Peas, Please

(Music Plays) Field peas.

They're little, brown, round, very filling, and a pillar of southern cooking.

(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.

(Theme Music Plays) (Theme 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.

(Music Plays) Previously on A Chef's Life.

When I thought about writing a cookbook I didn't think about testing recipes and having someone else test the recipe.

It's really good.

It's good.

This is awesome.

It's brilliant.

That's one of my dishes from last year but that's not even close to what it is.

Okay.

Consistency is incredibly important for a restaurant.

And that's not what I'm seeing happening tonight.

We'll address it tomorrow but it's eighty-sixed now.

Okay.

(Music Plays) (Music Plays) I can see the peas there.

These are the Red Rippers?

That's the Red Rippers.

You know what?

I should have brought some bug spray.

We're okay.

I got some in my truck.

This is the realities of it, Jeremy.

It might get really real.

We're going to see Jeremy Norris.

You may remember him from the moonshine episode.

He's got this little field pea project he's working on and I'm intrigued by it.

So, Jeremy, how did this all start?

I mean you make moonshine.

Yeah, so how this started when we were doing the tasting room and gift shop, which was my Granddaddy's house, he died and I got the building and it was in real real bad shape so we went through like a year renovation on it and there were two freezers in there.

One was full of seeds.

I brought some.

Oh cool.

These bags were full and there were a bunch of them and they were dated what they were.

So, that's what we planted.

Actually, that's a Grease All.

What an awful name.

Grease All.

Yeah!

But they are the rare ones.

There is no mention anywhere on the internet for that variety.

When I was going through the freezer and the carpenter was looking at me.

He was like, "Those are rare."

He said, I don't know but one other guy that's got any."

He said you can't buy 'em.

He said, I should plant 'em for seed and sell the seed.

So, this time of year, late summer, we get fresh field peas.

Exactly.

And they're very perishable.

Then you have dried field peas but it's the same thing, right?

Well, I got to doing some research on it and like in the early days, seventeen, eighteen hundreds, in the south people survived off of dry peas.

They would let 'em dry in a field and they would beat 'em out in a sack and clean 'em and they'd eat them all winter long.

And actually it originated in Africa.

The peas came over with the slaves and so kind of a real staple food and they're nutritious and they keep well when they dry out.

They don't really perish.

Peas don't really require a lot of fertilizer and they're not expensive to grow.

Actually, the poorer the land the better the pea grows.

Okay, so you wanna pick some?

(Music Plays) You know, every culture has their bean or legume that's kind of historically been a source of sustenance and I guess peas would be ours.

I've eaten them all my life.

I don't think I've even had a choice to dislike them.

Yeah.

So, these are fresh peas?

Mmm hmmm.

They're the Red Rippers?

Red Rippers.

But the ones in that bag were red.

I know.

They change colors when they dry out.

You can see like when they get kind of black and brown looking.

Like this?

Yeah.

They dry out and they just pop right open.

And there's your red peas.

Oh wow!

So, it does change colors.

Yep.

You know, you don't see in other cultures a whole bunch of people eating fresh peas or beans.

You know, it's almost always the dried.

So I think it's interesting that we do both.

And, do you see a difference in the taste?

I just ate some raw and I can taste the difference.

I'll pick some and eat them raw because my Granddaddy always told me that raw stuff was good for you and good for your stomach.

So, he said eat plenty of raw stuff.

So, we're shooting my book next week and we're gonna do the pea and bean chapter.

Can I take a few of those?

That's not something you see a whole lot.

You can have all you want.

I just gotta get in here and get them.

I got thinking about it.

I should have planted some in between corn.

The corn would grow up and the peas would run up the corn and you could go in there in the summer and pick the peas and still harvest the corn too.

Oh, wow!

But if you were just an average person and you planted field corn for drying, would you then make grits?

With corn?

Uh huh.

Well, I make liquor with my corn.

I didn't even think of that.

(Laughter) And we're gonna need to pick some of these for the shelling.

Your aunt is gonna help us?

Oh yeah.

She's ninety-two so it sounds like it's gonna be interesting.

I can't wait.

She's looking forward to it.

Alright, let's go pick some dried ones.

Liquor and peas.

(Music Plays) Hands down my favorite part about making this show is meeting and learning from people like Jeremy's Aunt Virginia.

Oh, where's Vivian?

There she is.

I'm right here!

Hey!

Come give me a hug.

It's exciting.

Aww thank you so much for doing this.

Wow!

You are... You look amazing!

Thank you.

To be...

