
Sara's Weeknight Meals
5 Ingredient Cookout
Season 5 Episode 520 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Sara's grilling up recipes and even brings barbeque experts along.
Five ingredients all cooked outside -- What's not to love about Sara’s scallop, basil and prosciutto kebabs? Since we’re barbecuing, we decided to go to the master, Hill Country Barbecue’s Elizabeth Karmel for her definitive Texas barbeque brisket. Sara cools it off with watermelon lemonade. We’ll also visit with YouTube stars, the Barbeque Pit Boys.
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Sara's Weeknight Meals is presented by your local public television station.
Distributed nationally by American Public Television
Sara's Weeknight Meals
5 Ingredient Cookout
Season 5 Episode 520 | 26m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Five ingredients all cooked outside -- What's not to love about Sara’s scallop, basil and prosciutto kebabs? Since we’re barbecuing, we decided to go to the master, Hill Country Barbecue’s Elizabeth Karmel for her definitive Texas barbeque brisket. Sara cools it off with watermelon lemonade. We’ll also visit with YouTube stars, the Barbeque Pit Boys.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(bluesy rock) - Well the verdict is in.
Judging from your response on our website, you love five ingredient recipes.
Well I got a few more for you today, but this time, 'cause it's nice and sunny outside, I'm taking them to the grill.
- [Voiceover] To get things rolling, my friend Elizabeth Karmel will join us.
She owns Hill Country Barbecue in New York, and is a champion griller, to boot.
She's making Texas barbecue brisket with me.
I honestly can't believe it only has five ingredients.
It's that good.
My contribution to this meal is a watermelon lemonade, a new summertime classic.
You'll also love the simplicity of my scallop, basil, and prosciutto kabobs.
I like to serve them with a chilly white wine sangria.
- So let's get the party started with two five ingredient recipes on the grill.
I'm Sara Moulton, welcome to Sara's Weeknight Meals.
(upbeat music) Funding provided by, - [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester, with symmetrical all-wheel drive, and plenty of cargo room.
A recipe made for whatever the day brings.
Subaru, a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.
- [Voiceover] Family owned and Indiana grown, Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals, providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens.
Maple Leaf Farms' duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.
Maple Leaf Farms.
- [Sara] And thanks to the generous support of... (swing music) Barbecue doesn't get much better than the kind of barbecue you find in Hill Country in Central Texas, and my buddy here, is an expert on that kind of barbecue, and not only that, you've taken it to Memphis and competed - [Elizabeth] I have, I have.
- [Sara] So we're doing brisket which is famous at your Hill Country Restaurant.
- Yes, yes.
And there're two things that you absolutely have to do to make authentic barbecue.
One, is cook it low and slow.
- OK, that much I knew.
- I just checked, and we've got indirect heat, and we're gonna cook it on the lowest temperature possible on this grill, and a kiss of smoke.
- And that's what we were just doing... - We were just filling that smoker box up with wet wood chips.
- [Sara] OK. - We're using post oak, 'cause that's what we use in the restaurant.
- [Sara] OK. - And this is a nifty little smoker box.
But if you don't have a smoker box, you don't need one.
Let me show you what you can do.
And I have done this more times than I've used a smoker box.
- [Sara] Really?
- You just take an aluminum pan, you put wet chips in there, and then you put it right underneath the cooking grate.
- OK. - When you're preheating the grill.
- Gotcha, so you lift it up and put it under there.
How long do you soak the chips?
- About 30 minutes.
- [Sara] OK, all right.
- 'Cause if you don't soak them they'll ignite.
- Oh!
- [Elizabeth] And we just want the taste of the wood smoke, we don't want the flames.
- No we don't.
- [Elizabeth] Right.
- So this is a beast, what have we got here?
- I know, I love it, I love it.
- [Sara] How many pounds is that?
- This is about 12 pounds, so I'm gonna need you to help me.
We have a whole brisket here.
We've got the moist part, which is the top part, otherwise called the point, on the barbecue circuit, and then we've got the bottom part which is called the flat.
A lotta times at the grocery store, they just sell the flat because they think Americans only want lean.
- [Sara] Yeah.
- But this is the secret to great brisket.
- Fat.
- [Elizabeth] The fat.
And you're not gonna eat the fat, right?
It's just gonna moisturize that meat while it cooks low and slow, and it's gonna leave all that delicious flavor in, but the fat itself'll render out.
And the meat will be very, very lean.
OK, this is the simplest rub in the world, 'cause this is all about the meat, with just a little bit of smoke.
- No sauce?
- [Elizabeth] No sauce.
Texas is a no-sauce zone.
