Selena + Chef (2020–…): Season 4, Episode 4 - Episode #4.4 - full transcript
Summer should be filled
with sunshine, fun,
family, friends,
and of course, food.
And what better place
to enjoy all of them
than at the beach?
- It's gonna get you.
It got both of us.
Ay-yi-yi.
- This year,
I'm getting out of town
and even more out
of my comfort zone,
continuing to learn
all I can about cooking
from the world's best chefs.
- Hey, Papa?
- Yeah?
- Can you help?
There's so many bags today.
- Wait, it's date night.
Let me help you.
- Oh, okay, babe.
Thank you.
- And if I've learned
anything so far,
it's that you can
cook a great meal together
even if you're apart.
Let's read what we got, okay?
- All right.
- "Hi, Selena,
I heard your nana and papa
"have been vacationing
with you,
"so I want to show you
a quick and easy meal
that might be perfect
for a little date night."
- You know,
when I hear quick and easy,
I'm like,
is it actually possible?
It's never quick and easy
with us.
- Honestly, though,
if someone's gonna teach us,
it's gonna be Rachael Ray.
- That's the truth.
- Oh, I'm excited.
I haven't seen her
since I was, like, 17.
- No way.
- Yeah.
- Oh, you met before?
- Yeah.
- I didn't know that.
- So I was
on the "Rachael Ray Show"
when I was younger.
- If you could have any
superpower, what would it be?
- I would love
to actually rewind time
if that's actually a power,
just because it would be nice
to kind of--if I mess up,
like I do a lot,
you can just rewind time
and just do it all over again.
That would be nice.
- Okay.
16 and smarter than me.
[laughter]
- She was so funny
and just, like, bubbly, so...
- That's amazing.
- But now, I'm about to be 30.
So it's weird.
So much time.
- 13 years later.
- Oh, God, I feel--
I feel--
- Are we getting old?
- Selena plus Rachael,
take one.
Rachael.
♪ Oh, I'm tryin' ♪
♪ I'm tryin', I'm tryin',
I'm tryin', I'm tryin' ♪
♪ Oh, tryin',
I'm tryin' ♪
♪ I'm tryin'
with my feelings on fire ♪
Hi, Rachael.
- Hi, love.
How are you, my darling?
- I'm good.
It's so good to see you again.
- Welcome.
- Today, I am joined
by a true TV icon,
Rachael Ray.
Throughout her career,
she's won multiple Emmys,
written several
bestselling cookbooks,
launched her own cooking line,
and created
numerous nonprofits.
Not only is
her can-do spirit contagious,
but she definitely knows
a thing or two about food,
so I am very excited to see
what we're cooking up today.
- My husband is here today
to show you
the drink act
a little later in the show.
Selena, this is John.
- Hi, John.
- Hey. How are you, Selena?
- This is Raquelle.
- Hi, Raquelle.
- I'm like
Selena's John for the day.
- Yes.
- Yay!
- And I'm having a special date
night for my nana and papa,
who--you guys,
come meet Rachael really quick.
They've been together
for 53 years.
And tonight is
gonna be their night,
so I'm very happy.
- Yay.
- Hello. Nice to meet you.
- You don't even look 53.
So whatever you're eating,
keep that up.
- Thank you.
- In general.
- We owe you this.
This is the first time
she's actually done
any kind of cooking for us.
- Cooking. I've done
a lot of things for them.
- Yeah, Selena.
Yeah, cooking.
- Just duly noting.
Duly noting, lots of things.
- Well, you guys relax.
And we're gonna get started.
- We're at your service.
- Today, guys,
I'm so excited
to share with you
such a fun meal,
especially as we get into the
warmer months of the year:
beer-battered fish--
are you kidding--
with a batter that you
can use on anything.
And we're going to make
an elote corn salad.
And we're going to make
an oil and vinegar,
really simple celery seed
and poppy seed slaw.
- Great.
- Do you guys have
a large cast iron skillet
to fry up
your battered fish in?
There.
Okay, cool.
And we want to put about
1 inch shy from the top of oil
into that pan.
- Olive oil?
Grapeseed oil?
- Grapeseed oil works.
Safflower oil,
peanut oil, canola oil.
Oil that
we can see through largely
is what you're going for.
- Okay.
- And you need a lot.
Pull the top off that sucker.
You'll be here all day.
- Oh.
- Pull the top off the cruet.
- Hey, I was
just trying it out.
- [laughs]
- There you go.
You're good.
- Okay.
- You're good.
You're not gonna use them
for a while,
so you can put him
on low for now.
But it'll be easier
to bring him up to temp later
if he's already got
his mojo going a little bit.
- Love that. Perfect.
- Okay?
For your slaw,
did you buy, like,
just store-bought?
A pound of store-bought?
both: Yes.
- Okay, cool.
So throw that into one bowl.
- Okay.
- What would be the best advice
that you would give
to people learning to cook?
- For everybody in the know
who knows how to cook,
they will tell you
this is a huge thing--
clean as you go.
But I've got everything prepped
all around the kitchen,
so all I have to do is grab it
and drop it
and grab it and drop it.
Another great tip is
always have a garbage bowl
to keep stuff in
while you're processing food.
That's the way we work.
You organize your brain
and keep it calm.
- Oh, I've got to organize
my brain in general.
- Let's get dressing
your slaw so we can
just throw it in the fridge.
- Okay.
- So it's very important
when we bake to measure.
I think it's very important
when you cook not to measure...
- Yes.
- To try and get a feel
for it...
- You love hearing that.
- So that it becomes easier.
And we're going to do about
1/3 of a cup of cider vinegar,
or just good,
old distilled white vinegar.
- Okay.
- So what's 1/3 of a cup
if we're not measuring?
It's a count to the number six
when you start pouring.
- Love that.
- One. It's a slow count.
- One, two, three...
- Not a giant pour.
A slow, even pour to about six.
- Wow, that is good to know.
- Six.
