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

Oh, bakin' is a good thing.

I like to bakin'.

We're gonna make a jalapeño pie.

We're going to do a Basque chicken with shrimp in a wine sauce, and then we're doing New Mexico bread pudding, and we're gonna put some good stuff on top.

We're really baking today, so come on and join us.

[lively Cajun music] ♪ ♪ Yeah, we're cooking today.

We got some New Mexico apple bread pudding.

Oh, I love bread pudding.

You know, in Louisiana, that's a very popular thing, and I've been doing bread pudding since I was a kid.

This one's a little bit different.

We've got some apple cores and apple peel and stuff that's boiling here.

I'm going to put some brown sugar, put some cloves, and then put a cinnamon stick right there.

And that's the beginning of building e flavors.

And so the apple is going to have--oh, look at that color in there.

Oh, it's really beautiful.

Of course, the brown sugar helped, but it was starting-- that apple core was--the apple pieces were starting to really move forward, and I'm going to move them forward that way and put the fire on and let them just sort of make love.

We've got some almond slices, and I want to toast the almond slices.

These are going to roast kind of slow, so I'm going to just keep going here, and the next step is take the eggs and just--I don't want to beat them up real bad.

I just want to break them and just get them going.

When I'm doing a bread pudding, I don't want the eggs to be really totally mixed-- I mean totally whipped-- where they get a lot of air in them.

And so we put the milk in.

We put the sweet spices in and the brown sugar.

I want to make sure that-- I don't want to burn my almonds, and these are really important.

But while I'm going to just shake this up and give it some good whipping just for a second.

It won't take long.

So when you're doing this, you don't have to think of it as really a long method of doing that.

Just whisk it up real good.

And so the almonds are working.

I'm going to drain this out, and it's got the brown sugar in it and all that stuff.

So I want to take the peels out.

I'm going to shut the fire off.

Make sure I got the back fire, 'cause I want the almonds to keep cooking.

And I'm going to let this drip.

Ooh, the almonds are hot, but they're good.

I got to get them out of here because--as soon as you see when you're roasting nuts-- you see that dark smoke coming up, it's time to move on.

I mean, it's really time to move on.

But I love roasted.

And look at that.

That's a really dark piece right here.

Now, that's going to contribute to the flavors because that's different color of almonds there.

So we need to put some of the stock in with the eggs, and I want to do that in a sort of a gentle way, because you know what happens if you put a lot of hot liquid in with eggs?

They'll gel on you.

So you don't want to do that.

So I'm going to put in a small amount at a time.

This is the kind of time that you wish you had three hands, but I think I can do it like this and just put little bits at a time, little bits at a time.

Now, what I'm actually doing is building flavors and getting this ready to become a pudding.

And so I love puddings.

I mean, puddings are-- bread puddings are probably one of the real favorite things.

And I like bread puddings to be just real wet, I mean, just soggy, soggy wet.

And the way to do that-- the best way to get a bread pudding really soggy, soggy wet is to have very, very dry bread crumbs like we have here.

I think I have enough of that, and I'm going to just set this aside and bring my-- we've got the very dry bread crumbs.

We've got the raisins and the butter and the cheese and the apple.

Putting it all together, you need to be able to have time to let this get wet.

And you want it to be as wet as you possibly can get it.

And so we're going to put some of the bread--the bread pieces in here, the bread crumbs, and then we're going to start layering.

You don't have to layer, but I like to layer, and when you layer, you get a better taste.

And so--and it doesn't matter which way you layer in.

I don't even know this-- which way the recipe calls for the layering.

I'm just going to layer it, because it's all the same thing.

In other words, we're layering with the same thing.

We're layering with butter.

We're layering with cheese.

We're layering with raisins, and we're layering with apples.

So it all works well together.

So the next--whoops.

Don't want to put too much butter.

I guess I better use my hands.

I'm not supposed to use my hands for television, but...

