Selena + Chef (2020) s01e08 Episode Script

1
- Hey, guys. It's Selena.
People who know me know that I love to cook.
Selena and Tanya, take one.
Except I have no idea what to do or how to do it.
So I've asked some of the best chefs
to school me.
[doorbell rings]
They're at home, I'm at home
Hey. Winnie, come here.
And we're gonna make a meal together
Hello, hello? Apart.
Is it good?
- All righty. Here we go.
[monitor beeps] Hello?
I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
Oh, trying, I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
My feelings on fire ♪
Hi, Tanya.
- Hi, Selena. How are you?
- So good. How are you?
- Great to see you.
- Today, I am joined by award-winning chef,
author, restaurant owner Tanya Holland,
who's going to teach me
a couple of classic American recipes.
I'm super excited.
What are you gonna teach us to make?
- So today, we're gonna make
one of my restaurant's signature dishes,
buttermilk fried chicken.
We're also gonna make bacon, cheddar, scallion biscuits,
also made with buttermilk.
I hear you got a little Southern heritage there--
- Texas girl. - So this is great.
That's awesome.
- All right, so tell me what I need to prep.
- Okay, pull the chicken out of the fridge.
[laughs] - Okay.
- My mom used to fry chicken
about three times a week when I was growing up,
and in general, fried chicken is never going out of style.
- I love fried chicken, so I'm so excited.
- Awesome.
First, you wanna make sure
the chicken is cut into pieces,
and then season in layers.
- Yes, ma'am.
- So transfer your pieces
into a baking dish like this that you could marinate it in.
- Okay. Wait, I can throw it all in?
- Yeah. - Okay.
Tanya, where do you live?
- I live in Oakland.
The restaurant is becoming known
as an Oakland institution, which is kinda fun.
The mayor designated June 5th as Tanya Holland Day.
- Congratulations.
- Kinda crazy. [laughs]
- Aww. You're making me miss the Bay.
- Yeah.
Now, the chicken breasts are really big.
I would suggest cutting it in half.
- [gags]
- Can you see how I have, like, both hands on it?
- Yeah.
- And we're just gonna cut that breast
kind of in half.
- Okay. I don't know.
- Turn your breast the other direction.
- Like this? - Do a full circle.
Keep going. Turn your breast.
One more time. One more time.
[laughs] Right there.
Right--no, back there.
Back to the other way.
- This way? - Yes. Right there.
Stop, stop, stop. - [laughs]
- See that little bone?
Put your knife-- - Kay.
- But your knife is gonna be--
uh-uh, stop.
Stop. - Sorry.
- It's gonna be perpendicular to the bones.
Like--yes.
So just try to cut through that little wedge
between the two bones.
Mm, Selena?
- I'm sorry. - Look up.
[laughs] - I know!
- So-- - But I'm so confused.
Look, there's ribs in this.
There's a whole situation.
- I know, but you can cut in between 'em.
- Nana. - [laughs]
She probably knows.
- Nana, do you know how to do this?
- [laughs] - Let me see what you're doing.
- This is my Nana, by the way.
- Hi, Nana. - Hello. Hi.
Nice to meet you. - This is Tanya.
Explain it to her.
- Trying to tell her
how to cut the breast in half.
Put both of your hands on the blade
to really kinda slam it do-- yeah, there you go.
- Okay.
- Put your hand on top of the knife
and just, like, bear down.
- [laughs] - Oh, my gosh.
- You got it. You got it, I think. No?
- Who would've thought that this would be the hardest part?
- Let's just fry the breasts whole.
- She's like, "Everybody just stop."
- I didn't know it was gonna be so difficult.
- It is.
- Did y'all get it? - Okay.
Okay, okay, okay.
- Oh, wow.
Okay.
Well, that's a different piece.
[both laugh]
- I'm just gonna give up. - Okay.
Yeah, save that for later.
- Well, can you make me a promise
to show me how to do this when we can meet in person?
- Yeah, when you can come to my restaurant.
Okay. Do you have fresh parsley?
Italian parsley? - Yep.
- Pull that out, and then we'll get the dry spices
for the marinade.
- Do you like to listen to music when you cook?
