LIDIA: Buongiorno.

I'm Lidia Bastianich, and teaching you about Italian food has always been my passion.

It has always been about cooking together and ultimately building your confidence in the kitchen.

So what does that mean?

You got to cook it yourselves.

For me, food is about delicious flavors... Che bellezza!

...comforting memories, and most of all, family.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

ANNOUNCER: Funding provided by... ANNOUNCER: At Cento Fine Foods, we're dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of authentic Italian foods by offering over 100 specialty Italian products for the American kitchen.

Cento -- Trust your family with our family.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Grana Padano -- authentic, Italian, rich in tradition, yet contemporary.

ANNOUNCER: Locatelli Pecorino Romano cheese from Italy -- handcrafted from 100% sheep's milk.

ANNOUNCER: Authentic Italian cured meats.

Paolo Rovagnati -- The true Italian tradition.

ANNOUNCER: And by... LIDIA: Set it and forget it.

That's what comes to mind when I think of braising.

And of course, let's not forget that the flavors are beyond delizioso.

These tender braised pork chops rise to any occasion with the addition of sweet pears and onions.

Braising makes everything taste better.

By adding root vegetables and plenty of red wine to this dish, you will create a one-pot meal with deep, delicious flavor.

Let's take it easy today and start braising.

Cooking is about the best ingredients in season, and that's a given.

The second step in really bringing out, bringing forth this wonderful harmony of flavors is the technique in which you cook them.

One of my favorite techniques is braising, and it's one of the most practiced techniques, especially because in braising, you can handle, you can cook, you can soften the secondary cuts of meats, the lesser cuts of meat, the tougher vegetables, the roots.

When you're braise it, everything sort of melts, and it all combines.

The resistance in those foods that I mentioned is kind of mellowed.

It all combines into a braise, into a sauce, into a texture, and you can keep on adding and multiplying that.

And braising is good because it will accept, whether you need potatoes, yams, turnips, beans.

That will all translate into a good finished product if you braise it.

For me, it's one of my favorites.

I can be the conductor and put the notes that I want and make a nice symphony of flavors.

Oven-braised pork chops with red onions and pears.

Pork chops baked with pears, onions, and vinegar -- it's certainly a favorite at my house, and it's going to be at yours.

It's very simple to make.

First, we're going to do some reduction of balsamic vinegar, and we let it just boil down to half of its original volume.

And it's going to come nice and sort of syrupy.

Then we're gonna get the pork chops going.

Oil.

Let's season the pork chops.

A little bit of salt.

A little pepper.

Flip it over.

And these are loin pork chops.

That mean like a T-bone steak.

It has a T-bone.

It has part of the loin and part of the chop.

For this kind of cooking, these are perfect chops.

♪ Okay.

Let's flip them over.

That needs a few garlic cloves, about four cloves, and we just whack them a little bit.

Put them in with the pork chops.

This is a red onion, and I leave a little bit of the bottom so it holds it together.

Let's put all of this in just like that.

And the pears, and just -- I put it with the skin and all.

The pear -- make sure that it's not overly ripe.

You don't want an overly ripe pear.

And cut it in quarters.

Let's just clean the center a little bit.

I love cooking with fruits and proteins, but I love especially pork.

The fruit is a great balancer of the fat and brings a little sweetness to the meat.

So you'll put the pears right in... ♪ ...just like that.

I'm gonna put a little bit of salt for the onions.

♪ And this is red-wine vinegar and a little bit of honey, and that's going to bring out the caramelization.

The vinegar is going to cut into the fattiness of the pork, and it's going to be delicious.

Let's put the honey right in with the vinegar.

♪ Okay.

Let me just put a little peperoncino.

Make this spicy.

And once this is caramelized and has wilted a little bit, the pears and the onions, we'll add in the vinegar and the honey.

Benvenuti to my library.

It's a cozy place where you and I connect and you send me questions and I give you back answers.

So here is one from Julia.

JULIA: Hello, my name is Julia DiFrancesco from Maple, Ontario, Canada.

I'd like to know, what kind of meat is best you use for a braciole?

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

LIDIA: [ Laughs ] Brava, Julia.

There's a little noise in her kitchen, but she wants to know, what is the best cut of meat to make braciole?

So braciole are these thin, pounded usually beef that is stuffed with bread crumbs, prosciutto, onions, sort of tied in with a toothpick, and then cooked, braised, in a tomato sauce.

You need the cut of meat that's a little tough -- a secondary cut.

So a top round cut is a muscle cut that is usually one piece, that it doesn't have too many cartilage in it or veins or whatever that will divide it.

So a nice big piece and cut it very thin, and then you pound it, and you know how to fill it and then cook it.

That's a good question.

Thank you for taking me to your kitchen.

I hope to see you next time, Julia.