- Each time you count to one,
that's roughly a tablespoon
equivalent of liquid.
Okay?
- Okay.
- My husband always
has superfine sugar
for the cocktails
that he mixes.
You can substitute
light agave,
so plant-based.
- Okay.
- So we pour to three
with that.
- Okay.
- So about three tablespoons
as you shake across the bowl.
Then we're gonna put in
a couple of teaspoons,
so a nice, fat pinch
of kosher salt.
- Okay.
- Fine ground black pepper.
- Okay.
- And we're going to put in
a scant palmful,
or about 1 tablespoon each,
of celery seed.
And then we're gonna do
about the same amount
of poppy.
- Oh, my God.
Rachael, I think I messed up.
- What did you do?
- I've been putting it
directly on that
instead of doing it
in a separate--
- Oh, it's gonna be fine.
You'll toss it all together.
- Oh, my!
I didn't even see!
- Please don't worry.
It's not gonna be a big deal.
Now, we're gonna stream in--
well, in your case,
drizzle over...
- Yes.
- A little bit less actually
than the vinegar,
which is surprising.
You only need
about two tablespoons,
or two slow turns of the bowl
with your oil.
- Okay.
- Now, I'm gonna add all
of that dressing into the bowl.
And look, we're gonna end up
in the exact same place.
We're just gonna
mix this together.
Get your paws right in there,
and really mix it up well.
- Okay.
- Then I want you to throw it
in the fridge for a little bit
before you put it
in a serving dish.
You got to let this
kind of work
before you decide
about your seasoning.
So there you go.
The first thing is done.
- Whoo.
- Okay.
I have a feeling
it's gonna get a bit harder.
- What we're gonna
do next is elote.
So we're gonna do
the corn salad.
What I need you to do
for the corn
is put a small bowl upside down
inside a large bowl.
- Wow, pretty.
- And then
we scrape down the corn
as we turn it,
and it doesn't end up
all over your counter
or your floor.
- Wow.
- Take the little bowl out,
and now,
you're gonna move along
to red onion in this sauté pan.
So I'm gonna chop
the red onion first.
- Okay.
- Just like that.
Kappy,
what the heck temperature
did you put the oil on?
- Oh, whoops!
Somebody's in trouble.
- Kappy's gonna set
this house on fire.
Kappy, what did you do?
[laughs] Dude!
My friend, Kappy...
- Oh, no.
- I told him
to put the oil on low.
It's on, like, screaming,
bajillion degrees.
- That's so scary.
- Just adds
a little extra drama.
- Yeah, it does.
- You can crack
the corner window open, Kappy,
so they could still see us
through this smoke
in the kitchen.
[laughter]
Okay, now we're going
to talk about the chilis.
We're going to use
a green chili and a red chili.
So Fresno, I'm just
gonna thinly slice.
And I'm going
to keep the green chili,
which is a little spicier,
cutting from the inside
of the chili out
to keep your knife sharp.
You need this skillet, guys.
This one.
The big, flat, round one.
- Yes.
- And you can put that on
a little over medium heat.
- Got it.
- A little bit of oil.
Couple turns of the pan,
just enough to coat.
When it starts
to ripple a little bit,
that's when we add the onion,
the red onion.
And you can throw your chilies
in with your onions
and let them go
with a little bit of salt
for a minute or two.
- So pretty.
I love the colors.
- So then, we're going
to add our corn.
And once we warm the corn,
we need two large cloves
of garlic, peeled.
And I'm going
to grate those in.
Here's
where we put the garlic.
Look, right on the grater.
Watch your fingertips.
You guys with me?
- Yeah, sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm just focusing
'cause it's scary.
- [chuckles]
- All right.
Now, we're gonna put in
1/3 palmful chili powder,
1/3 palmful, cumin.
So that's about a teaspoon
instead of a tablespoon.
Instead of the full palm,
we're using
about a 1/3 of our palm.
And then the same amount
of the smoked paprika.
- Okay.
- And we just drop that
right in there.
And we can add lime juice.
And I'm using the fork
to help me do that.
- About how many would you say?
- I put in two small limes.
If you have really big,
giant, juicy ones,
one is probably fine for you.
- Oh, I did it wrong.
[laughter]
- I gave it to you
'cause I was like, I can't--
that's not going well for me.
- Oh, it smells so good.
- There you go.
That's fine.
You're fine.
Now, we're gonna take
about 1/3 of a cup of crema
in the center.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I've got the heat
on low now.
And we're just
going to coat that
and glaze it
with the crema.
- Yum.
- This is
your kind of meal, Sel.
- Yeah.
- Too bad it's not ours.
- We can taste
a little bit...after.
- And then we're gonna put in
about half of our cheese,
and save half to garnish,
and save some more
for the top.
- Yum.
- And we're gonna add
a little cilantro.
- Want me to do the cilantro?
- Do you know how to do it?
- Just a handful--
- Not great, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
- Just spin that around.
- It's not going well.
[laughs]
- And we're also
going to slice a few
of the green onions,
or scallions,
for our garnish as well.
That looks beautiful, guys.
That's perfect.
That can go in a serving bowl
or platter,
whatever you want
to serve from.
- That's really heavy.
- All right, I got it.
- Awesome.
- This is really good.
- Gorgeous.
And then top it with
some of your green onion
and your corn shoots,
the popcorn shoots.
[sweeping music]
- Ooh.
- Yeah!
- That's so pretty.
Thank you.
- Whoo! Salad, score!
- Oh, my Go--
- Look how pretty--
- I don't know if I've ever
seen a salad so beautiful.
- Whoo!
- That is something else.
- We're going to call it
"The Rachael."
- [laughs]
- We are crushing it, ladies.
We are crushing it.
- Well, thank you.
- All right, so John is ready
to show you the cocktails
that you're making
for your grandparents.
That sounds so weird.
- Okay, great.
- Got to keep grandma
and grandpa happy.
- [laughs]
- What are you making, honey?
