(relaxing music) - Today on "Cook's Country," Christie makes Julia
Woodman's-style clam chowder. Jack has tips on enjoying oysters at home. Adam reviews inexpensive blenders. I join the discussion on how
best to "Consider the Lobster." And Ashley and Bridget make
hot buttered lobster rolls. That's all right here on "Cook's Country." (upbeat music) Here in New England, everyone's got their own
version of clam chowder, but the best ones come
from the clam shacks, and my personal favorite is
from Woodman's up in Essex. Today, Christie's gonna show
us how to make this at home. - Sure am. - I'm excited for this. - Oh, it's so good. A lot of New England clam chowders tend to be really rich. They're thickened with
flour or they've got a lot of salty pork products in them. Woodman's is much more austere, simpler. Clams, potatoes, onions,
butter, little cream. - And you can really taste the clams. That's why it's my favorite. - And the clams are nice and tender. So that's the real trick and that's what we're
gonna work really hard on to make happen in this version. - Okay. - We're gonna start though, with potatoes. - Classic ingredient in clam chowder. It's not a chowder if it
doesn't have potatoes. - Right, and these are russet potatoes, so it's going to give us a
really potato-y potato flavor. - It's a lot of potatoes. - It's a pound and 3/4. I'm just gonna cut this
into half-inch pieces. (knife chopping) Now, let's get these potatoes cooking. I'm putting all my potatoes
in a large stock pan and then I'm going to add cold water to cover the potatoes by an inch. I'll bring this to a boil over high heat. Once the potatoes come up to a boil, I'll turn the heat down to medium-low, and then I'm going to cook them
only until they're al dente. - [Julia] Okay. - It's only gonna take
about three minutes. The potatoes have been simmering
for about three minutes so I just wanna test these. Remember, I said we
just want them al dente, and they should still
be a little resistant to a paring knife going in there. They're just right. - They're just cooked on the outsides but the inside is still underdone. - Right. Now, I'm going to drain
these in a colander and then I'll transfer them to a bowl where I'll let them cool completely, which will take about 30 minutes. - Okay. - Julia, my potatoes have been hanging out for about 30 minutes. They're completely cool. - [Julia] Okay. - We're ready to move on to clams. Woodman's is located right on the coast. They're a clam shack. - [Julia] Exactly. - They've got access to fresh clams, and so do we here in Boston, but not everyone does. We wanted to make sure that this recipe was not only accessible, but also more affordable for
anyone who might wanna make it. I'm starting with two 6 1/2
ounce cans of chopped clams. - [Julia] Okay. - [Christie] I'm going to add both of them to my cooled potatoes. - [Julia] I've never seen
chowder made like this. (Julia chuckles) - [Christie] We'll add the onions. - What? - That I meticulously chopped. - [Julia] It's a cold start chowder. This is incredible, Christie. (Christie chuckles) You're breaking all the rules. I love it. - I love it. A teaspoon of salt and
two teaspoons of pepper. I'm gonna mix this all together. The reason we're doing this
is because most of the time, you build flavor in your
chowder on the stove top, right? That's where you let all
the flavors come together. But heat is the very thing that's gonna make these clams
feel like little erasers in your mouth, right? - I've had that chowder. - So we want to kind of
marry all these flavors, let that infusion happen. The clams into the potatoes, the onions into the potatoes, the potatoes into the onions. We wanna let that happen
off the heat first. Now, if you wouldn't mind
holding that zipper lock bag. It's a one gallon. You wanna make sure it's nice and big. - [Julia] Okay. - [Christie] We're gonna
transfer this into the bag. It's a little juicy. - [Julia] Why the bag? - Because we've got a
lot of strong smelling, finely chopped onions, and we've got clams
and clam juice in here, and those are smells
that maybe you don't want infusing your refrigerator contents. - [Julia] Okay, I got it. So this is for the stink factor? - Yes. Thank you. We'll just make sure that
this is tightly sealed. Now this is gonna go and
sit in the refrigerator. We want the flavors to
marry for at least an hour but it can sit in there for up to 24. - Okay. (upbeat music) - Julia, I have our infusion of potatoes, chopped clams, and onions
in a large sauce pan. - Good. - But we can't start this chowder without talking about the star, which are some whole baby clams. - Oh, nice. In addition to the chopped clams. - Yes. I have two 10-ounce cans
