next step is to fold in the cheese
what does that mean what does fold in
the cheese mean
he folds it in i i understand that but
how how do you fold it do you fold it in
half like a piece of paper and drop it
in the pot or what do you do
david i cannot show you everything okay
well can you show me one thing
hey what's up guys welcome back to
binging with babish where this week
we're taking a look at the enchiladas
from shit's creek
as well as answer the question that
plagues the rose family just how does
one
fold in the cheese but first things
first in order to make enchiladas we
gotta make an enchilada sauce
for which we have a variety of dried
chilies the majority of which
are a bunch of cherry red guajillo
chilies these have a nice round fruity
flavor they're a little bit smoky and
they're not too hot
then over on the sweeter smokier side of
things we've got some dried ancho
chilies which are just a dried version
of my very favorite chili the poblano
and then i've got a couple optional
pasilla chilis which are kind of the
best of both worlds they're smoky fruity
and earthy
using a variety of chilies like these in
your enchilada sauce is gonna help give
you a deeper and more complex flavor now
to turn these chilies into our salsa
roja we must first remove their stems
and seeds and then cut them into one
inch segments we're doing this because
the stems are stems and because the
seeds hold most of the heat
so while this is still going to be spicy
it's not going to be see things that
aren't there kind of hot we're also
going to peel and cut a medium onion
into chunks
have two plum tomatoes and peel three
cloves of garlic and then we're headed
over to the stovetop where we're first
going to dry roast our peppers
this just like toasting any spice is
gonna help deepen its flavor so we're
just gonna hit these in a dry pan over
medium heat for like one to two minutes
you don't want to see any smoke you just
want to smell beautiful smells then
we're setting those aside and directly
into our hot pan go
our onions and tomatoes to char a little
bit we just want our vegetables pick up
a little bit of color to add some nice
roasty flavors to our sauce once
achieved our chilies are headed back
into the pot along with just enough
water to cover everybody up as well as
the three aforementioned garlic cloves
then we're bringing this whole mixture
up to a bare simmer maybe with a
generous pinch of mexican oregano this
is not only going to soften our
vegetables to a blendable state it's
going to provide the perfect environment
in which to cook our chicken
three large breasts that we're going to
butterfly so as they cook
faster and more evenly you can pound
them out between sheets of plastic wrap
if you like for even more optimal
results either way
we're killing the heat under our
vegetables and nestling in our chicken
this is going to gently coax them up to
a state of doneness
unlike the somewhat traumatic process of
straight up boiling them in water
so we're gonna end up with juicier
tender chicken for our enchiladas
once nestled we're going to cover them
and let them sit for 15 minutes
which should be just enough time to
bring them up to an internal temperature
of 165 degrees fahrenheit so we're going
to evacuate our chicken out onto a plate
and begin the process of turning these
vegetables and liquids into a sauce and
since we want a relatively smooth sauce
we're gonna do so in a blender i'm
starting by straining out the solids and
then adding just enough cooking liquid
to cover them so we get a nice
thick consistency we want something with
a consistency like canned tomato sauce
then enough to pour but thick enough to
stand up for itself
go ahead and taste for seasoning
obviously it's gonna need a few generous
pinches of kosher salt
and several tantalizing twists of
freshly ground black pepper blend it one
more time to combine
and our salsa roja is ready to rock now
to contend with our fillings we're gonna
simply shred our chicken into
nice little shreds we're going for
something almost with the consistency of
shredded chicken you'll know when to
stop when your chicken is fully shredded
and then i want some more hot poblano on
poblano action
so i'm removing the seeds and stems from
and cutting in half
three fresh poblano peppers and like we
have several times on the show before
we're going to fire roast them directly
on the stovetop this can be a sort of
intimidating experience especially when
your fire alarm inevitably goes off but
just turn on your fan
open a window apologize to the neighbors
and roast them until their exteriors are
fully blackened then we're piling them
together in some aluminum foil and
wrapping them up like a little poblano
pepper package
this is gonna allow the peppers to steam
a little bit both softening their flesh
and making their skin super easy to peel
off that sounds way more gruesome than
it is
