♪♪ -"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time to see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

♪♪ Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan visits New Orleans and makes his version of rillons, and Lidey makes Bridget a Cajun meatball fricassee.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with L.E.D.

touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at MonumentGrills.com.

-Teakhaus, inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet.

Each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.

♪♪ -A true port city, New Orleans is known for its vibrant blend of cultures and traditions.

And the city draws in big crowds with its rich and diverse food scene.

-New Orleans is always going to be this big, wonderful melting pot of cuisines.

-I'm here to meet with Isaac Toups, owner of Toups' Meatery and a Louisiana native.

Isaac's food is a perfect example of pairing regional ingredients with Creole and Cajun cooking styles, a combination that makes New Orleans so unique.

-We've been mixing and collaborating for 300 years, so there are distinctions about Cajun food and about Creole food, but it's always going to be kind of a mix these days.

-You're obviously a Cajun restaurant in a typically Creole city of New Orleans.

Where's the intersection of Creole and Cajun fall?

-We track our heritage from France to Nova Scotia.

The Creoles have influence from Spain and Africa and then the Caribbeans.

So some of my dishes are mostly Cajun and then some are a little Spanish.

They say "Mm, this food is good" and that's more important to me than being true, authentic Cajun.

I mean, look, I've got umami pickle over there.

It's got balsamic and soy sauce on it.

None of those things are Cajun and no one cares.

-Isaac and his wife, Amanda, opened Toups' Meatery in 2012.

His culinary approach was shaped by both his parents' cooking and his years spent working in the fine-dining world.

-My father, he's a coastal Cajun.

He's catching fish and filleting fish and frying fish, shucking oysters, boiling crawfish and boiling crabs.

My mother, she's a prairie Cajun, a little more landlocked.

She took care of the rice dishes, the pork dishes.

So I got a great duality of the Cajun culture, which a lot of people don't realize they actually exist.

-Every dish showcases Isaac's play on tradition and innovation.

But today, I'm here for Isaac's take on rillons, delicious bite-sized pork belly braised in a red wine syrup.

Or, as Isaac affectionately refers to it, pork candy.

I've never seen anything like this on a menu before.

-I've never seen anything like this on a menu before.

I really have never seen anybody candy pork belly.

I've seen people baking.

I've seen people make cracklings with them, stuff them.

But I've never seen this particular dish.

I'm pretty proud of this.

This is very Isaac Toups.

It's very Toups' Meatery, New Orleans.

-We start by slicing whole pork belly into strips.

So let me help out.

Let me -- Teach me what to do.

-Yeah.

Get to work, would you?

Start with some strips straight down.

-About like that?

-Yeah, a little tighter.

-Tighter?

-Right about there.

That's good.

-Alright.

-You're a natural.

Set that off to the side.

You just try to keep them as even as possible.

Yep.

You know, this isn't actually Cajun.

It's really classical French.

-After the pork is sliced and cut into pieces, it's seasoned with salt and pepper.

Then we make the syrup.

-We have the red wine.

Pour those in.

Got a big sachet of thyme and about an equal amount of red wine to sugar.

-The syrup is simmered just long enough to dissolve the sugar and infuse it with a thyme flavor before getting poured over the seasoned pork.

-Just give it a good coat.

-So just enough to kind of coat the bottom of the pan?

-Just enough to coat it because it's going to come down in the oven.

Here you go.

I'm gonna hand that to you.

-Alright.

-Pan's not hot.

-The rillons are cooked in a 450-degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.

-Oh, look at that.

-Those look good.

And we stir periodically to make sure they're evenly coated with the syrup.

-Nice and glazed.

The goop, I tell everybody, it's like, don't serve them without the syrup.

The syrup is just as essential as the pork belly here.

-Wow.

-Alright, that's good.

Pop them right back in.

These guys are almost done.

Alright, these guys are ready.

-They smell ready.

About 15 minutes later, the syrup is tightened up on the tender pork, and it's ready to go.

-Alright, I'm gonna plate some of these up.

