Gettin’ Figgy With It

♪Musi♪ I grew up thinking people in California and people in Europe, like the Pope, ate figs.

People in the south did not.

I was wrong.

♪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.

♪Musi♪ So this is my life.

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

♪Musi♪ Previously on A Chef's Life.

I am trying to write and deliver a cookbook by January which is really crazy timing.

So, if this is good I'll put it in my book.

It's so interesting to me how my family has reacted to this celebrity thing.

My sisters in particular have been kind of giddy about in all.

Wooah!

(laughter).

Wo Okay, everybody look at me.

Cheeese!

♪Musi♪ We work with urgency all summer long to make the most of all the fruits and vegetables that come our way for just three months a year, but when figs come into season we act like complete crazed lunatics because their season is so short and they are incredibly perishable.

We have this gentleman, he must have the biggest fig tree in North Carolina because he brings us 30 pounds after 30 pounds after 30 pounds of figs and some of them are riper than others and you need to get in there and separate the really ripe ones from the less ripe ones so that you can make use of all of them.

So, these are barely ripe.

These are perfectly ripe and will make great fig lemon preserves.

These are overripe, mushy, terrible looking but very tasty.

I'm gonna wash them, puree them, and use that puree hopefully in this whisky slushy recipe that I'm trying to develop for the fig chapter in my book.

So, Kim.

We're going to change bread service tomorrow, Kim.

Huh?

So, just listen.

We priced out the bread.

We know it's not a sustainable system for us anymore What did Ben say?

He agreed.

But, I thought that we could just go ahead and start.

This is a big change at Chef and the Farmer.

Kim has been making this rosemary ciabatta for nine years.

Yeah, it will be a big change.

I'm excited.

I am.

I'm just...

I can tell you who's not going to be excited.

Some of our customers.

When we opened the restaurant nine years ago, Ben and I really hung our hat on the fact that we made quality bread and had it on the table for all our guests.

Then, shortly after opening I realized we were spending a lot of time, energy, and money producing this bread that we didn't get anything in return from.

In turn, we basically pay one person to just make bread that we give away.

So, we're going to do sweet potato onion bread.

Okay.

And we're charging for it.

Alrighty.

And then we're gonna do an additional bread.

That's going to start out as Lillie's biscuits with these fig preserves.

Okay, well have to get the... We'll have to get it in motion but you know... And we're starting that tomorrow?

We're starting it tomorrow.

Okay.

♪Musi♪ My dad told me that back in the day all the old home places around here had an apple tree, a peach tree, and a fig tree and the figs were for making preserves.

Fig preserves are really kind of the crown jewel of the preserve world here in eastern North Carolina.

You know, they're incredibly perishable so people were scurrying around trying to save all of them before they went bad.

A whole fig preserve is very hard to beat.

This is Rose.

Ms. Rose as we have always called her.

She used to work at Chef and the Farmer with me.

What I took away from Rose's experience at the restaurant was her teaching me how to make pickles and preserves for the first time.

So, today you're going to show me how your grandmother would have made fig preserves.

Right.

Most of my preserving I learned from my grandmother.

This was a staple, doing the fruits.

It's not a fruit but I just learned today that the fig is a flower grown inward.

This is actually the flower.

So, these are brown turkey figs.

Yeah, brown turkey is probably the most common to North Carolina and one of the best for preserving if you get them at a peak time.

What's the first step?

Okay, the first step is you sort through them and make sure that for preserving they're good and firm because with preserves you leave the fruit whole.

Right.

You're actually trying to preserve the fruit in a syrup, essentially.

Right.

That's correct.

You know, we are starting tomorrow, going to stop giving out bread at Chef and the Farmer.

Oh, are you?

And one of the things we're going to start out doing is we're gonna have a small bread basket.

One of them is going to have our sweet potato onion bread in it and then Lillie's biscuit and fig preserves.

Cool.

That will be great.

Okay, so we've got these washed and now sugar?

Yes, this is about eight cups so you would add about two and half cups of sugar.

And you're not measuring at all?

I learned from you, Vivian.

(Laughter) ♪Musi♪ You want to get it blended throughout with some on the bottom.