I mean, you look amazing!

So, we're gonna talk about peas.

Yes!

My dad, you know would go and plow down the middle of the corn and I sewed the peas.

I was the only one that could sew 'em like he wanted them.

Oh really?

My brother was bigger and older, but he would throw 'em in handfuls but I would kind of open one hand as I threw it and just scatter 'em.

Guess what we had to do when we come home from school.

Pick peas.

Pick peas!

They were stored in the barn, a tobacco barn.

You know what a tobacco barn is?

I know what a tobacco barn is, yeah.

Okay.

It was safe and it was dry in there.

There they hung in those bags, burlap bags.

Well, my Mom she got her stick to beat peas and she started whamming away, whamming away.

She with that stick would just beat the peas.

It was a sack of 'em and you could hear the peas going through the holes, the holes were so dry, falling to the bottom.

Is that enough to start with, you think?

Honey, I don't know!

Who's gonna do the beatin'?

You gonna do the beatin'?

I think Aunt Virginia might want to.

(Laughter) You wanna hit it a couple licks to start with?

I'll hit it a couple of licks.

Woah!

(Music Plays) If my mama could see me now!

(Laughter) Oh that's wonderful.

Since you got them in the bag let's... - Turn 'em over.

- Turn 'em over.

Let me get out of the way before you start beating them again!

(Laughter) You might want to start doing this once or twice a week.

Want me to beat a while?

This is fun.

(Laughter) I understand the principle now.

Oh I see.

I mean what in the world?

How cool was that?

Where else can you go and get a history lesson from a real live piece of history?

I was just thinking about how people would go to church on the wagons behind mules because there weren't horses.

I saw that on Little House on the Prairie.

That's the closest I... (Laughter) I'm about that old!

I do remember the Depression.

So, for a family like yours who it sounds like you grew most of what you ate, what did the Depression mean for you?

I can't imagine that it did that much.

It meant we didn't have any money.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) Now my Mom, she would scoop 'em up and then she started pouring slowly.

She picked a day the wind blew.

Oh.

And it blew the chaff.

It blew that out.

You see it blowing out of it.

See, there it goes.

Can we cook some peas?

Either fresh or dried?

I would just like to see how you do it.

Oh, there's nothing to it.

You know how to cook peas.

Just put 'em in some water with a piece of fatback.

Nobody is gonna get all hot and bothered around the idea of a pot of field peas, but aside from dried corn, field peas are the most sustenance food of the southern diet.

So we're gonna cook some fresh peas.

So, these are what you would have picked from your Mother's garden and they would have been fresh and perishable.

How would you prepare these?

Well, I would wash them first.

Okay.

So, you'd wash these and then what kind of seasoning would you use?

We call it fatback.

There's a layer of fat and a layer of lean in it.

(Music Plays) Okay, little thin slices but she wouldn't cut it all the way through.

That way she'd just drop it in there.

We cut this little fine strips or pieces.

Older people have the tendency of putting too much of this stuff in it.

Yes.

You know, I cook a lot with a woman by the name of Lillie Hardy and she would put this whole thing in there.

Yeah, I know it.

I know it.

And it tastes good.

It does taste good.

Okay, well let's put these in here.

So, how much water am I gonna put in here?

I would go with enough to cover them here.

Alright, so we're going to put it on the stove.

You can put it on high until it starts boiling.

You bring it up to a boil and then we'll lower it.

Do you ever cover it?

Oh yes.

Yes we want it covered.

It looks very pretty with all the snaps floating in there.

So, how long do you think it will take to cook?

Probably thirty minutes.

Okay.

There's the fatback.

The whole kitchen smells like this uhhh, lots of peas!

It has a very distinctive, earthy smell.

Would she have left the fatback in there when uhhh?

Just leave it in there and if anybody wants some they can get it.

And this is really typical of like the way people ate...

Yes.

Because it wasn't like a big piece of meat at the center of the plate.

It was just a little bit of meat used as a seasoning.

Yeah that's right.

I have one more little thing.

A little secret.

A secret?

Yeah, a secret which I don't tell everybody.

Well, you're about to.

(Laughter) A little pinch of sugar.

I was wondering if you were gonna do that.

Yes.

There we go.

That's all?

That's enough I think.

Just a little pinch.

We're doing good.

Those are really good those peas.

This has been really wonderful.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

It's been fun.

It has.

Now, we got lots of peas for everybody.

(Laughter) Where do you want me to stand, Rex?

Maybe right here to start.

You don't have my face, right?