I'm going to put some of the apple on.

I'm going to use my hands.

It works--it's going to work better.

Then a layer and a layer.

We're going to put some more cheese on.

And the cheese will try to-- will maybe block a little bit of everything just coming together.

We're going to put some more bread crumbs, and I'm going to get them in the sides here.

Ahh, bread crumbs, bread crumbs.

And see how quickly it builds, and it's certainly going to go down when you start cooking, and it's going to go down a lot.

But we're going to put the raisins and the bread crumbs... and the apples.

More butter.

I'm going to put a lot of butter on it.

This pan is full, so I'm going to relent right here.

I'm going to finish with just a little bit more raisins.

And then I'm going to take this wonderful stuff I got here with all the sweet spices in it and just put it right over the top, right over the top and just let it go.

Now, again, I want to soak this for at least--at least three hours.

We literally set it in the morning and don't let-- don't cook it until it's done in the afternoon.

I mean, it's really-- we're going to put the almonds on top.

The almonds are nice and warm.

And we could have layered them in if we wanted to.

We don't have to.

And you just let this set and let that absorb.

Oh, look at that juice in that.

Lookit that juice in there.

You bake at 350 degrees uncovered for 30 to 50 minutes, and it depends on the oven from 30 to 50 minutes, and it depends how the moisture is.

And remember, if you let it soak until the bread absorbs most of the juices, it's going to be dynamite.

Now, I've got one in the oven, and I can smell it.

Smells good.

I can smell it.

It smells really good.

I'm going to put a couple layers of cheese on top of here.

You can do this any way you want to.

I really mean that.

But, you know, with a little cheese on top and maybe a little--a little more exciting to the first point of view of it.

People looking at it and saying, "Ooh, bread pudding with cheese on top."

And so that's a good idea to do that.

I've got a little bit of the-- I've got a little bit of the moisture left in.

I'm going to put it in there, because I think that the more moisture you have, the better off you are.

And then I'm going to-- I've got this one.

I'm going to put it in the oven.

I got one in the oven ready to go, and then we're going to have some bread pudding with whipped cream, yes.

Oh, lordy.

Look at that one.

Wow.

Isn't that gorgeous?

That is beautiful.

You could not ask for a better-looking bread pudding than this dude.

Knowing we have a whole lot of hungry people, we might as well get it cooking.

Now, remember, whipping cream.

Put whatever you want in it.

You can put booze in it or vanilla or sugar, or almost anything goes good in whipping cream.

And that's wonderful.

Baking, baking, baking.

Jalapeño pie.

You make one of those, and you're going to just love it.

[smooth jazz music] Jalapeño pie.

Oh, this is unusual jalapeño pie, but it's wonderful.

It has cornmeal in it.

And the cornmeal's toasted, and we already got that done.

Oh, it comes in an iron skillet.

You know, I mean, iron skillets have been around a long time, and it's one of the things that I used as a child with cooking.

I mean, iron skillets are absolutely wonderful.

And you know, you talk about cleaning them.

And the best way to clean them is just to put some oil in them.

This one's already clean, as you can see, but you put some oil in it, and you turn it-- you take a towel and wipe around the iron skillet, and you turn it over on the fire with the fire going.

And that'll clean it out.

Then you take it and wipe it off, and it makes it a really good one.

Let's get back to the jalapeño pie, and so I'm going to start by adding--I got some-- I got some leche here, or milk, here, and I'm going to put some butter in it.

And I've got a little bitty fire under here, but I'm going to crank it up, 'cause I want to melt this down.

Now the cornmeal-- the cornmeal's already been toasted, so my good guys in the back already did that.

So all I need to do is heat this up.

I'm going to move this over.

And so here I've got some toasted cornmeal.

I'm going to put it right in here.

I got a little bit of brown sugar.

I've got some baking powder, and I've got some herbs and spices, and I'm going to just put a small amount of the herbs and spices in, not a whole lot, not all of it anyway.

