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Here's how to open oysters. I ate them in France when I was a child. I said they taste like the future. Hello, how are you, friends? And welcome back to an old-fashioned "Benge with Babish." I've got the microphone set up now, so it's going to sound like the good old days, because I'm cooking a dish from a very important food movie-A24's Tony, which is now in theaters. I was even joined on the podcast "In the Booth with Babish" by the star of the film, Dominic Sessa. Watch if you want to know what he thinks of my Portuguese squid stew. If you haven't seen "Tony" yet, I highly recommend it. It's an incredible coming-of-age story that's not as much about food as you might think, but the food is there. So, let's start with one of the most notable dishes -Portuguese
squid stew, which is prepared as a family dinner for the employees of the main restaurant. Thank you to Helix Sleep for sponsoring this episode. I've never been a good sleeper, so when Helix asked me to take their sleep test again, I decided it was worth it. It matches the mattress that's perfect for your body type and preferences, and my results confirmed that the Helix Midnight Luxe, which Forbes and Wired named the best mattress, still fits me perfectly. I've also been sleeping on their adjustable comfort cooling pillow for a while now, and it's become as much a part of my routine as the mattress itself. You can adjust it to your own firmness and height, and it stays cool all night long, which really helped me get rid of the neck stiffness
I was just living with before. Thanks to both of them, I fall asleep faster and wake up without the pain that I used to take for granted. Helix offers free shipping in the US, a 120- day trial period, and a limited lifetime warranty on every mattress. You can now save up to 30% on select models during their Labor Day sale at helixsleep.com/babish. Links are in the video description and pinned in the comments. Good sleep is the foundation of everything you do. Thanks again to Helix Sleep for your support. We will start, as in any restaurant, by peeling and preparing the potatoes. So, I have six large Yukon Gold potatoes, I peel them and cut them into 1-inch pieces, then put them in a large container and cover with
water, where they can sit for up to 24 hours before using. Next, I'll chop a large Spanish onion quite finely. I want small pieces because I don't want to feel the big crunchy pieces in my stew. Similarly, I will finely chop the green and red bell peppers, removing the core, seeds, and membranes before slicing. I was also going to prepare one small clove of garlic, but it turned out to be one large clove, which I didn't expect. So I'll cut it into pieces the size of a garlic clove and use as much as I need. Next, I have about half a teaspoon each of fennel seeds and cumin seeds that I'm going to grind up. This will give a much fresher, brighter, and floral flavor. I'll use them as a base for a spice blend, adding a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes, half a
teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika, and about a tablespoon of regular sweet paprika. Make sure you use quality ingredients here. Mix everything together and our spice mixture is ready. Now we need to prepare the squid. I was surprised by the squid stew recipe because I always thought that if you overcook squid, it would become like a rubber band that you have to almost chew with your gums, instead of being easy to swallow. So, I have about eight little squids here. I will separate their tentacles from their tubular carcasses, and then cut these carcasses into rings, like for calamari. Then I pat the squid dry with
paper towels to make them as dry as possible, as I want to fry them before stewing. Here I have Portuguese linguine sausage. In the podcast with Dominik, I called her a linguist, so I apologize in advance. In a large cast iron skillet, I heat a tablespoon of oil until it shimmers, then add the sausage and fry until the fat renders and it starts to crisp. Then I remove it with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat and delicious browned residue at the bottom of the pan, add the onion and pepper, and start sautéing. By the way, a little note: I had to halve the recipe at the last minute because I didn't have enough squid. So the recipe on the website will reflect the correct proportions, but I had to cut everything in half, which is why I didn't
use all the peppers and onions right away. Sauté this for 3 to 5 minutes until the vegetables are nice and translucent and slightly toasted. Next, I move the peppers and onions aside, making room in the center of the pan where I'll place the squid to lightly brown over dry heat for about a minute before I mix them in with everything else. When they've been cooking for 2-3 minutes, I'll crush a couple of medium- sized garlic cloves in there; this is our spice blend, a good pinch of salt, a few turns of the mill with freshly ground black pepper, about half a cup of Spanish Rioja, maybe 3/4 cup, or maybe a whole cup, and a quarter
cup of Madeira. Then one glass of tomato passata. These are, in fact, grated tomatoes without the skin. And 12 ounces of fish stock, or in this case, clam juice. I will also add about a quarter cup of cuttlefish ink. The stew in the film looked quite dark, almost cloudy, so I wanted to make the color richer and add more squid flavor. I also add a few glasses of water, and why not add a little more wine. Then I return the sausages to the pot along with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Oh, I almost forgot the two bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a barely noticeable boil, cover with a lid, reduce the heat, and maintain this gentle simmer for one and a half to two and a half hours. Be careful not to overheat, otherwise the squid will become
rubbery. You want the process to be very delicate, slow, and over low heat. When there are about 20 minutes left in the cooking time, I will add a little more water because the dish has become too thick, and the potatoes. This time is just enough for the potatoes to cook and help thicken the stew even more. Taste, remove the bay leaves, add salt and pepper as needed, and pour into your favorite ceramic mugs, just like in the movie. So, how does it taste? I must admit, I wasn't really looking forward to this moment. I love squid, well, almost, and I didn't think they would be tender, but I was completely wrong. This stew turned out rich and tasted like gumbo, a kind of well- seasoned gumbo.
