- I'm just frondzing.
I love a good frond, you know.
You can't have enough good fronds.
Okay.
[upbeat music]
Carla, I'm here in the
Bon Appetit Test Kitchen
and today I am making Vivek
Surti's spiced roast pork
with chili paste.
It is delicious.
Vivek Surti is the chef of
a restaurant called Tailor
in Nashville, Tennessee.
A couple months ago I had the opportunity
to go down there and
actually get to cook with him
and not just with him but
with his lovely parents
in their home.
And, Vivek's restaurant is really about
the flavors of the Indian food
that he grew up eating.
His parents did not cook meat in the house
so when we were cooking together
at his parents house, we cook
the pork outside on the grill.
The actually recipe that
he uses in the restaurant
is made in the oven
so that's the one I'm
gonna show you today.
It starts with this
incredible, really layered,
fragrant chili paste
that is not just chilies.
It's much more nuanced than that.
So one of the first things.
I had never worked with these before.
These are Kashmiri chilies.
They're not super spicy so
you can use a lot of them.
I think there's, yeah, 15
of them in this recipe.
This is whole fennel seeds.
Whole coriander seed.
Cumin seeds, goin' in whole.
Star anise which I love the smell of.
I'm gonna crush 'em up a little bit
so I can enjoy the aroma.
Our recipe calls for five whole star anise
which, this is a whole one.
This is a really perfect one.
Whole clove, whole
peppercorn, Tellicherry,
which is the most common one
so it's pretty easy to find so
that would be the preference
and then all of these spices,
before I do anything with them,
I'm gonna dry toast them
over medium, medium high heat
just to really get the flavors going.
So we can go over to the stove.
When you heat spices up like this
and you gotta keep things moving,
they're gonna darken a little bit,
they're gonna become much more fragrant
and then they'll get more brittle.
So, that's what's going on here.
Seeing a little smokey.
Things are popping.
One of the cloves just like puffed up.
And that's it folks.
I don't want it to go too far
and I really don't wanna burn stuff
I just wanna bloom the spices.
Smells delicious, right?
- It does smell delicious.
I'm sensitive towards cumin.
- To cumin?
- I love cumin.
- I'm sensitive to clove.
- Clove, yeah.
- Yeah, I smell
the clove first.
I like cumin.
- I do too but it's, like,
it's so, like, obnoxious.
Like, I'm here.
[Carla laughing]
- Ah, that's funny.
He gave cumin a personality.
This is the only tricky bit.
You have to set aside a quarter of this
before it goes in the blender
so this entire toasted spice mix
is going to go.
It's gonna become a chili paste,
half of which goes on the
pork at the beginning,
half of which goes on at the end
but a quarter of this
turns into a chili oil
so I guess I just have to eyeball it
which I'm really terrible at.
A quarter.
Well, it was 15 chilies so
let's get those out first.
Let's say four.
Oh, this is really hard.
All right, that's a quarter.
Should we call Vivek?
Great.
Oh, check the old apron.
Vivek, hi how are you?
I wanted you to see the production.
I'm sorry you couldn't be here.
- Yeah, I'm sorry too.
- Can you talk about, like, why,
if you're gonna put
everything in the oven anyway
why do you need to toast the spices
before you make the chili paste?
- Essentially when you toast the spices
it brings out all the essential oils.
And what we're trying to do is
make a very flavorful paste.
Right, and so, if it's
untoasted before it goes
into the marinade and
when it's all blended,
essentially you don't have as much flavor
as you would if you pre-toasted the spices
and blended them all in.
- [Carla] All right, if anything comes up,
I'm gonna give you another call.
- Okay, sounds good.
- [Carla] Enjoy your day.
- All right, thanks, you too.
- Ciao.
And so he did talk about having
really nice fresh, beautiful garlic.
So that's goin' in.
All of these spices.
Success.
Cider vinegar, good old
water, and some oil.
And.
[blender whirring]
Beautiful color and it
will definitely add color
to the pork.
When I was with him, I
remember him saying, like,
you wanna get it pretty well ground
so that everything is combined
but a little bit of variance
in the texture is okay
so don't freak out if
there's some texture.
He actually liked the idea
that you might get some bites
that have a little bit of coarseness
or get a little pop of fennel seed.
Not cumin seed 'cause
that would be just overwhelming for Andy.
All right, the first thing
before I add the spices,
I'm gonna add Kosher salt.
