Barefoot Contessa (2002–…): Season 20, Episode 5 - Cocktails for a Crowd - full transcript

I'm the Barefoot Contessa,

and I'm in New York City
on a food adventure.

I'm going to some hot new places
and some classic ones, too.

I'm looking for inspiration
everywhere,

and then I'm going
back to East Hampton,

and I'm gonna cook up a storm.

This is gonna be a blast.

It's a perfect day
for some fun in the city.

I've got a day in the kitchen

of one of the hottest
restaurants in town, John Dory.

Jeffrey's off for a meeting,



but I've arranged
a surprise for him.

He's making cheese at Beecher's.

e
but I've arranged
a making cheese.im.

This thing is heavy.

Then I'm meeting some friends
on the High Line

for a fabulous shaved ice

and discovering why
The Standard Grill's

"Million Dollar" Chicken
tastes like a million dollars.

Ooh,
is that gorgeous.

Then it's back home
to East Hampton for cocktails

and a tasting of the goodies
we've collected

on our excellent adventures.

-- Captions by VITAC --

Closed Captions provided by
Scripps Networks, LLC.



Okay, so, I'll catch up
with you later?

Okay.
After my meetings.

Okay.
I'll see you then.

I have a little surprise
I think's gonna be really fun.

I'll text you.
Surprise?

It's a good surprise.
Okay?

Okay.
Okay.

Love you, sweetie.
[ Smooches ]

When I'm in New York
with friends

and we want to have a good time,
which is, like, always,

The John Dory Oyster Bar

is definitely on my short list
of places to go.

This place is always packed.

The cocktails and the seafood,
they're amazing.

But I actually love
the decor, too.

I think it's fantastic,
particularly the aquariums.

I'm here before
the restaurant opens.

The chef has offered to show me
how to make his roast oysters.

It's something
I've always wanted to try.

INA: Hi, Josh.
Hi.

How are you?
It's great to see you.

Can't wait to see
how you make

your oyster pan roast
with uni butter.

This is all about
getting great flavor

into oysters, isn't it?

That's right.
A little bit of olive oil.

I'm gonna have you
mince some garlic.

And I'm gonna do
some onions.
Okay. Good.

So, what is this?

Is this like a big pan
of roasted oysters,

or is like a stew?

It's sort of like a creamy
oyster soup, I would say.

Oh, it's like a soup.

So, how many of these
do you do a night?

We'll cook up
to about 30 or 40 a night.

[ Sizzling ]

And you get
that little sizzle.

You can add a little salt
just to help it out.

We're just gonna
let these sweat down.

It's just gonna take
a few minutes.

We're gonna show you
how to shuck oysters
in the meantime.

Uh-oh. Dangerous.

[ Laughs ]

We're just gonna get
our oyster on the towel.

We've got another towel
to protect us over the top.

We're just gonna get in there
with the oyster knife

just until we kind of feel

like we've got it
kind of jammed in there.

Just gonna cantilever
it open.

And once you've got that, you've
done sort of the hard part.

You're just gonna
wedge it open again

and scrape it off.

And then we're ready.

And then we're just gonna cut
the muscle here,

which is just holding it
all together.

There's all this juice,

and that's gonna concentrate
once we get going.

And you can see here that they
just give a lot of juice off.

And that's all just
straight oyster liquid,

which is just basically
ocean water.

Fabulous.
So, this is gonna go in

with our onion and garlic and
it's gonna be really wonderful.

We're just gonna do a little
bit of vermouth, as well.

The vermouth is just
gonna help add

a little bit of booziness.

We love alcohol
in this restaurant.
Who doesn't?

We're just gonna bring that up
until it comes to a simmer.

And what this is
gonna do here,

it's gonna just cut through
all the fat,

'cause we're gonna
add cream,

and oysters have this kind of
fattiness to them, as well.

It's just gonna cut
through all of that.

We're ready to add
our fish stock.

We just make
our own fish stock, of course.

And once we've added that,

it's all about
just bringing it back up again,

which is to say, again,
just letting it bubble.

We're gonna add our cream.
Okay.

And once we've got
our cream in there,

we're gonna let it boil down
a bit and reduce.

In the meantime,

I'm gonna do
some uni butter.

So, what is uni?

They call them urchin.
Oh, it's sea urchin.

Yeah, it's sea urchin.