Because I'm going to use it again, 'cause I still got one more ingredient to put in here.

And this is hot water, and this'll activate everything going on here--all the herbs and spices, and this is ready.

I'm going to dump it.

And so it's like--it's like a way of making this happen quicker or a way of controlling it.

You put the cornmeal in there, 'cause the cornmeal's going to get puffy.

Now, the next step I'm going to do is, I'm going to brown the onions.

I've got some butter.

I'm going to only put half the butter in because I think that's enough, and I'm going to put the rest of the butter in later in the process of cooking.

And so I'm going to add the onions to it.

You can see it's already hot.

Now I want to brown the onions, and that's going to take a couple of seconds to do so, but I've got the fire real hot.

And you can--the onions are starting to get brown a little bit, and I'm adding jalapeño peppers.

We're going to add some more butter to it, and then I'm going to put the seasoning in.

Now, this is going to elevate the heat, putting the seasoning in, because that's one of seasoning's job in the world is to elevate the heat.

While that's happening, I'm going to take the eggs and the milk and mix them together.

Oh, I got stuff going, don't I?

Yeah.

I'm going to pour the milk in.

Actually I'll put the eggs in first.

It'll make them easier to whip quickly.

Because this is--this is sort of the topping.

It's unusual to have a topping with eggs and milk, but I'm going to put a little bit of the seasoning in that I reserved for this, because I like seasoning in every step of the way.

I'm going to put the rest right here.

So the cheese and the eggs and the milk, it goes on top right at the end.

So I mean, it just makes it an incredible jalapeño pie.

It really does.

I mean, it just--it's just good, good, good stuff.

You know, always I say to people that you should use what you like.

And what I mean by that is that if you use jalapeños, if you use jalapeños, there's hot jalapeños or very hot jalapeños and some that are not.

And the only way to find that out is to check them out or taste them.

And so, you know, you should make sure that your jalapeños are not really, really hot.

And if they are, if they're hotter than you want to, just put less in.

I mean, it's just that easy.

All right, I'm about ready to move on this thing and finish the pie.

I got this hot, okay?

So I'm going to pull it over.

You can see the fire still going here.

I'm going to change the fire and not make it quite so hot.

I'm going to go all the way down on the fire.

I'm going to add the-- I'm going to turn this one off too.

I'm going to put the onions and jalapeños in the bottom, and then the rest of it is just really simple.

I'm going to add the corn bread right on top of that.

Spread it out real good.

Make sure you've--make sure you've put oil in the bottom of the pan so this won't stick.

I'm going to put this on.

That's the next step.

Oh, look at that eggs and milk.

Ohh.

And then put the cheese on top.

This is relatively easy.

Once you've done the chopping, you know, it can go together real quick.

And then you put it in the oven and bake it, and when you do that, it's just going to-- I mean, it's going to come out absolutely spectacular.

Look-a-here.

Just take a look at this.

And look at the cheese on top and the jalapeño rings.

I mean, just amazing.

It's just absolutely wonderful.

I'm going to take a piece of it out, a slice of it out.

And the crew was nice enough to cut it for me.

I got to admit to that.

And we're going to put it right here, and it's cooled down a bit, so I can take a bite of it.

You bake it 350 degrees for 30 to 50 minutes.

You cut it in wedges.

You can put sour cream on it, whatever you want.

And it'll be a great-- I mean, a great breakfast, lunch, or dinner for you.

Ooh, jalapeño pie.

Jalapeño pie.

Oh.

Absolutely fabulous.

Absolutely fabulous.

Oh, yum.

Basque chicken and shrimp in a wine sauce next.

We're going to do a "bask" chicken, or as we would say in French, "bah-sk" chicken with shrimp in wine.

And it's part of our baking series, 'cause we're going to put it in the oven.

The oven temperature should be around 350 degrees.

A traditional Basque dish, and, of course, it's our interpretation of it.