There's a bunch of other things I want you to taste.

I'll make a big meat board so you can really get the meat sweats.

-Nice.

I'm dangerously low on meat right now.

-Yeah, 'cause you're dangerously low on meat right now.

[ Both laugh ] -What is going on here?

-This is a little bit of everything.

So, let's start on this side.

Everything here is fresh.

There's no air-dried charcuterie.

In Cajun country, you hang a sausage outside, you get a rotten sausage.

-Right.

-So we don't have the dry climate of Europe.

So all of these things either have smoked, fresh.

This is a pâté.

This is cured, this is fried, this is candied.

So all of these things were made with the intention of shelf life.

But now we kept those traditions for deliciousness.

-Alright, so I want to try our rillons.

-Have a rillon.

Get a big -- Get a big, juicy one.

-Big, juicy.

[ Chuckles ] -Yeah.

I'm serious.

The squishier it is, the better off you are.

-Mm.

That's amazing.

Mm.

-Here, I'm gonna baby bird you.

-[ Chuckles ] -[ Laughs ] -Oh, man!

My whole experience here in Louisiana -- spots like this are just incredible standouts, man.

I mean, just somebody who puts a lot of heart and soul into the food.

It just really comes across on the plate, man.

I just think it's all been fantastic.

-I appreciate that, and if you want good food in New Orleans, what you have to do is find a local.

-Yeah.

Isaac approaches cooking with creativity and an eye on tradition, honoring his family's legacy and the region's rich history by infusing classic flavors with his own unique spin.

-Alright, man, I got cracklins to cut.

-Thanks, brother.

-Appreciate it, man.

-Alright, man.

These turkey necks are next level.

Ah.

♪♪ -I love how Isaac seems like the kind of guy that was just looking through a book.

No instructions, an old French recipe but it has pork belly.

So he's like, "I'm going to give that a go" and just kind of made it up as he went along.

-Yeah, that's exactly the way I like to cook, too.

You know, this recipe encapsulates every great thing about a pork dish that I love.

It's got that fatty, unctuous, tender pork and that sweet, salty red wine caramel.

-Yes.

-This dish scratches every itch.

It's phenomenal.

So let's get started with this pork belly here.

So the recipe calls for 3 3/4 pounds of skinless pork belly.

-Okay.

-However, when you're in the grocery store, most of the time you'll find it with the skin on.

Okay, so we're going to start off by removing that skin.

If you can only find skin on, you want to buy it a little bit heavier, about 4 1/4 pounds or so.

-Okay.

-So to remove the skin, I'm going to make it easy for us.

And I'm going to cut this pork belly in half.

Okay.

And the way I like to remove the skin -- Everybody's a little different.

I like to put it down on the board here and kind of press flat.

So you're getting full contact with the knife.

Slide it in just above the skin.

-Oh, yeah.

-And kind of rock your knife back and forth.

-Oh, yeah.

That looks easy.

-Yeah.

I mean, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, you know, but there's no right or wrong really with this.

You know, if you have a little bit of skin on there at the end, you can just go back and peel it off.

Boom.

And then we're going to do the same for the second piece here.

Alright.

So now we're looking for 1 1/2-inch chunks.

So we'll cut these in about thirds lengthwise.

So I have this 1 1/2-inch-thick cube right there.

Throw that into the bowl.

-That was pretty easy.

-So to this we're going to add 5 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then 1 1/2 teaspoons of black pepper.

And we'll just give this a toss.

This salt will obviously season the pork.

But while it sits, it's also going to help the pork retain some of its moisture as it cooks.

So we're going to just toss this around until it's evenly coated.

So we're going to cover this with plastic wrap.

And we're going to throw it in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

If we can go 24 hours it's all the better.

-Okay.

-Julia, we have a Dutch oven heating up with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

We have our pork belly that's been sitting for a good 24 hours.

And we're just going to pat this dry.

Remove excess moisture from it with some paper towels.

-Okay.

-The drier it is, the better it will sear in the hot pot.

