NARRATOR: Major funding for Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation Incorporated.

Additional support by Zatarain's, bringing the flavors of New Orleans home for over 125 years.

Zatarain's born and raised in New Orleans.

From the spice of jambalaya to the flavors of a classic crab boil, it's a taste of New Orleans made at home.

And by Camellia Beans, rooted in New Orleans since 1923.

A family business with a devotion to beans spanning four generations.

Camellia Beans, a taste of home.

DOOK: Today on "A Chef's Journey," we're in Plaquemines Parish to showcase the fresh bounty of southeast Louisiana at a family-owned farm.

For four generations, DiCarlo Creole Farm has grown a variety of seasonal produce for farm-to-table meals.

Vince DiCarlo is going to show us around his family farm, and we'll see an Italian specialty crop that he brings to markets, cucuzza.

♪ (theme music playing) ♪ ♪ ♪ DOOK: So you're teaching me everything here on the farm, but I hear you're a principal when you're in the school.

How, how do you translate that from the farm to the school?

VINCE: During the weekday, I'm known as Principal DiCarlo.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: On the weekend, I'm Chenzo the Farmer.

So I grow vegetables here, grow fruits here.

At school, we grow kids.

DOOK: I love it.

VINCE: Same thing.

Both of them are a passion, and it's just great.

DOOK: So, tell me a little bit about what this is and then the history of the family farm.

VINCE: Chef, this is an Italian squash called a cucuzza.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: Or as they mispronounce it, gagootz.

Great-grandfather Giachino came over in 1919.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: He was sponsored by his older brother, Joseph, and he left my grandfather, who was six, his sister, who was four, his other sister, who was two, and my great-grandmother and said, "I'll send back to you seven years," because it took seven years to get citizenship.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: So they arrived here in 1927, but Grandfather Giachino, he was already farming this land.

So this is how he paid for his family... DOOK: To come on over.

VINCE: ...to come on over.

DOOK: And this celebrates that history, the beautiful cucuzza.

And that's the story of just celebration of tradition and culture and those generations of being passed down, why I see you so passionate about this farm, because it's a family story.

So let's go get started, but first you got to show me how to cut this cucuzza.

VINCE: Oh, absolutely.

You're going to transition from chef to farmer today.

DOOK: So this one looks perfect, but how do you know when it's ready to cut?

VINCE: You look for the length.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: ...and you look for the diameter.

This is probably maximum that you want to cut because you have minimum amount of seeds.

DOOK: Here it goes.

VINCE: First cucuzza I got cut.

DOOK: First cucuzza.

So let's go see what else you got growing.

VINCE: Okay, the next step for you as a farmer we're going to pick eggplant.

DOOK: I love it.

VINCE: Here you go.

Here's a nice big one right here.

Medium size.

DOOK: So we come right here.

You hold this bucket right here.

VINCE: Yep.

DOOK: And I come right at this stem.

VINCE: There you go.

You're a natural, chef.

DOOK: Oh, man, you hiring?

VINCE: Incredible, now this is called Barabella.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: This is an Italian eggplant.

Both of these eggplant have minimum amount of seeds.

DOOK: We still picking vegetables.

We got to keep going.

VINCE: We still going... we're going to jalapenos now.

DOOK: Let's go.

Let's make some heat.

VINCE: Make sure you have your gloves on.

DOOK: I'm ready for it.

VINCE: This is jalapeno peppers.

DOOK: Uh-huh.

VINCE: Rule number one is you already have it done.

DOOK: You got me prepared.

VINCE: You got to pick with gloves.

You cannot pick with your bare hands because when you rub your eyes, it's not a good feeling, okay?

Everything starts out green, and the older ones eventually turn out red.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: So when they turn red, they're going to be hotter than the green ones.

Now, the ladies that make pepper jellies, they love the red ones because it gives it a extra spice.

DOOK: What I'm looking at here, and I heard you say it, this is Christmas in July.

VINCE: This is Christmas in July.

DOOK: So next up is where?

VINCE: Next step, we're going to pick regular bell peppers.

DOOK: Ooh, I love it.

So, from a hot jalapeno to a regular bell pepper.

VINCE: Absolutely.

DOOK: Let's go get it.

VINCE: You're becoming a great student, chef.

I love it.

DOOK: Hey, I'm trying.

VINCE: You're learning.

