Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like having all your favorite festive foods in one place.
Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like having all your favorite festive foods in one place.
Episode content:
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Find episode transcript here: https://the-best-thing-i-ever-ate.simplecast.com/episodes/holiday-delights
SPEAKER 1: Who doesn't love great food?
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SPEAKER 2: It's more than just eating. It's an experience.
SPEAKER 3: Do you have any more?
SPEAKER 4: This is the best thing I ever ate.
SPEAKER 5: The best thing about this cake is you're going to get to taste it probably within five minutes of giving it as a gift. If you give someone a watch, do they let you wear the watch? No.
Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. I get really excited starting Thanksgiving and get primed for Christmas. But I really get prime for going and buying Christmas pastries, in particular the Buche de Noel or Christmas log at Sift Bake Shop in Mystic, Connecticut. It is a cut above, or shall I say one log up. Sift is making a chocolate and cherry Buche de Noel.
It's really a beautiful cake all rolled up. Now, chocolate and cherry is kind of like a perfect marriage, right? But this one is spectacular.
SPEAKER 6: So the first step to making this Buche de Noel is creating the chocolate sponge cake. We've separated egg yolks, and we're going to inflate them with a little bit of sugar. And that's going to add richness. To that, we're going to add cake flour and cocoa powder.
SPEAKER 5: And then they whip the egg whites to get a nice spongy, light texture, almost like an angel food cake. Mix this together.
SPEAKER 6: So now, this goes into the oven at 325 degrees for about seven to 10 minutes. The next step, I'm going to make the chocolate Bavarian. Essentially, a richer rendition of chocolate mousse.
SPEAKER 5: They scald some milk with some vanilla. They add some sugar, some egg yolks. And then--
SPEAKER 6: I'm going to transfer that over gelatin and a dark chocolate.
SPEAKER 5: 70% Valrhona chocolate. And that's the key. It really gives that deep, dark chocolate flavor.
SPEAKER 6: We're going to add in a little stiff peak whipped cream. And that's going to give a great richness, great texture.
SPEAKER 5: It is perfect. And then, you have some cherries that are cooked in sugar and cognac. Hello.
SPEAKER 6: So now, it's time to assemble this Buche de Noel. I'm going to brush it generously with a little bit of cognac syrup that's been infused with some vanilla bean. Top that with some dark chocolate ganache, dark chocolate Bavarian, a little bit of our flambe cherries.
SPEAKER 5: Then, they roll it up like a log, decorate the outside, and you have a Buche de Noel. When you bite into this cake, you get that chocolate Bavarian cream, rich sponge with the ganache, and the chocolate glaze and the beautiful flavor of the syrup, the cognac, the cherries. [POP] They pop in your mouth, because the cherry is kind of tart. Coupled with that cognac that we cook them in. Ha, ha.
When you take this to someone's house for a gift, you're going to get invited next year. I'd love to stick around, but I have to go to work.
BRAD: What I love about food during the holidays, it's the amount of food you get to eat because it's a no holds barred. The best gift you can give yourself during the holidays is the prime rib at Harry's Savoy Grill. Unbelievable. They got the chef's cut, which is 10 ounces, the grill cut, which is 12 ounces, and then they have the Savoy cut, which is 18 ounces. You're going to want to go with the Savoy cut.
I mean, it's the holidays. This place always has that look of a place you want to go to for a special occasion, but they go so above and beyond for the holidays. And there's a carving station. When I see a carving station, a dedicated altar to beef, I'm ordering the prime rib.
SPEAKER 7: The first step to making our prime rib is we're going to paint it.
BRAD: They have this browning vegetable seasoning mix, and it just goes all over the outside of the beef. A little bit of rosemary, fresh garlic, and sea salt. So they cook this monstrous piece at 275 for about two to three hours.
SPEAKER 7: Because we're cooking at that low temperature, it's going to be perfectly mid rare from top to bottom.
BRAD: While that's cooking, they make the au jus. They take the bones from the previous day's prime rib, and they roast them and they make stock out of it.
SPEAKER 7: After simmering the stock for several hours, we're going to fortify it with a little bit of beef base.
BRAD: And they season it with Worcester--
SPEAKER 8: Worcestershire.
BRAD: I can never say it.
SPEAKER 7: Worcestershire.
BRAD: Worcestershi-- Worcestershi-- Chef.
SPEAKER 7: Worcestershire sauce.
BRAD: Thank you, chef.
SPEAKER 7: [LAUGHS]
BRAD: Bring the prime rib to that carving station. Carve off your piece.
SPEAKER 7: And Brad, for you, we're giving you the Savoy cut.
BRAD: My mouth is watering watching this right now.
SPEAKER 7: Serve it with some au jus and some creamy horseradish on the side.
BRAD: Bring it to your table. Rev your engines, you're about to eat. The beef flavor, it hits you. And it just goes right to here, then it goes right to here. And it just sings to you.
While you're eating it, you're anticipating your next bite. And that's the best part about it. And it just becomes this momentous memory that you're going to have. That prime rib with a glass of red wine is what being alive is all about. Happy holidays. Boom.
