-We're here with Mason Hereford. Thanks for being with us, Mason.
-Thank you, thank you.
-His cookbook "Turkey and the Wolf:
Flavor Trippin' in New Orleans" is on sale now.
We're so very happy to have you here.
We're gonna start with a drink, right?
-We're gonna start with a drink.
I don't know how to make those, so we,
in true New Orleans fashion, are gonna have a beer and a shot.
-Alright, start with the shot, I'm assuming.
-Got to knock it on the table. -Okay, great.
-Take it down.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Nicely done. -Beautiful way to start.
Alright, so, a lot of your --
[ Laughter ]
-Alright.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Ah.
The restaurant business.
Oh, son of a -- Okay, great. [ Laughter ]
Alright, so a lot of these are spins on Southern classics.
-Yeah, exactly, but we like -- This is an example of a dish
that I just could not stomach as a kid.
-This is the bologna sandwich.
-Just a flabby bologna sandwich.
-So, how did your family make it for you when you were a kid?
-Yeah, so, my mom would give us two slices of white bread.
I love my mom. Happy birthday yesterday.
[ Laughter ]
And it would just be yellow mustard,
American cheese, and bologna. -Yeah.
-And it was really sad for all of us.
-It's a sad sandwich. -And in order to choke it down,
we put potato chips right in the center.
-Okay. -That would give it some life.
-Sure. -It was either that or no lunch,
and, you know, you got to have lunch.
[ Laughter ] So, what we've done is
we've elevated that thing to something we really like,
and we've involved a lot of people.
So I brought you some white bread from New Orleans,
baked by my friend David Weiss.
You're gonna cut it and butter it, if you do not mind.
-Alright, let's do it. -You'll notice, extra thick.
So, yeah, cut that off and then go,
like, you know, thicker than your thumb.
-Alright, great. -So, if you have a thick slice
of white bread and you grill it off, it's gonna be crispy
on the outside and still kind of chewy and steamed on the center.
You've done three. I only needed two, so that's great.
-Good. I thought we might both have a sandwich.
[ Laughter ]
-So next you're gonna apply butter.
-Okay. -Apply butter, edge to edge.
-Edge to edge. -All over.
-And I'm assuming I can be pretty --
-Well, the butter is a little cold,
so this is actually an inconquerable task.
-Okay. It's actually not bad. I think it's spreads better --
-And you did perfect. Here it is, in the pan, ready to go.
-Look, we're gonna pretend like I just did that. Alright, great.
-We're gonna move on.
Next, we're gonna have you cut the bologna,
if you do not mind. -Alright, great.
-This is actually perfect butter spreading.
-Do you want to tell me in advance
how many slices of bologna you want?
[ Laughter ]
-Let's go with four. -Okay, great. That, I can do.
-So, having tried this earlier,
I did find the serrated knife was easier.
-Mm. -So I recommend that.
-Okay. How thick are these? -Not that thick.
Let's go more towards this little sample one.
-Alright, great. -Oh, man, you're good at that too.
-Thank you. -Better than me.
-I would say, it's like an eighth of a thumb.
If we're gonna do it all in thumbs.
-Eighth of a thumb? Half of a thumb.
[ Laughter ]
Alright. -So we fry that?
-Into the pan we go, yeah. So, we've got this thing high.
It's got enough fat in it, we don't need to put
anything in the pan. -Alright, great.
Alright, and so we just did butter
in the pan for these, right?
-Yeah, so, what we did is we put the butter on the outside
of this so we could have the exact amount we wanted
and it would be all over the bread.
And as we take it out of the pan, what we're gonna do is
we're gonna lean the bread against each other
after we toast it. -Okay.
-And what we're doing is we're gonna let
some airflow go around that. -Okay.
-It's science. -Yeah.
-It's resting just like a steak,
but perhaps for a different reason.
-Most of the scientists I know dress and look like you.
[ Laughter ]
-Stop.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Nailed it. They love that.
So, what's gonna happen here is, the outside kind of gets
the crisp up, and the center is not so soggy.
If you just put it down, it wouldn't have
the structural integrity it needs for all
this girthy bologna that we got. [ Laughter ]
-Ooh, that bologna is looking good.
Hey, so I want to ask, if you can, while you're doing this,
your restaurant, there's two categories on the menu --
sandwiches and not sandwiches.
As a lover of sandwiches, I find that incredibly alluring,
how much you respect and honor the sandwich.
-Yeah, if you think about it,
the sandwich is the perfect vehicle.
I mean, I have one that's already ready.
So the sandwich is the perfect vehicle.
[ Imitates sizzling ] -Okay, great.
[ Laughter ]
-And so you have a plate of food.
And the person, the diner,
can do anything they want with that plate of food.
You have a sandwich, you've got every bite
that you've given to the guests, the diner, preordained.
You've decided exactly how they're gonna eat it.
And every bite has to be absolutely perfect.
So it's actually a lot more pressure
than being like an actual chef. -I agree, right, yeah.
-Alright, so, let's make the sandwich.
We're gonna start with mayonnaise.
-Okay. -I'm a Duke's mayonnaise guy.
I got a Duke's tattoo right here,
right next to a tattoo of my wife.
-That's great. [ Laughter ]
-So, yeah, corner to corner. You got to get the whole thing.
-Okay, yeah, I gotcha. -Yeah, 'cause some people
just do the center, and you obviously fall in that category,
which is fine. -Okay.
-No, no, no.
-Well, buddy. [ Laughter ]
Alright, what's this? -That's mustard.
-Okay. Ooh, what kind of mustard?
Or should you just show me the tattoo?
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
So, this is my friend Villa's mother's mustard recipe
that changed my life. -Great, alright.
So, we got a mustard.
-Next is a big pile of "shrettuce."
Other side. Come on. [ Laughter ]
It's fine, it's fine. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, of course it's fine.
-The lettuce has to be next to the mayonnaise.
[ Laughter ] So, yeah, shrettuce. Get it?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. They all got it.
[ Laughter ] -Next up --
-Chips? -No, no, not yet, not yet.
Next up, we've got the cheesy bologna.
-Okay, right. Bologna goes on the lettuce.
-Yeah, and then the chips, and you want a big pile of chips.
Yeah, there you go. Big. Maybe even two-handed.
-Okay. And then put this on and just smash?
-Yeah, put it on, take a look at it for a second, admire,
and then, with the hand --
Yeah, there you go.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Let's take a bow.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-[ Mumbling ]