The squid was extremely tender, the potatoes were soft and filling, and the dish itself was simply bursting with flavor. I can't think of a better way to end a long shift at a restaurant, with a terrible hangover and high on caffeine, than with a mug of this hot dish. But let's do it elegantly. We'll put everything in a bowl with lime zest and parsley, especially for our cover. Mostly for the cover, but also for us, because we deserve it. Next, the film showed two types of lobster: lobster Thermidor and lobster rolls, for both of which we will need lobster.
I have a freshly killed lobster that my fishmonger kindly prepared for me, and I cut it in half lengthwise. This will allow me to pull out its huge pouch, probably the largest I've ever seen, and the green liver (tomali) at the top. This is a rather rich flavor that we will need later. Now I'm going to start by pre- cooking the meat, broiling the lobster for about 3 minutes, being careful not to overcook it because it happens quickly. I will also pour its juice into the liver, which I admit sounds quite strange. Then I carefully remove all the lobster meat and detach the claws and antennae. I'll set the meat aside, and put the shells under the grill again, this time with the opening facing up, to finish cooking them, since
they're still raw on the bottom, and this is our serving dish. Let them cool completely before we start making the sauce. I start by mixing one egg yolk with a quarter cup of cream, whisking until smooth. I set this aside and move to the stove, where I heat up 2 tbsp. l. butter until foamy. Then I add one finely chopped shallot. Fry for 3-5 minutes until it becomes soft and begins to turn golden. Then I add 1 tbsp. l. flour, fry for 1-2 minutes. This creates what is called a "singe". It's like a roux, but you use vegetables to evenly distribute the flour in the liquid, so it's a little more reliable. When the smell of raw flour
disappears, add a couple of tablespoons of brandy, shyly try to light it, think it didn't work, but notice a few small lights. Be careful. Then add 1/2 cup of milk in small portions, whisking constantly, effectively creating a béchamel. I also add 1 tbsp. l. dry sherry. After reducing the heat to a minimum, I pour in our mixture of yolk and cream. I whisk constantly to combine the ingredients and make sure the eggs don't curdle. In fact, you can turn off the heat if the pan is already hot enough. It should be warm enough for the yolks to thicken the sauce. I'll also add a quarter teaspoon of mustard powder and a tablespoon of chopped tarragon.
You can add lobster tomahawks if you wish. Not everyone likes this taste, but I think it's appropriate here. Add salt to taste and set aside until serving. Now you need to cut the lobster meat into small pieces. I have meat here from the torso and legs. When the sauce is no longer hot, but pleasantly warm, add the lobster, stir to evenly coat it with the sauce, and spoon it into the shell. Grate some soft Gruyere cheese on top. Now we send everything under the grill to brown, melt the cheese, and warm the meat. These halves are served together, garnished with whole parsley leaves. That's it, Tony's lobster thermidor. Interesting fact: in
the film, he directly references Escoffier's recipe from his cookbook. I couldn't find such a recipe in this book, maybe it was an old edition, so I had to cook it the way I think Escoffier himself would have done it. Unless he was tough enough to kill a lobster himself. But what does it taste like? The answer is divine. I love lobster thermidor. I've already cooked it on this channel with Nick DiGiovanni. This is one of the most luxurious and delicious lobster dishes I have ever tasted. It's like macaroni and cheese and lobster, only without the pasta, which at first seems like a step backwards, but the tarragon makes this dish truly special and worth a try. Next up -a lobster roll. The rolls themselves were not in the film, but they
were mentioned as a popular dish in the main restaurant where the film takes place. This time we will be steaming lobster. I poured some water into a large saucepan, added a handful of black peppercorns, squeezed the juice out of a lemon, and added two bay leaves and three cloves of garlic. I put a double boiler on top. Don't forget to salt the water. Bring to a boil and carefully place the fresh lobster inside.
Make sure you kill the lobster before doing this. This is the most humane act. I also add the claws from the other lobster because I didn't cook them under the grill, so they'll go there too. Now, after about 20 minutes, we measure the temperature at the thickest point. We need 139 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Thomas Keller, whom I trust on this matter. Then I'll cut this lobster in half, and I'll explain why. Normally I would just rip it open and pull the meat out, but I burned the shells for the lobster thermidor, the other shells because I accidentally left them under the grill. So I needed another pair of cut lobster shells, so I'm using this one. I take out all the meat, clean the liver and gizzard, and clean the claws. You do this by
ripping off the smaller claw, breaking the larger claw, and shaking out the meat. Then, similarly, we cut everything into bite-sized pieces. Next, I heat some butter in a non-stick skillet to brown the bun on all sides, wiping off any excess butter so it doesn't burn. You especially want to brown the sides. This is one of the most important indicators of a real lobster roll. Then we cook these lobster rolls hot. As far as I can tell, this is the more popular option in Provincetown, and I look forward to hearing how wrong I am about this. So, I took about 3 tablespoons of butter, which I gently heated until foamy, added the lobster and the juice of half a large lemon, mixing everything together until it was almost creamy and emulsified. Then we just put it on
our toasted bun, reveling in its elegant simplicity, and serve it with potato chips and lemon wedges. There's something truly fantastic about a simple lobster roll. This is one of the purest ways to express the flavor of lobster, and especially with butter, it focuses entirely on the lobster. Omar is truly the main star here. I highly recommend trying any of these recipes yourself, especially the squid stew. And if you're curious about what Dominic Sessa himself thought of my squid stew, tune in to the latest episode of " In the Booth with Babish," which is now available on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
