>> male announcer: Funding for Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking was provided by: >> Prudhomme: So, hey, y'all, let's cut some stuff up today.

Hi, I'm Chef Paul Prudhomme, and I'll be cooking a paneed veal with czarina sauce.

You'll love it.

Saucy Sausalito stir-fry?

Oh, that's gonna take you somewheres too.

Bronze fish with a jalapeño tartar sauce.

I'm ready.

[lively Cajun music] ♪ ♪ [laughing] Hi, I'm Chef Paul Prudhomme.

We're sure glad y'all are with us today.

And we're gonna cook a good one for you.

It's called paneed veal with shrimp and czarina sauce.

Oh, czarina, czarina, yeah.

That means a really powerful chick.

Well, this is not really a chick-type sauce, but it's powerful.

[laughs] Well, I'm gonna show you some techniques before we get started.

And one is called "paneed."

And paneed means to spread stuff out and to make it thin.

It has several meanings.

And we got a piece of veal here.

And with this dish, you got to panee the veal.

And so the way to do it is to take and put a piece of parchment paper on the top and the bottom.

And--because if you don't do that, little pieces of meat will probably splatter.

And then you start pounding.

And it's just that simple.

And if you got some good parchment paper, it works really well.

See, this parchment paper, it's not moving at all.

Well, it's getting there.

We want to just get the edges down thinner.

And this is sort of up to you about how thin you want to make it, 'cause you're in charge.

You got the hammer.

Or you can get your butcher to do it for you.

And so that's pretty-- that's pretty thin.

You can see through it.

And, I mean, I didn't do it really even, but if I was continuing on with this, I would take it all to where you could see through it.

And so that's this.

And the next thing I want to talk to you about is a technique in cutting.

And the technique in cutting is called julienne.

And I've never met Julienne, but everybody says she was real cute, so that's good.

But I'm gonna show you how to do that.

And you take a piece of anything, and you make it small.

And what I like to do is, I like to put my fingers over this here so they're not in the way when I do that, you know, so I don't cut them.

And then you can lean the knife against it, and it can do two things.

One, it's gonna control the cut.

And the other one is that-- and what I mean, "control the cut," the size.

And you simply just push through it.

Just push through it.

And then you move your fingers back.

And, you know, the guys that are in the kitchen every day-- I mean, this is so simple.

I mean, you can cut this-- you could cut three or four of these by the time that I've used right now.

So then the next step in julienning is to take it and do the next cut.

And it's across here.

Just push through and go like this.

Push through and go like this.

And in the meantime, you're backing your fingers up.

You back your fingers up.

And if you want to control the exact cut, you just lay the knife against-- the top part of the knife against your finger.

And then as you cut down, you pull back on the finger, and it just gives you the cut.

But these are very representative of what julienne is, and they're not that hard to do.

I mean, after you do them a couple times, it's just pretty simple.

So I'm gonna go to cooking now.

We've got some flour, and we're gonna put that into this dish, and I'm gonna season the flour, because we got veal that we want to-- after it's been pounded, we want to cut it.

And then we're gonna make a little sauce after that, because everything needs to have a sauce.

I'm a total believer in that.

I think that sauce is really-- really, one of the keys to cooking or to making a great dish is knowing how to do sauces, because it just can fill the dish out to absolutely wonderful.

And so we're gonna mix the herbs and spices into the flour.

And I've got the skillet on, and I'm gonna just get it up high, 'cause it wasn't high.

And you really don't need a lot of oil for this.

And so I'm gonna just put just a couple of drops.

I could also take the oil and put it right on the paneed veal.

And you could just put the oil right on it, and then it'll stick.

And I'll go ahead and do that and show you.

You just put the oil on, and then you move the oil around.

You just do like this with it.

And then you put it in the flour.

And that dude's gonna-- it's gonna-- the flour's gonna stick to it, and it's gonna be really easy to cook and really quick.

You want to do it both sides.

And you don't want to push too much of the flour in, but you want enough to cover it.

So you want to make sure that you've got all the veal covered.