What's your preference?

No face.

Maybe turn your hand to the side like..yeah.

But I don't know now.

Come in just a hair.

Not grasping it.

That's too tense.

How about balance it on this one?

OS- That's awesome.

Give us a show.

Give us a smile.

(Music Plays) Today is the first of what will be fourteen days of shooting photos for the book, straight.

Justise is here helping me cook.

Rex is here taking the photos.

Angie is styling.

And Mike, my editor is here just making sure we are on track.

There's a lot going on.

Hamburger steak, refried baked beans, and the succotash salad.

So, that's the order we're going to go and if you'll start making these recipes down through here.

These are for the refried.

Okay.

Okay.

Then for the baked beans we're actually going to do baked peas.

Okay.

And please follow the recipe.

Yes.

I knew you were going to say that from last time.

(Laughter) My book is divided into twenty-four chapters and each chapter is about an ingredient.

There's an entire chapter in my book around field peas and butterbeans and that chapter is then divided in half between fresh and dried.

Okay, so the first shot we're gonna do for the bean and pea chapter is like all the varieties that are present in the chapters.

We also have the peas in the hull.

Do you call them hull?

Do you call them hull or pod?

Pod.

Peas in a pod!

Yes.

(Laughter) You never really think about all the varieties of peas and beans and legumes out there until you get ready and try to tell the story of them.

Until you try to take a photo of them.

Everybody's got their opinion and their take.

Let's go ahead and say this is gonna be the hero shot for peas and beans.

Okay, but I don't need to worry about seeing the words peas and beans?

Inside the photo.

No because there's so much in the book I don't want to guarantee that every chapter opener has a beautiful... Two page.

Two page spread.

Red Ripper.

I love all the names.

I do too.

He had these really rare rare ones called Grease All.

Grease All.

I love that.

Yes, that looks great.

Can you get real tight on those just to make sure...

They're all in focus.

Yeah.

I think it's great.

I think we have this.

That's the only thing you can do.

Yeah!

(Laughter) (Music Plays) As much as I talk about relinquishing control over what happens at Chef & the Farmer, I still very much want to control the menu.

You know, I'm trying to allow Justise and John to be creative, to collaborate, to come up with menu items but I still hover over them like an overbearing mother.

So, what do you want me to do with this pea dish?

Okay, so I think you should roast the beets and when they're done roasting slice them really thin like carpaccio and dress them with a little sugar, salt, and maybe a splash of vinegar.

Just a splash.

And then make a vinaigrette with the pea conserva.

How does it taste?

Uhh, I mean I haven't tasted it yet.

I was waiting for it to come up to room temperature before I seasoned it or did anything else to it.

Okay great.

I think you fry the peas but I don't think you should use the barbecue rub.

Whenever you get that ready if you'll bring it over here we'll try it.

Okay awesome.

Thank you, John.

Bye.

(Music Plays) It's a lot more on me and a lot more on Justise because we have to come up with new things that make sense for our concept but are also but are also fun and a little bit different and new.

But we also want to make sure that we're doing right by her and like she would have been doing had she been here doing it herself.

When she is here it's ummm, chaos just because, especially during service everybody sees her.

Tables are always trying to talk to her and they are talking to her for twenty minutes.

Everybody in the dining room gets really really excited and it makes the vibe in the restaurant a little bit better.

(Music Plays) We want a lot of lemon flavor in this.

I charred the lemon on the plancha just to give them a little bit of a smoky, bulbousy flavor.

Every year we abruptly run out of peas so in order to prolong the season we conserve them in this Italian style where we cook them and then marinate them in oil and herbs and lemon zest and a little bit of honey for a little sweetness.

So, we're taking beets and we're gonna slice them very thinly.

Then we're gonna dress them with this pea conserva, fried peas, and a little bit of parmesan.

We have a beef carpaccio on the menu so we want to do something sort of like that.

We're gonna marinate them in just a splash of vinegar and some salt just to kind of balance the earthiness.

So, she told me to use sugar, but because I don't always listen to the rules I'm gonna use chili infused honey.

And then hopefully she won't get mad at me.

OS- What's this dish that we're are looking at?

That's like a take on ribollita.

You know, it's like minestrone-ish with cannellini beans generally, but instead it has field peas and then I used those big limas to thicken it.

So that's why it's a little bit creamy looking.

Hey guys.

Hey.

So, I got red beets.

So, is this your beet carpaccio?

Yeah, so we've got, on the bottom we've got some creme fraiche.

It's not gonna be plated like this.

