[♪♪♪] -Just beat it to death, why don't you?

Go on and do it.

-[laughs] I'm sorry.

I was afraid my stuff was sticking.

-Uh-huh.

-And when your stuff sticks-- -Sticks your stuff.

[laughs] -[laughs] -Hi, everybody.

I'm Laban Johnson.

-Hi, I'm Fat Giles Bly.

-Yes.

The boy looks like he's got double reverse mumps.

-There has - something happened.

Sir, look at that.

I look like I have a goiter, and I'm all swollen up real bad.

-Uh-huh.

I think you've been messing around with Alvin, the chipmunk.

Look at that.

-I have been storing my nuts for next winter is what it amounts to.

[chuckles] -Oh, look at you all puffed up.

-I have had some kind of an adverse reaction to back medication, medicine.

-Oh!

Oh, he's had a pain in his back for a long time and not to mention the pain in the lower part - well, never mind.

Well, I've worn my apron today with my name on it because last week you forgot it.

[laughs] -It's a difficult name.

-Yes, Laban.

-I didn't.

I believe that writer, that person who wrote in did.

-Yes.

-Isn't that right, Charlie?

-[Laban] Uh-huh.

It is.

But anyway, there it is.

-With a very fine Sony microphone perched beside it, I might add.

-Oh, yes, that's a microphone on it, yeah.

Uh-huh.

That name is from Genesis.

It's in the Bible, and been in my family for a long time.

-That's true.

It's Biblical.

-That's true.

-So, don't you forget about it one time.

-At all, period.

-At all, period.

-Well, let's get the witch in here and see what we're supposed to be doing today.

Oh.

-Ooh.

-It's been a bumpy ride.

-A close fly by.

Almost knocked one of my puffy jowls off.

[chuckles] I can't believe it.

-Uh-huh.

-I think I got-- I don't have the mumps.

'Cause if you have the mumps, you see, you'd have swollen down in here, and so, my doctor said.

-I would be using my new glasses if I had 'em but one of those-- -He couldn't see to find 'em.

-No, one of those places that do eyeglasses real fast.

-Mm-hm.

-Two weeks ago, took my glasses and said, "You know, we'll have your new lenses in two or three days."

It's two weeks later, and I still don't have 'em.

I'm not happy about it.

-How's that for fast service?

-Mm-hm.

Oh, if I could say the name on TV, I would love to do it.

-Oh, I know you would.

Go on ahead - well, stop messing with that hair.

-Look at my hair, it just won't-- well, it just won't stay right.

-Well, it's kind of cut funny.

Did Mr. Steve, the hair twirler do that?

-Yes.

You know, I have got to not go in there after he's been out the night before.

-You know, he has lost his touch.

You know, he doesn't sober up as fast as he used to.

-No, he doesn't.

It's just terrible.

-That's the big problem right there.

You know, last time he touched my hair, it still got stripes on it.

You see, it looks like a skunk.

I look like a skunk.

He put the Clorox to me, and I look like a skunk to this day.

He'll get right huffy when we mention it on the air.

-Well, you know my problem, the last time I was in there, he had had a cancellation and he had plenty of time, took nearly 40 minutes to cut my hair, to give me an old-fashioned cut, he said, you know, just to be perfect and stylish for someone my age.

Ooh, and I-- -Hit it.

-Anyway, "Dear Partners, Me and Old Crow, my wife of 64 years."

-Oh, that's terrible.

-"Want to know if you'll cook up some kind of TexMex deal.

"We're going to put on a reenactment "of an old time hanging and need to feed some folks.

And it's thanks."

Mr. and Mrs. Repass of Deadman's Gulch, West Virginia.

-Oh, that's a nice area over there.

-Yes, it really is.

-Not much going on though.

-So, what are you gonna do?

-Well, I'm gonna do something called Chili Stew, which is neither chili nor stew, but smells like chili and looks like stew.

-And who sent it in?

-It-- Oh, oh, excuse me.

I'm sort of like Floyd.