Yeah, we're gonna shake the flour off, gonna put it right into that little bit of oil, and start the cooking process.

We've got one side-- you see the moisture coming through and it's starting to affect the flour?

And we're gonna put a little bit of butter on it.

And we could've done it on both sides.

I like to put butter on just one side if I'm gonna do it that way.

And the reasoning is that butter will brown really quick, and so if you put all on one side on the first side and put butter on the second side, it's gonna-- I would prefer it that way, 'cause you get the taste of the butter, and it won't be too strong.

And so browning this.

And then the next step we're gonna do with the browning, after the browning, is that we're gonna start making the sauce.

Well, we got this piece done.

And look at that beautiful color on it.

Ah, look-a-there.

And that's the side with the butter on it.

And those dark spots in there is from the butter.

And then on the other side, where there was no butter, it's a more even, less dark spot.

But they're both great.

They both have a good taste.

We're getting ready to go to the next stage.

And we got some vegetables.

And, you know, instead of putting the oil directly into the pan-- and as you noticed, I don't really like to do that with the--like the meat, I put a very small amount.

But I put it right on the vegetables and then mix them up.

And so the onions got oil on them.

You can see the sheen on it.

The zucchini and the yellow squash has got oil on it.

And what that's gonna do, it's gonna save the oil from spreading all over the skillet and superheating.

And when the oil superheats like that, you know, it changes the taste a little bit.

And it's not a whole lot, but it's worth doing.

Besides that, you can save money.

We got the snap, crackle, and pop going here.

And they're starting to brown.

When they're real thin, you know, just like these pieces are, I would prefer not to cook them too long and not to take the color away.

I like the color.

I think the color's very, very important.

And the next step is, I'm gonna put a little butter in.

And I'm gonna put it at this stage because I'm about ready to put the liquid in, because I don't like, at this point, to brown the butter too much.

And so I'm gonna put a little bit of herbs and spices on the butter.

And just move the skillet around and let that work together.

And you can see the changes in the steam coming up or the smoke coming up.

And that change shows that the butter's there and it's browning.

And so we're gonna put-- oh, got a little lemon to go into it.

And we're gonna put the cream into it.

That's gonna stop the butter from browning.

And so that's an important step for me.

I really like to do that.

And we're gonna use the whisk now and just go all the way around and incorporate.

The next step is, I'm gonna put the shrimp in.

And the shrimp's gonna put some-- these are fresh shrimp, and so there's a lot of moisture in them, and it's gonna put some moisture right into the sauce.

And actually, it made it thin there for just a couple of seconds, yeah.

And, oh, I love sauces that are rich.

I mean, they're just so wonderful.

All we got to do now is put the cheese in, and we got a sauce.

I mean, we got a wonderful sauce.

All right.

You know what czarina means?

Well, my late wife at the restaurant was called a czarina, and it was because she was in charge and she was serious about being in charge.

I don't want to do anything else to it except eat it.

I'm gonna take this and put some right on this piece of veal.

Oh, look-a-there.

Ooh.

That's good.

I mean, it's just-- I can't wait to get in there and get a big chunk of it.

Sausalito stir-fry.

Sassy, saucy Sausalito stir-fry coming up next.

Ah, yes, we're gonna do a Sausalito-- a saucy Sausalito stir-fry, yeah, and, you know, we're really cooking now, boy, when you do a saucy Sausalito stir-fry.

I'm gonna show you about what we do in the kitchen with knives.

And once you understand it, it's pretty simple, but if you really want to sharpen a knife, it's the edge that's almost microscopic.

In other words, this part here is real thin.

The straighter it is, the sharper it is.

And it's pretty much that simple.

Now, see the angle I got the knife on?

I think that's really essential to do that.

You could also do it by putting it down on something and using an angle, okay?

And once you feel like you've gotten the edge on it-- and you do that by feeling it.

It's almost sticky if it's really a sharp, sharp edge.

I mean, it's not sticky like, you know, gum or glue or any of that.

That's not what I'm talking about.

But you can feel a little stickiness on the knife.

And so it just makes it real easy to cut.