using gloved hands because poblanos can
be wild card spicy sometimes we're gonna
scrape off all those carbonized
exteriors revealing perfectly roasted
poblano peppers underneath i doubt this
is what they did in shit's creek but
these were on sale and they're just too
good to not put in my enchiladas
but something they did do on chet's
creek is try to figure out just what it
means to fold in the cheese
about the only context in which i could
imagine you can fold in cheese when
making enchiladas would be with a simple
queso so i'm making a roux out of three
tablespoons each flour and butter
cooking those together for one to two
minutes and then slowly streaming in two
cups of whole milk
until a thick white sauce is formed
otherwise known as a bechamel
this is what it looked like david was
constantly stirring when they got into
the fight about the folding of the
cheese
which after we kill the heat is the very
next step we're gonna add in our eight
ounces of shredded queso de papa
and then you guessed it we're gonna if
you say fold in
one more time it says fold it in yes
using a rubber spatula we're going to
fold in the cheese
which basically just means stirring
gently from the bottom upward
folding the liquid up over the cheese so
as to help it melt gently and not break
the sauce
so in the end we are greeted with a nice
smooth queso which can make a perfect
topping for our enchiladas
the last integral ingredient of which is
corn tortillas
which as you can see fresh out of the
package are pretty brittle and fragile
and will not respond well to rolling so
to make our tortillas more flexible and
amiable for enchilada use we need to
first fry them in a little bit of
vegetable oil we're heating this oil
over medium heat until just
shimmering dropping in our tortillas and
frying only a few seconds per side
we do not want them turning brown or
crisp we just want them to be nice and
flexible and to increase their tensile
strength once fried we're gonna drain on
some paper towels rinse and repeat with
at least a dozen more tortillas once
everybody's fried up we are at long last
ready to assemble
so ready your dipping and rolling
station and i'm gonna add another cheese
into the mix some oaxaca
cheese which is sort of like a mexican
mozzarella and pulls apart like string
cheese so it's gonna be perfect to stack
alongside our chicken and poblano
peppers we're gonna pour some of our
salsa roja into a shallow dish
or pie plate and at long last assembly
can begin in earnest we're starting by
dipping and thoroughly coating our
tortilla on both sides with
salsa roja layering some chicken oaxaca
cheese and poblano peppers in the center
of the tortilla taking care not to
overfill then once all the fillings are
in place we're going to roll the
tortilla
around them as tightly as we can without
breaking it and then we're going to
place them seam side down in an awaiting
pre-oiled casserole
then all we got to do is rinse and
repeat until the casserole is full
depending on the size and shape of your
casserole you might have to engage in
some
goofy enchilada orientations to make
sure that it's filled but it's all gonna
kinda look the same once
smothered sauced and baked first we are
generously drizzling it with our salsa
roja
topping it with some more shredded queso
de papa which is basically just a medium
yellow cheddar and then last but
certainly not least
a very generous drizzle of our cheese
sauce this just like in say a mac and
cheese is going to brown up and bubble
and permeate
every nook and cranny of our enchiladas
which now that they are fully assembled
are headed uncovered into a 400 degree
fahrenheit oven for 10 to 15 minutes
until they look like how i just
described them lightly browned bubbly
and delicious enough to eat while
they're still way too hot but as with
all great things we must exercise a
little bit of patience and let these sit
for at least 10 minutes before digging
in a serving size is generally two
little enchilada rolls which just like
the rose family i'm going to dig into
using
plastic cutlery and as i predicted i'm
going to burn the ever-loving shit's
creak out of my
mouth because these are just too good to
wait until they've cooled down properly
i am by no means an enchilada expert but
these appear to be a shining example the
sauce has a deep
rich and complex flavor it's spicy
without being too spicy the chicken is
moist and flavorful and it's super duper
cheesy
it's a small wonder that these
enchiladas were a shoe-in for the clean
plate club
and an even smaller wonder that i
decided to forget about what i said
about serving sizes and plate up another
pair this time with a generous drizzle
of hondura and crema i hope
this has taught us all a valuable lesson
about food family and the folding of
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cheese
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you