Mayo -- The Mother Sauce

(Music Plays) Show me your mayonnaise and I'll tell you who you are.

(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) 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 We have a chef de cuisine who is starting.

But he's been working in New Orleans at Cochon for three years.

He and his wife are both moving here.

So this is my manuscript.

I submitted it.

I don't know.

It's really scary.

Definitely keep in mind that that first week we're going to want you to do media.

I'm prepared to do whatever it is y'all want me to do, until I say I don't want to do that.

(Laughter) Yeah, if you could get this filled out for me really quick I can get you put into payroll.

Okay, thanks.

Brian, my chef de cuisine has finally started and just in time because it's Valentine's.

I need to find the Valentine's menu.

Can you get tuna right now?

Why don't you do like a fresh tuna salad with like, like a mayonnaise and a... -That's a good idea.

-Tuna fish?

-Tuna's great for mayonnaise because you confit it... -Yeah.

And you use the oil to make the mayonnaise.

Alright, we'll do that.

We'll do tuna.

Oh you like the idea?

(Laughter) It's rare!

I haven't actually celebrated Valentine's Day since college.

So Ben and I are going to try and sit down and eat in the restaurant like the rest of the love birds who come in here on Valentine's Day.

That'll be interesting.

But I also wanted to touch on your plans for the first couple of weeks.

I would probably start by just going through the walk-in and taking a look around in there.

Getting to know the staff.

I guess try to have kind of a soft approach starting out, friendly and helpful rather than you know, really strong and... (slam) And disciplinarian or anything.

Everyone who works on the line now I think wants to cook.

You know, for a long time now we just had people who just needed a job.

Just needed a paycheck.

And I think they're excited to have somebody to learn from on a consistent basis.

-That's a big positive.

-They're really yearning for that.

-Yeah.

And I also would like you, me, Justise to have a weekly meeting around the menu.

Okay.

My spring looks awful in terms of travel and obligations and I am going on a vacation.

I mean, are you interested in having a menu with a bit more items than you currently have because it seems a little paired down.

I'm not interested in there being a whole lot more dishes.

-Yeah.

-Okay.

I'm interested in making the dishes we have all sell, but I just don't want to have steak and and fish.

-Right.

So, there's a give and take there.

You know, we're gonna have to get to know each other better so that you know, hopefully that you can trust me or Justise and the creative team in the kitchen to say that, okay, these guys can produce something that we're comfortable with because you're gonna be traveling.

You're not always gonna be here.

(Music Plays) It's tough to know whether or not I'll really be able to let Brian do his job because you know, this restaurant's been my baby for ten years.

Umm, I'm already having trouble with it.

But, I know that in order for someone like him to stay, I have to let go a little.

I'm so excited that you're here.

-Thanks.

And I am going to stay out of your way.

That's nice.

Ummm but I think we're both...

I think we should work together.

-Absolutely.

-Yeah.

I mean, but you know I'm gonna try and let you do your thing without showing you how well I can do mine.

Cool.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) Are you gonna come over here?

Oh, are we starting?

I think so.

Ohh, well wait a minute.

(Laughter) Mayonnaise is major here.

I'd go so far as to call it the mother sauce of the South.

It's a building block in so many quintessential southern things like deviled eggs, pimento cheese, chicken salad, banana mayonnaise sandwiches.

That's probably the number one use in our house growing up, but my mom also made a mean chicken salad.

Okay.

-Alright, so we're going to make chicken salad.

-Yes.

And we're talking about mayonnaise.

Well, I use miracle whip.

But it's out of fashion now, if you can call mayonnaise fashionable.

But mayonnaise is definitely one of these things that you have your brand.

-Yes.

-And you don't veer off that path.

-Uh uh.

I used eggs in it.

Well, that's why I boiled some eggs because I'm not sure why but I like some eggs blended into there.

-Mmm hmm.

So you wanna do this and I'll start shredding the chicken?

Okay.

(Music Plays) So, what else would you have mayonnaise for Mom, around the house?

Tomato sandwiches, potato salad... Deviled eggs?

Oh yes.

We always loved deviled eggs.

So, for chicken salad a lot of people demand that it's breast meat.

Do you feel... - No, no.

Uh uh.

My Mother and I always used the whole chicken.

I feel like it has a better taste.

Yeah.

Okay, you wanna put some salt in there?

Sure.

Let me see if I can imitate you.

(Laughter) A little bit higher.

Oh!