DOOK: Now we at the beautiful bell peppers, and they work similar to jalapenos, right?

VINCE: This variety here goes from green to yellow.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: The variety in the front goes green to red, and there's also a variety that goes from green to orange.

DOOK: And when you're thinking about cooking, you're thinking about the trinity, you're thinking about bell pepper, celery, onion.

Beautiful bell peppers fresh out the garden.

We use these all the time.

These peppers are beautiful.

I know there's a few more things you want to show me.

Let's get to... where we going next?

VINCE: Oh, we're going to, it makes the men out of boys.

DOOK: Uh-oh.

VINCE: We're going to pick okra.

Now, picking okra, it's not for everybody, okay?

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: You have to have gloves.

You have to have long sleeves.

You don't have those items, you're going to itch all night long, and it's going to eat through the skin of your fingertips.

DOOK: So I go in, in, in and fingers, how, how am I working this?

Show me.

VINCE: So what you do is you take the piece of okra right here, and you put it between your middle finger and your fourth finger.

DOOK: Uh-huh.

VINCE: And one's the base, and your middle finger snips it.

DOOK: Oh, snip right off.

VINCE: Comes right off.

DOOK: So I heard snap, but I didn't know what you... Hold on.

VINCE: That's me snapping.

DOOK: I'm learning, snap.

VINCE: There you go.

DOOK: Oh, look, I have all the vegetables that I need.

I'm just so excited.

This inspires me to get in the kitchen and get cooking.

When you're talking about farm-to-table, this is it.

VINCE: At the end of the day, a good farmer always puts his tractor up.

DOOK: Okay.

VINCE: My grandfather taught me how to drive this tractor in 1966 when I was three years old.

So now you have the privilege of learning how to drive this tractor.

DOOK: Well, I'm going to get on this tractor, and I'm taking it all the way to the kitchen.

Welcome to my kitchen, where inspiration and creation come together in a celebration of culture.

Today, as we talk about farm-to-table, I have this wonderful cucuzza, also known as gagootza, referred to as an Italian squash, because you cook it similarly to that way.

Look how beautiful this is.

But I want to show you how to prep this.

I want to show you how to tackle this before you get started.

You start with the skinnier piece, and then it goes on to the, the thicker piece.

The smaller piece will have smaller seeds, and you don't have to take those out, right, it's okay.

But as you get thicker, these seeds become bigger, so you have to peel this.

So I have a paring knife here, and we just come, come through like if you're peeling a potato or anything else.

You just want to take that skin, and you really want to get to that white part, the soft part.

You want to make sure that skin is all the way off here.

So we just work this all around here.

Cut this one in half.

Now work this big one, just to give you a glimpse of what we're talking about here.

See how we have the smaller piece, the skinnier, and then this one that's a little bigger, that has that seed.

What I like to do is you can just come, create just a V, just to get right under those seeds and pop it out.

All that's gone.

Then we just slice in a nice little inch, half-inch cubes that we have here, right here.

Of course, I have my pot.

It's getting warm, I'm on medium heat.

And you all should know the routine now, we're going to start with a little butter, not too much.

Drizzle a little olive oil in there.

And we'll let that get hot.

And now we'll start to add in our onions.

And this is the same way as if you were doing any other squash or eggplant.

You're still layering those flavors, right?

We're still starting with those onions.

We want that beautiful butter and olive oil to coat them up.

And this is where you can start to smell.

You normally smell that butter hitting you.

Now you're smelling that beautiful olive oil coming right on up, and you know it's coating those onions pretty good.

I'll add just a little salt to help those speak.

And now we'll start to add the gagootza or the cucuzza.

You choose.

We'll hit those with a little salt there.

And we'll come in with a little cayenne pepper, give it a little heat, and of course, the dry thyme.

We'll start to add this garlic right on there.

This, you can start to smell all of this coming to you.

And I don't want to sauté it too much; I have to add in these tomatoes here.

So we have some diced tomatoes.

And as you add these in, what that does is it also deglazes the bottom of this pan to start to pick up that seasoning that's left behind.

So as we talk about farm-to-table, what I'm really diving into, you know my, my great-grandfather had a green thumb.

When I went to Madisonville, they had everything, you can fish on the Tchefuncte, but then you can go home, and you can see the garden growing.

My Uncle Charles had quails growing in the back, you know, everything.

