Original subtitles

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In Venezuela, there are many traditional dishes.

And lucky for me, they're all delicious.

A bit of sugar,

some nice butter...

And on Christmas Eve,

my family always has Pan de Jamón, which is a soft bun,

loaded with olives, raisins, capers,

and all sort of goodies.

Pan de Jamón is everywhere in Venezuela

during the holiday season.

♪

I'm working on the dough now, and I tell you,

it's going to be delicious.

Some eggs...

Activated yeast.

It's going to make that dough rise.

♪

Pan de Jamón vas invented by the bakers in Venezuela.

Because usually, during the holiday season,

they cook hams and sell it to the public,

and what they didn't sell, they would bake into their bread.

And that's how Pan de Jamón was born, a traditional staple

of Venezuelan holidays, and Venezuelan cooking.

So, this dough is pretty much ready.

I'm just going to put it in a bowl,

drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil, so it doesn't stick.

Just like that,

and I'm just going to let it rise.

Hah! Look at how much that's risen!

At least double the size.

And you know what, I'm almost ready.

♪

Little bit of flour so it doesn't stick.

Oh, yeah.

♪

I'm ready to build my Pan de Jamón.

It's similar to a cinnamon roll,

in the sense that you lay everything flat,

and then roll it in.

And of course, I'm going to start with jamón.

♪

Now, I'm going to add some bacon.

And then the rest of the goodies.

Some capers,

some olives,

you gotta have olives.

And now, raisins.

These are all Christmas flavours.

We put that stuff, over the holidays, it's everywhere.

In all of the dishes.

So good, that's the Spanish influence right there.

I'm ready to roll this Pan de Jamón.

And I have a trick. You want to keep the seems underneath,

so the Pan de Jamón doesn't open when it's baking.

♪

And I have another trick.

I put some water in this pan,

so when it steams,

it's going to keep my bread nice and moist.

Ah, it smells so good, it's almost done.

For the glaze,

I've added a little bit of brown sugar,

an egg to make it nice and shiny.

Ah, very tasty.

At home, we would use a little bit of papelón,

but brown sugar works just as well.

Just a little bit more time in the oven

to finish it off.

Ah, look at that.

I can't wait to bite into this.

Check this out.

Wow, see all those layers?

The sweet, the saltiness, the olives.

Mmm, delicious.

The raisins have puffed inside,

they're really nice and moist. Remember about the water.

'Cause that's what it did to the bread.

Everything inside is really nice and moist.

Aw, man, look at that.

See the olives? See the steam?

This is the best bread you'll ever have.

And I tell you, Christmas special.

Your guests are going to love it.

♪

♪

After a long week, there is nothing better

than chilling out at the beach in Venezuela.

And you'll always find pregoneros

selling Veulve La Vida Ceviche.

I've got some fresh shrimp here. It's been peeled and deveined.

I'm just going to cut it for my recipe.

And I remember, growing up,

going to my beach house in Venezuela,

you could just see, on the side of the road, all the fishermen,

but particularly in Boca Lucidez,

they would fish for shrimp.

♪

Now, I've cut up all my shrimp,

but I've got more seafood.

I've got some squid,

some mussels,

and some clams, yeah.

I'm going to add some white wine,

into the boiling water, just for a little bit of taste.

And for the shrimp, I'm going to cook it ceviche-style,

with some citrus.

A little bit of limes...

Oh, yeah.

Little bit more.

I'm going to add some white vinegar as well.

It's the citrus and the vinegar

who's actually going to cook my meat,

so I'm going to let that sit for a little bit.

A little bit of salsa Inglesa,

or Worcestershire sauce.

A pinch of salt.

To finish it off, a little bit of tomato juice.

Oh, yeah.

That's going to cook my shrimp,

nice and tender. It's not going to make it too chewy, it's going

to make it just the right tenderness for my ceviche.

And now, I'm going to put this in the fridge.

Ah-hah, it's ready!

Nothing like fresh seafood. Ah, look at that.

It's going to be perfect for my ceviche.

♪

And I'm cooling my seafood with cold water,

so they don't overcook.

'Cause I don't want them chewy at all.

And I've got a little trick for you, if you ever see a mussel

that's closed like this, or a clam that's closed,

throw them out, that means that they're no good.

I'm ready to flavour my seafood.

I've got some red peppers, some onions,

and of course, aji dulce.

♪

You want everything nice and small.

Just bit sized.

So it's crunchy.

I tell you, ceviche,

in the beaches of Venezuela...

Big hit.

♪

Little bit of vinegar.

Worcestershire sauce!

Or salsa Inglesa.

Ah, yeah.

Some pepper...

A dash of salt.

And of course, limon.

Ah, yeah.

Look at that, so good.

So juicy.

Then you double check this, here.

Ah, yeah.

Mmm, smells so good. The onions...

this aji dulce, the pepper. It's all there.

Perfect.

Ah, man, so good. Mejillones...

almejas...

camarones...

It's like kicking it back in the beaches of Venezuela,

a nice beer...

sun, the Caribbean ocean. bikinis...

Mussels.

See, my ceviche is almost ready.

All those flavours are there.

They're going to infuse with those nice citrusy flavours,

and the bite of the onion, and the sweet of the pepper,

all fits really well. Okay, now for my shrimp.

Ah, it's perfect, look at that.

See what all the citrus did to the flesh?

It's nice and pink, it's nice and cooked.

Mmm, smells really good.

Serve a little bit here. Ah, yeah, the veggies...

I got the mussels,

some of that shrimp, the clams.

Gonna add a little bit of the juice.

Ah, see that?

Delicious.

I can't wait to eat this.

Ahh, this is going to be so good, I tell you.

You've gotta make it at home.

Mmm.

It's nice and tender, I can taste the acidity,

the little bite of the onions,

but the sweet of the peppers, it just balances all the flavours

really well.

This dish makes me feel really good.

But you know what else makes me feel really good,

is my Mama's homemade soup.

♪

This is the Calabaza squash,

known in Venezuela as "auyama."

It looks like a pumpkin, but it's actually from the squash

family, and in my home country, we use it in a lot of soups.

Here we go.

See that? Nice and yellow inside.

Got to get some seeds out first.

You don't want that stuff in your soup.

♪

Now, into the pot.

♪

I'm going to cook this auyama

with some nice chicken stock.

And note that as it cooks,

the skin is going to come loose,

because it's going to be very nice and soft.

And for a little bit of extra flavour,

I'm going to use

the green part of a leek.

And every time I was feeling sick when I was a kid,

my mom would always put this nice, thick, hearty soup

on the stove.

And automatically, it made me feel like a million bucks.

And now, I'm going to be making some sofrito.

It's like a Latin version

of the mirepoix.

♪

Some garlic.

♪

Oh, yeah.

A little bit of olive oil.

And my veg.

(Sizzling)

This is going to add so much flavour to the soup.

♪

Gonna check on my squash.

Think it's ready, let's see. Oh, yeah.

I know my squash is ready,

because I can poke it all the way through.

But now I'm going to put it in the bowl.

I need for it to cool off,

before I take the skins,

'cause I need to mash it afterwards.

♪

Mmm, nice and sweet. Good stuff.

Ah, I think my veggies are ready now.

I'm going to add it to my soup.

Ah, nice and flavourful.

And now, our auyama.

It's gonna be nice and sweet,

very comforting.

And to tie it all together?

(Whirring)

♪

Okay, perfect.

See, this is the good consistency

for the soup, it's not too liquid-y,

and not too thick.

And to finish it off,

cilantro.

Ah, just like my mom used to make.

Nothing more comforting than homemade soup.

And I'm going to finish it off

with a little bit of sour cream.

Just to add a bit of creaminess to the soup.

Mmm.

So velvety,

nice and sweet.

In Venezuela, a great companion for the soup

would be some avocado,

and some plantain chips. Mmm, delicious!

♪

♪

I'm making Quesillo de Parchita,

which is a Venezuelan crème caramel.

And I'm going to infuse mine

with passionfruit, which is a tropical fruit

that is common in Venezuela.

We call it "Parchita",

but in the rest of Latin America,

they call it "Maracuya."

It's kind of tangy, really acidic,

and you see all those seeds?

We're going to get rid of them

by straining them.

So all we want is the pulp.

♪

And now that my parchita is ready,

I can work on my caramel.

It's super easy to make.

Two parts sugar,

one part water,

and the heat will do the rest.

Now I'm gonna get going on my custard.

So, I strained the seeds,

now I'm going to use some evaporated milk, boom.

And a secret,

some leche condensada,

or condensed milk.

And you can find condensed milk

and evaporated milk in any grocery store.

It's quite common.

Mmm, good.

See, I can taste the parchita,

I can taste the sweet of the condensed milk.

It's going to be really, really good.

Now, some eggs.

♪

And now, whisk.

(Speaking in Spanish)

You can flavour quesillo with anything.

You can flavour it with coffee, with lots of cinnamon.

You can also use lemons,

or limes.

But I like to switch things up a little bit,

so I like mine with parchita.

And then just a little touch of vanilla...

perfect.

♪

Look how the caramel

is easy to make.

Water, sugar, and heat.

I pour it into my mould.

Very carefully, it's super hot.

Super hot.

And you want to get it all the way

into your mould,

'cause this is going to be delicious

with our custard.

I'm going to put it in the fridge, and later,

I'm going to add the custard to it, and bake it

in the oven.

♪

Now, I'm going to check on my caramel.

Oh, it's cooled down, it's set.

it's nice and hard.

And it's good enough for me to pour my custard in.

Mmm, delicious.

Now, I'm going to put it in a bain-marie,

'cause I want it to cook nice and evenly.

♪

And in no time, my quesillo will be ready to eat.

♪

Ah, look at this, almost ready!

But I need to let it cool off at room temperature for a bit.

After that, I'm just going to put it in the fridge,

'cause I want that caramel to loosen up,

and to soak into the custard.

Ah, it's going to be so good.

Ah, yeah.

Look at all that caramel that's already oozing.

Ah, it's going to be so tasty.

Are you ready?

Check this out!

Ahh!

Look at that. Whoa!

Look at that nice caramel coating!

Aw, man, look how it oozes!

Get the rest right out of the pan,

you don't want to lose any of that caramel.

So, I'm ready to eat.

After all that effort, this is going to pay.

♪

Ah, man...

Ah, look at that!

So, it looks kind of like a cheese,

that's why we call it "Quesillo".

And sometimes, I don't know if you can see it here,

but there are some little holes that really make it

look like cheese.

But if it doesn't have the holes, it's still okay.

Going to add a little bit of-- just, passionfruit seeds,

to top it off.

See, let's try that.

Mmm.

Just a boost of flavour.

This dessert, so nice and easy.

You're going to love it at home.

All these recipes are traditional Venezuelan dishes,

and I hope they become part of your tradition.

Buen provecho!

♪