Guy's Big Bite (2006–…): Season 19, Episode 6 - Guy's Primo Pic-a-Nic - full transcript

♪♪

You know, living up here
in Northern California,

we have some of the best
Thai food I've ever had.

But unfortunately
when we're up at the ranch,

well, nobody delivers up here.

And my family, well they
want their Thai food.

So I got to roll it out.
And I got to do it legit.

We're starting off today

with my spicy
Thai red beef curry.

Tender strips of flank steak
with bell peppers,

onions, and aromatics
like lemongrass and ginger.



Now, you can't go
wrong with that.

To go alongside, we've got
a green papaya salad

with a fresh lime vinaigrette
and toasted pepitas.

Just like you'd find
at your local Thai place.

And don't think I've forgotten
about the rice.

I'm making coconut
jasmine rice.

Fragrant and topped
with toasted

coconut flakes --
the family loves it.

All right, let's get started.

Um, let me introduce
the best chef.

One of my favorites in
the whole world, Chef Aaron May.

Aaron and I met on
"Triple D" years ago.

I think it was
30 years ago.

-At least.
-At least 30 years ago.



And this guy,
I'm not kidding you,

if I put a challenge
in front of him of something

that he's never cooked,
the man can figure it out.

So he's up visiting,
and when

you're doing something
like this Thai food,

you've got a lot of ingredients,
you got a lot going on.

So, of course, I need all
the help I can get.

Aaron May is one
of my favorite chefs.

He's just such a great
energy about food.

And loves to cook.

You know what he loves
is he loves

to talk about it.

He teaches what he knows
and he learns what he doesn't.

And whenever you're
collaborating

with somebody like that,
that has such an open mind

and an open palette,
it's just --

that's the best.

So we're talking about
making this, uh, this curry.

And I've got some
peppers broken down.

Aaron's working on
some shallots.

We've got a whole list
of ingredients going in here.

So just kind of follow with me
and keep track

because I sometimes forget
a couple of the keys.

The first order of business

is to make the curry paste.

So we start with Fresnos,
then some shallots,

then some garlic,

a little salt and pepper,
and a little lemongrass.

Some coriander and cumin,
then some ginger,

a little cilantro with the stem.

Then a Sri Lanka lime leaf.

If you don't have
this leaf, it's okay.

It's not the end of the world,

but it really does impart
a lot of flavor.

And people used to call
these, uh, Kaffir limes.

So we'll break that up in there.

A little shrimp paste.

If you don't have
the shrimp paste, Aaron,

what would you like to use?
If you didn't have shrimp paste?

You know, an anchovy might be
a great replacement for that.

You're really looking
for that seafood,

that fishy flavor.

But a lot of that umami
is coming through this.

So when you're talking
about making a really nice

traditional curry,

Thai curry, this is
gonna be a good --

this is gonna be
a good start for you.

Uh, but I agree.

But you want that umami.
You want that punch.

That that seafood-y base.

Pulse that in
the food processor,

break it down,
still a little texture.

Awesome.
Cook that off in the pan.

Lots of flavor
coming through that.

Pull it out. Now the pan is
nice and seasoned.

Going with some thin strips
of some flank steak

that were seasoned
with just a little salt.

Spot on.

Pan's hot, it's well-seasoned.
Start dropping that in batches.

Yes.

A little bit of oil
in there for you.

Yes. Yes, Chef.
Okay.

Now let's talk about
this vinaigrette

that we're gonna put
together for this awesome --

and when I say awesome salad,
wait till you try it.

Any time that I see
green papaya salad on a menu,

I'll order it.

And it's really because
there's some --

Oh, my mouth
just starts to water

as soon as I start
talking about it.

It's got to be something
with the fish sauce

and the crunchy flesh
of the green papaya, the fruit.

The sweet, the tart,
the crunch, the acid.

So the papaya vinaigrette,

that's the first thing
we start it off with.

A little lime zest.

Let me get this one, as well.

Now, first time
I had green papaya salad,

I will tell you this,
I was a little --

I was a little surprised.

I mean, this was years ago,
maybe 15 years ago.

But I'm sitting there
eating it and I'm like,

"What is this crunch?
Where is this noodle?