Don't you wish they would
invent a blender thing
where like.
- [Tommy] You could get the.
- Yeah, the blade somehow goes away.
It's just so in the way.
It's unbelievable.
And then you don't wanna
put your hand down there,
don't do that.
No, no sirree Bob.
So I didn't have time to
season it ahead but Denise did.
Oh my god, amazing!
Okay, overnight, chili rub sits.
Nothing really changes.
The color changes a little bit.
You don't even have to cover it.
You can put it right on the thing
that you're gonna roast it on later
and this is not a roasting pan
this is just a wire rack set inside
of a rimmed baking sheet
and it's nice that there's no walls
on the rimmed baking sheet
because that means that the
heat is gonna get all around
instead of kind of protecting it
with the side walls.
Okie dokie.
The goal for the initial
cook time of the pork
is to get the internal temperature
to 120 degrees.
I'm gonna use a spice
grinder to make the chili oil
which involves finely grinding.
Fine grind.
But if you didn't have one,
of course you have a
mortar and pestle, right?
Like Andy, there you go.
[grinder whirring]
I have a mortar and
pestle that Andy gave me.
The first year that you worked here.
Yes, but a slightly.
I think mine's a little smaller.
- Smaller?
- And I use it all the time
and whenever I use it I think of Andy
because it was so sweet
he gave me a present
the first year he worked
at BA and never since.
[Andy laughs]
Here's the skillet from before.
I don't know, the recipe says small.
I'm gonna see what happens.
Gonna add the oil.
Since these spices are already ground
they've got, like, all of
their surface area is exposed.
If you were to finely grind
and then go into the oven
they could burn.
We're sort of toasting the spices again
but this time in the sort of protective
and surrounding atmosphere of the oil
and it's really about seasoning
the oil at this point.
Okay.
Delish.
Gettin' it outta there.
Oh my god, smells really
roasty toasty now.
All right, so the foam
will kinda dissipate
as this cools down
but you can see this, like,
pretty incredible color
of the oil.
That looks really good.
And we do want the roast to rest
for two hours before we
increase the temperature.
And this will give the meat a chance
for all the juices to disperse.
It'll cool down.
It'll be evenly the same temp
all the way through
so make your salad in the meantime.
One of the things I like about this recipe
is you use the fronds
in addition to the bulb
and I'll use part of the stem too
as long as it's not too woody.
I'm just frondzing.
Tear these up a little bit.
I love a good frond, you know.
Take these guys off.
Usually with the fennel,
one of the outer guys is
gonna be a little woody.
So recipe says thinly sliced.
If you have mandoline,
this is a good time to use it.
If you don't, just use a knife.
Feel good about that.
But I don't wanna waste
it so now I'm turning it.
The other way.
And then the other way.
Get some rounds.
Oh my god.
They just hit the cutting
board and scatter.
Our only chance, run fellas.
I feel like Vivek did this in quarters.
But this is what happens
when you contribute a recipe
to Bon Appetit, the
test kitchen's gonna do
what they're gonna do
and then the people at home, I mean,
you guys get to do whatever you want.
It's your own house.
And you've just gotta live with that.
Delicious honey crisp.
Also the benefit of
amazing apple marketing.
I mean, what a name, right?
Honey crisp.
I really love this.
It gives it a lot of brightness
and it's just something
to think about any time
you're using the juice
of a citrus in a salad, ask yourself
would this be delicious with
a little bit of the zest
and probably it will
so why not just go for it?
Toss everybody together but
don't get rough with anybody
'cause we don't want all their juices
and cell walls breaking.
Clean kitchen towel or paper towel.
Apparently Americans use more paper towel
than anybody else in the world.
Do one of these.
Fold that over
and then I would put
that back in the fridge
and just hang on.
Oh, I forgot the serranos.
Need the serranos.
Serranos can be very hot.
So, Vivek didn't say to seed them
which we don't have to do
but if you're a spice
sense-y definitely pop
some of those seeds out.
But, definitely more
seedy towards the top.
The last time I did this
it was a very spicy pepper.
Why do I keep doing this?
That's really hot.
[dramatic music]
I shan't do it again.
It's very spicy.
All right, so that might
be enough for you, the one.
A lotta the.
- [Producer] How do you feel?
- It's a lot.
It's good though, I mean.
Here's my apple.
Sweet and spicy.