Oh, oh, oh, let me see.

Sent in by Edwin Bain, oh, Bain of Lynchburg.

You know, Mr. Bain has sent us a lot of stuff in the past.

-Yeah, yes, chili cook, too.

And my recipe today is a Sour Cream and Green Onion Cornbread.

And it was sent in by Patricia and Roy Lefler of Marion, Virginia.

Aren't they the magicians, Patricia and Roy?

-I'm not sure.

I don't know.

They disappeared.

[laughs] -[Laban laughs] -I got to start out with a little olive oil and just gonna put a little in there.

And we're gonna chop up a couple of vegetables real quick.

And this is interesting, a little bit of sesame oil.

It only calls for an eighth of a teaspoon.

That's boink, about that much, not very much, a couple of drops.

Hm, that smells good.

I love to smell sesame oil.

And I'm gonna heat that real hot and while it's heating up real hot, I'm gonna chop up a green pepper, which I have taken the cap off of, and also, some onion and a little garlic and some celery.

And I'll just be choppin' and choppin' and choppin' right now, getting that prepared to get it in there and sauté it.

Because you must sauté it first, okay?

-Well, my cornbread, the green onion cornbread, you have to have a cup of chopped green onions.

And I want to show you a little secret, a little thing here.

You use the white and the green part for this recipe.

And wash your onions, of course, but then, if they've got a rubber band on 'em like they frequently do, leave it on there because it makes it a lot easier to chop.

And just chop right on up through the green until you get about a cup of chopped onions.

And so that's what I'm doing.

These are scallions or green onions.

-[Larry] They're stallions?

-Scallions, scallions.

[Larry] Oh, excuse me.

-Put that over there so everybody can see it.

Now, I think that looks to me to be about a cup.

Oops, let me put-- -This recipe is kind of funny.

It says it calls for a big old bunch.

[chuckles] A big bunch.

-[Laban] A big old bunch.

-A big old bunch of celery which I'm chopping up right now.

Big old bunch, oh, that sesame seed oil smells so good.

-Ooh, oh, I've thrown it all over the counter, and you don't know what's been on this counter.

Always makes me nervous.

Now, let's see, how much do I have in there.

Do I have a cup yet?

Nope, need some more.

Take this.

-You're losing your touch.

I remember a time when you could do a cup without even looking.

-I know.

Well, you know, I've gotten out of practice.

Ever since I hired Jasper, my cook, and I just don't have it like I used to.

-Well, you-- Jasper, huh?

-[Laban] Mm-hm.

-He's just a ghost of the cook you used to be.

-[Laban] No, that's Casper.

-[Larry] Oh, that's Casper.

That's right.

I thought it was Jasper, the friendly ghost.

Okay, I'm gonna go on ahead and throw that in there.

Start sautéing that stuff in that oil.

And you know that's gonna be good.

-You know there-- We get a lot of letters from people that say, "Why don't you cut everything up in advance?"

-And what's my answer to them always?

-You don't have it cut up at home.

-No, my answer isn't that at all.

People say, "Why don't you cut all that stuff up before you get on air making us."

And I always tell 'em the same thing, "Because the show would last two minutes."

-[Laban] Right.

-[Larry] That's why.

-And you know, quite frankly, we're real busy doing other things and we don't have enough time to do four, five recipes like some of the other high-price people.

All right, now, with a mixing bowl, we're gonna start adding ingredients for our cornbread.

And while you're doing this, you need to set your oven at 425 degrees and put in a cast iron skillet.

-So, it will be warming up.

-And put a stick of margarine into it or butter and let it warm up and let the margarine or butter melt.

Now, if you don't have a cast iron skillet, a lot of people don't.

[Larry] Perhaps, you have a cast iron stomach.

-Oh, absolutely.

You can use any other metal baking pan, but it does need to be hot with the melted butter or margarine in it before you do this recipe.

So, get that all done now and while you're doing all of this chopping and getting ready for it.

Other than that, the recipe is a lead-pipe cinch.

You know lead-pipe cinch.

