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

Gingersnap gravy, ooh, with wonderful gingersnaps: get the best ones that taste good.

Lemon dill chicken.

Corn and andouille soup; gonna knock you out, because we're going to make a roux.

And that's what we're cooking today.

Come join us.

[lively Cajun music] ♪ ♪ Hello.

Welcome.

Gingersnap gravy.

Have you ever had a taste of gingersnap gravy?

Oh, it's wonderful.

It really is.

We're talking about thickeners and things that you can put in sauces or in soups or in-- to make them thick.

And there's a basic variety that's very important to use and understand, like starches and, you know-- I mean, any kind of thing that's flour-y will work, you know, that thickens easily works.

And so we're talking about thickeners.

And we got the fire going.

I'm going to turn it up, and we're going to actually do two different versions of this particular sauce that's called gingersnap gravy, and it's wonderful.

I mean, it has that natural sweetness of gingersnaps.

Matter of fact, there's only one kind of gingersnap that I'll really use for this, because I--the one that gives me the best taste.

And it's in a brown bag.

I won't say any names.

I won't say any-- there's more than one in a brown bag.

So maybe you might have to buy two.

But you put them in your mouth, and they got to have a great crunch to them.

And I mean, it just-- it's just absolutely spectacular.

What I'm doing is putting the oil in with the onions, because normally, you would put the oil in the pan, but I don't have a lot of onions, and I don't have a lot of--a huge amount of ingredients with this one.

So when I do that, I prefer putting the oil right on the product, like right on the onions, and I've got some celery, and I'm going to put just a touch of oil on the celery.

Now, the thing that I do the most, the thing that I enjoy doing the most, is using method, because method of each step of each ingredient is just critical.

Now, see the steam coming up from here?

Now, I preheated the pan so it would be hot, and the onions are starting to brown already.

And even though, you know, I mean, what's going to happen-- even though it's not a lot of onions in here, what's going to happen is that as they brown, they change.

And understanding how those changes happen is very important to cooking, because that onion will start out with an acid taste, and then as it cooks, the acid is--literally, the heat's going to change the acid to sugar, or to sweetness.

And so as the onion browns, it gets better.

And in most things, that's true of it.

In other words, as you cook it, it's going to change, and it's up to you to decide whether the change is what you like or not.

So I'm going to put some celery in, which is the next step.

And what I've got is, I've got garlic, I've got some butter, and I've got the gingersnaps.

I got a little bit of brown sugar, and I think brown sugar is a great thing to have.

I'm going to put the garlic in.

The thing now-- the most important thing now-- the series of most important things is that after you do the--after you do the browning here is the stock that you use.

I'm going to lower the fire a little bit because it's getting me a little bit too much browning--I mean, too quickly.

I prefer it to go a little bit slower.

And so I've got the garlic in.

I'm going to put the butter in.

And the method in which-- or the steps in which you take with this is only important in the fact that what--for instance, it's really important with the seasoning, because putting herbs and spices in the water or in the stock is just not going to-- it's not going to make it happen.

In other words, the spices-- look at the change.

And the smell is so different now.

It really is.

Now I'm going to put a little bit of the stock in.

And I won't put a whole lot at this point, because I want to-- I want to-- I want to continue the steps that I've taken.

And I got a little bit of butter left, and I'm going to put that in.

And I'm going to bring it to a boil.

I got some brown sugar-- and that in.

Now, let me show you some difference in stocks.

To me, that's very important.

This is drippings, and drippings are the things that come off of-- as you're cooking in the pan.

And those drippings are really important.

I made drippings with the stock when I put it in-- look at the color of it-- when I put it in by browning the onions and making the celery change color and putting the seasoning in and browning it in.

So I have--I have-- now, if you add this instead of the stock, it's going to even be better and richer and have more taste to it.

So I'm going to put some of this in also.

Now, the gingersnaps are there to thicken, and thickening with the gingersnaps changes the whole context of what the flavors are like or what the flavors are going to taste like.

