Have Yourself Some Moonshine

[Music plays] North Carolina is known for it's moonshine but I grew up in a tea coddler, bible thumping household so I learned about shine a little later.

I'm Vivian and I'm a chef.

My husband, Ben and I were working for some of the best chefs in New York City when my parents offered to help us open our own restaurant.

Of course, there was a catch.

We had to open this restaurant in Eastern North Carolina, where I grew up and said I would never return.

[The Avett Brothers perform "Will You Return"] So this is my life.

Raising twins, living in the house I grew up in, and exploring the south, one ingredient at a time.

Previously on A Chef's Life We made the decision to build the house that we actually wanted.

I'm so ready to move in here.

We would have lived in my mom's house for two years.

We were approached about opening another restaurant in town.

We're still gonna do this because we have committed ourselves.

It will be a strain.

[Music plays] Look at our Christmas card.

Whooo!

Very nice.

It's cute.

It is cute.

Nice job Ben.

[Grill sizzles] A lot of people look forward to the holidays all year long because it's a time to spend with friends and family but for restaurant people, at least this restaurant person, I dread it all year long.

We endure a month long marathon of parties and it is extremely stressful.

Today we have 20 or so four year olds coming for a manners class.

This is the fifth year we have done this and it is kind of like their Christmas party.

They eat chicken tenders and grilled cheeses.

They practice ordering and you know, putting a napkin in their lap.

Basic manners.

[Music plays] Y'all have ketchup?

One year we did this and we were getting ready to run all the food and they hadn't made any ketchup.

So it's like, Jesus.

You have to reinvent the wheel every time.

What would you like for lunch?

-Chicken.

-Chicken.

You want milk or water?

Milk.

[Laughter] [Music plays] I think the older I'm getting the more I'm ready for kids.

I think I told you that but... You have to have kids.

It's such a huge part of the human experience.

It is.

And I can tell you I used to be like, I don't want kids but it is like the best thing I have ever done and I wish that I had time I would say money, but people have kids with no money.

I wish I had the time to like be with them more and have more.

But it doesn't make sense to have more kids when I can't even be with the ones that I have.

But yes, you should have kids.

Just not right now hahaha.

[Kids saying thank you] Thank y'all.

You all have such great manners.

[Laughter] [Clapping] [Nail gun shoots] [Sawing] I think Ben and I are finally going to move into our new house.

We were supposed to be in there in September.

That obviously didn't happen.

We were definitely gonna host Thanksgiving there.

Then we were going to have our first Christmas there with our kids.

And now, finally I think we may move in in January.

I don't even care.

I just wanna move in.

I want to have my kids have their own room.

I want to take a bath in my own bath tub.

I'm just so excited to have my own house.

Moving into this house will really set to stone our commitment to stay here.

I mean, you don't build a modern butterfly looking house in the middle of Deep Run and expect to sell it.

This is the house that we will probably live in for the rest of our lives and die in.

Okay, that was a little weird.

[Music plays] Morning Morning.

How are y'all?

-I'm -I'm Jeremy.

Vivian.

Jeremy, I'm Ben.

Nice to meet you.

I'm Quinn.

I grew up in a family with very little, if any alcohol consumption.

I do remember, however my dad, every Christmas would get a number of mason jars full of like, fruit wine and what I now know was moonshine.

All of a sudden there's a renewed interest in moonshine.

I mean everybody's making shine.

About an hour from here there's a new distillery called Broad Slab.

He's making moonshine the old fashioned way, according to his grandfather's recipe.

So how long have y'all been doing this?

My granddaddy did it in his younger days.

He was my mentor.

He passed away in September.

September the first of this year.

So why do you think this area is so rich with moonshine culture?

Back in my granddaddy's time that's what they did for income.

They couldn't make a whole lot of money on the farm and they supplemented their income with it.

That's how we supplement our income too.

We own a restaurant.

We don't make any money on the food.

[Laughter] And the water is good for moonshine here.

