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

We're gonna pickle eggs with okra and pearl onion, and we're gonna make vinaigrette and put it in there.

And then we're gonna do Angler's Wife Salad, which is absolutely wonderful, green tomato chowchow.

I'm always cooking.

Yeah, and we're nna cook with y'all today.

[lively Cajun music] ♪ ♪ We're pickling today.

You know, pickled eggs is one of those things that--well, pickling in general was considered poor man's stuff because it was preserved and you could take it with you.

And in the beginning, you know, it started out with being able to take food with you on a long trip.

You'd either salt it down or you'd pickle it, and salted down, some things you can do and some things you can't, but pickling can cover the ones that you just don't salt down, because salted down is meats.

And so we're gonna start with--we got a pickled egg, and pickled egg is one of my favorites, because I take it with me when I travel.

I'm putting the oil--I've got the pan hot, and I'm putting the oil in the onions.

I want to just get some flavors going, and so I'm gonna put the onion rings in.

We just want to just give them some flavor, some color, and then we'll start adding the rest of the ingredients.

We're gonna put the seasoning in right with them now and let that rip.

The reasoning, for me, to do the seasoning and the onions together is to cook the seasoning.

The onions--the pickling will take care of the onions, and so you can do a brown with them, and you can make them browner than I did.

The next step is, we're gonna start adding some liquid ingredients in it to stop the cooking of the vegetables and the onions and start the process of finishing the dish, because this is very quick.

It really is.

We got peppers we're gonna put into it, and you could cut them up or leave them whole.

I like to leave them whole.

Those don't need to be cooked.

We've got sweeteners, which I don't want to put in yet.

We got some vinegars.

[pan sizzling] This is the apple cider vinegar that I'm putting in, and then we have a white vinegar.

And the reason for combining vinegars is really simple: it's flavor, absolute flavor.

This is a balsamic vinegar.

And when you do that, when you put different flavors together, it just--I mean, to me, it makes a huge difference.

We're gonna add a little more acid to it.

We got some lime.

We've got some lemons, and then we're gonna add some water.

And this basic recipe is just about done.

A little bit of thyme, because I got boiled eggs, and we're gonna talk about that in a minute.

Now, I'm gonna put some sweetener in it.

You could put sugar in it, but they got great sweeteners out there now that--you know, that can take the heat of the water, and so, you know, I'm gonna put that in, and then we're gonna stir.

We're gonna give it a taste.

The next step is to put the-- I'm gonna taste it.

I can't talk when I'm ready to taste, because I'm so anxious to see what it tastes like.

I like things to just really charge at you, I mean, just really charge at you.

When you use--oh, the sweetener.

I mean, it took the acid down, which, to me, is key.

I mean, it's really important.

It don't make it sweet, but it takes the acid down.

And I would use two sweeteners, because if you're gonna use sugar, then it doesn't mter.

Just put the sugar in.

But if you use sweeteners, I would use two different sweeteners, because I feel like they rlly counter each other's negatives.

And so now we've got--we've got the eggs in, and you bring it to a boil.

And once it's boiling, what you should do is put it in a jar or put it in however.

I'm gonna move this to the back burner and let it cook a little while.

We don't want to boil it real hard for a long time, but you see the eggs are starting to change color just slightly, and it's picking up some of the flavors.

And you want that to continue, so I'm gonna take this pot, move it over.... And turn the fire on.

I'm gonna turn a low fire on it, and so it will simmer--because it needs to simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes-- and make sure that the pickling has come together.

And so I've got the--I'm gonna do another pickling, and this one starts with--we're gonna add some water.

All right, so our second pickling is gonna be okra and pearl onion vinaigrette.

The spices are important.

We've got the spices, the onions, the garlic, the salt, the coriander.

We're gonna have bay leafs in it.

We're gonna have ginger and sugar and ground chilies, and that's one of the things that's gonna make it totally different, even though you're still gonna need the balsamic vinegar and the rice vinegar and all the others there.