I've never seen this."

I think I might have had
a little bit too much beer.

But it had such
phenomenal flavor to it.

And I couldn't believe
what the texture was.

And it's all from
this unripened fruit.

Right behind you.

There you go.

Okay.
So lime juice.

See how we didn't
put a bunch of meat

in this pan and we just put
a little bit in there.

What we're trying to do,
there's a lot of fat in that.

A lot of moisture.
And I want to make sure

that we don't sit there
and just boil the meat.

That's why I also
took the paste out.

So, Aaron, you want to move that
around a little bit for me?

I want to build
some crust on that.

-Yep.
-Okay. So lime juice.

Little olive oil,

a little rice wine vinegar.

So again, just kind of your --

you know,
your Asian vinaigrette.

Kind of simple.
This one is the --

is the key,
is a little mirin.

Lower in alcohol,
higher in sugar.

Little fish sauce.

Remember, always keep
the fish sauce in the fridge.

You have a fish sauce
you love the best?

I don't to be quite --
I --

I mean, you're really
looking for that flavor,

like you were talking about,
that umami,

that kind of earthiness,
that sixth flavor sense.

I'll add a little bit of this
sesame oil and a little soy.

And that should
round this out.

The key though, to me,
with fish sauce

is you got to watch out because
they're not all the same.

And some are pretty gnarly
and they get pretty strong

and they can sabotage your dish.

Okay, some sugar.

Vinaigrette's done,
working on the meat.

The red chili
Thai paste is done.

We got to prep some veggies,
we're putting salads together.

Hanging out with
my favorite chef

in the world, Chef Aaron May.

We'll see you
in a little bit.

That got
fast and furious.

-Quick.
-Right out of control.

♪♪

Welcome back to
"Guy's Big Bite."

Hanging out with
Chef Aaron May.

Talking about great Thai food.

Now, Aaron and I
have experienced great

Thai food all around
the country.

Uh, but when we're up
at the ranch,

there is no Thai food delivery.

So we do what we do best.

And that's get into cooking

and making everything
under the sun.

And that's what happens
here at the ranch.

So we made our own
Thai paste over here

with some Fresno chilies
and some lemongrass

and some ginger
and some garlic and --

Well, you name it,
everybody's in the pool.

Seared that off, now I'm
getting the pan super hot.

And we're dropping
down some onions.

Aaron's working
the bell peppers.

And, uh, I want you
to show me this --

Everybody has a way
they cut bell peppers, okay.

Fleshing it off the sides,
rolling it out.

Sometimes you'll see a chef

cut off the top
and the end and roll through.

Show me your
little method again?

I like to cut the top
and the bottom and, exactly,

I just kind of
roll it out.

Taking all those seeds
and spines at once.

And it gives me
a nice, clean pepper here.

Look at that.
And now you've cleaned it out.

So if you're really
getting fancy with it,

how he took all the insides
out of it,

now you're really getting
some really nice --

If you were making a,
uh, a little crudité platter

it would be fantastic.
Nice and thin.

Oh, you're so magical.
Okay.

So I'm cooking
the onions down.

We're using flank steak.

We cut the flank
steak down, Aaron did.

We salted a little bit and then
put a really nice sear on it.

See that little crust
that we tried to build?

Had all the flavor
leftover in the pan.

Now we'll drop the, uh,
peppers and onions in.

I didn't want to drop
the, uh, peppers

and onions on top of the steak

because all that moisture
of the peppers and onions,

when they cook down,
just kind of wilt a little bit.

They'll kind of take
some of that crunch

and that crust off of that.
So in you go.

Chef, uh, I got another
great task for you.

-Yeah.
-[ Whistles ] Green beans.

-Hey now.
-There we go.

So we're gonna blister
some green beans

going into this fantastic,
uh, green papaya salad.

which we'll talk about
in a second.

Look at that.
That's the look that you want.

Nice sweated peppers.
Not gonna go too far.

Excuse me, buddy.

Let me grab the can opener.

Coconut milk.
Now, coconut --

Do you work
with coconut milk a lot?

I love coconut milk.

I mean, as a non-dairy
substitute.

