Obviously, It’s Pecans

(Music plays) In Eastern North Carolina we say "pee-can."

The rest of the world seems like they say "puh- con".

But it's "pee-can," obviously.

(Theme Music plays- The Avett Brothers "Will You Return") 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.

(Music plays) (Music plays) 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.

I've noticed that we've been getting a lot busier especially after the tv show premiered.

A Chef's Life is airing and people are watching it and some of those people are driving here to eat in the restaurant and some of them want to have their picture made.

You look good on tv and I love you.

Finally, Lillie agreed to let me go fishing with she and her mom.

Oh my god!

This is a big puffer fish.

Ahhh!

I've had a really good time.

Yeah.

(Music plays) (Music plays) It's the Saturday before Thanksgiving and I am doing a demo at the farmer's market.

I like to challenge people so this year I'm making a farro or wheatberry salad with cranberries, old timey pears, and a pecan vinaigrette.

And then I'm doing some baked sweet potatoes with a star anise bourbon butter.

These are lookin' good.

The first thing I'm doing is I'm going to make a pecan and orange infused bourbon for Thanksgiving day.

I have soaked the pecans in water then I'm going to put them in the oven to dry them out and kind of intensify the flavor.

And once they're dry then I'm going to let them sit in bourbon with orange zest for five days until Thanksgiving and we're going to make an awesome cocktail.

Soaking them in water will keep them from burning while they dry out in the oven.

So I'm excited about my pecan bourbon cocktail.

My parents are not coming to Thanksgiving this year so i foresee enjoying myself a little bit more.

I hope they don't hear that.

Well I didn't mean like enjoying myself.

I meant like doing things like... You mean enjoying some bourbon?

Yes, exactly!

(laughter) (Music plays) For several years now I've been doing a demonstration the week before Thanksgiving at our farmer's market.

I give people ideas of ways to use the produce on their holiday table.

I agree to do lots of things all year long.

Some of them I end up dreading.

I actually don't mind doing this.

Yesterday I made this vinaigrette with the liquid leached off of poaching my cranberries, some roasted pecans, orange juice, some sherry vinegar.

So, I'm about to finish this with what I think really makes it, blue cheese.

I'm sure a lot of people are gonna turn up their nose when we say blue cheese but they can have the sweet potatoes then.

(Music plays) (People talking) Oh dear god!

(laughs) So, I'm not actually gonna show you how to make anything.

I'm just gonna give you some ideas, things about ways to do things differently with the same basic ingredients that you would use on Thanksgiving.

So, the first thing I've got here are baked sweet potatoes with a bourbon and star anise butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and then just bake them.

I love candied yams but my issue is that it's kind of one note you know?

It's sweet.

That's not necessarily a bad thing but I like to add another element to it so I have little crispy country ham chips that I've sprinkled on top so that's gonna add like a salty note and a little crunch.

Um, and then over here I have a lot of the elements that you would find on the Thanksgiving table but in kind of a different way.

I have a farro, old timey pear, cranberry, and pecan salad.

I have blue cheese in here.

I know some people are not gonna like that but I just took the plunge.

So, y'all wanna come get some?

(Laughter) (Music plays) I know she wants her picture taken with you.

Sure.

Oh, you're gonna take it.

My hair looks terrible.

(laughs) Now, I've always called pecans "pee-cans."

No, now you're changing it.

(Laughter) You just said I've always called "pee-cans", "puh-cans".

(Laughter) So are you and dad gonna to come to my house for Thanksgiving this year?

If you invite us.

I absolutely want you to come.

I know.

My mom grew up in Duplin County.

We call it DC kind of as a joke because there are like ten times more pigs in Duplin County than there are actual people.

She grew up on a farm with a bunch of pecan trees in the yard so we've actually been getting pecans from her family farm ever since we opened the restaurant.

So, we're heading to your, where you grew up.

Yes.

Do you remember what Grandma did with the pecans when you were growing up?

She would take 'em to town, to Mount Olive and sell them.

We picked up pecans before we went to school.

Pecans would fall in the way where the school bus would go by.

It was always, she talked about that was our Christmas money.

My mom is very sentimental about her homeplace.

She was very close to her mother and my Grandmother Hill passed away about five years ago.

My mom's had a hard time moving on.

So, she's always looking for ways to connect us to her homeplace.

So, me serving the pecans from her family farm in my restaurant has been a big deal for her.

So, Uncle Dwight, which ones are the pecan trees?

All of them.

This is a pecan tree.

This is a pecan tree.

Mama set that one out.

So when we were small we had to pick up pecans with our hands.

Sometimes when there was a lot on the ground we would rake them up but then we advanced to this and now we've advanced to one of these.

So do you just umm.. Just roll it.

It will pop 'em right in it.

It picks up the bad ones and the good ones and you have to separate them.

A lot of times there's worms in 'em.

Get rid of the worms and pick 'em all up.

This is a lot better than getting on your hands and knees.

(laughs) So how do you empty it out?

That's a good trick.