I got the water boiling, so here comes the okra and pearl onion vinaigrette.

Now, I'm gonna put some seasoning in, and you know normally, if you watch the show a lot, that I like to put the seasoning in dry, but it doesn't hurt it to put it in this way, because I'm gonna boil-- I'm gonna actually poach.

I'm gonna poach some onions or bring them to a boil and cook onions.

And the spices are gonna, of course, make them happy, which is what I'm about, is making things happy with spices.

Gonna move this over a bit, and then we're gonna start.

We're gonna put the seasoning in.

Gonna start with that.

And then I've got three different kind of vinegars, and I'm gonna use the balsamic vinegar and the rice vinegar and the apple cider vinegar, and we're gonna mix that with the herbs and spices.

And then I've got cane vinegar.

That's the last vinegar.

And then I've got some water I'm gonna add to it, and then we're gonna add a little bit of pepper sauce.

Pepper sauce is important.

It really--we got a little dry sherry.

We're gonna stir it and see how the seasoning is working in it, if it's got enough in it or not.

Oh, that's great.

I've got the herbs and spices in it.

I tasted it.

It needed a little bit more, so I'm gonna add some more to it.

All right.

Now, the steps that I'm gonna take to finish it is very, very simple.

I'm gonna take my cooked okra-- shut the fire off.

Take the cooked okra and onions.

Now, you should cool them down, but I'm not gonna do that.

I'm gonna just put them right in here.

It really--it works the same as if you cool them down, but this way--oh, look-a-there.

Mmm.

And it immediately starts--I mean, the heat just starts pushing the odor or the smell or the flavor of the vinaigrette, and so this is gonna be great.

I've got a salad that I'm doing with this vinaigrette.

It works well with salad.

I've got some salad right here, and so I'm gonna take this vinaigrette that's brand-new with those wonderful herbs and spices in it and just put it right on the salad.

And then I'm gonna take some of those egg--beautiful eggs that have been pickled.

Oh, I like--I like a lot of dressing on my salads.

That's probably enough salad dressing on there.

I got me some onions in there that we poached also.

And now we're gonna put a little bit of the egg that we poached, and, of course, it should be put at rest for a day or two, but I can't resist, because the pickling has started.

It's started.

And as days goes on, it's gonna get more and more to the center, and it's gonna--but we have a pickled egg salad here.

We got the okra, and we got the onions to put into it, and to make it pretty, I like to take and sort of do it--as you put them on, do it a little different.

And what I mean by that is that the top of the--the cut on the okra going on top and then just spread the onions just everywheres and just make them pretty.

And there you go.

You have a great salad with all kind of good stuff on it, and it's delicious.

We're gonna do the Angler's Wife Salad, and wait until you see it.

It's gorgeous, and it's wonderful, and it's yellow.

We got an Angler's Wife happening here.

It's a salad, and it's called the Angler's Wife, and it's a pickling thing, and it has elements to it that's pretty-- they're fun to do and it takes a--there's, like, three different elements to it, and you got to bring them all together to make it happen.

But we can do that, because I got some help today.

But we're gonna cure the--we've cured the salmon, and you do it from one to three days.

We're sort of in between that.

We're not quite all the way at three days, but the salmon, I mean, it is cured.

We got to get seasoning going and everything going, but like I said, I got some help today.

I got Chef Paul Miller.

He's gonna help me with the salmon.

>> Thanks, Chef.

All right, what I'm gonna do is start with the salmon, because we've got to cure the salmon.

It's gonna take one to three days, depending on the thickness of it, but the first thing I want to do is to season it.

So we've got a seasoning mix here that we put together especially for the salmon, and I'm gonna turn it over and do this side first.

I want to season it evenly.

The reason I want to season it first is, let it start to work on the salmon.

And what it does is, it starts toraw the moisture from it.

