- All right, welcome back to "Kendall Combines,"
where I, Kendall, combine two mystery ingredients
for you,
and you,
and
you.
- I'm the one who gets to taste it.
You guys have to watch.
- Have to.
- You have to watch.
You clicked on the link and now you have to stay here.
Please stay. No, no, no, no!
- I don't know what these are,
but I have a really good idea
of what one of them might be,
because I've been sending Brad
reel, after reel, after reel
of this one ingredient.
I think it's cottage cheese
and if it's not,
maybe it's in there.
- So should we uncloche these cloches?
- Yeah, I wanna do it.
(Kendal squealing happily) (Babish gasping dramatically)
- What is that?
- My one true love!
Oh, I'm so happy.
If I could, I would just talk about cottage cheese
for 30 minutes straight.
I'm used to eating cottage cheese in its purest form,
taking a little container,
putting it in a bowl,
cracking up some salt and vinegar chips, mixing them in,
eating as fast as you can so the chips don't get soggy.
That's what I'm used to.
I'll make it for you!
- That's the grossest thing I've ever, no!
Don't bring that within 50 feet of me!
Restraining order on that dish, specifically.
It's disgusting, it's awful.
- What you do in the privacy of your home,
it's absolutely, - What if this has
salt and vinegar chips?
- Then I quit.
Then I'm gonna go upstairs
and I'm never gonna come back down.
- Okay. - It's as easy as that.
- So hopefully it's not, then.
- Hopefully not.
- [Kendall] Should we find out right now?
- [Babish] Should we keep drawing it out
as long as we possibly can?
- [Kendall] (gasps) Oh. (disappointed)
(Babish laughing)
- [Babish] Are you a fan of kimchi?
- I actually am a fan of kimchi.
I'm lying.
I don't normally just eat it
for a snack as I would cottage cheese.
I don't immediately see the correlation for me.
- I don't see any correlation at all, actually.
These are the two of the most unlike things.
- [Kendall] Yeah. - I've ever seen.
- [Kendall] Yeah. - I don't want to eat this
full stop, much less with kimchi.
- I'm gonna, - I don't want that at all.
- I'm gonna go in.
- [Babish] This sucks.
- I don't think it's really gonna be that bad.
I think it's actually gonna be kind of nice.
Cheers. - Cheers.
- Okay. - [Kendall] Mm-hm!
- Flavor wise, it's actually not bad at all.
- Here's what I think happens:
They nullify each other.
I don't get very much cottage cheese,
I don't get very much kimchi.
- I would eat that.
- I would rather eat kimchi with cottage cheese
than just cottage cheese.
That's how much I dislike cottage cheese.
- [Kendall] Wow, yeah.
- Well, I'm very excited and curious
to see what you're gonna do with these,
because the possibilities are
half a dozen or something.
- Yeah! - Yeah.
- Yeah, I'd say I'm thinking of three.
- Three? - Yeah.
- I am going to go now.
And you do that. - [Kendall] Yeah!
- And then I come back and we eat it.
- Yeah, sounds great. - Yeah.
- I'm excited about this.
- Good stuff.
- You're a really good handshaker.
- [Babish] Thank you.
- I did a bit of research,
I came up with a game plan and I'm really excited.
I wrote this up yesterday,
with the idea that we're gonna do
three different variations of kimchi and cottage cheese.
So we're gonna go with the pirogi concept,
really easy for me,
I'm gonna base it off of the Babish pirogi recipe.
The kimchi pancake,
I'm gonna kind of mash it up
between the Korean-style scallion pancake
and kind of like a protein cottage cheese pancake
that I make on the regular.
We'll see how that one goes.
And last, but certainly not least,
kimchi mac and cheese with a cottage cheese sauce.
I'm very excited about that one.
We're gonna go ahead and get started with the pirogi.
So I'm gonna go ahead and start with the dough.
Three hundred and fifty grams of flour,
a teaspoon of salt,
which I'll just whisk to combine.
And then I'm gonna add four tablespoons of butter
and 120 grams of water to a pot
to warm to about a hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
It's too hot.
So this is heated, too heated, water and butter.
And so I'm gonna let it cool off for a little bit,
'cause it's about at 180 degrees Fahrenheit
and I need it at a hundred degrees.
I'm gonna go ahead and start the pirogi dough.
So we've got flour, salt,
the cooled butter water mixture.
Pour that right in,
and the room temperature beaten egg.
Then we'll transfer the dough to the work surface directly
and knead until it's smooth,
about five to eight minutes.
