Brian O'Malley: Coming up!

Nebraska cooks share their favorite family recipes AND the stories behind them.

Shirley Brunkow: I just hope somebody keeps on making em.

But we have to keep doing this so it isn't a lost art.

Jake Nelson: Well, I first learned how to make this ... for my grandpa's 90th Birthday.

Brian O'Malley: I got to tell you, Orlando, this looks spectacular.

Lesa Kechley: Not only does it make us feel good when we eat it, but it gives us some nice memories in thinking of (Sure) all the fun days we've had with your mom.

Brian O'Malley: That's fantastic.

Angie Jensen: Traditions and food and recipes, things like that.

To me, that's kind of part of who we are and where we come from in our backgrounds.

Brian O'Malley: There's probably nothing more critical to our ability to define ourselves than the things our parents helped us put in our bellies.

♪ MUSIC ♪ NARRATOR: This program is funded in part by Walmart.

♪ MUSIC ♪ Encouraging families to preserve their culinary heritage.

Walmart, committed to saving people money, so they can live better.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Hello.

I'm Brian O'Malley, a chef-instructor here at the Institute for the Culinary Arts on Metropolitan Community College's beautiful and historic Fort Omaha campus.

But it's here in this kitchen where I apply my craft as both chef and teacher.

(Tastes dish) Brian O'Malley: Looks good Roy... You know, one of my favorite things about food is its capacity to help create strong memories.

Like whenever I hear the sizzle of pancake batter hitting a hot griddle, just that sound alone takes me back to being a boy and watching my dad make pancakes on our camp stove during family vacations.

Those pancakes were fabulous.

Now, I think we would all agree that food and stories make a perfect fit.

Mix in family and you have the ultimate memory-making recipe.

That's basically the concept behind THE RECIPE BOX.

A few months ago, we asked Nebraskans to send in their all-time favorite family recipes and their stories behind them.

Boy, did we get a response.

From a hundred and seventy entries, we selected 36 semi-finalists and they participated in six community events that we held across the state.

From those 36, we selected nine finalists who are gonna be featured in this show.

Before we go on to our first cook, I want to be sure to tell you that all of these recipes you're about to see are available to you on THE RECIPE BOX website.

You can also see video of all the semi-finalist presentations and their recipes, plus cooking tips from our featured cooks.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Traditions are important to us because they involve built-in family time and food.

We generally look forward to them.

Even though they mean putting up with that one annoying relative.

When the circumstances of our lives change like a move away from home, we adapt our traditions.

We may even create new ones.

As a young mother living in a new town, Jan Dutton thought a great way to make new friends would be to invite people to come camp with her and her family along the Platte River.

Twenty-five years later, those same wild strawberries still gather each June, canoe the Platte River, and eat Jan's Platte River Pulled Pork Bar-B-Q sandwiches.

Let's go to Lincoln, where Jan's at home ready to show us how to make her dish.

♪ MUSIC ♪ Brian O'Malley: Jan is gonna talk to us about one of her family's traditions which is a pulled pork sandwich that they have, it sounds like every year right.

Jan Dutton: We go camping every year around the middle of June or early June, and pulled pork is our recipe.

We make it the night before and eat it after we go canoeing.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Fantastic.

So tell us a little bit about the recipe itself.

JAN DUTTON: We slow-cook it all night long-eight or nine hours, shred it, put sauce on it, and make a sandwich.

It's absolutely delicious.

BRIAN O'Malley: And so that's something that you do the day before you go.

JAN DUTTON: Right.

And we like to allow a little bit of time just to get the canoes ready, get the kids packed up.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Is this a big group?

JAN DUTTON: Well, we've now got 50 or so people and we canoe all day and eat pork and have a great time in the evenings.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I would imagine.

It sounds like it's a great time.

So what do you want us to do with this beautiful piece of meat here?

JAN DUTTON: Well when-when you cook this meat, the fat part dissolves and becomes liquidy, so to start with, I like to cut all the fat off (Okay.)

and throw out the excess fat and then I put a rub on top of that.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Talk us through it.

You mentioned that it was pork butt.

JAN DUTTON: You can use pork butt, pork shoulder, or picnic ham, but it needs to be the cheapest cut of meat- a cut that still has a lot of the fat for the flavor and the marbling.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Absolutely.

And you always like a piece of bone in there to right?

JAN DUTTON: That's right.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So you want all of this done or just this cut kind of... JAN DUTTON: Well not all of it, but just the- just the middle big part.

You need some for flavor.

That's what makes it taste good.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: The good thing about leaving a little bit of fat out here too is it'll carry that seasoning down through the meat.

We have some rub here.

This is a combination of dry ingredients.

You got a little bit sweetness in here, a little bit of- JAN DUTTON: It's a little bit of brown sugar, but it's mostly spices.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Mostly spices.

JAN DUTTON: That seems like a lot, but it's not.

(Okay.)

And then roll that over and put some more on.

Yeah let's get plenty on there.

Then you can cut up these garlics a little bit.

Let's cut those up and use several garlic.

And then I put onions on top of everything.

Put two onions for a roast this size is just about right.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So here's four slices of onion.

JAN DUTTON: Just start packing these on here.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Oh nice.

JAN DUTTON: Kind of push em down so they might stay in place.

Okay, so we got the onions on here, let me get some tin foil.

Cover it up so that the steam helps to cook it.

If one doesn't fit, you might have to put two on.

And this is ready to go in the oven just like so.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: We have let this meat cool just a little bit and the pork's ready to handle, although we're not really gonna get our fingers into it.

We're gonna use some forks.

And there's some debate I think even in your household about how far we need to pull this.

JAN DUTTON: People like the chunks.

They don't want it shredded into strings.

So you can make it as chunky as you like it.

(Okay) See how this just falls apart.

It's just so tender.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Oh that's perfect.

JAN DUTTON: Look how tender and pink that is.

... BRIAN O'MALLEY: So is this about our point of doneness?

JAN DUTTON: This is pretty good stuff yup.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: What do you call this the crust?