- I call this a "Pickle me up."
It's basically a Michelada
with pickle brine in it.
First thing you got to do
is rim your glass.
- Let's go.
Whoo!
- [laughs]
- Do you have a little dish
with some celery salt in it?
- I do not, but I will.
- And you need lime wedges.
- Yup, here's a lime.
I'm going to cut a wedge--
lime wedge.
- Here's another one.
- [laughs]
- [bleep].
- [laughs]
- Cutting up the limes.
- And you got to squeeze
some lime juice.
You need like maybe an ounce
of lime juice per drink.
- Okay.
- Take your glass
and kind of smush a wedge
around the rim of the glass.
- Oh.
- Oh, I like this.
- And then once you do that,
you want to take it
and dip it upside down
into the celery salt
so that--there you have
rimmed your glass.
- Drink-making might be--
this might be my calling.
- I don't know if
that's your calling, babe.
- [laughs]
- I'm very impressed
with your juicing.
- Thank you.
- So, John,
how did you get into
cocktail making?
- Well, I kind of got thirsty.
[laughter]
- I think John--
- Oh, here she is.
- I think John was just trying
to pick up more ladies.
John is a bit of a show-off.
- [laughs]
- I think I did it.
- Yeah, you did.
- That looks great.
That's plenty of juice.
Okay, so now, take
tomato juice.
Put about an ounce
and a half of tomato juice
in each glass,
right in the glass.
- Okay.
- Perfect.
So now, take lime juice
and put that
in a little ounce thing.
And then put the lime juice
from the little ounce thing
into the glass.
- Exciting.
- Rachael's already cooked
the fish and she's eating it.
- No, no.
- No!
- She went back home
across the street.
- That's not true.
I'm just getting ready.
I've got the mise en place.
That's all I've done.
- She'll send you
the photos later.
- [laughs]
- So now,
take your pickle brine,
just the liquid pickle stuff,
and just put a little--
little splash in each glass.
- Okay.
- Now take your hot sauce,
and put as much as you want
in the glass as well,
I don't know, a couple shakes,
depends how spicy
you like things.
- This is awesome.
- Yeah.
- Add some ice to the glass.
Fill it right up to the top
with ice, okay?
'Cause the more ice
you add to a cocktail,
the slower it melts.
- Nice.
- And then once you get
your ice in there,
take your beer
and just pour it right on top
until it goes up
to the top of the glass.
- This is so cool.
- Don't forget your pickles,
honey.
- And then the last thing
you got to do is garnish.
- Yeah, we do.
- And I just got pickle spears.
Just put pickle spears
in there.
- Okay.
- And then if you've
got extra lime wedges,
you can throw a couple
of those in there too.
- How happy are you
about this drink?
You know Selena
is a huge pickle fan.
- I am, like, a pickle fiend.
- You could put extra pickles
for the garnish if you'd like.
- Perfect.
- [laughs]
- Cheers.
- That's right.
- Did you taste, Raquelle?
- It's...
- Ooh, that's nice.
- Like, really cool.
- That's actually really good.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
To Nana.
- Aww.
- That's so cute.
- What was the review
on the Michelada?
- They are sipping away.
- Good. Good.
- Whoo!
- She don't even like beer.
- That's awesome.
So let's start with
the tartar sauce
'cause we're on
to the main event.
- Hey, sissy?
- We've got our two salads.
- This is my little sister
Gracie.
- Hi.
- Hello, Gracie.
What's up?
- Nothing.
- She wanted to help
with maybe one step.
- Do you want to make
the tartar sauce?
- Yeah.
- Cool.
Okay, instead
of using mayonnaise,
I like to use Greek yogurt.
- Oh, yum.
- It's really good for us.
And you don't have to worry
about it if you are eating
outside in the warm weather.
So we've got about a cup
of Greek yogurt.
So let's put that in a bowl.
- Okay.
- Gracie, I know
you love to bake.
Do you want your sister
to chop, or can you chop?
- I want to chop.
- I'll let her try,
but I might be
a little worried,
but that's okay.
- Okay, sis has got some dill
for you there somewhere.
- Yes, I do.
It's right here.
Just a little handful?
- All right,
so take
a nice big pile of dill,
and then we're going
to hold it like a cat.
We're going to keep our fingers
curled under at the tips.
And then we put the tip
of the knife on the board,
and we hold whatever we're
chopping really tight.
- Yeah.
- See?
- Good job.
- Isn't that great?
- I think it's too close.
Let sissy do the--
oh, well, okay.
- Then gather everything up
with your hand in a pile,
perfect, put the tip
of the knife
on the board, okay?
And then put your hand
flat on top of the knife.
And then we're
going to do this,
bounce the back of the knife
back and forth.
Good job.
- Wow, I'm actually
really proud of you.
- Thank you.
- Way to go!
All right,
now we just take all of that
and put it into your yogurt.
And then you're gonna do
the exact same thing
with capers.
- Now this makes me
a little nervous.
I'm not gonna lie.
- Drain off your liquid.
- Okay.
- And you need
a few tablespoons
right on your counter.
- There you go.
- And you're gonna chop
them just like you did
the dill, exactly the same.
Great teamwork.
And then throw them
into the yogurt
with the bench scraper.
- Good job.
- There you go.
Excellent.
Do you have a lemon?
- Yep.
- Push your hand on top
really firm, and kind of turn--
there you go.
- Yeah.
- Turn the lemon
to get the juices going.
And then we're going
to carefully cut it in half.
She's got her fingers
curled under.
That's awesome.
- Perfect.
Good job, sissy.
- And now, take the lemon,
but with the cut side up
so that the seeds
stay with the lemon,
and just make a fist
and make it squish
as hard as you can
to put the lemon juice
in the sauce.
- Well done.
- Wow.
- And then we're gonna put in
about three spoonfuls
of relish.
- That's good.
- All right,
so two spoonfuls
or two squirts of Dijon, okay,
and then a little salt
and pepper.