And while you're cutting, most-- especially if you're cutting meats, but while you're cutting, if you, about every three or four minutes, you just hit it on the side, it'll put the edge back even.

But we're cooking now.

So I've got a wok here, and I've got a little bit of heat on it, but we'll just turn the heat up.

And we're gonna go staging the Sausalito stir-fry.

And we're gonna do it a step at a time.

And I'm a little exotic here, because you can do that and it really affects the flavor, but not a whole lot.

But it does a fine-tuning to things.

For instance, I got three kinds of oil.

And I'm gonna take the peanut oil and put it right in here with this.

And this is the onions, and I'm just gonna kind of shake it up a little bit.

I'm gonna also put my spoon on the side, because I don't want it banging.

I got the wok hot, and so I'm gonna put the onions in and let them start to cook.

You know me.

If you watched me cook before, I love to caramelize the onions or to get some color on them.

I got some olive oil too, and it's just being exotic.

You know, I mean, it just-- olive oil, and this is jalapeños.

We won't put that in yet, but I got a little olive oil on it.

This is bell pepper.

I'm gonna put some olive oil on it.

So we're gonna put the bell peppers in.

We're gonna put the celery in.

I'm gonna just set this here.

We're gonna put the celery in.

Now, the idea is that we don't want to cook this a huge long time, but we want to get it going, get some color in it.

Oh, we got a hot pot.

I don't know if you can hear my voice real good on this, but you do this, and it really turns it over.

And I'm gonna put my red bell peppers in.

I don't like to cook the red bell peppers a huge amount.

I mean, you can, of course, but if you don't-- you know, they seem to have a tendency to be softer than the-- actually, the yellow and the red are softer than the green is.

And so-- oh, the smell.

And there's no herbs and spices in it.

I mean, it's just really great.

You know, it's a good smell.

And so I'm gonna add a little bit of the herbs and spices in.

And I like to do that as we step it out when I'm cooking.

Put a little bit here and a little bit there and a little bit everywheres.

One of the things you got to remember about herbs and spices is that if you don't apply the heat to them-- in other words, if there's liquid in here, if there's-- you know, like, you got water or you got cream in it and you put the herbs and spices in, you're not gonna get the maximum flavor out of them.

But if you put them in a pan with vegetables in it like this, or before you put the liquid in, before you put water, before you put cream, if you put the seasoning in, I mean, the smell has totally changed because the seasoning's gone in there.

And it just really-- just really smells good.

We're gonna put this right in, gonna scrape it out, because I'm gonna add some more ingredients to it and go to the next step.

And now, we're gonna keep really beautiful colors here.

I'm gonna use the sesame oil.

And I'm gonna use that with the shrimp and with the scallops.

And I'm also gonna put some seasoning in with the shrimp and the scallops.

And I better move, because this thing's smoking.

I'm gonna stir this a little bit.

And I'll just turn the fire down, yeah.

It's okay.

It's supposed to do that.

It's supposed to give you some brown colors on it.

The recipe says so.

And if the recipe says it, you ought to do it.

We're gonna put the scallops in.

And then we're gonna put some fresh ginger in.

Ooh, fresh ginger's wonderful.

It really is.

I mean, the smell, oh, it's great.

And what's sticking on the bottom is gonna be wonderful to work with, because what I'm doing here is just to sort of get this cooking and get some flavor from it from the bottom.

I see a little more sesame oil.

I'm gonna put it in here.

I love sesame oil.

It really has an appealing flavor for me.

So I'm gonna scrape it, get as much off the bottom as I can.

And I think this is probably enough.

And so I'm gonna take that and put it in with the vegetables.

We're gonna put the green onions.

And this time, I'm a little bit ahead of the heat, so that's good.

We want to roast the peanuts.

I'm sorry, it's not peanuts.

It's pecans.

I ought to know that because pecans is a Louisiana thing.

Oh, does this smell good.

Oh, this is wonderful soy sauce.

I'm gonna put it in and do the cooking.

Try to scrape up the sides and get everything you can off the sides, because it really-- see there's some down here?

