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

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

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

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

This is "Cook's Country."

♪♪ Today on "Cook's Country," Bryan visits the mountains of Puerto Rico and shows me how to make guanimes con bacalao.

Jack shares the history of salt cod.

And Lawman makes piña coladas.

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

♪♪ ♪♪ -In beautiful Puerto Rico, Spanish, African, and native Taino cultures have mingled for centuries to create a unique and vibrant cuisine.

Ahh!

And while many outsiders may associate the island with its tropical beaches or the colorful streets of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico also has a rich and distinct mountain culture.

Here, food is a way to deepen community ties and preserve family traditions, which is what brought me to the town of Ciales.

Here, nestled in the lush greenery of the surrounding mountainside, is Casa Vieja.

I'm here to meet Blanca Ayala and Gerardo Mena, a mother-and-son duo who run this iconic restaurant together.

The dining room is a replica of Blanca's childhood home, and the menu is based on the dishes they've served in her family since she was a young girl, with ingredients sourced from right here in the nearby mountains.

It feels like we're in an old home right now.

Can you tell me about how this place came to be and the decorations and the feel of it?

-This is called Casa Vieja because it represents the house that I used to live when I was a little girl.

I used to live with my brothers and sisters.

Very poor people, but with a lot of love.

Since this is Old House, I decided that the dishes that we were going to bring to this place were dishes that I used to have in my house that my mother used to make, that my family used to make.

-And how would you describe the food?

-Delicious.

[ Laughter ] -I love it.

I joined Gerardo in the kitchen to learn the family recipe for guanimes con bacalao.

It's the only seafood on the menu here at Casa Vieja.

The star of the dish is bacalao -- salt-cured cod that is popular throughout the Caribbean.

The salt cod is first soaked in water for 24 hours and then boiled.

Onions and fragrant peppers form the base of the stew.

-We're going to put some Cubanelle peppers.

In Puerto Rico, we call them cooking peppers because we use those peppers for everything that we use to cook in the Puerto Rican cuisine.

-And they're sautéed in a vibrant annatto oil...

It's so beautiful.

...which adds its beautiful red-orange color and grassy flavor.

-One thing that the Puerto Rican people really like is that their Creole sauce has a really bright-red color.

I think that is what really separates the guanimes con bacalao from Casa Vieja from any other Creole plate that you will find around the island.

We still use the traditional annatto and fresh vegetables that we can find here in Puerto Rico.

-Finally, cornmeal is boiled and then shaped into dumplings.

-So, we're gonna see that they become a little bit lighter color.

They're soft on the outside.

They're a little bit fluffy.

They have grown.

-When it all comes together, this stew is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

-I also think the guanimes con bacalao brings a lot of nostalgia.

Not a lot of restaurants in Puerto Rico now do it.

Every time that we have a new family comes here for the first time, there's always a family member that says, "Oh, they have guanimes con bacalao," because it's just real strange to see that dish in a bar or at a restaurant in Puerto Rico.

-Gerardo's cousin, Jaris, works as a prep cook at Casa Vieja, and despite having made this dish literally hundreds of times, she still loves the moment when it all comes together.

-Mmm!

[ Both laugh ] -Since I have memory, my mom always made that food.

-Really?

Did you enjoy it growing up?

-Of course.

And still.

-Casa Vieja is one of the most special places I've ever been to.

The food is simple, bold, and comforting, and the setting is absolutely breathtaking.

And the people?

Well, they're like family.

So, how would you like people to feel when they sit down and eat a meal at Casa Vieja?

-I want them to feel home, they're visiting some family member.

This is why Casa Vieja is magic.

-Puerto Rico is blessed with amazingly beautiful beaches, and it can be easy to forget that there's also a rich and vibrant mountain food culture there, as well.

But, Bryan, it looks like you had a terrific time there.

-Oh, I had an amazing time.

Gerardo and Blanca were terrific hosts.

I mean, the setting overlooking the mountains -- so gorgeous.

But the food was so simple, yet complex and delicious.

And one of the dishes there that I really kind of gravitated towards was this guanimes con bacalao.

That's what we're going to work through today.

-Looking forward to it.

-With Puerto Rican cuisine, there's a lot of ingredients that really define the flavor.

One of them is annatto and annatto oil.

So, these are annatto seeds, sometimes also called achiote seeds.