And then mix that
all together.
- You want to mix it up now?
- Yeah.
- Yes.
Proud sister over here.
- Legit, she crushed it.
Whoo hoo.
- You're supposed to say,
"Thank you, Rachael."
- Thank you.
- Bye.
Oh, my God, I'm in love.
- She's a sweetheart.
- All right,
I'm gonna show you
the simplest batter
in the world.
The basics of this batter
are a cup
of AP flour,
all-purpose flour,
one egg, one beer,
1 cup of flour.
That's our base recipe.
- All it--okay, great.
- Whenever we use an egg,
we crack it
on the counter first
and then into a bowl,
because shell
always goes back to shell.
So if a piece of shell
falls into this dish,
all I have to do
is drop in a larger piece,
and it'll run home,
and I can take it out.
- Oh.
- Then we just
lightly beat that
and drop it
into the larger bowl,
because now, we know
there's no shell in there.
- Okay, into the flour.
- Then we're going to take
a whisk
and whisk in
the bottle of beer.
- Perfect.
- Then we're going to use
a palmful and a half
of Old Bay Seafood seasoning,
about a tablespoon and a half
of Old Bay.
- Okay.
- And when I do fish fry,
I always put in
about a tablespoon
of granulated garlic,
because I'm an Italian,
and what can I tell you?
- What can I say?
- And then we're going to do
about 2/3 of a palmful,
or about 2 teaspoons, of onion.
- Got it.
- The seafood itself, I
always pat it completely dry.
- Yep.
- And I seasoned this
with salt
and fine black pepper.
So season your fish
with salt and black pepper.
- Okay.
- Now, we want to get this
as close to the oil
as possible,
and you want
your oil about 350.
- Great.
- Yeah, we're right
about 350 on this side.
- Okay.
- And then, working
as quickly as you can,
you're going to coat
and drop the fish into the oil,
one piece at a time.
- Oh.
This is...
- It's looking good?
Ooh!
- Kind of hurt myself
there, but that's okay.
- Honey, you might want
to cook those two at a time.
That's a really small pan.
- Okay, you got it.
And I leave it on one side,
obviously, and just watch it?
- You just look,
and when the fish
starts to get nice and golden,
then we can turn it over.
- Okay, so...
- So give it, like,
one minute,
take those out, and then
put the new babies in.
- Okay.
- Oh, my gosh,
it looks delicious.
- It looks fantastic.
Pop the other two in
whenever you get caught up.
- While we have
this opportunity,
Rachael, do you mind telling us
a little bit about the charity
we'll be donating to today?
- So yeah, that's so exciting.
Yum-o! is like the human arm
of our foundation,
but basically, we use it
to cook, feed, and fund kits
to help the hungry, to give
kids scholarship funds,
and to improve school food.
- That's wonderful.
Well, we're happy
to be donating.
- Thank you.
That's amazing.
- Okay, I think--
I think these are ready.
- I think it looks
absolutely perfect.
I would just put the fish
on a platter and call it a day.
- Do you want to bring me the--
- Yeah.
- The pan, please?
- Let's do it.
- I'm gonna move ours
over to the ta-da spot.
- Okay, beautiful.
- Put theirs
on a little platter,
and you're done.
There we go.
- That...
- Phenomenal.
- Oh, oh, oh.
That's so good.
- Everything looks
like the cover
of "Saveur" magazine.
You did a great job.
It's gorgeous.
- I would take lessons
from you every day.
You are such a great teacher,
so kind, really patient.
It was just awesome.
- You're amazing
in the kitchen,
and Gracie crushed it.
- Thank you, Rachael.
Tell John we said bye.
- My love to everybody.
- Bye, guys.
- And thank you to John.
- Bye, John.
Bye, Rachael.
- All right,
Nana, Papa, go outside.
Raquel and I--
we will serve you.
- We are gonna serve you,
yep.
- Here we go, a little lemon.
Got the salad?
- Got the salad.
- Let's do it.
[downbeat electric guitar
music]
♪ ♪
Hi.
- Oh, my goodness.
- Welcome
to Cafe Raquel and Selena.
- There you go, Papa.
- Thank you.
- I'm gonna get
you guys some drinks.
Can't forget these,
even though, Nana,
you already finished one.
- I did.
Is that the same thing?
- Yes, it is.
- Oh, okay.
- I love you guys so much.
- Thank you.
I love you too.
- I hope you have a good meal.
- Thank you for dinner.
- You did great.
Oh, that's good.
- So cute.
- So cute.
- I love it.
- Should we dig in ourselves?
- Yeah, obviously,
I want to try some
and give them their privacy,
slash spy on them.
- Oh, it's good and crispy.
- What do you think
about how she's improved?
- I think she's really grown.
And I can say, this,
I think, has been--
this is like my favorite dish.
- I can't believe we made that.
- I know.
I'm really impressed.
Rachael is
an incredible teacher.
- She's so cool.
How would you rate me today?
- Five out of five.
It was clean.
We finished
in a like, pretty fast time.
- Yeah.
- It tastes amazing.
- Thank you.
- It's a five.
- This great meal,
this beautiful view...
- Yeah.
- Couldn't get any better.
- Yeah.
- I love you just as much
as the day I met you.
- Yep.
- I think it just gets
deeper and deeper with time.
- Me too, same thing.
- I love you so much.
- I love you too.
Love you too.
- Here's to the best 53 years.
- Another 53 years.
- Nana and Papa
are relationship goals,
little bit.
- 100%.
I mean--
- 53 years.
It felt really sweet, though,
cooking for them today.
- Yeah.
- They just deserve this.
- They did deserve it,
absolutely.
- Shall we?
- We shall.
Let's hit the waves.
- Go sit on the couch?
Hit the waves.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- So sweet of her
to do this.
It's like
a five-star restaurant.
- Remember
when she was little,
she said
once she would make it big,
she's going to take care of us?
- Yes.
She has a big heart.
- Yep.