Here's where a worm, a worm went into the hole, went into the pecan right there.

And then this one's fine.

That one will be alright.

And then this one is not... Maybe.

(Music plays) This is a persimmon tree?

Naw, that's a rose bush.

Ok, don't air that.

(Laughter) They're so pretty.

The actual nut casing.

Is there a method to this because I just crushed this one?

It's luck.

(laughs) Also, they are fresh pecans.

They are so good.

These are hard.

I'm trying to watch my language.

These are very hard to get into.

The way we used to do it is we took two pecans and put em together and cracked 'em.

Can you show me what you mean by that?

That's really what y'all used to do?

Mmm hmmm.

We didn't have all this fancy things now that you've got to open them with.

I would also crack 'em with my teeth and my mother would really get after me about that.

We were talking about what a great cook Grandma Hill was on the way over here.

Do you remember her cooking with pecans?

Oh yeah, pecan pie.

She made some good pecan pies.

Back then could you take these to a sheller?

Naw didn't nobody have no shellers then.

We done it all by hand.

I would imagine that pecan pie was very special.

Yeah.

Real special.

It takes a lot to surprise me these days but you never know what's in someone's backyard and my Uncle Dwight has always kind of offered that element of surprise.

So Uncle Dwight why didn't you tell us about this wild pig before now?

I didn't even think about it.

And where did it come from?

In the back lot back near the swamp.

He's just as wild as wild.

I mean he's wild now.

Oh my god!

He's out.

(Laughter) Oh my god!

That's a wild boar.

(Laughter) So, is he about ready to... Has he seen one of his last days?

Well it won't be long.

(Laughter) Now when you barbecue that thing you better let me know.

I'll be sure to invite you.

You better.

I'll let you come help me cook it.

I would love that.

I'll tell you who would love that even more is Ben.

Have you ever eaten a wild boar before?

No, never.

Well when you do I'm serious, I need to be a part of it.

Ok. (Laughter) (chatter) These aren't bad.

I thought they were really good.

Jason, what's in this cocktail?

Bourbon, lime juice, ginger beer, simple syrup.

It's a pecan infused bourbon or rye for my Thanksgiving extravaganza tomorrow.

Well Ben is actually doing all the work.

Oh yea of course.

Whoo!

Keep that away from the kids.

You won't have to trim your nose hairs after that!

That will put hair on your chest.

So you don't want any of that!

(laughter) What's up?

Yes.

So.

Hopefully.

I'm good.

Are you sure?

I don't want to be.

I don't want it to be... Ok well you can go.

Seriously though it's not that big a deal.

I can stay.

We have one person who's suspended this week so we're short.

And John's wife has gone to urgent care.

She's having chest pains and I feel like he should be able to go be with her.

We're just trying to figure out how this all works without calling Ben.

(Music plays) I'm working on the prep for my Thanksgiving meal tomorrow.

I always try to do as much as I can here.

It makes it a lot easier.

Tomorrow we're gonna have a cheeseball that I'm actually trying to develop for the menu here during the holidays.

I'm working with blue cheese, dates, scallions, goat cheese, and then to make it creamy I've got cream cheese and some softened butter.

I'm thinking about putting the spiced pecans inside the cheese ball and like putting it all in the mixer with the paddle attachment and then rolling the cheeseball in the country ham chips.

What do you think about that?

I think it sounds good.

And different.

Very different.

I think this is gonna sell like crazy, which is unfortunate for Kim who makes the crackers.

Now she makes the crackers for the Boiler Room and then she'll be making the crackers for this dish.

As you know I love to elevate foods that people are familiar with.

So when I started thinking about holiday party foods my mind automatically went to the cheese ball.

The cheese ball is so cliche at this point I think it almost stands a chance at being cool again.

Alright so I'm gonna try to put this cheese ball together.

I've never made any kind of cheese ball before.

I'm just winging it, ok?

(Mixer mixing) Have you ever made a cheese ball, Justise?

Maybe once?

You think I should let this set up now or... Is it... how... is it pretty firm?

I'd let it firm up.

You would?

I should have asked you if you've ever made a cheese ball.

(Laughter) Okay, I'll put it in something and let it firm up and then I'll ball it and roll it in country ham.

I wouldn't let it firm up too much.

(Music plays) (Music plays) Oh that is awesome.

I got to get a picture.

That is so cool.

Now that is a cheese ball.

That's a cheese ball.

Yes.

Hey Lillie!

What are you doing here?

Warren sent me out here with stuff you forgot to get the other day.

Ok. Did you enjoy fishing?

I did.

That puffer fish, that kind of freaked me out though.

Then you come coming at me.

I'm not going to catch that thing.

(Laughter) See y'all guys.

Alright.

Bye, Lillie.

Happy Thanksgiving.

(Music plays) Wow, that's a lot of oysters.

Well we probably won't eat all of these.

So we'll take these out there.

(Music plays) We're roasting some oysters in our fireplace.

So these are Lynnhaven oysters from Virginia and hopefully they're going to open up and I'm going to teach some young folks how to shuck an oyster.