The salt that's in the seasoning mix pulls the liquid up to the surface, which will mix with the vegetables that I'm gonna put on it, and it really makes kind of a saucy kind of marinade.

I'm gonna season it really, really well, because the seasonings are gonna come off after it's cured--be wiped off, what's left.

I just want the flavors in it to go through it.

Gonna pat it down a little bit, season it really, really good.

Now, on the thick parts right here, I'm gonna put a little bit more, and then as it gets a little bit thinner, it will be just a little less just so it's not too much on the thin parts.

Turn it over a little bit more.

Season this side over here.

Oh, it smells great already.

Pat it down a little bit more.

Just about got it.

There, okay.

Now, I'll let that work while I'm mixing the vegetables.

What we've got here is leeks, and I'll talk about leeks a little bit.

They really need to be washed really, really well.

As they grow, the other layers grow on the outside, so sand and dirt gets all around it as the other layers of leeks come on around it.

So you want to--as you cut it off, you have to cut in slices, but you've got to really wash it three or four times.

Let it soak.

Wash it between your hands.

Take them out; put them in the other water.

Let it float to the top of the water, skim it off, and put it into clean water.

And do that three or four times so you're really sure that all the dirt and sand is out.

And we've done that here.

I'm gonna mix it in the bowl just like that.

Sliced carrot, sliced very thin, celery, and here is fresh dill.

This is wonderful.

I guess you could use dry if that's what you really like, but dill gives it so much--such a different taste than the dry.

So I'm gonna put all of that in there and then the seasoning.

Now, the seasoning, because of the salt in it, will do the same thing on the fish.

It will draw the moisture out of the vegetables, which will make them stick to the salmon and make it work a lot better, a lot better.

Make sure it's coated good.

Next, what I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna turn the fish over, and I'm gonna put some of these vegetables down here so that we season the bottom of the fish as well.

Turn it back over and then coat it really even, like so.

Now, what I like to do to really, you know, make it--make the seasoning get into it and cure it a lot easier or a lot quicker is, I'll put another pan on top and then put some weights on it just to kind of hold it down.

It brings the moisture out, mixes with the spices and with the vegetables, and goes back into the meat.

And when we show you the cured ones, you'll see what I mean.

The next step that we have to do is--there's about three steps to this recipe, so we're gonna go to Chef Paul and start working with him.

>> Prudhomme: [laughs] Thanks, Paul.

Oh, we got--we got to put that in the refrigerator for two or three days or three or four days or whatever you want to let it marinate and let that salmon come into another life.

Oh, it'll be great.

Be great.

So now we've got to make the sauce, and we've got to make the pickling--the pickling stuff.

And so I'm gonna do the pickling stuff.

I'm gonna start with it, and I've got the water already hot, and so it's really simple to do, I mean, honestly, simple to do.

And so we've got some seasoning blend.

We need to put that in.

And we've got some onions.

I'm gonna turn the fire up and bring it to a boil.

Onion and garlics in this onion thing.

And you can use any kind of fresh pepper you want.

I really prefer fresh there.

This is vinegar, and we're gonna add the vinegar to it.

I've got the fire all the way up.

Now, I'm gonna put sugar in it, and it takes quite a bit of sugar, as you see.

It just really makes a difference in it to have the sugar in.

And this is what it's gonna look like once it's cooked.

And so we've got the watermelon, and I'm gonna ask Paul to come on in and give me a hand, because he's really good at that.

You want to come in, Paul?

>> You bet.

>> Prudhomme: We're gonna make the watermelon rind--he's gonna cut the watermelon rind, and then we're gonna make the sauce together.

>> Well, the first thing I'm gonna do is cut this skin off the outside.

That's some tough stuff, and it's got a little bit of bitterness to it.

We certainly don't want that in there.

>> Prudhomme: And you're right.

You need to get that skin off, but you also need to have some of the red left in the rind so it gives it a good color and that you have enough of the rind to really get a crunch to it.

There you go.

You got it.