And we're going to add half of it to our hot oil and begin searing it on all sides.

So we're going to let this go for about 12 to 15 minutes, turning it as needed to make sure it's evenly browned all over.

-Okay.

-Alright, Julia, you can see that this is all nicely, evenly browned.

-It's gorgeous.

-Gorgeous pork belly.

-And it smells good.

-I know.

It's so heavenly, right?

So we're gonna pull this off onto a plate here.

Okay, so now we're just going to drop the second half of our pork right into the pot, and we'll sear this up.

-Okay.

-Alright.

This batch of pork is looking as beautiful as the first.

So we're going to pull that out.

So this is all beautiful fat right here.

But we don't need it for the rest of this recipe.

So we're going to dump it into a bowl.

And you can save this fat for biscuits, cornbread, stir fries, potato salad.

-That is liquid gold right there.

-Okay.

So now to this pot.

It's still hot.

You see we have this nice fond in the bottom.

We're going to add 3 cups of red wine.

-Now, does it matter what kind of wine you use?

-Yeah.

You want to get something with a nice complexity to it, but not a lot of oak, so like a Côtes du Rhône or an unoaked Pinot Noir is fantastic.

And then we're going to add 1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar.

That's a hot pot.

So it just takes 30 seconds for that sugar to dissolve.

So we're going to drop in 9 sprigs of fresh thyme.

-Just 9?

-Just 9.

-Not 8.

-You do 8 or 10, I'm not responsible for what happens.

Then we're going to add all of our pork back.

So we're going to bring this up to a boil and then turn it down to low, throw a cover on it, and we're going to let it simmer for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours until that pork is nice and tender.

Give it a stir once halfway through.

-Okay.

-Alright, Julia, we have our pork that's been simmering for about an hour and a half.

-Goodness!

-Look at that.

And you get that pork and wine facial there.

-That is incredible.

-So we're going to test it and make sure it's tender before we pull it out.

So I just want to, you know, just so it's fork tender.

It slides easily off the fork there because you don't want it to be so tender that it falls apart because otherwise when we stir it back into that thickened caramel sauce, it'll start to break.

So this is exactly what we want because it's going to continue to cook when it goes back in.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So we'll pull all this pork out and we can just drop our lovely pork on over here.

And we'll pull out those thyme sprigs that are nice and neatly tied together.

Now we're going to crank up the heat to high.

And we're going to reduce this red wine to a caramel stage.

So about 225 to 229 degrees.

And that, in caramel making, is called the thread stage.

It's also important when you're making jellies and jams because you get that nice, thick consistency.

-Okay.

-So we'll just let this simmer down.

It takes anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes and we'll temp it.

Alright.

You see how this caramel is nice and luscious?

It's kind of thickening up nicely.

It starts to coat the back of that spatula, and we're going to throw a temp on it.

We're going to pull it down on one side of the pot.

So it's at 228, which is perfect.

We're going to now kill the heat and we're going to stir in our pork.

Drop that over there.

And then we're just going to turn to coat and just really trying to coat the pork lightly in the caramel.

-Yum!

-So the caramel doesn't look as thick as it's going to be.

So at this point keep in mind it's 228 degrees.

It's still pretty liquid.

We're going to let this sit for a solid 10 minutes, during which point it'll cool down to its temperature where you can actually eat it, but it'll also give the caramel time to thicken up nicely.

Alright.

It's been 10 minutes, and you can see how that caramel has thickened up nicely.

So, as you give this a final stir, all that pork is super well-glazed and shiny, so we could transfer our rillons to our platter now and pour the remainder of the sauce right over top.

Oh!

Alright, can I -- -Yeah.

Don't hold back.

-Tempt you?

Alright, let me get your plate here.

-Mm-mm, mm-mm-mm.

Alright.

-Alright.

Well cheers.

-Cheers.

Oh, come on.

The pork is so tender and you get the red wine but it's reduced and rounded out with the brown sugar.