Ciao.

So let's go back to the meal here.

[ Sizzling ] Everything is cooking away.

So now I'm going to add the combination of the vinegar and the honey.

I am just going to bring it to a boil, and I'm going to put it in an oven, a 400-degree hot oven, for about a 1/2 hour, and dinner is going to be ready.

Jeanne sent in pictures of her cooking my recipe of chicken cacciatore.

Look at these great photos.

Jeanne, good job.

She followed the steps.

She has a nice Dutch oven, which gives her plenty of room and space to cook.

Great!

Look at that.

She got some nice color on the chicken.

And here is the finished product.

Looks great.

Jeanne, great job.

I love it.

It makes me feel so happy when I see that, you know, you have taken my recipe and made it your own.

So till next time, till your next question, enjoy cooking.

The pork chops are out of the oven, look really good, and we're ready to serve them.

Mmm.

Just like that.

And this.

And, of course, one for me to taste, and this is all the fruits and the vegetables.

The onions, the pears are wilted but still delicious.

My portion right on here.

This looks pretty good.

The sauce is here.

Let's top it off with some of the sauce, just like that.

Mmm.

Now, because the balsamic you can even add at the table, but since I am going to taste mine, I'm going to add some balsamic right now on mine.

Now, let me taste this.

I guess a little piece of meat.

Mmm.

A little piece of pear, a little piece of onion, a little bit of the balsamic, and let's see.

♪ Mmm.

The meat, delicious.

Pear, sweet.

Onion, sweet, and the vinegar in there, a little tart.

Three great flavors together make a great dish.

♪ Some of my favorite time in the kitchen has been teaching my grandchildren to grow into confident cooks.

And these days, even though they're living on their own, that doesn't mean they stop asking for my advice.

Hi, Lorenzo, how you doing?

LORENZO: I'm doing great.

Ciao, Nonna.

How are you?

LIDIA: Oh, fine, fine.

What's up, Lorenzo?

You need some ideas?

LORENZO: Yes, I'm always looking for new ideas.

LIDIA: Well, you're settled in your apartment.

Are you using the kitchen a lot?

LORENZO: You bet I am.

Absolutely.

LIDIA: Well, let me share with you something that I did the other day, and I love that cauliflower.

I don't know how popular cauliflower is with your friends, but I know you like it.

LORENZO: Oh, I love cauliflower.

I think it's one of those vegetables where, as a kid, you're like, "Ew."

But, you know, as you grow up, you're like, "Oh, this is actually really quite good."

LIDIA: So I braise the cauliflower in tomato sauce.

You can do it two ways.

You take the head, and you clean up some of the green leaves.

And the small ones, soft -- I leave them.

So you make the bases -- some onions, garlic, if you like a little bit of olive oil, a little peperoncino.

And then I take the whole head, and then you put it in, and then you take plum tomatoes and you crush them with your hands, or you pass them through a food sieve, and you cover the cauliflower.

Peperoncino in there, some onions.

You can put a bay leaf or two, salt.

Let it simmer.

To test when it's cooked, you just sort of poke in a knife to the center.

And if you feel no resistance, the chances are it is cooked.

The other way to cook it is break it into florets.

In a pan -- some olive oil, some onions, some peperoncino.

You throw in the florets, toss them, season them with salt and pepper, and then the same tomatoes -- you put it in.

You cover it, and you let it simmer away.

This is a great vegetarian dish.

Do you think your friends will like that?

LORENZO: Yeah, my vegetarian friends are absolutely going to love this.

You know, it's always fun to make veggies the star.

LIDIA: You know this cauliflower, especially for your vegetarian friends, you could make some rice next to it.

Or if you have any left over, it's a good pasta sauce.

You chop up the cauliflower a little bit more and make some pasta the next day.

LORENZO: You know, I love the idea of saving the sauce for a pasta dish later on in the week.

Quick and easy.

So, you know, if I'm busy or something, could I in theory, you know, throw in, you know, meat to braise with this?

Is that possible?

LIDIA: Everything is possible.

You're thinking, Lorenzo.

You know, you got to think of cooking time, so you got to put in things that would cook quickly, like shrimps, like scallops, Sauté them first and then throw them in there and finish it all together.

Absolutely.

LORENZO: I'll try that.

That sounds absolutely amazing.

You know, I'm at the farmer's market, and I see all these different colored cauliflowers, too, like yellow cauliflower and -- or, like, little Romanesco, for example, with, like, the fractal and, you know.

Do you think that would work, too?

LIDIA: Oh, absolutely.

And, you know, the color is determined on actually the nutritional value almost.

The most nutritional of all the cauliflower is the yellow cauliflower.

So look for the yellow, you can do this, but you can have the white, they have the purple cauliflower.

All of them will work perfectly.