- I love to. Are you kidding me?
- Yeah, it's my favorite.
- Yeah, I like to dance,
so they call me Disco Tanya.
- No way!
Ooh, yeah, a little disco. - Yeah.
So let's pull the leaves off.
Probably about a cup worth.
- I just wanna listen to, like, classic Frank Sinatra,
Louis Armstrong--
- Oh, really? Wow. - Jackson 5.
You know, Cher. - Oh, yeah. Now we're talking.
- It makes me feel like I'm cooking
in a different time period.
- [laughs] That's awesome.
That looks like enough, I think.
So we're gonna just do a nice rough chop of that.
Yeah, you got it.
- It only took her three weeks to learn this.
- Hey. [laughter]
- Wow. You got a live audience there.
That's a lot of pressure.
- He is not afraid to say what he feels.
- Gotta keep her honest.
- Yep, that's right. That looks good.
All right, now you gotta go collect your dry spices.
You have a apron on?
- Uh, no, I don't. [scoffs]
- You need a apron. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- There you go. - Okeydokey.
Oh, sorry. I forgot the spices.
- We need salt and pepper for sure.
- I have black pepper, garlic powder
- Yep. - "Thyme"
- We need all that. - Oh, great.
I love using spices more than anything.
I mean, that's what gives everything flavor.
- It makes all the difference.
In your bowl, we're gonna start
with one tablespoon of dried tarragon.
- Kay. One teaspoon?
- Tablespoon. - Tablespoon, sorry.
- A tablespoon of onion powder,
tablespoon of the paprika, sweet paprika
- Kay.
- Two tablespoons of kosher salt,
and then two teaspoons of garlic powder.
- Kay.
- One tablespoon of black pepper,
a teaspoon of oregano, and a teaspoon of thyme.
- Okay.
- One teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
- Wow, this is a lot.
- Is that your teaspoon?
- Oh, teaspoon is here.
Sorry. Oh, dang it.
- That's not one you wanna overdo.
[both laugh] - Thanks for catching me then.
- So now, sprinkle it over the parts
and kind of rub it in.
You wanna make sure every inch has some seasoning.
- Oh, I love seasoning.
- I have a little extra 'cause I'm gonna do a drop-off
to a friend later.
- Aww. - Yeah.
We know that friend, right? Always available?
[laughs] - Oh, totally.
I have never gotten
more texts about cooking
or making people dinner in my life.
- I just love feeding people. - Me too.
- He's your sous-chef.
- Yep. Backseat driver, more like.
- [laughs] - This smells so good.
Should I do another layer? - You ask Papa.
I mean, he's got the final say.
- What you think? - Put a little bit more.
- Little bit more. Little bit more. Okay.
both: Little bit more. - Rub it in.
- That's right, rub it in. - Papa.
- And then we're gonna add the parsley leaves.
Since they're soft,
they'll kinda stick to the chicken
a little bit easier, so just add those.
Now it's time to put the buttermilk on top.
You have that in your fridge? - Ah!
Oh, my gosh! - [laughs]
- Love buttermilk.
- So just pour it on top.
- How much? - About a cup.
Acid in the buttermilk will break down
the protein a little bit
and it makes the chicken really tender.
And throw it in the fridge.
- Okay.
- Gonna turn this oven on. 425.
We're gonna make bacon, cheddar, scallion biscuits,
so we have to render the bacon and chop it.
- Yum. - Pull your bacon out first.
- Can't go wrong adding bacon.
- I couldn't agree with you more.
- Yum.
- You can make this recipe without bacon, but
- I'm gonna need the bacon. - Yeah.
Okay, let's pop this in the oven.
- Okay.
- Okay. So now, grab your scallions.
Two of them.
Cut the root end off first.
Just a little piece. Yep.
And then we're gonna do--yep,
just the way you're holding it
and then chop it.
Those look great.
Now I gotta catch up with you. Hold on.
- Hurry up. - [laughs]
- Is this one of your favorite recipes to make?
- Well, I thought it would go great with the chicken
and it's just something
really good to have in your repertoire.
- Yes. Can't wait for the biscuits.
