Okay, so we're gonna
do a before and
after taste, cheers.
>> Cheers, what do you
mean a before and
after taste?
>> There's no
alcohol in this yet.
>> okay.
Mm, I would love to
eat this with shrimp.
>> And
I haven't even smoked any
marijuana today.
>> I haven't either.
[MUSIC]
You're watching
The Dinner Bell
featuring High
Maintenance on Munchies.
Out of shape, whew.
[SOUND].
[MUSIC]
Collaborating with
friends is one of, like,
the biggest perks of my
job and in this instance,
Ben and Katja, two
fairly recent but very,
like, quick close friends
who have this amazing web
series called
High Maintenance.
I wanted to throw
a party for the end of
the year to celebrate
their past crew, all
the people that have had
some role in their show.
[MUSIC]
The premise of
High Maintenance.
So Zen plays a weed
delivery man.
What I love about it,
it's like little
slices of lives where
he's the one thread,
it's some of the best
character writing and
Katja's casting is
like mind blowing.
>> Okay so it's $50?
All right, so
babe, money.
>> No, I didn't take
out any cash today.
>> I have $63
in my account.
I'm waiting on
a paycheck.
>> Are you serious
right now?
I don't even smoke.
I'm not paying for this.
>> We got this weed,
because we told Erica,
you told Erica.
>> They direct it, write
it, edit it, star in it.
It's a real
labor of love.
They're just
constantly utilizing
their whole friend group.
[MUSIC]
For their show.
>> Hey Julie.
>> Hey guys.
>> Did you see that
Kurt Loader is here.
[LAUGH] [CROSSTALK].
>> You guys are nearing
the finish line.
>> We are editing the,
the last three episodes
of this six-episode batch
that is gonna be
releasing very soon.
>> Do you ever get fucked
up and do an edit and
see it the next day and
be like, what the-
>> Really [CROSSTALK].
>> No, I
edit pretty stoned.
>> It helps.
>> And it helps.
Yeah, it doesn't
get done as fast.
I'll be like, I've
gotta work on this, and
then I'll get really
distracted by something.
>> Yeah.
>> But then something
happens-
>> Yeah.
>> And that distraction,
it's quite nice.
But if people who we are
working with are now our
friends and our family-
>> It's a lot of the same
people that we've been
working with for
the entirety of the show.
>> Now it's kind of
folding in on itself,
like any kind of dough.
A lot of people that
we're inviting to
this are people
who we've known,
met through
High Maintenance.
>> Yup.
>> During our
consultation we decided
to meld the two
food styles of Katja's
Danish heritage and
Ben's Jewish heritage.
>> The time that we
chose was brunch.
Bagels, salmon,
Bloody Mary's, and
then, like, lots of
other delicious things.
You, you, Sunday, one
o'clock, lots of people,
look for the balloon
tied to the gate.
>> Wow, I had a like
one cup of coffee and
I'm like wooh.
>> I know I'm flying.
[MUSIC]
I'm back in Long Island,
and
we're gonna start
with the main star of
the event,
which is the bagel.
Of course, it's just
as easy to go out and
order a couple dozen on
a nice Sunday morning,
but what I have realized
is that as soon as
someone bites into it and
you say those
are homemade,
you just really
blow their mind.
So that's the main
agenda today.
It's not that hard.
Don't be scared.
We're in it together.
'Kay, so two cups
of lukewarm water
into the mixer.
Teaspoon of yeast.
We've got the dough
hook in here,
which is that like piggy,
piggy tail,
piggy penis one.
Start to stir it up.
Two tablespoons of sugar,
and a tablespoon and
a half of salt,
two tablespoons of
the buckwheat honey.
Smells a little
like horse pee, but
don't be scared.
It's real good.
Now slowly add our five
cups of bread flour.
So you just mix, mix, mix
for about five minutes.
So it starts to sort of
like make what looks like
Russian doll, and then it
will all kinda blob back.
[NOISE] Dough's
all ready.
It's the perfect
consistency now you can
see soft and smooth and
not terribly sticky.
So we're gonna
take that out,
it's all one
clean swoop and
then right down into
a lightly oiled bowl.
And then on top,
this is a step you
do not want to skip,
this is the cellophane,
you know how bread
recipes always say,
top with a lightly
oiled cellophane.
Well if you don't do
that, what will happen is
the top will get
really crusty, and
it's gonna ruin your day.
Here you go, and then
we're gonna put this in
a warm spot for
two hours.