>> I'm gonna leave about 1/4 of an inch on it.

>> Prudhomme: Paul and I have been working together for almost 30 years, not quite 30 years yet, and I'm still learning from him.

[laughs] >> And I know I don't look like 30 years we've been together, but...

So here we go.

We've got this.

I'm gonna do one more for you.

Now, this is very important to save too, because that's snack food for later... >> Prudhomme: Right.

>> While we're waiting for this stuff to finish.

>> Prudhomme: So now, this is getting ready to come to a boil.

I'm gonna just reach in here and take this out, because I know he's not gonna cut me.

You're welcome to cut it any kind of way after it's been in the pickling and that's been there for a day or so.

And you can make little rosettes with it.

I mean, it's really pretty, as you can see.

I mean, it's a gorgeous element that you can add to dinner.

And to do e rosettes is just really simple.

You just take it and just wrap it around your finger, you know, and then you can do all kind of things to it, just be creative.

You know, you can make it small, bigger, or you can just eat it.

[laughs] Good--do the sauce, Paul.

>> You got it.

All right, we're gonna start with--first thing you got to do is--I know I lot of people, when they read recipes and it says, "cracked whole pepper," are not sure exactly how to do it.

The best way to do it is to have it in a plastic bag like this.

And these are red peppercorns, 'cause they've got such a wonderful flavor, one of my favorite.

So I'm gonna just pound it a little bit.

You can use a hammer or the back of a knife, anything hard.

Just get a little pounding on it just to crack them.

Now, I've got a little cracked pepper right here.

So what I'm gonna do is, I've got fresh mango.

I'm gonna start off by putting it in the blender.

Now, you want to puree the mango, so we want to put it in first, and then we'll put a little bit of liquid in there, which is the lime juice.

I'm putting in mirin, which is a rice wine; make it a little easier to puree.

[blender whirring] Now, you could use a--you know, a blender, or you can use a processor.

Either one works well.

This works pretty well.

It's pretty quick.

[blender whirring] You want to process it until it's very smooth.

I'm gonna put the seasoning in next, get that well blended.

[blender whirring] Now, the last ingredients, I don't really--they're already chopped.

Here we've got shallots that have been chopped up really fine.

We've got zest from the lime, and we've got the peppers that I've already crushed, so I don't want to process them any more.

All I'm gonna do is put them in and blend it a little bit, but I'm gonna finish the vinaigrette with the oil first.

So I'm gonna start it up, and then I'll pour the oil into it.

[blender whirring] And on me.

Okay.

Now, also, Chef has made a simple syrup here, and it's exactly like--it's as simple as it sounds.

It's just water, sugar, and here we gave it a little extra flavor with the zest of lime.

This is it here.

It's already made.

Just took--this amount only took about 30 seconds to reduce down.

I'm gonna pour it into here.

It's gonna give it a great consistency and flavor, of course, and sweetness, great lime taste.

That's that.

So the last ingredients I have-- I'm gonna blend this.

[blender whirring] And the last thing I'm gonna do is put in the shallots, the zest of lime, and the red peppercorns.

Now, I don't want to grind this up any more, so what I'm gonna do is just kind of pulsate it... [blender buzzing] Just to mix it really well.

And that's it.

Chef, what's next?

>> Prudhomme: Well, we got this--I mean, the rind is in there, and I'm gonna just move it over.

And we've got a salad here, and we've got some dressing.

And we've got that wonderful dressing you just made that we have in advance, and we're gonna put that on there.

And then, Paul, why don't you get me some salmon, and we're gonna put it on this salad.

I'm gonna move this over so the camera's got a good look.

I'm gonna put this down, and we're gonna take some of this--oh, look, we got--oh, isn't that beautiful?

I'm gonna put the--oh, does smell good.

Ooh, I'm always talking about smell, but I'll tell you, this is just amazing.

I mean, it just really is.

I mean, the first thing I got was this incredible, wonderful smell of the spices with the salmon.