- I don't know anyone who doesn't like hot biscuits,
so you're gonna make even more friends.
- That's right. - [laughs]
Okay, so we got that, so now let's get our cheese
and our cheese grater.
Do you have a grater?
- If I was a grater
- [laughs] - Where would I be?
- We had it out 'cause we washed it.
- Huh.
- [laughs] - I remember seeing it.
Technical difficulties.
- [laughs] - Right here.
Last drawer.
- Thank you. - Mm-hmm.
- In the future, if you want,
you can also buy grated cheese.
[both laugh]
So probably about, like, a quarter of that block
will be plenty.
[upbeat music]
Let's see, how much do you have
in the center there?
I think you got enough. - Yeah?
- Yeah, that's enough.
Cheddar, scallions, and bacon
will go in one big bowl together to mix.
Now we're gonna make the ball of dough.
All right, you ready?
- Yes, ma'am. - Okay.
You'll need a big bowl
to mix the biscuits in together.
- Perfect, thanks.
- 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
in the big bowl.
One tablespoon of baking powder.
There you go.
Two teaspoons of baking soda.
How's your bacon?
- I think it looks good. Maybe I should take it out.
- Yeah, take it out and leave it to the side
and let it cool down a little bit.
Yeah, that looks perfect. - Yeah?
- Yep. Okay.
1 1/2 sticks of butter.
- There's nothing like butter.
- [laughs] That's true.
Once you have your stick and a half,
then we're gonna dice that stick real quick.
- Wait, okay. So how do I do it?
- Okay, cut it lengthwise there in half,
but keep the halves together,
and then flip it over to the uncut side.
Now cut that in half lengthwise.
Lengthwise. Other direction.
Other direction. - Oh.
- It's okay.
And then now,
it's like you've got four little cubes, right?
And now you can slice it, and then slice--
and then slice those next pieces in half.
Okay.
- Watch your fingers. - Sorry.
- Yeah, careful there when you pull it.
- I'm trying, Papa. - I know.
Just be careful is all I'm saying.
- Perfect. Those little cubes.
That's what you're looking for.
It's like a butter Jenga.
[both laugh]
So now you can add it
to the bowl of flour and dry ingredients.
- Kay.
- Do you happen to have a pastry cutter?
- Yes. - Okay, great.
Use it to cut the butter into the flour mixture.
So just press the butter down in there
until it's coated with flour
and the cubes get a little bit smaller.
- Does that look okay?
- Yeah, that looks great. I think that's perfect.
Okay, put that aside and we'll chop some bacon.
- Oh!
- Bring about three slices of bacon
to your cutting board.
- There you go, Papa.
I know you're gonna want one.
- So almost just like the scallions,
line it up.
Dice it just like you were doing the scallions
or the green onions.
Perfect. Perfect.
- Oh, my gosh, that smells so good.
- I know. - My mouth is watering.
- That's good. - Papa approves?
[laughs] - That's good.
- He approves on this bacon over here.
- What got you wanting to learn how to cook?
- Everybody's always asked me,
"If you weren't an entertainer, what would you be?"
And I've always said a professional chef.
- Really?
You can still do it. - Yeah.
All else fails - [laughs]
Okay, so add this to the cheddar and scallions.
Mix it all together. Set that aside.
Put the butter and flour mixture in front of you.
Do you have your buttermilk already?
both: Yeah. - A cup and a half.
- Into the flour?
- Right into the flour and butter mix.
You're just gonna put half of that in that mixture.
- Kay.
- So before you pour the rest of it in,
take the first batch
and kind of mix it around with your hands.
You're gonna get a little dirty here.
This is a hands-on dish. [laughs]
- Oh, my gosh, it's so cold.
- [laughs] Yeah.
Kinda coming together, and then you can add the rest of it.
- Oh, Nana, you're gonna have to do it.
Look at this. - [laughs]
So I should have told you,
one hand pours, one hand stirs.
- Here, will you just put that in?
- You're eventually gonna get both hands messy anyway.
Make sure you get it so it's consistent.
All your liquid is incorporated
into the butter and the flour.
Now, I think you're gonna need
your Nana's help one more time.