You don't taste the thyme but it has that sort of freshness on the back end.

Oh, and the pork -- The pork is so good.

Mm!

-It's got that real, like, pork characteristic.

The belly gets a lot of that kind of flavor of the pig.

-Mm-hmm.

-You know?

So I think it really comes through.

Mm.

-Boy, this caramel is amazing.

-I love too the characteristic of the pork bellies.

You get that nice fatty layer on top, but you also get some lean meat underneath that.

-Bryan, this is spectacular.

Thank you.

-You're very welcome.

-So if pork belly braised in red wine with brown sugar sounds good to you, then you should make rillons.

Start by seasoning cubes of pork belly overnight.

Render and fry the pork until crisp.

Then braise in a sweet wine sauce.

From "Cook's Country," with special thanks to Isaac Toups and everyone at Toups' Meatery, an incredible recipe for rillons.

-Pork candy goes with everything.

[ Both chuckle ] ♪♪ -You can't even swing your arms around in Louisiana without hitting some epic food.

You've got gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya, all three favorites of mine.

But today we're going to concentrate on a country-style dish, Cajun in fact.

It's called meatball stew or meatball fricassee.

And Lidey's here, and she's going to tell us all about it.

-That's right.

Think meatballs in a rich Cajun-style gravy.

-Yes.

-It's really delicious.

And we want to start by making sure the meatballs are nice and tender.

A lot of meatball recipes begin with a panade, which is a mixture of bread and milk that helps bind the meatballs and keep them moist.

We're using saltines.

I have 22 saltines here.

And saltines are nice because not only are they pre-seasoned, they've got salt already in them, but they're going to keep the meatballs really nice and light and fluffy.

-Great.

-So I've got these in a plastic bag and I'm just going to work out any aggression I have with this giant rolling pin.

-Nice.

-And I'm just going to smash these until they're, you know, pretty finely crushed.

So we're going to dump these into a bowl.

And I'm going to add 1 cup of whole milk.

-Okay.

-And 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.

-Oh!

-And that's going to start flavoring the meatballs by flavoring the panade with the nice savory meaty flavor of the Worcestershire.

We're seasoning really at every stage of this recipe.

So from the very beginning we're making sure there's lots of flavor.

I'm gonna give this a whisk, and we'll just set it aside for five minutes or so to let the saltines really absorb the milk.

-Great.

-The crackers have been sitting for about five minutes.

You can see they've really absorbed the milk.

So I'm just going to give them a little whisk and then we'll add our meat.

-Great.

-We're going to add 2 pounds 85% lean ground beef.

1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.

And this is finely grated.

Then I've got 1 1/2 teaspoons of dried thyme.

A teaspoon of pepper.

-Thyme and pepper.

Definitely we're in Cajun country.

-That's right.

And speaking of Cajun country, we've got Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.

Now, I know this might seem confusing because it's a Cajun meatball and we're using Creole seasoning.

-Yes.

-But there's actually a lot of overlap between the two and the spices that are used.

And Tony C's is something that's really widely available nationwide.

And that's why we're using it here.

-Got it.

-So we've got 1 tablespoon.

And this has also got salt in it.

So between the Parmesan and the Tony C's, it's really going to add all the salt we need to flavor these meatballs.

Alright.

The fun part -- I'm going to use my hands.

-That's the perfect tool for the job.

-Getting down and dirty.

And I'm just going to mix this all together.

So, we don't want to overmix, But it is important to get everything really well combined.

I think this looks great.

-Evenly mixed.

Beautiful.

-I'm going to get cleaned up and then we'll scoop out the meatballs.

-Great.

-Let's go ahead and scoop these meatballs.

-Great.

-I've got a portion scoop here.

But you could also use a 1/4-cup measure if that's what you've got.

We're looking for about 24 meatballs, and I'm just going to scoop them onto a sheet pan that's lined with foil, and then we've got a rack over that.

And the scoop just makes it easy because they come out already rounded.

So when you go to roll them, you've done half the work.

-Nice.

