Taste of Class

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited

I can't hardly stand it. Fly on some an alley. Oh God, I love that picture

I mean, the fact that she wanted to come do the show. She DVRs it

You know, I record it. And I come home watching it. I would be so nervous if I knew she was watching it

I find it very relaxing. She adores German chocolate cakes. I thought I would make her one with a coconut custard filling

I also thought I would make us a ribeye steak with a mushroom sauce and creamy lobster rounds

Am I looking putty? Why is the dressing room so quiet? Hey! Hey! Ah

How are you, Carolyn? Where are you? Hi, my baby girl. You're so precious

Who are you? Oh, God! Oh, I'm so glad to be here

I can't believe you're here. I watch you every day. There's something wonderful about seeing somebody that's happy and contented

and trying to make other people happy. It's just good influence, besides being a great cook and a great teacher

I like that. Blasom and Natalie, Donna! You know, it was going to take me a few minutes to settle down and concentrate because I was so excited

I have so many beer recipes that I've just written down watching TV

I think I'm a better cook now that I watch Paul. I really do

I made you a cake. Did you? What kind? German chocolate. My nerve is my favorite

It's my favorite. I know I heard. Look here. Look here. What

Oh, God. I adore it. Oh, thank you. Oh, my God, you look just like you

Thanks, Paula. You know, when she first got here this morning and we went into the kitchen

We're here. This is it, honey. I mean, I was excited beyond belief

She was in my kitchen with me. Do you like it? Oh, sweetheart

Well, that kitchen, I've watched it so much on television. I couldn't believe I was standing in it

Liza, I tell you what, honey, I'm so excited that you're here

Yeah, me too. I almost can't even think about my cake that I've made for you

Thank God I got the cake made for you got here. Oh, I'm so excited

You're just as precious as I knew you would be. Oh, darling, thank you. We're like sisters almost

Oh, my gosh. So, do you make a German chocolate cake? Yeah, I do

You do? Mm-hmm. Well, I've got a special surprise for you. Now, we're layering this one with a creamy coconut custard filling

All right, now we are going to start making this filling. Okay

I need a cup and a half of white sugar and a cup and a half of milk

Okay. And while you're doing that, I'm going to separate some eggs

You know, once in a while you meet people that you have really admired from a distance

and then you meet them and you can be a little disappointed. There's a fly in here, and I can't stand a fly

But it's not in there, at least. No, it ain't in there. There was not one ounce of disappointment with lies

Look, I'm going to get him. You got it! That's the chicken

That's the stuff. Listen, I can't stand a fly. How do you do that? I'm quick

You want this to boil up? Well, yeah, it's probably... Yeah, it's probably going to have to kind of boil a little bit

Okay, darling. All right. Why don't we go ahead and put our eggs in

Okay. Now that everything's mixed up, if you don't mind, I'm going to borrow your whisk

Just a whisk. So I've got a surprise for you. You do

Yes. Have you ever lived in the country? Yes. I've never lived in the country for a long time

For a long time. All right. So there you go. Now you do your thing right there

I started me a chicken coop. No, I've never done that. I've always wanted a chicken coop

Do I use my eggs, sister? I do use my eggs. Oh, my God, I adore my chickens

Have you named them? Well, I did, but now I get them mixed up, so I don't know who to

Right. In fact, I just wanted chickens to, like, live out in the yard, you know, and just let them take over

And Michael said, absolutely not. You are not going to turn a bunch of chickens loose in our yard

So I said, okay, well, how about a coop? And finally he ran out of argument

And I won. These chickens, I go out and they love for me to rock them

Oh And scratch their ears How nice And I kind of sing a little And they go to sleep So I want to take you to my chicken coop All right

And I bet you could sing them slap into a coma. No males

We don't have any roosters because roosters are mean. You know how men can be aggravating sometimes

Now you know, Liza, that I am distracted if I forgot the butter

I'm going to put in six tablespoons. Does that look like six

Yeah, there's like eight tablespoons in a stick. Well, there's some left. Okay, and you don't like that, do you? No

All right, now how many of these do we do? We need two cups of coconut

Mercy, child. There you go. Yum, yum, yum. We need some nuts now

Okay. I think I like a cup and a half. All right, Liza, I think this is cool enough, don't you

Uh-huh. Get your, reach your little finger in there and get you a bite

Love, love. Oh, Mommy. Isn't it delicious? Mm-hmm. Was your mama a good cook

She was a short order cook. She was. Yeah. Yeah, she could make anything really well

