[clapperboard claps]
- Delta!
Ouch! [laughs]
- Did I shock you?
- Yes!
[upbeat music]
- What're we doing in
the test kitchen today?
- Today, we are here talking about our
most disliked?
- Our least liked?
- Most disliked.
- The most?
Oh, that's too radical!
- Disliked ingredients! [laughs]
- Ugh!
- Ugh!
- Those ingredients.
- Mm-hmm.
[both sigh]
- We're talking about
ingredients you don't like.
- Ingredients we don't like, yeah.
I mean.
- Goat cheese.
- I don't like tofu.
- Peanut butter, bananas.
- I'm not a fan of raw carrots.
- I don't like kidneys.
- Mayonnaise-based salads.
- Freakin' can't stand lamb.
- I strongly dislike liver.
Think about your body, right?
- Uh-huh.
- The liver filters out all of the [bleep]
that's terrible for your body.
- Or you can think about it like,
everything's gone through it, you know?
It's gotten, that's
what gives it character.
Filtering out all that alcohol.
- All that whiskey that those
chicken's been drinking.
[laughs]
- I'm gonna make you something
and you're probably not gonna like it.
- [laughs] I'm assuming
there's gonna be liver in it.
- There's gonna be liver in it.
- Okay, let's go.
- All right, let's do it. [claps]
[upbeat music]
- We got this squishy
white bread, Smucker's,
and then a little bit of onions.
It's not weird.
- It's not weird, don't worry about it.
- It's not weird at all, let's go.
So I've got a really hot cast iron here.
I wanna get a good sear.
I'm gonna sear it in
some clarified butter.
- Okay.
- I want that high smoke point.
I wanna get good color
but I want it to still be,
like, medium-rare on the inside.
- So, here are our livers.
Nice and hot so we can get
some good color on the outside.
- Doesn't smell bad.
- Ah!
- [laughs loudly] It's
like, "Is that liver?
"Oh no!"
- Ooh, look at that color!
Come on, Alex!
Beautiful sear.
Come on, this is gonna be awesome!
Livers are so good for you
and you're killing the bird
anyway, so might as well eat--
- Are they so good for you?
- Loaded with iron.
- True.
- I don't know what else.
[laughs]
- If you learn to love liver,
it is such a cheap and fast dinner.
- When I think of liver, I
think of, like, deli liver.
You know what I mean?
Like, gray glob in a terrible bin
in a reach-in glass deli case.
Also, when I think of liver,
I just think of my liver.
And I'm like, that's
not what anyone should--
- You think about your liver a lot, huh?
- Yeah, I'm the drinks editor
of this brand! [laughs]
Coffee-soaked cherries!
- Coffee-soaked cherries!
So I'm gonna deglaze with that coffee,
throw these cherries in here.
Gonna add some sweetness, some tartness,
and the bitterness is
gonna kinda help with that
metallic-y, liver taste.
- [Alex] Okay.
- All right, that's good.
And now, we're gonna blend this up.
- Okay, cool.
[blender roars]
- Delightful!
[blender roars louder]
Just for good measure!
- There's your liver milkshake.
Should I get you--
[both laugh]
[upbeat music]
I love, I've never seen you this anxious,
and stressed, and uncomfortable.
I am so excited!
- All right, Sohla.
It doesn't taste like
liver until I swallow it
and my tongue pushes up
against the roof of my mouth
and I feel, like, the
leftover chalky-ness.
It's not bad!
I'm good with one bite, though.
[both laugh]
[hands clap]
- I do not prefer gamey lamb.
- You don't like grass-fed lamb.
- I don't like grass-fed.
I don't nice lamb.
- Just the mean ones.
- Yeah.
- So, what kind of lamb
are we making today?
- So, a grass-fed lamb chops scottadito!
[upbeat music]
Garlic, rosemary, parsley, olive oil,
a little red wine vinegar,
which will tenderize,
but also gives it a brightness.
- And maybe we'll also cut
some of that funky fat.
- [clears throat] Yeah, maybe.
- I used to raise sheep, I was in 4H.
It was on a farm, I would
go visit it once a week
and take care of it, so,
it's very in your face,
"this is lamb."
I'm like, "I'm eating my babies."
- That's why I don't eat bunny.
But I also feel like rabbits
and cats are half-step.
So if you're gonna eat a rabbit--
- And also weenie dogs
are just like rabbits.
- Weenie dogs?
- Yeah, like Tuna.