♪ ♪
with sunshine, fun,
family, friends,
and of course, food.
And what better place
to enjoy all of them
than at the beach?
- It's gonna get you.
It got both of us.
Ay-yi-yi.
- This year,
I'm getting out of town
and even more out
of my comfort zone,
continuing to learn
all I can about cooking
from the world's best chefs.
- Hey, Papa?
- Yeah?
- Can you help?
There's so many bags today.
- Wait, it's date night.
Let me help you.
- Oh, okay, babe.
Thank you.
- And if I've learned
anything so far,
it's that you can
cook a great meal together
even if you're apart.
Let's read what we got, okay?
- All right.
- "Hi, Selena,
I heard your nana and papa
"have been vacationing
with you,
"so I want to show you
a quick and easy meal
that might be perfect
for a little date night."
- You know,
when I hear quick and easy,
I'm like,
is it actually possible?
It's never quick and easy
with us.
- Honestly, though,
if someone's gonna teach us,
it's gonna be Rachael Ray.
- That's the truth.
- Oh, I'm excited.
I haven't seen her
since I was, like, 17.
- No way.
- Yeah.
- Oh, you met before?
- Yeah.
- I didn't know that.
- So I was
on the "Rachael Ray Show"
when I was younger.
- If you could have any
superpower, what would it be?
- I would love
to actually rewind time
if that's actually a power,
just because it would be nice
to kind of--if I mess up,
like I do a lot,
you can just rewind time
and just do it all over again.
That would be nice.
- Okay.
16 and smarter than me.
[laughter]
- She was so funny
and just, like, bubbly, so...
- That's amazing.
- But now, I'm about to be 30.
So it's weird.
So much time.
- 13 years later.
- Oh, God, I feel--
I feel--
- Are we getting old?
- Selena plus Rachael,
take one.
Rachael.
♪ Oh, I'm tryin' ♪
♪ I'm tryin', I'm tryin',
I'm tryin', I'm tryin' ♪
♪ Oh, tryin',
I'm tryin' ♪
♪ I'm tryin'
with my feelings on fire ♪
Hi, Rachael.
- Hi, love.
How are you, my darling?
- I'm good.
It's so good to see you again.
- Welcome.
- Today, I am joined
by a true TV icon,
Rachael Ray.
Throughout her career,
she's won multiple Emmys,
written several
bestselling cookbooks,
launched her own cooking line,
and created
numerous nonprofits.
Not only is
her can-do spirit contagious,
but she definitely knows
a thing or two about food,
so I am very excited to see
what we're cooking up today.
- My husband is here today
to show you
the drink act
a little later in the show.
Selena, this is John.
- Hi, John.
- Hey. How are you, Selena?
- This is Raquelle.
- Hi, Raquelle.
- I'm like
Selena's John for the day.
- Yes.
- Yay!
- And I'm having a special date
night for my nana and papa,
who--you guys,
come meet Rachael really quick.
They've been together
for 53 years.
And tonight is
gonna be their night,
so I'm very happy.
- Yay.
- Hello. Nice to meet you.
- You don't even look 53.
So whatever you're eating,
keep that up.
- Thank you.
- In general.
- We owe you this.
This is the first time
she's actually done
any kind of cooking for us.
- Cooking. I've done
a lot of things for them.
- Yeah, Selena.
Yeah, cooking.
- Just duly noting.
Duly noting, lots of things.
- Well, you guys relax.
And we're gonna get started.
- We're at your service.
- Today, guys,
I'm so excited
to share with you
such a fun meal,
especially as we get into the
warmer months of the year:
beer-battered fish--
are you kidding--
with a batter that you
can use on anything.
And we're going to make
an elote corn salad.
And we're going to make
an oil and vinegar,
really simple celery seed
and poppy seed slaw.
- Great.
- Do you guys have
a large cast iron skillet
to fry up
your battered fish in?
There.
Okay, cool.
And we want to put about
1 inch shy from the top of oil
into that pan.
- Olive oil?
Grapeseed oil?
- Grapeseed oil works.
Safflower oil,
peanut oil, canola oil.
Oil that
we can see through largely
is what you're going for.
- Okay.
- And you need a lot.
Pull the top off that sucker.
You'll be here all day.
- Oh.
- Pull the top off the cruet.
- Hey, I was
just trying it out.
- [laughs]
- There you go.
You're good.
- Okay.
- You're good.
You're not gonna use them
for a while,
so you can put him
on low for now.
But it'll be easier
to bring him up to temp later
if he's already got
his mojo going a little bit.
- Love that. Perfect.
- Okay?
For your slaw,
did you buy, like,
just store-bought?
A pound of store-bought?
both: Yes.
- Okay, cool.
So throw that into one bowl.
- Okay.
- What would be the best advice
that you would give
to people learning to cook?
- For everybody in the know
who knows how to cook,
they will tell you
this is a huge thing--
clean as you go.
But I've got everything prepped
all around the kitchen,
so all I have to do is grab it
and drop it
and grab it and drop it.
Another great tip is
always have a garbage bowl
to keep stuff in
while you're processing food.
That's the way we work.
You organize your brain
and keep it calm.
- Oh, I've got to organize
my brain in general.
- Let's get dressing
your slaw so we can
just throw it in the fridge.
- Okay.
- So it's very important
when we bake to measure.
I think it's very important
when you cook not to measure...
- Yes.
- To try and get a feel
for it...
- You love hearing that.
- So that it becomes easier.
And we're going to do about
1/3 of a cup of cider vinegar,
or just good,
old distilled white vinegar.
- Okay.
- So what's 1/3 of a cup
if we're not measuring?
It's a count to the number six
when you start pouring.
- Love that.
- One. It's a slow count.
- One, two, three...
- Not a giant pour.
A slow, even pour to about six.
- Wow, that is good to know.
- Six.
- Each time you count to one,
that's roughly a tablespoon
equivalent of liquid.
Okay?
- Okay.