So we're going to start out.

Then we want to show youow to do some stocks.

And first thing we're going to do before the stocks is, we're going to put a little bit of oil on the chicken, because I want to get the chicken brown.

And I'm putting it on the skin first and then turning it on the other side.

And I'm going to take herbs and spices and just sprinkle it in right on top.

Now, this is going to go into a sauce dish or a dish with sauce, and so you don't want to put too much seasoning on it, but it doesn't--it won't matter if you do put a little bit too much.

But I'm sprinkling it on, and I've got the seasoning done.

I'm going to put this-- I got my pan hot.

You can hear it sizzling.

I'm going to turn it all the way up, and I'm going to brown this off, and that's the first step.

And then I'm going to go here to a stock because I think stocks is one of the most important things in great food.

Anytime you put--anytime you put water in food and you're making a sauce or, you know--anytime you do that, you're going to diminish the flavor.

I mean, that's water's job on Earth is to dilute things.

And so, you know, it's so much better to use a stock.

And stocks are easy to make.

This is bones that actually don't have any or very little meat on it.

And you can roast them, or you can do them unroasted.

It's up to you.

I like to do the roasted ones.

So I'm going to put it-- I got the water boiling.

And I'm going to put as much bones as I possibly can put in it, and then the vegetables.

Again, you can do it two different ways.

You can roast the vegetables and just slide them in the oven in a pan, and you can roast them, or you can put them in raw.

I'm going to choose to put them in raw simply because I've got the roasted chicken.

I mean, it's really got a great roast on it, so I'm just going to add that to it.

Now, you let this cook.

And you literally can do this overnight, and you know, I mean, if you have a reasonably good stove, you know, it's not dangerous to do.

Because you want to-- once you bring it to a boil, you want to lower the fire down real low and then you just let it simmer, and as the water diminishes, add more water to it, and it's going to be a great taste.

So now the goal here is just browning this off to get great flavors.

And I've got brown on both sides, as you can see.

And so I'm going to put it right in the dish, in the casserole where it goes.

I've got a little bit of oil left.

I'm going to put the onions in.

I love to brown onions, because it makes a difference in the taste of the onion.

It gives it a really sweet taste to anything, and anytime I can get natural sweetness in a dish without using--sweetness in a dish without using sugar-- and doing it naturally with onions is one of the ways.

And this is a casserole dish that's going to be put in the oven, and it's going to be brown on the outside, and so I don't have to brown the onions quite as much as I normally would.

And so I've got the onions going.

There is a color change.

I don't know if we can-- if you guys can see it.

But I'm going to put the ham in because I want it to start getting some color also.

And so I'm going to go back to my stock and look at it.

It hasn't started to boil yet.

And I'm going to just make sure everything is in the water.

And it's just so simple to do that.

There's no reason not to if you enjoy cooking.

And if you just cook on the weekends, you know, do this on Thursday or Friday night and then put it in the fridge and cool it.

It'll last relatively long if you put it in a container and don't continue to open it.

So if you use small amounts at a time of the stock, you can just leave it in a closed container.

Put it in back of the fridge, and it's going to last a long time.

So how's the color doing here?

You see the color starting to happen on this?

I got the fire all the way up.

And so the next thing I'm going to add to it is the herbs and spices, and we're going to just sprinkle them in.

Now, I've got to tell you right up front that I don't really follow my recipes exactly.

And sometimes I actually do because of what's happening, you know, in front of me.

But other times, I really-- most of the time, I don't follow the recipe.

Okay, so I'm going to put the flour in.

Now, the idea here is to build a slight crust.

You know, I won't be able to build a huge crust but to-- and to brown the flour along with the onions and everything to build flavor, because it will build flavor.

And if you find that-- see, I didn't put any oil in it, extra oil in it.

I just used what was from the chicken, and so if you find, like, you need a little extra oil, I've got a lot left of what I originally had, so I'm going to just pour that in and just keep working the flour.