- Oh, weenie dogs!
- When I look at Tuna's
composition and her body,
I'm like, "You are a rabbit."
Hey, Siri!
What does "scottadito" mean?
- Scorch your fingers, I bet.
- Yeah, burned fingers.
But what's finger-burning about these?
- You eat them right when
they come off the grill
and you eat them with your hands.
So you burn your fingers on
the hot little rib bones.
Right?
- Kind of a weird way to sell the dish.
[laughs]
If you were stranded on an island,
would you eat Tuna?
- My dog?
[laughs loudly]
What are you, a monster?
Would you eat your children?
- No, but that's different.
- It's not!
- You're gonna want
salt, a little vinegar.
Boink!
- Thanks for cooking for me!
- Oh my god, I find that delicious.
- Mmm? [laughs]
Okay, that's pushin' it.
You've successfully masked the game,
which if that was the
goal here, well done.
- I think the goal is, like,
to get you in a place where
you might be able to enjoy
the exposure instead of dreading.
- Mm-hmm.
- And then, over time,
like, maybe you would nibble
a little of the fatty bit
and have it with the meat
and the then, just, in
10 years, that's how long
it took me with dill.
- [Man] Molly, do you
think you'll work at it,
try to like a gamier lamb?
- Definitely!
I'm committed to liking
lamb because I know that
I'm enjoying it right now,
especially when you're cooking it for me.
- Mmm, what a gal.
So the best way to get
over a food aversion,
is constant gentle pressure.
These rules apply to
whatever you're avoiding.
- There is one ingredient
that I've definitely never
really liked, both raw or
cooked for that matter.
And that's green bell peppers.
- Hi, I'm Andy.
I hate green peppers.
I'm gonna make you eat green peppers.
I love them.
- Just as is?
Like all salt?
- Horsefeed you!
- Hold me down?
- Eat it!
No, I'm gonna try to
recreate sort of like a
green pepper pesto-y sauce.
See, I don't know what that is.
It just came out of my head! [laughs]
You're my guinea pig!
[upbeat music]
- [Gaby] These peppers
were roasted in the oven.
Jalapenos were done on a cast iron
and same with the garlic.
I'm just gonna throw
everything in the Cuisinart.
I'm gonna add the garlic in the beginning
and I'm gonna go ahead
and put just one jalapeno.
A good amount of olive oil.
Good amount of salt for Andy.
Little bit of pepper 'cause, you know,
peppers and peppers go together. [laughs]
[food processor pulses]
Little bit of cilantro.
I want it to be a little
smoother than pesto
but I want you to see
the pieces of the stuff.
- There's some lime juice, or?
- Needs more salt.
[food processor pulses]
More lime and more jalapeno.
Mmm, why not?
I think we're good.
Little more salt, just for good measure.
And then a little more pepper.
- Wow, you're nickname's
gonna be Molly soon.
- What, salt?
- Yeah.
- I don't use that salt,
I'm doing this just for you.
At home, sometimes, I don't
even use salt for some stuff.
- Oh, that's ridiculous!
I put salt in everything.
- Well, she puts salt in her smoothie.
- She'll put salt in her cereal.
- No!
Real?
- [Andy] Yeah.
We're gossiping now! [laughs]
- We're not gossiping,
we're telling the world!
- No, that's bad because, you know,
you could have high blood pressure.
- [laughs] I don't think
Molly has high blood pressure!
- Not now, but she might!
You shouldn't put salt in your cereal.
Children, don't do that at home.
- How would you describe it?
- It's a vegan pesto.
- But would you put it on pasta?
- I don't see why not.
- Is it smoky?
I mean, I wanna try it.
- It could have a little more garlic.
- How much garlic was in there?
- I put like six cloves
but I will up the garlic a little more.
It's okay.
- Six cloves?
- Do you have a date or something?
- I don't have a date.
- Garlic is good for you.
- I don't have a ring
on this finger but I...
- Ooh!
People you heard it here first.
Okay!
I'll let you try first.
- Okay, I'm gonna go
with the cucumber first.
- Okay, oopsie.
- But I like when it sticks on it!
Can you tell it's bell pepper?
- 100%.
- Hell yeah.
- It's green pepper forward, if anything.
It still has that kind
of lasting, lingering,
vegetal flavor that I
still don't fully care for.
I mean, I don't hate it, that's for sure.
- I knew he was going to say that.
- What do you not like?
- What do I not like?