- My husband always
has superfine sugar
for the cocktails
that he mixes.
You can substitute
light agave,
so plant-based.
- Okay.
- So we pour to three
with that.
- Okay.
- So about three tablespoons
as you shake across the bowl.
Then we're gonna put in
a couple of teaspoons,
so a nice, fat pinch
of kosher salt.
- Okay.
- Fine ground black pepper.
- Okay.
- And we're going to put in
a scant palmful,
or about 1 tablespoon each,
of celery seed.
And then we're gonna do
about the same amount
of poppy.
- Oh, my God.
Rachael, I think I messed up.
- What did you do?
- I've been putting it
directly on that
instead of doing it
in a separate--
- Oh, it's gonna be fine.
You'll toss it all together.
- Oh, my!
I didn't even see!
- Please don't worry.
It's not gonna be a big deal.
Now, we're gonna stream in--
well, in your case,
drizzle over...
- Yes.
- A little bit less actually
than the vinegar,
which is surprising.
You only need
about two tablespoons,
or two slow turns of the bowl
with your oil.
- Okay.
- Now, I'm gonna add all
of that dressing into the bowl.
And look, we're gonna end up
in the exact same place.
We're just gonna
mix this together.
Get your paws right in there,
and really mix it up well.
- Okay.
- Then I want you to throw it
in the fridge for a little bit
before you put it
in a serving dish.
You got to let this
kind of work
before you decide
about your seasoning.
So there you go.
The first thing is done.
- Whoo.
- Okay.
I have a feeling
it's gonna get a bit harder.
- What we're gonna
do next is elote.
So we're gonna do
the corn salad.
What I need you to do
for the corn
is put a small bowl upside down
inside a large bowl.
- Wow, pretty.
- And then
we scrape down the corn
as we turn it,
and it doesn't end up
all over your counter
or your floor.
- Wow.
- Take the little bowl out,
and now,
you're gonna move along
to red onion in this sauté pan.
So I'm gonna chop
the red onion first.
- Okay.
- Just like that.
Kappy,
what the heck temperature
did you put the oil on?
- Oh, whoops!
Somebody's in trouble.
- Kappy's gonna set
this house on fire.
Kappy, what did you do?
[laughs] Dude!
My friend, Kappy...
- Oh, no.
- I told him
to put the oil on low.
It's on, like, screaming,
bajillion degrees.
- That's so scary.
- Just adds
a little extra drama.
- Yeah, it does.
- You can crack
the corner window open, Kappy,
so they could still see us
through this smoke
in the kitchen.
[laughter]
Okay, now we're going
to talk about the chilis.
We're going to use
a green chili and a red chili.
So Fresno, I'm just
gonna thinly slice.
And I'm going
to keep the green chili,
which is a little spicier,
cutting from the inside
of the chili out
to keep your knife sharp.
You need this skillet, guys.
This one.
The big, flat, round one.
- Yes.
- And you can put that on
a little over medium heat.
- Got it.
- A little bit of oil.
Couple turns of the pan,
just enough to coat.
When it starts
to ripple a little bit,
that's when we add the onion,
the red onion.
And you can throw your chilies
in with your onions
and let them go
with a little bit of salt
for a minute or two.
- So pretty.
I love the colors.
- So then, we're going
to add our corn.
And once we warm the corn,
we need two large cloves
of garlic, peeled.
And I'm going
to grate those in.
Here's
where we put the garlic.
Look, right on the grater.
Watch your fingertips.
You guys with me?
- Yeah, sorry. I'm sorry.
I'm just focusing
'cause it's scary.
- [chuckles]
- All right.
Now, we're gonna put in
1/3 palmful chili powder,
1/3 palmful, cumin.
So that's about a teaspoon
instead of a tablespoon.
Instead of the full palm,
we're using
about a 1/3 of our palm.
And then the same amount
of the smoked paprika.
- Okay.
- And we just drop that
right in there.
And we can add lime juice.
And I'm using the fork
to help me do that.
- About how many would you say?
- I put in two small limes.
If you have really big,
giant, juicy ones,
one is probably fine for you.
- Oh, I did it wrong.
[laughter]
- I gave it to you
'cause I was like, I can't--
that's not going well for me.
- Oh, it smells so good.
- There you go.
That's fine.
You're fine.
Now, we're gonna take
about 1/3 of a cup of crema
in the center.
- Mm-hmm.
- And I've got the heat
on low now.
And we're just
going to coat that
and glaze it
with the crema.
- Yum.
- This is
your kind of meal, Sel.
- Yeah.
- Too bad it's not ours.
- We can taste
a little bit...after.
- And then we're gonna put in
about half of our cheese,
and save half to garnish,
and save some more
for the top.
- Yum.
- And we're gonna add
a little cilantro.
- Want me to do the cilantro?
- Do you know how to do it?
- Just a handful--
- Not great, no.
No, no, no, no, no.
- Just spin that around.
- It's not going well.
[laughs]
- And we're also
going to slice a few
of the green onions,
or scallions,
for our garnish as well.
That looks beautiful, guys.
That's perfect.
That can go in a serving bowl
or platter,
whatever you want
to serve from.
- That's really heavy.
- All right, I got it.
- Awesome.
- This is really good.
- Gorgeous.
And then top it with
some of your green onion
and your corn shoots,
the popcorn shoots.
[sweeping music]
- Ooh.
- Yeah!
- That's so pretty.
Thank you.
- Whoo! Salad, score!
- Oh, my Go--
- Look how pretty--
- I don't know if I've ever
seen a salad so beautiful.
- Whoo!
- That is something else.
- We're going to call it
"The Rachael."
- [laughs]
- We are crushing it, ladies.
We are crushing it.
- Well, thank you.
- All right, so John is ready
to show you the cocktails
that you're making
for your grandparents.
That sounds so weird.
- Okay, great.
- Got to keep grandma
and grandpa happy.
- [laughs]
- What are you making, honey?
- I call this a "Pickle me up."