-We've scooped the meatballs.

Now it's time to shape them.

-Alright.

-I'm going to dip my hands in a little bit of water.

And that's just going to help make it really easy to roll these.

And it'll prevent the meatballs from sticking to my hands.

-Got it.

-You want to help me a little bit?

-I would love -- -Roll up your sleeves?

-Yes.

Already done.

So I'm halfway there.

There we go.

I'll grab this one.

You looking for perfect spheres or can it be a little rustic?

-It can be a little rustic.

-Ah, phew.

-You know, these are going to get roasted.

Then they're going to be simmered.

So I like meatballs with a little bit of character.

-Yeah.

-Each one's got its own personality.

-Yes.

-There you go.

We've got all 24 meatballs.

I've got the oven set to 425 degrees and a rack set in the upper middle position.

These are going to go in and roast for about 25 minutes until they're browned all over and cooked through.

Like many Louisiana dishes, the sauce here begins with a roux.

-Great.

-And a roux is when we combine oil and flour to help thicken a sauce.

So in my Dutch oven, I've got 1/3 cup vegetable oil already preheating, then I'm going to wait until it's just about smoking before I add my flour.

-Okay.

-You can see the oil is just starting to smoke.

So I'm going to add our flour, 1/3 cup.

Just stirring to get this all combined.

I like to keep a roux moving, scraping the bottom and the sides, and you'll see -- Look.

It's changing color almost instantly and it's just going to keep getting darker.

We've got the heat on medium high and we're looking for a peanut-butter-like color.

-Nice.

-Nice visual aid.

And it's going to take about 2 to 5 minutes.

So just we'll keep an eye on it.

I'd say this looks like peanut butter.

What do you think?

-It looks exactly like peanut butter.

-Alright, we're going to reduce the heat to medium because we want to slow this down a little bit.

-Okay.

-And we'll just keep stirring until we've got the color of milk chocolate.

-Mm!

Something else I also like to eat.

-Some delicious flavors here, right?

-Yes, yes.

-Would you mind keeping an eye on this for me?

And I'm going to get our vegetables ready.

-Great.

-This could take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes, really just depends on the pot and how high you've got the heat.

Bridget, I know you're familiar with the French term mirepoix... -Yes.

-...which refers to the combination of celery, carrots, and onion that forms the base for so many French dishes.

-Sure.

-In Louisiana cooking, we've got what they call the Holy Trinity, which is like a mirepoix but instead of carrots, green bell pepper.

-Got it.

Onion, celery... -Green bell pepper.

And that is kind of the hallmark of so many of these Creole and Cajun dishes.

The way I like to cut peppers is to start by cutting the top, turning the pepper, cutting the bottom, and then I just cut straight down on all four sides to end up with these nice, even pieces.

-Lovely.

-That makes it really easy to cut.

The nice thing is these peppers and all the vegetables are just going to go into our sauce and cook together, so you don't need to worry about having a perfect dice here.

How's it going over here?

-Well, you tell me.

What do you think?

-I think it looks perfect.

Rich, chocolaty.

It's exactly what we want.

We're ready to add our vegetables to the pot.

So I'm going to add the bell pepper that we cut up.

One onion we've chopped.

One celery rib, chopped.

And then we've got 2 slices of bacon that are sliced into about half-inch pieces.

These are going to add a really nice, savory, smoky, salty richness... -Gorgeous.

-...in the gravy.

Giving this a nice toss so everything will cook evenly.

We're gonna let this cook for about seven minutes until the vegetables are tender and the bacon is starting to render some of its fat.

-Great.

-Ooh, these look good!

-They smell fantastic.

-Wow.

-There you go.

-Beautiful.

Nicely browned.

We'll leave the meatballs to the side while we finish up our stew.

Okay.

These vegetables, they look nice and tender.

I'm going to add six scallion whites that are thinly sliced for that fresh onion flavor, which is also really a big part of Creole and Cajun recipes.

-Yeah, I think so too.

-Then three cloves of garlic, minced.