I like to work flour at a very, very high temperature, because-- in other words, this thing's going all the way.

It's all the way up.

And it just--it gives it a great color really quick, and it makes it a lighter taste if you're doing it fast.

If you do it slow, it's okay.

I mean, it really is-- it's fine to do it slow.

I'm going to add onions to it-- I mean I'm going to add seasoning to it.

And that's going to help elevate it, because, boy, I'll tell you.

Seasonings just really make things--see the smoke just changed immediately as soon as I put the seasonings in?

And seasonings has an effect-- fire has an effect on seasoning that's just absolutely wonderful.

It really is.

I'm going to put some of the wine in.

Ahh.

It's really good.

It's a good wine.

And we're going to add some of it, and we're going to use the wine and the seasonings and the flour to build a crust.

And the way you have to build a crust is just to pat things down and then just let it cook for a couple of seconds.

And it don't take long.

So I'm going to turn my fire down on the--turn the fire down on the stock.

Once the stock has started boiling--like you see this one here--you should put it on a low fire because you don't want to--you don't want to continue to boil it at a rapid-- just a little bit of boil, rolling, barely that you can see is great to make a stock.

I mean, it really works.

Alcohol evaporates, and so what I've put in is going to evaporate at this temperature.

And there don't seem to be much action, but look-a-there.

I mean, isn't that a beautiful color?

Let me seef I can turn it all over for you.

Look at the color on the bottom.

I mean, this is working.

So I've got that going.

I'm going to put the stock in.

And now I'm getting close.

Ahh, put all the stock in.

I got a little bit of wine left and I'm aware of that, and so what I'm going to do with it is, I'm going to put that wine sort of on the top of everything.

So we got the mixture going.

Now I gotta make a sauce, and so the flour is doing its job.

And you got great color.

I need to taste it, because I need to make sure that I've got--oh, the smell is great.

But the smell really won't tell you the taste.

There's no doubt about that.

I mean, the taste will come from you tasting it, the real thing.

You see, old habit.

See how much is in here?

I don't--that's the way I used to taste, and I don't want to do that anymore.

I want to just give it an informational taste, and you can do that on the back of your spoon just like this.

And that's enough.

It may take you--ohh.

When the seasoning hit, I mean, just perfectly.

The brown flour.

I mean, it just really is-- it's really working.

It just really is good.

Now I know I got my shrimp left, and I'm going to shut the fire off.

I'm going to bring my casserole over because this is going in the oven.

I'm going to pour this right over it and put the skillet over here so I don't-- don't get it in the view.

I'm going to add the-- I'm going to add the little bit of wine that's left and just let that cook.

I've got some shrimp to put in.

Now, normally I just throw things in, but this one, I want to just put it-- I want you to be able to see the shrimp, because it is the most expensive thing there is in the dish.

And so I want it to be everywhere so when you give a person a spoonful of, you'll get some shrimp, and hopefully it will be kind of equal.

Now, we got one in the oven.

And so what we're going to do is, we're going to take this and swap it for the one in the oven, and we're going to do that in just a minute.

[chuckling] But look at this.

I can smell this through the foil.

Ahh.

Oh, isn't that beautiful?

Mmmm.

Delicious.

Basque chicken with shrimp in a wine sauce.

Ooh.

This is real good cooking, good eating, good loving.

We love you guys out there.

Make you some Basque chicken in shrimp and wine.

>> 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: ♪ 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 going to wrap it up with the foil, and uh-- >> Wrap and then show, okay?

>> Prudhomme: It's not fun.

Got it.

It looks better.

I have tongs.

Eat the cheese?

Okay, I'll do that too.

Really?

[laughs] That'll shake me up.

[nasal jeering] That's what I-- you know what I think about?

[nasal jeering] >> Say yum or something good like that.

>> Prudhomme: [growly] Yum.

Ahh.

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