- Whoops!
- [Elizabeth] We've got kosher salt.
- [Sara] That's a half cup.
- We've got butcher grind black pepper.
- [Sara] Which is more coarse.
- [Elizabeth] Which is more coarse.
- And that was three tablespoons?
- That was three tablespoons.
And now we're gonna put two teaspoons of cayenne pepper.
Now this is where the heat comes from.
I like to say it's enough cayenne to turn it pink.
So we're just gonna mix this up.
Now we're gonna rub it.
- [Sara] Mm hmm.
- [Elizabeth] But rub is actually a misnomer.
I'm gonna get you to help me here.
- OK. - [Elizabeth] Because we don't want to really rub it in.
We just want to give it a nice, consistent... - [Sara] You want me to do this with you?
- I do, I do.
- [Sara] OK. - I always say, pretend I'm raining over the food.
As in R-A-I-N-I-N-G. (laughing) I'm gonna turn it over and get my hands dirty and then you will finish seasoning.
Because I want to save that rub, any that's left.
- OK I'm practicing my raining move.
- [Elizabeth] You're raining very well.
- You need me to open some beer meanwhile.
- I do.
- [Sara] Which is always a good idea.
- [Elizabeth] Yeah, right.
(laughing) - I was just gonna say, it's important to just pat it in.
And not rub it in, because you don't want to damage the meat fibers.
- [Sara] OK, very delicate.
- Very delicate.
And before we started I wrapped the whole thing in paper towels so that it would be dry.
- So that this would adhere.
- This would adhere, and also that's what's gonna give us that great crust, and those coveted burnt ends from the barbecue, wow!
- [Sara] I always look for coveted burnings.
- [Elizabeth] It's working!
We're getting smoke.
We're gonna put the beer in here, because smoke has a tendency to pull the moisture away from the cooking environment.
- [Sara] So it sort of dries things up.
- It does sort of dry things out.
I'm gonna ask you... - [Sara] Yes.
- If you can hold this and I'll put it on the grill.
- OK. - [Elizabeth] You see, the smoke is smoking.
We're gonna put this fat cap up, and we're never, ever, going to turn it.
- [Sara] Really?
- [Elizabeth] Right.
So it's as easy as that.
Now we just have to sit and wait.
- This is just a matter of patience, is really what it is.
So while we're waiting I'm gonna go make some sparkling watermelon lemonade.
I've made some homemade seltzer over here, and we've got beautiful watermelon.
You know the dark color is so important.
I've got about four cups here, and we're just putting it in the blender.
Some fresh lemon juice, not that stuff in a bottle.
Five tablespoons of sugar.
We've got a little bit of mint.
- [Elizabeth] Doesn't that smell great?
- [Sara] Then, all right.
Pour slowly because we're gonna get lots of fizz, which is sort of the point.
- I can't wait, cheers!
- [Sara] All right, yes.
All right well let's go take a little, we've got five hours to kill!
- [Elizabeth] I know!
- So let's go have a little walk.
- [Elizabeth] Show me the garden.
(mellow acoustic guitar) - Wow.
- [Elizabeth] I know.
- I was so excited.
But it really shrinks a ton doesn't it?
- It does, and that's one of the ways you can tell that it's done, it shrinks to about two-thirds of its original size.
- All right, well I want to try some of those burnt ends.
- OK, well let's cut off a little piece here.
When you cut brisket you always wanna cut against the grain, and sometimes you don't know which way that is.
- [Sara] You just have to look at it.
- You just have to look at it.
So look at that beautiful burnt end.
That is delicious.
- [Sara] OK, well before I partake, I just have to say thank you for coming!
- Ah, my pleasure.
- [Sara] You've proven that the grill's a great way to cook up fast and flavorful weeknight meals, and Sunday barbecue.
- [Elizabeth] That's right.
- Yeah, OK. - [Elizabeth] And you can eat the leftovers all week long.
- Oh boy wow.
Mm, mm, oh my God.
- I think since the cavemen days, when men were out getting the dinosaurs, the first thing they would do is, of course, butcher the dinosaur and eat it right there wherever they got it.
So I would say men have the DNA for meat and fire.
(bluesy rock) - [Sara] Fire, meat, cook, eat.
Bob Ahlgren and his friends are experts, and their half a million fans must agree.
In a world of cat videos and skateboard stunts, at 65, Bob is an unlikely YouTube star.
- Welcome to BBQpitboys.com!
It was like who tube, right?
At the time nobody had any clue what they were.
But they give you free space to store your videos.
So I uploaded videos, of how to cook on grills we had here.
