuously as the pastries cook i'm i'm separating so they won't stick together so all of them come out done in five minutes or less the beignets are puffy and golden brown this point wait for the waiters to come in and bag them up and take them out to the window to serve shovels of powdered sugar empty into the bags immediately after the beignets leave the fryer that's when the sugar easily clings to the surface and when the pastries taste their best you have to get them hot like extremely hot because it's like you see that right it's so airy and light i gotta take another bite better than a donut way better than a donut it's just soft and chewy and excellent and we always wear black so that we can have powdered sugar all over us and everybody knows where we've been most customers like a lot of sugar they like a lot do they come back asking for more yes they do all the time all the time cafe dumont has been open in the french quarter for almost 160 years all the while serving the same two items on the menu with some black coffee it's just like the perfect combination yeah it's a perfect mixture of tart and and sweetness that it kind of just it totally combines with each other and for decades food publications famous figures and customers from all over the world have praised the sweet fried dough there are a few things that you think of new orleans immediately the river the cathedral pat o'brien's hurricane maybe a cafe de mont beignet this is what you come to new orleans for first stop when we get to new orleans this is on the list even if you don't like beignets you kind of have to try it because it's just part of the new orleans tradition and history culture fresh plantains fried smash and fried again to crispy perfection topped with lettuce tomatoes and thinly sliced marinated steak that melts in your mouth finished with american cheese and a heaping spoonful of garlic it's a way this tender steak and fresh ingredients are sandwiched between crunchy plantains that makes the hiberito a legend in chicago the hiberito is a puerto rican-inspired sandwich but it was created here in chicago which is home to one of the largest populations of puerto ricans the mainland u.s throughout the city you'll find plenty of restaurants serving hiberitos but the local favorite is hiberito imasu india [Music] it's delicious it's crunchy it has a lot of flavor i love it you can find puerto rican restaurants up and down fullerton but like my favorite is peabody chocolate this is one of the best sandwiches i've ever had in my life offers several versions of a tiberito like pork or shrimp but the most popular version is the steak to start off the meat is stewed for 30 minutes in a mixture of garlic onion adobo and seasoning is secret [Music] [Music] [Music] the plantains are fried for seven minutes pressed into a flat sheet then fried again in order to achieve that crispy texture [Music] the next layer is your meat of choice in american cheese finally the gibrito is topped with a large spoonful of garlic [Music] [Music] [Music] like i said i tried the pork i love it but um for me it's got great taste you can smell it down the block and is this your favorite spot yeah because it's right down the street from my house [Music] makes all types of hiberitos the one that i have today is the shrimp hiberito the first thing i immediately smell is the garlic here i go it's gonna get messy this is fantastic that's magnificent so good twice frying the plantain really does make this crunchy and crispy and exactly what you would want and also also the garlic that really hits you with all that flavor for me i love that there's a variation in different textures there's a crunch of the plantain there's the soft supple shrimp in between and then you have the crunch of the lettuce the cheese that's melting just right eliza's passion for the hiberito started 20 years ago when she first arrived in the u.s and started working in local puerto rican restaurants yo yo [Music] chicken marinated in a secret blend of spices flour coated into every crease and flap of each breast and wing dropped in oil and fried until all of the skin is perfectly crisp sweet waffle batter whisk until smooth and creamy cook to a golden brown color remaining soft to the touch it's the subtle sweetness of the waffle and the secret marinade of this savory chicken that makes amy ruth's chicken and waffles a legend in new york fried chicken and waffles first appeared on menus at wells supper club in harlem back in the 1930s although that restaurant has since closed the dish never lost its hook on the people here and much of that is thanks to amy ruth's popularity a lot of my friends they go to atlanta and they're like oh like where's the chicken wallpaper that's not a staple in the south it's from harlem like if they're coming to harlem america is always the place to come right the chicken at amy roots starts with a secret blend of spices what we do is in order to ensure that the chicken is flavorful and and the season gets time to evaporate to the bone we pre-season the chicken 24 hours in advance it's like a rub then sister jeanette dredges the chicken and flour making sure to cover each breast and the corners of the wings evenly this ensures every bit gets crispy when it heads to the fryer the chicken usually fries for about 12 minutes but the cooks will know it's done when it floats all the way to the top as for the signature sweet half of this dish there's amy ruth's golden brown waffle the key to the waffle is sweat won't be fill you up with gas is to make it at least 24 hours in advance and let it expand in