Szechuan peppercorns.
It's a weird personal thing.
I wish I liked them, I
like the flavor of them.
But it feels like it's taking away,
like, a portion of my sensory experience.
- So, I'm gonna make you mapo tofu.
We're gonna try to convince you
to maybe reconsider szechuan peppercorns.
- Okay.
- Can I make rice?
- [both] Yeah!
[upbeat music]
- This is szechuan peppercorns.
They look kind of like a
smaller, black peppercorn
that's kind of been cracked open.
What I like about mapo tofu is,
you really don't need that much meat
to kind of flavor the tofu.
So, that's a half pound of ground pork.
I'm just breaking it up a little bit.
I wanna get a little
bit of color in there.
So, that's our scallion, our garlic,
fresh green chile, and ginger.
Mapo tofu often uses a
cornstarch slurry for thickening.
So, a tablespoon of tomato
paste, double concentrated.
Going in on top of our
ground szechuan peppercorn.
Just looking for that
moment where the paste
darkens a little bit.
Ooh!
God, I love that.
Gonna put our low sodium chicken broth in,
and this is black bean sauce.
Honestly, black bean sauce, magic.
- Are you gonna tell me about
your beef with peanut butter?
- Beef with peanut butter?
Ugh!
It's, like, beef with peanut butter?
That sounds horrible!
All right, soakened tofu.
Putting it in at the
end because I don't want
to break it up.
I'm just gonna kind
of, lid it and quit it.
Come back in a few minutes.
[upbeat music]
Mmm.
- You nailed it.
There's, like, a decent amount
of the fresh green chile,
too, and that changes it for me.
It makes it much more vegetal and fresh,
and just provides another dimension to it.
I will definitely be
giving szechuan peppercorn
another chance because I wanna make this.
- Yeah, you should.
- I know where to find the recipe.
- Peanut butter is still
dead to me but, yeah,
this is great for you.
- You're not a huge fan of century eggs.
- Sadly, I am not.
- Well, I'm gonna make you
eat century eggs today.
- I had a feeling.
[upbeat music]
- I kind of love that these century eggs,
we unfortunately did not make our own,
come in this little carton!
- But also individually wrapped, like,
it feels like they seem dangerous.
The shell is really pretty.
- Why don't you do the honors?
You wanna crack it?
This is the part that I find so amazing.
That an egg can get
that gelatinous texture.
Like, are you not intrigued
and excited by this?
- I mean, maybe if I...
Truly, the first time I ever had one,
I was beyond intrigued and excited.
But now I know what it tastes like.
- I believe that it gets, sort of,
buried with clay, ash, rice husks
and that, sort of, causes
a chemical reaction
that turns the outside gelatinous,
the insides are creamy.
- See, the smell is very ammonia-like.
- Thank you for this heavy-duty knife.
All right.
Just look at that center.
That's awesome!
So, I'm gonna put a
little chile oil on this.
Sesame seeds, scallion.
Now we're talkin'.
Let's do, like--
- Yeah, that's enough.
- Let's do, like, three pieces.
What you should do is
get a bite that's got
scallion, cilantro, sesame, and chile
with the century egg,
just to taste all of
the components together
because, maybe, by itself,
it's too much but combined
with other things,
it's delicious.
I dig it.
- I was having a pretty good experience
then I had a big waft of the ammonia.
Ooh.
The scallion is really helping
because of the flavor of the scallions
is so strong, you know?
It's like a mild starchiness, I feel like.
And the sharpness of the
scallion, over the chile.
I feel like there's just a lot
of different sort of flavors.
And I feel like, also,
kind of the nuttiness
of the sesame seeds works
with the egg, you know?
- I think that the century egg plays nice
with other flavors in the herby, bright,
herby, toasty family.
- Yeah!
Thank you, Priya.
- All the foods that I
don't like, I'm like,
I don't like to think of
it as "I don't like it,"
I'm just searching for the way to eat it
that would make me like it.
- Is there a point where you give up?
- No.
- No?
- I'll never give up.
- That's what I like about you, Priya.
- We're food writers, this is our job!
- I thought you were
about the say the F-word.
I thought you were, like, "We're foodies!"
[laughs]
- So, my beef with peanut butter.
Peanut butter just on its
own, is just like eating
fermented black bean sauce on its own.
It's like, "What, you don't like fermented
"black bean sauce on its own?"
No, of course not.
It's like a [bleep] howitzer of flavor.
It needs friends.