of whole baby clams. - [Julia] Okay. - I'm going to strain these. I want one cup of the brine. You should get that from the two cans, but if you don't, you can always just add a little water to make sure you have the right amount. - Okay. - This is perfect, so I'll add this to the
potato clam mixture, along with 1 1/2 teaspoons of table salt. Now I'm going to bring this up to a bare simmer over medium heat. - [Julia] So a bare simmer,
what does that even mean? - A bare simmer is talking
about those little bubbles that you start to get around
the edges of the sauce pan. We're starting this out on medium heat. It's gonna take a while
to get those bubbles. - Yeah, it will. - But you have to give it the time. You can't turn the heat
up to get there faster because the whole thing
is this slow heating of the potatoes to get them
cooked to where we want them. Julia, it's been about 10 minutes. - I see bubbles. - You see? Just little bubbles around the outside. I've been going in and stirring
this pretty frequently, just to get a gauge to make
sure you don't have potatoes sticking on the bottom,
or scorching, or anything. So this is great. I turn the heat down to medium-low, and we're going to let this go until the potatoes are mostly done. - [Julia] All right. - Five minutes. It's been about five minutes. Now we can add the clams. - [Julia] Okay. - [Christie] I'm also adding
two cups of light cream. - [Julia] Light cream? - Light cream. Not too rich, not too heavy, but it gives it that nice creamy feel. If you can't find light cream, you can always use 1
1/2 cups of heavy cream and cut it with about
1/2 a cup of whole milk. I'm gonna turn my heat up
ever so slightly to medium and we're gonna let this cook, stirring it occasionally until
the potatoes are fully cooked and the chowder is nice
and hot throughout. Just five more minutes. - [Julia] Christie, that
is looking like soup. - The potatoes are tender. I'm gonna take this off the heat. But we're not quite finished. - [Julia] Okay. - We added some cream, but we need a little bit
of richness in the form of some nice flavorful butter. I have two tablespoons of unsalted butter. Adding it off the heat is
also going to allow it to kind of melt into the chowder without breaking. So it's gonna keep that
creamy consistency. This isn't quite as thick as some traditional New
England clam chowders. So an optional ingredient, this is two tablespoons of
instant mashed potato flakes. - [Julia] That's brilliant. - [Christie] Right? - Because it'll dissolve into the soup and thicken it without
having a discernible flavor. - Right. Oh, well, it tastes like potatoes, and we just happen to have
potatoes in this chowder already. Okay, so I think this is good. - [Julia] I love that you have mugs. I love eating chowder out of mugs. I don't know what it is
about chowder and mugs, the mug or a bread bowl. The classic crackers, oyster crackers. - [Christie] Well, you
can't eat it without. - No, you can't. Christie, this soup looks amazing. Oh! Christie, this is delicious. This is really close to Woodman's, with the consistency and
that potent clam flavor. I'd be hard pressed to know that it was canned and not fresh clams. - I agree, and I think that, you know, if you're buying quality canned clams, you're not gonna notice a difference. - Christie, this is delicious. Thank you. - It was my pleasure. - To make this incredible clam chowder, use two types of canned clams, chopped clams and whole baby clams. Under cook the potatoes slightly and let them marinate with some of the clams and simmer
the soup very gently. From "Cook's Country," a spectacular recipe for
Woodman's-style clam chowder. This is my new recipe. - Mm. - This is incredible. (upbeat music) - I love oysters, but they're also the source
of my most epic culinary fail. This was probably 30, maybe 35 years ago. I'm gonna serve oysters
at a New Year's party. Of course, I had never
shucked an oyster in my life, but I figured how hard could it be? I had an old fashioned church key, kind of like this one, and an hour later I was almost crying. Not a single oyster was open. This is a little bit of redemption for me. I'm gonna open an oyster on television. But first, let me talk
to you about oysters. There are five varieties of oysters cultivated in
North American waters. We're gonna start with the European flat, also known as the Balon. Here we've got the eastern
oyster that is grown in the Gulf as well as in the Atlantic. The Pacific oyster. You know where that grows. The Olympia. This is another West Coast variety. And finally, the Kumamotos, also grown largely out on the West Coast. Now, the variety of oyster will