And the way we extract the flavor from them is, we're going to combine them with a little bit of oil.

We have a 1/2 cup of vegetable oil here in this small saucepan.

We are going to let these annatto seeds steep in this oil over low heat.

It takes about five minutes.

What we're looking for is for the oil to get that orange color and also look for little, tiny bubbles to start to formulate around those seeds.

At that point, you know it's hot enough.

We've kind of reached our full point of extraction over heat.

You want to make sure you pay attention to this.

You don't want to walk away, because if you walk away, it can burn and take on a really bitter flavor.

Alright, you see these bubbles forming around the annatto seeds?

You see how it's taking on that nice bright-orange color?

We're going to kill the heat on this and we're going to set it aside and let it continue to steep, while that oil is still hot, for another 10 minutes.

Let's talk about salt cod.

This is the star of the dish here.

Now, this salt cod comes from a Portuguese market.

So, you get this nice, big, thick hunk here with a little bit of the belly attached.

You see it's coated with salt.

It's basically just fresh cod that's been salted and air-dried until it's nearly shelf-stable.

I think people primarily still keep it in their refrigerator, but it could last for a while outside of refrigeration.

So, this is one way to buy it.

It often comes from the grocery store in these little boxes, as well.

And you can see that you still get a different variety of thicknesses.

So, the main difference here that we want to focus on is the thickness.

Now, this thicker piece of salt cod is going to retain more of its salt than something thin like this, because in order to use the salt cod, we first have to soak it.

But before we begin that, we want to remove some of this exterior salt.

So I'm just going to rinse it under some cold water.

Just really quickly trying to rinse the exterior salt off.

And then we're going to submerge it in 2 quarts of cold water here.

And then we'll cover this eventually and stick it in the refrigerator for a good 24 hours.

Now, the amount of time that you soak your salt cod for is a matter of personal taste.

You know, personally, I like it to retain some of its characteristic saltiness, but not be, like, overpoweringly salty.

You know, this is going to take a lot longer to soak and remove all the saltiness than a thin portion like this, okay?

But this situation -- about 24 hours will be okay.

We'll change the water one time during that period.

Okay, so, our annatto seeds have been steeping here in the oil for a good 10 minutes.

We can just drain this off.

-That's beautiful.

-Okay, so, we can let our annatto oil set aside until we're ready to use it later on.

Cover our salt cod, and we're going to refrigerate it for a good 24 hours, changing the water one time.

-Salt cod is dried fish with big flavor and a long history.

It is popular in countries around the Atlantic and Mediterranean, so this includes France and Italy, as well as Brazil, the Caribbean, West Africa, and even Scandinavia.

In fact, historians believe it was the Vikings who first figured out how to salt cod.

In the same way that salt makes fresh pork into prosciutto, there are chemical reactions that the salt kicks off, and the curing process that makes the cod more delicious.

It also creates a meaty, almost-steak-like texture.

Now, the process is very simple for making salt cod.

You literally put the large filets in salt, coat them on both sides, and let it dry.

Now, in certain climates, if it's very dry, you can actually put them on a clothesline and let them hang out.

One of the reasons that salt cod was so popular for many centuries is because it's a very easy fish to salt and preserve.

Oily fish are more challenging, because the salt takes longer to penetrate an oily fish, and, also, the fatty fish can get rancid during the curing process.

Cod has almost no fat, and so it has none of those problems.

Now, no matter the preparation, almost every recipe begins with the same step, which is to soak the fish for at least a day.

During that period, you're going to want to change the water, and then it's simmered and shredded.

At that point, it's ready to make a fritter, like they would in Jamaica, or maybe cooked with potatoes to make brandade, like they do in France.

Now, it's very simple to buy the fish.

You can find it in boxes like this, these little crates, in most fish markets and even some better supermarkets.

You can also see it in plastic pouches like this.

Because it's shelf-stable, this is also a fish that's very easy to mail-order.

Get some today and try cooking with it.

-Our salt cod has been soaking for 24 hours.

And you can see -- see how plush and soft it is now compared to where it started?

-Mm-hmm.

-I have 2 quarts of water here.

We're going to bring this up to a boil over high heat.

Then we'll reduce the heat to medium and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Okay, our salt cod has been simmering for 10 minutes.

We can kill the heat.