They just appreciated not only people and life, but they appreciated the bounty of the land.

And that growing up as a kid, that taught me so much.

When you come in the kitchen, you really want to honor not only the history and the culture, but actually whether it's a vegetable or the fruit.

So, as we talk about layering flavor and developing flavor, I always like to have a two process where I deglaze twice.

As you saw, we came in, and we deglazed with those diced tomatoes.

Now I have a little chicken stock here.

Of course, if you don't want to add chicken stock, you can add vegetable stock.

You can add just a little water.

And what you're looking to do is just create this beautiful gagootza stew, where it's developing all those flavors from the garlic, the onions, the dried thyme, the cayenne pepper, that tomato's coming through with a little bit of acidity, and of course, some heat from that cayenne pepper.

This, you want to leave on your stove at a simmer.

You don't want to boil.

Leave it on your stove for about 20 minutes.

This smells amazing.

It's been simmering for 20 minutes, and you can see it just really reduced, and it developed.

You can see how tender the cucuzza is.

That's what we're looking for.

The last thing I have to do is really give this a taste to make sure we have all the flavor spot on where we need it to be.

Mm.

Oh, man.

The tenderness of it.

You get a little heat from that cayenne.

You get that tomato that's singing to you, that dried thyme.

But the one thing I notice I am missing is I want to add a little fresh basil to this.

So we'll add it in.

And the reason why you add it at the end, you want that herb to speak, but you also want the color to stay green.

So we're adding in a beautiful fresh basil right here.

And now we're ready to plate.

Oh, man.

This is just a beautiful dish.

I am some glad gagootza made its way to the farms in Louisiana, because when you're talking about celebrating culture, you can also taste it in a celebration.

And that's one thing that we have here.

When you look at these beautiful colors.

What we have here is some fresh basil.

When you talk about a dish that really just showcases farm-to-table, this gagootza, cucuzza, it smells divine, but I know there's history, I know there's tradition, and certainly culture right here.

What I love about farm-to-table is just the variety of produce that's available to you.

But also, not just the variety, the different heirloom versions of it, right?

Farmers now have a way to showcase just history and culture through what they're planting.

When you look at these beautiful carrots, right, these are heirloom carrots.

And when you look at it, this white one here, these are native to Europe, and now we plant them right here in Louisiana.

So you don't want to do much to these.

You want to showcase these beautiful carrots here.

We have a little pot of boiling water that's going.

I'm going to add a little salt to it.

And what we're looking to do here is just blanch them.

We're going to blanch these carrots.

And blanching means you're going to boil them lightly, soften them up, because we're going to work them into something magical later.

So while this water's boiling, I'm going to bring it down just a little bit, and we'll start to add these carrots right on in.

Now, there is a violet version of this.

Do that one separately, because that'll start to change the color, and you don't want these pretty ones to get affected by that purple glow that that one will bring.

And I think that's going to be about it right here.

What we've done to these carrots before we blanched them, we certainly peeled them, and we took the stems off.

So you're going to get a beautiful carrot that's clean, the skin's off.

We snipped those tops.

If you know, we're saving those tops for gumbo z'herbes.

I want to bring this to not a heavy boil, but just a light simmer.

We're going to let this simmer for 15 minutes.

You're looking to get them soft.

We have some right here, but I want you to see where you can move.

This is the texture we're looking for, right?

That's when you know it's soft.

It's not breaking apart, but it's nice and soft and moist on the inside as well.

What you want to do after this blanches for 15 minutes, you are going to take this out, and immediately you're going to put those carrots into an ice bath.

What that does that brings that vibrant color back.

So when you can look at these beautiful carrots that we already blanched, and we already put in an ice bath, the orange is shining, and the yellow is shining, and the white is shining.

And now we can go and speak to the glaze that we're just going to coat these with.

We're going to start working this beautiful honey that we have here.

Just look at this beautiful golden color.

I mean, the sweetness.

That honey, boy, it hits you right as you put it in that pot.

I know this is going to be delicious.

You want to let this just heat up just a little bit.

So we added that honey and that heat, it's going to lighten it up a little bit, and we want to create a glaze.

We want this to reduce just a little bit.

But to this, we got to add a few things.

Certainly, I'm going to add just a little salt just to pick it up.

We're going to let that go for just a little bit before we add that lemon juice.

