Original subtitles

♪

Corn is a big part of Venezuelan cuisine.

We put it on everything, including cachapas,

which are sort of a sweet and savory pancake

that's made with the sweet and youngest corn.

But, what really makes a cachapa a cachapa

is the melted cheese inside.

You guys have to try this.

♪

Check this out, this is harina pan, we use it for everything,

for cachapas, for burritos.

It's basically pre-cooked white corn flour.

I'm going to keep working on the batter so I'm just going to

add a little bit of baking powder, sugar, and salt,

just going to kind of finish all the flavours.

♪

(Whirring)

So, one thing I remember about growing up in Venezuela was

going on long road trips with my family

and cachapas were always at the center stage of the road trip

because you could just smell them from miles and miles

and miles away.

'Cause traditionally they're cooked in a big,

large iron skillet powered by firewood,

so you could just smell the smokiness, smell the sugar,

smell everything as you're approaching the small towns.

♪

Now, let's check the consistency.

Oh yeah, this is just how we want it.

Not too thick, not too liquidy.

Now for the fun part. Ha!

In Venezuela, we cook them in a flat iron that's called

a budare. It's very big,

but a cast iron skillet will do just as fine.

♪

This is just like making pancakes,

when I see the bubbles pop on the top,

I know it's ready to flip.

♪

Boom.

Oh man, look at that golden colour. It's just perfect.

♪

You know what really goes well with cachapas?

Is pulled pork and cheese.

I happen to have some here from last night,

but you guys can use whatever you have in your fridge.

You can use chicken, you can use beef.

I'm just going to heat this up.

(Sizzling)

Ah! Look at that. You see that's crispy right there,

that's exactly what we want.

Smells just like home.

Like I said before, a cachapa is not a cachapa

until you get the cheese.

So, back home we would use queso de mano,

which is a very fresh un-ripened cheese,

but here we can use mozzarella

or we can use halloumi cheese

and they'll both get ooey-gooey

once we put it back on the skillet.

♪

Put some pork, let the cheese just melt.

Going to try to fold this.

And I'm done. Boom! We just let the heat do its thing

and let it melt the cheese and we're ready to enjoy this.

I'm going to finish this with some fresh avocado.

It's just the perfect combination for this cachapa.

♪

I can't wait to eat this.

♪

The melted cheese, the crispiness of the pork.

Oh man, it's just like I'm sitting in a road trip

with my family.

Food brings back so much memories of home,

just like in Venezuela.

♪

Remember I told you corn was a big thing in Venezuela?

Well, we pretty much like to grill everything.

Just like this tenderloin steak and corn salad.

Oh man, this marinade, you can smell all the flavours.

The salsa inglesa, the garlic, the onion, the peppers.

Oh man, this is going to be so good.

One thing I remember when we're working with meat

is going to the frigorifico, or the butcher, with my Dad.

it was almost like a ritual.

We would spend there the whole afternoon

just getting the beef ready for the week

and my old man would just be sipping on a beer,

talking to the butcher, I would just be sitting,

watching the game,

enjoying the afternoon.

Those were really good memories of my childhood.

♪

Oh, look at this.

(Sizzling)

Oh man, that sound is the best.

That's when you know that the meat

is getting grilled to perfection.

(Sizzling)

Oh yeah. Here we go.

(Sizzling)

♪

Oh man, look at these char marks.

In Venezuela we like our meat char on the outside,

but medium-rare on the inside.

I'm just going to take it off the grill

and put it on a plate to let it rest.

And now, on to the corn.

So, in Venezuela, on Sundays it is a big family and friends day,

so we would get together and have, like, big parrillas,

what are essentially big barbeques.

And, one thing that we would do is grill corn.

♪

So, just like with the beef,

we like the char marks on our corn as well.

it just boosts up the flavour so much.

♪

This corn is sweet and it's char.

It just tastes like Venezuela.

♪

Okay, so, we've got the sweetness of the corn,

we got the peppers, we got the crunchiness of the onion

and the acidity of the tomato, but now we're going to add some

sweet pepper or aji dulce.

In Venezuela these are kind of a gamble because they can be

50% chance that they're spicy.

So, let's try this one up.

No, this is good. Sweet.

Awesome. This is exactly what we're looking for.

Just going to add this to the salad

and we will be on our way.

♪

So, we're going to finish this off

with a little bit of cilantro and lime.

We eat lots of cilantro back home. Just so fresh.

Mm.

And a little bit of lime.

♪

Look at the steak. Just perfect.

Char on the outside,

tender on the inside. Mm.

Just the right consistency.

And now, I'm just going to add it to the salad.

This is such a quick meal to make.

Mm. It's perfect for a Tuesday night, a weekday night

when you don't have a whole lot of time,

but you want something really delicious to eat. This is it.

♪

And then I'm just going to finish it off with

a little bit of olive oil.

And it's ready to eat.

Mm.

Oh man, you've got the salad that's nice and colourful,

and the corn, it's just really smoky and sweet.

It goes really well with this nice juicy lomito steak.

This is such an easy dish to make for a weeknight,

now I'm going to make a very traditional one for the weekend.

♪

♪

So, it's the weekend and you want a one pot, no fuss meal

that feeds everyone.

You have chilli, we in Venezuela have sancocho.

♪

So, traditionally, we would use oxtail,

but I'm going to use beef short ribs.

But, before we do that, I'm going to sear them in this pan.

(Sizzling)

Yeah!

(Sizzling)

So, once this is perfectly seared,

it's going to slowly cook in the stew, and the meat,

it's just going to fall right off the bone.

Is there anything better than this sound? Just hear it.

(Sizzling)

Ah! Delicious.

♪

And while this is searing

I'm just going to work on my sofrito here.

So, I'm just going to put all these vegetables

right in the pot.

♪

I can hear the meat sizzling,

all the flavours are going into the air.

And on this side I have the carrots, the onions,

the celery.

Oh man, this stew is going to be really, really tasty.

(Sizzling)

♪

(Sizzling)

♪

So, the sancocho is simmering away at medium

and now we're going to bump up the flavours

with some aji dulce.

So, the aji dulces are going to add some sweet to the stew,

but to add some heat, I'm going to grind some peppercorns.

♪

So, I'm going to add some bay leaves,

salsa inglesa, or English sauce.

And English sauce is Worcestershire sauce,

but at home we call it salsa inglesa.

And a touch of salt. And we're just going to the let the heat

do it's thing for a little bit,

cook that meat really tender.

And after a while I'm going to add all my vegetables.

So, this stew smells so good,

I can taste the flavours in the air.

And just like we're cooking the meat in the bone,

we're going to do the corn on the cob.

♪

Oh man, look at that. Isn't is awesome?

Now we're just going to add our root vegetables,

we're going to add some auyama or squash.

We're going to add our corn and our sweet potatoes.

And at this point you can add a little bit more beef stock

if you like, just to make everything nice and tender.

Look at that. Just perfect.

This is going to keep cooking and the heat

is going to do all the work.

♪

Ah. Look at that.

That beef just-- going to fall right off the bone.

So, you gotta have the corn, man. You gotta have the corn.

And to finish it all up I'm going to add

a little bit of cilantro, green onions

and limes. So, let's do that.

Perfect.

Oh man, this smells so good.

Remember I told you the meat was going to fall off the bone?

Check this out.

So, nice and tender, nice and juicy. Oh.

Perfect. But, corn.

Mm. Corn is the star.

You can taste the flavours of the soup,

you can taste the beef, you can taste it all.

So good.

Mm.

But, save some room for dessert,

'cause remember I told you we put corn on everything.

♪

♪

Corn isn't an ingredient that we usually associate with dessert,

but when paired with coconut, I tell you, it's a real treat.

What I'm making right now, it's a custard called

majarete venezolano.

And I'm going to make it with thick, rich creamy coconut milk

instead of milk and eggs.

It's going to be good!

♪

Ha!

I'm going to strain the mixture 'cause all I want

is the juices and the flavours of the corn for the recipe.

Make it nice and silky, nice and smooth.

All the fiber just remains in your sifter.

So, Venezuela is right on the Caribbean sea

and we love our coconut just as much as the islands.

So, traditionally I would be making my coconut cream

and coconut milk straight from the coconut,

but you can find it out of a can from the supermarket.

It also works well.

So, I'm doing some coconut cream.

And then I'm going to mix a little a bit of coconut milk

'cause I want that perfect consistency.

Nice and silky, really rich and creamy,

but not too thick.

So, the same way I strained my corn

to get rid of all the skins,

I'm going to do the same with my coconut cream

and coconut milk mixture.

♪

(Sizzling)

So, I'm boiling this down a little bit

'cause I want to reduce it really slow

so it gets really nice and caramely.

But, to help it set later,

going to add a little bit of cornstarch to my coconut cream,

coconut milk mix and I'm going to whisk it really well

'cause I don't want it to get lumpy when it goes in.

So now I'm going to let this cook down for a little bit

and it's time for me to relax.

♪

Ah. Look at that. It's the perfect consistency,

just how I want it.

And when I serve this to kids, I like to do it in ramekins

'cause that way they get a whole portion to themselves.

And you know what? I do too.

♪

And now I'm going to put them in the fridge so they set.

♪

So, I know the majarete is done

because when you touch it on the top, it's nice and firm.

And to finish it all off, a little bit of cinnamon.

Oh yeah.

I'm going to taste it now.

Mm.

Delicious. I can taste the corn and the brown sugar.

Mm. Corn and coconut go together.

Now you know what to do.

De mi casa to your home, happy eating!

♪

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