So does the market -- when you go down to the farmer's market, does that drive your cooking when you see something that you like?

LORENZO: Yeah.

You know, in ways like, you know, I see something, I'm like, "Oh, I should cook with that today."

But at the same time, it's good to, like, go in with a recipe in mind.

But sometimes, yeah, things just sort of happen.

LIDIA: Yeah, absolutely.

Well, for me as a chef, the greatest, the most fun I have is when I respond to the product.

I see something beautiful and I just have to have it.

I have to cook with it.

You know, a product drives me, especially vegetables.

I love seeing them, and then, what can I do with them?

You know, the combination -- can I combine that and that, you know?

In a way, it's creating, but it's not really creating because I think chefs before me have tried it all.

But I have fun with it.

Okay?

Any other questions?

You're all set?

LORENZO: I think I'm all set.

I'm ready to make this.

LIDIA: So keep on feeding those friends of yours, okay?

LORENZO: I will always.

[ Speaks Italian ] LIDIA: Un abbraccio, bacione.

I love you.

Ciao.

Ah, a kiss.

I got it.

He caught it.

He sent me a kiss.

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

Beef and root vegetables braised in red wine.

That's comfort -- comfort zone, really.

And it's easy.

It's all in one pot.

So begin with a nice, big pot where you can fit the meat in as well.

The vegetables will go right in there.

Let's salt the meat.

You don't need the real prime cuts of beef because it'll roast for two hours, even a little bit more.

So it will be soft.

With the fork, you'll be able to cut it, so you don't have to spend all that money on the meat itself.

But let's get it browned so that we add some flavor to it.

I love my Porcini -- dried Porcini mushroom.

They just deliver such a powerful flavor of the woods.

And in order to bring that out, take some hot stock and let it steep in there.

Let us steep until we're ready to add it on to the sauce itself.

Let's...

While that's browning, let's add some more flavor, and that's in a pestata.

I like to add a little bit of bacon, so I'm going to add a little bit of flavor and fat from the bacon itself, a little bit of carrots and onion.

[ Whirring ] Now it looks good.

So I think the meat has just browned a little bit around, so it's not kind of that raw meat flavor, and right in here, right in the same pot, let's go with the pestata.

[ Sizzling ] And you want the pestata to -- you want to render the bacon in there a little bit.

You want to flavor it again.

All these steps are building flavor.

You know, you sort of cook, caramelize each step, and then you put it all together and it's a big symphony of flavors, of music, if you will.

Tomato paste -- we'll put it right in there.

And I'll make a little hot spot, if you will, for the tomato paste.

Let that, again, build up some more flavors.

I will throw in the rosemary, the sage, and bay leaves.

All of that will give it a lot of flavor.

And the porcini mushrooms.

Take them out, and I want to tap them a little bit, but I want to use this juice also.

Just be careful that at the bottom, there might be some dirt.

So just kind of... [ Sizzling ] Okay.

And you leave the little bit of sediment.

You don't want to put that in to cook.

Let's get the chopped porcini in there.

Absolutely, let's get a full bottle of red wine.

And, you know, a lot of you ask me about wine and cooking.

Well, what you want from wine and cooking wine is that you want its acidity and you want its flavor.

As it cooks, the alcohol will dissipate, so that will not be a problem.

Let's put some stock in there.

Let's put the meat right in there.

Season the sauce with salt.

So, you bring it to a boil, and then you put it in the hot 350-degree oven for about an hour, an hour and a half, and the meat will become tender.

Welcome everybody.

I'm in Italy.

I'm having a great time.

I didn't forget you.

I come, and I look at what you write to me.

So here I have an e-mail from George.

He says, "I notice that there are different ages when it comes to cheese.

Is there a difference between them and how do you know which one to use when?"

Absolutely.

There is the aging process of a lot of the cheeses.

What happens in aging is the cheese itself mature more.

It dehydrates, so intensifies.

It intensifies in texture.

It intensifies in flavor.

It really gets more complex as it ages.

So, yes, there's a difference between the age of each cheese.

And most of the cheeses if they're the normal size, about a year and a half to two years is where they're really mature.

If the cheese is bigger, like those big cheeses that you see, they can go up to five and even six years of aging because they have more of a mass.

Age does matter in cheese, George.

Absolutely.

Great questions.

So, you guys out there are asking all kinds of questions.

I'm in Italy.

Send them in so I can research them and get back to you.

So, the meat is cooked.

A half an hour before the meat was cooked, I added in some onion and some rutabaga, and that's all cooking in here with the sauce, and it's delicious.

Are you hungry, Grandma?

ERMINIA: I patiently wait.

LIDIA: The string, let's cut that out.

Here, and this is the last one.

Okay.

Let me start cutting it just like that, and you do it in the sawing motion.