And the next thing you know we got a check in the mail for like $50 bucks.
And we go what?
For watching YouTube videos?
So I said that's cool, you know?
- [Sara] YouTube made him a partner, sold advertising around his site, gave him equipment and video lessons.
The BBQ Pit Boys, a bunch of his friends grilling in the backyard, became a phenomenon.
100 million views, and the top 1% of YouTube's videos.
- They decided to put me on the home page along with Bobby Flay.
And it turned out that nobody was watching Bobby Flay, but everybody was watching the BBQ Pit Boys.
And today, of course, the YouTube home page is worth millions of dollars of advertising.
And I just get up one morning, and I see literally thousands and thousands of emails and messages from fans saying "We love the Pit Boys."
- [Man] Jitterbug and I have matching fingers.
- Whoopsie.
it doesn't work.
- It's his wedding finger.
He refuses.
- [Sara] The Pit Boys, basically whoever shows up that day, all have nicknames.
- My Pit Boy name is Ray Hollywood.
- They call me Joey Online.
- They call me Jay Dog.
- They just call me Hick.
- Name's Jason, J-A - (belching) - (laughing) J-A-S-O-N. - [Man] Start it over.
A little lower, a little lower.
(laughing) - [Sara] They hang out, drink beer.
- Yeah we even drink redneck beer.
- [Sara] Shoot the videos.
Basically shots of hands cooking with Bob's narration and rock music pumping in the background.
Over the years they've cooked some crazy stuff.
Alligator, three pigs!
- So don't eat any sausages from that period.
(laughing) - Jitterbug chopped these yesterday, on-site, right here, we cleaned them together, and we're ready to go.
- [Sara] On today's menu, pigeons.
- [Man] Got some mourning doves here.
- [Sara] I mean mourning doves, shot by Jitterbug.
- Right in back, over there.
- [Sara] And then Bob with an all time favorite.
- Today we're gonna do a beer can bacon burger, and it's real easy to do.
This is what you got here.
We got a couple pounds of ground chuck.
We're gonna form this meatball around this beer can right here.
Then we got ourselves some regular cut bacon.
Like this.
Pull it out, then what you end up is nice little pocket.
So excuse my hands, but this is the pit.
I'm gonna get this roast beef hash in here.
And here we've got the roast beef mushroom gravy going right here, and steak.
And now we're gonna top it off with a little bit of pepper jack cheese.
And if you've been watching us over the years in the Pit Boys, and this is our ninth year, we'll be going into our 10th year.
We do a lot of this indirect grilling.
So we're gonna place this beer can bacon burger opposite the hot coals.
Probably the most popular burger in the world right now.
We got six million hits.
- [Sara] That burger begat a dynasty.
What started in a Connecticut backyard brought the world to Bob's door.
There are now over 7,500 BBQ Pit Boys chapters in 100 countries.
- [Bob] United States is number one, of course.
And then Canada, Germany, Japan.
We've got 'em in Greece, Brazil, Argentina, you name the country.
We have Pit Boys chapters all over the world.
- [Sara] In Prague they headlined a food festival with thousands of adoring fans.
- Hey, can you smell that?
- [Sara] Despite their fame, they have no great ambition beyond this one thing.
- Get your hat on, everybody get their glasses.
Jay get your glasses on.
- All right, I say it's time to eat.
I think it's brotherhood, camaraderie.
- [Man] Really good.
- [Bob] Cook the barbecue, and food and hang with our friends.
And that's what it's about.
We're not about competitions.
Come on Chase, grab a piece of roast beef.
Life is short, you know?
So you wanna enjoy every minute that you can.
And for most people it is hanging at the pit and having a good time.
- [Man] Everything turned out real good.
- [Man] Yeah!
- Good!
- That's a wrap, right there, done.
- [Sara] And at the end of the day that's all that matters, right?
- Well at the end of the day I usually wanna get some rest and sober up because these are long video sessions we do here.
You smell that?
- [All] It smells good!
Yeah, BBQ Pit Boys for life.
(vocalizing) - Today I'm making a little surf and turf haiku.
There's just scallops, prosciutto, basil, seasoned with a little lemon juice and olive oil and grilled on the grill, couldn't be simpler.
But first I'm gonna make a pink sangria.
'Cause sangria's just the perfect drink to go with scallops.
OK, so I'm gonna start with seasonal fruit.
I've got some peaches, two peaches.
And we're gonna season them first with sugar.
You know if you've ever made a shortcake with strawberries and you toss them first with sugar, you know what I'm talking about.
That the sugar pulls out all this liquid.