And I think that, you know, it's just so exciting to see that.

It's so exciting to understand that, and it's so exciting to make that step.

Ah, this is good.

I mean, the seasoning is brown.

You can taste the brownness in the seasoning.

You can taste the brownness in the onions because there's a second taste of just sweet, sweet, sweet taste.

And it's not sugar; it's onion.

And so that taste is really good.

Now, I'm going to add some of the gingersnaps to it.

And I'm going to kind of add them slow.

And then I'm going to show you if you didn't take these steps-- or try to anyway-- and try to explain it to you, because it's one of the things that I'm always striving for.

I'm always striving to make it easy for you as possible, and sometimes, you can't.

I mean, sometimes it's just too important to go through the steps of-- and so I'll write the steps in.

But I know that some of you don't really follow them.

And so I'm going to make the case that we-- that it's absolute necessity to do the steps.

I'm going to take this out.

Won't take but a second.

Let me just gather it over there and kind of push them forward.

And then I've got a whole new set of ingredients.

Now, I'm going to do what some of you guys do out there, you know?

I'm going to just take it and turn the fire up and put oil in the pan.

And remember, before, I said, "Don't do that."

But that's okay, because we're doing it in a fast way, all right?

You don't let it get really hot, you know, and you put the onions in.

And you put the celery in.

And put the butter in.

You just start stirring, and the ingredients is going to-- I'm going to put the seasoning in.

I'm going to put the garlic in.

Now, I've got everything that I need in it.

Got some fresh ginger to put in, which I put in the last one, and I forgot to tell you.

But it's in there, and so we got fresh ginger.

Now, I'm going to take this and just cook it really quick like this, like a lot of people do, and then put the stock in.

All right.

Do a little splashing.

There's nothing wrong with that.

We cooking.

I got to put my sugar in.

Forgot about that.

And then I really gonna just stir it shortly, get the butter melted, because I'm not doing it like Grandma.

I'm doing it like your second cousin.

See, and now, that one's starting to get thick.

It's looking really great.

Got pretty color.

All right.

We're going to put the gingersnaps in.

We're going to switch them again.

And the reason I'm going to switch them is because I want to taste this.

And this one needs to cook a minute.

I love making a mess.

You're not supposed to on television, but, you know, sometimes a mess is a good thing.

Now, look at the difference in the color.

See that one, how it's kind of pale, and this one has that wonderful rich brown color?

And you taste it.

Now, that one's not really ready to taste, but I've done this before, and so I know how to taste it.

I know what it tastes like.

But this one-- oh!

You know, you see me do that, but I mean, sometimes it's just overwhelming.

You know, I mean, it's just absolutely overwhelming.

And I'm going to need a few more gingersnaps, not a whole lot.

And actually, this dish, I'm going to turn the fire back down.

Then I'm going to go to this one.

And I'd like for it to boil so you can see what it looks like.

But you grind the gingersnaps, and as you put them in, they dissolve real quickly, and they make you a nice thick sauce.

If you can't find fresh ginger-- and fresh ginger is better, but you know, you can use some ginger powder, because I think the gingersnaps need a little boost of the ginger, and it makes it better.

And look at the difference.

I mean, look at that gorgeous, wonderful color compared to not taking the steps and not browning things off.

I mean, it just makes a huge amount of difference.

And I'll tell you, I tasted both of them, and this one is a lot better.

Yes.

So don't rush.

Brown it up, and it'll be better.

We're cooking with lemon, dill, and chicken, and it's nonfattening.

I don't have a lot of fat in it.

I don't have a lot of calories.

It's good.

Lemon dill chicken.

Lemon dill chicken is a really good dish.

It was in one of the books that I wrote that didn't use fat or didn't use sugar or those kind of things in it.

So it was very, very low in calorie.

And it's a really good book.

It's called Fork in the Road.

But lemon dill chicken was one of the dishes in that.