You know, everywhere the water's not good, you know?

What kind of water do you need?

The ph level good.

You can't have salt.

Usually like city water has... Yeah and it won't ferment.

I'm interested in how, you know, you changed what your granddaddy taught you.

Probably the only thing I have changed is we take the heads off of the run.

You know the first part of distillation is methanol and a lot of other toxic chemicals.

A moonshiner or bootlegger wouldn't take that off because that's the highest part of distillation which would make the end result more quantity.

Well if you're trying to make a living I would imagine you're not going to waste much haha.

Yeah.

And it's like my granddaddy used to tell me.

There was two different kinds of liquor.

There was one to sell and there was one to drink.

[Laughter] [Music plays] So what is this?

-That's you know, the still.

-Still.

We put the mash in there.

It's fired with gas.

So the fire goes into the fire box.

Then it'll start to steam.

It comes up into the cap.

Then it runs down into the doubling keg.

There the steam will kind of sit in that tank and some of the impurities will fall to the bottom and the real good stuff, the high stuff goes on out.

And it comes up and goes out through the condenser and the cool water comes and condenses the steam.

Immediately in turns into alcohol.

What's this stuff called?

Liquor.

Liquor.

[Laughter] Ehh it's 120.

Right there, that's gonna have a little kick.

That's gonna have a whole lot of kick.

[Laughter] So what's in these?

This is where we work our mash off in.

It's the corn and the barley.

We put it in... [Laughter] Sorry.

I mean, the technical term would be ferment our mash but around here we call it working.

It's alive.

Oh yeah.

You can feel it doing heat.

Yeah.

Oh wow.

And you can see it bubbling a little bit.

Yeah, I saw it bubbling.

Haven't got a whole lot of action going on.

This picture is... can you tell me a little bit about that?

That picture I got from my father-in-law, sitting over there.

All those guys are local boys from around here.

Yes!

They fixed em a float with a liquor still on it.

They had the liquor and the gas and the still and the guns and they went to town.

And umm.. [Laughter] They didn't want em to run their float so they got run out of town.

I think that would have been the best float to be on, on that first Mule Day.

I can guarantee you there was some stuff going on in that float.

[Laughter] [Music plays] Cheers.

Cheers.

Boy, that's smooth.

Creamy.

It has some character to, you know?

Oh yeah.

Yeah, it's got character.

When I've had some others it's just like lightning fuel.

I mean it's like what you think if you drank.. Rubbing alcohol.

Rubbing alcohol.

Yeah, that's smooth and you can taste the...

It's got flavor.

It's sweet.

Yeah, it does have flavor.

I really like that.

Every morning when I come to work I can see them tinkering over there at the oyster bar.

That makes me very uncomfortable.

Right now my workload is about right here.

I'd like for it to be right here and when the oyster bar opens it's gonna be way up here.

So this is the pass?

Yeah this is the food pass.

And behind here.... the bars are out there.

Right.

It's not a small space.

Bigger than the... you know everything keeps getting bigger.

It's nice.

It's like...

I don't know?

It's small but it's not small.

I mean, you can fit a lot of people in here.

But we're not.

I mean..

I thought we were still trying to do between 30 and 40 seats and now it's between 40 and 50.

I mean it's small.

It's gonna feel full.

You just said it's not small.

I said it's small but it's not small.

You can fit a lot of people in here.

I don't know?

So a lot of progress.

[Music plays] So I'm working on a chicken liver pate made with moonshine and umm it's gonna be topped with a take on apple jack.

And apple jack is something that people who drink bootleg moonshine would always make.

They add apple cider, sugar, cinnamon to it.

So I'm gonna start by making this jelly.

I've got some apple cider.

I'm gonna put some rosemary in here.

Some cinnamon sticks.

Star anise.

I'm gonna add a little sugar.

I'm gonna grate some nutmeg.

I'm gonna slice some ginger in to go in here.

Alright so we're gonna let all this simmer and these flavors kind of marry.