-Lead-pipe cinch.

-Mm-hm.

-I'm putting in these chopped up onions in there also, you'll notice.

And I'm not gonna chop any garlic because I have a social function after the program today.

-[Laban] Oh, no.

-A social function and I don't wanna be stuck with smelling like garlic.

So, I got this stuff which is the next best thing.

It's already pre-chopped.

Put a couple of wads of that in there.

How much it calls for it.

-You know, my friend Marilyn gave me for Christmas last year this little thing that she got somewhere that you can actually - after you chop garlic or onion, you can put it on your hand and do it all around and all of the scent goes on to that.

-[Larry] Is that so?

-Yeah, and it actually works.

-Calls for two or three cloves.

And we're just gonna sauté that a little bit.

-Of garlic.

You wouldn't want-- -And then I have my beef standing by.

Well, not really standing by.

-Stand by your beef.

-.your beef.

Anyway, and we'll be doing the beef and browning that a little bit.

I would suggest that you don't do this exactly.

Well, what I'm suggesting you do is sauté one or the other first and then put it aside and then sauté the other.

If you try and do them both at the same time, you'll never get your beef brown and seared on the outside.

I'm gonna turn that off.

-Now, Larry, with my cornbread, you start out with two cups of self-rising cornmeal or - yeah, cornmeal is the best way to say it.

Now, you can use any kind of self-rising cornmeal.

I'm using today a popular Southern brand, but you can look around at whatever you've got.

And if it's stoneground, that makes it all the better.

So, you put in your two cups of cornmeal.

And then, we're going to put in, we'll throw our onions on in here now because we got to do some liquid measures.

And I'm going to need three-quarters of a cup of buttermilk.

And I'm using nonfat buttermilk today 'cause it's-- will be a little easier on me.

All right, there is a three-quarters of a cup of buttermilk, and you just pour it on in, let it ooch on down a little bit.

And we're gonna follow that by three-quarters of a cup of oil.

Now, I'm using - because again, it's a little bit better for me, three-quarters of a cup of corn oil but you could use canola or anything else.

If you want the real Southern taste, you probably ought to use corn.

Whatcha doing, Bly?

-Playing around with Jim Hammerstrom on camera one.

He's trying to keep up to me.

I appeared at a fundraiser in one of those other PBS stations some time ago and wore some poor camera guy out.

Came to me and complained after it was over.

He said, "You just don't give me any opportunity to even focus on anything."

And I said, "Well, you need to widen it up a little bit, loosen it up."

Well, anyway.

-Now, I'm gonna dump in two tablespoons of sugar.

There it is.

I was afraid to count all them out.

-[Larry] Pre-measured.

-Pre-measured.

Well, you know now that I'm retired, I've got time to pre-measure stuff and then of course if it's been over here for a while, it's liable to turn lumpy on you.

So and you remember lumpy, you don't wanna mess with him.

-No, you don't.

-All right, one egg goes into this now.

You could use Egg Beaters, remember that.

If you want it more healthy, one, use Egg Beaters.

Don't use a real egg, although the real egg is just fine unless you got major cholesterol trouble.

And finally, I'm gonna put in three-quarters of a cup of sour cream.

-Which is also fat-free, I notice.

I imagine you'll weigh less by the time you eat this recipe than you did when you started.

-Mm-hm.

-It is so non-caloric and fat-free.

-Right.

And that's three-quarters of a cup.

[Larry] What do you think of fat-free sour cream?

-Well, right now, it's what I eat at home, and I guess it's okay.

I don't get real enthusiastic about it in some dishes.

But it does okay in, you know, especially if you're gonna make a salad, it's okay there.

Sometimes, what you get in a bakery product is maybe not exactly like what you want, but it's okay.

And I've gotten used to the taste of it.

-Okay, I've sautéed these veggies, and they do look wonderful.

They're all right there, and they're perfectly sautéed.

And I'm gonna transfer 'em at this point to the entire counter and part of the floor.

-[Laban] Oh.