And I'm gonna really-- that's what a wooden spoon like this is really good for.

I mean, it really-- after you use it awhile, you get that really hard color.

Oh, the smell.

Man, the smell is great.

All right, so I'm gonna add a little bit of stock to my cornstarch, and then I'm gonna start adding stock to this.

And I'm not gonna put it all in, because I'm gonna stage it.

And I'm gonna stir this, make sure I get everything off the sides and the bottom.

If you could see this-- if you could see this and if they can get into the pan, see how it's got this darkness on here?

Oh, that's gonna even change the color of the sauce, I mean, because that's wonderful stuff.

The flavors are set now, so we're just about done with the dish.

I'm gonna put the jalapeños in.

But we're gonna put this rest of the stock back in.

And when we put the cornstarch in, you want it to be hot.

And so we're gonna add the cornstarch to it.

And then the final step, I'm gonna put the seafood back in.

Isn't this fun?

Ah, look at that.

Isn't that beautiful?

Wow.

Man, is that great.

So you take this, and you just go whoosh.

But the seafood is not cooked yet, so we're gonna let that simmer and let the seafood finish cooking.

And the last thing I'm gonna put in is spinach.

Want a lot of color, flavor?

The spinach is gonna supply that.

Oh, man, that spinach is ringing.

See what's happening to the shrimp?

See how they curl and they got, like, a little pink to them?

That means they're cooked.

And one of the things I really don't like to do is overcook seafood.

And the scallops, because they're so big, you know, they're still not quite cooked.

But because they're in a very hot pan and I got the fire all the way up, all I have to do is just let it simmer for a second.

Look at all the colors in here.

I mean, it's really-- you know it's gonna taste good.

And so we're gonna put some with the rice, and I'm gonna put-- look at that.

Isn't that scallop beautiful?

You know, and you just take the rest of it and just spread it around with shrimp and the vegetables, and you go all around the plate.

And it's really-- I mean, it's a meal.

And it's a meal for lots of people, because, boy, do we have plenty of it.

And I'll tell you, we got plenty of mouths in here, baby.

They ready too.

I can smell it.

Yeah.

Coming up, bronze fish with a jalapeño tartar sauce.

You're gonna love it.

We got a bronze fish with jalapeño tartar sauce.

Oh, I love jalapeños.

But first, we're gonna show you some more about this cutting stuff.

Now, this is a nice red jalapeño.

And I'm gonna give you a little tip on how I do things.

I like to take and cut them and make it even around here.

And then once you get it back to the other cut on the other side-- and you just put it on the inside, and you just kind of scrape this like so.

And then what happens is that you just get all the inside out at one time.

There's all the seeds and everything.

And then you just cut it this way.

And I don't like to go all the way through, but just go like so.

And then go in this side like so.

And I'll leave the tip sort of alone.

And then when I'm gonna dice, I go across.

This way, depending on the size that I'm gonna cut-- and if you don't cut it all the way through here, then it stays together.

And even though this takes a couple of seconds to do, it just makes the whole thing quicker, because you just go through it this way, and you got a great dice, and it stays even, and it goes all the way down, and so when you get to the end, you're all right.

And so that's dicing a jalapeño.

Now, what we're gonna do now is, we're gonna cook a piece of fish.

We got a little tilapia here.

And we're gonna put a little oil on it.

Now, that's another thing.

If you haven't watched me do this before-- I'm not real crazy about putting oil in a pan, because so much of it just-- I mean, it just gets hot, and it starts to smoke, and it just creates bitterness in a pan.

And it's not a huge amount of bitterness.

I mean, people have been cooking that way for generations, for years and years, putting the oil in.

But if you save the money from the oil, then you can buy fish more regularly.

I'll put a little bit of herbs and spices in it.

If you save the money from the oil, then you can buy some better herbs and spices, because that's really important.

Now, I could do it on one side and then put it in the pan and do it on the other.

But I'm gonna do it right here in the dish so you can see it real clear.

And what I want to do is-- I'm gonna lower the fire, because I can see it's getting hot.

