Eat Dessert First

Hey, y'all

Today's show is about eating dessert first, and I've got two guests to share the fun with me

First is my friend Tyrek, who shows me his over-the-top deep-fried cupcakes

that's filled with something very sweet. By gosh, I love ganache. Then, y'all, my friend Bubbles shows up

and let me tell you something. She's got the beat. We're making a delicious roasted beet salad

with a cocoa vinaigrette. Finally, it's a succulent spin on chops with chocolate-spiced pork chops

Don't those pork chops look bad to the very bone? This chocolatey menu, y'all, is gonna make you jive, baby

I had the opportunity to go to this precious, precious bakery, Norland's

and I had the opportunity to meet this young man right here

His name is Tarek, y'all. Tarek Hannah. So I asked him then, would you like to come be on my show

And he said, of course, I'd love to. Of course, why not? So here he is

So what are you doing? We're going to do a truffle-filled fried cupcake

that basically takes everything you love about everything you love and makes it everything you love

We're just going to have a great big love end. Yes, this is one big love fest

Well, put me to work and I'll help you. Okay, well, what we're going to do first is I'm going to have you mix all the dry ingredients

One and three quarter cups of sugar. Okay. And we have two and three quarter cups of cake flour and about a tablespoon of baking powder

Okay. What I did over here, I separated my nine eggs, my yolks, and my whites

Does this call for a little salt? Yeah, a teaspoon of salt

Okay. So what I'm doing, I'm adding a cup of water to my nine yolks over here

Okay. And then once you've got that combined, can I possibly have you put two tablespoons of butter

Now, I know you get a little carried away. I'm asking for two tablespoons

You're asking for just two. Just two. Into the little pot and we'll melt that

Okay. I'll try to be as accurate. And basically what we're doing, we're just making a very simple chiffon cake

cupcake. Only two tablespoons of butter. I can't go anywhere without being made fun of

Honey, I'm the one that gets made fun of all the time. Now what we're going to do is combine

the water and the egg yolk into the dry ingredients. So I'm going to have you whisk that

And we're just going to whisk. We're not going to pull out an electric mixer and use that. Well

I'm going to actually use the electric mixer to make my meringue. Okay. Well, this is coming

Put them together easy. Yeah, it's a very, very simple recipe. And this is probably one of the easiest

cupcake recipes you'll ever make. I mean, this is so, so easy

And you just wanna get this to a soft to medium peak

Keep it a nice, light, airy cake. And does that butter, I just pour it on in here

You just pour it right into there. So this has almost come together

Well, your cupcakes were phenomenal. I was actually thinking about teaming up with a dentist

And, uh... Let me tell you something funny, Tyrek. My dentist here in town, when you leave

he brings you a warm, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie. I said, you're talking about job security

So we're going to fold that right into the ingredients that you have

Okay. You can fold it with the whisk. And that incorporates it very, very nicely. Okay

And then the second portion, we're going to use a spatula. Okie doke. You very simply want to come in from the center and fold it over

So Paula, I see you do have a built in deep fryer. Tell me some of the things that you have deep fried

Oh listen, I've that deep fried at all, honey. I've fried lasagna, I've fried macaroni and cheese

What was your favorite thing? I've fried cake. I have even fried butter

I don't know where to go with that. Well, you go in your mouth

Oh. You know, I've got to taste the batter. And? Perfectly delicious

Well, thank you. So you're going to spray the tins, and we're going to load these up

I'm going to give this just a little spray, just to ensure that these come out nice and easy

Yeah. And then, if I can have you start spooning. Okay. Okay. Now, what do you use to spoon your cupcakes up with

Just a regular spoon? Uh-huh. And we're probably going to fill these three quarters of the way

Okay. The batter is beautiful. All right. Well, I'm going to have to scoop this with something else

So, whilst you do that, I'm going to go ahead and work on the ganache

Okay Well I going to slip right in here and I going to try not to make such a big mess Now see that works a lot better for me Tyler Oh well there you go So now for the filling on this we just going to make a very simple ganache

which basically comprises of a cup of chocolate. Yeah. Any semi-sweet chocolate, but very simply, it's a cup of chocolate and a cup of heavy cream

Okay, see how much faster that was for me, using the dipper

All right, do you want to put these in the oven? Yeah, so I'm gonna go into 350 oven

And this is gonna go for about 20 minutes. And in the meantime, I have my cup of heavy cream

Okay. And we're gonna bring this to a boil. And then we add the cream to the chocolate

We're gonna let it melt. Because you are the keeper of the butter

you'll be adding one tablespoon of butter into the ganache. It helps actually set the ganache up just a little bit

and it gives it a nice creamy quality. I can't imagine that it would hurt

Oh no, the one thing it won't do is hurt. Okay, so this is blended

That looks delicious. My gosh, I love ganache. So, plastic crab directly on top. Okay

That way you don't form a skin. But if it's warm, just leave a little bit of breathing room

for that heat to escape. Well, so we're on the way. We're halfway there

Don't go anywhere, y'all. It's deep-fried cupcakes. It's getting good, y'all. Coming up, Tarek finds the weight of my heart when he deep-fries these cupcakes