I think it kinda works.
I mean, if you know that you hate spice,
obviously don't do it.
It's hot though.
Holy.
Startin' to sweat a little bit, okay.
Oh my god.
[dramatic music]
[Carla chuckling]
So tough, did you know
how tough I was, Tommy?
- [Tommy] Oh, I always knew.
- You knew?
It's fine, just eat an apple.
Toughen up kid, splash some
cold water on your face.
All right, this guy's cool.
Super cool.
So, remaining half of chili paste.
Goin' over.
It's gonna feel like a lot and it is.
That's kinda the whole point.
Crust management.
Okie dokie.
We're like eight minutes in
and I'm just rotating this guy.
Smokiness is happening from
pieces of the spice crust
that hit the pan
and those are smoking but
the actual pork is not.
So I just turned it over so the part
that was under is over
and gonna go for a few more minutes.
It's time to go.
Oh yeah, there she is.
Oh yeah.
Really brown but not burned.
The red color of that
spice mix is still there.
Gorgeous on all sides.
It's gonna rest a little bit longer,
not nearly as long as it rested
for the first time
but just until it's cool enough to handle,
'til we stop smokin'.
And then we'll make the salad
and it's gonna be delicious.
Just chill.
Okay, all right, I'm
gonna finish the salad.
This is olive oil
and we have the limes that we zested.
And this is going over the fennel,
the apple, the fennel front, and the stems
and the rather hot serrano.
- [Tommy] Is the reamer your
preferred method of juicing.
- So we've had a lot of arguments
about the best way to juice some citrus.
And I just like a reamer.
I don't know what to say.
So I like that Vivek's
food has these, like,
many different layers of flavor
kind of coming back over.
In this really cool way.
And it just makes sense.
Like, you can understand how
it's gonna taste good together
because all of those flavors are related.
So the technique is super approachable
and then the payoff is huge
and that's, like, my
favorite kind of recipe.
Oh yeah.
All right, so I'm gonna slice the pork.
Delicious crust management.
Very juicy.
Do you see these little
crunchy crispy bits?
Delish.
See, you can see the
different muscle groups
in the shoulder and, like,
this is a really beautiful
piece of pork.
It's got very gorgeous marbling
and it's okay to have pork
a little bit pink, guys.
We've been cookin' our pork to 165
and we just don't need to be doin' that.
The outside of the pork
got a ton of seasoning
and attention.
The inside, not so much.
So we're gonna season the inside.
And this doesn't have salt either
but it does have an exceptional amount
of chili flavor.
And oil.
So pretty.
And then we have our fresh and crunchy,
sweet and spicy, herbal slaw.
Fennel apple slaw.
At the restaurant, Vivek gives everybody
a serving of pork
and a little bit of salad to the side.
All right, this is Vivek
Surti's spiced roast pork
with fennel apple salad.
It's from the October issue
of Bon Appetit magazine
and I love this recipe.
I hope you make it.
[both humming]
- I, for some reason, I
thought it was gonna be
a lot hotter, spicy.
But the, it just has, like,
a, all the different spices.
You know, it's not just the stream of oil.
- How do you feel about the cumin?
Is it bother, do you like?
- No, I'm not bothered by it, no.
- But you taste it.
- I think just,
if it's just cumin, I'm like, ugh.
- Yeah, it's too much.
- So it needs to be
combined with other spices.
- I really like the
fennel and the coriander
and the chili flavor with
the pork it's so good.
Yeah.
- The surprise heat is
actually from the salad.
- I know.
- This is the spicy stuff.
- It's two serranos.
- It's a lot.
- And he doesn't say to take
the seeds out so, you know.
- Oh, okay, go for it.
- Buyer beware.
Nice combo, good fall dish.
I know, why didn't I invent scunchies.
- [Tommy] Scunchies, yes.
Why, what.
- There's still time.
- [Tommy] What are scunchies?
- You know, those ponytail holders
that have like the fabric around them?
- [Tommy] I thought they
were called scrunchies.
- Oh, maybe they are.
- [Tommy] Maybe, is it a cultural thing?
- I have two boys so.
- [Tommy] Depending on where you're from.
- I thought they were,
are they scrunchies?
- [Tommy] I always think scrunchies?
- Really?
Oh, I didn't know there was an R there.
I call them scunchies.
- [Tommy] Scunchies.
[Carla laughing]