And then we call it uni

once we've got
all of the stuff out of there,

what we call the roe
or the tongue.

Tongue?
Yeah.

And it looks like
a tongue.

But something tells me
it's not their tongues.

It's not their tongue.

What is it actually?

Technically it's the gonads
of the urchin.
Ew!

I'm just gonna mix the uni or
urchin in with my butter here.

And you're gonna
just rub raw garlic

over that toast
right there.
Okay.

Urchin tastes like a big
mouthful of clean ocean water.

It's got a really nice
concentration of ocean flavor.

It's a little bit salty.

And we're just gonna
mix it together here.

This has come together now,

so we're gonna come over here
and finish our soup.
Okay. Great.

So, we're just gonna
give it a quick, little stir,

and we're ready
to add our oysters.

Okay.

We're just about done now,

so we really want to
kind of move quickly.

We'll add a little juice,
but not too much.

How long
do the oysters cook for?

It's just gonna be 30 seconds
to a minute.

Oh, really?
Yeah.

They like to poach
very lightly.

And then when they're sitting
in the bowl with the hot soup,

they'll continue to cook.

Just gonna add a little bit of
butter because we love butter.

Yeah.
We've got our tarragon here,
and we're just add that.

Oh, tarragon, that's so great.
It's a great combination.

I'm just gonna give it
a little squeeze here.

And while
I'm plating it up,

would you mind putting
some uni on the crostini?

I would be delighted to.

So, our oysters
are ready to go here,

so we're ready
to serve it up.

And you can see that these
oysters are just poached.

They're like shimmering,
just perfectly poached.

You go a little longer and they
start to get a little tough.

Just gonna scoop
a few scoops in there,

and we're gonna
be ready to go.
And that's it.

And we're just gonna add
a little bit of Cayenne

just to give it
a little kick.

It's all about cutting
through all that fat.

And then you can just
lay that right on top

or stick it right in.

And that's it?
And that is it.

Can't wait to taste this.

I'm just gonna dip
my toast in here.

Ooh!

Mmm.
That's incredible.

It's the essence
of oysterness.

Thank you so much, Josh.

Thank you very much.
I had such a good time
making this.

This is so good.

Up next, it's friends
and shaved ice on the High Line,

then food adventures --
cheese making for Jeffrey

and "Million Dollar" Chicken
for me.

Now, that's what I call
fun in the city.

INA: I'm meeting some friends
on the High Line.

It's this incredible place

that the city has created
out of an old railway line.

There are gardens.
There are food vendors.

It's just fantastic.

But first,
I have to text Jeffrey.

I've arranged a cheese class
for him.

I think he's gonna think
it's a riot.

She wants me to do what?

Okay. I'm game.

Now I'm off to meet my friend
Barbara, her daughter Kristen,

and the two kids, and we're
gonna go to people's pops.

At their Williamsburg
headquarters,

they make amazing pops
from locally sourced fruit

and a simple-sugar syrup,

and they're transformed
into pops.

Well, that's the pops.

Let me tell you
about the shaved ice.

The guys store
huge blocks of ice --

they're like 300 pounds each --

which they break
into smaller pieces.

They take the ice, along with
a selection of fruit syrups,

to food venues and markets
all over the city.

Wow!
Look at this!

People's pops.

Do you want an ice ball
that's shaved?

Oh, tell us.
A shave ice. Perfect.

A shave ice.

We have a red plum today,
an organic lemon --

BOY:
I want plum.

One red plum coming up.

Whoa.
Perfect.

Ooh.
Is that for you?

Yeah!
Yeah.

What do you say?

Oh, thank you.

What are you thinking,
red plum or an organic lemon?

Lemon.
Organic lemon.

Organic lemon,
absolutely.

What do you think?

Yum!

[ Laughs ]

I recommend
one of two pops today.

A strawberry rhubarb
or a peach blueberry.

Peach blueberry!
Oh.

Oh, is this good.

Thank you so much.
Oh, my pleasure.

Cheers, everybody.

Cheers.
Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Oh, my pleasure.
See you later.

Thank you.
Come on, guys.

Take care.

Okay, Ina, what are you
doing the rest of the day?

Well, actually I've sent
Jeffrey off to make cheese.

That should be
interesting.

But I'm off
to The Standard Hotel

to make "Million Dollar"
Chicken.

Wow.

Fantastic.