[Music plays] You get one teaspoon for every 200 sausage balls you make.

[Laughter] Did you like it Jimmy?

Yeah, it was good.

I'm putting some elements of acidity in here.

Some lemon juice.

Apple cider vinegar because I need it to be a foil for this really rich uhhh chicken liver pate.

Alright now I'm gonna add the moonshine.

I want us to know that it's there but I don't want it to knock anybody in the face.

Alright, now I'm gonna strain all my aromatics.

We're gonna make it a jelly.

We're gone us gelatin.

These are gelatin sheets.

[Music plays] So, these are my chicken livers.

And one thing you really have to watch when cooking chicken livers is that they pop like crazy.

One of the things I like to do when I do chicken liver pate is sear the livers really hard so that they get caramelization and I think that adds a depth of flavor you don't always get.

[Grill sizzling] [Music plays] Lots of times when you make, like a chicken liver spread, people will use, like sherry or port to deglaze your pan with.

So, instead of that we're gonna use the moonshine.

Growing up my mom would always fry liver and onions and the smell was intoxicating.

But when I would taste that first bite it would really gross me out because I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit but I am not a liver lover.

Over the years though I have developed a recipe for a chicken liver pate or spread that even a non liver lover... liver lover would love.

I want this to be like, totally smooth.

I'm passing it through a tami which is a fine strainer.

And it looks really liquid now.

When it chills and the butter hardens it will be smooth and spreadable.

Alright, now I'm filling my little jars with my chicken liver.

Then I'm going to take my apple jack and pour it on top.

Then we need to chill this down.

This will become like jello.

And it does appear to be setting up around the outside.

If nothing else it looks very cool.

Alright so, an Amarone from Giuseppe Lonardi, okay.

We decided.

I should say Ben decided to pay for anyone who wanted to take the Sommelier class or exam in order to further develop their knowledge.

A Sommelier is someone who has studied wine, has taken a test, passed it, therefore proving they know a certain amount about the craft.

The Amarone is generally a very expensive bottle of wine because it's expensive to make.

Most of the time you're gonna rarely see an Amarone under two hundred dollars on a wine list.

And the reason why it's so expensive to make?

Well, I think it sends a lot of time and wood also.

but you have a whole lot less volume so it's a whole lot more so you have to have a much larger uhhh product for a much smaller yield.

Excellent Jason.

Thank you.

Ripasso means repassed so they take the wine and they pass it through like, the skins and the maceration that they already used to make Amarone to pick up all those flavors.

Lessons paying off already.

That's right.

Excellent.

It's a little unfair advantage.

That's why I said...

I appreciate it... Woah.

That's why we said it.

We would all benefit.

We would all benefit.

[Birds chirping] [Music plays] There's like a swarm of black birds out there.

They've been doing this for three days now.

I guess they're eating the left over sorghum in this field.

It's very pretty.

Kind of wild.

Ben and I started moving last night and uhhh it's a very weird feeling because we have been living with my parents.

So, I feel a little bit homesick already.

We've never locked our doors since we've lived down here but my dad recommended that since this place is so different looking that we start locking them in case someone were curious and might want to take a look inside.

I would love to be able to take a week off and move in here, enjoy my family, cook dinner, watch movies, get everything just right... Read a book.

Take a bath.

Yeah.

But unfortunately I have to work all week.

We're short people in the kitchen so that won't be happening.

Hey!

Hey babe.

You ready to do that moonshine cocktail?

Oh yeah.

Good to go.

[Music plays] It looks pretty cool.

There ya go.

Get in there.

Nice.

You might have something there.

Let's do it.

I don't get hangovers.

Hahaha I do.

I got ruined.

I get a hangover although I haven't had one in a while because I quit drinking during the week.

What?!?

I know.

I quit going out during the week.

What was last night?

Yeah but I had two... What was Thursday?

I had two drinks.

That was it.

That ain't quit drinking.

I might get just tore up tonight just because it's Saturday.