JAN DUTTON: I call it the bark.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: The bark, alright.

JAN DUTTON: Like the bark on a tree.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: All right.

I'm gonna adopt that.

JAN DUTTON: The bark on the roast.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: All culinary students at Metro from now on will be required to call that bark because I think it's a marvelous term.

JAN DUTTON: It's a low country term.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: A low country term.

You gave us "bark."

I gotta tell you that this is what we would call "Scooby snacks."

JAN DUTTON: Ohhh.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Cause this is the stuff then that the cooks would eat before they throw it away right.

I mean cause this is totally lunch for a professional cook right there.

JAN DUTTON: Yeah that would taste good.

Oh it is good.

Just really without anything on it right now, that is delicious.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's delicious.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: It's time to meet Jan and the rest of the wild strawberries down on the Platte River.

JAN DUTTON: We have a few weenies who think it's too uh cold, wet, rainy to canoe, but we'll prove them wrong.

(people greeting each other) ♪ MUSIC ♪ JAN DUTTON: We had heard about the new Platte River State Park and so we rented six cabins.

They were cabins in a circle that were called The Wild Strawberry cabins.

So we called ourselves The Wild Strawberries.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: It's certainly one of the best canoe trips I've ever had - mostly because it was short.

(People mingling) BRIAN O'MALLEY: We are finally out of the river and here under a nice shelter at Platte River State Park.

I really appreciate you including me.

It was a lot of fun.

It was a lot of fun on the river today.

JAN DUTTON: We had a good time.

I hope we didn't spill you and the canoe yeah.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: No no.

I had- I had a great time, but really I'm very ... JAN DUTTON: Are you hungry?

BRIAN O'MALLEY: It's been awhile since I've tried your pulled pork so let's let the dogs out over there.

You can cover here and enjoy some of this pulled pork.

We'll see you once you gather around the table.

JAN DUTTON: Baked beans.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: On the sandwich?

JAN DUTTON: The baked beans ... (people eating) BRIAN O'MALLEY: I finally get to eat.

JAN DUTTON: Oh these are good.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Um hum.

This has been a fantastic day out here at Platte River State Park.

Both in the water.

In the rain.

And now under the shelter, we've had a great day plus we finished it with some fabulous pulled pork sandwiches and some great company so... JAN DUTTON: Some good chocolate chip... BRIAN O'MALLEY: Amen.

To the Wild Strawberries, this is a great great day.

MAN: One, two, three.

Wild Strawberries!

BRIAN O'MALLEY: There are not that many variations in the way we prepare food.

For instance, there's really only a few ways to apply heat to the stuff we cook.

But the ingredients like spices, for instance, make an enormous difference.

When Orlando Afanador's parents moved from Puerto Rico, they brought with em those spices.

The flavors of the Caribbean.

For Orlando, nothing was better on a Sunday morning than waking up and smelling that savory aroma from his mother's Chicken and Potato Sazonado, running downstairs and digging in.

It's time for us to dig in as well.

There are Latin flavors awaiting us in Schuyler where Orlando is ready to share his recipes.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Orlando is going to share with us his mother's Chicken and Potato Sazonado recipe.

So can you tell us a little bit about, you know, when it was that you first learned how to make this dish.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Oh very young um it was a Sunday, we were-my own mom's quick and easy meal.

Actually at the time, my room was above second floor above the kitchen, so it was great.

It's just something she did quick with things handy, throw it together, and apparently is a very common dish.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So, talk us through a little bit of the ingredients that we have here.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: We have the chicken and then we have potato, garlic and onion.

Very important with Spanish cooking.

We're gonna throw in some apples, some grape juice, of course the adobo and the sazon, where the name comes from.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So let's get started.

Do you want to put me to work?

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Sure.

Do whatever you want.

Potatoes.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I can do that.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: And I'll start seasoning the chicken.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Fantastic.

Let's go.

Do you want to just show me you know, how the seasoning goes on here, what's the blend of different things here?

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Well, of course, always we want- we want to start with the salt.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: With some Italian seasoning.

Then we have some pepper.

Now we're going to double it.

Now this is a garlic, onion, and other spices .

.

.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: But it is called Adobo.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Adobo.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

This is the packet of Sazon.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Adobo and Sazon - most major markets would have it.

And I'm gonna go ahead and throw in the grape juice now.

And see the nice color already.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Very nice.

As Orlando blends the seasonings and some white grape juice with two pounds of chicken, I mince three cloves garlic, sliced thick slabs of red and yellow onions.

Chop some green peppers, Granny Smith apples and potato.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Everything's then mixed with the chicken along with a few green olives, finished with a healthy drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Here we go.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's gonna be a lot of food.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Um hum.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's the best part.

We got it nice and well-mixed.

And when do we cover-we get right down on top of it or do we tent it up a little bit?

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Um actually, I've never thought of it.

I just put it on and hope ...Just put it right on.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: You don't have to worry about thinking about it.

You do what you do and then this... ORLANDO AFANADOR: Actually yeah...I do put it on.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: We are taking the Sazonado out for the last time.

And while we've come to be calling it Sazonado all day, the real dish is called is Chicken and Potato Sazonado.

Sazonado simply really means seasoned.

I got to tell you Orlando, this looks spectacular.

So we've got some folks gathering around the table.

We should probably get this in the other room, but I like to always taste stuff before it lands on the table.

How about you?

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Sounds good to me.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

So just a little bit of broth down here maybe.

Oh look at the color on those.

That's very nice.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: We're good for salt.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Yeah I don't think it needs salt.

Very nice flavor too.

It looks very nice.

Let's get it into the table.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: Sounds good.

♪ MUSIC ♪ ORLANDO AFANADOR: Every time I make this, I think of growing up and my mom cooking this and those Sunday mornings when it was so cold in winter.

Hmm.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Do you think of it as kind of a family dish now too?

Josue Afanador: Well ...yeah.

I might have to steal it when I go.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I think that's the point, right?

Josue Afanador: I'll probably make it better too.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: This really was quite fantastic.