Is that why you do this?

It's for dramatic effect.

Okay.

It must be.

(Laughter) We're gonna put pepper.

Is that small enough you think or do I need to chop it more?

Okay, you wanna put those eggs in there?

Mmm hmmm.

I've got dill relish over here.

Okay.

I umm couldn't find my passport last night.

-Where are you going?

-We're going to Mexico.

-Mexico!

Okay.

You know I didn't want to ask him because I'm trying not to bring up the trip.

I've heard he might have given you not such a good time about that.

Well, I think it's more of my own self conscious.

I'm feeling guilty so... Well women, they have that thing about them, they will feel guilty.

It's one thing if you're a stay at home mom and you go away because you feel like you deserve that time away from your kids.

It's another if you're a work all the time mom and then you go away because you feel like you're making a choice.

Anyway, like I said, I'll probably never do this again.

Okay, so you want to put some of this sweet juice in there or no?

Yeah, I think some of the juice is fine.

Tell me when.

About a fourth of a cup.

Okay, here we go.

Tell me when.

It looks so healthy.

-Now.

It looks like my thighs.

That is the sound of mayonnaise.

Okay.

What do you think about a little bit of lemon juice in there?

I think it would be good.

The next time I make it I might put some lemon in it.

When is the next time you're gonna make it?

(Music Plays) -Good.

-It's good.

It's very good.

We're the type of restaurant that does special menus for holidays like New Year's and Valentine's and often those menus have an amuse or an amuse-bouche.

That sounds ridiculous!

But that is a little gift from the chef to get you excited about the food to come and for this amuse-bouche we're doing a fish salad, kind of like a take on a tuna salad.

We're poaching the fish and using the oil that we poach the fish in to make a mayonnaise.

I've always wanted to do a side-by-side mayonnaise tasting, but I never actually have done that.

Well, I think I can arrange that!

So, we're gonna do a little fish salad that's going to remind people when they see it of a scoop of tuna salad... -Yes.

On a fancy lettuce cup, umm Aphrodite from the sea situation.

Okay, so we're gonna go to Reynolds.

-Okay.

(Music Plays) So, how was last night for you?

It was great.

Everybody, I thought everybody on the line handled it pretty well.

One of the things I love about living in Kinston or I think in a small town in general is that it doesn't look like a giant strip mall.

We still have these businesses that have a lot of character and Reynolds Seafood is the type of place I get excited to take people to.

Hey.

OS- Hey, how y'all doing?

Good.

How are you?

So, for Valentine's we're doing a fish salad.

What do we got over here?

-This is spots.

- Spot.

Which this time of year they don't run in the winter so they're froze.

-So, what are... - That's croakers.

I like the way that's cut, yeah.

They run all year long.

And what do people do with those?

Fry 'em.

Just like they do that.

Split them and fry them like that.

Just like that.

We could get these and split them and poach them and use that for our salad.

-Yep.

That would work.

I think that would be super cool.

You had some on the menu a couple years ago.

Yeah.

I remember because I ate some of them.

Yeah, I like it a lot.

Why don't we just do all your croakers?

-Okay.

Yeah, let's get them all.

What are you doing for Valentine's Day?

We usually stay home.

I wish I could say the same.

The concept of the amuse is an interesting one because the idea is to get people excited about the meal to come, but I often approach it as a way to get people to try something they wouldn't necessarily order.

That's definitely the case with this fish salad with the fish oil mayonnaise.

So what we're doing is we're gonna poach these croakers in olive oil grapeseed oil combination.

It has lots citrus notes so we're using lemon zest, orange zest, coriander, which has a lemony punch.

We'll go bay leaf, citrus.

I'm going to smash a garlic clove or two.

We're going to put some chili flakes in there and thyme.

(Music Plays) In order for the fish to poach in the olive oil it has to be completely surrounded by it.

The nice thing about doing it in a bag like this is you can actually use a lot less oil than you would if you were having to do it in a pot.

And the oil is going to take on a lot of flavors from both the fish and these aromatics.

Then we're going to use the oil to make the mayonnaise that we'll make the fish salad with.

So, mayonnaise, when you look at something like this, before I started cooking, it's embarrassing to admit this, but before I started cooking I thought there was dairy in mayonnaise.

What mayonnaise is is actually an emulsion of oil and egg yolks and some kind of acid.

On a molecular level I believe it is fat molecules suspended in water molecules.

In water molecules.

