Welcome back to the show.
So we are in the kitchen,
about to cook up a cheese lovers dream from
Seattle Hotel Astra in South Lake Union.
I've got their executive chef,
Kaylin Tranky with me here.
And you're going to show me how
to make this delicious, stretchy,
excella cheese with polenta.
Did I say that right?
You did. Yeah.
It was not easy to say.
No, it's kind of complicated,
but it's a really simple cheese to make.
OK. So it's basically.
Just melting mozzarella curds and water.
I mean it's one something that every
everybody should be able to do at home.
It's, I don't know, you're
giving me a lot of credit here,
but really it's just so that's
was a big ball of mozzarella
that you just kind of started.
Well, this is the mozzarella curd.
So this is before it's mozzarella,
it's it's made into this,
it's set with the rennet,
the milk is and then you take this
cord and you want to break it down
into even sized pieces so that
the water will melt everything
evenly and this is just hot.
Water with salt in it.
Ohh, the water should be about 185 degrees
and you want it salty to the taste.
You want it a little, intensely salty.
Ocean, exactly like the ocean,
because I love. Every chef tells me
that they're like, I go, how salty
should I make it? Like the ocean?
Well, yeah, it's a good reference.
Everybody knows. I mean,
everyone knows what the ocean
tastes like because you've had
a mouthful of water. That's
exactly. So yeah,
there's no other salt in this.
So it's going to really transfer into
those curves the cheese. Exactly.
How much water, I mean, is there
kind of just like you just kind of
make sure they're good and covered.
Yeah, exactly.
There's no exact science to it.
It's making sure it's good and
covered and then having enough
heat that it melts it. Alright.
So what you can always do is if
you didn't start off with enough,
you can always add more.
You can pour off a little bit to add more if
your bowl is getting till filled with water.
All right? But once it's in there,
you kind of want to let them
sit for a couple minutes,
you want to give them a little bit of a stir,
and what you want to see is kind
of those strands starting to.
So as they connect like the little strings.
Exactly.
Interesting. I was wondering what
was gonna I'm still fascinating
to see what's gonna happen
here. So you want to kind of push
it together and give it some time?
While we're doing that, I'm gonna
turn this pan on here, alright,
and get our polenta cake going. So that's
and this is a pre made polenta cake.
She said buttermilk polenta,
yeah, we made them at the
restaurant so it's part buttermilk.
Normally it would just be water.
I like the buttermilk because it
adds a little acidity time kind of
it. Would you like me to
put these on for you? Sure.
Yeah. OK, just one or two.
Let's do both of them. All right.
That is a really good tip to to
use the buttermilk to give it a
little bit more, I don't know,
a smoother taste I would imagine.
Yeah, it's a smoother and I mean
it just gives a nice kind of.
It gives a nice little punch to
the dish because it's a lot of fat
you're eating with all the stretch of
tile on top and the creamy polenta.
If I must eat a lot of fat,
I must are adding more water to get
that cheese really start to. I see it.
I see the the change taking place.
Yeah, it's really coming
together so it's all lumped in
there together at this point,
but you can see where it's coming
together, but it's not quite
there. I would have never
thought of this as a way to melt.
Well, leave it to the
Italians for that. Yeah.
You know, they like to make everything
kind of slightly romantic and fun
and playing and water and choose.
This is fun. Tell us about Astro
Hotel as you're kind of getting that
cheese to do what it's supposed to do.
So we just opened,
we're in South Lake Union,
we're kind of right down by the
Whole Foods. And it's really,
it's a great spot to come relax,
lounge, odium means to lounge and eat.
So it's a great. We've made it.
Atmosphere, where you can come
and kind of make your own
experience in a lot of ways.
And the name of the restaurant,
odium Grill and greens.
Hmm, exactly, is why that choice
just we're really focusing
on veg forward stuff.
I like a lot of vegetables
with less protein and yeah,
good grilled vegetables,
good grilled meats, simple veggies,
everything shareable,
everything meant to be eaten together.
Kind of family style and yeah, yeah.