We want to use some of this salt-cod cooking water as a base for our bacalao.

So we're going to remove about a cup of it.

Alright, so, now we can remove our cod from our cooking liquid here.

If we were going to shred this with our hands, we would let it cool down 5 to 10 minutes, but I'm going to use a potato masher.

I'm just going to give this some brute-force mashing right here.

So, we'll just go ahead and keep mashing this up until it's all nice and finely shredded.

Okay, so, looking for any bones and removing any pieces of skin with our fingers.

A piece of skin like this right here.

Just chuck that off to the side.

Okay, so, our salt cod is nice and finely shredded.

We'll just cover it up and throw it in the fridge and let it sit until we're ready to proceed with the rest of our stew.

We are ready to start making our salt-cod stew.

So, I have 1/4 cup of our annatto oil, our beautiful annatto oil.

I'm just going to begin heating that up in a 12-inch nonstick skillet, medium-low heat, until it starts to shimmer.

While that's going on, we could talk about peppers.

So, there are two peppers that are used commonly in Puerto Rican cooking.

One is a Cubanelle, which you will find often in grocery stores here.

Stem and seed this pepper.

It's so long, I'm just going to cut it in half.

Remove some of the white ribs and the seedpods here.

I always cut the peppers with the skin on the bottom because it's easier to cut into the the fleshy side of the pepper.

-I totally agree.

-Just slice these thin.

The other pepper that we're going to be using today and is used commonly in Puerto Rican cooking is called ajies dulces, or sweet peppers.

Now, they look a lot like habaneros and Scotch bonnet peppers.

We could be victims of pranks here, but I don't think these are habaneros or Scotch bonnets.

But they add a ton of flavor and they're really unique.

If you can't find these, you could substitute 1/2 cup of chopped red bell pepper, but -- And the dish will still be great.

It'll just taste a little different.

Okay, so, what I like to do is, I like to begin by just cutting off the bottom of the pepper.

Because that's going to be a little bit bigger piece, I just cut that in half.

But other than that, I just go right around the center seedpod.

For our purposes, this is about the right size.

So, our oil is nice and hot and shimmering.

We can go ahead and add all of our peppers.

So, we'll add our Cubanelles.

Okay, and we can add our 1/2 cup of chopped ajies dulces.

I'm also going to add 2 1/4 cups of chopped onion.

We're going to add five minced garlic cloves.

So, even though we are using salt cod, we still need to season the rest of the stew.

-Right.

-Okay?

So we're just going to add 3 quarters of a teaspoon of table salt, 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano.

And we're going to let this cook until the vegetables are nice and soft, and that takes about seven minutes.

Okay, it's been seven minutes.

You can see how the vegetables are nice and softened.

The peppers -- I always tell that the peppers just start to bend like that.

-Mm-hmm.

-So, we're going to add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste at this point.

I'm just going to stir that in there and let it cook to kind of remove some of this raw flavor.

Just let it cook for about a minute.

And now we can add our reserved cod cooking water and all of our shredded salt cod.

Just stir this in.

We're going to reduce the heat to low, throw a lid on it, and we're gonna let this simmer away for 15 minutes for those flavors to blend.

-It's beautiful.

-Okay, our stew has been simmering away for 15 minutes.

-Ooh!

-God, you smell that?

-It smells delicious.

-So we're going to kill the heat on this.

And we have recao, also called culantro.

It's like a blend of really strong parsley and a little bit of cilantro.

So, we're going to add about 1/3 of a cup of chopped culantro.

-If you can't find culantro, or recao, you can do a mix of half cilantro and half parsley.

-So, this is about a 1/3 of a cup.

We'll add this to our stew.

So, we're going to add 1/4 cup thinly sliced pimento-stuffed olives.

That's about 1/4 cup right there.

Just look how pretty that is.

-It's very pretty.

-So, we could just let this sit off to the side and we can clean up and come back and start making our guanimes.

Now it's time to make our guanimes, which are our cornmeal dumplings.

And this is something that varies throughout the island.

The version we're going to make today is just simply cornmeal, water, and a little bit of salt.

So, I have 1 1/2 cups of water with 3/4 of a teaspoon of table salt that's coming to a boil here.

And this is 6 1/4 ounces of fine yellow cornmeal.