[laughs] - Yeah.
- So just, like, sprinkle some flour
on your work surface in front of you.
Take your dough, squeeze it together
to make it, like, a smaller ball.
There you go.
Like, really squeeze it together.
- This feels so good. - It's fun, right?
It's kinda like Play-Doh.
Okay. Cut the dough in thirds.
Okay. Yep, pull it away.
So let's just take 1/3 of that
and kind of mold it in your hand
just like if you had Play-Doh.
Okay, put it to the side
and do the same thing with the next one.
Just wanna make sure
they're all kinda coming together.
- [laughs] Not so far.
- Well, you'll get there.
- What?
- What are y'all whispering about?
- [sighs]
- [laughs]
Why is Papa sighing like that? [both laugh]
- Because it's Papa.
[air horn blares] [yelps]
Oh, my gosh!
Stop! - What happened?
[both laugh]
- Papa! Get out.
Oh, my God, look. He's got a--
[both laugh]
- Okay, ever since I was a kid,
my Nana and Papa would prank me and my friends all the time.
It was so fun. - [laughs]
Nice. Okay.
Do you have your rolling pin handy?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Okay, so the first ball,
roll it out until it's about 1/4 inch thick.
There you go.
Take 1/3 of your bacon, cheddar, scallion mix
and put it on top of that dough.
- Oh, my gosh.
- So now put your next ball of dough on top of that,
and then you're gonna roll it out.
- I can't wait to taste these. - This is so cool.
- Do the next 1/3
of bacon, cheddar, scallion mix on top,
and then you put your next ball of dough on top.
Roll it out a tiny bit.
Now add the rest of the bacon, cheddar, scallion mix,
and now we get to roll the whole thing.
- This is so cool.
- You want it to be about the height
just a little under your cookie cutter.
So that's about an inch high.
- Okeydokey. - Good.
So take your cutter and start cutting out your biscuits.
Give it a little turn,
and then pull it out.
There you go.
- I have to take a picture of this.
It's so good. - For the Gram?
- For the Gram and for the HBO Gram.
- Nice.
How many you got there?
- 12. - Perfect.
All right, let's go in the freezer with these.
- Okay.
- All right, you ready for fried chicken?
- More than ready for fried chicken.
- All right, let's get our oil heating up.
- Okay. - Get your oil in there.
Like, two thumbnails below the top.
Let's try that.
- Do I need to turn the temperature on
or just leave it?
- Yeah, turn it on medium-high.
[air horn blares] - Oh, my gosh!
- Papa, not when she's-- - [laughs]
- What happened? - Now I just have stuff on me.
- [laughs] - You did it wrong.
- Do you have your flour nearby?
Flour, salt, and pepper. - Kay.
- This is gonna be for dredging our chicken.
Put about 2 or 3 cups of flour in there.
And then a couple big pinches of kosher salt,
approximately a tablespoon,
but even though the chicken's seasoned,
this is the first layer that hits your mouth,
so you want this seasoned as well.
And then maybe, like, a teaspoon of black pepper.
Okay. Get your chicken.
Just take a piece and lightly dredge it
with the flour.
After a piece is dredged, just kinda put it to the side.
- That's a big chicken breast. - Mm-hmm.
- Oh, yeah, that thing is huge.
- Oh, I'm so excited.
- Do you have the oven thermometer?
- I only have this. - Okay.
Put it in the oil and see what temperature it's at.
We're looking for 350 eventually.
- Yep, it's at 350.
- So do you have your baking pan with a rack?
Yeah. Okay.
Take your tongs, take a piece of chicken,
and drop it in the oil.
[oil sizzling]
Is it bubbling? Yeah, that looks great.
Okay, let's do, like, four or five pieces.
You don't wanna crowd the oil,
but you want more than one piece in.
- That smells so good. - [laughs]
All right, let's flip the chicken.
- Kay.
- So it should be lightly brown on one side.
That's looking great. Lovely.
Let's pull this chicken out.
- Are you sure it's done?
- No, it's not gonna finish here.
We're gonna finish it in the oven.
- Oh. Oh, wait.
- What--what'd you say?
- Oh.