-Definitely a part.

-Very important.

And then we're going to do another 1/2 teaspoon of the Tony Chachere's.

-Okay.

-Which is just going to add more seasoning, more salt, and more of that Louisiana flavor.

And I'm only going to cook this for about a minute until -- Yeah, already smelling it.

Just until that garlic is nice and fragrant.

This is nice and fragrant, so I'm going to add 4 cups of chicken broth.

Also adding 1 more tablespoon of Worcestershire.

More of that savory, meaty flavor.

Just going to whisk this in to really get that roux incorporated.

And we'll bring this to a boil.

That looks perfect.

-We are at a boil.

-We are at a boil.

-Or a "bowl."

-I'm gonna add our meatballs right in.

And then these are going to simmer in the sauce for about 20 minutes.

-Yes.

-And that's just going to give everything a chance to meld, all those flavors to meld.

The meatballs are going to be nice and tender, and they're really going to take on the flavor of that gravy, too.

Okay.

Lower the heat to low.

Just want these to be simmering.

Cover the pot.

We'll let this go for about 20 minutes.

-Great.

-It's been 20 minutes.

Let's check on our meatballs.

-Mm!

-Ooh!

-They've disappeared.

-[ Chuckles ] They're in there.

Don't worry.

We're going to crank the heat up now and let this sauce reduce for about 8 to 12 minutes.

We're looking for about the thickness of heavy cream.

And that's just really going to concentrate the flavors here and make this a really delicious, hearty sauce that we can spoon over everything.

-I'm going to need a big spoon.

-Oh yeah.

Our sauce is thickened.

The time has come.

-Dinner time.

-So, I've got some rice here to soak up all that delicious gravy.

Let me get you a little extra sauce here.

-Yes.

-Final step here.

Just going to add some of the thinly sliced greens from the scallions.

You a hot sauce girl?

-I am definitely a hot sauce girl.

-I'll let you sauce up your own.

Let's dig in.

-Alright.

These meatballs are almost falling apart.

They stayed together in that pot.

-They did.

-But I don't even need a fork.

I can just stare at it intently and it'll fall apart here.

-Wow.

You can really taste that Creole seasoning.

-Oh, that's good.

-Mm-hmm.

-Very well seasoned, just like you would expect from a Cajun dish.

It's got that depth of flavor from the Parmesan in there and the Worcestershire.

-Yeah, that's right.

And that green pepper and the hot sauce.

Let me say, the hot sauce is key here.

-Yeah.

-It gives it this really nice heat that really complements all the other flavors in the dish.

-It's waking you up.

-Mm-hmm.

-The gravy is spectacular.

Silky.

It's rich.

It's toasty from that milk-chocolate roux.

-That's right.

We got so much flavor here in so little time.

-Definitely.

It's a winner.

So are you.

-Aw.

-[ Laughs ] If you'd like to make these meatballs at home, well, you're going to have to start with the meatballs.

Add flavor-packed ingredients like Parmesan and Creole seasoning to the meatball mix.

Cook a dark, toasty roux as the base of the gravy, and finish cooking the roasted meatballs in the gravy until the stew is thickened.

Well, there you have it from "Cook's Country," Cajun meatball fricassee.

You can get this fantastic recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes, and those are all on our website, CooksCountry.com/TV.

Mm.

Alright.

Don't even need a knife.

-No.

They're so tender.

-Mm.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for the newest seasons, rigorously tested recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews.

CooksCountry.com/TV.

-"The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook" brings together every recipe, tasting, and test from 18 seasons of the beloved TV show, with trusted equipment recommendations and insights from the entire cast.

This book is your guide to the very best in regional cooking.

The cost is $24.99 -- $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our online shop at CooksCountry.com/book.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with L.E.D.

touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at MonumentGrills.com.

-Teakhaus, inspired by a passion for cooking and respect for our planet.

Each board is handcrafted from sustainably sourced wood designed for every step, from food prep to presentation.

Teakhaus.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