tell you a little bit about what it's going to taste like. For instance, Kumamotos are often melony or described as having honeydew notes. But frankly, the local
water, the growing condition, is gonna be more informative. A eastern oyster grown in the Gulf is very different than an
eastern oyster from Maine, even though they're the same variety. When I was a kid, you were told, "Don't eat oysters during the summer or any months without an R, because the oysters are spawning." That was true 50 years ago, but now modern oysters are sterile, so they're fat 12 months of the year, meaning that they're not spawning and they don't get watery in the summer. So you can enjoy them
12 months of the year. You also can enjoy them by mail order. They ship remarkably well,
as long as they stay cold. When they do get to your house, put them in the fridge in a
bowl covered with a damp towel. Do not put ice in the bowl. Seems really logical. You want them cold, put ice in the bowl. But the ice will melt and the fresh water will kill the oysters. They'll be fine in your
fridge for a day or two. So it's the moment of truth. I'm gonna open an oyster and I'm gonna start with
our winning oyster knife. This is the R. Murphy
New Haven oyster knife. It's got a lovely handle
that's really secure that's not gonna slip, and it has a little pointed tip. That's absolutely important
for getting into the hinge. I've got a towel here. I've got it cup side down so that the liquid's not gonna come out, and I'm gonna use the towel
to basically protect my hand. I've got my thumb here,
steadying the oyster. I'm gonna wiggle this in. I'm gonna use the pointed
blade to get into the hinge and then I'm gonna wiggle gently. Really, what I'm waiting for is the point where the shell pops. Ah, there, you see it pop. We're not done yet. First thing I wanna do
is separate the muscle from the top shell. So to stop and start going
really carefully at this point. What I wanna do is just use the blade and go underneath really
gently to loosen the muscle from the bottom shell so
that when I go to slurp it, it ends up in my mouth
rather than on my shirt. Time to enjoy. There are three steps. Sip the liquid, slurp. You're gonna need some suction to get it into your mouth. And then chew. Oh my heavens, that is such a good oyster. Can I just say, you don't
need a sauce, no lemon. It comes with its own sauce. So open an oyster today. (upbeat music) - Do you have to spend
hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of dollars
on a high end blender? All to serve you up a
satisfactory smoothie? Well, let's ask Adam, because he's here to tell us more about inexpensive blenders. - You know, you can spend
hundreds of dollars, as you know, but these are a lot less expensive. - [Bridget] Okay. - [Adam] So we have this lineup of seven, price capped at $100. The least expensive was $29. We used them to make kale smoothies, to crush ice, to make almond butter from whole almonds, and to make a small batch of mayonnaise. And alongside, just for a reference point, we used that one down there, which is our favorite mid-priced blender. It's about $200. - [Bridget] Okay. - It was interesting. Five out of the seven inexpensive
blenders had a tough time with the kale smoothie. They did not get the kale
smoothie smooth enough. Now, the way blenders work is
that the blades are spinning, the food gets chopped up and thrown up into sort of a vortex, the vortex gets broken inside the jar, the food comes back down, and it's this recirculation of the food. This one did a great job
on the kale smoothies. There are two reasons. Number one is the bottom of the jar tapers in just a little bit. That keeps the food closer to the blade. Better contact equals better blending. - Gotcha. - The second thing is that they all have these ribs on the
interior to break the vortex, but the ones that did the best had big, prominent ribs just like this one does. - Okay. - The almond butter tests spoke
to the need for brute force. A lot of these had a hard time with that. Again, this one, which is one of the two most powerful at 1200 watts, did actually a great job
on the almond butter, with sort of a minimum of going in there and poking and prodding. You just need more power to
get through those almonds because they're super, super tough. - Power is important. - The flip side of the power equation was illustrated in the mayonnaise test. Some of these were not able to
emulsify the oil and the egg. They didn't make the mayonnaise because they were too