It's basically a Michelada
with pickle brine in it.
First thing you got to do
is rim your glass.
- Let's go.
Whoo!
- [laughs]
- Do you have a little dish
with some celery salt in it?
- I do not, but I will.
- And you need lime wedges.
- Yup, here's a lime.
I'm going to cut a wedge--
lime wedge.
- Here's another one.
- [laughs]
- [bleep].
- [laughs]
- Cutting up the limes.
- And you got to squeeze
some lime juice.
You need like maybe an ounce
of lime juice per drink.
- Okay.
- Take your glass
and kind of smush a wedge
around the rim of the glass.
- Oh.
- Oh, I like this.
- And then once you do that,
you want to take it
and dip it upside down
into the celery salt
so that--there you have
rimmed your glass.
- Drink-making might be--
this might be my calling.
- I don't know if
that's your calling, babe.
- [laughs]
- I'm very impressed
with your juicing.
- Thank you.
- So, John,
how did you get into
cocktail making?
- Well, I kind of got thirsty.
[laughter]
- I think John--
- Oh, here she is.
- I think John was just trying
to pick up more ladies.
John is a bit of a show-off.
- [laughs]
- I think I did it.
- Yeah, you did.
- That looks great.
That's plenty of juice.
Okay, so now, take
tomato juice.
Put about an ounce
and a half of tomato juice
in each glass,
right in the glass.
- Okay.
- Perfect.
So now, take lime juice
and put that
in a little ounce thing.
And then put the lime juice
from the little ounce thing
into the glass.
- Exciting.
- Rachael's already cooked
the fish and she's eating it.
- No, no.
- No!
- She went back home
across the street.
- That's not true.
I'm just getting ready.
I've got the mise en place.
That's all I've done.
- She'll send you
the photos later.
- [laughs]
- So now,
take your pickle brine,
just the liquid pickle stuff,
and just put a little--
little splash in each glass.
- Okay.
- Now take your hot sauce,
and put as much as you want
in the glass as well,
I don't know, a couple shakes,
depends how spicy
you like things.
- This is awesome.
- Yeah.
- Add some ice to the glass.
Fill it right up to the top
with ice, okay?
'Cause the more ice
you add to a cocktail,
the slower it melts.
- Nice.
- And then once you get
your ice in there,
take your beer
and just pour it right on top
until it goes up
to the top of the glass.
- This is so cool.
- Don't forget your pickles,
honey.
- And then the last thing
you got to do is garnish.
- Yeah, we do.
- And I just got pickle spears.
Just put pickle spears
in there.
- Okay.
- And then if you've
got extra lime wedges,
you can throw a couple
of those in there too.
- How happy are you
about this drink?
You know Selena
is a huge pickle fan.
- I am, like, a pickle fiend.
- You could put extra pickles
for the garnish if you'd like.
- Perfect.
- [laughs]
- Cheers.
- That's right.
- Did you taste, Raquelle?
- It's...
- Ooh, that's nice.
- Like, really cool.
- That's actually really good.
- Thank you.
- Cheers.
To Nana.
- Aww.
- That's so cute.
- What was the review
on the Michelada?
- They are sipping away.
- Good. Good.
- Whoo!
- She don't even like beer.
- That's awesome.
So let's start with
the tartar sauce
'cause we're on
to the main event.
- Hey, sissy?
- We've got our two salads.
- This is my little sister
Gracie.
- Hi.
- Hello, Gracie.
What's up?
- Nothing.
- She wanted to help
with maybe one step.
- Do you want to make
the tartar sauce?
- Yeah.
- Cool.
Okay, instead
of using mayonnaise,
I like to use Greek yogurt.
- Oh, yum.
- It's really good for us.
And you don't have to worry
about it if you are eating
outside in the warm weather.
So we've got about a cup
of Greek yogurt.
So let's put that in a bowl.
- Okay.
- Gracie, I know
you love to bake.
Do you want your sister
to chop, or can you chop?
- I want to chop.
- I'll let her try,
but I might be
a little worried,
but that's okay.
- Okay, sis has got some dill
for you there somewhere.
- Yes, I do.
It's right here.
Just a little handful?
- All right,
so take
a nice big pile of dill,
and then we're going
to hold it like a cat.
We're going to keep our fingers
curled under at the tips.
And then we put the tip
of the knife on the board,
and we hold whatever we're
chopping really tight.
- Yeah.
- See?
- Good job.
- Isn't that great?
- I think it's too close.
Let sissy do the--
oh, well, okay.
- Then gather everything up
with your hand in a pile,
perfect, put the tip
of the knife
on the board, okay?
And then put your hand
flat on top of the knife.
And then we're
going to do this,
bounce the back of the knife
back and forth.
Good job.
- Wow, I'm actually
really proud of you.
- Thank you.
- Way to go!
All right,
now we just take all of that
and put it into your yogurt.
And then you're gonna do
the exact same thing
with capers.
- Now this makes me
a little nervous.
I'm not gonna lie.
- Drain off your liquid.
- Okay.
- And you need
a few tablespoons
right on your counter.
- There you go.
- And you're gonna chop
them just like you did
the dill, exactly the same.
Great teamwork.
And then throw them
into the yogurt
with the bench scraper.
- Good job.
- There you go.
Excellent.
Do you have a lemon?
- Yep.
- Push your hand on top
really firm, and kind of turn--
there you go.
- Yeah.
- Turn the lemon
to get the juices going.
And then we're going
to carefully cut it in half.
She's got her fingers
curled under.
That's awesome.
- Perfect.
Good job, sissy.
- And now, take the lemon,
but with the cut side up
so that the seeds
stay with the lemon,
and just make a fist
and make it squish
as hard as you can
to put the lemon juice
in the sauce.
- Well done.
- Wow.
- And then we're gonna put in
about three spoonfuls
of relish.
- That's good.
- All right,
so two spoonfuls
or two squirts of Dijon, okay,
and then a little salt
and pepper.