We appreciate you again sharing with us and bringing us out here to Schuyler and teaching us this marvelous recipe.

ORLANDO AFANADOR: It was my pleasure.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Thank you.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: During World War II, troop trains would make a ten-minute stop in a little Nebraska town.

The soldiers that poured out of those trains and into the local canteen would receive one huge community care package.

So when Sigrid Wimberly's nephew was deployed to Afghanistan, she took a page from North Platte's history book and sent some love overseas of her own.

She sent her spicy sweet Worldwide Ginger Snap Cookies.

Let's visit North Platte where Sigrid is getting set to whip up some cookies.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: We're here in North Platte with Hersey native Sigrid Wimberly.

Sigrid's gonna take a little time to teach me how to make Worldwide Gingersnaps.

They are a relatively famous cookie, I've come to find out.

Sigrid, tell us a little bit about how these cookies started to be so well-known?

SIGRID WIMBERLY: Well, I started making these cookies back in the forties, but they didn't become well-known until my nephew was in Afghanistan.

And his mother sent him some cookies and he wrote back and he said, mom, they arrived in crumbs.

So I decided we needed to have a sturdy cookie.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Oh, you didn't send him- You didn't send him gingersnaps.

You sent him... SIGRID WIMBERLY: So, then I decided we'd better send him Gingersnaps.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Aha.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: So the answer I got-we got back was regardless of whether they took one week or three weeks, they arrived in good condition.

They were fresh and not broken.

So that's why we've named em Worldwide cause he shared em with all the boys in the service, which I thought was very nice.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That is fantastic and kind of fitting for a girl from North Platte.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: That's right.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: From here where they used to feed all the soldiers on the way to World War II.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: That's right from the Canteen, that's correct.

But I like to make cookies and I keep my hands busy making cookies.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's good.

Well show us, get your hands busy I guess.

Sigrid prefers to make her gingersnaps by hand.

She begins by creaming a three quarter cup margarine and one cup sugar.

Then in a separate bowl, she beats an egg and adds it to the creamed mixture.

♪ MUSIC ♪ To that, she adds a teaspoon of cinnamon and ginger, half teaspoon salt, two teaspoons soda, two and a quarter cups flour, then finally she adds four tablespoons molasses.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: Well I don't measure the molasses because all you do is spend time getting it in and out of the spoon.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's correct.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: So I do this.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Then we just see how much.

How many cookies have you sent over to Afghanistan?

How many packages do you think?

SIGRID WIMBERLY: I probably send a batch about every three weeks I'd say.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Wow.

So he made lots of friends.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: Well, he is a good kid.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: And we're ready to start rolling, so can you give me a little demonstration on how this is supposed to happen.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: Just take a little teaspoonful out and roll em in your hand.

And then you ... BRIAN O'MALLEY: ...a little.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: That's right.

And then just and then put em-I just chill em long enough so that that doesn't stick to your fingers see.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: Cause it's kind of sticky if you don't.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: I'll get that door.

Gotta earn my keep.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: And I let em sit just a few seconds before I. JIMMY MOORHEAD: We can smell you're baking cookies, Aunt Sig.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: That's right.

And that's your favorite kind too Jimmy.

JIMMY MOORHEAD: Thanks a lot.

Looks really good.

Smells really good too.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Did you know these guys were showing up to steal cookies today?

SIGRID WIMBERLY: Well, I had a little inkling that he knew something was gonna happen.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Nice to meet you gentlemen.

JIMMY MOORHEAD: Nice to meet you.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: You're the reason for the cookies it sounds like.

JIMMY MOORHEAD: I got to be honest with you uh, I didn't really share at first so.

When I got the second batch, I said hey say Sig, why don't you send em to these guys too.

And so thanks a lot, Aunt Sig for always supporting us.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: Well like I said ... that was the least I could do for you boys.

ROB COPLAND: We also want to relate to you as Jimmy tried to explain, there were actually three of us, one of which is still serving in Turkey today.

And on our way up here today, he texted us a message and wanted to say Congratulations to Aunt Sig.

SIGRID WIMBERLY: And where's my Gingersnaps.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: And where's my Gingersnaps.

JIMMY MOORHEAD: Well throughout the deployment, I would send Sig postcards and at one point, I had my buddies get together and just write a few words.

I put it on September 28, 2007.

Aunt Sig, here are a few words about what we thought of the gingersnaps.

Thanks for always sending cookies.

Andrew from the United States.

Uh greatly appreciated and well-received.

Thank you.

Steve from Canada.

Yummy.

Josh.

Amazing.

Ben.

Delish.

Nate.

Awesome.

Thanks.

Chuck.

Aunt Sig, thanks for the great cookies.

Ted.

Aunt Sig, thanks a bunch, the gingersnaps were great and greatly appreciated.

Russ W. He's a Lieutenant Colonel.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: There's such an outpouring of thanks from you all to her for making cookies.

We were talking about this not too long ago that the amount that you give the rest of us far outweighs the amount ... SIGRID WIMBERLY: The amount of cookies that... BRIAN O'MALLEY: The amount of cookies that could ever come so certainly I know Sigrid feels this way and I do too so thank you both very much for your service.

JIMMY MOORHEAD & ROB COPLAND: Thank you.

Thanks for having us.

♪ MUSIC ♪ SIGRID WIMBERLY: There wasn't much we could do here since we don't have a Canteen anymore in North Platte, I decided I'd be my own Canteen.

I couldn't tell you now how many cookies I have made.

But after him sharing him with all the other boys in the country, we decided we'd better change the name to Worldwide Gingersnaps.

And I'm very very grateful to have him as a nephew.

Just pray that our war will be over and all the boys will get to come home.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Family recipes that are shared between generations give us a whole new glimpse into who we are and who are ancestors were.

It's a sort of home-spun culinary anthropology.

Beth Clarke's grandmother documented her recipes in a beautiful cookbook and gave one to each of her grandchildren.

It's where Beth discovered Leckerli Cookies.

A treat her family's been making for a very VERY long time.

