Original subtitles

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Mexico has tortillas, Venezuela has arepas.

Check this out.

Look at the steam. Look at the crust. Oh man.

Best bread in the world.

And now, let's get started on the dough.

Take a look at this.

This is pre-cooked white corn flour.

It's called harina pan back at home.

There's no substitute so you've got to get this.

It will change the way you bake.

♪

I like to keep it very simple, so just water, salt,

and harina pan. Masa.

♪

And, to form the arepas

I just kind of pat them down a little bit.

It's almost like English muffin size.

A little bit of olive oil and a super hot pan.

And here we go. Oh yeah.

Nice and round.

Nice and thick.

Just like this.

Oh yeah.

Here we go. Last one.

♪

I'm going to cover the rest with this towel to keep them

nice and moist.

♪

This is the crust I'm looking for.

Nice and toasty on the outside, moist on the inside.

These three are ready for the oven.

♪

And we still have three more to go.

♪

The reason I'm going to put them in the oven is look at this,

they're still gooey on the inside, so they need more heat.

♪

♪

Oh, they're ready. Look at that.

I know when they're ready when they sound hollow.

And I'm going to prove that to you.

See how they're all done inside?

That's what we're looking for.

I told you, this is the best bread in the world.

You can have it with sancocho,

with soups,

you can have it as a side dish.

With everything. It's good stuff.

So good.

Nothing better than fresh baked arepas straight out of the oven.

Next, I'm going to make the queen of the arepas,

reina pepiada.

♪

♪

Now, I'm going to make the queen of the arepas, reina pepiada,

which is our version of a chicken salad sandwich.

I'm joust going to boil some chicken breasts in chicken stock

'cause I want them really nice and moist,

but really juicy and tender.

♪

Here when you go to the super market this is what you get

a small hass avocado, but in Venezuela,

our avocados are massive.

So big and huge that they break the branches of the trees.

And to take the pit out.

That. Push the pit, twist and it's gone.

I like to criss-cross it inside the skin

'cause it just makes it so much easier.

♪

Check it out, criss-cross on the inside.

Boom! See that? Easy.

And now some lime juice, 'cause you want a little bit of acidity

in our salad.

Oh yeah, that's good.

And the lime will also stop it from turning brown.

Some green onions.

Just a little bit of bite.

Some chives.

And now my favourite part, just a little bit of cilantro

and parsley.

This guasacaca is so fresh, it's unbelievable.

You can also add a little bit of onion.

Red onions are good. White onions are good as well.

And now, I'm going to add some aji dulce or sweet peppers.

It's going to add some crunchiness and some sweetness

to my salad.

♪

Oh yeah.

♪

So, this salad is similar to a guacamole.

So, I'm going to add more avocado

to make it nice and creamy.

♪

See that? Nice and criss-cross.

You can never have enough avocado.

It just makes it so creamy, so delicious.

Look at all the colours. Vibrant green of the avocados

contrasting with the red peppers.

I tell you, this is going to go great with my chicken.

Mm.

♪

Now the chicken's ready.

It has soaked up all the juices from the stock.

I'm just going to set it aside, let it cool off.

It's going to be so juicy.

So, reina pepiada takes its name from a famous beauty queen

called Susana Duijm.

She won the Miss Universe Pageant back in the 50s

and this famous arepero in Caracas

wanted to name the sandwich after her

and now it's one of the most famous arepas in Venezuela.

♪

Alright, we're ready to mix this salad.

Oh! The guasacaca with all the flavours.

Just going to put it in here with the chicken.

This would be a dish that we would eat on arepas,

we would eat when you're out, like,

partying, out with your friends

in a night out in the city.

Just ask for a good (Speaking in Spanish),

which is like a papaya juice.

And reina pepiada is the perfect cure when you just had

a little bit too much fun.

Now let's try it out.

Mm.

Mm. Brings me back home.

I hope you make my arepas at home

'cause I'm pretty sure your family is going to like them

as much as mine.

I'm going to show you two more arepa recipes

that are worthy of your next dinner party.

♪

♪

I'm working on an appetizer that's going to blow

your socks off.

It's an arepa with shrimp.

It's the perfect combination for a warm, toasty,

and steamy arepa.

And it has a sofrito which is just like a salsa,

but a little bit better.

♪

So, in Venezuela, we would be using a local hot pepper,

but here, jalapenos will do just fine.

See that? You want to take those seeds out. Control the heat.

♪

Going to mix it a little bit.

Mm. Already smells great.

Try a little bit. Perfect.

We got an orange, think it's going to go really well

with our dish.

♪

So, in Mexico this would be called a salsa,

but in Venezuela, because we're going to cook it,

we like to call it a sofrito.

So, here's a tip with garlic.

The thinner you slice it, the bigger the bite.

I want my sofrito to have lots of bite,

so I'm going to cut it very, very thinly.

That's very thin. Lots of bite.

♪

You see this? This is a 16 to 20 shrimp,

which means there's about between 16 and 20 of them

per pound.

Now I'm going to add some garlic,

some olive oil.

(Sizzling) Oh yeah.

♪

♪ Toujour amour ♪

♪

♪ (Man singing in Spanish) ♪

♪ Toujour amour ♪

Oh yeah.

♪

You just want to cook it until the shrimp changes colour.

I like my shrimp very tender.

♪

♪ Amour ♪

So, this sofrito is just how I like it.

I left the little shrimp tails in just for that bit

of extra flavour.

But, because they're going into an arepa,

I'm going to take them off.

♪

And I'm cutting it into bite sizes 'cause I want

small pieces in my arepa.

For a little bit of extra freshness,

I'm going to add some cilantro.

I didn't put the cilantro in while I was cooking the sofrito

because it just goes brown and wilts

and it looses all its oil.

And then for an extra little zing of acidity, some lemons.

And now, my favourite part. Let's put this puppy together.

♪

And, to top it all off, a little bit of fresh cheese.

I'm using mozzarella. You can use anything you have at home.

Mm.

So messy, but really, really good.

Just like I'm in a beach in Venezuela. Oh man.

All of this really works together.

You can really feel the texture of the shrimp,

the sweet of the sofrito and the acid of the citrus.

Oh. It's just the perfect combination.

But, you know what really works well together with an arepa?

Carne machada, a slowly cooked marinated steak.

Mm. It's just going to blow your mind.

♪

♪

JUAN PABLO: And now I'm going to make

my favourite arepa filling,

arepa pelua.

Which is a sandwich piled high with juicy,

tender pulled beef

and filled with heaps of cheddar cheese.

♪

This is beef brisket.

Traditionally we would use flank steak,

but I like to mix things up a little bit.

So, it's been marinating for a couple hours in the fridge

and I added Worcestershire sauce,

onions, some garlic,

a little bit of vinegar, some salt and pepper,

and it's going to be so tender and juicy

once it comes out of the oven. You won't even believe it.

Now, I'm going to add a little bit of water,

just to cover the meat. And I'm going to put some tin foil

just to keep all those juices nice and tender

while it cooks in the oven.

♪

And now to kick off the sauce, a little bit of tomato,

onions, and red peppers.

♪

Now, some olive oil.

The veg.

(Sizzling)

Ah! Can you hear it?

Can you hear the sizzling?

(Sizzling)

And now, to bump up the flavours

I'm going to add a little bit of cumin,

just to add a little bit of earthiness to the sauce.

♪

Look at that meat, man.

Look, it just flakes on its own. It's nice and juicy,

nice and tender.

Check this out. Oh yeah. See how it pulls?

Look at this. Look at this. This is what we want.

It pulls very easily. Oh man. Oh.

Mm! So good!

♪

So, I'm not done cooking the meat.

I'm going to add it to the vegetable that I had

fried before, the sofrito.

And remember the juices from the marinade that were

dripping in the oven?

We're going to add some of that as well.

The beef is going to soak up all of those flavours.

For a little bit of extra sauciness,

a can of diced tomatoes.

Oh, my mouth is watering.

A little bit more cumin.

(Sniffing)

This smells just like Venezuela.

♪

It's time to make these.

In Venezuela, we get these in arepas all the time.

So messy, so juicy,

but so worth it.

Full of flavour.

Oh man, look at that.

It's just the perfect sandwich.

We're going to grab some cheese.

Look at that, heaps of cheese,

heaps of juice.

All the flavours just dripping from the arepa. Ah. Gorgeous.

I can't wait to dig into this.

Now I'm going to tell you a little secret.

This is how we do it back home in Venezuela.

One hand on the arepa,

one hand on the cerveza.

Mm.

Mm!

So good. You can taste the marinade in the beef,

the beef is really nice and tender.

I told you, it's messy, but so worth it.

The arepa is so versatile that you can eat it like a toast

with a little bit of butter,

or you can just fill it with whatever you have at home.

This is why the arepa is the most popular food in Venezuela.

Enjoy!

♪