You can thicken things,
you can make them creamy.

But you still get
that non-dairy goodness.

I love it.

This is also kind of deglaze
the pan a little bit.

Now, Aaron, I've got a, uh,
cast-iron skillet

that is starting to get
super hot right here.

And we're just gonna
blister those up,

put some color to 'em,
put some char.

This salad, this -- this, uh,
um, green papaya salad --

you have to have
a green papaya by the way --

is so fantastic.

But it's kind of -- sometimes
gets a little one note.

Because it's all
a bunch of raw veggies.

By taking these veggies,
we're still gonna leave

the green beans crispy,

but they're gonna
have that nice char.

They're gonna bring in that
cooked element to it

without having
the cooked texture.

You know what I'm saying?

That depth of flavor
you get from that char,

that bitterness,
as a contrast,

is one of my
favorite things.

So just think
of all the flavor

that we've already
started to develop.

We got all the fat coming off
that flank steak.

We had some of the paste
that was left in there.

We'll add some more
paste in right now.

And this where I kind of get --

this is where
I kind of take it easy.

I want to just see
how this develops.

Remember, you're working
with fresh veggies.

So if it gets --
you get too much in there,

you know, each one is gonna be
a little bit different.

You got to taste it yourself.

So we'll stir this in
and see where we're at.

Not that faux red color.
I mean, a lot of times you --

Oh, it's getting some
pretty nice orange though.

It looks beautiful.

But you know sometimes
you get those pastes

and they're just so vibrant
and you're like,

"Come on. What vegetable
did you use to get that color?"

I'm gonna give this a quick
little taste. How we looking?

Boy, you work with --

Ready to go.

You work with purpose,
my friend.

I'm gonna add a little touch
of salt into that.

All right.
Now, Aaron,

pan is hot and I gave it
a little bit of oil.

If you just want to
babysit those.

This is cooking down,
blistering the beans.

Everything looks great.

Okay, green papaya,
what do you know about it?

I know it's one of the most
widely eaten fruits in the world

because of the consumption
level in Asia.

Where did you get
this information?

I mean,
it came to me in a dream.

I don't know if he's --
I mean, he knows everything.

-I'm telling the truth.
-Okay.

-I'm telling the truth.
-All right. I don't know.

That sounded way
too easy for you.

We're gonna grab
this green papaya.

Now, when I go to, uh,

some of my favorite
Asian restaurants,

I'll see them take
this papaya, trim it down,

just taking a little bit
of the skin off.

Okay.
Now this one is just getting

on the verge of not working.

Because you can see how the
flesh is turning a little bit,

uh, how it's turning
a little beige, a little orange.

You'd like it to be
really nice and crisp white.

But I can feel how --
I can feel how firm it is.

So it'll probably work.

Now, this is
how I see 'em do it

at my favorite market.
They go like this.

And you'll see the lady
sitting right there --

or the guy, whomever --
sitting right there

and then just kind of hitting it

and just lightly
tapping it, okay?

Now, they'll take it
right to themselves.

I'll just do this
to kind of show you.

They'll just take it and carve
it right to themselves,

just carve this off.

And what we get are these
really nice fantastic strands.

Okay?
That takes a long time.

So the way we're gonna do it

is we're gonna bring out

this cool little slicer
that we found online.

Kind of like a mandoline
with some teeth in it.

So take the base of so
it's easier to work with.

Drag it down.

And you see how this
is just building us

these perfect strands
of this nice, crunchy,

green papaya.
Huh?

Okay.
So we got papayas to do,

green beans are scorching,
cooking that sauce down.

Give it a little taste,
make sure we're good.

The beef is finished.
Come on back,

hanging out with Chef Aaron May.

Making Thai food at the ranch.
See you in a bit.

You want to work
on this or me?

♪♪

Welcome back.
So here's what we're doing.

We're making fantastic
Thai food.

We're up at the ranch and Aaron

and I like to get together

and make things that you
typically wouldn't make

when you're cooking
in an outdoor kitchen.

So we're making
Thai food.

We made some red
Thai curry paste.

Um, with some --
with some lemongrass

and all kinds of great stuff
and ginger and garlic

and all the cast
of characters.