Let's go to Blair where Beth's kitchen is already fragrant with citrus, spice, and rosewater.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Beth shared with us her Leckerli Cookie recipe that she says originally is from her grandmother, but a little bit of research shows that it's really from uh her great-great-great... BETH CLARKE: Yeah, this recipe goes back seven generations so it's a pretty old recipe.

And the recipe really is important to our family because I think had my grandmother not put it in the recipe book, we wouldn't be making these today.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Well, I'm glad that she saved it for us and that's kind of the function of this program as well if for us to enshrine some of these recipes so they can be used in perpetuity, if you will.

BETH CLARKE: There you go.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: You do have a beautiful kitchen here, but I think we should mess it up a little bit.

BETH CLARKE: (LAUGH) All right.

Well let's get started.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Absolutely.

Let's get started.

BETH CLARKE: We need to dissolve the sugar, so we're gonna put the butter and the honey and the sugar in a saucepan.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BETH CLARKE: And we'll put that over here and get it going.

The whole point of this is to get the sugar dissolved and you want-once the butter melts, it's ready to go.

And here what we have is three cups of flour.

We're just gonna put all the dry ingredients together and give em a little mix.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BETH CLARKE: Now we're gonna go into the citrus fruits.

We don't want to get any of the actual middle of the orange, but we want to get some of the rind and some of the (pith) pith, there you go.

And we're gonna put some of that in here too.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: One of the things that was most intriguing about the recipe is that the cookies after they're made need to cure, need to ripen after they're baked.

And I think we're seeing why.

Because this-the white part of the orange or any citrus fruit is very very bitter, but given time, it'll certainly mellow especially if it's exposed to air.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: So where do we go from here?

Are we ready to go.

BETH CLARKE: Okay, we're gonna go ahead and put that-yep we're gonna process that up and we're actually gonna put a cup and a half of almonds in there with it.

(Food processor grinding) BETH CLARKE: I think that looks pretty good.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Let's make sure we get a pretty good shot of the level of doneness there.

I know when you go through a recipe, these are the kind of moments that you don't really know how long to take it.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: So now, we're gonna move to the mixer.

We've got all of our ingredients uh ready to go so.

BETH CLARKE: We're just gonna combine everything.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BETH CLARKE: I'm gonna go ahead and put it on the saran wrap.

We're gonna wrap it up.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Look how wet that is.

That's amazing.

BETH CLARKE: I know.

You got to roll it pretty quick.

You know, it's gonna move around a lot, so make sure you got it wrapped tight.

It's gonna go in your frig overnight.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I'll take both of them over there.

(Okay.)

Beautiful colors in there.

BETH CLARKE: See the orange and the lemon and the spices all flecked in there.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Great.

BETH CLARKE: Okay, so here's the dough.

It's been refrigerated overnight.

It's ready to be rolled.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: It's nice and firm.

Certainly compared to what we just put in the refrigerator, it's really firm.

BETH CLARKE: Yeah yeah it firms up.

And you're just gonna roll it into a- into a big rectangle.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BETH CLARKE: I think that looks good.

Let's slide the cookie sheet in... BRIAN O'MALLEY: Do we want to trim these a little bit first or we'll just make a... BETH CLARKE: Just put it right on there.

It'll be fine.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: So we have the ingredients gathered here for your glaze.

So our goal is just a nice thin because we want this to really melt once it hits the hot cookies right.

BETH CLARKE: Right.

Yeah and you know, you want to go slowly with your hot water.

If you add that too quickly, you're surprised at how much the powdered sugar incorporates it.

So I usually take that pretty slow.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: We probably got about 15 minutes left in the cookie baking, so I'll probably get on the dishes now.

BETH CLARKE: There you go.

I'll get out of your way.

(LAUGH) BRIAN O'MALLEY: Absolutely.

(dishes being cleaned Beep) BETH CLARKE: Lets take a look inside.

See the edges are pretty well browned.

This is kind of the fun part.

You just take the pastry brush and ...I think you're not gonna have any trouble at all.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: We're just coming down like this.

(Yup.)

This is perhaps the most fragrant thing I've smelled come out of an oven in a long time.

The glaze seems to have set a little bit.

Are we ready to take a cut?

BETH CLARKE: You're ready to cut.

Yeah I usually just cut rectangles.

And you can cut this direction and go ahead and .

.

.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: And so you go straight across like this.

BETH CLARKE: Sure.

I just keep it simple.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: But then we get to what I think might be the most interesting part of this recipe is that then we're not eating.

Then we're gonna put em in a tin and let em rest for--- BETH CLARKE: You're gonna want to let em rest for about three to four weeks.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Wow.

BETH CLARKE: But we'll do that.

And luckily, I ... BRIAN O'MALLEY: Can we try a little piece of this before we .

.

.

BETH CLARKE: Well you can.

It'll be interesting.

You try this and then when we go and we try the ones that I made a month ago, you can kind of tell us what the difference is.

(Okay.)

But I can tell you they're not good today.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: All right.

I'm excited for that.

Like from the fragrance, it seems like it's gonna be an amazing kind of citrus cake.

BETH CLARKE: Right.

Yup.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: It's pretty bitter.

And the texture's fine.

It tastes, you know, feels like cake.

But it feels like you're eating raw orange peel.

BETH CLARKE: Right.

And that flavor's gonna stay in your mouth awhile.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Thank you.

Thank you for letting me do that.

(LAUGH) BETH CLARKE: Now try one of the ones that's ripened.

Do you want a drink of water first?

(laughter) BRIAN O'MALLEY: The one that I just tried had-was very very soft.

Obviously, it was still warm.

Hmm it's like a whole different thing.

It's amazing how different that is.

BETH CLARKE: It's not the kind of cookie you have everyday.

And I think it's a special thing you can pull out right at Christmastime and our family's doing that now and when they make it and when I make em, my family knows they have to wait a month to eat em so.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I'm glad I've learned how to make these.

Thank you very much.

BETH CLARKE: Well you're welcome.

Glad to show em to you.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So we're gonna get a chance to sit down in just a minute and have one with your grandmother I hope.