You gotta love it. Then my friend Bubble stops by to help us make a salad that is full of all kind of surprises

This is like getting a prize in the Cracker Jack box. And later, y'all, we dress these delicious chops in chocolate

We are going to deliver to America, as we promised, deep fried cupcakes

So, first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to hollow these out. Oh, gosh, they look so pretty

And we're going to put the ganache in there. And in the meantime, you're going to start making some batter

Okay, some batter. Yeah, and actually this is a little bit of a cross between a fish and chip batter and a tempura batter

Well, I saw you putting out beer. Now, I love beer batter

It's a fabulous, fabulous batter. And this way you get that little bit of yeasty, malty, hoppiness

Right. To combine with the sweet. So you get a little bit of that savory element to it

But then you forget about it real quick once you try the chocolate. So there's a method to his madness, y'all

Yeah. It's mostly madness. So what I'm doing, I'm cutting the middle out of the cupcake

Uh-huh. And I'm just going to stick my finger in there to make a little bit of a cavity

Make a little bit of a hole. Yeah. And that way we're going to put these tops back on once the ganache goes in

In the meantime, can I have you measure out a cup and a half of all-purpose flour and a cup and a half of rice flour

Okay. And the reason I use the rice flour and not all regular flour is it gives a little bit of crispiness

Oh, it does. It lightens it back a little bit. And rice flour, can you find that at the grocery store

Some of the specialty grocery stores you should be able to find, or any health food store, you should find it very easily

Well, I just love the thought of where that rice flour was going to take this

And you just wait and see the results. Nice and crisp. And what I'm going to do is the ganache that we had made that set out and set up a little bit

I'm going to put it into a pastry bag. And getting right down in there, you want to get as much of that chocolate

Yes, don't skimp now on mine. Oh, no, I promise you yours will be better

I like a lot of filling in the center. I've got a cup and a half now of each of our flour

What else goes in there? Three tablespoons of sugar. Okay. Half a teaspoon of baking powder

Okay. And the one egg. Now, Paulette. Yes. This is actually key, so you don't lose any of your filling

Okay. The bit that I cut off, you set that right back into the chocolate

and it's going to fuse back together. Yes. So when we go to fry these, you don't lose any of that gooey goodness of chocolate

Good, because I don't want to lose a drop. All right, so go ahead and add the eggs. Yes

Now this next pot is for professionals only. The beer. Well, I'm not a professional, so you do that

It's a bottle and a half. Standard 12-ounce bottle. And about half a bottle

I was going to ask you, what's... I saw that. I saw that

I'm actually going to grab a whisk. Yeah, I was going to say all I see is a spoon

The nice thing about this batter is you could use it right away or you could let it sit If you let it sit it thickens up a little bit and it gives you a little bit of a heavier coating But we can go right away with this Okay The next important thing is

Make sure you're ready. Is that hot beer you're drinking? I'm English

Oh, y'all drink hot beer in England? Room temperature. Room temperature. Should I be flipping those

Yeah. Okay, you ready to go swimming? Let's go. We don't want our tops to come off, do we

We don't want the tops to come off. So just roll them in there. Okay. Let them soak up a little bit

You ready to do this? I'm so... I was ready about 30 minutes ago

Okay. Let's bring this over here so we don't drip all over the kitchen

Very gently. Uh-huh. I don't want to burn myself. 350 degrees is actually what we're frying in, in peanut oil

You gotta love it! Only here can we do this. This is legal in most states

I've met my match, y'all. You know, I do tell everybody, you have to use moderation

You know, trust me, I don't eat this way every day. But once in a while, dadgummit, you earn

You have earned an over-the-top sinful treat. And I think this is going to fall in that category

See? Top stayed on, nice. Yes, it sealed it up. You can't even tell

Tarek cut the top out of those, y'all. So how are we going to serve these

Well, what we're going to do is taking the idea from New Orleans

the beignets that are just mounded with powdered sugar. I do like a little bit of powdered sugar on these

We can serve this with some ice cream. Okay. Do you want to just douse them in it like that? Yeah. Yeah

Because it's going to soak up and give a little bit of a sweetie goodness to it

This looks delicious. Delicious. I just think that this deserves a little ice cream

Paula, are we ready to eat? It's a dollar waiting on a dime, baby

All right. You know, oh, God. Look at that ganache in there, y'all

Where else but in your house would you get fried cupcakes? Was I wrong

Bad boy. Oh, my goodness. Everything you love about everything you love

I think you're terrific. Thank you, sweetheart. Coming up, my friend Bubbles two steps her way through our salad making

Well, you just beat it on over there to the oven. And later, we're taking these chops to new heights, y'all

My friend Bubbles, she's here with me today. I'm thrilled every time she comes to Savannah and joins me here in the kitchen

Love me some Bubbles. Love me some Paula. The bubbles is working on the beets

We're going to do a wonderful roasted beet salad, y'all, with a rich cocoa vinaigrette