It was really great, and it used arrowroot as a thickener.

And so we're showing thickeners today, so we're going to talk about the arrowroot.

But the first thing I'm going to do is, I'm going to brown this off.

Now, this is chicken breast.

And browning it off without any oil is--you got to have a nonstick pan.

If you don't have a nonstick pan, you got to really have a lot of liquid or stocks ready to put into it soon as you get the chicken out, because it's going to stick to it.

And it'll stick a little bit here, but I'm not going to worry about it.

The first time--first thing I want to do is, I'm going to add some herbs and spices to this.

And there's a little bit of dill in this, and there's-- well, you know, the normal-- the normal routine in herbs and spices, the good stuff.

And with this one, because I'm not using oil, I'm going to just make sure that it's patted down, and it's going to help the spices stick in easier or quicker or better or more.

And I'm going to do both sides and sprinkle the spices on.

And I got pretty much the right amount of spices here.

I got it for the dish, so I'm not going to use it all.

I'm going to put some more in later.

One of the things that happens with spices that you probably can see here is that if you have a lot of leafy things in it-- and I'm going to lower this down; it's getting-- starting to smoke-- a lot of leafy things in it, they come to the surface, so you got to be concerned about that in the way of making sure that if you use it-- if you use it, you got it mixed up well.

Now, there's no oil in this.

There's no oil on the chicken.

And so there's not going to be a lot of noise like normal, because that's where the noise comes from.

You know that sort of, like, crackling noise?

Now, I don't need to cook this all the way.

I want to brown it.

Then I going to put the onions in, and while the onion's cooking, I'm going to mix the arrowroot with the apple juice.

Now, see, it's got a good brown to it.

It's not as pretty a brown, and it won't have as much taste as if there was oil there.

I'm starting to see some seasoning that's overcooking, and so I'm going to get this dish off.

I got a clean one here, and I'm going to put the-- take the chicken breasts out.

See, it's nice; it's cooked.

And I don't want to-- I don't want to create some bitterness in the pan.

So I'm going to just do like that and hit it.

And see, I'm going to start the onions, and anything that was burned in there and that would be bitter in my estimation-- and you can try it and see, but anything that was really burned in there, it probably came out when I banged that skillet, because most things that are burned are loose.

And so I'm going to lower the fire just a little bit.

And while this is browning-- because I need to brown the-- I need to brown the onions.

I'm going to mix the arrowroot with the apple juice.

And I'm going to just pour this in and just stir.

It's not going to get real thick now, because what really thickens it is the heat.

And so--but I want to make sure I don't have any lumps in it.

It's hard to believe that something that is so liquidy at this point-- you know, and I've just about got it all dissolved-- but something that's so liquidy is going to get thick.

But what makes it thick is the heat.

And so the heat is what's-- you know, makes things brown, and in this case, it makes it thick.

And so see the onions are starting to brown.

And I love that.

I mean, I'm going to put the seasoning on it and continue the browning.

And the seasoning's going to help accelerate-- it's going to help accelerate the browning.

And see, soon as I put the seasoning in, see what happened?

The smoke started coming out.

Well, I know, then, that the seasoning has accelerated the amount of heat that's on the--and it's-- it didn't change the amount of heat.

It's effectively using the amount of heat.

That's why the smoke came up, because of the oil that's on the-- and small amount of oil that's on the herbs and spices, you know.

I'm getting some really good color.

I know this is going to be good.

I can smell it.

I mean, the smell is just really great.

So I'm going to add the stock to it.

Look at that stock, how it's gelled.

And it just really-- I mean, it just really just goes to a liquid immediately.

And that's what happens when you refrigerate stocks.

If it's a good stock, it'll turn to a gel.

I got my-- I got my arrowroot.

I'm going to put it in.

And then I'm going to put the rest of the apple juice in.

Now, I also like to use pepper sauces.

And I think that pepper sauces really can make a difference, if they're not too hot.

I don't like it to be too hot.