Can you say "bye"?
Bye.

Bye.

JEFFREY:
Oh, this must be the place.

INA: Now, what Jeffrey's
about to discover

is that Beecher's
is the real deal

when it comes
to artisanal cheese.

They make a range
of award-winning cheeses,

which they produce on site
with the milk from local herds.

I think Jeffrey's
gonna love cheese making.

Hi.
Hey.

Great to meet you.
Nice to meet you.

I'm Jeffrey.
Hi, Jeffrey.

My wife asked me to come here
to make some cheese.

Yeah, we've been
expecting you.
Great.

Why don't we
get suited up.

Hey, Dan.

Hey, Ina.
How are you?

So good to see you.

It's great
to see you, too.

So, I understand you have
quite an incredible chicken.

It's, like, voted one of
the top chickens in New York.

And I got to tell you --

the "Million Dollar" Chicken,
even more top --

and I see that
as a personal challenge

'cause I make
a good chicken, too.

So I'm dying to see
what you do.
All right.

Well, first what we do is,
last night we took this chicken,

seasoned it inside and out
with salt and pepper,

and then we stuffed
the cavity of the bird --

we take this lemon,
we slice it in half.

That's what I do, too.
Yeah.

A few cloves of garlic,
a little bit of bay, some thyme,

and then we'll take
a nice, heavy-duty pan.

We use some stainless,
but you can use cast iron.

You can use
whatever you have.

So, you roast
the chicken in a pan.

We roast the chicken
in a pan...

Ooh, I don't do that.
...on top of the bread.

How do you roast your chicken?
What do you use?

I actually roast it
in a roasting pan.

Oh, man.

That's crazy.
That's great.

So, then we'll put a few pieces
of sourdough in there.

Oh, it's good
sourdough bread.

Yes.
Oh, how fabulous.

And the chicken
goes right on top.

Yeah, we'll oil the bread
a little bit.
Yeah.

Oh, so you get
chicken and croutons.

Yes.
I like this.

And what happens is
the bread does two things --

it's a tasty treat because the
bottom gets super caramelized.

And the top just soaks up
all the chicken juice.

But it also keeps the chicken
off the bottom of the pan.

So it doesn't steam.
So it doesn't stick.

Doesn't stick,
it doesn't steam.

You don't pull off all the skin
from the bottom of the bird.

I'm gonna like
this chicken.
Yes.

You're gonna really like
the croutons.

Fabulous.
I'm telling you.

A little olive oil
so it browns nicely.

We'll oil the chicken up.

You can use butter
if you'd like.

So this guy's ready
to go in the oven now.

Oh, fantastic.
At what temperature?

450.
Ooh.

Hot, very hot.

Takes about an hour.

And do you baste it?

We do.
We baste the chicken

about every 12 to 15 minutes
until it's done.

Well, my husband, Jeffrey,
loves roast chicken.

So, I've actually sent him out
to make cheese.

I'm kind of curious
what his experience is.

I've never been cleaner
in my life.

Ready to go.
Okay.

This is really cool.

Yeah. So, today we're gonna be
making our Flagship cheese.

It is our signature cheese
we make here.

It's a combination
of cheddar and Gruyère.

So, our milk comes
every day.

It comes straight from the farm
right down here.

How much milk is in here?

There's gonna be
about 1,000 gallons in here.

That's amazing.

This is our bacteria,
and what it's gonna do

is eat the sugar
in the milk.

It's gonna turn that sugar
into lactic acid.

We're gonna let that culture
ferment for about 45 minutes,

and then we're gonna
add in rennet,

which is gonna coagulate our
milk and turn that into curd.

How's that?
Perfect.

Okay.
Now that we've added
our rennet,

we're just gonna let
our milk sit,

and then we're gonna cut
the curd with our harps

in 30 minutes.
30 minutes.

30 minutes.
Okay.

Wow.
That looks fantastic.

DAN S.: Thank you.
Whoa!

You can't imagine
how hot is in here. Whoo!

So, what happens
after the basting?

After the basting, we're gonna
make the glaze for the chicken.

Ooh.
That sounds delicious.

Up next, more cheese making
and chicken.

Then it's home to the Hamptons
for Sidecars...
Cheers.

...and a Garten versus Garten
food tasting.

I've been having
a New York City food adventure,

and I'm here at Standard Grill
with Chef Dan Silverman,

making his "Million Dollar"
Chicken.