powerful at the low speeds. - Right. - The oil and the egg
just got thrown around and it never got emulsified. - Splashes on the side. - Exactly. So in the end, if you wanna
spend $100 on a blender, this is your choice. This is the nutribullet full size blender. It's a $100 on the nose. It was one of the most
powerful ones we had. It's a great choice if you're
making those kale smoothies, which I know you're never gonna make. (Bridget laughs) You're laughin' at me. If you're gonna crush ice, if you're gonna make
milkshakes or frozen drinks, I got you on that one. - You got me there. - This is a really good one. If you wanna spend a little bit less, there's also a best buy. - Okay. - That's the BLACK+DECKER Quiet Blender with the cyclone glass jar. - [Bridget] And how much does that run? - [Adam] It's about $60. - 60 bucks. All right. If you wanna get yourself one
of these inexpensive blenders, then check out out the winner. It's the nutribullet full size blender. It runs about $100. Now, our best buy is the
BLACK+DECKER Quiet Blender with cyclone glass jar, and that'll run you $60. (upbeat music) - The modern food system
makes it possible for those of us who eat meat to put
some serious mental distance between the animal itself
and the product we cook. Lobsters are one of the rare exceptions. We have debated the most
humane way to cook lobster for as long as we have been eating it. David Foster Wallace explored
the ethical considerations of boiling the crustaceans
in his famous essay, "Consider the Lobster." The restaurant Charlotte's
Legendary Lobster Pound in Maine has been experimenting with a highly unconventional method of cooking their lobsters. They sedate them with marijuana. But they aren't able to legally serve the cannabis infused
crustaceans just yet. When it came time to develop our buttered
lobster roll recipe, the team at "Cook's Country"
explored lots of methods. We tried freezing the lobsters, standing them on their heads
to subdue them, and more. We landed on our own solution
to this crustaceous quest. (upbeat music) - In some areas of the country, they fight over barbecue or whether to put beans in a bowl of chili. Well, here in New England, we bring out the dukes and we hash it out over lobster rolls. Do you like it hot? Do you like your lobster roll cold? Well, Ashley's here, she's
bringing the hot debate with her. - I am. I grew up here in New England, so we are really lucky because lobsters are readily available, and because of that, they're really affordable. So we were able to eat
lobsters quite often. Today, we're gonna make some
hot buttered lobster rolls. - Okay. - I'm gonna start with
three 1 1/2 pound lobsters. But if you can't find live lobsters, which we do prefer, go ahead and get the frozen lobster tails. You're gonna use about eight four to five-ounce lobster tails. You can find that recipe for reducing the cooking
time on our website. You're gonna notice I have a
larger stock pot over here. This is important because in
order to get the full amount of lobsters we need for this recipe, you need the tall stock pot, otherwise you can't fit the
three 1 1/2 pounders in there. - Okay, so it's three 1 1/2
pounders makes four rolls? - Yep, four lobster rolls, and they are pretty on the- - Good. - On the hefty side. - I've met a few skimpy lobster rolls. - No, no, no time for those. So again, six quarts of water boiling. I have three tablespoons of table salt. - [Bridget] Okay. - You'll notice they're
not moving around too much. I just stepped them in the
freezer just for a bit, just to help them go to sleep. We're gonna put them claw side down. Cover is on. I'm gonna reduce the
heat down to medium-low, and I'm gonna cook the
lobsters for 10 minutes. It's not a lot of time. - Is not a lot of time. - That's on purpose. - You'll have the answer. (Ashley chuckles) (upbeat music) - Okay, it's been 10 minutes. I am going to take the
lobsters out of the stockpot. They aren't fully cooked at this point and that is intentional. - [Bridget] All right. - I'm gonna let these hang out
here on a rimmed baking sheet for about 10 minutes. When you go to those lobster pounds, they have those beautifully,
lightly browned, toasted, buttery buns. - [Bridget] Yes. - Now, I have a couple
tablespoons of butter, and I'm just going to
brush the butter evenly- - [Bridget] Outside. - [Ashley] On the outside. - [Bridget] These are not hot dog buns. - You're right. They're split tops. Then I'm just going to toast
them in the non-stick skillet. - [Bridget] Okay. - Okay, so I'm just gonna let these go until lightly browned on both sides. - [Bridget] Okay. - All right. We have our lobsters