And then mix that
all together.
- You want to mix it up now?
- Yeah.
- Yes.
Proud sister over here.
- Legit, she crushed it.
Whoo hoo.
- You're supposed to say,
"Thank you, Rachael."
- Thank you.
- Bye.
Oh, my God, I'm in love.
- She's a sweetheart.
- All right,
I'm gonna show you
the simplest batter
in the world.
The basics of this batter
are a cup
of AP flour,
all-purpose flour,
one egg, one beer,
1 cup of flour.
That's our base recipe.
- All it--okay, great.
- Whenever we use an egg,
we crack it
on the counter first
and then into a bowl,
because shell
always goes back to shell.
So if a piece of shell
falls into this dish,
all I have to do
is drop in a larger piece,
and it'll run home,
and I can take it out.
- Oh.
- Then we just
lightly beat that
and drop it
into the larger bowl,
because now, we know
there's no shell in there.
- Okay, into the flour.
- Then we're going to take
a whisk
and whisk in
the bottle of beer.
- Perfect.
- Then we're going to use
a palmful and a half
of Old Bay Seafood seasoning,
about a tablespoon and a half
of Old Bay.
- Okay.
- And when I do fish fry,
I always put in
about a tablespoon
of granulated garlic,
because I'm an Italian,
and what can I tell you?
- What can I say?
- And then we're going to do
about 2/3 of a palmful,
or about 2 teaspoons, of onion.
- Got it.
- The seafood itself, I
always pat it completely dry.
- Yep.
- And I seasoned this
with salt
and fine black pepper.
So season your fish
with salt and black pepper.
- Okay.
- Now, we want to get this
as close to the oil
as possible,
and you want
your oil about 350.
- Great.
- Yeah, we're right
about 350 on this side.
- Okay.
- And then, working
as quickly as you can,
you're going to coat
and drop the fish into the oil,
one piece at a time.
- Oh.
This is...
- It's looking good?
Ooh!
- Kind of hurt myself
there, but that's okay.
- Honey, you might want
to cook those two at a time.
That's a really small pan.
- Okay, you got it.
And I leave it on one side,
obviously, and just watch it?
- You just look,
and when the fish
starts to get nice and golden,
then we can turn it over.
- Okay, so...
- So give it, like,
one minute,
take those out, and then
put the new babies in.
- Okay.
- Oh, my gosh,
it looks delicious.
- It looks fantastic.
Pop the other two in
whenever you get caught up.
- While we have
this opportunity,
Rachael, do you mind telling us
a little bit about the charity
we'll be donating to today?
- So yeah, that's so exciting.
Yum-o! is like the human arm
of our foundation,
but basically, we use it
to cook, feed, and fund kits
to help the hungry, to give
kids scholarship funds,
and to improve school food.
- That's wonderful.
Well, we're happy
to be donating.
- Thank you.
That's amazing.
- Okay, I think--
I think these are ready.
- I think it looks
absolutely perfect.
I would just put the fish
on a platter and call it a day.
- Do you want to bring me the--
- Yeah.
- The pan, please?
- Let's do it.
- I'm gonna move ours
over to the ta-da spot.
- Okay, beautiful.
- Put theirs
on a little platter,
and you're done.
There we go.
- That...
- Phenomenal.
- Oh, oh, oh.
That's so good.
- Everything looks
like the cover
of "Saveur" magazine.
You did a great job.
It's gorgeous.
- I would take lessons
from you every day.
You are such a great teacher,
so kind, really patient.
It was just awesome.
- You're amazing
in the kitchen,
and Gracie crushed it.
- Thank you, Rachael.
Tell John we said bye.
- My love to everybody.
- Bye, guys.
- And thank you to John.
- Bye, John.
Bye, Rachael.
- All right,
Nana, Papa, go outside.
Raquel and I--
we will serve you.
- We are gonna serve you,
yep.
- Here we go, a little lemon.
Got the salad?
- Got the salad.
- Let's do it.
[downbeat electric guitar
music]
♪ ♪
Hi.
- Oh, my goodness.
- Welcome
to Cafe Raquel and Selena.
- There you go, Papa.
- Thank you.
- I'm gonna get
you guys some drinks.
Can't forget these,
even though, Nana,
you already finished one.
- I did.
Is that the same thing?
- Yes, it is.
- Oh, okay.
- I love you guys so much.
- Thank you.
I love you too.
- I hope you have a good meal.
- Thank you for dinner.
- You did great.
Oh, that's good.
- So cute.
- So cute.
- I love it.
- Should we dig in ourselves?
- Yeah, obviously,
I want to try some
and give them their privacy,
slash spy on them.
- Oh, it's good and crispy.
- What do you think
about how she's improved?
- I think she's really grown.
And I can say, this,
I think, has been--
this is like my favorite dish.
- I can't believe we made that.
- I know.
I'm really impressed.
Rachael is
an incredible teacher.
- She's so cool.
How would you rate me today?
- Five out of five.
It was clean.
We finished
in a like, pretty fast time.
- Yeah.
- It tastes amazing.
- Thank you.
- It's a five.
- This great meal,
this beautiful view...
- Yeah.
- Couldn't get any better.
- Yeah.
- I love you just as much
as the day I met you.
- Yep.
- I think it just gets
deeper and deeper with time.
- Me too, same thing.
- I love you so much.
- I love you too.
Love you too.
- Here's to the best 53 years.
- Another 53 years.
- Nana and Papa
are relationship goals,
little bit.
- 100%.
I mean--
- 53 years.
It felt really sweet, though,
cooking for them today.
- Yeah.
- They just deserve this.
- They did deserve it,
absolutely.
- Shall we?
- We shall.
Let's hit the waves.
- Go sit on the couch?
Hit the waves.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- So sweet of her
to do this.
It's like
a five-star restaurant.
- Remember
when she was little,
she said
once she would make it big,
she's going to take care of us?
- Yes.
She has a big heart.
- Yep.
♪ ♪