As soon as this water comes to a boil, we're just going to go ahead and dump our cornmeal in there.

We can kill the heat.

I just want to stir this together.

And, as you see, it'll start to set up very quickly.

Really trying to stir it enough to get the lumps out.

And this is really what we're looking for.

Okay, so, we're going to give this about 3 to 5 minutes to cool down so we can use our hands to shape the balls.

And now our guanimes dough here has cooled for a minute.

We could go ahead and start portioning it out.

We'll get about 20 heaping tablespoon portions out of this.

Alright, and we'll keep on portioning this out until we get our 20 even portions, and then we'll roll them between our hands and make them nice and smooth.

So, it helps if you wet your hands a little bit.

So, give them a little squeeze and then just kind of roll them like this.

Look how adorable those are.

-They are adorable.

-The water really helps, right?

-Yes, it did.

-Alright, so, these are ready to be boiled.

So, I have 3 quarts of water that's come to a boil here.

And because it's just you and I dining here today, we're going to cook off 10 of our dumplings, so we each get five.

So, we'll drop these into the water and we'll let those go for about five minutes.

And you can tell when they're done because they start to float.

And while our guanimes are cooking, we can go ahead and start warming up our bacalao over low heat so it's nice and hot.

You can see our guanimes are starting to float and circulate through the water.

That means they're ready, so we could shut the heat off.

Alright, so, we each get five.

Alright.

And we can bring in our bacalao that's been heating up.

-It's just gorgeous.

-It smells wonderful, too, doesn't it?

-Mm-hmm.

-Just pour that right over top of our guanimes.

Alright, so, we have one more ingredient we're going to add.

You remember our annatto oil from earlier?

So, the version that we had at Casa Vieja had a really luscious, you know, kind of decadent slick of annatto oil all over it.

And rather than cooking in a ton of annatto oil, we're just saving some of it here for a little bit of a garnish at the end.

You ready to dig in?

-I'm ready.

-Want to do this?

So, the way you do it is, you cut up one of these guanimes and get a little bit of the bacalao on your spoon, like that -- little of the oil.

-Mmm!

My goodness.

It's really, really good.

-When I had this dish, I was completely blown away.

I mean, it's so simple, but it's really deep and complex.

And it's not all about the salt cod.

I mean, you get the peppers coming in.

You have the annatto oil coming in.

You have the recao coming in.

They all play really nicely with each other.

-It's very balanced.

In every bite, you get a little bit of the pepper, you get a little bit of the brine from the olives.

And the guanimes -- they're light and fluffy.

That corn flavor is really coming through, like having a tamale.

This was amazing, Bryan.

Thank you so much for sharing it with me today.

-You are very welcome.

-And if you would like to bring a little taste of the Caribbean into your casa, soak salt cod for 24 hours, then simmer and shred, shape cornmeal dumplings into balls, and finish with a drizzle of gorgeous annatto oil.

From "Cook's Country," a savory salt-cod stew -- guanimes con bacalao.

This was amazing.

It takes me right to the islands.

-You know, we need piña coladas.

That's what we need.

-I hear you.

-[ Laughs ] -Piña coladas.

They're the official drink of Puerto Rico and the unofficial drink of this girl.

Now, when they're combined at their very best, it's pineapple, coconut, rum, and the combination is absolutely sublime.

But balance is key, just as it is in life.

So here to bring balance to us and to our cocktails is Lawman.

-Thanks, Bridget.

What makes this piña colada great is, we're using fresh pineapple.

And what I love about this cocktail is, it brings you to an island state of mind.

-So we don't need to go anywhere is what you're telling me?

-Well, let's take a trip.

-Okay.

-First, starting with making some simple syrup.

Now, I don't particularly care for a very sweet cocktail.

-Right.

-So by making the simple syrup, we're going to be able to control the sweetness.

-Okay.

-So, I have 3/4 cup of granulated sugar.

-Mm-hmm.

-5 ounces of warm water.

And I'm just going to stir it so the sugar dissolves.

-Easy.

No stove-top prep.

-Not at all.

-Okay, great.

-So, we're going to let this cool completely -- about 10 minutes.

-Okay.

-And while it's cooling, let's get to the pineapple.

-Awesome.

-So, first, I'm going to pull off four leaves.

This is going to help with the garnish.

They should come out relatively easy.

And now I'm going to cut a 1/4-inch circle right off the top.

I'm going to quarter this.

And then just make a little cut right there.

That's going to allow this to sit on the edge of the glass.

-So you're actually bartending here.

You're getting all your prep done ahead of time.

-Yes.

-Yep.

-Now I'm going to peel the pineapple.

So, I cut the bottom off so we have a nice stable base.

I'm gonna peel it.

So, we're looking for about 12 ounces of pineapple cut into 1-inch pieces.

-Okay.

-So, we're just going to put it on a sheet pan and we're going to freeze it for 30 minutes.

So, we're freezing the pineapple so that we don't need to use as much ice.

-So you're making pineapple cubes.

-Yes.

Less ice means a stronger drink.

-And a better night.

-Exactly.

We're going to freeze it for 30 minutes.

-Okay.

-Bridget, we want this recipe to have a clean flavor, so I'm using coconut cream, unsweetened -- 13.5 ounces.

-Okay.

So just one can.

And this is already a departure for some of the piña coladas I've made, maybe had a few, where it uses the cream of coconut, which is basically like a corn syrup with coconut flavoring in it.

-Exactly.

-And this is different from coconut milk how?

-So, the coconut cream has more shredded-coconut-to-water ratio than your coconut milk.

It's creamier.

It's thicker.

It's gonna give it great texture.

-Great.

-So, to that, I'm going to add 6 ounces of white rum... -Okay.

-...and 2 ounces of the simple syrup.

Now, again, this is going to help control that sweetness.

It's a little sweet, but not overly sweet.

-Okay.

-Now we're going to add our 12 ounces of frozen pineapple.

And, lastly, 8 ounces of ice cubes -- about 2 cups.

-So, we couldn't fully depend on the frozen pineapple.

We need a little bit of ice in there for balance, but also for the right texture?

-Exactly.

And you notice I put this in a certain order.

You want the liquid at the bottom.

It's going to help blend more efficiently.

-Alright.

-So, we're going to blend it for about one minute.

Nice and blended.

Look at that.

-Ooh!

That's a great texture.

-So, you ready to taste it?

-Oh, yeah.

-Alright.

So, I have a frozen hurricane glass.

-Mmm!

What are you going to have?

-[ Laughs ] Here comes the garnishes.

Put the leaf in there.

-Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

-Gonna add pineapple slice right there.

Fancy straw for you.

-Gold straw for me.

-This looks amazing.

-Yeah.

-I have one more thing to add to it.

A little dark-rum float.

It's going to add some complexity.

It's going to make it look nicer.

-Right.

-And let's be honest.

We're adding more booze to the drink.

What's wrong with that?

-What's not to love?

And this is optional, right?

-It is optional.

-Okay, Gotcha.

-So, the trick to this is, I'm going to pour it over the back of the spoon so it separates and goes right on the top.

If you just pour it right in, you're going to have a rum sink and not a rum float.

-Right.

So you want that dispersement.

-Exactly.

-This is almost too pretty to drink.

Almost, but not quite.

I'm definitely going to drink it.

-Cheers.

-Cheers to you.

[ Chuckles ] Hello!

[ Laughs ] [ Breathes deeply ] Hang on.

-[ Laughs ] -I know pineapple is the star of the show here, but the thing that is really showing up for me is the fact that you used coconut cream, not that super-syrupy cream of coconut, because that's often what you taste first in piña coladas.

This is beautiful.

We talked about balance at the front.

I am tasting coconut, but it tastes like real coconut, and it's not watered down because you used the pineapple chunks that you froze.

-Exactly.

-Mmm!

Choice of rum was excellent, too.

Both types.

-Thank you.

-You had the white rum in the base so you get that beautiful piña colada color, and that little floater of dark rum on the top.

Puerto Rico comes home to "Cook's Country."

I love it.

-Thank you.

-Well, stop what you're doing now and go make this piña colada.

Cut and freeze fresh pineapple, use coconut cream, and then top it with a dark-rum floater.

So, from "Cook's Country," bringing the island state of mind to your kitchen -- piña coladas.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes.

And those are all on our website, cookscountry.com/tv.

Third cheers.

Mmm!

Mmm!

It's going down fast.

-Yeah, it is.

-Yeah, it is.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for fail-proof recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews.

Cookscountry.com/tv.

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