And now we're putting
together a salad,

we're gonna toast some rice,

we're making rice,
the whole thing.

I've got a screaming-hot
cast-iron skillet.

I want to blister a few tomatoes
for this green papaya salad.

And, uh, well,
that's all she wrote.

Okay.
Few tomatoes down.

Need to toast
a little bit of rice.

We're gonna put
a little toasted rice

on top of it
for a little funky crunch.

And I also need to get
the rice started.

And I'm gonna do a rice
with some coconut milk.

So, um, to go along with this.

A little jasmine rice there.

Keep an eye on that,
would you, Chef?

Yeah, Chef.

The key here is to use
a really good long-grain rice.

It's a supporting player,
but it has to be done right.

Three cups of the jasmine rice.

I'm gonna rinse it real quick.

Drop that down.

The rice,
pretty straightforward.

A little coconut milk
and some water.

Just about 2 cups
of coconut milk.

Three and a quarter
cups of water.

Start to simmer that.
Okay.

Everybody's dropped
in the pool over there.

Okay, where are we at?
I'm gonna start giving --

Bell pepper and cucumber.

-Let me give you some tomatoes.
-Perfect.

Start giving me
a little chop on that.

I also got to toast up
some pepitas.

And I got to add
a little bit

of chicken stock
over here in my curry.

So I didn't talk
about the curry.

So we made this awesome
curry with the lemongrass.

And we had the Fresno chilies,
a lot of Fresno chilies,

and some garlic.
Made our own paste.

And the great thing
is that I didn't use it all.

So I have some in reserve

if I don't want to make it
too spicy or if the --

if the paste itself
is really strong.

Add a little bit
of chicken stock to that.

Gonna thin it out a bit.
And I took this flank steak,

or Aaron took the flank
steak a the very beginning.

There we go.
Just to thin it out a bit.

Took the flank steak
at the very beginning

and, uh, seared it off.

So it's got some
nice texture to it.

And then we're just slowly

letting this sauce
come together.

Really building flavors
with the green bell pepper

and the red bell pepper inside.
Okay.

And then also hit
some coconut milk in it.

Let me give this
a little taste.

Oh, brother.
That's coming together.

That is coming
together big time.

I'm not gonna
feed you the taste.

You can get after it yourself.
You tell me if that has --

doesn't have some real
depth of Thai flavor.

-Wow.
-Huh?

I mean,
as good as anything anywhere.

As good as anything
anywhere.

Good coconut wholesomeness.
What'd you call it last time?

-Non-dairy goodness.
-Non-dairy goodness.

Really making that shine.
I mean --

Aaron always
has a one-liner. Okay.

The earthiness the currin--
I mean, that's beautiful.

The earthiness
and the curriness.

-I love 'em both.
-Okay.

So see that toasted rice?
Still a little bit hot.

Wow, that's a lot a bit hot.

Um, but this is
gonna be great.

Nice little crunchy
texture into this salad.

We toasted some
of the jasmine rice

that we were cooking
for the coconut rice,

took that, hit that in a spice
blender, zipped that up.

Adding the little crunch,
that little --

that little bit of extra
on the outside of it

just took it to a new level.

Where you at, Chef?
Are you ready to go?

Yeah. I got these green beans
on the angle right here.

And we're ready
for you over here.

Mixing up the dressing.
Okay.

So you've got the peppers,
we've got some cucumbers.

We've got the, uh, green papaya,
some scallions,

the blistered tomatoes,
everybody coming together.

And then the fish sauce, the soy
sauce, everybody's in this.

I mean, this is really
bringing big flavor.

And then I got
a little bit of this

that we'll top it off
right at the end.

A little bit
of this toasted rice.

Um, last thing I got to do,

toast the pepitas,
drop those in.

Rice is working,
beef'll go back.

Huh?

-This is gonna be delicious.
-This is gonna be delicious.

We'll see you in a minute.
We'll put it all together.

Mm, that's good.

I want to try.

♪♪

Welcome back to
"Guy's Big Bite."

Toasted pepitas going into
this outrageous --

Don't hog it over here, buddy.

This outrageous green
papaya salad.