that have been cooling for about 10 minutes. I like to start by
twisting the tail first. - [Bridget] Oh, you're a tail
and thorax twister, are you? - I'm a tail, thorax kind of girl. And then I go, go for a claw, give a little twist. And then these. These are the gateway to
learning to love lobster. - Yes. - If you have any friends, family, kids that are just like, what is that? This is how you get those mouths to enjoy. Okay, you can use a rolling pin. - Yep. - And roll out the entire piece of meat. Let's get the knuckles. - [Bridget] Yes. - Twist. All right. Right now I'm gonna
use the kitchen shears. You also could use those lobster
crackers if you have those. But this does a really great job, 'cause as I said, it's a little bit cleaner and safer than using the
back of a sharp chef's knife. - Yeah, I've done that. I've used the back of
a sharp chef's knife. - All right. Okay, this is kind of my show off moment. Okay. - All right. - I'm gonna pretend I'm a chiropractor. - [Bridget] Okay. - I'm gonna put the tail on its side and then put a little pressure
with the palm of your hand. Now use those shears again. If you have shrimp shears, you could use 'em here, but we've already dirtied
our kitchen shears so I'm gonna keep going. Cut right down that soft cartilage. All right. - I'm gonna show it my way. I've always done the
scissors on either side. (lobster shell crunching) Kinda like taking the chicken back out? - [Ashley] Yeah, that's exactly, yeah. - [Bridget] Just wiggle it out. - [Ashley] Yeah? - There we go. - Yeah! Now I'm gonna cut the lobster
meat into 3/4 inch pieces. - [Bridget] Okay. - All right, running my
knife right down the center of the tail. 3/4 inch pieces. I'm gonna finish cutting the lobster and then we can finish cooking it. We are gonna put the hot buttered back in the lobster roll right now. I've got six tablespoons of
butter melting on medium-low. I'm gonna add one small minced shallot. We're only gonna cook this
just until heated through, 'cause I'm also gonna add the lobster meat from earlier and a 1/4
teaspoon of some salt. I'm gonna cook the lobster right now along with the shallot for about two minutes, just until it's heated through. That is gonna finish cooking the lobster. - [Bridget] That's why you undercooked it. - That is why I undercooked it. When you're in Maine,
you order a lobster roll. The last thing you want is
an overcooked lobster roll. - Yes. - So this is gonna ensure
that it's not overcooked. - Right. - Two minutes on this and then
we're gonna fill the buns. I'm gonna transfer evenly the lobster meat into our toasted buns. Oh my goodness. - [Bridget] I'm really
looking forward to this. I do have to say that I'm an equal opportunity
lobster roll lover. - [Ashley] Yeah. - [Bridget] I like the cold. You know, the mayonnaise. Hot buttered lobster roll? It's like you get all the
glory of ordering a lobster- - Yeah. - Without the work. - Yes! - Because you did it all. - [Ashley] Right! All right, I'm gonna load these babies up. - [Bridget] Oh my goodness. Let's just, oh my goodness. - [Ashley] I have two teaspoons
of some minced chives. - [Bridget] Beautiful. - [Ashley] And we have lemon wedges. - [Bridget] Come to me. - [Ashley] Cheers. - [Bridget] Cheers to you. That lobster meat, it's perfectly cooked. This is so juicy and tender. - [Ashley] Tender, yeah. - [Bridget] Just melts in your
mouth and all that butter? - Oh, the butter. And the shallot? It does. It adds that little bit of sweetness, and it's just in the background. It's not overwhelming. - It's a perfect lobster roll. - So good. - This is incredible. Thanks, Ash. - You're welcome. - [Bridget] Well, wherever you live, you can enjoy this amazing
New England sandwich at home. It starts with slightly under cooking the lobsters in boiling water. Finish cooking the lobster
meat gently in a skillet with butter and shallots, and then pile that lobster meat high on butter toasted rolls. So from "Cook's Country," the supreme sandwich. It beats them all. Hot buttered lobster rolls. You can get this recipe
and all the recipes from this season along
with product reviews and select episodes. They're all on our website. That's cookscountry.com/tv. Mm, mm mm. Ooh, juicy lobster comin' in. - I know. - Thanks for watching "Cook's Country" from "America's Test Kitchen." So what'd you think? - Leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make, or just say hi. - You can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description. - And don't forget to
subscribe to our channel. - See you later. - Alligator. (Bridget chuckles)