- I'm glad Papa's there
to be a sous-chef.
- See? - Please don't say that.
- [laughs]
- She needs all the help she can get.
Been doing this for 28 years, nearly.
- You been frying chicken? - No, helping her.
- Oh, helping her for 28 years. [laughs]
Hey, I was on your Wiki page
and I see that we are both July moon heads.
- Yes.
I'm very sensitive
and I love taking care of people and
- Yep. - I'm a Cancer.
- Cancers are natural in the kitchen,
just so you know.
- Huh. That's so funny.
- Let's stick this in the oven. - Okay.
- It's gonna be in there about 15 to 20 minutes.
The chicken and biscuits can totally go in the same oven.
Get a small bowl
with a little of heavy cream and a pastry brush.
Put 1/2 a cup of cream in it.
Yeah. - Okay.
- You can even eye it.
Can you eye it at this time, do you think?
- Okay, I'll try.
- This isn't exact, so
- Okay, and now let's get the biscuits
out of the freezer.
Take your brush and brush the tops
with the heavy cream.
- Wait, that's buttermilk.
- Uh, you got buttermilk?
- Yeah, she got buttermilk. [laughs]
- Thank you. - I told you.
- I'm glad you have some assistants there.
- So it's not buttermilk, it's heavy--
- Heavy cream, yeah.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Okay, so now brush the tops with the cream.
It's a cream wash.
It's gonna give it that nice little shiny finish
because of all the fat in the cream.
- This is fun. It's like painting.
- Yeah, I think biscuits could be
one of the more gratifying dishes to make.
- How's that? - That's perfect.
Okay, let's go into the oven.
You smelling your chicken?
- Oh, yeah.
Unreal, Tanya.
I don't even know what to say.
[air horn blares]
That's it. Give it to me.
That's enough. Give it to me.
- You're scaring me.
- You can't reach as tall as I--
- Papa is having a lot of fun. - He's short.
- [laughs] Awesome.
- Okay, so Tanya - Yes?
- Every episode, we get the chance
to do a $10,000 donation
to any charity of your choosing.
- That is so amazing. Thank you for your generosity.
- Please tell us a little bit about the charity you support.
- No Kid Hungry works on campaigns to feed children.
They do school breakfasts in grade schools.
- That's awesome.
- To see how happy they are
to get an apple, a pint of milk,
it's so amazing.
There should be no reason why a child goes hungry.
- It affects everything. - I agree.
Thank you for your donation. Every bit helps.
It really does.
- I'm honored to be a part of it,
and hopefully now, everybody else will get
an opportunity to check it out.
- All right, let's check
the internal temperature of the chicken.
[chicken sizzling] I can hear mine sizzling.
- I hear mine too.
- My chicken is ready. Let's see what yours is.
- What's the temperature supposed to be?
- That one's supposed to be 165.
- I think I did it. - Perfect.
Let's check our biscuits.
Oh, yeah.
- Mmm-mmm. Ooh!
Smells so good.
Okay, so I'm gonna put them over here, right?
- Yep.
- Can I just use my hands? - Yeah.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
There you go. [shutter clicks]
- Can we eat now? - You can eat now.
[laughs] - Okay.
- Enjoy.
I can't wait to hear what you guys think.
- Well, I'll tell you. - How did we do?
- This is so good.
- Thank you. - Mmm.
- You like the biscuits?
- Oh, they're great.
- You should be getting a little cheddar
and scallion and bacon in every bite
when you do it like that.
- Every bite has got
- Yeah, it's something different.
- Melted butter.
- This is one of the best dishes that we've had.
- It's one of the best.
- Thank you. Wow.
- Kinda reminds me of home,
and, you know, Nana does biscuits and gravy,
we'll do, like, bacon bits on that.
Like, this is like home.
- Oh, I'm so glad.
Thanks. [laughs]
- To thank Tanya for her help today,
we're donating $10,000 to No Kid Hungry
to help support their mission to end childhood hunger
in the United States.
Please go to nokidhungry.org for more info.
- Again, thank you for your generosity.
I hope to see you again. - Of course.
Take care. Bye.
[air horn blares] [yelps]
We're done. [both laugh]