And this one's a very mild pepper sauce, but it has a lot of flavor to it.

And so I'm going to get another taste out of it, see what the pepper sauce did to it.

Look at the thickening that's happening.

I mean, it's just wonderful.

Ah, the flavor of the pepper sauce is just really, really great.

This is the lemon juice.

Now, I choose to use real lemon juice, squeeze the lemon and make sure that-- you know, that you get all the juice out of the lemon.

And it just makes it so much difference.

And I don't like to cook it a long time.

I mean, I've got to the point where the thickening was happening then put the lemon juice in.

Ah.

Ah, we're going to put the chicken back in.

I need some sweetness.

Tasting it reminded me.

And these are three different artificial sweeteners.

If you mix two of them together, it'll have a better flavor.

Gonna give it a taste.

Oh, and now-- I mean, the sweetener just made so much difference.

It's just great.

I mean, it just has this-- the pepper sauce, the seasoning, the herbs and spices and the lemon, I mean, it's just fantastic.

And so what I got to do now, because the chicken's not cooked.

So we're going to just let them just simmer in there.

Arrowroot has twice the thickening power that flour has, and arrowroot is generally made from maize, or corn.

It thickens as it boils, as you can see.

This is done.

The chicken's done, you know.

And the thing to do is take a bite of it, but it's too hot.

But guess what.

I got some right here that we did before the show.

And look at that.

Isn't that beautiful, that beautiful color on there and the taste of the chicken?

And you know I don't normally taste, but this is low-fat, so here goes.

[laughs] Ooh, lemon dill chicken.

Wonderful.

I'm going back to Opelousas, Louisiana, and make some corn and andouille soup.

Oh, it's gonna be good.

Ah, corn and andouille soup.

Oh, you know about Cajun, but that's Cajun.

I mean, my family would do that when the corn was fresh in the fields.

And we'd make this andouille soup, which we made ourselves.

We made the andouille, which is a great smoked sausage.

And this is what it looks like.

We got it cut up, but this is what it looks like.

I mean, it's really beautiful.

It's probably the only sausage I know of that has potatoes and onions in it.

But it's a great sausage that we've been making for centuries.

So what we're going to do is, we're going to make a butter roux.

Now, a butter roux is just exactly what it-- it sounds just exactly what it really is, and it's put butter-- and I've got a little extra butter in here.

I don't want to brown the butter, so I'm going to start-- I'm going to start cooking right away.

Soon as the butter starts melting, I'm going to add flour to it.

And gonna cool the pan down just a little bit with the flour and the butter.

And then, because this is a small amount, it'll change colors really quickly.

If you had more, I'd go to a larger skillet.

But the idea is, is that the butter is going to brown, and it gives this wonderful aroma.

But also, the flour browns, and I think that's the best aroma I've ever tasted, is the great smell of brown flour.

In south Louisiana, where I was born, we do it as a flavoring agent, and it's literally a thickening agent and a flavoring agent.

Every time you do this, it's going to be a little bit difference because it depends on the flour.

And what I mean by that is, the flour itself is going to be different each time a little bit, and when you apply all this heat to it, it really-- it really shows its differences as for thickness and for color change and for all those things.

So isn't that beautiful?

I mean, I know you can see it now.

It is just gorgeous.

And I want to take this particular--sometimes I'll take roux to real dark, and this one, I don't want to do that because it's got butter in it.

If I had oil, then I could take it dark and it wouldn't hurt it.

And the smell is really giving me information that says, "Take it out of the pan."

And so I'm going to put it in a pan that hasn't-- and see how it's kind of liquidy, you know?

Well, as soon as it sets for a while, that's going to start changing.

Now, I've got a pan that's preheated.

And the next step-- this is about flavor.

And when I say "about flavor," I mean, when we eat stuff in central Louisiana, where I was born-- I mean, everything Mother cooked had an enormous amount of flavor in it.

You know, and it wasn't just pepper.

