(upbeat jazzy music)
- So we're back, part two,
and we are throwing a holiday potluck.
- That's right, we're inviting a bunch
of our friends, co-workers, close acquaintances
to a potluck that we're having a little bit later.
But today we're going to be seeing
some of those desserts
that are gonna show up at the potluck.
- Mm-hm.
- One of them is going to be homemade
and one of them is going to come from
a bakery here in Los Angeles.
We're on our way downtown to the Pie Hole,
where we will hopefully put some pie
into our pie holes.
(sneezing)
- Bless you.
- Sneeze hole back there.
(laughing)
Hey Google, how is traffic to the Pie Hole downtown?
- [Google] There's light traffic
from your location to the Pie Hole,
so it'll take about 28 minutes.
- OK. Pie Hole silver, away!
(dance music)
- Hi I'm Sean Brennan,
I'm one of the founders of the Pie Hole.
Today we're here at our original location
and we're gonna try some of our awesome holiday pie.
- Tell us about the Pie Hole.
- [Sean] The Pie Hole was founded in 2011,
we were coming out of a terrible economy,
and people were looking for something
that made them feel good, which is comfort food.
We always think about what could be served
at the dinner table.
You can't disappoint grandma
and it also has to impress your friends
who have really high expectations.
Joining us in the kitchen today is gonna be Bianca,
and she's gonna take us through the making
of all of our awesome holiday selections.
- Hi, I'm Bianca Molina,
I'm the Director of Training for the Pie Hole.
- Which pies are we going to be having today?
- We're starting off with the mom's apple crumble.
The mom's apple crumble has a butter crust.
We flute it, make it super pretty
then we go ahead and we dump our apple mix inside.
It's two pounds worth of apples,
we top it off with our house made crumble,
bake it off for about 30 to 45 minutes,
and it's ready to serve.
- And so this is, it has a crumble topping
and not like a pastry topping?
- We've done the pastry crust top,
we've done a strudel top,
but this one is what guests love
so we do it.
And then our newest pie
it's the salted chocolate.
It's on a pretzel crust,
then you have a dark chocolate ganache.
Super thick and decedent.
Then we top it off with olive oil,
sprinkle it with a little bit of sea salt flakes,
then it's topped off with pomegranate.
It adds a splash of flavor,
makes it a little bit refreshing.
- [Andrew] Sounds really tasty.
- It might be my new favorite pie.
Then the third pie will be salted caramel pecan.
We add pecans, then our secret little caramel filling;
the pecans rise to the top,
we finish it off with a little bit of sea salt,
we bake it off and then you have our salted caramel pecan.
The Earl Grey tea was put on the menu
when Downton Abbey came back.
Guests loved it, we haven't taken it off since.
It's got a layer of dark chocolate ganache,
salted pistachios,
then you have our Earl Grey tea infused
white chocolate mousse.
We brew the Earl Grey tea.
It steeps overnight and then we cook off the mousse,
then it's topped with house made whipped cream
and roasted salted pistachios.
- It's funny 'cause I don't think
that's really a tea-flavored pie.
It's like a pie that is this whole new delicious flavor
that happens to be Earl Grey.
- I could not have said it better myself.
(all laughing)
(lighthearted piano music)
- [Steven] So you make pies
but you also do the coffee.
- I do the coffee.
- So what was your first job here?
- [Bianca] I was a barista.
I've loved coffee my entire life.
My great great grandfather was
the largest coffee importer in Nicaragua
and it's something that, you know,
I just grew up really admiring
and now I oversee our coffee program as well.
It's always top-tier coffee.
We roast it locally and when we serve it to our guests
we do it with lots of love.
- Okay we gotta steal a little taste
before we head over to the potluck
and of course we're not gonna leave
without drinking some coffee.
(mugs clinking)
(exhaling)
- [Andrew] Apple first, let's do it.
- [Steven] Okay.
(slow jazzy piano music)
Oh my goodness.
- It's phenomenal.
- Oh yeah.
- You know sometimes you have a problem with pie
where the top crust breaks off
and you run out of it very quickly 'cause it all falls off
but with a crumble, each little bit of apple
has a little bit of the topping on it.
- [Steven] Yeah. OK we got a Earl Grey pie.
Whoa, that is so different.
- It has a hint of Earl Grey tea
but it's not really just Earl Grey flavor.
- This almost reminds me of a cheesecake.
- This is truly one of the most
unique desserts I've ever had.
- They're gonna be expecting like a heavy pie.
But then they're gonna get a light, refreshing pie
and their minds are gonna be blown that you can have pie
and feel sky high at the same time.