I want to start to create a thickening sauce where it'll almost deglaze with a little bit of lemon juice, and then we're going to let that reduce just a little more.

We'll stir this around just a little bit.

We don't want it to, to scorch at the bottom, but I mean, just that flavor you're enriching in that honey.

To this, we'll add just a little bit of lemon juice here.

And not too too much.

To that, I want to add these beautiful local habaneros, but you really just want to add just a little, because that's where the heat is going to come through.

Because if you know about these peppers, they have some heat to it, so just a little goes a long way.

We're almost there.

I like the color that we're getting here.

I love the smell that we're getting here.

And now we're going to add some of our carrots back here.

You hear that sizzle.

That's that juices that's already being released.

And I'm not going to crowd this pot too, too much because I want to showcase this beautiful glaze that we have in here.

Now you're just sweating it down again.

As it sweats down and it's thickening up more, that glaze is starting to coat those carrots.

It's got to get thicker again.

Those carrots are starting to warm up.

You just want to lightly maneuver them over.

And now you can start to see the shine on that carrot.

Still, I haven't added the mint, right?

Any fresh herb you want to add to the last, last minute, because you want that color to shine on that beautiful mint.

You know, this always remind me, when, when you have farm-to-table, when you're in your backyard farm like they were back in the day in Madisonville, simplicity was everything because the produce shined.

The protein shined.

You didn't have to overwork anything.

We have a, a beautiful honey that's working in here.

We have a little bit of habanero pepper.

We're going to add some mint, and that's all you need because that carrot is going to showcase, it's going to speak to you.

So this is what we're looking for.

You can start to see that consistency that's coating here.

You know it's going to glaze that.

Before I go any further, I want to make sure that heat didn't overpower too much of that honey.

Ooh, man.

You taste the sweetness of that honey.

You taste the sweetness of that carrot juice flowing through.

But you get that back part of that habanero pepper.

The last thing we have to do is add the mint to this.

I'm going to add just a little in here so it picks up some of that flavor before I plate it.

And if you can look at these beautiful carrots, oh man.

I want to make sure you get all the colors.

I mean, when you talk about something that's just simple, easy, but farm-to-table, this, this is the reason why they did it.

I'm going to top that with a little mint here.

No, I didn't forget, and I wouldn't dare leave the rest of that beautiful honey glaze in this pot.

I just want to make sure you understand what's needed when you come through, and you just pour that glaze right on top.

Oh, man, look at that.

Now that, my friends, heirloom carrots, habanero honey-mint glaze.

It's hitting my nose.

It looks beautiful.

This side speaks farm-to-table.

This dish brings it all home for me.

When you talk farm-to-table, out of the garden, out of the river.

I can remember going looking in the backyard, beautiful garden, and then we would walk right across the street to that Tchefuncte River and go fishing, and that's when we would bring home these beautiful catfish.

So this dish is very simple.

Catfish, we took the skin off.

We're going to season them.

As you do just with the produce, you want the protein to speak by itself.

Here we have some egg wash.

It's one egg, half milk, half water.

We whisk that together.

But at each step, we do want to add a little seasoning, so I threw in a little salt.

We'll have a little pepper in there.

Same with corn flour.

We fry in corn flour.

I'll put a little salt in there as well, a little pepper, and in that corn flour, I'll add just a little bit of granulated garlic.

So while we're working, I've been having this cast-iron skillet hot.

You want that oil to get to 350 degrees.

Now, we're going to fry at 325, but as I add this fish in, it's going to bring that temperature down slightly, so that's why it's going to get us to that 325.

It's coming up to about 340 right now.

While that's getting up, we're going to start to season our catfish here.

A little salt, a little pepper, a little garlic, and I'm going to flip them over.

Make sure we get seasoning all over, as well as inside that cavity we're going to go for.

And now you can start to hear that oil start to pop a little bit.

That's when we know we're right where we need it to be.

A little salt here, a little pepper.

So before I go in there, I'm going to do a little bit in that cavity.

Salt, a little pepper, a little garlic.

Let me check for my oil to make sure we're hot.

Oh yeah, that's when you know it's there.

So now we're going right into this egg wash.

Coming out, going right here.

Dry hand, coming, flipping right here.

And you want to make sure you get that corn flour all over in this cavity.

And that egg wash, that helps the corn flour adhere to that fish.

When you think about that crispy texture on the outside, that egg wash is what's helping that out.