BETH CLARKE: Yes, Granny will be here soon.

♪ MUSIC ♪ (people enjoying food) BRIAN O'MALLEY: Thank you both very much for sharing your recipe and your home and your kitchen with us today.

It's really been a wonderful experience and thank you for spending some time with us here in Blair learning how to make Leckerli Cookies with the Clarkes.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Certainly, we need food to sustain our health, but when challenging times arise in our lives, food also has the capacity to comfort us.

When Christina Rivera died from injuries she suffered in a car accident, her young son Dawson went to live with his grandparents Lesa and Gary Kechley.

In the midst of their sorrow, grandmother and grandson discovered a common passion, a passion for baking.

In the kitchen, they are now a tour de force.

The result of which is Dawson's Apple Carmel Crunch Pie.

Let's hop over to rural Nebraska City where Lesa and Dawson are ready to make some pie.

We are here with Lesa Kechley and Dawson Parde and they're gonna share with us the secrets to Dawson's Carmel Apple Crunch Pie.

It's a pretty exciting day for me.

I've never been formally instructed on making pie crust and I've never been formally instructed by a person under the age of ten.

So both things are pretty exciting for me.

So Dawson, want to show me what we're doing here?

LESA KECHLEY: All right.

Should we get started Dawson?

All right, what are we gonna do first?

Should we put some flour in the bowl?

BRIAN O'MALLEY: To make the crust, Dawson begins by mixing flour and salt.

Then he cuts in the shortening.

With a little extra help from Lesa, they get it well-blended and then they add ground walnuts.

They finish with sprinkling a little ice cold water and working the dough just until it's well-blended.

LESA KECHLEY: That's right.

Sprinkle it over.

It's like it's snowing on the towel.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: You notice how he only rolls one direction.

When you roll just one direction, you get a lot more even crust.

LESA KECHLEY: Oh yeah, I know you've been trying to work with me on making the crust edges.

I haven't yet.

Do you want to do it?

Do you want to brush?

You're a good brusher.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: You know, what's this gonna do-protect that crust from drying?

LESA KECHLEY: It's helps protects it from drying, but also it just gives it a little bit of a color too when it's baking.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

Now are we gonna move this away and move onto the filling.

LESA KECHLEY: We're gonna start the apple cutting.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Just give him a little chunk like that and let him get started on it.

LESA KECHLEY: Good job.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Good job!

Cinnamon.

LESA KECHLEY: Yeah this is.

We put just straight cinnamon in there, kind of bring the sugar in.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: We're adding this little bit of flour here just as the apples lose some of their own juice.

Just something to kind of tighten that- hold that juice together.

LESA KECHLEY: Yes.

Arrange some of the-yeah arrange some of the apples down there and kind of get em where they're kind of tightly fitted.

Okay Dawson, all right.

Swirl it around.

There you go.

I warmed up the caramel just a little bit so it can flow out a little easier.

So should we make our next step and take some black walnuts.

Black walnuts is our favorite.

You sprinkle it all over on top.

We have our-so you had that crunch all the way through the pie.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Perhaps, it just makes sense that a young girl growing up in the heart of apple country would love apple pie.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: After her daughter's death from injuries suffered in a car accident in 2006, Lesa was inspired to create a special dessert in Christina's memory.

It's how Dawson's Apple Caramel Crunch Pie came to be.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Dawson, can I squirt some caramel too?

Thanks.

When-so Lesa, Dawson told me that the two of you started making this pie or have made this pie together many times.

When did you start?

LESA KECHLEY: It's been probably last year, year and a half.

I thought I wanted to make a special pie and I wanted Dawson to be a part of it due to some tragedy- due to losing my daughter a couple years ago.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Which was Dawson's mom.

LESA KECHLEY: Dawson's mom, Christina.

And uh we wanted something just to carry her memory on.

She loved apple pies.

And so I thought Dawson loves the nuts, he loves the caramel, so I said, let's blend this all together and on special holidays or whenever we feel like we NEED that pie, we're gonna make it.

So this is a VERY special pie cause it brings- not only does it make feel good when we eat it, but it gives us some nice memories in thinking of all the fun things we've had with your mom, Christina.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Well, we appreciate you sharing the recipe for-with us.

I know we've got a few more things to put on the pie and then we get it in the oven, but it's a great memory.

It sounds like it's a great tradition that you and Dawson are building so thanks again for sharing it with us.

LESA KECHLEY: He loves eating those nuts.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay so talk to us about the topping.

LESA KECHLEY: Dawson, you want to put-dump the brown sugar into the bowl?

Then we got oatmeal and then we could put a little bit of nutmeg, just a little bit of cinnamon.

Okay, should we start putting it on?

♪ MUSIC ♪ ♪ MUSIC ♪ (people eating) LESA KECHLEY: And we were very blessed to have her for 25 years in our lives, but even more blessed to be raising our grandson Dawson.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: While growing up in Omaha, Anita Miller spent hours in the kitchen with her Italian grandmother.

A grandmother who cooked so much food she even fed the postman.

Anita submitted her family's recipe for Italian Sausage and Peppers, but rather than join Anita in her kitchen, I asked her to meet me at the Santa Lucia Festival.

Omaha's annual five-day extravaganza that features authentic Italian music, history, and of course, delicious Italian food.

The festival's in full swing at Lewis & Clark Landing in Omaha.

Let's check it out.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: They smell fantastic.

ANITA MILLER :Yeah.

They are wonderful.

Oh... BRIAN O'MALLEY: Appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Enjoy.

Gratzi.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Maybe we should stop for a beer.

You up for a beer with these Italian sausages.

We have a marvelous feast assembled for it, but it's just me and Anita eating here, but we'll have a couple of nice cold beers and then of course our sausage and pepper sandwiches.

They're certainly beautiful.

They smell fantastic.

How does this compare?

I mean is this how grandma used to do it as well?

ANITA MILLER: It looks exactly like what I grew up eating.

Exactly.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Really.

ANITA MILLER: Um hum yeah.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: This looks a little too good to pass off anymore, so shall we?