Chef May is in the house.

Toasted pepitas right
on top, my friend.

We blistered some tomatoes
and some green beans.

We've got green papaya
we've sliced thin.

We made the dressing,

it's got everything
from fish sauce to mirin

to rice wine vinegar,
you name it.

Uh, some Thai basil

and some mint going in here.

Some mung beans.

This salad,
in itself, is enough.

Crunchy goodness, Asian flavor,
depth of flavor,

a little charred
tomatoes, as well.

Then we made a red curry, which,
actually, I want to try this.

'Cause I added
a little bit of curry.

I like it.
I'm gonna add just a touch more.

It's just Aaron and I right now.
We can handle the spice.

This has got Fresno chili.

It's a red curry paste
made with Fresno chili

and lemongrass and garlic
and lime and, uh, you name it.

And do you want to
talk about beautiful?

And this little bit extra,
it'll hold for at least

a week or two.

Okay.
Stir that in.

We also have the --
the, uh, toasted coconut here

for some rice
that we made,

a little coconut milk,
some jasmine rice.

Do you got some mint
and Thai basil

coming for me, brother?
-I do. You ready for it?

So we took some flank steak --
took some flank steak,

sliced it really thin,
gave it a little salt,

seared it in the pan,
pulled it out.

Then hit some peppers
and onions in here.

Put a little more
heat on there.

So I need about a quarter --
uh, give me a little mint

and a little Thai basil
right here.

I will get
some cilantro working.

-Right in here?
-Yeah. Drop it.

We added a little Thai basil,

a little bit of mint,
a little bit of cilantro.

Stirred that in right at the end

so they just really just kind
of bloom in the sauce.

Awesome.

Cilantro
and Thai basil really --

I mean, they --
they take a big lead in this.

People always want to
think about cilantro

being just in Mexican food.

But these fresh herbs
right now on top

of this big rich
Thai curry paste.

A little bit of lime.

Where you at, buddy?
In good shape?

This is -- I mean,
I can't wait to dig into this.

All right, let me get --
I got a couple plates.

Let me hand them
off to you, my man.

Let me drop these.

Hit us with
a couple salads.

-Yeah.
-There you go.

All right, you got that.

Little bit of lime
juice in here.

Now stirring
in those fresh herbs.

Fresh herbs
right at the end.

Excuse me, let me
reach right over here.

Okay.

Let me give you
a little bit of rice.

Touch of the toasted
coconut there.

I mean, the smell.

Oh, we got a lot of pieces
that put this together.

This is the --
This is the finale, right here.

This is a little
toasted jasmine rice

that I'm just gonna take
and throw right on top

for that little extra
added crunch

on top of the, uh,
green papaya salad.

That's gorgeous, man.
That is gorgeous.

Okay, where you at.

-We're good to go over here.
-Let me get on here with --

Here, grab yourself
some rice.

There we go,
we'll lay some of that --

lay some of that on top.

A little bit of the --
Look at that.

Oh, pardon that mess
that I just made there.

Beautiful.

Trade you off?
Go ahead and jump into it.

Some forks
right there, brother.

I love that flank steak.
We just seared it off,

put a nice
little crust to it...

took it out
and then let it --

then add it in right here
at the last minute.

Wow.

Big wow?
Like big Aaron May wow?

He's one of my favorite
chefs in the world.

When I get a big wow
out of him on my recipe...

Man, that's delicious.

You know, what's great?

The play off
that sweet and sour,

the hot and spicy, I mean,
you're getting everything.

It's unbelievable
how delicious this is.

Mm.

So good.

The coconut,
the creaminess,

little punch from the Thai --
from the, um, red curry.

But the key
is the refreshing side of it,

when you get into
the green papaya salad,

how it kind of
cleanses the palette.

You might not have had
green papaya salad before.

Matter of fact, this all
might be foreign to you.

Trust me,
this is safe enough

to roll this out for the family,
surprise 'em, have a great time.

Take your time to do it,
but you'll love it

and you'll want leftovers.
Right? You're the best.

See you next week
on "Guy's Big Bite."

Get all the recipes.

Aaron will even
come over and cook.

No problem.

Not really.
See you later.