So this is all crackly now and ripping
and I'm just gonna continue kneading it until it's smooth.
Hopefully that happens.
All right,
that feels just about right to me.
Here is our finished dough.
I'm now going to cover it with
plastic wrap or a wet towel
and let it rest for 30 minutes,
to relax the gluten that I've just developed.
And in the meantime,
I'm gonna make the filling for the pirogi,
which has to cool down to room temperature
before I can fill them.
We've got four, pretty small, Yukon gold,
which I'm going to peel and cut into a round one-inch cubes.
Then I'm gonna add them to a pot of cold water,
then transfer them to the stove,
bring it up to a boil,
cook for around 10 to 12 minutes or until tender.
Then I'll rice the potatoes,
add in the kimchi and the cottage cheese
and let the whole thing cool to room temperature.
I think it's good,
I think it's good.
I think we'll add the last of
this little bit of cottage cheese,
but then I think it'll be good.
This is all set,
so I'm gonna go ahead and
roll out the pirogi dough, now.
We're gonna divide the dough into four equal pieces,
working with one piece at a time,
and roll the dough out to about
an eighth of an inch thickness.
And then we'll cut out rounds
using a three inch pastry cutter,
using plenty of bench flour
to prevent the dough from sticking to the surface.
To fill the pirogi,
we're going to add about a tablespoon
to a tablespoon and a half of filling
to each of the pastry rounds.
Then we're going to fold the pastry over the filling
to create a half-circle
and then crimp the edges.
And then refrigerate them until we're ready to bake,
cook, boil, and fry.
Okay? Yeah.
The pirogis are in the fridge, now.
You could boil and fry 'em up right away,
but I want that to be an end of the day thing,
so they're in the fridge waiting until I'm ready.
In the meantime, I'm gonna make us a little snack.
The kimchi cottage cheese pancake.
In a medium bowl, we're gonna whisk together
four and a half ounces of all-purpose flour
and a half a teaspoon of kosher salt.
In a separate bowl, we're gonna combine one egg,
two ounces of kimchi, roughly chopped,
three ounces of water
and one and a half ounces of cottage cheese.
Then, in a larger bowl,
we're gonna combine the wet and dry ingredients.
In a medium skillet,
we'll heat one to two tablespoons
of neutral oil over medium heat.
Then we're gonna add two to three tablespoons of batter
to the preheated skillet and cook until golden brown,
about three to four minutes per side.
Once the pancakes are cooked,
we're gonna put together a dipping sauce.
We're gonna combine two tablespoons of soy sauce,
one tablespoon plus one teaspoon of rice vinegar,
half a teaspoon of sugar,
and about one teaspoon of fresh ginger, grated;
and about a tablespoon of chopped scallion greens.
We'll whisk that together
and set aside until ready to serve.
- [Babish] I'm here trying kimchi pancakes.
- [Kendall] Yeah, I'm just ripping 'em with my fings.
- [Babish] Oh, okay.
Oh, okay. I like what's happening here.
Mm! - The sauce is a bit pungent.
- (Babish groans happily) I mean,
from now on, when I make scallion pancakes,
I'm putting kimchi in them.
Because that's the takeaway I'm taking.
I don't detect the cottage cheese, obvi.
- Yeah. - But, the kimchi
in the scallion pancake is such a welcome flavor.
That's a great sauce, too.
What do you got all in there?
That's soy sauce and, - Soy sauce,
- Black vinegar? - Rice vinegar,
- [Babish] Rice vinegar,
- [Kendall] Sugar, - [Babish] Sugar,
- [Kendall] Ginger, scallions.
Oh, I like that. - That's compelling content
and I'm excited to see what you do next.
- Yeah!
So we're gonna get started on
the kimchi mac and cheese, cottage cheese.
Kimchi mac and, hmm.
Kimchi mac and cottage cheese,
which sounds gross.
We're gonna prepare a square baking dish
with butter and set aside.
We're also gonna preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Then we're gonna go ahead
and melt two tablespoons of unsalted butter
in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Then add the whites of two scallions, finely chopped,
and six ounces of kimchi to the melted butter
and cook for three to four minutes.
Then add two minced garlic cloves,
and cook for an additional two to three minutes.
In the base of a food processor,
add six ounces of cottage cheese
and pulse until completely smooth.
(food processor grinding)
- All right, it's looking pretty smooth.
I'm just gonna, yeah, look at that.
I'm gonna scrape down the sides
'cause there are some chunks that I didn't quite catch,
but,
smooth.