This looks amazing.

Jeffrey's out making cheese
right now.

I'm gonna meet up
with him later.

But in the meantime,
this looks fantastic.

This is
really coming along.

And next you have
the glaze, right?

Yes, we'll make
the crème fraîche glaze now.

Fantastic.
It smells so good.

Okay.
Crème fraîche.

Crème fraîche.
Okay.

I'll be your sous-chef.
Okay, great.

Would you do me a favor
and grate this lemon?

The zest.
Sure.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna add
a pinch of salt.

I'm gonna add a teaspoon
of Aleppo pepper.

And what is
Aleppo pepper?

Aleppo pepper is nice,
slightly spicy,

fruity chili pepper
that's from Turkey.

Okay. How's that?
That's great.

I'm gonna grate
a little bit of shallot.

Oh, that's so cool.
It's much faster.

Scrape this
into the crème fraîche

with the other ingredients.

Oh, and we'll need to juice
that lemon, as well.

Oh. Okay.

My trusty citrus juicer.
Yeah.

This you can buy anywhere,
and they're really fantastic.

And you just mix this
together?

We just mix this
all together.

When the chicken's done,

we're gonna glaze it
with the crème fraîche.

Fantastic.
Can't wait.

DAN U.: So, now our milk
has gelled up.

It's turned into curd,

and we want to cut that curd
into small cubes.

Slowly start
pulling it back.

Whoa!
This thing is heavy.

Yep.

And as you can see now,

we're making
small little curd.

Now we've drained out our whey
and left our curds to cheddar.

Cheddaring process is
when the curds knit together,

and then we cut them
into slabs.

Wow.
This is not easy.

And flip and stack them
on top of each other.

Oh, man.
Wow. Does that look good!

Look at that.
Fabulous.

Okay. So, now this guy
is pretty much done.

You can just tell
by touching it.

Yeah, we can tell by, like,
wiggling it a little bit.

It's little legs wiggle.

It's gotre gonna do

is we're just gonna slather
crème fraîche, this glaze on it.

I love that
it's gonna flavor it,

but it's also
gonna brown it.

All of the solids
from the dairy

are gonna give it a really nice
crispy, juicy exterior,

a nice crust.
I can't wait to make this
for Jeffrey.

A little bit more,
and then we'll pop it

back in the oven
for about 10 minutes.

There we go.
That looks amazing.

I hope Jeffrey's having fun
at his cheese course

'cause I'm having a ball
doing roast chicken with Dan.

DAN U.:
Now we're at the stage where
we can mill our cheddar loaf.

Wow.
That's a lot of curd.

Yeah. And now we're gonna
season it with our salt.

Oh, great. Okay.

Okay. Now that
we're all seasoned up,

we're gonna shovel
all of our curd back

so we can fill our forms
with the curd

and start making
our cheese block.

Okay.
Let's get shoveling.

Let's do it.

Okay.
What happens now?

We're just gonna press
our cheese into our blocks.

Okay.

Wow.
Now it's gonna press overnight
and age for 18 months.

18 months?
18 months.

I thought I was gonna
bring some home tonight.

Well, we can ship you some
when it's ready.

Well, that would be great,
but maybe in the meantime

I'll cheat and I'll get
some from the store.

Sounds good.
Okay.

Whoa!
So, our chicken's rested.

That's serious
roast chicken.

It's ready to go.

I'm dying to see
how you serve this.

Oh, God.
Look at that.

Whoa!

Wow.
Serious croutons, too.

Why do I think the croutons
are as good as the chicken?

Ooh, is that gorgeous.

Beautiful.
Wow.

And all the flavors
inside.

Wow.

So, you just cut it
in quarters?
Yep.

And what's amazing is even after
it's rested for a while,

it's still really hot.

I think we always think
if it rests for too long,

it's gonna get cold,
and it just doesn't.

Okay, so at the restaurant, we
serve it in a cast-iron skillet.

Oh, what a great idea.

So, what we'll do is
we make a nice presentation.

We'll stack the croutons
up a little bit.

Yeah.

Oh, look how gorgeous
this is.

Okay. We'll garnish
with a few lemon wedges.

Oh, I love lemon and chicken
together. It's great.

It's a great combination.

Little bit
of Maldon Salt on top.

That's sort of
flaked sea salt.