ANITA MILLER: Yeah let's.

Um-mm wonderful.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That is fantastic.

ANITA MILLER: Isn't it though?

BRIAN O'MALLEY: The sausage has got amazing flavor.

The breads just the right amount of pull.

Peppers are sweet.

So you ate these when you used to come to the Santa Lucia Festival.

ANITA MILLER: Oh yeah yeah.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: But now you've been spending your life making these for your own kids trying to get back to this taste huh.

ANITA MILLER: Uh huh yes.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Did you come pretty close?

ANITA MILLER: Yeah I'd say mine are better.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Of course you would.

Well of course you would.

I know that for most Italians sharing a family recipe is not something that they're ready to do.

But you were kind enough to submit it.

Would you tell me a little bit about it?

ANITA MILLER: Italian food is food with lots of flavor, Brian.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: For sure.

ANITA MILLER: But-and very few ingredients.

I suggest that people buy good quality Italian sausage.

Not the packaged-pre-packaged kind.

Get good quality.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Go to a butcher.

Go to a place where they've got it at the counter.

ANITA MILLER: Right exactly.

But the topping is very simple.

It's green peppers.

It's onion.

It's tomato.

It's garlic.

And it's-you just chop everything up and sauté it in some olive oil and when everything is nice and tender, you're done.

We're ready to eat.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Anita, tell me a little about your grandma.

About growing up in Omaha with a great Italian grandmother.

ANITA MILLER: She was an amazing woman and she lived two blocks away from our house and I spent a lot of time with her because my mother would always send me to grandma's house so I was with grandma a lot of many many of my growing up years were spent with grandma.

Uh she came to this country when she was 16 years old.

She left her family, her mom and dad, sisters in Sicily knowing full well that she probably would never go back.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So did you pick up some of that sense of adventure?

ANITA MILLER: I don't know.

I-I don't think I'm- I like to cook, but I'm not so sure I want to leave home.

We had to stay put yeah.

(laugh) BRIAN O'MALLEY: Well uh whatever it was- whatever it was in her spirit and the spirit of the rest of the Italian immigrants in that time in the history of Omaha, it certainly carried through till now.

I mean the Santa Lucia Festival is a marvelous place uh that still has that Italian kind of powerful spirit.

So I know it as part of the festival here, there's a parade as well and a big kind of honorary church service.

Did you spend some time as a kid as part of that?

ANITA MILLER: It was not only a festival, but for us, it was kind of like a holy experience because we would go to church and then we would wait outside of the church and then they'd bring the saint out and then they would parade-we'd have the parade.

For a little girl, it was-you know, it was really moving.

And I always wanted to be the queen.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: The Santa Lucia queen?

ANITA MILLER: Yeah I thought oh boy, you know, that would be the biggest honor if maybe someday I could be the queen.

Unfortunately, I was never the queen, but my cousin Linda was.

And I thought well, that's close enough.

As long as my family... BRIAN O'MALLEY: They only do one per family?

ANITA MILLER: Yeah.

That's good en-yeah I was satisfied.

I was happy she was the queen.

So it was a big honor.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Well this has been a wonderful day.

Thank you so much.

I'm dying to take another bite of my sausage so ... ANITA MILLER: Let's do it!

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: A 19TH century Frenchman said, show me what you eat and I'll tell you who you are.

Angie Jenson counts herself lucky that she learned to make Halupsie before her father's untimely passing.

It's a dish that is deeply connected to her family's sense of who they are.

And now she can pass it forward to her own children.

Let's pop over to LaVista where Angie's ready to make Halupsie.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Angie's gonna teach us today a little bit about making Halupsie, a wonderful recipe with cabbage and chicken that she learned how to make from her dad.

Can you tell us a little bit about what that was like getting the recipe from your dad?

ANGIE JENSON: Growing up as a kid I didn't really appreciate how special it was and I'd kind of pick out the cabbage and eat all the other stuff that's in it.

Um and as I started to get older, I realized that it WAS special simply because we didn't just have it all the time.

It was something that only my dad made.

As I got older, I started to ask about the origins and where this came from.

It wasn't just some crazy refrigerator leftover dish that he came up with.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: (laughter) And that's great.

ANGIE JENSEN: And as it turns out, it's something that he learned from his mom and she passed away when he was very young, so he took over a lot of the cooking chores and he continued to make it for the rest of his family and made it for our family.

And I learned it from him and now I make it for my family.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's marvelous and hopefully you'll pass it onto them and they'll get to carry it forward.

ANGIE JENSEN: I hope so.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Tell us how to start here.

I'm an able-bodied cook.

You can put me to work.

ANGIE JENSEN: Sure uh chop the onion for me.

I'm going to put some butter in our pan and we'll get that started melting.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Excellent.

ANGIE JENSEN: You know, when I think about this dish, it always makes me think of my dad when we got together with all of my dad's family and we went camping.

My mom and my aunts they all got together and actually made it-big roasters full and took it out camping.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Really.

ANGIE JENSEN: That-that's when I really kind of thought this is different.

This is special that we all sit around the campfire and eat Halupsie and not grill hamburgers and hotdogs.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Right.

ANGIE JENSEN: It was absolutely perfectly normal.

There's a lot of things that make us who we are and traditions and food and recipes, things like that.

To me, that's kind of part of who we are and where we come from in our background so.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I would agree with you wholeheartedly.

I would say that there's probably nothing more critical to our ability to define ourselves than the things our parents helped us put in our bellies so.

ANGIE JENSEN: Absolutely.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Is this where we want to go with onion?

ANGIE JENSEN: Looks good.

♪ MUSIC ♪ ANGIE JENSEN: Go to the cabbage next.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

♪ MUSIC ♪ ANGIE JENSEN: Today, I'm staying pretty true to form of how he would make it.

In my house, I probably do use a little less cabbage.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

And so these are boneless skinless breasts, but like you said, certainly the recipe originated using whole chickens.

ANGIE JENSEN: Um hum.

Absolutely.

You can add the chicken in here.