And then we're gonna put some picklers--pickled watermelon on it, and we got a dish.

I mean, this is a feast dish.

There's no doubt about it.

Say, you want to take it home with you?

>> Oh, yeah.

This is mine.

>> Prudhomme: I outrank you.

[laughs] Green tomato chowchow: something from my childhood that's wonderful.

Green tomato chowchow.

Now, a lot of you that are watching may not know what chowchow is, but it's a Louisiana thing and it's a mixture--it's like a pickling mixture, but we had specific things that we called chowchow, and it had heat in it; it had sugar in it, so it was sweet and hot.

And we would use it--we could put it on sandwiches.

We could, you know, put it with our rice and gravy, because that's one of the things we had every day when I was a kid.

We had rice and gravy, and then we had other things, but rice and gravy was essential.

And so you need green tomatoes for this one, because it is a green tomato one, and if you don't see them at the market you go to, just ask the produce guy.

He's probably got some in the back, because they let them ripen before they bring them out, so get you some green tomatoes.

And you want them to be real solid green--really solid green tomatoes.

They're unripened, and they're very tart, and they're perfect for this particular dish.

We got some spices we're gonna put into it.

We got the water boiling.

And this is a kind of thing that really needs to set.

I mean, the third day, the fifth day, the tenth week, you know, the tenth month, I mean, it's just better.

And we'd put it on the table at the house, you know.

But we start with a mixture of pickle, and it's got salt and spices.

It's got onion.

It's got garlic.

It's got--we got dill I'm gonna put in now.

We got some fresh dill.

We got some mustard, dry mustard.

And so I think it's important-- I really do think it's important to let this cook a minute and let it just really get into the water, because the next steps are gonna move pretty quickly, but I'm gonna put in the sugar.

And as you can see, there's a lot of sugar in here.

There's a couple of cups.

I want to dissolve the sugar before I go any further, and then I'll start putting the rest of the ingredients in.

We got four different chilies.

And, you know, that's kind of a thing that if you can decide for yourself, you know, if you want to do this, use the chilies you like.

I'm using Anaheim and poblano and banana and jalapeño, and they're all fresh.

I mean, and they're wonderful.

They really are.

I mean, they're just great, but you can use anything--literally, anything you want.

And so we've got that to put in.

We might as well just go ahead and put them in now since we talked about them.

We got some onions to put in.

We want to do that.

And because it's a pickling, I mean, there's no real order that they go into it.

We have it in--we have the order in the recipe, and you might want to use that, but I don't think that-- you know, there's no real order.

We got two vinegars, a white wine vinegar and a balsamic vinegar, and we want to bring it back to a boil, but we haven't quite got it there yet.

We're gonna put onions in it.

All right, we're starting to come to a boil.

We're gonna put the sweet potatoes in, and the last step is, we're gonna put the green tomatoes--well, actually, it's the second-to-last step, because I'm gonna bring this to a boil one more time, and then I like to put the tamari and the sesame in at the end.

The tamari can go in earlier than the sesame, but I like to put the sesame in at the end, because if you put the sesame in too quickly, it's gonna diminish--at least I think so--it's gonna diminish in the chowchow.

So what we're gonna do is let this cook a minute, and then we'll come right back and finish it.

I got to taste this to make sure it's--and it's hot, I know it, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

Oh, you--I mean, you know, you see me do this a lot, but this time, it's, like, awesome, awesome flavor, the vinegar and the sugar and all the elements that are in it.

I'm gonna put the tamari and the sesame all in it.

You could even delay the sesame a little more, but I'm gonna shut this down.

I'm gonna--I mean, this is gonna pickle absolutely wonderful, because it's sour, and it's going to--I mean, you let this set for a week or ten days or three months.

I mean, you know, when you put it on something, it's just gonna make a difference, I mean, a huge difference.

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

We love you guys.

Get you some green tomatoes and have a good chowchow.

>> 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.

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: