>> male announcer: Funding for Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking was provided by: >> Prudhomme: Hi, I'm Chef Paul Prudhomme.

When I was a kid, we used to cook in pressure cookers all the time.

It's a great way to cook, and I'm going to do a corned beef brisket, baby back ribs, and New Orleans bread pudding in a pressure cooker, and, man, is it going to be good, yeah.

[lively Cajun music] ♪ ♪ Corne beef brisket-- corned beef brisket, yeah.

You know, pressure cooking is something that I'm familiar with because, as a child, you know, we used to pressure-cook all the time, and one of the base things we used it for--I mean, we used it for everything, but one of the base things we used it for: for canning anything.

And we'd put a jar--a can jar, and, you know, we'd put whatever was in the jar that we were canning, put it in a pressure cooker and bring it up to a temperature, and then after that, I mean, it was really amazing, because you could just take the seal off, and the actual top of that would stay, and so it was a wonderful way to make things sterile and to keep them that way.

Now, I've got a seasoning blend here, and I'm going to go through it with you.

This is a corned beef, and so corned beef--it's actually been corned already, because it takes a while to corn it.

And so--but even though it's a good flavor, I'm going to add more to it.

You know, I just can't help it.

And so we got an array of herbs and spices, and I got a blend of--a normal blend for me, you know, whatever that is, and it's really good.

It's got the salt in it.

You know, it's got red pepper, and this is extra stuff to make the corned beef just really shine.

And then I've got two kinds of mustard seeds.

I got yellow and brown, and then I've got some black pepper.

I got some allspice berries.

I got some cracked black pepper as well as the regular black pepper, and we got dill seed.

We got bay leaf that's been sort of ground up.

See the bay leaves right here?

And some whole cloves, which is right here, whole cloves.

Okay, so I took that and made a blend with it.

I'm going to use it in two different ways.

I'm going to take some and put into the water once I put the water in the pressure cooker, and so--but first, I want to put some of the seasoning blend right here, just everywheres.

I mean, just take it and just load it up, because I don't think--really, I mean, a piece of meat this big, even though it's already pickled, I don't think you can put too much seasoning on it.

I really don't, and so when you put the seasoning on, it's already damp, and so you want to push it down, and I love to do that so it don't fall off in the process of getting it in the pot.

And so we're going to push it down, push it down, and I'm going to turn it over and do the other side.

The other side is the one that I'm going to put the most on.

It's probably one of the reasons you don't see any seasoning from the pickling is that it was immersed.

The water that they have in it carries a lot of the flavors that corned beef does.

Turn it back over.

See how it held on.

Yeah, it held on good.

Okay, so I've used all my seasoning, so I'm going to just build me another set of seasoning by taking all these things.

See, you thought I was just being exotic to have them up here, but I wanted to make sure that I had enough seasoning, because you know me.

You can't have too much seasoning.

I mean, it's just wonderful stuff to do that with, and herbs and spices are just almost a miracle.

They really are, especially with cooking, especially with cooking.

I should say that, shouldn't I?

Because herbs and spice is also a great medicine.

I'm going to put some water in it, and I've got a little plate that I'm going to put in, because the water shouldn't be overwhelming to this, to the brisket, and I don't want the water to wipe out my seasoning before it cooks, and so I'm going to put this in.

I'm going to measure the amount of water.

All right, and just as soon as I see it start to come up, then I'm going to take this out, because, you know, I'm a fanatic, so I'm going to put some seasoning in here.

And so the brisket--I'll just put it all in.

The brisket is--I mean, it's going to have to be good, because you're going to have some steam, and I should stir this.

You're going to have some seasoning on it, and then it's going to have steam with seasoning in the steam, so it's going to be absolutely spectacular.

So I'm going to put this in.

I just flop it in there.

We got to put the top on, and we want to--this takes a little bit of churning here.

And we got it, okay.

And now we're going to put the regulator on, and then the next step is, we've put it on the fire, and the fire--when you're pressure-cooking, if you've never pressure-cooked before, you start out with a good, strong fire, and that goes, and then this is going to tell you when it gets to 15 pounds, because it starts doing a little dancing and it starts making noise to it, and it's kind of a neat little whistle.

So we're going to have 15 pounds of pressure, and we'll cook for an hour, an hour and 20 minutes.

But we're going to try it for exactly for an hour, and then we're going to take the brisket out and see what it looks like.

The internal temperature of the brisket should be at least 160 degrees when it's done.

Now, we're going to let this cook, and I'm going to go over here and make you some sweet potato fries to go with it.

Yeah.

Perfect timing.

I'm hearing the first communication from the pressure cooker, getting a little bit of a whistle out of it.

You probably can't hear it yet, but it's just starting to, and a little bit of steam's starting to come out.

So soon as that starts to really come a little stronger, I'm going to turn the fire down, and I'm going to just let it be where it steams a little bit and where, you know--to make sure that it's staying at 15 pounds of pressure.

In the meantime, I'm going to make you some sweet potato fries.

Yeah, I love sweet potato, and you can do all kind of stuff with sweet potato fries.

I'm going to make a batter with it, and I've got some water, and I don't want a real thick batter.

I want a fairly thin batter.

So I'm putting in some flour and whipping the water around, knowing that the flour is going to thicken out a little bit.

I don't want to make it too thick, because you don't need a real thick batter on the sweet potatoes.

And sweet potatoes are very delicate, and they got a good, nice, sweet taste, so you don't want to mess with that.

And I've got some seasonings I'm going to put in, and what I mean by "mess with that" is put too much batter on it.

Herbs and spices is very important to do that also.

One of the things that, you know, people talk to me about a lot is, you know, how much to put in, how much to put in, and it should be what you like when it comes to herbs and spices, because--let me drain this out while I'm chatting--because herbs and spices is a personal thing.

You know, you can put a lot.

You can put a little bit.

The reason we keep these in water is that the moisture stays with it and it doesn't turn colors, and sweet potatoes don't turn colors a whole lot.

So you can season the potatoes also, and I'm going to put them back in is one and move them over.

And so I'm going to do that.

I'm going to take and put some seasoning on it.

And every time you put seasoning on something, don't put too much, but if you stage seasoning, it really works well, and what I mean by that is that I've got seasoning in here, and I've got seasoning in the potatoes also, and when you do that, when you make those steps, it just really makes a difference in the flavors, because--especially when you're cooking things.

When you're cooking things and you put the--you stage the seasoning, it just gives you a much better flavor.

My deep fryer is very hot, and so I'm just going to take this and just drop them in.

Careful not to burn yourself.

I've been doing this for 50 years, so I know when to get my hand out of there.

But you probably should put it with the rack up.

I've got the pressure cooker going.

It's starting to put out a little steam, but it still hasn't--I got to do this for an hour, an hour and 20 minutes to make it tender.

There she goes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That was very kind of this pressure cooker to just support me like--look at it swinging.

Now, what I'm going to do now is turn the heat down.

My potatoes are cooking, and what you want to do is just get the sweet potatoes nice and brown.

You'll see when they come out, and they're just about done.

At 350 degrees, they cook really quick, because it's not a very thick piece of potato.

These potatoes are done.

[laughs] You know, the deliver of television is just amazing, because, see, now they're done, and I really want to grab them, but I know they're very hot.

Now, we cut the fire off, and now we let the--the pressure went out.

Just take and get it off.

Now that there's no steam coming out, it's safe to open the pressure cooker, so I'm going to--I'm going to-- I can't wait to see what's in it.

I mean, I just love corned beef, and especially when it's well-seasoned.

Look-a-there.

Ah, man.

Oh, that's gorgeous.

I mean, I can see all the seasoning.

I'm going to put it right here.

You take this and the fries, and you just put them right there with the corned beef, and then this is what you're going to get out of the corned beef: absolute beauty, wonderful smell.

So use the herbs and spices and put them on top, and then have you some sweet potato fries with it.

Yum.

Baby back ribs with a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce: oh, it's what us people from the South like, baby.

Ah, one of my favorite things-- of course, almost everything is favorite.

I mean, I can't help it, but this is baby back ribs, and it's got a sweet and tangy-- actually, it's a little bit hot but not much--tangy barbecue sauce, and we're pressure-cooking.

And so the first thing we got to do is make sure that we get the ribs seasoned correctly, because they need it.

I mean, they're just absolutely wonderful, and we're going to just put some seasoning on them.

This is kind of messy, but it's okay.

You know, don't worry about it being messy, because if you just take one hand and do the messy part, do the messy part with one hand, and then the other hand, you use a spoon or just use a--just do the seasonings like this, then it doesn't matter.

I mean, you can just wipe that off with a wet towel.

And so as I get the seasoning on here that I want to, I'm going to slide it in.

But first I ought to do this, because I want to get the pressure cooker ready.

I'm going to put a little bit of seasoning in the water, because I don't want anything to interfere with the flavors, and so steam coming up, you could use a stock.

I'd just as soon use water with seasoning in it.

Now, we've got the--this keeps the water away, in the pressure cooker, from whatever you're cooking.

So we got that down.

I'm going to put the seasoned water in.

You don't want to cover the rack with the seasoned water.

So now, as I make these, as I season them, I'm going to put them in here, and I'm just going to stack them one on top of the other.

You know, when you pressure- cook--I've been pressure-cooking since--matter of fact, it was a necessity when I was a kid.

For those of you who don't know, I was raised on a farm without gas or electricity or any of that, and so all our food literally came from the yard or the fields or from the swamps, because we lived right next to the swamps.

And so when we used the pressure cooker, we basically used the pressure cooker because everything was so tough, and it's wonderful at that, but it's also very good at just cooking, period.

When I grew up, there were still six children at home and then my mother and father, and then my brothers--my older brothers were in the military, and when they started coming back in the '50s, they all had friends with them, because, you know, they'd made friends in the military, and they were not from Louisiana, so there was always a lot of people there, and we would have a great time.

This is very, very quick.

When you use a pressure cooker, it always advances the cooking time tremendously, and so we're going to get 20 minutes at 15-degree pressure.

I'm going to set this on top, and I think I've learned how to do that.

So we're going to tighten it, and then we got to put this on top.

It tells you when you get up to the right amount of pressure, and so I'm going to turn the fire on.

You know, the pressure cooker's doing its thing, and while it's doing its thing, I'm going to make you a sauce.

I'm going to make me a sauce, actually.

But it's a good one.

It always makes me happy when one of my sauces start with butter.

I'm going to turn my fire up, and I will start with the-- oh, look.

It's starting to talk to me, yeah.

The pressure cooker's saying, "Hey, I'm getting close.

We're letting off steam."

All right, so we got the butter.

We got the butter melting, and I want to cook the herbs and spices, and so I'm going to put a lot of them in, and I'll taste, and if it's not enough, I'll put more, but put it in with the herbs and spices, and then watch the incredible color changes that happens under heat.

And I don't want to burn the butter.

I want to be careful not to.

I've got some liquids here to put in to make sure that I don't burn it, and while I'm cooking, as I watch the colors, you got to taste it.

Ah, man, oh, you won't be--I mean, just this butter andhe seasoning, it's just fantastic.

It's ready.

I mean, oh, it just hit me again.

We're going to put some tomato sauce in it.

That's the first step.

Going to put a little stock in it, and I won't put the whole stock in just yet.

Oh, man, my pressure cooker's really--it's really talking to me.

It's wonderful.

Oh, balsamic vinegar.

Ooh, I love balsamic vinegar.

It's wonderful.

Got some cider vinegar.

Got some brown sugar, all those things coming in, all those things coming in.

I'm going to put the pepper sauce in.

I'm going to put the Worcestershire in.

Now, the liquid smoke, I always think of it as an option, and the amount of sugar you put into it, brown sugar, should be an option to your taste.

At this point, the most important thing you can do for this sauce is to, every once in a while, taste it and make any adjustments that you want in it.

But you need to know what it tastes like, because it's a barbecue sauce.

Oh, I want to take this and bring it to a quick simmer.

I'm going to lower it a little bit, because I really want this to cook correctly, because when you put it on the ribs, it's going to knock you out.

So I'm going to put the heat up a little bit more, because I want a little more of a bubble or a simmer.

And then this is starting to just kind of fizz over here, so it's about ready to start rocking and rolling.

And so we're going to turn the fire down, let this simmer.

As you can see, there's a boogie going on.

So I mean, look at that little thing go.

And so I'm going to take and lower the fire, and then for 15 more minutes from now, this is going to be ready.

We're back with the baby back.

♪ Baby back, baby back.

♪ Oh, the tangy sauce.

I'm going to taste it again, but I got to tell you, I was tasting earlier, but I mean, right away, it just gives you a little tart, comes right in with the sweetness.

Herbs and spices are following way in the back, and now I'm getting a little pepper.

This thing is ready.

All right, look-a-there.

Oh, isn't that beautiful?

All right, so my first thought was, "I'll just dip that in here.

I'll just dip that in here and have a snack."

You know, but I'm on television, so I got to behave.

I'm not good at behaving.

Now, let me tell you that, but with all these ribs and knowing that they're going to be ready to eat just as soon as we finish, so I can't wait to get it all done.

But there is one more step I want to do with the ribs, and I really prefer to do it now at this point, and it's put some of the sauce on it.

And I like to put some of the juices, also, in the bottom.

Now, I'll show you.

Let me show you what I'm talking about.

See the--I don't want to burn myself, but see this here?

And I'm going to take and I'm going to shut the fire off all the way, and then I'm going to pour a little bit of juice around, and you just pour it right out.

Oh, look at that.

Isn't that beautiful?

I wish you were here to smell.

And then I've got a little brush here, and I'm going to take--and this sauce, it's got some thickness to it but not a huge amount.

If I'm sort of stammering aroundplease forgive me.

I'm hungry.

It's lunchtime.

What else can I say but good cooking, good eating, and get yourself some ribs.

We got one more segment, so I'm just playing with you.

Louisiana bread pudding with a great hard sauce.

Louisiana bread pudding with a hard sauce: a hard sauce is a sweet sauce that goes on top of the bread pudding, and it's absolutely wonderful.

I wanted to kind of get started with the eggs.

See that foam on top?

That's going to help the bread pudding to rise when you cook it.

I got all the ingredients for making the bread pudding, and I'm going to make it.

Then we'll set it aside.

We've got one here, all ready to go, that's been soing.

You should soak it until the bread is really soft.

See, the bread has been toasted, but it hasn't been browned.

I mean, it's hard.

You know, it's really hard, and so that's part of the recipe, and so you have bread that's real dry, and that's one of the things that makes bread pudding really good, because the dry bread absorbs all the things that goes in it, and it's just wonderful.

We're going to put some vanilla.

We're going to put some nutmeg and cinnamon in it, and then we're going to put some sugar to mix that real good, and we're going to add the sugar to it.

Now, at this point, you'd probably prefer to do this in a mixer, and we're going to do the hard sauce in a mixer, so I didn't want to do this in the mixer.

But you just keep whipping.

We're going to put the butter, and the butter should be liquidy.

This one hasust started to gel, but it's okay.

I can handle that.

And we're going to add the milk to it.

Oh, yes, and this is going to loosen it up a bit.