SPEAKER 9: Around my house around the holidays, it's like a free-for-all, because I have so many different family members. I have in-laws that are Jamaican. I've got my mother who's Jewish. I've got my dad who's a hundred percent Sicilian. So it's like-- we're having jerk chicken with matzah ball soup and an antipasti.
It's like-- [LAUGHS] When I think about my favorite holiday dish, I think about the matzah ball caldo from June's in Austin. The brilliant part about this dish is that it's a Mexican take on a Jewish classic. How many times have you heard that? It's my favorite thing on the planet. It doesn't have to be a Jewish holiday to make matzah ball soup, but it's traditional around Hanukkah.
And the best part about matzah ball soup and Hanukkah, it's like the starter. And I found myself the best matzah ball soup I've ever had. This is matzah ball soup, and then I see large pieces of corn and cilantro, I'm like, but it's caldo. And it just everything that you could possibly need in life. To make this dish, they start by making the matzah balls.
SPEAKER 10: Eggs, schmaltz.
SPEAKER 9: Schmaltz is rendered chicken fat.
SPEAKER 10: And matzah. After we mix the matzah, we rest it in the fridge for about 40 minutes.
SPEAKER 9: [INAUDIBLE] It's the holidays. They have so much to do. The matzah balls are formed. Next, homemade chicken stock. Chicken bones, mostly necks and back, carrots, celery, and onion.
SPEAKER 10: Coriander, cumin, black pepper, and jalapenos, garlic, cilantro stems.
SPEAKER 9: And that's simmered for over two hours. And now, we make the caldo. Chicken.
SPEAKER 10: Cabbage.
SPEAKER 9: A little bit of zucchini and the matzah balls. The corn, cilantro, and avocado. For the record, you need two hands, a fork, and a spoon. The broth is so beautifully strong, but delicate at the same time. You know that there's a good amount of fat in it.
It's salty. There's this intense flavor of chicken. Then it's this beautiful earthy element of surprise of cilantro. Then there's this heat, jalapeno heat, which isn't scary. You cool off with a little avocado, and you start all over again.
It's amazing. And there you go. Happy Hanukkah. You don't have to cook. June's in Austin. You're welcome.
SPEAKER 11: Nothing brings people together better than food. The holidays also brings people together. And when you pair those, that's the happiest time of year.
So when I think of the best holiday dish that I've ever eaten, the oatmeal and toffee cookie from the Sycamore Kitchen, Los Angeles, California. What I want from a cookie is something crunchy, but I also want chewy softness. I've got conflicting desires from a cookie. The Sycamore Kitchen, however, absolutely smashes it.
SPEAKER 12: I'm going to start with the oats. All purpose flour, baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt.
SPEAKER 11: Lots of butter.
SPEAKER 12: Temperature of the butter is the most important part of cookie making. If I can touch it right now, it's totally pliable, but it holds its shape.
SPEAKER 11: I love butter. This is great. White sugar and brown sugar, eggs, and the vanilla.
SPEAKER 12: Ugh, I can smell the vanilla. I'm going to wrap this up and refrigerate it.
SPEAKER 11: They take the mixture. They roll it into lots of little balls. When it hits the oven, that butter melts and it causes the cookie to kind of droop out so that the edge of the cookie becomes this crackling caramel. But in the middle, it's just pure chew. Then they take them out of the oven and get a toffee and push it slightly down into the center of each cookie. Then back in the oven.
SPEAKER 12: For about two minutes until the toffee just barely melts.
SPEAKER 11: That is a chewy center. It's creamy. It's luxurious. It's comforting. It's like a little present to yourself.
It's your holiday gift. Mmm. I really like this job.
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SPEAKER 13: When we talk about holidays, I know people focus on the turkeys. They focus on the hams. But in my house, there's nothing like a great pot roast, cooked low and slow. An amazing thing about this pot roast at FEED Co. in Chattanooga, Tennessee, it has everything you wanted. You get your whiskey-glazed carrots, buttermilk whipped potatoes, and then to top it off, fried onions.
It's Christmas in your mouth. [LAUGHS] Being a Southern boy, when it's the holidays, there's nothing better than a pot roast. But what they're doing at FEED Co. with this pot roast, it's on a whole new level.
SPEAKER 14: So the first step in the short rib pot roast is going to be to trim the short ribs.
SPEAKER 13: They season it rigorously with sea salt, black pepper. And then they're searing them bad boys in a skillet to get a nice caramelization over the beef.
SPEAKER 14: Next, we're going to sear the mirepoix in the leftover fat from the short ribs that we just cooked in. I'm going to add some fresh thyme and some fresh rosemary.
SPEAKER 13: And then, they're adding a whole bottle of Cabernet wine. That's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER 14: Cooking with the red wine is going to add a little more aromatics and also a little bit of acid as well. Now, I'm going to go ahead and add that to the short ribs. Cover these with water. We're going to get them into the oven at 350 degrees for about 3 and 1/2 hours.