So here now we're ready.

We'll add this one in here, and we'll let the magic begin.

(sizzling).

And this just brings back those childhood memories, man.

I mean, having so much fun.

I mean, you talk about just going outside.

You had so much to do, whether you were in a garden, whether you were on a river, whether you were just playing and riding bikes, and running through the woods.

You name it, we had just a blast outdoors.

We didn't want to come inside.

We had to come inside because it was, you know when the sun goes down, you have to come inside, but we never wanted to come inside.

I'll start to season this last one right here in this, this egg wash.

Another thing that you want to do, as long as you're deep-frying, you never want to crowd the pot.

So I'm going to make sure, I'm going to check my temperature.

I'm still at a good 325, so I believe I can add this last one to that pot.

We'll find a little room.

I think I have some room right on this side.

And then you just don't want to throw it in, you want to layer it in.

Right, you don't want to create a grease splash.

We're going to let this fry on each side for five minutes.

Right where it gets to that beautiful golden brown, I'm going to start to flip it on that other side.

When you flip, use the pot to help you.

Flip it right on that backside of that pot so you don't create any big splashes.

We'll pick this one up.

I'll use this other fish to help that one out, so we don't create any big splashes.

This one, I'll let go a little bit.

That was the last one we put in.

But this just brings back so many memories.

Uh, and the smells.

You know, you knew what was happening inside that house when the smell is coming outside the windows.

You knew almost when I came back in from running around, and I'm filthy and dirty.

I just had to wash my hands, and we were going to sit at that dinner table and have a blast.

This last one is looking pretty good.

I'll go ahead and flip that now using this backside.

And now that golden brown color that you're looking for.

As you can see, that's what we're coming for.

This is that color that we're looking for right here, that beautiful golden brown.

That's when you know you have something there.

So this is the beautiful golden brown that we're looking for, that crispiness.

We're going to pat this dry just like this.

You see it, just a beautiful fish.

I'll get this one here, and then we're going right on top.

I'll pat this one dry, and then you put that one right on top.

So you understood that when you were outside playing, and you had the smell of that beautiful fish frying coming through the neighborhood, that you were coming into something special?

Just as much fun as you had outside, someone was in the kitchen having even more fun.

So this just brings back so many memories.

Thanks for joining me as we explore the food traditions of New Orleans and the reason why we cook what we cook.

I'll see you next time for the next chapter in my journey.

NARRATOR: In his new cookbook, Chef Dook Chase explores the legendary dishes and unique food traditions of New Orleans.

This companion to "A Chef's Journey," with all the recipes from the series and more than 125 color photos, is available for $32.99 plus shipping.

To order, call 1-800-815-3153 or purchase online at wyes.org.

DOOK: It's going to be a ride.

Let's start it.

GUEST: All right.

DOOK: Well, thank you, as always, keeping the tradition going strong.

GUEST: But you have to drink.

It's really bad luck.

DOOK: Well, well, okay.

GUEST: Okay, okay.

DOOK: We're going to toast again and drink.

GUEST: Okay.

All right, all right.

Sorry, I'm very superstitious.

DOOK: And, and the person who does it best does it.

Like macaroni, I'm not cooking macaroni.

My cousin Wayne is.

PRODUCER: Okay.

DOOK: So... Because my wife will be like, "Is this Wayne's macaroni?"

I'm like, "That's kind of hard," but okay.

(laughing).

PRODUCER: "Dook and Maya," scene four, take two.

DOOK: It's on me.

(laughing).

GUEST: Oh.

DOOK: I'm like, "Wait, what?"

All right.

GUEST: Delicious soft shell crab salad.

DOOK: And this was the dish to let you know the fifth generation was stepping into the kitchen.

GUEST: And moving the fourth on out.

(laughing).

DOOK: Bye-bye.

NARRATOR: For more information about "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey," visit wyes.org.

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Dook Chase: A Chef's Journey" was provided by the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation Incorporated.

Additional support by Zatarain's, bringing the flavors of New Orleans home.

Rooted in the city's rich culinary traditions, Zatarain's is born and raised in New Orleans.

From rice mixes to frozen meals, it's an authentic taste of New Orleans.

And by Camellia Beans.

You shouldn't rush a red bean.

Let it cook, then you can gather around with family and share in its distinct culture.

Camellia Beans, a taste of home.

♪ ♪