You have to be pretty gentle with figs so you know cause... You do because they are so fragile.

As it melts it will seep down and draw the juices out.

Then after they've set overnight and you take them out you see the syrup.

Rose, you're a pro.

You have it in all stages here.

Well, this one is ready for cooking.

You can cook it for about an hour on a slow simmer.

Bring them to a boil.

Woah!

That came up to a boil fast!

Oh yes.

What we want to do at this point is turn your heat down because if they boil at this stage, they're gonna get too too mushy so put it on kind of a medium simmer for about a hour.

You just want them to gently simmer in the syrup.

I love the color of the syrup.

I do too.

It's such a pretty color.

You know, Rose used to work with me at Chef and the Farmer and at the time I was kind of young and arrogant and thought I knew a lot more about cooking than she did, but she's really the first person who showed me how to can anything.

And it was around that time that I started thinking wow there is a whole lot of cooking knowledge out there in this community that is not going to be found in my professional kitchen.

Alright, Rose so these have gone for about a hour?

About a hour.

It's amazing to me that as fragile as they are that they stand up.

They remain intact.

Right.

So good.

Alright, Rose I want to have you show me the proper way to can these.

These have been sterilized and they're still in the hot water.

Make sure your jars are still warm to hot.

Because you don't want to put hot preserves in a cold jar thereby cracking the jar.

Right.

Make sure that your syrup covers your fruit.

Clean this edge off so you don't have anything in between your gasket and your jar.

We're gonna run those through the canner and that's what's going to help seal them.

You never want to set the jars totally on the base of your pot so this serves that purpose.

We'll set our jars in there.

Let them boil for five minutes.

Separate the jars so they're not touching.

Okay.

Just like old times, huh?

Yes.

That was a great four years.

It was fun.

Okay, these have processed for five minutes we can turn our heat off.

I think the only time I remember breaking a jar was the day I did it at Chef and the Farmer.

I remember that!

(Laughter) I tried to get it out before you got through there.

(pop) Oh!

See, you heard it pop.

I did.

To a person that cans that's a sweet sound.

I've learned a lot today.

Good.

Thank you very much, Rose.

Thank you, Vivian.

It's been fun.

You come back to work anytime you want.

Okay.

(Laughter) Hey.

So, we're gonna need to have a meeting at 4:15 with all the servers and the wait staff.

Okay.

To talk about how we're going to do the bread.

Hey, how are you doing?

Good.

Not all my produce comes from farmers.

Sometimes it comes from random individuals in the community who have a tree in their yard or a bush in the backyard that they don't really know what to do with what comes off of it.

What did them weigh?

It's right at 25 pounds.

I mean, I literally get messages on facebook that read something like this.

Hey, I have orange round things hanging off a tree in my backyard.

If they're edible do you want to buy them?

And of course my answer is, yeah.

We want more and keep bringing them as long as you have them just as long as they're not split on the bottom like that.

Okay.

Thank you Vivian.

Thank you very much Jerry.

You have a good one now.

You too.

I guess y'all have found my hiding place.

This is where I go a lot.

I eat in this corner.

I do emails.

Typically people don't bother me but I guess that's over.

They found my hiding place.

I'm sorry.

♪Musi♪ I'm getting ready to put on these fig preserves that are similar to the ones that I made with Rose.

Hers were just figs with sugar but I've chosen to add some sliced lemons and some sliced oranges for little extra something.

Alright.

We've been talking about changing our bread service for a long time and Ben just agreed to it last week, but I think he thought we were going to spend a little time further talking about how it was going to go down and I just broke the news to him in the office that we were doing it tonight.

He's okay with it.

He said, just make it right.

This is one ounce and that's .8 ounce.

Bake that and bake that so we can see which one we want.

I've talked about charging for bread for a really long time, but I never thought I would actually get permission to do it.

Now, I have kind of clenched teeth permission and I'm afraid it's going to be a failure.

♪Musi♪ So, my preserves look good but I was going to actually strain the preserves out and reduce the syrup, but I don't think they're going to hold up and tolerate all that so I'm gonna keep them together.

They look a lot better with the syrup on them than without the syrup.

I'm gonna leave the syrup on them.

I'm not going to reduce it.