The Louisiana andouille sausage is unique to any sausage that I've ever tasted.

I mean, I don't know of anything else that could give you that kind of flavor or that kind of smell or that kind of-- once you've used a great andouille sausage, you'll never want to use anything else.

I mean, you just won't.

So I've got the sausage browned, and I still need to-- I still need to brown, so I'm going to-- I could use another skillet, or I could just take this and put it right here and let it cool, because I'm going to put all that back in at one time.

So I'm going to put the onions in.

And I've got a little bit of oil for the onions with the flour.

I should have put the oil right in with the onions, but I was jabbering so much, and it's just a small amount, so I'm going to just put a little bit of oil then stir it in.

See the action from that?

I mean, it's so important to understand and to know, is that what really makes things cook is the usage of the fire and the usage of the ingredients that you put with it.

And that's what my mother did over and over and over again all kind of ways.

I mean, she would just-- I mean, she could just so-- she was so versatile in getting flavors out of dishes.

And of course, I watched that and helped her do it, and so I learned something about it.

Now, I don't want-- I've got the onions browned.

I've got the sausage browned.

I've got the flour browned.

So I don't need to brown the onions--the bell peppers and the different color bell peppers.

I want to leave them with some little bit of color to it.

And I'm going to put the seasoning in.

Now, this is the first time that I've added seasoning.

I could have added it to the flour.

But as the flour cooled down, the seasoning--if you put it in there, you got to really understand what you're doing, because if the flour's really, really hot and you don't spread it real quick, and then what'll happen is that the seasoning will overcook.

But if you put it in a pan, then you can control it, because you see the color changes?

I mean, it's so defined.

It really is.

I mean, you see, and that's the herbs and spices.

I'm going to add some butter to it just for the aggravation of it.

It's not in the recipe, but I'm going to do it anyway because it's right here and I have some.

Ugh.

Lower the fire.

I'm going to put the garlic in.

Put a little bit of brown sugar in.

Put the tomatoes in.

And I got it off fire now.

I've got the butter melting.

This is getting very close to getting done.

I mean, the flavors that we've added--now we got to put the corn.

Oh, I love fresh corn.

I mean, absolutely spectacular stuff, fresh corn.

Now, the steps I'm going to take is, put some stock in it.

I'm not going to put all of it or a huge amount, because the next thing is to put the roux and the andouille in.

The bad part about is, that's hard to show you, doing that, but I'm going to try.

Hopefully they got a camera on top.

And this roux is going to thicken the juices.

And I need to get it all, because I didn't overdo it.

Ah, yes.

I'm going to put the fire all the way back up, and soon as this-- I'll see the thickness of this very, very quick.

And you see the brown that's going to start coming off of it.

And as it boils, it's going to start mixing the flavors, and I just love that.

And so--but if you make a soup like this, you probably need a pot, and especially if you're going to use a recipe, because we take some of the recipe down, or we make it smaller so that it's easier for you to see what I'm doing.

But this would be a soup, and it would have lots of stock in it, and it would be very soupy and a beautiful brown color, like you can see there.

So I'm going to add the rest to it.

Oh, you can't put too much really good stock in it.

[inhales sharply] Look-a-there.

Mmm!

Corn and andouille soup: I'm going to eat the whole bowl.

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

We love you guys out there!

Get you some andouille and do your own corn and andouille soup.

You'll love it.

>> 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 >> Okay, look here.

Don't look at me.

Look at the camera.

>> Prudhomme: I didn't look at you.

Why would I want-- [laughing] Oh, does this smell good, but I don't know what it is.

>> Soy sauce.

>> Prudhomme: [laughs] Oh, it is such wonderful soy sauce.

I got to put them on there.

And then they-- [clatter] [laughs] And then the crash.

We're going to put the plantains in.

And I'm going to start-- hey, did you see that?

[laughs] Oh, man, I never thought I could do that.

There it goes, all right.

[laughing] Put your best ugly face on.

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