[MUSIC]
We've got our bagels
proofing now, so
we're gonna take
care of the gravlax.
So we've got the two
large beets that I
peeled and threw in
the food processor, and
it makes this
really nice,
like fine confetti,
and then I've got two
tablespoons of fennel
seed that I toasted.
One cup of salt, and
then one cup of sugar.
Sooner than you could
imagine this is
gonna get kind of liquidy
cuz all the salt.
It's gonna interact
with that beet and
just make a nice
wet sand.
And they we're gonna add,
I just did like a small
handful of dill.
So we have this wild
Alaskan coho salmon.
It's really,
really beautiful.
First step, is we have
a quarter cup of vodka.
So we're gonna pour the
quarter cup of vodka over
the fish.
We've scored
this lightly.
We're gonna start laying
out a thin layer of
the cure, not the band,
the mixture.
So I've laid out
two large pieces
of cellophane, and
I did a 2 1/2 spoonfuls
down of the cure.
This goes down
here like so,
we're just gonna
kind of apply it.
Okay doke.
Now I'm gonna grab
a baking sheet
to put this on.
The cellophane is gonna
act as like a barrier,
and we're doing like
loosely wrap this, and
then to push the moisture
out even faster we're
gonna put this board on
top as a weight, and
then [SOUND]
into the fridge.
The salmon can cure
in the fridge up to
three days.
It's good after 24 hours,
but, you know,
the longer you
leave it in,
the more intense that,
that deep color will be.
So the moment for
the dough has arrived.
It's been proofing.
Look how big and
boisterous it is.
What proofing is, you put
it somewhere nice and
warm, and all that yeast
is, like, having a party,
growing, growing,
growing.
There's definitely
some science to it.
I cannot tell you this.
Click the link on
Bill Nye the Science Guy.
So we're gonna take
the dough out, and
we're gonna start
separating it
into 12 individual
little bagels.
You could definitely
measure them on
the scale if you want.
I just, I don't care
about perfection,
you know, I just don't.
So we're gonna
make balls.
Isn't this fun?
It's nice and warm and
fun to touch.
Again, you don't want
them to dry out so
you put a little
damp cloth and
then put them in a warm
place to rise for
20 minutes, and then
we're gonna fill a stock
pot with a good
amount of water.
We're gonna add some
more of that fancy honey,
two tablespoons.
Oops.
These.
Look.
Great, look how much
they've proofed.
What we're gonna do next
is take it in our hand.
Poke, poke, poke through.
It's starting to look
like a bagel, isn't it?
So you wanna widen it so
that the hole's
about two inches.
You can make
like a bracelet.
That's worth looking for.
So we're gonna let them
rest for 20 minutes.
We've got our nice, hot
honey bath bubbling away.
We're gonna take the
bagels, one at a time,
kinda gently but
they can handle a lot.
They're gonna need about
30 seconds per side.
Okay, and
after your 30 seconds is
up you can pull them.
You're relying on
the water that's still on
the dough, to get
the seeds to stick.
So, I've got my
everything blend here of
caraway, fennel seed, sea
salt, dehydrated onion,
dehydrated garlic, poppy
seed, and sesame seed.
So, you can go real crazy
and what sticks, sticks.
And then, I invented
this last night.
I'm sure some food, food
blog bitch does it too
but I do a little stripes
of poppy seed and
sesame seeds.
So, five minutes, 500,
easy to remember.
My five minutes is up.
I'm cooking at 500, so
we're gonna turn
down to 350.
Turn down for what?
350.
[MUSIC]
We're gonna take
them out and
rotate, sort of
turn them around so
each one gets the same
amount of toasting time,
you can see they've
gotten nice and golden.
That smells like heaven.
Now we have
let them cool.
We're gonna put them
in the bag, and pack
everything up and hit
the highway, that easy.
It's really
hard actually.
Don't make these.
[LAUGH] I'm serious.
[MUSIC]
>> [SOUND]
Oh.
Hate this part.
[SOUND] You know,
work, work, work,
work, work
crazy hours and
then driving to
the city [SOUND].
Anxious, and
then you arrive.
There's this crazy,
crazy, crazy,
hectic mess.
[MUSIC]
It's the morning
of the brunch,
we've loaded
everything in.
I'm getting all the sort
of last minute,
preppy stuff done.
I've made a trout pate,
which is smoked trout,
and just shallots,
skippers, and Fujis.