There.

We won't splash it.

We'll just kind of stir it all up and then seasoned- a little more salt and pepper.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's a lot of chicken.

ANGIE JENSEN: It is a lot of chicken.

Take a little bit of cabbage just to kind of coat the bottom of the pan.

Maybe a little less than half of what we have here.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

Then we'll go with four cups of rice.

ANGIE JENSEN: Four cups of rice.

Yeah!

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Do you want me to handle that?

Is that four or five?

ANGIE JENSEN: Yup that's four.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So we've let the chicken be simmering here for just a second.

Angie's gonna show us what we'd look like underneath and this is about where we want to finish is that right?

ANGIE JENSEN: Ohh yeah that's beautiful.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So we're gonna start scooping chicken out into the pan over there.

ANGIE JENSEN: I'll let you carry it over here cause it's kinda heavy.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Absolutely.

I'd be happy to.

I really want to feel one of those pieces in there.

Oh yeah.

So they might be pushing two-thirds done there.

So once we've got all this out of here, we're gonna pour the liquid that's in here into this graduated measuring cup here.

ANGIE JENSEN: See how much we start with and then.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: And then bring it up to eight cups with apple cider vinegar.

ANGIE JENSEN: And water.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: And water.

ANGIE JENSEN: Not just vinegar.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So you don't want to use too much vinegar.

ANGIE JENSEN: Right.

You want your brine to be a little bit on the sour side, more-more sour than not.

(Okay.)

But it is easy to get it a little too sour.

(Okay.)

Almost there.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's good cooking right there.

No real strict measurements.

ANGIE JENSEN: Not an exact science.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I'm happy with that.

ANGIE JENSEN: That's how I grew up watching my dad cook and that's kind of how I've-how I cook.

All right.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: We get to taste.

ANGIE JENSEN: Yep.

We get to stir and taste.

So.

I think that's about perfect.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: It's certainly got a definite sour quality to it.

I mean I obviously don't know the level at which you're trying to go for, but you can definitely taste the... ANGIE JENSEN: It's sour, but it's not overbearing.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Correct.

ANGIE JENSEN: That's when you can taste the butter and get a little bit of flavor of the chicken in there.

So I think that's about right.

♪ MUSIC ♪ ANGIE JENSEN: Who wants the first plate?

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I'd love it.

ANGIE JENSEN: Okay.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: The cabbage after that amount of time is just the perfect level of doneness I think.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Delicious.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: So thank you very much.

And thank all of you for opening your home to us today and sharing this marvelous recipe that's meant a lot to your family this far and hopefully will get carried through to your wonderful young daughters here so.

ANGIE JENSEN: Absolutely.

I'm so pleased that I was able to share it with you all.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Thank you.

ANGIE JENSEN: Thank you.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Developing fundamental skills in the kitchen is essential to making good food.

When it comes to Kolaches, Shirley Brunkow is as good as it gets.

As a girl, she worked alongside her mother where she honed her Kolache-making skills and absorbed the fabric of who she is.

It's something she has passed along to her own children and from the looks of it, to her grandchildren as well.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Let's get over to Milligan where Shirley's in her kitchen.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Shirley's going to teach us a little bit today about making Kolaches.

She's got some great techniques.

We've been here with her for the past little bit and she's been showing us some great stuff.

We're really excited to share with you, so Shirley tell us what's the first thing we're gonna get working on here?

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: Put the sugar and the yeast into the bowl and we need to make sure that the liquid is a hundred and ten degrees.

Normally, I would use dough hooks and mix it up completely, but today, we're going to knead it by hand.

We're using a variation of the recipe that I got from my mother over 55 years ago for our bridals, for my bridal shower.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: You pull it toward... SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: You fold it and push it away from you.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: This is more fun than I've had in awhile in the kitchen.

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: It will stick to the board somewhat, but you can see already (Umhum) that it's looking pretty good.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I love the idea that you know, certainly as we're learning how to make something like this that we do it with the dough in our hands so you can really start to feel that difference of where it started to where it's ending up.

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: It'll BE sticky.

(Um hum) You don't want it real stiff.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: So these poppy seeds that we're grinding- what are we grinding them for?

Are they gonna get studded on our dough?

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: That's-we're going to cook that with several other ingredients and that'll be the filling for the Poppy Seed Kolaches.

I do this so that I can tell about how much dough to use.

And it should be about the size of a walnut.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: Now if you were my mother and you were making em to take someplace, you would make sure that you have a space between em.

Because when you bake kolaches and they touch each other, those are the rejects.

BRIAN O'MALLEY:Uh huh.

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: She lived to be 92 years old and so you know, she practiced a little bit.

I taught my (cough) granddaughters how to do this, but when they want kolaches, history repeats itself, they call Gram.

The seven-year-old and two-year-old from Colorado made kolaches with me and they had fun.

The seven-year-old got pretty good.

(Really.)

We have to keep doing this so it isn't a lost art.

I just hope somebody keeps on making em.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's true.

You hate to have kept it alive all these years to not have the next generation take it on.

So that's one of the goals of what we're doing, Shirley, is doing our best to capture some of these things, so maybe a family that uh had missed a generation of that knowledge transfer gets a chance to pick it up from where your family has it.

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: Whenever we have a holiday dinner, I bring the kolaches or the rolls or both.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Do we have recipes for these fillings as well?

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: Yes they're all-they're all on the web site um hum.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Excellent.

So some of these sound like a lot of fun and really neat that you've got apricot and cherry trees and you're still making stuff right off those trees so.

♪ MUSIC ♪ SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: If you were my little two-year-old, I'm going to "stomper em."

BRIAN O'MALLEY: That's what this is called in two-year-old language is "stompering."

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: Yeah it's "stompering" balls.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

Can I "stomper" a little bit?

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: You can "stomper."

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: And we're gonna bake these one tray at a time.

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: One tray at a time and I'm gonna set the oven for 425 and put em in on the lower rack.

BRIAN: This one?

SHIRLEY: Yes.

Uh huh.

♪ MUSIC ♪ SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: AND they look good.