like a five gallon container we put it in is this sort of like when they tell you with pancake batter to let it sit before you before you make pancakes same results it tastes better and it's better on your digestive system it's not struggling to digest because there's no gas in it typically they make the batter in 60 pound batches in a 5 gallon bucket but sister jeanette agreed to show us herself by hand we have never made the waffle mix for anyone what you guys are what's today's date the 19th this is your lucky day this is your lucky day 2020. like any typical batter there's vanilla cinnamon brown sugar flour and something special she wouldn't share how you cook is the key yeah you gotta cook with love you gotta time each ingredient that you put in because you want it to have a desired fluffiness she whisks it until all the clumps are gone and the batter is totally smooth see how it's expanding yeah yeah after it sits it's ready for the iron where each scoop of batter cooks for about three minutes until the waffle is soft with a golden brown color dubbed the reverend al sharpton on the menu this plate is one of several tributes to famous black figures you'll find at amy ruth's and orders for that dish come through in the hundreds each week [Music] yeah still a lot the way that they season and batter their food is light enough that it's not too salty but enough to give you flavor there's a right amount of crunch there's a right amount of crisp you know you're not disappointed when you want something crunchy they even give you the condiments but you don't even really have to use them because the food is so delicious that you don't you don't want to mess with it in 2017 the daily meal recognized the restaurant for serving the second best chicken and waffles in the country sometime when i look out the little cubby hole and look at the people when they receive their food it's like they're in love not like it's a person but it's something that make them happy and give them joy i guess they could say let me go to any roof and get those chicken and waffles the enthusiasm makes me makes me want to give more it makes me want to do more makes me want to try and make everything perfect you know it takes you home you know i mean like you feel the love you feel everything in it it's not a mess it's always a hit like the names on the menu the tributes continue with paintings of prominent black figures on the restaurant's walls and if you look close enough you'll find sister jeanette up there with them the soul behind the soul food restaurant i can't be anything else but fun and kind and sweet and loving and caring i grew up in the south on a farm on a farm rough life with a good life and i grew up with 13 brothers and sisters wow and i am the seventh and my mother says i was the most strangest woman i don't know i don't know that one strangest one out of all the children i said i think you mean to little say was like what do you know about unique i said i got sleep yeah and i've always been like this i don't know why it is so crispy it's like flake the flakes are flying off as i'm cutting in that sound is amazing the sound is amazing it just makes you want to eat it that is super different that is not a typical waffle i think there's like a corn base in this waffle in some way i don't that is not confirmed i'm totally just guessing but there's a sweet corn flavor i can't just make it plain okay it'll be like everybody else's right like i forgot i forgot i was eating a waffle for a second because i thought there was cornbread in my mouth which sounds strange but like i got transported to like a different food that i've experienced and i think that's because like the flavors mimic that i love the um crispiness of the waffle and then inside it's just so soft and like decorative like it's like amazing the cereal the butter is like oh my gosh takes it to the level um the chicken is crispy then you got like the tender meat inside or not this is great like i wanna i just wanna just keep normally i don't take as many lights i'm in it i want just the skin is addicting like you taste that crunchy salty crisp skin in your mouth and you're like okay let's just have more of that great dish overall like i want to go back in the kitchen talk to sister jeanette try to coerce her to tell me what she put in the waffle batter so i can make it at home because it's like that's how much i'm enjoying this waffle more than other waffles i've had with all of the iconic cuisines that we have in the city it's nice that this type of cuisine is represented and then people can come to the place where the people are cooking it and enjoy it in its home [Music] thick strips of dough pulled to arm's length slapped down on the counter in continuous rhythm lamb tossed in the wok cooked until tender mixed with a fiery blend of sauce and spice but it's this signature homemade chili oil clinging perfectly to these hand-pulled noodles that makes the spicy cumin lamb noodles a legend in new york head to new york and you'll find several chinese noodle shops dotted across the city with the wide hand ripped noodles from the shop celebrated by anthony bourdain this place is unbelievable this place is great come from here now this is the central kitchen where the popular spicy cumin lamb plate is made from scratch spicy cumin lamb is a dish that's pretty commonly found in most of mainland china like northern parts especially but to put the lamb along with our white noodles we're the first to do that is that because you guys liked noodles or you felt like new york would respond to the noodles with the