If you think of pouring water and oil in a cup when you create the emulsion, if the lemon is the water molecule and the garlic is the fat molecule it's gonna go from being kind of separate to being one thing.

-Which is why it looks creamy.

-Yeah.

Hey Warren!

Do you have on Jane's sunglasses?

I do.

(Laughter) How'd you know?

Well, they look feminine.

They do?

Those look great.

Well, what will you do with them?

They're going to be part of an amuse salad for Valentine's.

There you go.

-Have you met Brian?

-Yeah, I sure have.

-Hey Brian.

-Hey Warren.

Are you open to tasting some mayonnaise?

-That you made?

-No.

-Tasting mayonnaise?

-Yes.

-Oh, a mayonnaise tasting?

-Yes.

-Like one than one kind?

-Yes.

-Oh yeah I'm up for that.

-Okay.

(music plays) People have loyalty to their brand of mayo the way that they have loyalty to their favorite sports team or country.

So, the topic of mayonnaise can be a touchy one.

Is this like blind tasting?

Just to see if what we think is what it is, you know.

There's no winners or losers here.

Oh that one is good.

Some people wouldn't be able to do this.

OS- I like it on peas.

-On peas?

- On peas?

Really?

I just put a big dollop on my peas.

I like it in my cottage cheese.

Oooh.

So, the four companies are in alphabetical order... Let me guess.

Let me guess.

Okay.

-Dukes... -Yes.

Hellmann's, Miracle Whip..

Miracle Whip and we got a wild card from Mississippi.

Blue Plate Mayonnaise.

Blue Plate.

This is the one I like.

Oh, that one's good too.

This is good.

That is not Miracle Whip.

That has got to be the Blue Plate.

That's Miracle Whip.

You can't double dip.

That's good too.

They're all different.

So, are we gonna proclaim a winner?

Okay.

-Dukes.

-That doesn't matter.

Blue Plate, Hellmann's, Miracle Whip.

-Which one's the Blue Plate one?

-What are they?

This is Blue Plate.

Is that Hellmans then?

That's Hellmann's.

Look at you.

-I like mayonnaise.

-I do too.

Oh God!

He's like taking tablespoons of it.

When I used to put mayonnaise on my sandwiches as a kid I would put a lot, but I'd always take the and knife... OS- Right!

Wait, don't, don't wrap 'em all up.

- What's he doing?

-He's dipping...

I'm gonna get uhhh... (Laughter) Where's the ham?

Call it Ben's... -Ben's special.

-Yeah.

(Music Plays) When I delivered my cookbook manuscript I planned a trip with my girlfriends.

Unfortunately, our chef de cuisine just started so I'm probably leaving a little early, but I am so going.

I hope.

Oh my God.

Better start calling around.

No, so they put us up in another place.

There's the fire.

Oh my Lord.

Okay, I say, I say we do it.

Do what?

Go stay at this place?

We're just nervous.

I mean our hotel burned down.

Kitty, they're telling her she can't get out of the country.

We were, our...Flo's been running a 104 fever and dry heave vomiting everywhere.

So, it just seems like that the universe is telling us not to go.

But my packed bag at my house is telling me to go.

(Music Plays) You know I'm going on a trip tomorrow and our, my hotel that I'm supposed to stay in burned down yesterday.

What?

That's crazy!

I know!

I'll show you the YouTube video.

Did anybody get hurt?

No one got hurt.

So, here's our croaker and you can see how there is fish broth here at the bottom and then oil here at the top.

We're gonna use this oil to make mayonnaise.

All that oil should be flavored at this point with all that fatty fish flavor.

That doesn't necessarily sound that great, but it will be.

So, I'm gonna let the brothy stuff settle to the bottom and then I'll skim the oil off the top.

Man, I hope this is a lot better than it looks.

Alright, so I'm gonna make a simple mayonnaise, which is an emulsion of egg yolks, oil, and some kind of acid.

You could use lemon juice.

You could use vinegar.

You could use a combination of both.

I'm gonna use a combination of both.

So, egg yolks.

I'm gonna use one egg yolk.

Shoot!

(Laughter) Egg yolks.

I'm gonna use one egg yolk and I am gonna flavor it with a little bit of additional zest.

I'm gonna put some lemon zest in there.

Now, I'm gonna add a little bit of lemon juice.

And I have a little bit of white wine vinegar and I like to use a little bit of a sweetening element so I'm going to put in a little honey, a little dry mustard, and salt.