- Damn, you almost like spit some sick bars.
- Yeah I did, yeah.
- Those pies are gonna be delicious.
- Yeah they were delicious.
- Now we're on our way to
- [Steven] Rie!
- So Rie, if you didn't know
is quite an avid dessert-eater and maker,
and she is going to be making something
for our potluck called croquembouche.
- I've never had a croquembouche before.
- I've never had a croquembouche either.
- I've had a croak in my throat though.
(laughing and hiccupping)
- But not in your boosh?
(upbeat jazzy music)
- [Steven] Hi Rie.
- [Andrew] Thank you for doing the potluck with us.
- Oh yeah, thank you for having me.
(hands slapping and laughter)
- This is weird.
- [Rie] Yes.
Because you've done interviews with us before
but now we're interviewing you.
- So who are you?
- I'm Rie, I'm a pastry producer.
- What are you making for our potluck?
- I'm making croquembouche.
Croquembouche is a cream puff tower
but I'm going to make it a Russian roulette.
So some of the cream puff has cream,
some of the cream puff has wasabi.
- Oohhh.
- Is that the Rie special?
- Mmhmm.
- We didn't ask you to do that
but I'm glad that you just wanted to do it anyway.
- It's a party so you have to have a game, right?
- Yeah.
- So it's like a fun game.
So first you make pâte à choux which is choux pastry.
You combine water and butter
and bring it to a boil,
then add a pinch of salt for flavor,
and you sift the flour and combine at once
and you just mix very fast
and once the dough forms like a ball,
you're going to take off from the heat
and add eggs one by one.
I love making dessert.
My mom is a chef so they used to have a small cafe
but whenever she made pastry at home,
I'd just get really excited 'cause it doesn't happen often.
So I think that's the reason
I really started liking making dessert.
- And what kind of cream are you filling them with?
- [Rie] I'm going to combine custard cream
and whipped cream, and combine together.
- [Andrew] And what is better about custard
than just like, filling these with whipped cream?
- [Rie] I've just grown up eating with custard
and heavy cream filling.
In Japan I think it's the most common way.
But I think if it's just custard it's too heavy,
if it's just whipped cream it's a little bit boring,
so I like the two together, I like the flavor better.
When you pipe it in the bottom,
you make cross cuts so it's easy to pipe.
Make sure you don't fill too much
because when it becomes heavy
it's more difficult to make the tower.
When you're making caramel don't touch it,
leave it until it reaches 335.
- So the caramel is like the glue for this tower.
- [Rie] Mmhmm, yes.
Which, you're going to help me today.
(laughing)
- Help you make the tower.
- Yeah.
- Isn't that like the important part?
- It's the important part so I need help.
- OK.
- [Rie] Yeah.
(upbeat whimsical music)
- [Rie] So it's just dip and stick.
- [Andrew] Dip
- [Rie] Dip.
- [Andrew] and stick.
(clapping)
- Next.
- So you used to work in restaurants
but you weren't a dessert chef necessarily.
- I majored culinary art
and then when I started working at the restaurant
I asked pastry chef
"Can I also work for the pastry station?"
So I worked at the savory station
for three days a week
and two days a week I did the pastry station.
When you make dessert you don't make it for yourself,
you're making for somebody else,
I like the element of that.
- Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh!
Oh it's burning me.
- Sharing food, especially something special, hits people.
- Shh. Wasabi one.
- [Steven] Why did you select croquembouche
for our holiday potluck?
- [Rie] I wanted to make something celebratory.
I made a croquembouche only once
but I've cream puff a thousand times
'cause it's my favorite dessert to make.
I like the transformation,
I like watching it puff up.
- Alright, we've got the croquembouche.
It looks delicious, can we do a little bit
of a test, a tasting?
- Yeah, here, leftover.
- Leftover? Is it wasabi?
- I'm not eating that one.
- I want it!
- I'm gonna eat a regular one.
Steven's brave enough to have the wasabi.
- How strong is the wasabi?
- One to 10 scale?
- Yes.
- Eight.
- Is it like eating a glob of wasabi?
- Yeah.
- Alright, cheers Steven.
- Cheers.
(suspenseful music)
(Rie laughing)
- That's it. Tomorrow's the big day.
Potluck day.
Man, wouldn't it be a shame
if you also got this on the night of the potluck?
- [Rie] Spit it out!
- It's really hot.
- Are you OK?
- Uh-uh.
Oh man, that is so strong.
It's everywhere.
(coughing)
- This is really cruel.
And that is croquembouche Russian roulette.
High five!
Tomorrow's the big day.
Potluck day.
(jazzy music)