Would you pass me
the mâche, please?

Oh, yeah.
Oh, you have mâche.

How gorgeous is that!
Can I taste it?

Absolutely.
Ooh.

[ Laughs ]

Oh, my God.
That's incredible.

It's so moist.
It's so flavorful.

And you really do taste
that crème fraîche glaze.

And the lemon
and the garlic.

Oh! Jeffrey's
gonna kill me

if I don't bring
some chicken home.

I would love to wrap it up
for you to take home.

That would be fantastic.
Thank you.

Next we're back at the barn
for Sidecar cocktails.

What a great end to a fun day.

Cheers.

Jeffrey and I had
such a fun time in New York.

I thought we'd make
a celebratory cocktail at home.

And I'm gonna make Sidecars,

which is a real taste
of old New York.

So, the first thing I want to do
is I'm gonna sugar the glasses.

It's kind of a tart drink,
and I think it's really nice

if there's a little bit of sugar
on the rim.

I'm gonna dip these glasses
first in lemon juice

just to wet the rim,
give it a little flavor,

and then in the sugar.

Just so you end up
with a sugared rim.

Perfect. And just let it dry
for a few minutes

so it gets nice and crusty.

I mean, you could do it
in water,

but why not add more flavor?

Okay.

So, these are gonna dry
while I make the cocktail.

So, the next thing I'm gonna do

is I'm gonna soak some cherries
in Cognac

just to sort of
reconstitute them.

Instead of using those
bright red maraschino cherries,

these are dried cherries, and
they're so much more delicious.

Just a little bit of Cognac.

And I'm gonna put it in the
microwave for about 60 seconds,

and they're gonna plump up.

Okay. Now for the cocktail,
the good stuff.

So, to make this I used 3 ounces
of freshly squeezed lemon juice,

3 ounces of orange liqueur.

This is very akin to
a whiskey sour, which I adore.

But it has
a slightly different flavor.

And 4 ounces of Cognac.

You don't have to use
the best Cognac,

but you want to use a good one.

Cognac is basically brandy
from the Cognac region,

so if you find good brandy,
that's fine, too.

We'll get lots of ice.

[ Microwave beeps ]

Oh, and the cherries are ready.

Perfect timing.

So, I'm just gonna
shake this up.

You really want to give it
a good shake.

You want the ice to kind of
dilute the drink a little.

So, at least 30 seconds,
and maybe a full minute.

Always feel like Tom Cruise
in "Cocktail."

Should I throw it up in the air?

I'm just gonna get the cherries.

They smell so good.
Warm Cognac's amazing.

So, I just string up
like three or four of these.

This is really just a garnish
for the drinks.

I'm just gonna pour just
a little bit of the cherry juice

to give the cocktail
that cherry flavor.

Just about a tablespoon.

So, that's Cognac and cherries.
Yeah.

Oh, this is gonna be so good.

tails are ready.
So, that's Cognac and cherries.
Yeah.

Doesn't that look gorgeous?

I love the color of these,
not to mention the taste.

Perfect.

Hi, sweetie.
Hi.

I figured after a long,
fun day in the city,

we needed a cocktail,
so I made Sidecars.

Oh, boy.
Cheers.

One of these for me
and I'm gone.

Gone?

Mmm. Mm!

I got something.

The cheese.

I've got some cheese
that I made.

You did?
Yep.

You made it yourself?

I made it myself.

You did, really did?

I actually did.
And this is it.

What kind of cheese
is this?

It's Flagship cheese.
And I made it.

You made it?
I made it today.

You made it today?
Yeah.

Is it good?
It's absolutely delicious.

Fruits of my hard work.

But wait a minute.
This says it was 18 months.

Yeah, but what happens is,

18 months from now
it will taste just like this.

This was made
18 months before.
Good one.

Okay, so, am I gonna give you
my "Million Dollar" Chicken

that I made in the city?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[ Chuckles ]

They claim
it's "Million Dollar" Chicken,

but I'm curious
if you think so.

Oh, they call it
"Million Dollar" chicken.

Yeah.
Well, let me see.

We'll see if it's a --

Being the world's
chicken expert.

Chicken connoisseur.
[ Laughs ]

How does it compare
to mine?

Well, if this is
"Million Dollar" Chicken,

yours is
"Billion Dollar" Chicken.

Very smart boy.