I... (Laughter) I can see your judgement.

I can too.

(Laughter) And then ummm, pea conserva vinaigrette, crispy peas which are really really really good.

Wow.

Is that all just the pea flavor, plus salt?

This is peas have been fried and they have salt and that's it.

Wow!

Go for it.

I mean there's things about it I really like.

I really like the crispy peas on there.

I'm starting to think the consera and the peas are too similar texture.

I mean I think it would be better with beef.

Yeah.

(Laughter) I mean I think the pea conserva that's kind of overwhelming the beets.

I'm a big meat eater but I would love to have that with beef more than I would with beets.

And I think parm would be better with the beef.

Can we just do it tonight with the beef?

With the Beef.

Yeah.

And I think it will sell better too.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) A good helping of it on top.

And then this gets on here.

Spread it around.

These are conserved.

The oil is like super flavorful so let's try and get a little bit on there.

Come out of the fryer into you little bowl.

Now, we have two different textures of peas.

These little crunchy crispy peas harkening back to the fact that this is an Italian preservation method in an Italian dish.

We're gonna use classic Italian cheese, parmigiano.

In Italy whenever you get this it comes with arugula.

Because this is a fancy restaurant we're gonna use little arugula.

Alright, so that's the whole deal.

Alright, we had a carpaccio on the menu last week.

We're gonna do something a little bit different and we always talk about varying textures so the crispy element on this one, we took the crowder peas and cooked them in a little bit of water and then I dropped them in the fryer.

It causes the skin to kind of crisp up while everything on the inside kind of pushes out similar to how kernels do for popcorn but it's with crowder peas.

It's really cool.

Alright.

Let's go ahead and try it out.

So, I've got the reservation report here and Vivian is coming in tonight and she will be bringing her editors with her.

So, let's just be very... very careful.

(Music Plays) Like a lot of endeavors, in the beginning I had no idea what it would take to actually write this book.

I had no idea that it would consume my life.

Also, I had no understanding of how empowering it would feel to actually write a book.

I feel good.

Do we need any glisten on our peas?

Peas look okay.

Maybe glisten on the burger.

And then gravy.

I almost want to see it come down onto the blue plate a little bit.

Okay.

That might be too much.

It's like an avalanche.

I feel like I'd like to plate it again and make the gravy a little bit thinner.

Gravy train.

It looks like a gravy toupee.

I was gonna say it's like a flock of seagulls haircut.

(Laughter) It does look like a toupee.

(Laughter) Alright let's also fire one pizza, one grit, two flounders, one is split, one shoulder, one tomato pie, one carpaccio.

Two lambs.

Five minutes please.

I don't typically enjoy being a guest in my own restaurant.

I can see things going wrong and I feel like I should participate.

So, generally I like to stay in the back and not in one of the seats.

What do you call this?

They're just fried peas.

These what I like is that they're creamy.

I love that.

Is that a real recipe or did you make that up?

(Laughter) Alright, thank you.

We went a little bit too far into the middle.

Like this should be here.

Everything should be a little bit more centered because this, everything is kind of off to the side.

So considering who this one is for I would probably like this one again.

(Music Plays) Come here.

Take that to Vivian.

So if you're her I want you to sit it down like that.

Yeah.

Charred lemon creme fraiche.

Our pea conserva.

They're not gonna ask too many questions.

You'll be great.

If not I'll hear about it.

Yeah.

Miss Vivian we have our beef carpaccio with our pea vinaigrette on the top with a parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

I hope you enjoy.

Parmigiano-reggiano?

Yes ma'am.

Where's that from?

I'm just kidding.

(Laughter) I'm just messing with you.

It's pretty good.

I think the beef should be thicker.

Just like a little more texture there.

I don't taste the beets but...

This is better than the beets.

This is more luxurious.

Yeah and a silkiness.

OS- Luxurious is a good word.

Yeah.

It's creamy.

Against the beef it's awesome.

Yeah, it feels so special.

(Music Plays) Despite my misgivings about eating as a guest in the restaurant we did have a really good time.

You know, there was a huge sense of relief after that first shoot that day because we certainly got our groove and had a gameplan.

And all night I kept looking around the dining room for staff doing things wrong or problems.

And I couldn't find any so I may be eating at Chef & the Farmer more.

Alright.

(Laughter) It's a chef's life, y'all.

And it's over.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) For more information on A Chef's Life visit pbs.org/food "A Chef's life is available on DVD.

To order, visit shopPBS.org or call us at 1-800-PLAY-PBS."