Alright, so now I'm going to stream in my fish oil.

You want to do this slowly so that it has a chance to emulsify.

The more oil you add the thicker your mayonnaise is gonna be.

I should go get Ben.

(Music Plays) That's delicious.

Nice and lemony.

-Yeah.

Ooh and you can taste the fish too!

Yeah it carries the taste of the fish very far.

Those trouts really come right off the bone.

I know.

They are so beautiful, aren't they?

Pretty crazy.

Yummy.

Now that looks like premium cat food.

(Laughter) (Music Plays) A lot of planning and thought went into the idea of this.

From using a local fish that is not celebrated, to poaching it in oil and then making an oil out of that mayonnaise I mean, that's some deep stuff.

I thought so hard about that that I didn't think it would be lovers looking to exchange kisses that would be eating my fishy salad.

Maybe Valentine's Day was not the best holiday for this particular dish.

So, we've got our croaker and I'm going to add some lemon juice to it and salt.

Get it brightened up before I add some of the other elements.

There's a lot of little bones in here so I got to really watch for them.

My primary components are going to be this mayonnaise, the dill, the parsley, and I'm using some kohlrabi, kind of in the spirit of celery.

Typically you have some kind of pickle so what we're gonna to do is use a pickled red onion.

And now the mayonnaise.

Dun dun dun!

You know, I don't want to get too much because you can't take it away.

(Music Plays) It's full flavored.

Tonight, we're doing a take on a tuna salad sitting in a lettuce cup.

What we've done is we've cooked croaker.

We poached it in oil.

We took that oil and made a mayonnaise with it.

But it's a very full flavored, rich, fish salad.

When you taste it, at first you may be like, huh?

But I think if you really savor it and think about all the flavors it's actually very very enjoyable.

-Tastes delicious.

-That's good.

It has a lot of citrus notes.

Oooh yeah, I get that now!

-Now, you get the fish on the back end.

-Oh yeah.

Absolutely.

Happy Valentine's everybody.

Happy Valentine's Day.

OS- We love you.

(Music Plays) Plating.

Three pork chop, one well.

Order fire.

Collard, grits, lima bean.

Two short rib, order in, and shrimp and grit.

Order in.

Those potatoes are too dark.

Those are too dark.

I noticed that last night when they were doing that.

Ok, I gotta re-fry.

-Are you putting the gratins in there?

-Yes ma'am.

You want me to do it in the back?

Well you can if you want to but I'm fine.

I'm fine doing it.

For years now I've been in and out of the restaurant for different reasons, whether it be the book or motherhood, I have not always been at the helm but this is different.

This person is leading the kitchen and I'm not.

It's a strange, uncomfortable feeling.

But one that is going to allow me to go to Mexico.

(Laughter) Order fire.

Two fish salad.

Olive oil.

Two fish salads.

Seat 1 and seat 2.

Here's your fish salad.

So, my flight from Jacksonville to Charlotte has been cancelled.

I am going.

So, I am going to drive to Greensboro tonight and my friend's husband is going to take us to Charlotte.

This is stress eating that I am doing right now.

I know.

It seems like I just can't get a break.

I mean I had to hire somebody to do my job so I could go on a trip.

My hotel burns down, it's supposed to snow, and now my flight's been cancelled.

So, I'm getting ready to leave here right now.

How's everybody doing in the kitchen with Sunday night work?

Good.

Umm, Brian's a really good leader and it's making me feel like I really need to go on vacation.

(Laughter) Because they don't need me.

(Laughter) It's like, bye Vivian.

(Music Plays) So, are you going to drive there?

Yeah.

What time are you going to leave here then?

Soon.

Okay, so we're not going to do our thing?

No, I'm sorry.

I really wanted to have...

Okay.

-You look nice.

-Thank you.

I thought we were having dinner.

(Laughter) I'm sorry.

Here.

-Happy Valentine's.

-Happy Valentine's.

Umm Brian, my flight's been cancelled tomorrow morning.

Okay.

And so I'm leaving.

I'm driving there.

Six chop all day.

One gluten free.

Yes ma'am.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

Happy Valentine's.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Thank you, sir.

I know it looks like I'm perfectly comfortable with Brian doing my job because I am scurrying out of there to go on my trip, but I have mixed emotions about it and what this next phase of my career means.

If I could define it it would be different, but I don't know what it is.

I just know that there is opportunity and I want to be able to take advantage of it.

After I get back from Mexico!

(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."