It's obviously easier to shuck an oyster after it's kind of roasted and open already.

Ok, so you get in here just aahhh like that ok. You feel that little hook?

Yeah mm hmmm.

And then go over the top.

You've got something that doesn't look fantastic.

So you go in and turn it over and hand it out.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.

There's no expectations that aren't met.

No one doesn't get the gift that they wanted.

It's all about cooking, sitting down at a table and breaking bread with the people you love.

So, what do you think of the cheese ball?

I thought the cheese ball was very good but the cheese ball at Chef and the Farmer has got to be like exquisite.

Right but this has spiced pecans in it.

It's rolled in crispy country ham.

You can't buy that.

I didn't really get the country ham.

Let me try another piece.

I can't believe you don't get the country ham there.

I just did.

I think I had like, the first piece I had were all when the whole thing was pretty much eaten.

That is really good.

I think it tastes different than any cheese ball I've ever had.

If I got this as an appetizer at a restaurant... You'd be happy.

I would think that is really tasty.

It's a really good cheese plate.

It's a cheese plate.

Right.

It's a modern fun version of a cheese plate.

(Music plays) We're at 4:40.

You might wanna take those... Let's put those other things in the oven.

You made it!

Yes.

Hey, how are you?

(laughs) this is a cranberry sauce that I made into kind of a mold to mimic cranberry sauce in a can because I love that cranberry sauce in a can but I obviously can't serve that.

And we're getting ready to fry this turkey in lard.

Mommy I don't have my coloring table.

You don't have your coloring table right now.

No you d't.

But it will be ok. You can have it tomorrow.

So we have another turkey that we're roasting in the oven and we brined it for three days in water, salt, sugar, warm spices.

I'm roasting it and basting it with butter.

And that's gonna be our roast turkey.

And we're gonna have a roast vers, versus, roasted versus.

We're gonna have a fried and a roasted turkey tonight.

(Music plays) (Turkey sizzling) You see all the lard squirting out of it?

The oil loses so much temperature.

Because you put something cold in it.

I had the thing on full blast.

It will be fine.

It will come back up.

(Music plays) (People talking) Darn, it's heavy.

Being a working mom, having a new house, I guess just kind of being the type of person that I am, I always try to do too much.

I want things to be spectacular.

So, I was a little too ambitious with my Thanksgiving menu and slowly things are kind of going down in flames starting with this fried turkey that I demanded we do when Ben did not want to do it.

Right now we're frying a turkey at 250 degrees.

So, is it coming up at all?

Is the heat coming up?

It doesn't appear to be coming up at all.

Ok so, let's just wait.

Nothing else is ready.

So...

I mean we can continue to cook it.

Yeah.

Let's just see.

We have plenty of turkey without it.

That I'm aware of.

Flo, I love your apron.

We both have aprons.

We do both have aprons.

(Music plays) (People talking) The fried turkey ended up kind of poaching in the oil and did not turn out as we had hoped to say the least.

It's a whole turkey.

Let's move it in here.

Let's...

I mean it's not going to... it's not going to turn out now.

But because I was so overly ambitious with my menu there was plenty of food to go around and lots of brined, roasted perfect turkey because I think I got what was the biggest turkey in Lenoir County.

This is a sorghum maple vinaigrette.

Sometimes you eat the turkey.

Sometimes the turkey eats you.

(laughs).

I'm about to put some of my pecan cranberry relish on top.

For a true turkey lover the base of the neck is where it's at.

Alright everybody can you gather around.

We can kind of say our thanks.

We have a brined roasted turkey.

My mom made a ham, thank god because one of our turkeys didn't turn out.

Thank you mom.

And then over here we have the candied yams with bourbon sorghum bourbon butter with crispy country ham on top.

Whooo.

That being said, thank y'all for coming.

Geez this has been... it's different trying to do a lot of things with children.

So thank you for your patience.

I'm sorry that it took so long.

In the end it was great.

The food was awesome.

And I vowed that I would never host a Thanksgiving of that scale again.

That's something I say every year.

And it was all made even better by my mom giving thanks, something she loves to do.

Yes, yes we need to say things that we're thankful for.

I'll start.

I am thankful for my mother and father who are not with me.

I am thankful for friends and family.

I am thankful for the small hands that hold my finger.

I am thankful for the medical profession and for the medicines that help give me a better quality of life.

I am thankful for those things that we just take for granted, the sun setting and the moon rising.

Thank you mom.

I'm thankful for y'all.

I'm thankful for my family.

I'm thankful for Ben's family.

I'm thankful for my children.

I'm just very thankful and I'm very thankful that this meal is done as well.

(laughter) (Clapping) Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

As you may have been able to tell from my mom's hands she has rheumatoid arthritis.

She's had it pretty much her whole life.

She's gone through surgery after surgery.

She's had two shoulder replacements.

So it's always amazing to me how quickly she gives up her service for others, how fast she is to give thanks and how positive she is.

My mom, Mrs. Scarlett Howard is an amazing woman.

Please eat.

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