lamb you know we were like all right something cumin something lamb let's make this dish so that was this is my favorite right and then the noodles is my father's favorite because he just he's a noodle person he's not that much into rice so that's how it came to be the noodles start out like this a simple dough mixture made with flour water and a little bit of salt and then how long can that sit before your you have to pull it out now so david recommends letting it sit for 10 minutes but if you ask jason i say 20 minutes of wrestling once you take it out i'm pretty consistent he changes his mind all the time he's like a year ago a year ago he'll have standards like these and then yesterday he would be like i want to change the weights for this and but one part of the process never changes the noodle pole each portion is pulled to order if they're pulled early and set aside the noodles will lack their signature chewiness how do you know when you pulled far enough ideally five feet all right so but i just go by me that's about there you go that's about right right yes after they're stretched jason strips each noodle down the middle and throws it into boiling water we find wine it was better because it just carries the flavor a little bit better the noodles is always perfect they widen up but they tender they're nice and tender while the protein may not be the star the most popular dish at xi'an famous foods simply wouldn't be the same without it to make the lamb jason and his father set aside seven ingredients this is a young david turns the wok up to full blast adding in the lamb first and flipping it almost continuously you'll see i'm doing a combination of that and the idea is just to keep the meat from sticking to the sides because that means it's burnt then david tosses in the rest of the ingredients and a spoonful of the restaurant's chili oil which famously flew off the shelves after the new york times recommended it to readers in may with a proprietary blend of 30 spices that's where the signature flavor and heat in this dish really come through the lamb is sliced thin so that each piece really absorbs all that cumin and chili and spice yeah smells good right it smells amazing you don't want to try right now or you know what i'm gonna try it's cooking right i kind of do yeah go for it you want to grab a chance go ahead guys yeah it's fine we're casual here we go you got it no pressure just in case that is so flavorful no really though like i thought it was going to be so spicy in your face like blow up it's very approachable yeah it's very approachable the flavor profile of shanxi you know xi'an cuisine is not to burn your mouth off yeah that's not the goat it's a fragrant spice you know so you have all the fragrances you have some spice a lot of it looks intimidating because it's really red but that's you know part of the presentation of the dish but when we actually eat it you know it's not it's not that spicy no it's very fragrant that's like the perfect word to describe that before the lamb and noodles combine jason adds some more veggies a spoonful of noodle sauce and more chili oil is uh actually a very historical city in china the silk road actually starts in xi'an and ends up somewhere in the middle east so there's a lot of folks going around a lot of culture from different parts of asia and beyond coming into the city so that's how it has affected our food you know it's very cosmopolitan of flavors even though it's still considered chinese food of course but you know thousands of years of history has made it into somewhat of a unique cuisine what was once a tiny flushing restaurant has turned into 10 locations across new york city and as the restaurant grew so did its loyal band of customers when we found out it was opening every time it like two three times a week we even going on websites to see like the ingredients to like make our own like homemade but we i didn't i didn't get to it then they came out with the cookbook oh i already got the cookbook yeah that's believe me i work right around the corner and our back door is to the back door how often do you come four times a week this is the most vitamin d i've gotten in like five months okay [Music] all the chili flakes are coating my lips oh my god i'm like pleasantly surprised at how it's not too spicy jason has this like sign in the restaurant that basically says you shouldn't order something not spicy because their dishes are made and curated in a way where the recipe is valued and the spice is kind of essential that's the flavor you're ordering this dish for and then just honestly the added perks are tender lamb that's just beautifully marinated and delicious and an honestly addicting chewiness to the noodles look at the way it's coated you wouldn't get the flavor and the impact of this sauce without the noodles like the noodle is there to accompany that sauce and like you you just it carries that flavor throughout this whole dish it's just like a nice fieriness it's really really good it's a reason to come to new york oh yeah for sure it was worth the stop yeah try it you will not regret it as an asian kid you know chinese kid you're you're not supposed to go into restaurants but i don't regret that at all you know after 10 years of being in the business i feel like it was the right decision it's not just about financial reward it's about making impact it's about people recognizing what we're doing as a way of you know spreading our culture that actually is worth more than anything else who makes a better needle he's not here to witness that i think we make the same