-Looks like I missed.

Anyway, I'm gonna transfer that to the big old thing I'm gonna do it in.

And you need to start out with a fairly nice large pan because this makes quite a bit.

And now, having done that, I'm going to take some beef, and you can use chuck or I don't know, you can use any number of things.

It calls for pot roast or English roast.

Anyway, this is-- I've chopped it all up.

Now, I'm gonna brown this.

You need to brown your beef real good before you start assembling everything altogether.

And we have some wonderful stuff that goes in this after a while.

This is a fascinating recipe because it calls for curry and chili powder and red pepper and all sorts of neat things.

So, get that on there and do it.

-While you're browning the meat, I will give my ingredients for my cornbread.

You need two cups of self-rising corn meal; three-quarter cup of milk or buttermilk, preferably buttermilk; quarter cup of vegetable oil; one egg; two tablespoons of sugar; one cup of chopped green onion including the green stalk; and three-quarters of a cup of sour cream.

You'll also need a stick of margarine.

Okay, Larry.

-Am I supposed to give mine now or just play around.

-No, you can give yours later.

You've got so much to do there.

-Well, I really-- well, all I can do really at this stage is just to brown this beef and so that's what I'm doing.

-All right, well, let me - all right.

Let me mix this up.

Now you don't need to use any fancy apparatus on this.

Just put it all in a bowl and use a spoon.

I've got a nice wooden one here and just stir it until your egg is stirred in real well.

You don't have to do this in a mixer, probably be better if you didn't.

[Larry] We need some bowls.

[Laban] And I'll just continue to stir this around until everything is well-mixed together.

But again, be careful.

It would be better to do it by hand.

You'll get the wrong kind of grain on this if you do it in a mixer.

So, just stir it around 'til all the dry ingredients are mixed in.

And this looks real good.

-You know, it's a very pretty recipe.

It really is.

-And let me get-- -You'll see the end product, and then it's gorgeous.

-Let me get that so that you can see it.

-We have people here from some of the major food magazines taking pictures of it as we speak.

-And here it is in the iron skillet.

[Larry] Isn't that pretty?

-Yup, and that's what it looks like.

It's gorgeous when it's finished.

And we don't have another iron skillet, so I'm not gonna do that step for you.

But here it is.

This is in my mama's ten-inch iron skillet.

And we'll cut it in a minute when Larry is finished with his chili.

-I've turned it up as far as I can turn it.

-Oh, Doris is telling us to turn it up.

-She's telling me to turn up the heat.

Doris is never - she's never warm enough.

She's got a couple of sweaters on.

[chuckles] It's the middle of summer.

I'm just browning this beef.

It's taking its good old time.

That's what she was telling me.

-And she says it so much to Harold, it's pathetic.

-[Larry] What's that?

-[Laban] Turn it up.

-Turn it up.

Well, while I'm doing that, I can add some of the other stuff to this other pan while I'm waiting for that.

It calls for a can of tomato sauce.

I'm gonna go ahead and-- -Sauce.

-Sauce, do the tomato.

That goes in there.

And you hold on to the can, I'll tell you why, because you're gonna have to - even though it doesn't call for it, you're gonna have to add a little water as you often do.

'Cause you got to cook it for about an hour, hour and a half, somethin' like that dependin' on how good your beef is.

You may have to cook it all day.

[chuckles] But anyway, you will, it will require some additional water, so just go on ahead and put some in there.

And Doris says that to get this stuff out of this little bitty can, which you should ought to do, is open it from both ends and push it through.

So, this is a Doris tip.

Oops, that's not gonna work.

So, we'll just go right on ahead and see how smart Miss Doris can be.

Now, be careful.

You don't wanna hurt your little fingers.

I assume that what you do is just take that and push it through, just let - oh, look at that.

Isn't that great?

Johnson, look at this.

-[Laban] Oh, yes?

-You can be learning something instead of eating stuff on the side.

[Laban] Oh, it just-- Oh, it came right out with the lid, how nice.