And so you're already sort of concentrating the flavor of the fruit and created a wonderful fruit syrup, so that's what I'm gonna do.
Now peaches stick to their pit.
So that is why I am cutting around the pit.
Sangria's a wonderful, you know, fruity, fruit-infused wine drink from Spain that's served chilled, that we love.
And there's so many variations.
You can do a white sangria with white wine and white fruits, you can do, it's usually done with red wine and that's terrific too, but I'm gonna do mine with rosé.
So on to my orange.
Cut this in half, cut it whatever size you want.
This is fun, you can do whatever you want.
Just get rid of the end.
And large slices or smaller slices.
The idea being that the fruit adds all of its flavor to the sangria, so that it's gonna taste like the orange and the peach and the cherries.
So that's one small orange.
And then we're gonna add a cup of cherries.
And I just want to show you I have this fun pitting tool which looks like an instrument of torture, frankly.
So here's how this one works.
Here you see this, whoops!
So it goes right in.
So you take your cherry, and you put the top part where the stem was right there, and let's hope I get it, doesn't always work.
And then you just put this through, OK. Or if you want you can just do it the old-fashioned way, it's the same way that you remove a pit from an olive, what I do all the time.
And you just take the side of your knife, the dull side.
So put this underneath like that, more than 20 degree angle.
And just go whack.
And then the pit will come out.
Oops, easily.
So now all of this is gonna go right in here with a third of a cup of super-fine sugar.
Let me show you what this looks like.
Super-fine sugar, also known as bar sugar, is what bartenders use.
And the reason it works well, is because, unlike granulated sugar, it dissolves in liquid without you having to heat it or stir it like crazy.
And then I'm gonna add a half a cup of triple-sec, or any orange liqueur that you like.
So this goes in.
We're gonna stir it up.
Let it sit for an hour, and all of the juices from the fruit will be pulled out by the sugar, and mix with the triple sec, and just get more intense.
So that by the time we top it off with our rosé, it will be wonderfully, deeply flavored.
OK, so that is our sangria.
I'm gonna park this back here.
So here we have some large scallops, these are jumbos.
When you're cooking scallops, if they're too small, they're gonna dry out by the time they get a little sear on them.
So we're using the large guys so that they can stay on a little longer, get that nice sear, but still be nice and tender and juicy inside.
I wanted to show you one thing, when you buy scallops, sometimes they have this little muscle right here, that attaches them to the shell, and you want to remove this, 'cause this is sorta tough.
I mean it wouldn't kill ya if you didn't remove it.
But if you have the time, do remove it.
So I'm gonna make a marinade to put my scallops in.
We're gonna start with some hefty pinch of salt.
This is an actual scallop shell.
When you get scallops in Europe they come with the shell and the roe, which is so delicious.
But we don't sell it that way here.
We need a little bit of lemon juice.
I just need about a tablespoon.
And I'm gonna whisk it with my salt so that I can dissolve the salt.
And you always want to dissolve your salt in acid, or some other liquid other than oil.
It just doesn't dissolve as well in oil.
OK, and then two tablespoons of oil.
All right, and that is our very complicated marinade.
But very refreshing and appropriate for scallops because they're so wonderful, they have such great flavor, you just don't wanna overwhelm them with strong spices and herbs.
And you just really want to coat them and make sure they're well seasoned.
I'm gonna add a little bit of pepper to them too.
OK, now it's time to assemble.
I've got some prosciutto.
And let me show you how you do it.
You take a slice, about this big.
And you want it to be about as wide as the scallop.
The scallops are gonna go in like this.
You want the prosciutto, so you have to cut it to fit a little bit.
And then we're gonna put a basil piece on there, we put the scallop.
You want your basil to fit too, you don't want anything hanging out, 'cause we're gonna lay it flat.
If all you have are wooden skewers, fine, soak them for about 20 minutes.
But the advantage of these skewers, first of all the double skewers, is that when you turn the scallops over, I'm just gonna thread these, they don't turn around.
I don't know if you've ever had that situation where you turn over the shrimp, the shrimp turns over too?
But with the double skewer like this, it doesn't happen.
So let me keep going with some more of these.
It's nice to have a little fat on there too.
You could just fold it over if you want, to get the fat on.
Now you could set these up ahead of time and park them in the fridge, not a problem.
OK, this one needs to be trimmed.
You wanna hold open the skewers so they all go on evenly, and don't put them too close together, 'cause if they're touching they won't cook all around.
They'll sort of steam in the middle, and not cook as well.
All right, now I'm going to keep rolling and get three more skewers done so it's four per person.
This serves four people.
OK.