Really pushing for that kind of experience.
I think it's really interesting,
the name odium, you said it means
to just relax and. And chill.
Yeah, it's it's Latin and it's,
I mean that's a loose translation,
but relax, relax and eat, drink,
hang out with friends, kind of
what a neat name.
And I really like this five and it looks
like from what we're making today,
I mean this is gonna be good
kind of comfort style food,
I mean elevated comfort food for sure.
But I mean it looks absolutely delicious.
Now, as these are sizzling up
and as you're making that,
what is this topping that you've put on it?
So on the top I added just some figs,
olive oil, balsamic, some fresh basil.
And like you said, everything we do,
we try to do really fresh,
really simple, but just really good.
Good ingredients, good quality,
let everything shine through so you can
see how it's getting kind of shiny.
It looks like taffy and how
it's come together and yeah,
it's like pulling taffy and like.
That almost folding it back on
itself and then just letting you
don't wanna pull it too much.
But at this point where it's not tearing,
yeah, this is where you want
it. It's interesting to see to watching
this whole thing come together
from these little chunks of of of,
you know, torn up mozzarella
to this now this is beautiful.
So once you're doing that,
what's the next step?
So at this point we're going to cool it
down and then we're going to tear it up.
So this is just a bowl of cold water.
We would take that for.
Yeah, thank you. If you would have
taken this and put it into a ball,
you'd have a ball of mozzarella.
I would have braided it.
You would have one of those braids right now.
Got it. So this is a really good state.
Those are doing good. OK.
No, not that. This is cool.
I'll take it and just cut off
a little piece with the food.
You're just cut that cheese right there.
Exactly.
I love it. Kitchen scissors are,
by the way, my favorite tool in the kitchen.
Underrated. And I had a pair of
really nice ones that I got from
William Sonoma when I got married.
They're gone. Ohh, right now I just
have some sad little scissors.
But OK. What are you doing now?
So this is the stretchy, atella apart.
This is turning it into the rags.
So at this point it's been pulled
apart or or it's been chilled.
It's been cut.
And you're just pulling it kind of
like you did with polios when you were a kid.
OK, let's pull it all together until you.
I mean, there's really no putty, kind of.
There's no right or wrong way to do this.
It can be thicker. It can
be thinner. Actually, tell it.
Does that mean pulled stretched?
It means it's stretched rag.
It's like it's a torn rag.
OK, what is translation?
So this is the cream. Ohh.
And basically what's going to happen is
this these stretch out little pieces
are going to soak up all the cream
and this is the inside of burrata.
So. When you cut open Barata,
the inside, yeah,
that comes out is stretch oteli.
So I mean, it's it's becoming pretty popular.
You'll see it on some restaurant menus. And
I said a friend of mine makes ice cream
without actually atella and chocolate chips.
Yeah, yeah, that's great.
And that's that's kind of
another play on the name. OK. So.
Because the chocolate runs through it like
kind of like a torn thing. It's a rag.
So it's not actually cheese ice cream.
It's just it's just another play on the name.
I love it. Well, thank you.
We only have about a minute left,
so I'm going to grab the the finished
product by the magic of television.
And so now you've you've put just
the the cheese on here and the
topping and the figs. Let me get it.
So I may try it, what we can do too.
Is. I'll show you. Basically all
we do is take that warm cake.
Hmm. At this point.
To stretch your telly, here is.
Been soaking in the cream a little bit so.
And let that drain out. That right there.
Wow. Just put it right on top,
right on top.
And then here's your topping.
There's that. Alright.
I'm gonna taste this
while you finish that up.
Yeah, put that on top there. OK. That
is not what I had anticipated.
Excuse me, but this is amazing.
The texture is perfect.
Maybe it's savory?
Oh, this is my lunch. Ohh great.
I'm glad I brought extra.
Alright, well let me try that one too.
Alright. Thank you so much to Chef.
Chef kaylin.
He has shared his strategy of jello
recipe with us and you can find it
right now on New Day's website.
Let us know if you make it because
I know it's quite the process,
but I'd love to see it.