SPEAKER 13: Now, it's time to start the assembly by putting buttermilk whipped potatoes down. They're going to heat up the borderlays and the skillet, and they're going to fold that short rib into it. Then, they're going to add those amazing crispy onions, and then topped off with whiskey carrot sticks. I don't know no great grandmama that was making whiskey carrot sticks to go with a pot roast. When you put all of that on one fork and put it in your mouth, it just marries together perfectly.
You have this amazing beef that's falling apart. It's almost like it just melts on your tongue. And you get this nice notes of wine that you can tell that it's been cooked in buttermilk mashed potato. Just a nice amount of tanginess, a nice amount of creaminess.
Then you got the sweetness from those whiskey carrots, crispy, crunchy onions. Oh, man. It's the season to be holiday.
SPEAKER 15: Our family is super traditional Mexican. On the 24th, which is Christmas Eve, we wake up early in the morning and we pretty much set up an assembly line to make all the tamales. Luckily for me, I don't always have to wait until Christmas Eve to eat some delicious tamales, or have to work six hours for them. [LAUGHS]
The best holiday dish I've ever had has to be the beef and chicharron tamales from Tamales Ancira in San Diego, California. I've never had a better tamales that I've ever purchased anywhere. Tamales are something that looks super simple, but really, they require hours and hours of labor. And the masa is the most important component of any tamale. If you don't have a good base, it doesn't matter what you put inside of it.
SPEAKER 16: We start with cooking the corn with a little bit of lime and water.
SPEAKER 15: For roughly about 24 hours. That allows the husk of that corn kernel to come off. And that corn gets ground down into a dough. And then that gets mixed with--
SPEAKER 16: Salt, baking powder.
SPEAKER 15: And pork lard, which is the most delicious because let's face it, fat is flavor. The fortunate thing about a tamale is that you can put anything you want in it.
SPEAKER 16: So for the chicharron tamale, we use pork cracklings--
SPEAKER 15: Pork skin that is boiled and then fried.
SPEAKER 16: --and tomatillo salsa.
SPEAKER 15: Which is bright and acidic.
SPEAKER 16: Really, really good. For the beef tamale, we use beef and red salsa that we make here in-house. We use California chili pods, garlic, salt, and spices.
SPEAKER 15: These fillings then get placed on top of the masa and then hand-rolled.
SPEAKER 16: And these are ready to go to the simmer for two hours.
SPEAKER 15: And lucky for me, I have them right here. All right. This is how a true Mexican does it. You just unwrap it a little bit, and then you-- oh, my gosh. That beef tamale is so perfect.
It tastes of braised goodness and deliciousness. That, paired with this perfectly soft, fluffy masa. And of course, there is that chicharron. Oh, my god. Imagine crispy, crackling that's stewed, but then you've got that brightness coming through from those tomatillos.
It's phenomenal. It's like Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you. Tamales for everyone. [LAUGHS]
SPEAKER 17: Because I basically grew up there and my family ate their holidays in New York City, Nom Wah Tea Parlor is my favorite place to eat. The extraordinary dim sum. It's one of the most special restaurants that I know of. And the OG egg rolls, heaven. So the big crazy joke is that the Chinese restaurants are packed on Christmas and Easter with Jews.
And in New York City, for me growing up as a Jew in the early 1960s, that's not a cliche or a joke. And that was true. So a holiday meal for me at Nom Wah always included small little cakes and buns, little dumplings. And of course, their OG egg roll, which is wrapped in a real egg crepe as opposed to a wanton-style skin. If you love egg rolls, this is a place that you have to check out because it's completely unique. I've never seen another restaurant do it the exact same way.
SPEAKER 18: So to make our egg crepes, we put our eggs into a little slurry, which is made of flour, tapioca starch, and a little bit of salt.
SPEAKER 17: And then they actually swirl dozens and dozens of these egg crepes. Get them nice and thin. Flip them out.
SPEAKER 18: So we're going to fill this egg crepe with our delicious egg roll filling.
SPEAKER 17: Carrot, bean sprout.
SPEAKER 18: Two types of mushrooms, celery, and shredded chicken.
SPEAKER 17: Lots of earthy vegetable flavors that all complement each other very well. And then, it's rolled in this oversized egg crepe.
SPEAKER 18: So right now, I'm just going to put them in the batter. This one is flour, a little bit of water, and actually, interestingly, a little bit of pancake mix.
SPEAKER 17: And then they deep fry that whole mixture. So there's a paper-thin, buttery crust on the outside of this already browned egg crepe. At Nom Wah, my dirty little secret is they bring me a stack of teacups. One for my tea, and the other one so I can make all my different little sauces. Because there are some things I like with just soy sauce.
Some things I like with the hot chili paste soy and vinegar. Some things I like with sweet and sour sauce and mustard, like the egg roll. You dunk this and you bite into it. You got the crunchy outside. You get that soft omelet on the inside.
And then all of those vegetables. Sour, salty, bittersweet. Everything is going on in there. And this sweet and sour sauce with the hot mustard, oh, yes. It truly is a symphonically flavored dish.
And you layer on top of that my own family history there, generations of Zimmerns eating their Christmas Day, and you have a restaurant and eating experience that is special to me on levels that I can't think of another restaurant that can compete with it.
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