Yes, oh, look-a-there.

Isn't that gorgeous?

I just--I love bread pudding.

I have since I was a little kid.

Putting raisins in it.

We're going to put roasted pecans in it.

Now, once this is done--because you got all this bread to put into it, and the bread--you know, the bread's going to not only just absorb the liquid, but it's going to absorb the flavors also.

Now, this you just sort of help it start, and then you just set it aside, and the bread will do the rest.

It'll absorb it.

I mean, I've done this thousands of times, and it absolutely absorbs it.

Now, we're going to put it in the pressure cooker, and to show you how to do that, we've got a piece of foil and just made sort of a lift with it or a handle with it, and that's in the pressure cooker.

And we've got the bread pudding ready to go, and so we're going to take and put the bread pudding in this bowl.

I'm always amazed that little bowls like this can hold so much stuff, because this is a huge amount, or it looks like a huge amount compared to the bowl.

We took and put this in the pressure cooker, and so we put it in here for 15 minutes at 15 pounds of pressure, and so you just put it all in.

All right, so this is done.

We're going to put this in a pressure cooker, and in order to do that, I'm going to put the handle on it.

Now, I turned the pressure--the heat down on the pressure cooker, so we should be able to take this off and let it steam a bit if it needs to.

It doesn't need to steam, so this is ready.

So let me open this up.

All right, look at that, oh.

Now, I'm going to show you how to catch it, and please do it that way.

You grab with both hands.

Make sure you touch it.

Make sure it's not too hot to handle, and then just pick it out, slide it over, and then you take this off.

You take the--I like to take this piece of foil off first.

I love bread pudding.

This is kind of warm, so I'm going to just take the collar off.

And now I'm going to make the incredible hard sauce that goes with this, and because of the way a hard sauce is done, I'm going to do it in the blender.

Now, I've got some soft butter, and so I'm going to put that in first.

And I want to warn you that I don't follow recipes, but do what the recipe says, because that's a good thing.

So we've got the butter in.

Now, the butter, you don't want it to be melted.

You want it to be very, very soft, and this butter is very, very soft.

Then I'm going to add--slowly, I'm going to add the powdered sugar.

[blender whirring] Because remember, we said a hard sauce, and so for it to be hard, you need a lot of sugar in with the butter, and then you just kind of kick up the speed a little bit at a time, because sugar really flies, and so you don't want to start right away.

You want to just gradually do it, and you can kind of increase the speed a little bit.

It's working.

I don't use a lot of alcohol in my dishes, but when I do, I want it to be good.

This is good.

I mean, this is serious, serious good.

It's gorgeous, beautiful, yummy.

Oh, for those of you who were sort of wondering about what a hard sauce is, it's one of those things that's just phenomenal.

When I say "phenomenal"--and you just take it and just lay it across.

I mean, just put as much or as little as you want, or you can take the bread pudding out, and you can slice it up and put small amounts on.

This is the way I like it.

This is the way I like it.

This is the way we did it when I was a kid, just put all that hard sauce on there with the cognac in it, and I'm ready to tell you about it, because-- oh, look at that.

Just look at that.

Isn't that incredible?

That's good cooking, good eating, good loving.

We love you guys out there!

Make some bread pudding with hard sauce.

You'll love it, mm.

>> 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: >> Prudhomme: ♪ Well, say now, ♪ ♪ blue moon of Kentucky, ♪ ♪ keep on shining.

♪ >> Okay.

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

Captioning by CaptionMax www.captionmax.com >> Prudhomme: And, uh-- >> Stop.

Let's wrap and then show, okay?

>> Prudhomme: It's not fun.

I got 'em.

It looks better.

I have tongs.

Eat the cheese?

Okay, I'll do that too.

Really?

[laughing] That'll shake me up.

Na, na, na, na.

You know that thing like, na, na, na.

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

>> Prudhomme: Yum.

Ah, ah, ugh.

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