-Well, I don't think you want the lid to go in there.

I guess you're supposed to take that off first.

But that works okay.

And that gets it right out of there.

Isn't that amazing?

It really does.

-And then you can use that can to cut little bitty biscuits with.

-[chuckles] You're right about that.

And squish that around in there.

And then in a couple of minutes, we'll add to that our beef which is still browning.

And then, we'll put all the secret ingredients in.

Oh, well, yeah, I'll put it all in there in just a couple of minutes.

-[Laban] Yeah, go ahead.

-Just a couple of minutes.

So, anyway, let me give you my recipe while I'm waiting for this beef to come a little further along.

Would you stir that around, Johnson, while I'm reading my recipe?

-[Laban] I will.

I will.

-It seems to be a little slow today for some reason.

Chili Stew sent in by Edwin Bain, Ed Bain of Lynchburg, Virginia.

It calls for two to two and a half pounds of beef, cut in three-quarter inch cubes or smaller.

I prefer to chop 'em up a little smaller than that.

A large onion, chopped; two to three garlic cloves crushed; one 15-ounce can of tomato sauce; and I would put a little water in with that; one six-ounce can of tomato paste; one large stack of - a large stack of celery it calls for chopped; half a green pepper.

Well, I'm think I put the whole thing in there.

Two tablespoons of flour will go in in a couple of minutes.

Two tablespoons of olive oil; an eighth of a teaspoon of sesame oil and you have to go a little bit light on that sesame oil because if you don't, it will overpower everything.

Four to five drops of hot oil is optional, I'm not using any today.

I didn't have any hot oil, couldn't find any.

Too lazy to go out and buy it.

One and a half tablespoons of chili powder, coming up here in a minute; a half a teaspoon of ground cumin; a half teaspoon of curry powder; a quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and salt and pepper to taste.

So, there we go.

Let's pretend like this is thoroughly brown.

-We will definitely have to pretend.

-Yeah, we will 'cause I don't know why, we're going a little slow on that today.

We're gonna go ahead and add the beef now to all of this stuff in here.

If you wanna try and not to get all that grease in there, it would be nice.

But I guess we're putting in.

-You know, I think the reason they call it Chili Stew is that you use larger pieces of beef.

Because if it was chili-- -Well, you're probably right.

You would use little tiny pieces.

-You would mince or chop up your beef real small.

-Now we'll bring this over and put it on - woo, what in the world was that?

Well, it's got wet stuff under it, and it's making funny noises.

-Oh, and the stove is making noises at Bly.

-[Larry laughs] -But many people do that.

-Well, anyway.

Now, the next thing you got to do is, you got to add all your stuff that goes in it.

We have one and a half tablespoons of chili powder goes in there.

One and a half tablespoons, that's a tablespoon.

That's one, and there's about a half that goes in there.

And a half a teaspoon of cumin, there it is, half a teaspoon.

Just about that much goes in there.

Interesting combination of flavors.

Half a teaspoon of curry powder.

I thought that was a right interesting thing for this recipe.

That goes in there.

[Laban] Uh-huh.

Oh, boy, it does have a lot of - -And a quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne.

Don't overdo that because you'll just burn someone's lips right plum off their face.

That goes in there.

And also, you have to add a little bit of flour to it.

How much flour does it call for?

I can't find the flour - two tablespoons of flour.

And doesn't matter when you add it 'cause it's gonna be on for a while.

It'll cook down.

It will get a little lumpy when you first put it in, take your lumps.

And that's it, and you cook it on top of the stove for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half.

Or if your beef needs the additional time, what you can do is - let's just mix all these around.

This looks a little bad at first but believe it or not, it will cook down and there will not be any lumps in there after you've cooked it for about two hours.

But anyway, it really does pretty nicely.

You can cook it a little bit longer if your beef requires that like this would because it's almost raw beef.

And you have to cook it for probably two hours to three hours.

It wouldn't hurt to cook this all afternoon.

It's not gonna kill anybody, a good way to kill an afternoon.