♪ MUSIC ♪ SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: Nice and brown.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Look marvelous.

It sounds like we have some friends and neighbors and relatives on their way over to the house.

SHIRLEY: It's been fun.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: It has.

It's been a lot of fun.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: This is it.

We get to take our first bite so they were trying to teach me a minute ago how to say "Bona Petite" in Czech, but uh do-bree-hootinamy.

Here we go.

♪ MUSIC ♪ (people enjoying food) BRIAN O'MALLEY: Thank you very much.

SHIRLEY BRUNKOW: You're welcome.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Nothing replaces the experience of standing next to a loved one and cooking together.

The knowledge that's shared over the stove not only instills a sense of belonging, but also an appreciation.

An appreciation for what came before.

Jake Nelson had his grandmother's recipe for Aebelskivers, but the only way for him to know if he was making it just right was to wait until his grandfather took that first bite and gave his approval.

Let's join Jake in his culinary arts classroom at Leyton High School in Dalton.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: We are here in Dalton learning to make Aebelskivers.

I am as confused as you right now.

Don't worry.

That's Jake Nelson's job.

Jake is a student here at Leyton High School.

Go Warriors.

And he's gonna teach me, hopefully gently, how to master this craft of Danish breakfast food.

JAKE NELSON: Yes Danish breakfast.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Wonderful.

And where did you first learn how to make this?

JAKE NELSON: Well, I first learned how to make this.

It was for my grandpa's 90th birthday.

(Okay.)

And my parents had an old aebelskiver pan and I wanted to make a special treat for my grandpa and Danish traditions run deep in my family's history.

So what better to make for my grandpa than aebelskivers.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Aebelskivers fantastic.

So it ends up kind of as a round ball-shaped pancake right?

JAKE NELSON: Yes.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Okay.

So talk us through the first few steps of the batter here.

JAKE NELSON: First thing we'll do is go ahead and beat these until they're light.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: And then the same happens here with the whites?

JAKE NELSON: Yes.

We'll beat them till they're not stiff, kind of soft.

Next, we will go ahead and add the sugar and vanilla in with the egg yolks.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Sugar.

JAKE NELSON: Yup.

And we'll go ahead and dump that vanilla in there too.

Alright, now we'll need to add the dry ingredients, the milk and the butter.

Go ahead and start melting this butter here and I'm gonna mix together the rest of the dry ingredients.

♪ MUSIC ♪ JAKE NELSON: This is two cups of milk.

We'll add a little bit of milk in.

♪ MUSIC ♪ JAKE NELSON: I'll give it a little stir and then we'll repeat.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: So this pan is a pretty unique thing.

This is connected to the origin story of the aebelskiver, right?

JAKE NELSON: Um hum.

They can be traced back to ancient Denmark to the time of the Vikings.

And it-the story goes that since the Vikings traveled light in their-in their light attack ships, they didn't have much room for pots and pans and stuff like that.

So when they- BRIAN O'MALLEY: They'd rather bring swords and ... JAKE NELSON: They'd rather bring swords and shields and helmets and captured women and stuff like that.

But so when-so when they'd need to cook, they would simply just cook in their shields.

Put the shield over the fire and cook.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Uh huh!

JAKE NELSON: But after many battles, your shield's gonna have lots of dents in it.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: I would imagine.

JAKE NELSON: And so what happened-they'd make a very- practically what I'm making-a very simple pancake-like batter and they'd pour that in their shield and cook it.

And what would happen is the batter would pool in the dents in that shield making small round pancake balls.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Wow.

JAKE NELSON: And the name aebelskiver actually comes from the word, apple.

And it can be either-since we-a lot of times people put apples inside of the aebelskivers as they're cooking.

Or they might-they might come from the apple shape of the finished pancake.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Fantastic.

JAKE NELSON: All right.

So now, we'll put about a fourth cup of batter in each one of these little pockets.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: How full?

Just about a quarter inch from the top you're going?

JAKE NELSON: Yep.

And the-one of the most important things is you remember which order you dumped the batter in (Right) because if you-that's the order you want to turn em while you're cooking them.

Another real important thing is to use your toothpick and turn the aebelskivers as you cook them.

That will ensure that the insides get cooked.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: So you can pull it up a little bit like that.

JAKE NELSON: Just pull it up a little bit.

Or a quarter of a turn.

It takes a couple tries to get it just right.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Aha.

JAKE NELSON: So we're just kind of continuously keep turning these.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Oh that is cool.

JAKE NELSON: So then when you get about right here, you want to just try and go ahead and turn em over.

That-the batter from the top will drain to the bottom and close em up.

And that's kind of the coloring you want on em, that kind of webbed.

Partially that kind of the light brown and dark brown coloring on em.

That's another sign that they're getting really close to being done on that side.

BRIAN O'MALLEY: Jake, I really feel like you've turned me into an aebelskiver master in just one try here.

And I really want to go home and try em out on my family and friends and my own culinary students.

You've got to be excited to share these with everybody.

(School announcement for fresh aebelskivers) (Cheering students) ♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Wow.

I think these guys are ready to eat some aebelskivers.

Let's get to work and ... ♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: Jake, thank you very much for sharing your family's culinary heritage with us-teaching me how to make aebelskivers.

It's been a lot of fun.

And I think I owe a special thanks too to Mrs. Cranmore class.

Ethan for coming in as a Viking.

This was a lot of fun and enjoy your aebelskivers.

♪ MUSIC ♪ BRIAN O'MALLEY: We've come to the end of this show.

But before I go, I want to encourage you to what you can to preserve your family's culinary heritage, whether you're the cook or the lucky recipient, get in the kitchen, continue the food traditions that are unique to your family's story.

Spread love.

For THE RECIPE BOX, I'm Brian O'Malley.

NARRATOR: This program is funded in part by Walmart.

♪ MUSIC ♪ Encouraging families to preserve their culinary heritage.

Walmart, committed to saving people money, so they can live better.

♪ MUSIC ♪ Captioning by Ren-Ver/NET Television, 2009