Okay, so this is a dish we made with this moonshine.

Underneath, we have a chicken liver pate and then on top we have a apple jack jelly.

You guys, this is the last of the holiday season so your opportunity to really rake it in for the rest of the month is, is dwindling.

So, make the most of it tonight.

So, what's wrong with it Danny?

[Laughter] Nothing.

Nothing's wrong with it.

I'm just not a big pate fan really.

I mean, I like it but I'm not a big pate guy.

You like it?

Yeah, it's good.

[Music plays] [Crowd chatter] We have an amazing new cocktail.

It is the Broad Slab Sour.

[Dishes fall] Hahaha everything's falling apart.

Gin and tonic.

Gin.

Oh come on.

[Laughter] Somebody has got to work with me here.

Come on.

Somebody has got to order a moonshine.

Ain't I right darling?

Tell em.

I'll order one.

Yes!

We got a winner.

Why not?

We got a winner.

It's a little frustrating on a Saturday night because it's sweet tea, unsweet tea, coffee, right off the get go.

Nobody wants to drink alcohol on a Saturday night.

Some of these people around here are not willing to try new things.

Mr.

Hood drinks Michelob Ultra every time he comes in here.

It's the same thing he drinks.

I talked him right into the moonshine.

I'm two down.

I got 15 more to go.

It's moonshine.

[Laughter] So, we're gonna try the chicken liver pate too, right?

Alright!

[Music plays] Alright, ordering one chicken liver.

Four minutes to bring to table 30.

I have the chicken liver and moonshine pate.

It's really yummy.

It's good.

I could eat that all night.

You could eat that all night?

Is that what you said?

Oh yeah.

Now, have I ever steered you wrong?

No.

Had a pretty big night tonight.

About 185 guests.

Everything is running very smooth and almost one full year since the fire and we're kind of back to normal.

That's a wrap.

[Birds chirping] Today is finally our holiday party.

Umm we didn't have one last year because the fire happened two days before we were supposed to have it and so this year everyone's really excited.

Mainly because it's gonna be at our house.

[Music plays] So, I'm making apple pie which is a cocktail made with moonshine.

[Cork pops] I think that's good.

Just for the hell of it hahaha.

I'm gonna put some more apple juice in there.

[Music plays] Welcome, welcome.

People are arriving.

I know.

What do you want me to do about that?

Well, host a little bit.

Okay.

Ummm help yourself.

We have drinks outside and I think we are going to do the oysters and everything in a little bit.

When you're cooking like this you're supposed to be just sitting around drinking beer, not being in a hurry.

I need a beer.

You need that to soak up a little bit of alcohol so you can drink.

[People talking] You drinking an apple jack with this?

Apple jack.

This is awesome.

Wow.

Wow.

[Music plays] I don't drink.

I don't.

Serve her one Kim.

I love it!

I love that about you though Kim.

You don't drink.

You don't smoke.

I love you all the same.

[Laughter] You tried the moonshine Jason?

It's good.

It's almost gone... [Music plays] You know, Ben and I ride our employees all the time.

We're hard on them.

We expect the best from them but at the end of the day we really love our staff.

We've all been through a lot together and so it's great to come together and celebrate the end of this holiday season and let loose a little bit.

[Music plays] There was a part of me that was missing when we were closed for five months.

I thought working... We're still a family regardless.

Well we were already a family to begin with but we're so much more now.

Because really we have a responsibility to each other now.

We really all came together.

We did what we had to do.

We got this place reopened.

There was some of us.

There was a big majority of us that were there the day after.... All I got to say is it's the best damn fire I ever started.

[Laughter] [Music plays] This has been one wild year.

It started out with a fire that nearly destroyed our business.

We've come back from that and now we're opening another restaurant.

I don't know why the hell we're doing that haha?

My children are not babies anymore.

They're toddlers.

They have personalities.

It has been a real doozy.

I can't wait to see what next year brings.

I think it's gonna be my year.

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