And we're using these beautiful fresh beets. Susan is cutting the tops off, peeling those

Then she's going to wrap them in tinfoil, and we're going to bake these off

We're going to roast them off in the oven, and we're going to put them in a fabulous salad

She's got the beet. Y'all hear the beet? Bubbles has gone out to the car

I carry my tap shoes. You never know. Gotten her tap shoes. You never know when you have to perform

This is all from Miss Peggy. Didn't you take dancing? Yes, I took dancing

Every little girl in Albany, Georgia, took dancing from Miss Peggy Pritchett

This girl is nuts. She's certainly nuts. You're too funny. I love those shoes

So listen, I had to eat dessert without you, girl. Sorry. And a fabulous dessert it was

Susan, they were the most fabulous deep-fried cupcakes you've ever put in your mouth

Oh, yum. Now what I need for you to do, Bubbles, is put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil

about a quarter of a teaspoon of salt, quarter of a teaspoon of black pepper

and mix that in. And then take your brush. and just brush those beets

Yes, ma'am. And wrap them individually, and they're going to be beautiful. And while Bubbles is doing that

I'm going to get up a dry rub for these fabulous pork chops that I've got here

We're doing chocolate pork chops, Bubbles. Oh, right. You're talking about the most beautiful center-cut pork chops you've ever seen

Well, I'm going to mix this up a dry rub. Now just start with two tablespoons of light brown sugar 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning Paparitan onion powder a teaspoon of each one and a half teaspoons each of unsweetened

cocoa and garlic powder, and a half teaspoon each of chili powder, cumin, pepper, and salt

You see these beautiful beet leaves? We're gonna use these to just spruce up. Yes, we're

gonna garnish with those. I was gonna use them for a headdress. A headdress

Oh, this is just wonderful. Do you know I absolutely adore beets

I do, too. Love them. Adore beets. We've just got little gifts right here for everybody

I've got the beets, honey. Well, you just beat it on over there to the oven

How long are you going to cook those for? One hour and 15 minutes

At what temperature? At 350. All right, well, listen. I'm gonna dredge these pork chops in our rub

and then get them in this heated pan that I've coated with olive oil. This a man-chop-bitten

Now, we're cooking these for three minutes on each side, and then we're gonna bake them for eight minutes

in a 350-degree oven. And when we come back, Ginger Rogers and I are gonna tap down here

We're gonna make a wonderful vinaigrette for those beets. Mm, yum. And we're going to have an eating good time, girlfriend

All right. So just tap us on out of here. Coming up, y'all, we dine on our Cocoa Creations

Isn't that pork chop delicious? To die for. Bubbles. What? Get out our beets and our pork chops

Got you. Please. And I'm going to be making this up of vinaigrette for that wonderful roasted beet salad

Now, I'm going to start with a fourth of a cup of olive oil

I'm going to add a fourth of a cup of red wine vinegar. Yum, yum, yum

Oh, gosh. Don't those pork chops look, like, bad to the very bone

Mmm, smells yummy. Okay, we're going to garnish with these? Yes. Okay

I surely will, sister. All right. So, in our vinaigrette, a half a teaspoon of sugar, bubbles, a quarter of a teaspoon of pepper, a quarter of a teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa

All right, now I'm just going to whisk that up. And you tap on over there and get our plates

I'm going to shuffle this time. All right, our salad dressing is ready

To go in our salad, I've got these purple onions. I've got some orange sections and walnuts

Ooh. They are fabulous. I'm just going to put us a little lettuce in each of our bowls

And I'm going to feel them good because our salad dressing is going to kind of be..

This is like the surprise in the Cracker Jack box. Huh? This is like getting a prize in the Cracker Jack box

Just opening up these little jewels. A few nuts on our salad

A little purple onion. I'm going to put a little Parmesan cheese

Are the beets done? Oh, yes. They look delicious. Yummy. All right

Ready, ready. I'm going to come down here. Oh, gosh. Those just look delicious

Oh, yum. I'm telling you what. Can't wait. I can't either. So you want to put our pork chop in

Cast the net. All right, I'm going to wash the purple off my hands as much as I can

These are large. Who are we having for Den Den? You and me, sister

Woo, we're going to do more than tapping. I know it. We gonna be tapped out, honey, when we eat all this

There's our vinaigrette. Yummy, yummy, yummy. All right, this is where you dig in

All right, shall we try the top first? Well, I'm going in for the salad. Well, you go right ahead

I can't wait to taste that beet. Ooh, yum. Mmm. Mmm. Yummy

That is delicious. This is delicious. Mmm. I like healthy salad. I like the beets

Don't you love them? Mm-hmm. They're so good, aren't they? Isn't that pork chop delicious

To die for. It is absolutely wonderful. Just got a nice flavor

It's got a good flavor to it. Well, thanks so much for tapping into my life this afternoon

Always a pleasure, baby, to have you tap in and out of my game. To shuffle right on in. Shuffle ball change, baby

just right on into the set. Until next time, y'all, we send you

loving best dishes from our kitchen to yours. Toodles