Add to the smooth cottage cheese,
20 ounces of milk, one teaspoon of Dijon mustard,
and a quarter teaspoon of white pepper,
a quarter teaspoon of ground black pepper,
a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt and gochugaru to taste.
Then, in large bowl, combine the kimchi mixture,
the cottage cheese sauce, six ounces cheddar cheese,
four ounces Monterey jack cheese
and 12 ounces of dried pasta.
Fold to evenly combine,
and then pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
It's turned the milk a fun color.
You know, I am going to add a little bit more cream,
just because a lot of these shells are not submerged.
- [Brad] Yeah, I think that's a good call.
- [Kendall] Yeah.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil
and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
(kimchi mac and cheese sizzling deliciously)
Yeah.
(whispering) I love it.
Okay, so now that the mac and cheese is out of the oven,
I'm gonna let it cool for about 10 to 15 minutes
and in the meantime I'm gonna cook the pirogi
and hopefully they'll be ready to go
at exactly the right amount of time.
Start a large pot of water and bring it to a boil.
Add the pirogi directly to the boiling water
and cook for about 60 to 90 seconds.
Then we'll transfer the boiled pirogi
into a non-stick pan already preheated with oil
and cook those for one to two minutes per side,
or until golden brown and crusty.
- [Brad] Okay. Moving over here?
- [Kendall] Yeah. Hold on,
I'm just gonna transfer them to this plate over here.
The pirogi are done
and now it's time to ask Andrew to come back.
- I'm hungry.
Let's do this. (Kendall claps excitedly)
These look fantastic!
- [Kendall] Yeah?
- [Babish] Yeah. No, - [Kendall] Let's do it.
- [Babish] Start, yes.
Woo-hoo! Nice crunch on that.
- [Kendall] Ooh, it's gonna be hot.
- Asbestos mouth.
- Oh, that's right. That's right, that's right.
- It is very hot.
That is a series standout, I would say.
- Wow!
- Of the foods made on "Kendall Combines,"
that is a genuine pleasure to eat.
- Mm! Thank you!
I like that. I like it, I like it.
- I like it, that's exactly what I was saying.
- [Kendall] Yeah. - That was the general theme
of what I was trying to say.
Was I like it, yeah.
- I'll give you a bite, Brad.
- [Brad] Please! - [Babish] They can wait!
Let's go to, - Oh, you're right.
You know, we gotta do direct comparisons.
Sorry guys.
Oh, not a great sign.
- [Babish] Ooh?
Oh.
- [Kendall] Oh, no.
- [Babish] There's some water in the bottom.
- [Kendall + Babish] But where'd the water come from?
- The cottage cheese? - The milk?
Or the cottage cheese.
It's mostly water.
Ew, look at that.
Ew, it's crying.
- Ugh.
Well, okay. - Okay, well great.
- It was a cool move using shells.
I really love shells mac and cheese, that's underutilized.
- It's so homey.
I'm, so I'm seeing how it's separating.
- [Babish] Yeah. - The cottage cheesy there.
- [Babish] Yeah. I think that that,
- You know, it's not a cooked sauce
and that might be the 'ish.
- Maybe? It's still really good.
I mean, it broke for sure. - [Kendall] Yeah.
- But the texture's very nice.
- Have you gotten an kimchi yet?
- I just caught a hunk, - [Kendall] Mm hm?
- and that was, that was very nice.
- I wouldn't do it again, probably.
- Yeah, I think the sauce let you down.
- Yeah. - More accurately,
my arch nemesis cottage cheese let you down.
I think that's where the moisture's coming from
and it also has given it rather a lumpy texture.
- [Kendall] Yeah. - But, well.
- But if you pretend it's ricotta?
(laughter)
- [Babish] So you were given two very odd ingredients,
but you've turned them into some really delicious stuff.
Like, this is a true triumph.
This really works.
Cottage cheese in pirogis is right at home
and the kimchi brings that little
bit of heat and some texture,
just the way you want just normal cabbage.
- Even though this is not perfect,
I still liked eating this.
This was great,
I would actually make those again.
The pancakes I would also make again.
- I think you should feel absolutely great
about what you made today. - Thank you!
- I'm glad that you had fun doing it,
because it's ended up our fantastic dinner tonight.
Brad, are you ready to come eat some stuff?
- [Kendall] Yeah. Come Brad, Nico, come eat!
- [Babish] Now. This is compelling content.
(Kendall laughing)
(lo-fi music)