And that one part of bread service is ready.

Also a share plate.

Maybe put it on top.

Fried chicken livers, orange and ginger figs, shoestring cherokee purple peaches and figs.

That's a lot on a share plate.

Sharing is caring.

Sharing is caring.

So is paying for bread.

(Laughter) ♪Musi♪ This is my mother-in-law's living space that she has built out of a warehouse, the Double D Tire building.

Susan has decided that she can't be here all the time, which I understand so I have kind of taken over her kitchen as a means to develop recipes for this book that I'm trying to deliver in December.

Right now I'm doing everything I can to write this fig chapter in a matter of three days.

Figs evoke like warm spices.

When you think of figs you think of honey so I'm trying to do like a fun cocktail with figs, honey, bourbon, I've got some ginger that I'm gonna attempt to work in and I'm going to freeze it kind of like a slushy.

So, I've got my very soft, not ideal but very tasty figs right here that I'm going to puree.

(Blending) ♪Musi♪ Okay see this texture.

This would definitely not be good in a cocktail, which is why I thought that making it a slurpy type thing might work but then again I have no idea.

♪Musi♪ So, I've infused this honey with star anise, clove, and orange and then added some water so I've essentially made a spiced honey syrup.

Because I'm going the route of orange I'm going to add some orange juice.

Because it has all these sweet elements I'm also going to add some lemon juice to kind of balance it.

Then, the last component I'm going to add is ginger beer.

I love ginger and fig together and you want something that will be kind of effervescent.

Because of all the alcohol this will never freeze hard like a sorbet.

That's why it would be great.

It would be like a slushy.

I'm talking about how it's going to be.

I'm hoping it is because y'all are going to see at the end of the day.

I'm going to now take this and put it in here because we're going to Warren and Jane's for supper tonight.

I'm going to have Jane put this in her freezer and stir it kind of every 15 minutes until we're ready, 'til it's frozen.

It's boozey.

♪Musi♪ We've had a ton of rain this year so the fig harvest is going to be even shorter because they're just sitting there and absorbing water and absorbing water.

So, Warren told me if I wanted any of his figs I probably needed to come and get them myself.

Warren, tell me what you know about figs.

I know that in the Bible Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover themselves when they realized they were naked and they were ashamed.

(Laughter) So Warren, I see ummm... That's too much water.

Oh that's too much water.

Yeah.

So, this has been here about how long?

15 or 20 years.

And about how long from planting until it bears fruit?

Well, that's what I'm finding out.

It's like three years on some trees just to get a handful.

It takes a while.

Alright, my kids are here and we're going to need to find some sweet ones for them because I've told them it's tree candy.

Alright.

I want to ask you about how to propagate a fig tree?

I've seen people do it.

You just take a brick on a lower limb like one that's on the ground already.

You just put a brick on it and in the course of about a year it will start rooting.

Then you cut that limb off from the mother tree and it keeps rooting and a couple years later you can dig up the plant and move it.

Oh really.

Yeah.

These are huge pests for fig trees.

They are.

June bugs are notorious.

♪Musi♪ I think figs are just so beautiful.

♪Musi♪ Hey.

Hi guys.

Woah!

Are you ready to try some tree candy?

Yeah Mama!

Alright, let's pick out a really nice purple one.

Alright, we're all going to take a bite at one time.

You don't like them?

They're sticky.

They are sticky.

Look, this is what's so cool about tree candy is that when you tear it open it's a flower inside.

See the pretty flower.

Yeah.

This book that I'm supposed to be writing but I'm really thinking about it a lot more than I'm actually writing it right now, one of the thing that I found to be very easy is finding people to taste my experiments, particularly when they have alcohol in them.

Ben, will you try some?

Yeah.

Tell me your thoughts.

Okay?

I think it's really good.

You do?

It would be nice to garnish with a piece of mint.

A candied fig would be awesome.

Vivian, I think that's wonderful.

You like it?

Uh huh.

Cheers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

♪Musi♪ I would put small $2.50.

Well, you can just leave it and let the servers explain it.

Although, we might be setting ourselves up for a lot of... Mmm hmm.

Put small and large.

Okay guys so today is a big day.