But look at that beautiful sauce.

Isn't that beautiful?

It's absolutely gorgeous.

Cook it down.

-[crew whistles] -Thank you, thank you, studio audience.

Just-- so, and when it's finished, it looks - well, it looks pretty much like that other pot there.

There's really not too much difference.

But really is a very pretty stew.

It really is quite lovely.

And I'm gonna go on ahead here and get us a couple of bowls out, and we'll go from there.

-Oh, good.

Well, I'm over here.

I'm gonna butter my cornbread.

-Oh, that's right.

We have cornbread.

I had forgotten about that.

-I have the cornbread with the chili.

-Is it hot enough to butter or is the butter just gonna sit there and look at me.

-Oh, yeah.

I think it's - no, it's not hot enough to really do it, but I've got it if you wanna do it.

Here let me-- -One lump or two?

-Two.

Well, I'll put this right here.

Doris's - -What a delicate, wonderful presentation of the butter we have today, ladies and gentlemen.

[chuckles] -[Laban] Mm-hm.

-Let me try this.

-[Laban] How is it?

-Hm, that is wonderful.

But have you ever met-- have you ever met a cornbread that you didn't like?

-No.

If it's made out of corn, it's gotta be good.

Ooh, the chili is wonderful, too.

-The beef got done?

I cooked mine for about three hours or so.

And I also cut 'em up a little bit smaller 'cause I was in a big hurry.

-Mm-hm.

-But isn't that a wonderful stew?

-Oh, that is great.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have got a bell ringer on this one.

-Mm-hm.

-This is delicious.

And what a wonderful meal for a cold winter night or an autumn night, this would be terrific.

-And if you don't have, if you're watching this in the middle of summer, turn the air conditioner all the way up.

Put on a sweater and sit down and eat this.

-Absolutely, and put on some Christmas music or something, "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson or something.

-It'd be good any time.

Mm-hm.

-Larry, this is delicious.

[Larry] Isn't that nice?

I really do like it.

[Laban] And if you use real lean stew beef, you're not gonna be in fat trouble nearly as much.

And if you did it with chicken and that is a possibility-- -That's right, you could do that.

-That could even be better.

And the use of olive oil, if you don't use too much, it's really good 'cause that's a good oil.

And, I mean, you know, this can be a real heart conscious, healthy meal if you're careful with it.

So, we - I think we've hit the jackpot.

-Well, thank heavens, Doris is bringing some - [Doris] Serve over pasta and rice.

-Serve over pasta and rice, it says, and I forgot that part.

[laughs] That's right, it does say serve it over pasta and rice.

Well, whoever-- You don't need to.

You can eat it out of a bowl.

That's what I'm doing.

And save yourself a whole step if you want to.

But really and truly, if you want to have your rice and eat it, too, you should serve it over pasta and rice.

I forgot all about that part.

It's okay, it doesn't really hurt anything.

I mean, is it gonna kill you not to have it over pasta or rice?

[Laban] No.

Brother Ursal would probably put it right over the cornbread.

-Mm-hm.

That's right.

-You could cut the cornbread and put it in your soup plate and just hog out.

Just wonderful.

Well, we wanna thank you all for stopping in again to see us.

And we'll be back the next time.

-Well, it's just been so wonderful, and I just can't tell you.

-Hah!

Get out of town.

-Well, I always like having a recipe that works out really well.

-And it does, and these are good.

-It does indeed.

What is this flower you've got here?

-It's an orchid.

-[Doris] An orchid.

-This is an orchid, too?

-Mm-hm.

-Well, isn't that just a prissy little-- Isn't that gorgeous?

-Doris grows orchids among other things.

-Those are little miniature orchids, aren't they?

[Laban] Mm-hm.

-We wouldn't wanna wear that one to the ball, but you definitely, especially in the pot like that.

-No, uh-huh.

-Well, anyway, thank you all for coming over or wherever you came from, and you can go back there now.

-[chuckles] See you.

-[chuckles] Bye.

[♪♪♪]