My job was always clean up. Oh, was it? Yeah. My mama was a wonderful cook

I know. But I didn't have long with her. You know, we lost her very young

I was 22 when my mom died. I was 23. I was amazed because we have so much in common

Oh, look at you. You're a perfectionist. You know, sometimes you're lucky enough to meet people that you connect with and you feel like, gosh, I've known this person all my life

All right, now we're going to put this in the freezer and let it sit for like an hour

Yeah. If you would open that freezer drawer right there. Right here, baby, the drawer

Oh, this is it? Yes. Do you not have drawers? Not like that

Man, that's convenient. And these are refrigerator drawers. Oh, I have them

Oh, did you see what I'm cooking here? Yes, I did. Coming up, I make Liza my creamy lobster rounds

I'm so excited. Ready? And later, I'm going to cook us a steak

Oh, Paula. And I introduce Liza to my chickens. Hey, girls, it's Liza

He's a tramp Faithful to him And I only hope he stays that way

Some people can open their mouth and this gorgeous song comes out

Well, you know, why can't I sing? I've known some tramps. Trust us

Trust us. All right, now I'm going to make you something that I love, Liza

and their creamy lobster rounds. Happiness. All right. So I'm giving you the stinky job

All right. You've got the onions. Would you rather do the bell pepper

No. Onions are starting. All right, now, we need a fourth of a cup of minced red bell pepper

and a fourth of a cup of the minced green onions. All right

So not much. This is going to be mainly lobster. And I'm going to smash just some garlic up because we ain't going to be kissing nobody

You never know. Don't you find when you do recipes that you've learned

Like when I went in every restaurant, I loved something. I went back and said, okay, how'd you make it

Yeah. And six tablespoons of butter I'm putting in here. I'm kind of stuck on six or maybe eight

Just throw the whole thing in there. That's what I did, honey. There we go

I've got us two lobster tails. And I've already cut them down the back with the scissors

Do you love lobster? Yeah, I do. The first meal I ever tried to cook for my husband, I bought the frozen lobster tails

And I thought, oh, maybe it should have like a sauce or something. So I cooked a can of cream mushroom soup

Then I thought, well, maybe they should go in that. So I threw them in that. And he took one bite and spit it out

And was going, ah, what? Ah, this is god-awful. And it was like in the movies

I started to cry. But from that second on, being a Minnelli

I thought, I'm going to learn how to do this. And once you get into it, I think that it's very healing

And it's private. and everybody needs their price Everybody Doesn that look delicious All right now I going to add So it red pepper scallions Right

Garlic. Garlic and a little olive oil, is that what you're going to do? No, uh-uh. Butter, the butter

Oh, the butter. And we're going to add... And I'm going to go ahead and add this

because, you know, lobster is seafood. Cream cheese butter. Oh, yum. Isn't it delicious

I love cream cheese. Ooh, smell that garlic. How about some salt and pepper

Yeah, just reach in there and... Yes, yes, look at that. Love it

All right, get you a spoon, honey. Come around here. Where's the spoon

Right here. And we will just... Oh, please. No, I know. Oh

Just... Oh, you got... You're not putting it all around. I'm doing it first here

You like? Oh. Isn't this a wonderful little appetizer? And look how easy, you know, we did it

Within like three minutes. Oh. I think I might. The ts. Yes, the vegetables

Yes. Pretty. Isn't that pretty? Yes. Pass me that salt and pepper, please

You know, I love this almost as a garnish. Uh-huh. That's pretty

All right, now come over here and try it with the toast. To my new friend, Liza, who I feel like I've known forever

Honey, to you. May you have a fabulous life. Well, hell, you already have

So let's see. And the happiness you bring everybody. Oh, sweetie. I'm so excited

Ready? That's nice, darling. Mm. That's stupid. It's so good. Mm-hmm. Stupid

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm dancing. I got another surprise for you

Coming up, one bite of my steak with mushroom sauce and Liza's

So happy right now. And later, it's time to top our cake

And Liza serenades my chicken. Lose your eyes. All right, Liza, honey, I'm going to cook us a steak

Mm-hmm. We've had our lobster. This is a ribeye. Oh, yes. And we're going to cook some mushrooms to go along with it

And I've got us some baby portabellas. You like mushrooms? Yeah, I do

I love mushrooms with my steak. I'm gonna put Oh, butter! Actually, I wasn't supposed to put that much

I know it's surprise, surprise Alright, I'm gonna take our garlic And I'm gonna get those shallots out of your way

And we're just gonna cook these for a little bit Alright, now I'm gonna salt our steaks