We have mushroom,
walnut, leek tart.
We had a radicchio and
roasted beet salad
with that coda dressing,
celery root and
parsley salad, and
then cardamom cookies.
To get the recipes
from this episode,
click on the link
right here.
When we stored the fish
back at the house,
we wrapped it up loosely
in the cellophane,
kept it under the weight
for up to day and a half,
and transported it in
a fish box, rinsed it off
in the sink, patted it
dry, and now we're laying
it out on our board cuz
we're gonna make sort of
a do-it-yourself topping,
which takes a lot of
the stress off
the hostess I'd say.
[MUSIC]
We did two alcoholic
beverages.
We did a grapefruit and
Coors Banquet,
the Banquet Ballyhoo I
think I called it and
then homemade
Bloody Mary,
which quite frankly I
think it was one of
the tastier Bloody Marys
that I've had in a while.
>> I'm here to be
taught about how to
make a Bloody Mary.
>> Let's fucking go.
I invented this recipe.
So can't talk
shit about it.
So we are starting with
two quarts of tomato
juice, two tablespoons
of black pepper,
one teaspoon of
celery seed,
one teaspoon pimento
the smoked tadika,
we've got one heaping
teaspoon of salt,
I just use sea salt
in this instance.
>> There is actually
an interesting fact about
the Romans, they use salt
as the payment, that's,
and salary.
>> Salary, that's where
the word salary
comes from.
>> Yeah, anyways.
>> Hot sauce.
>> Franks red hot?
>> Is it Frank's red hot?
>> You just spoiled,
spoiled it.
But yes, it is.
It's my favorite.
>> I really like
Frank's red hot.
We've been putting it
on everything lately.
>> Two tablespoons of
Franks into the pot
it goes, and then
Worcestershire, one and
a half tablespoons,
six tablespoons
of horseradish.
>> With a queef,
of, of horseradish.
>> [LAUGH] Just
a little queef.
>> Just a queef.
>> That was really tasty,
and then, you know,
shot it down the,
the old pot leave loosh,
like any old
normal Sunday.
>> Now look at this
ice sculpture.
>> We got it made for
you.
>> Well, thanks!
>> I used to get
these all the time in
college but
they were much jankier.
The crowning
achievement today was.
It's the first time we
shot that crazy vodka
down that shoot, and
it came flying out
before we knew it.
>> Oh that's the shit.
Oh God.
>> [LAUGH] Stay still.
>> Oh God.
>> Hi Ryan.
Good to see you.
>> Hi. Oh.
>> Good to see you.
Hi Mackenzie.
Oh, good to see you too.
[CROSSTALK].
>> The major guests
quotient today was cast
members, producers
slash friends.
People that I would
have been like,
I know that guy,
then it's like oh yeah,
get shits from our show.
So it's a room full
of friends that have
helped them get there.
>> Thank you guys for
coming.
You are representative of
our support system that
has gotten this through
last cycle of high
maintenance and, let's
be honest, our lives.
Thanks for coming today.
I hope you enjoy
the brunch.
This is just our
little way of
saying we love you guys,
appreciate you guys,
and are wishing you
a wonderful 2015.
Thanks for
being in our lives, guys.
Grab a plate and
a Bloody Mary and
let's get our brunch on.
>> [APPLAUSE].
>> Love you too.
[NOISE]
[MUSIC]
>> It was,
it was a fun one.
When you strike a chord
with someone it,
it really does
resonate and
it feels meaningful and,
and worthwhile.
>> Yeah,
everyone's really
enjoying themselves,
the Chandy's are being-
>> The Chandy's
were a hit.
>> Drank, they are drunk.
>> I'm really full.
>> Thank you for
letting us do this.
This has been amazing.
>> More than one person
has come up to me
saying this is
pretty awesome.
>> Were they like why did
you already get married,
that girl seems like
super attainable,
she seems like she's
begging for it.
>> A lot of people
have said that.
>> [LAUGH]
>> My dogs are barking,
I like to go home and I'm
tired, I wish there was
like a foot fetishist
that would rub my feet.
[LAUGH] When I
was little,
every Sunday we
would get bagels.
One day, I reached
my little claw into
the bag and
chose the last of
the only kind of bagel
I wanted to eat.
I go to rip it apart,
and it was like this.
I know it was, there was
some kind of resistance,
and it was like a whole
wiglet full of hair,
like human hair, and
I was horrified.
That's my big
old nightmare.