So now I'm going to do what my good friend Elizabeth Karmel told me, which is, I'm gonna oil the scallops.
She says "Oil the item, don't oil the grill."
You want the grill to be really well preheated which is what I've been doing on high.
There I'm gonna do this side.
And get them oiled side down, and then I'll oil the other side before I turn them.
OK. Oiled side down, here we go.
I'm gonna have to put these two at a little bit of an angle so they all fit.
Now these will only take about four minutes a side.
It's gonna be very, very quick.
So I'm gonna clean up.
And then I'm gonna finish my sangria.
OK. OK I think I've got, you have to sort of... Oops, I lost one!
But oh, those look beautiful.
We'll just slide that guy, you know what?
Remember you're alone in the kitchen, that one's for me.
Beautiful!
Beautiful!
OK, so just a few minutes.
It won't take as long on the second side.
And we want them to be a little undercooked in the middle.
This is almost perfect what I just turned over.
Wow, delicious.
OK, they're done.
I can tell 'cause they're firm.
Those are beautiful.
So now I'm gonna finish my sangria.
We're gonna make a big pitcher for everybody.
Here we go.
So the fruit all goes in, and the juice at the bottom, 'cause that's accumulated all this flavor, particularly if you can give it a whole hour of maceration.
That would be yummy stuff to drink straight up, the triple sec with the fruit.
OK, and then, I love rosé.
I fell in love with it a year ago when I was in France teaching cooking classes at this manor house in the foie gras country which was fun.
But anyway, before we teach a class we'd have a little aperitif, with a little rosé wine which came from that particular area.
But here's how you put together a drink.
You throw in some ice cubes, and then you just pour it in.
Let's put a few pieces of fruit in there.
'Cause the fruit is as good as everything else.
And, if you must, now, for me, this is perfect just like, right like this.
But if you want to you can top it off with some seltzer, or club soda, and that would be delicious too.
Isn't that lovely?
OK, so I just want to garnish my scallops here with a little bit of lemon.
Lemon wedges go on there.
And you know, these have sat here for a minute, but that is not a problem.
Scallops will be delicious at room temperature!
And they'd even be delicious cold, but why do we bother grilling them if we're gonna serve them cold?
So serve it with a few lemon wedges.
And there we go, all right!
I'm gonna go sit down!
OK. Ladies, this is my continuing series of ladies who lunch.
Here we are.
I'm so thrilled to have you both here.
This is part of our family!
We have here Nikki, who's the daughter of my makeup lady, Pam.
And we have over here Shayna who's our intern, and is going to film school, right?
- Mm hmm.
- So you both like scallops and eat scallops?
- Yep!
- [Sara] Outstanding, - [Sara] let's give it a taste.
Mm, tell me what you think.
- [Shayna] That's really good.
- Yeah, yeah?
It's really simple, nicely cooked, huh?
Now I have a special drink for both of you.
I'm sorry you can't have what I'm having.
But we've just got the fresh fruit with the seltzer.
So I think we need to have a toast.
- Yeah.
- [Sara] All right.
To ladies who lunch.
There we go.
Thank you both for joining me.
- Thank you.
- Thank you all for joining me too.
I just want to say, this is all about five ingredient recipes that deliver so much flavor on the grill.
I'm Sara Moulton, I'll see you next time for some more of Sara's Weeknight Meals.
OK, let's dig in!
Isn't it fun how the prosciutto gets all crispy on the outside?
Sicilian grandmother.
- [Nikki] Yeah.
- [Sara] Do you cook with her?
- [Nikki] No.
- [Sara] You've gotta cook with her!
- [Nikki] I will!
- Shayna do you cook?
- I do sometimes with my mom, yeah.
- [Sara] Sara's Weeknight Meals continues online.
For recipes, helpful tips, messages and lots more, visit us on the web at saramoulton.com/weeknightmeals.
And go to our YouTube channel, Sara's Weeknight Meals TV.
Funding provided by, - [Voiceover] Subaru builds vehicles like the versatile Subaru Forester with symmetrical all-wheel drive, and plenty of cargo room.
A recipe made for whatever the day brings.
Subaru, a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.
- [Voiceover] Family owned and Indiana grown.
Maple Leaf Farms is a proud sponsor of Sara's Weeknight Meals.
Providing a variety of duck products for home kitchens.
Maple Leaf Farms' duck helps inspire culinary adventures everywhere.
Maple Leaf Farms.
- [Sara] And thanks to the generous support of...
Support for PBS provided by:
Sara's Weeknight Meals is presented by your local public television station.
Distributed nationally by American Public Television