Okay, I'm gonna pepper them up good Okie doke Now tell me the temperature you like

I like it medium rare. I knew it! I knew it! That's the only way I eat mine

All right, honey, just chunk those in here. Ooh, and I smell those shallots already

I want to come to New York and cook Italian with you

Yeah, I can make a fettuccine. It's pretty something. I love pasta

Yeah, do you? Love it. I like potatoes. Oh, my God. Wasn't that potato

Potatoes is my favorite starter. Me, too. Michael asked me one time, he said, Paula, if you were going to a deserted island, what's the one thing you'd take

And I said, well, that's easy, Michael, a potato. I said, why, and what would you take

He said, a boat. He said, and I'd come pick you and your stupid potato up

Get us a little fresh thyme right there, baby. Sure. This one

Yeah. All right, I think our grill is hot enough now. Okay

So I'm just gonna... Now how did you spice the steak on there

Just salt and pepper. Okay. How about a little beef broth? How's that doing, babe

Oh, I think that's good. Yeah. I'm gonna add some cream to this

About a half a cup. Liza, I think this is about ready

And you look like you're about ready. Oh, Lord, and we still got to frost our cake

The cake. Garnache. The cake. All right, baby, you ready? Yeah. Do you have a specific steak that you want

I know what you mean. Yeah I take this one Okay Okay Well put like what you want on it and I get us some vegetables You know we got to eat our veggies

Oh, that's pretty. Everything looks prettier when you do it. Yes. All right, now come on over here

Okay. All right, you said you wanted that steak. Yippee! Ciao, baby

Bon appetit. Oh, Paula. I'm so excited. It's perfect. Yes. Yes

Mm-mm-mm-mm. Simple, but delicious. I'm so happy right now. It's great. Coming up, our cake is complete

Now it's time to eat. I couldn't possibly. And. Look, girls. Liza's shirt

There's her cake with y'all. There you go. There you go. Okay, Liza, it's finally time to frost your cake, honey. Okay

I told you we was going to make a ganache for it. Uh-huh. So if you put this chocolate in that bowl right there

Okay. And put a couple of tablespoons of butter. Of course. Half a stick of butter, you said

Yes. How much is that? About two tablespoons. One and a half tablespoons of white corn syrup

All right, now we're just going to pour, and I'm going to give you the whisk. Okay

Because what we want to do is we want this cream to melt our chocolate cake

I was tickled when I found out that German chocolate cake was like her favorite

What is ganache? It's just chocolate, honey. It's like a thin chocolate frosting, and the ganache made it extra special

You know, I made the cake earlier for you. Yeah. I made another recipe of this ganache because we actually need to chill it

And now we need to spread it all over our cake. Look at it running all down

Oh, it's so beautiful. Now we'll just tuck in some nuts. I've got some chocolate curls

How are we going to do this? Just like this. Is that a plate? No, we're not going to

Do we need one? No. No, it's just us. Look at that

Hell of a piece. Yeah, and you know what? I couldn't possibly

Oh, no, no, I couldn't. Me neither. I know. Before you go, we're going to go out and see the chickens

Okay. And I'm going to take them to this cake. They love my cakes

They do? Mm-hmm. Yum! I've got something for you to put on

Oh, hell yeah! So, which color do you want? The pink. Okay, you take the pink and I'll take the green

Because we don't want to step in chicken poo. No. You know

Let's get the cake. Oh, is that? I was just kind of staring at it

Well, listen, they don't have to have it all. Come on. Okay. Hey, girls, it's Liza

Hey, babies. Come here, Liza. Wack, wack, wack, wack. Hey, my babies

Yeah, Paula's chicken coop was such a surprise. Look, girls. Liza's sharing her cake with y'all

Hey, guys. So chickens are just so cute. And they're happy. Liza, look at them

Oh, happiness. Eating that cake. Aren't they healthy-looking chickens? They live a great life here

I'm really happy. If I was a chicken, I would love to live there

Bok, bok, bok, bok, bok. Bok, bok, bok. Yes. Oh, you're precious

There you go. Lock-a-bop-a. Is that what you say? You want to sing him to sleep

Sure. Look at that. I knew you'd be a fabulous chicken girl

Lose your eyes and sleep tonight. Afternoon is much too bright

It's been a very exciting day. She's got such great spirit. It's so

Look, look at the cake I got off this beak. Or her

I'll tell y'all something. She is a great girl. So what do you think, Liza

I think it's perfect. I think it's gorgeous. If I could describe this day in one word

Luscious