You see, it's kind of breaking apart.

Mmm-mmm.

Mmm-mmm.

Cut it all the way down, just like that.

Okay.

Now this is where we're going to put it, kind of scoop it up just like that and put it right here in the middle of the plate.

Now it looks good, huh?

ERMINIA: Beautiful.

LIDIA: Okay.

Maybe I'll take this piece that was here for me and for you.

How do you think that, Grandma?

ERMINIA: Plenty.

Plenty.

LIDIA: No, we're dividing it.

ERMINIA: Oh, that's okay.

LIDIA: That's okay?

ERMINIA: Plenty for me, anyway.

LIDIA: Okay.

And now the vegetables, the onions and the rutabaga.

Mmm-mmm, just like that.

♪ ERMINIA: They smell very nice.

LIDIA: It's delicious, too.

So, let's give you a piece of the rutabaga... ERMINIA: Well, a little bit.

I will taste.

LIDIA: ...and me a piece right here, and I know you love your onions.

ERMINIA: Yeah, that's great.

LIDIA: Mmm.

ERMINIA: Mama mia!

LIDIA: And I'm going to give myself some onions, just like that.

Okay.

That's for us.

ERMINIA: What a nice-looking dish, and inviting, too.

LIDIA: Ah, I need to put some sauce now.

ERMINIA: Even more.

LIDIA: Watch this.

ERMINIA: Even more decoration.

Oh, good.

LIDIA: This looks nice.

You see you have all the needles of the rosemary in there.

Just a little bit to reinforce the flavor of sage and rosemary.

But you and I have to taste, Grandma.

ERMINIA: I think I can tell you already what I think, that it's delicious.

Mmm.

LIDIA: Let's taste.

ERMINIA: Look at that.

LIDIA: The meat is nice and tender.

The rutabaga still has a little bit of a bite.

That is beautiful, and what do we usually do, Grandma, when we have a lot?

What do we do?

ERMINIA: We drink a little bit.

LIDIA: And we eat a little bit.

ERMINIA: And we eat a little bit, yes.

LIDIA: Don't we invite them?

ERMINIA: Surely.

LIDIA: So what do we say?

ERMINIA: Tutti a tavola a mangiare e bere, especially today.

It's something extra delicious.

LIDIA: You heard it.

Tutti a tavola a mangiare.

ERMINIA: E bere.

♪ LIDIA: Soul cooking techniques give you a great product, a velvety product.

You know, you have to pay a little attention.

But, you know, they have sort of come back because there was a period that, be it in Italy, be it here, everything was fast -- sear it in the pan, grill it on there, steam it here, and so on.

And these are all very valid.

But that doesn't diminish the long cooking techniques because they can be very healthy and very good and they are coming back.

I think we have the time to sort of revisit ourselves in the kitchen with the family and the flavors that we can pull together in a pot braising slowly.

I really appreciate it.

And I think it shows the effort of pulling together spices and herbs and proteins and really make it harmonious like a musician, I said.

Speaking about music, Grandma is gonna lead us with music right to the table.

LIDIA AND ERMINIA: ♪ Viva la e po'bon ♪ ♪ Questo moto triestin ♪ ♪ Che la vadi ben ♪ ♪ Che la vadi mal ♪ ♪ Siempre alegri e mai paison ♪ ♪ Viva la e po'bon ♪ ♪ Viva la e po'bon ♪ ♪ Questo moto triestin ♪ ♪ Che la vadi ben ♪ ♪ Che la vadi mal ♪ ♪ Siempre alegri e mai paison ♪ ♪ Viva la e po'bon ♪ ERMINIA: Cin-cin.

LIDIA: Salute.

Cin-cin.

ANNOUNCER: The food from this series makes Italian cooking easy for everyone and showcases simple-to-prepare recipes that require fewer steps, fewer ingredients, and less cleanup, without sacrificing flavor.

The recipes can be found in Lidia's latest cookbook "Lidia's a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl," available for $29.95.

To purchase this cookbook and any of her additional products, call 1-800-PLAY-PBS or visit shop.pbs.org/lidia.

ANNOUNCER: To learn more about Lidia, access to videos, and to get recipes, tips, techniques, and much more, visit us online at lidiasitaly.com.

Follow Lidia on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @lidiabastianich.

♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Funding provided by... ANNOUNCER: At Cento Fine Foods, we're dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of authentic Italian foods by offering over 100 specialty Italian products for the American kitchen.

Cento -- Trust your family with our family.

ANNOUNCER: Grana Padano -- authentic, Italian, rich in tradition, yet contemporary.

And by... ANNOUNCER: Olitalia.

"From chef to chef."

ANNOUNCER: "Lidia's Kitchen" studio provided by Clarke, New England's official Sub-Zero and Wolf showroom and test kitchen.