So, starting tonight we're gonna start charging for bread, but that's not really the way to look at it.

We have changed our bread program to match the focus of the restaurant.

Okay so rosemary ciabatta... we ain't in Italy.

Okay this is eastern North Carolina.

Okay so we are going to be serving this sweet potato onion bread and we're going to be serving a version of Lillie's biscuits.

They're going to be served alongside our brown turkey fig preserves and a little pat of butter.

I'm going to do some role playing here.

Why aren't you giving us bread anymore?

Why are you making us pay for it?

We're trying to give you a better experience with our new bread products and the figs and we are trying to incorporate a new program.

I don't know.

So you can say.

I don't know.

(Laughter) I'm not ready for this yet!

Say Vivian wanted to better reflect the focus of the restaurant in our bread program.

I would not even wait for that.

Before, you know when you do your first spiel and you talk a little bit about the restaurant and it's seasonal and local and blah blah blah blah blah, I'd say today's daily bread is we do a small basket for $2.50 and a large basket for $4.

I don't think that people are going to feel like they're getting cheated.

Particularly when this comes out.

I mean this looks like you should pay for it.

I mean where are you going to go and get that for free?

We're just going to see what happens tonight.

Tonight's an experiment.

We're just going to see what happens tonight.

I'm thinking it's going to be a raving success.

It is.

♪Musi♪ Okay order fire a chicken and a tomato pie.

Next guys, we're bringing a pork chop, a tomato pie, and a lasagna to the kitchen bar.

There's so many lovely things to share this evening.

We have the new fried chicken livers or if you'd like a basket of bread for the table for you.

I'm happy to do that.

Have you sold any bread yet?

Have you had anybody balk yet?

I just have my one table.

They just got here.

A lot of these people have not been here before so they don't do.

I think this is probably the best time to implement this.

I agree.

And I don't think we need to apologize for it.

I'm not apologizing for anything because I've given away my weight in bread and that's a lot of damn bread.

(Laughter) We also have our new bread program I wanted to let you know about under our share plates here.

We're featuring tonight homemade buttermilk biscuits.

Small or large?

I guess because this decision to charge for bread touches every single table it's causing me a ton of anxiety.

You know sometimes I'll put something on the menu that I don't feel 100 percent about, but I know not everybody is going to order it.

But I know everybody who has been to Chef and the Farmer before is going to come in and expect to get a basket of bread and we're going to tell them no, you're gonna have to pay for that.

Have you delivered any bread yet?

I haven't.

He has.

Small or large?

Large.

Did they look like they liked it?

Yeah.

Okay.

This is our housemade brown turkey fig preserves and salted butter.

Enjoy.

So good.

I think it's great.

I think people are really excited when we say Lillie's homemade buttermilk biscuits.

We got to taste them right before service so we know they're good so I'm excited.

Have you had anybody say anything about the bread?

Well you know 75 percent of the people that walk in the door have never been here before so it's kind of like this is something new we're doing.

Does that make sense?

Yeah it does.

I can go ahead and tell you two people that are not going to like my bread decision and that is John and Scarlett Howard.

They're going to tell me exactly what they think.

My dad is going to roll his eyes and he's never going to eat bread in this restaurant again.

Hey, how you doing?

Good, how are you?

Did you start charging for bread?

We have started tonight.

How much are the biscuits?

$2.50 for a small basket.

I was waiting to hear a comment.

Dad got bread and he didn't know he had to pay for it.

They didn't say anything?

They didn't tell us.

They didn't tell us.

Who's your server?

I don't know.

I'm going to pay up because this might be the last supper.

(laughter) You're charging for bread.

Alright.

I gotta go watch my position.

You start charging for bread you better get a job somewhere.

(laughter) I'm happy we finally put this in motion because we've been talking about it for over a year and I'm not at all surprised at all by my parent's reaction.

I actually find it a little bit humorous.

Your Mama ate a dollar and a quarter worth of biscuit and I did too.

(laughter) I'm telling you that no restaurant in our category gives away bread.

Y'all don't either.

(laughter) Y'all don't either.

♪Musi♪ For more information on A Chef's Life visit pbs.org/food A Chef's life is available on DVD.

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