What I want to do is put a little bit more on the thick part and a little bit less on the thin part.

And so with the oil there, you put it in the pan, a nonstick pan, a preheated pan, and then you can cook it really quick.

And I find that when you cook something really quick, especially like fish, that you retain the moisture in it if you don't cook it too long.

See the color change here?

See right here in the skillet?

See how that's turning white?

Well, that's gonna also come up along the side.

It's gonna turn white on the side.

And as that happens, you turn it.

Now, we could use a spatula-- I got one right here to turn it-- or you can just do like this and turn it.

And then you got a nice-- see where the herbs and spices are?

Man, it's got this beautiful color.

What I'm gonna do-- because this side is thin and this one's thick, I'm gonna take it to a point where this side is cooked but not too much.

And then I'll stop here, and I'll know-- I mean, I'll absolutely know that this thick part is not really cooked.

And so what I'm gonna depend on is, take this far enough to where this side is not overcooked and this side is cooked enough that's it's gonna continue to cook in the plate.

I'm gonna turn it over one more time, and then I'm gonna put it right here where it belongs in the plate.

Turn the fire off.

It's gonna continue to cook.

So the next step to what I'm doing is, I'm gonna make a tartar sauce.

And making a tartar sauce, for me, is fairly simple.

But I've always loved to make tartar sauces and to put seasoning in them and to put a lot of ingredients in it, because, I mean, there's so many things you can do to it except just pickles.

And we're gonna put a little lemon in it.

We're gonna put some bell peppers.

And this is a nice small dice, and it should be for tartar sauce.

But it's a nice color.

And so this is red bell pepper.

Got a little bit of jalapeño to give it some kick.

We got these wonderful red onions.

I love those onions.

I mean, they got a lot of sweetness to them.

A little bit of herbs and spices-- we're gonna put two kinds of herbs and spices in there, because I like complexity.

And especially when you're not heating stuff or you're not cooking it, complexity's really good.

And so I'm gonna put some horseradish, gonna put some garlic, and we're gonna put some relish.

And the last thing we're gonna put in before we start stirring is boiled eggs that have been diced.

And so the next step is, just get this thing stirred really good.

And I always like to let it set awhile, probably at least a half hour in the fridge.

I mean, it's good right now.

I mean, as soon as I finish stirring it, it's gonna have a great taste, but once it starts chilling and it sets for awhile, it's sort of-- everything marries inside, and it really does a good job with it.

I mean, it really does.

And you can put this on your fish.

And, oh, look at this.

I mean, I've got to-- I've got to make sure that-- [chuckles] It's not true, but, I mean, I've got to make sure that the-- oh, that the mix is-- oh, that's good.

Man, tartar sauce can be wonderful.

It really can be.

And you just put it right on your fish.

Isn't that beautiful?

Well, I'm gonna put a little more pepper sauce in mine.

And then I'll stir it again.

And that's good cooking, good eating, good lovin'.

We love you guys out there.

>> announcer: A cookbook featuring all the recipes from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking is available for $15.95 plus $7.95 shipping and handling.

The cookbook features 97 recipes, color photos, and cooking tips from Chef Paul.

To order a copy of the companion cookbook, call: And pay by credit card.

Or send a check or money order to: Captioning by CaptionMax www.captionmax.com >> Prudhomme: ♪ Well, I say ♪ ♪ that blue moon of Kentucky, ♪ ♪ keep on shining.

♪ >> Okay.

>> Prudhomme: I knew that would get them started.

They don't want to hear any more of that.

And I'm gonna wrap it up with the foil and-- >> Let's wrap and then show, okay?

>> Prudhomme: It's not fun.

I got them.

If it looks better, I have tongs.

Eat the cheese?

Okay.

I'll do that too.

Really?

>> News to me.

>> Prudhomme: That'll shake me up.

Neh-neh-neh-neh.

You know what I think about?

Neh-neh-neh.

>> Say "yum," something good like that.

>> Prudhomme: [long groan] Yum.

Ah.

Ah, uh.

>> announcer: Funding for Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking was provided by: