Latest / The Kids Menu / 02: Connecting Through Food
Transcript
- Christiana Cortina: so Chef Mark, I made your pickle slaw and I'm gonna start from the Chef Mark: I'm so excited to hear about it. Christiana Cortina: I've been holding it in. It's really hard for me not to talk about what's on my mind. So I'm gonna start from the very beginning. We had our front door painted and our handyman brought me fresh pickling cucumbers from his garden. I know. Chef Mark: my gosh. Christiana Cortina: And it was, and he brought little tomatoes. So he gave us two bags. He texted me and he was like, Do you want some organic cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden? And I was like, Yeah. So that was really exciting because I was like, I'm going to use these cucumbers for the pickle slaw this week. Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: so that was like off to a great start, really looking forward to making it. And I got all the stuff. and I made, so I did not make homemade mayo. I'm gonna be honest. Chef Mark: Completely fine, very optional. Christiana Cortina: You know me, the multiple steps are tough for me when it comes to recipes. So I used already made mayo and I loved watching the video when you would be like, let's pause and taste it. And that really made me happy. so Chef Mark: cool. Christiana Cortina: that's a cool feature. And then what I made, so do you ever have gorillos pickles? Chef Mark: Yes, they're the best. Christiana Cortina: So that's what I used for my pickles, because they're Chef Mark: Okay, amazing. Christiana Cortina: my favorite. But they are very vinegary. Like, you know, Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: that. So when I made my like slaw sauce, like mayo mixture, it was Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: like really, really sour. So I added like a little teaspoon of honey to like kind of balance it out. Yeah. Chef Mark: Nice. Christiana Cortina: And it was really, really good. so then I made it, we had burger bowls that night and Like well, as soon as I made it, I was eating it and I was just like, my gosh, this is so good. Like I love coleslaw and I love pickles and I love anything pickles. So it was like everything I love in one. Chef Mark: That makes me so happy, that's so cool. Christiana Cortina: It was so good. And then I so I had burger bowls and then I had burger bowls again. So I just had like I didn't have any buns, but I feel like the burger bowl was even better with the slaw because like I don't love not having a bun for my burger. That's like sad to me. Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: so with the slaw though, I had like some you know, I have like this special burger sauce and I had the slaw and the fresh tomatoes Chef Mark: Whoa. Christiana Cortina: from my handyman's garden. so I had it all and it was so good. And then I just couldn't stop eating it. So in the morning I had like hard-boiled eggs in the fridge. So I made like hard-boiled egg on my toast and then ate the pickle saw on the side. my gosh. Chef Mark: Gosh, this is, I can't believe how much you loved this and just kept repurposing and eating it so much. That's so awesome. I love hearing this. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, it was so good. I bought another cabbage so that I can make it again, like pr this Chef Mark: my gosh, that's Christiana Cortina: week. Chef Mark: incredible. Okay, so huge win. Christiana Cortina: Huge win. Chef Mark: I don't need to ask this question, but would you make it again? You're making it again. Do you have more Christiana Cortina: I I'm making it again. Chef Mark: of the original ingredients of the good cucumbers and the pickles? Christiana Cortina: I don't have the cucumbers anymore. I have one, but they're little. Chef Mark: Okay. Christiana Cortina: so I don't think it'll be enough. So I'm I just got a new cucumber to make it. I'm kind of bummed about it, but that's okay. But my gosh, and like I made the slaw before I had to go somewhere, and then my boyfriend was coming home to make the burgers and he ate without me. And I was like, like what'd you think of the pickle slaw? And he was like, There's pickle slaw in there. And I was like, my gosh, like that. was the whole purpose of us having burger bowls. So he did eventually eat it and he also really liked it, but I'm pretty sure I ate like most of it, three fourths of it. Maybe more. Chef Mark: Is that his personality to not like to hone in on those details of what's in there? Christiana Cortina: Yeah, I mean he does he's like a foodie too, but he didn't seem as invested in the pickle saw as I was. I was like really excited. Chef Mark: I think it's actually kind of a good example and very true. There's no way he could be as invested because you were part of the whole process thinking about it, knowing it was gonna happen, planning it, using all those ingredients. So that makes sense actually. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, that's actually really true. he he just forgot it was in the fridge and then had it one time. So it wasn't as meaningful to him, but I loved it. Everyone else that's listening should definitely make the pickle slaw. It was very easy and very fast. And I was worried it would get soggy in the fridge, but it didn't. And that was a win too. Yeah. Chef Mark: That's fantastic. Yeah, people should definitely make this. The recipe will be available. And also a full video lesson like Christiana was referencing is available inside Kids Cooking Club. I also love that you balanced it out with honey, because that was one of the main things that I was thinking about as you told the story. I teach my students that all the time, how to balance flavors and taste it and say, okay, something's not right here for me. And recognizing maybe your ingredient was different, more acidic pickles. And I have vinegar in the dressing itself. So if it's... unbalanced, you can take those small other flavors and balance it out. And do you feel like yours turned out tasting sweet at all? Christiana Cortina: Like a hint, but I love a sweet and sour. Like I love a sweet balance of something, Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: but it wasn't too sweet. Like I didn't want it to taste like overwhelmingly sweet. I just wanted to to balance it, but it had like a hint of honey. So someone Chef Mark: Okay, that's cool. Christiana Cortina: else might not like it that way, and they couldn't make that decision for themselves. But Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: I know with Grillo's pickles, like they are always so acidic. and I love them. But for the slaw I was like, mm, I kinda want it to be a little bit less sour. Chef Mark: Well, that's a really great note and I find that to be really fun to be able to take something from the other end of the flavor spectrum, add a teeny bit of it just to balance it out and see what the result ends up being. And I'm really happy to hear that you enjoyed it. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, it was so good. I'm excited to make it again. I wish I had more of my handyman's pickles or cucumbers. Well, and it's funny because I wanted to pickle them. Chef Mark: Yeah. Christiana Cortina: that felt real like a challenge. Lots of waiting, it sounded like waiting around for like, I don't know, all the steps. I was like, okay, no, I'm gonna make pickle slaw with the pickles. Chef Mark: Do you know the two main ways that you can pickle something? Christiana Cortina: No. Chef Mark: So there's a quick pickle, and we're actually making that in kids cooking club tonight. We're gonna do thinly sliced Persian cucumbers, and it'll be an Asian style pickle where we warm up rice vinegar and just season that with sugar and salt. And then within the time that our class period is happening, about 20 minutes later, it just needs to cool down a little bit and it's ready to go. So that's a quick pickle where you use vinegar to make it sour. And then the best like dill pickles, like the Grillo's ones are made with a traditional process and it's lacto fermentation where you simply Christiana Cortina: Mm. Chef Mark: add enough salt in a water mixture so that it kills negative bacteria, harmful bacteria, allows good ones to thrive. And it takes a long time for the salt to get all the way into the middle of the pickles through that solution. And for the like natural sour flavors to start developing because you actually have fermentation happening. The lactic acid is the The that makes it sour, that's where you get the lacto-fermented term. Christiana Cortina: Mm, very cool. Chef Mark: So that's it, the second one takes time. It could take a week to get some pretty good pickles just waiting in your fridge. So that might not always be in your wheelhouse. Christiana Cortina: No, definitely not. I'm not like a when I'm a cooking, I'm not a waiter. Unless it's like the crock pot and I'm gone, then I'll wait. Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: But other than that, I'm pretty impatient. Chef Mark: I think knowing yourself is really important and knowing Christiana Cortina: Ha ha Chef Mark: like, if you're gonna add a bunch of time to something and it's not gonna turn out, if that's gonna make you feel really upset and disappointed, that's okay. Christiana Cortina: Mm-hmm. Chef Mark: And I'm wondering though, I'm curious, like, you know, do you have any more insight into why it makes you so upset and if there's more emotions if it's disappointment or wasted time or something else? Christiana Cortina: I mean I've always had the thing where like I don't like to not be good at something. so that I think factors in, especially because I am decently good at cooking and I don't have to like like it comes very natural. So it's almost like something I'm used to doing and good at when it then it like doesn't turn out. I'm like, what the heck? Like this is one of my skills. Chef Mark: Mmm. Christiana Cortina: definitely a disappointment. I think more and you know, usually when something doesn't turn out, it's because I was like, in a rush or like didn't pay attention, didn't take my time, so I think I just like all together get annoyed at the whole situation. Chef Smart giving is giving me a therapy lesson. Chef Mark: Yeah, I mean, I think that's actually a huge part of cooking and that's a huge part of my work is like kind of uncovering those things that are getting in the way of cooking or doing more of what you want to do, especially if you have an intention of wanting to do more of X, Y or Z and you feel like something's getting in the way, like that's a lot of what I try to do. So that what you said makes a lot of sense. I think especially the investment of time and if you're used to being good at something and then you find I don't feel competent right now. Maybe that's a thing that I very much relate to, because I try to be really good at all the things that I set out to do. I want to master each thing before I even have a chance to practice it. So sometimes those expectations are unreasonable. And sometimes certain new hobbies or skills just don't come naturally to me, and I might not be able to excel at that as much as another thing that I've spent years and years years getting good at. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, I feel like a lot of people generally that don't cook feel intimidated by the process altogether. Even something that could seem like fairly simple to someone who cooks often can be really intimidating. And I feel like a lot of my clients say like I'm horrible at cooking or I don't like to cook and I like to dig deeper into that and I'm like, well, what do you mean by cook? Like, what does that look like for you? what are you willing to learn or try? so like taking it back to square one with them. because I do also, as stubborn as I may sound with that whole process of not liking when things don't turn out, like I do believe that cooking is so fun and such a creative process and such an art. And I think if people learn the right way or they find a way that they can find joy in it, that it's like the most special thing. Chef Mark: That's so lovely. I completely agree with that. And I like that you're helping them kind of uncover those things as well. I think what I noted in those two things that you mentioned was just like that identity piece of like, I'm not good at cooking. Like, you know, there's something about me that's like more permanent. And that's, I think where those roadblocks can really come into play when you have this belief about yourself. And so that's where. People can change that and I think that's where big changes can happen if you start to think, I'm the kind of person who learns new things. I'm the kind of person who can make a mess in the kitchen, make mistakes, make a bad version of this meal and be okay with it and move forward and try again next time. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, for sure. I've been trying to bake more and I think it's interesting because the reason I don't enjoy baking or I'm not as good at it is because I don't usually take my time. I don't measure, I don't like to wait, I don't like to prepare like how like a lot of times the ingredients need to be room temperature, like eggs and stuff, like getting them out in the morning and you know, that feels like really challenging for me. But there's times now where I'll like set out and be like, I'm gonna do this and I'm like really gonna focus on this and it helps I think not only build those skills for baking, but it's also like they can translate into other parts of my life. So that is helpful. Chef Mark: That's wonderful. Christiana Cortina: when I don't know like what to do to help someone or to make them feel better, my immediate go to is making them food or cooking for them and showing my love and care that way. Chef Mark: really resonate with that. I'll just share like two kind of general things that I think about when... Offering up some way to help or give someone a gift. So a Christiana Cortina: Mm. Chef Mark: lot of times with friends who have had a baby There's a very common thing of a meal train that gets started and that's such a practical way to help out someone who Just has very depleted resources in their life I've had three kids of my own and I remember in those times just mainly sleep deprivation Time where I just I don't have time to myself anymore. I have to tend to you know kids mom and the child and maybe after a second kid, two kids, and so you have an older kid. It's just a crazy chaotic time of life. And it's such a practical way to share love with someone is through home cooked food. And I remember doing that many times for friends and really taking extra care and time to make a very good, maybe sometimes somewhat elaborate meal that has a lot of different components to it. And I think about what I would want in that situation. I wouldn't want, I wouldn't probably have the time or energy to be cooking myself. I probably wouldn't want to be going out to eat or even get delivery food, which just doesn't have the same warmth and soul and character to it. So to receive home cooked food in a time like that feels really special. And I remember receiving that from friends during those times when we had little kids and that was such a gift to have just any food and it could be objectively. not fancy, not even that great, not even seasoned well, if I'm thinking with a chef brain, but receiving it just as a human being who like, I don't know, I have a mental image of like a Ziploc bag full of spaghetti. That's like what I'm picturing. And it's like so simple and I could have made it, but having that, it was in a certain way that tastes completely different and did communicate a lot of love and care. And I feel like that's really special. Do you have times when you've done that for other people? Christiana Cortina: I mean, I wanted to say first, like I love that you said that it's different than takeout, or like a gift card for food. I feel like a lot of times recently, when I was when we were thinking like what kind of gift to get, like sometimes I'll get someone like an Uber Eats gift card or something related to food, but there is still that like disconnect. Like I didn't make that food. It doesn't really feel special to me. It feels more like an easy gift to give someone, which like who doesn't want to Uber Eats gift card? I mean, let's be real, it's convenient. but yeah, I I mean I love having people over for dinner. And when I was in college, I used to make these ground turkey and zucchini enchiladas. And I'm pretty sure like multiple different people on our floor and in our building ate my Enchiladas because I made them all the time. And everybody knew like if they were gonna come to my apartment, they were gonna get fed. so and even people like friends that I still spend time with now that didn't go to my college, they visited college and they still remember like me making my enchiladas. So Chef Mark: Wow. Christiana Cortina: yeah, that's something that I I just kind of remembered as we were talking, and then I do remember. One of my he's still my really good friend, but he lived down the hall from me in college and we met in college and I would always make banana bread and take them some, like my neighbors down the hall, just to, I don't know, be like, here's some food. I I don't think of it as like anything but I want to share this with other people and I want them to like eat it and enjoy it. something else that comes to mind is when I do make food, like I people need to eat it when it's hot, if it's like a dinner. And I am sure you feel this as a chef, but I like internally I'm like everybody needs to take a bite of food right now or I'm gonna freak out. so I'm like, did you try it? Was it good? What'd you think? Chef Mark: Well, yeah, I'll go back to the first things that you were talking about about making food for people and having those memories for those people that you fed the enchiladas to like those memories are still Present they remember that about you and that actually became kind of part of your identity like if if we come to Christiana's place We're gonna get fed it's gonna be home cooked food. I think that's that's so cool. It's so special and like like I think those memories can last for forever it really Telling about the sensory experience of eating and then experiencing the love that someone put into it makes a deep, emotionally anchored memory. I think it's really special. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, my best friend the other day was so funny. She actually said she was like, Yeah, I remember like visiting you at college and you were like making a whole meal and I was like, What is she doing? Like, I didn't make meals in college. I was like, yeah, as soon as I was out of the dorm, it was like only making meals because I don't know, that's always just been who I am. Like I love to cook and I like good food. So that's hard to get in college. Chef Mark: It is, that's very cool. I absolutely did not cook in college. That's kind of like part of my story that I like to share with people is I learned how to cook when I was like 26 and I made it all the way through college just barely putting together the cheapest possible meals that were just not good. I did not know what I was doing and I really know what that feels like to be a young adult who's just not yet skilled in that area. I didn't have the training or the interest to get going until later. That's really cool that you were doing that. And I also did want to respond to like how a home cooked meal is a really different thing than a gift card to eat somewhere or get food delivered. There's something, I mean, it's hard to put into words, but I can like close my eyes and picture those two scenarios of someone dropping off something or ringing your doorbell, handing it off versus a delivery driver from a restaurant handing off something. It just feels so different. what kind of ethereal energy and love has been put into that home cooked food is so magical and amazing and cannot be captured the same way restaurant food can be. Christiana Cortina: I completely agree with you. Chef Mark: I also really love giving food as like a gift around, especially around birthdays specifically. That's my favorite thing to do for someone is to kind of find out what's some of your favorite cuisines, flavors, ingredients, and then take that information and create something that's really unique and special that they couldn't get at a restaurant and make a home cooked meal. And I think for a lot of time in my life, it actually kind of started as a little bit of necessity for what can I do that's special but doesn't cost me a lot of money because I don't have a lot of money to give. And then it just kind of morphed into something that I realized had much more value than I was giving myself credit for at the time. It's such a special thing to cook a home cooked meal for someone. And I guess I have a chance to do that very soon. Emily's birthday is in four days. And I remember learning. Four years ago when we first started dating, her favorite dessert recipe format is something with strawberries and whipped cream and some sort of light cake. She likes angel food cake. I think just about last month, they discovered a really nice New York Times cooking recipe for brown butter cake. And it was just a very simple light, but more, for me, was a little more fat and a little more toothsome. texture but still very light and just such an accompaniment to any strawberry juices and whipped cream that can come out. So I'll be making her a home cooked dessert very soon here and communicating my love in that way. So I'm excited to do that. Christiana Cortina: I'm sure she's gonna love it. And it's so funny that you said brown butter because I was gonna tell you a story about my best friend this year making me brown butter chocolate chip cookies for my birthday as a gift. Chef Mark: Tell me. Christiana Cortina: Well, and she is I mean, she like bakes and she cooks, but it's not like one of her favorite things to do, but she is good at it. And it like last Christmas. Her mom and her mom's friend made gluten-free sugar cookies, and I am gluten-free. not by choice. And she made these sugar cookies with icing, and they were really, really good. And I requested them, you know, hey, next time you make cookies again, I would love these because they were like the best thing I ever ate. and she said that She was not gonna make those. And she ended up making, she said that's way, way too much of an ask. So she ended up making the brown butter chocolate chip cookies, which I love butter. Butter is like one of my favorite things in the world. I really would like to have a butter themed birthday party sometime. Yeah, I love butter. and So the brown butter, like, and I don't have the patience for these things. So I you know I would not be making brown butter cookies. And she, I mean, you could taste the love that was poured in to the perfectly Chef Mark: my gosh. Christiana Cortina: perfectly browned butter. And she made me a lot of cookies. So I froze them after I ate like half. I froze the other half because they were starting to, you know, go a little stale. And I kept them in my freezer and probably for the next like few months I would take like two out at a time. and I do remember like eating the last cookie and being like, my gosh, this is my last cookie. I'm so sad. Chef Mark: that's so special. What an amazing gift. I love that. And did your friend already know that you love butter specifically? That's Christiana Cortina: yeah. Yes, she knew. So I Chef Mark: really special. Christiana Cortina: yeah, I definitely she gifts very good gifts. and that was that was up there. Sh she gave me a couple other things. Chef Mark: That's a phenomenal gift. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, it was they were really good. So hopefully she's gonna listen to this and make them for me again next January. Chef Mark: Noted. I love something like that too that can keep providing joy, like extended throughout, you know, a large batch of something that can be frozen and you can keep returning back to it and having that same like feeling and emotion and memory come back. That's really cool. So good. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, every time I ate them too. So good. And sometimes I would eat them still frozen and it'd be like a little bit different. Sometimes I would let it thaw. Like I was just kind of testing it all out to see how yummy they could be. Chef Mark: The other story that I like, only one kind of story that I came prepared with thinking about how we connect with others through food was immediately, I lot of times I think about my grandma, my dad's mom who lived in Southern California for I think basically her whole life and I grew up in Northern California so was a six or so hour car drive to visit her. We'd go there once a year approximately and around Christmas time I remember specifically one year just. sitting down to the most amazing meal and I was pretty young, I would guess maybe elementary school, early elementary, but I really had a sense that was one of the first times I consciously really looked at the table and thought so much work went into this meal and many, many, many days of preparation, not just thrown together quickly. And I remember just that really warm feeling of just being around the table with my family and her and she would even, I think, talk about how much she enjoyed doing it and would tell us, I bought this specific ingredient at this one local grocery store that's kind of fancy that only had these, for example, olives. I don't even know if that was a real thing, but just like one special thing that she knew was her favorite place to get something. And that just like to this day, like 30 plus years later really sticks out in my memory as something just so special. like, you know, it's kind of cool to think about she put a couple of days of work into that and a lot of her love and heart into it. And for me, it's, you know, I have that memory and feeling has remained for decades later. I think that's just so special and something that we don't find really in that way outside of food and in such a precise way. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, that's so, so special. I love that grandmas just like bring that. They I feel like they always bring that energy to their cooking. And I wonder I mean, I it might be a grandma thing, but it does also kind of feel like a generational thing. where grandmas like just go out of their way. And like like you said, like prepare days in advance. Like my grandma always like sets the table. I used to live with her, and when she was having a dinner party, she would set the table like multiple days in advance and get out like Chef Mark: Wow. Christiana Cortina: specific tablecloths, specific placemats, like specific dishes. And there was so much like thought and care that went into just setting the table and then also the food. So it is really Chef Mark: Mm. Christiana Cortina: great to feel somebody's care really going into that. Not only the food, but like the whole experience. Like the warmth and the energy t that it takes to like go to specific stores and buy specific ingredients. It's so cool. Chef Mark: The table setting makes me think of just like you said, the forethought and the intention of each person who's gonna be sitting at each of those spots at the table and what their experience is gonna be like. And so that's just, it's a very direct expression of love. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, definitely. Chef Mark: it's so special. And I'll just share one more specific memory, because I think I remember one food item, and it might have been the first time that I ever encountered twice baked potatoes. And it was so good. It was like, what is this magical food that you've created? And I think I remember maybe even asking her about it, like how it was made. And she told me, and so I had this idea of, you like cook a potato once, take out the filling, make mashed potatoes out of that, add more yummy stuff like sour cream. and cream cheese and then add cheddar cheese on top and re-bake it and get all this yummy stuff. And then at the end, add sour cream and bake it. I was like, this is the most magical thing I've ever experienced for food. But I think that's actually the exact food I think about when I think of that Christmas dinner and her preparing all that stuff. I can summon that one item and go, yeah, that was it for sure. And I've actually Christiana Cortina: Mm, I mean Chef Mark: recreated it since then. I do have her recipe box of like a bunch of handwritten cards of recipes. So that's something I could share on the podcast at some point, just one at a time or show the recipe box. That'd be fun to share. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, that's really cool. I mean the sound's amazing. Can't go wrong with potatoes. Chef Mark: Do you have any recipes or recipe collections from any grandparents who have passed away or do you have living grandparents? Christiana Cortina: so my grandparents who passed away, there wasn't a lot of cooking. like homemade cooking, I feel like. I never met my grandma on that side. And Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: my grandpa didn't cook. but on my mom's side, my grandma is the one who taught me how to cook, and she has a lot of recipes. And when I lived with her, she would make stuff and I would ask her for the recipe, and she would go on her computer and type it up and print it out. One thing is like she made a really good like pot roast when I lived there. in like a slow cooker, which I you can tell me chef point of view, I'm pretty sure a slow cooker and a crock pot are different. I don't know. Are they not? Okay. Chef Mark: I don't think so. I don't think so. think Crocpot is a brand of slow cooker and has become the slow cooker, but I think there might be Christiana Cortina: Ha ha Chef Mark: other brands out there. Christiana Cortina: That makes sense then. So she does not have the crock pot brand then. Chef Mark: Okay. Christiana Cortina: and she made it one day and just like threw a bunch of stuff in there and it was like so yummy. It was super easy too. It was like a chuck roast with a French onion soup mix packet. Yeah, and beef broth and carrots and celery. And she cooked it all day and I was like, this is like one of the best things I've ever eaten. she made mashed potatoes with it. So that's something that I make a lot, especially because it's so easy and I love a chuck roast roasting all day because I think it just tastes so elevated for like throwing everything into a slow cooker or crock pot and then getting to eat like a gourmet meal, especially in the winter and the fall. so yeah, I remember that. Chef Mark: Sounds good. Christiana Cortina: And she was even I remember when she made it, like she was sick. Like she didn't feel good. So she was like, I'm just gonna throw Chef Mark: Hmm. Christiana Cortina: all this in here. I don't feel like cooking. And I was like, my god, this is like the best thing I've ever had. So yeah, she gave me that recipe. Chef Mark: Was she using that as like comfort food and like something to heal herself when she was sick? Christiana Cortina: I don't even know if she thought of it like that. I think it was more just like what's the lowest effort meal that I can make so Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: I can feed everybody. I could be wrong. I didn't ask, but when I asked her about it, she's like, yeah, I just did this. And she like she always has to like write and change the recipes if she prints them, you know, all of her like Chef Mark: Mm-hmm. Christiana Cortina: chicken scratches on it. but yeah, that's something that that I love, that I still make. It's probably one of my favorite on rotation easy meals that I make in the fall and the winter. Chef Mark: it's really nice that you kind of incorporated that into your own cooking and carried that on from her. That's really special. And I think my mom actually makes the same kind of dish. I think when you describe the ingredients and everything, especially the French onion soup packet, I think she makes the exact same thing. And I'm wondering what the origin of that recipe is. Do you know if, because you've seen it and you've made it. Christiana Cortina: I so she wrote it down for me. So Chef Mark: Okay. Christiana Cortina: I don't know, but I'll ask her. She might remember. And you know it's so funny. The first time I made it, it was the first time I made chuck roast. And it was so like I was trying to it wasn't tender. And I had cooked it for like hours. So I was like, my god, I overcooked it. And I called her and she was like, No, you you undercooked it. And I was like, No way. Like, there's no way, but I did learn that undercooking it actually looks like an overcooked steak and then cooking it more like makes it tender and like have more of a red hue and fall apart. So I had to learn that and I did doubt her in that moment and I felt very bad because she was absolutely correct. Chef Mark: That's actually a great lesson. I just was talking with my cooking students about this at an adult cooking class this past weekend, and this is a great cooking lesson. Let's get into it. I'll give a short cooking tip from Chef Mark here. When cooking meat, there's kind of two main techniques to cook it, and it is based on what part of the animal the cut came from. And so if you think about a cow, its shoulder muscles worked all the time from working its front legs. and then it's hindquarters and rump like is from its back legs being worked a lot. So those are very, very strong muscles that have a lot of connective tissue inside of them. Those types of cuts, including chuck roast, need to be cooked for a very long time at a low temperature. And it actually ends up melting down all of the collagen that helps bind together that muscle into gelatin. And then you get a very soft, tender result. And if you're halfway through cooking something like a pork shoulder, if you're be making like pulled pork, it's also called pork butt, which is very strange. It's the ending, the butt ending of the shoulder muscle. It's not from the actual butt of the pig. That's misleading. But if you're halfway through cooking a pork shoulder, it'll be very tough and not good. And you might think I've overcooked it. And then just conversely on the other side, if there's a part of the animal that's less used, maybe like the midsection, the ribs. Those cuts can be cooked very, very briefly. They're super tender. And you actually just wanna barely get them to where it's cooked to your doneness or your preference for doneness and to be where it's safe to eat. But overcooking it then squeezes the proteins, actually makes them contract and squeeze out a lot of the internal moisture. And then when you eat it, feels really dry in your mouth and not pleasant. Christiana Cortina: Well, thank you for that chef lesson. Chef Mark: You're welcome. I just thought I'd sneak that in there because that's my favorite thing to talk about figuring out just kind of like those general concepts around cooking because then you can make informed decisions about that when you're cooking a certain kind of meat and you can understand This is gonna be a very short cook time to make it tender or it needs a long time not a low temperature to turn out nice Christiana Cortina: Yeah, it's good to know because I only will learn from the experience of doing it and not really know the why behind it. So I appreciate your knowledge about that because I didn't know that. Yeah. Chef Mark: cool, yeah, the why behind cooking, for whatever reason, that's always been what I'm interested in is understanding the more governing rules around cooking. So I started cooking and discovering, wait, there's little things that tend to be repeating here and there, but they weren't like stated as a rule. And so then I was like, let's extract all these like bigger rules and themes about cooking and then you can make, yeah, like I said, informed decisions and feel confident when you're going to make something. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, that's so cool. Chef Mark: Okay, so for our recipe segment this week, I'm gonna give Christiana a recipe to cook, and this is something that we're doing in every podcast at the end of the episode, and I also make the recipe available to listeners. So this week I've chosen my creamy miso pasta recipe. And I said mine, it's not really, really mine. I got it from New York Times and made a slight adaptation. But this is an amazing pasta recipe. If you think of the flavors of miso soup, and then just a really good cheesy pasta and put those into one dish, that's what this is. And so I think you're gonna like this because I know your preference for butter noodles and things that are cheesy. So that's the basis. so you, just talk through the basic approach to the recipe, cooking some pasta to your liking. and if you have a gluten-free need like you do, make your favorite gluten-free pasta. The shape is penne. Do you have a favorite gluten-free penne? Christiana Cortina: I do. And you know what? I actually just bought though these like fatter noodles. They're like a fatter rigatoni. Have you ever heard of those? And I've never had that shape. Chef Mark: I don't think so. Christiana Cortina: I've never had that shape gluten-free before. So I was thinking I was gonna ask you, would it work to do that? Chef Mark: I would say yes, very much give that a go. And I'm curious to Christiana Cortina: Okay. Okay. Chef Mark: know the name of that shape. That's exciting too, to have a a big giant rigatoni, I guess. I don't know. Christiana Cortina: It's it has a name but it's not rigatoni and it's not giant rigatoni. I will I will send you a Chef Mark: Okay. Christiana Cortina: photo of what the pasta shape is because it is an actual one. I just don't know what it's called. But I've never seen it gluten-free until the other day and I was thinking like I wanna make something special with these 'cause it's a new shape that I haven't had. So I'm very excited about the miso pasta. Chef Mark: Okay, that's exciting. So you'll cook your pasta, save some of the pasta water. You'll end up melting some Parmesan cheese into that water with some butter and then folding in the pasta so you have a very nice emulsified sauce. And there's a little bit of a technique to it, but you can see that in the recipe video. And then you just add some miso paste and some crumbled seaweed on top at the very end as the final garnish. And so you have this really lovely, super simple, like five ingredient pasta that tastes like way more than the energy that you put into it. I think it's really good for sharing with people and having the starting of a meal. You could add something on the side to finish off the meal with a protein and maybe some sort of little veggie side dish. But I think you'll really like it and I'm looking forward to hearing how you enjoy making it and how our listeners enjoy making it with their kids. Christiana Cortina: I can't wait, I'm very excited. Sounds like it's right up my alley too. Chef Mark: I think you'll really love it. It seems like a pretty easy win. Christiana Cortina: Yeah, for sure. I'll let you know how it goes. All right. Well thanks everybody for listening and See ya next time. Chef Mark: Bye.