quality of noodles i think my father would say he will always make fire noodles but uh you know he can say that i believe in my own abilities three thin slices of pullman rye bread about a quarter inch thick the first slice topped with juicy turkey breast another with roast beef covered with handfuls of dry coleslaw no mayo brined for three days secret creamy russian dressing lathered generously on top finished with three slices of swiss cheese before they're stacked and cut into eight perfect squares it's this not so typical combo that made the new jersey sloppy joe a legend in most parts of the country a sloppy joe means ground beef or some mystery meat with tomato sauce or ketchup served on a hamburger bun oh yes of course the big gooey messy burger also known as a sloppy joe sloppy joe right but in northern new jersey it's something else entirely are people ever going to order a sloppy dough and are yeah they think they're getting chopped made on a bun for sure they have no clue so you can kind of tell right away who knows and who doesn't know uh the people that don't know they're say uh you know make sure it's not too hot and then you'll know right away it's a cold sandwich what do you mean sloppy joes are part of our dna what do you mean it's new jersey this is this is what a real sloppy joe is behind the counter it starts with pullman rye bread which is rye bread made in a white bread mold making it square instead of round we slice it horizontally so we get a long slice as opposed to a short little round slice and it comes out just like that yeah so we use three slices of this rye bread so thin paper thin is there a reason that you don't cut can you choose to slice it on this ah the only way to get it perfectly straight is to use a slicer whereas most bakeries just use rye flavoring town hall deli gets bread from a bakery that uses actual caraway seeds in the dough mixture giving it a more authentic and natural flavor and if you look at it you can tell that the spreads a little more gray than other breads and that's from the actual pieces of caraway seasoning too and that's how you know it's really cool the original recipe was made with sliced cow tongue which you can still order today but the most popular combo at town hall deli now is called the favorite made with roast beef and turkey they slice a third of a pound of each meat before they're placed onto slices of rye bread the next layer is our dry coleslaw also known as coleslaw minus the mayo after they cut the cabbage they brine it for three days then drain it three times to make sure all of the liquid is squeezed out and won't make the sandwich soggy the most beloved ingredient is by far the deli signature russian dressing it's very secret and we make it in the house and that's all i'm gonna tell you all you can say this is all i can say this is mayonnaise base and we make this mayo in-house the russian dressing is a combination of mayo ketchup and vinegar based on traditional recipes then our three pieces of swiss and finally a light spread of butter across the third slice because one it gives it a little flavor because who doesn't like butter second it helps it stick to this piece of cheese so when we cut it it won't move back and forth and it also creates a barrier between the bread and the cheese and the russian dressing to make sure that the bread doesn't get soggy wow all right let's just go for it there is no tongue on the sandwich either not like the original a little sloppy it's a little sloppy the russian dressing stands out above everything that is incredibly creamy incredibly creamy it's really really really really good it's got a sweet tanginess to it and the butter that was an interesting thing that we learned that they put the butter on the top so it doesn't get as soggy and i wouldn't say got soggy at all honestly and like i said it's kind of like a club because it's stacked in the way that it is so there's no bacon or anything like greasy or heavy like that it's fresh and it's light so it is very opposite of what other people may think of when i think of a sloppy joe it's very complex it has a number of different flavors you have the savory aspect the sweet aspect to it it's crunchy it's soft it has everything that you really would want in a sandwich personally i'm kind of you know insulted when people say sloppy joes are the mystery meat sandwiches i mean my mom's from new york city so when she met my dad and my grandmother was going to have soppy joes at a dinner one night when she showed up the first time and it was this she fell in love with him and the sandwich town hall deli says it was the first place to serve the sandwich in new jersey in 1935 but it doesn't take credit for creating it there's a bar in havana called sloppy joe's bar and grill and it's still there it's still there it's opened and closed a few times they don't make this sandwich anymore but at the time in the 30s the mayor maple ate this sandwich or a sandwich similar to this and he loved it so he came back and he asked the guys here to recreate it and they did some even say it's the best sandwich you'll find in the garden state i have had sloppy joes from other around new jersey this is the best best in town there's delis all over the place that do sloppy joes but it ain't town hall you

Channel: Food Insider

Views: 1,586,247

Rating: 4.8560448 out of 5

Keywords: INSIDER, FOOD INSIDER, legendary eats, marathon, miami, chicago, nyc, dc, sandwich, deli, beef, halal, chili, donuts, sloppy joe

Id: 1mvq-cQbeXM

Length: 67min 46sec (4066 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020