(soothing music)
- Mm, anything in there catch your eye?
- Nothing that I can afford.
- (sighing) Ain't that the truth.
- Hi, I'm Devin and I'm obsessed
with old Hollywood romance.
- And I'm Jared and I'm obsessed with cooking.
- And because we're obsessed with each other,
he's gonna cook a dish left behind
by an old Hollywood starlet,
while I dish on her love life.
- Today we're talking Audrey Hepburn
and her beloved pasta al pomodoro recipe.
Care to be a doll and get our ingredients for us?
- And I'll make it sexy.
- As she does.
(dramatic music)
Right off the bat, pomodoro is actually just tomato
in Italian, so we're gonna start with two large cans
of peeled tomatoes.
Go ahead and grab a large bunch of basil.
We're gonna end up using two tablespoons
of olive oil, that's a cute little bottle you got,
I love that.
We'll also need a pound of spaghetti pasta.
Go ahead and grab the stankiest
Parmesan that we have available,
or I think we only staged that one piece, so just grab that.
Two cloves of garlic, minced.
Looks like you bought pre-minced garlic.
You know how I feel about pre-minced, pre-shredded things.
But that's fine, it's too late to change now,
so just use that.
Finally we're gonna need two stalks of celery,
one small onion, and two carrots.
Which together, actually make up a mirepoix,
which you'll see in most recipes for soups, stocks
and like today, pasta sauces.
And that's about that.
- Jared, you just taught me something.
- Great.
- So we need a name, we need to call it something.
- Do we?
- Yeah, like I have tea-bits,
which is just a tidbit of information,
but it's gossip, it's tea, it's a tea-bit.
- Yes, we're all familiar with tea-bits by now.
- Like for an example,
did you know that Audrey Hepburn's son, Sean Ferrerer?
Ferrer?
(bell dings) Ferrerer?
Went on record and said that she was addicted to carbs,
and that she had to have this pasta recipe
that we're about to make at least once a week.
It's nice to know that America's sweetheart
could be addicted to carbs.
- Wow, stars, they're truly just like us.
- See, tea-bit. (chiming bells)
- I think I'm cool just calling mine facts.
- So what do we do first?
- It's time, what does the recipe say?
- Right.
- [Jared] That you have all of the things over there.
- We have to chop up our mirepoix.
- Yes.
- We have to put it in a pot, with olive oil
and then do some basil leaves,
remove the basil leaves from the stem, right?
And then, put the tomatoes on top of it.
You read the card.
- Okay, that's like seven steps in one.
Let's start by prepping our veggies.
- Okay.
- So we need two stalks of celery.
- Sorry. - Diced.
The recipe calls for two carrots,
but I feel like Audrey Hepburn wasn't cooking with carrots
that were like this giant.
'Cause these are some genetically modified monsters.
- When I first looked at this recipe,
I was alarmed because it's canned tomatoes.
And I've kind of thought that we'd wanna have
like fresh produce.
- The thing is, it's like hard to get a tomato
exactly ripe enough.
With canned tomatoes you can be more sure that
they're gonna be like a consistent ripeness.
- I chopped it, I did it.
- That's too big, that needs to be smaller.
- Really? - yeah.
- This is the problem we came into last time.
- [Jared] Your knife skills scare the (beep) out of me.
- So since we're chopping the vegetables
and having a grand ol' time,
I think it's time to put a little Audrey Hepburn
backstory up in this bit--
- [Ryan] Devin! (beeping)
- It's time to get some Audrey Hepburn context
up in this business.
(popping)
Let me get my little recipe card out.
Audrey Hepburn was born in Brussels, Belgium,
on May fourth, 1929.
She's a Taurus.
Her dad was a banker and her mom was a duchess, so fancy.
In 1935, her parents divorced.
She and her mom were living in England for awhile,
having a grand ol' time, but then World War II started,
and her mom, because she's Dutch,
decided that it would be safer
to go back to the Netherlands.
However she was wrong.
Nazi's put a lot of food rations on the Dutch people
in the Netherlands, and so Audrey and her mother
dealt with a lot of malnutrition growing up.
So they didn't have a lot of food.
In fact they ate with bread made out of tulip flower.
I'm gonna go ahead and start chopping this onion.
- I was hoping that you would take that job,
'cause I didn't wanna freakin' do it. (evil laughing)
- Woo.
- God, you're so dramatic. - I'm not dramatic.
- You're so dramatic.
- You know what helps onion eyes, right?
- Uh, no. - Red wine.
- Oh, is that a fact? - Yep,
it's a little research approved fact, yep.
So I have another tea-bit for you.
- Yay. - Tea-bit.
Audrey, there was like some scandal when she was growing up,
and her mother actually renamed her during World War II,
'cause she was kind of afraid that her name Audrey
sounded too English, and too foreign, in the Netherlands,
so for while she went by Edda.
- Huh. - Did you know that?
- I don't. - Well now you know.
- The point of this show is that I don't know
any of the things that you're telling me. (laughing)
- I still can delight on the fact that I know something
that you don't know.
- So, now it's actually time to start cooking.
We're gonna heat up some of this oil first,
it says two tablespoons in the recipe.
And as soon as this oil's heated up,
we're gonna cook down our aromatic vegetables.
And then, the sauce will really start coming together.
- Ooh, listen to that sizzle.
- That's a good sizzle, I'm not too upset about that.
So we're just gonna cook this down for a little bit.
We don't want too much browning on this.
Kinda just want to get everything a little softened,
so we don't have any crunchy carrots in our final sauce.
It's really what we're worrying about now.
(slapping leaves)
Are you a bartender?
- I just know that if you hit mint leaves,
it releases the mint, so I'm hitting basil leaves.
- Well, you actually wanna be gentle with our herbs,
'cause they bruise really easily.
And we are gonna put some of those on the top of our dish.
- Ooh. - So we don't spank them.
- Okay.
Whatcha, oh.
- We coulda cooked these vegetables a little bit longer
before you added those, but that's fine.
- Is there like a thought process to when you wanna add
fresh basil leaves?
- Yeah, essentially we're cooking these,
at like a medium high heat to soften them faster.
And if you put like a delicate little herb in there,
it could potentially burn.
- That's why I should just let you do the cooking.
- It is why you should literally just let me do
what you brought me here to do.
- Jared's actually super mad at me
because instead of buying garlic,
- Just regular garlic. - Regular garlic.
I bought this minced chopped garlic.
- Which is a total waste, it's like 70 times more expensive
than just buying a head of garlic.
- Smells so good.
(coughing)
- Okay it's a wafting, a wafting scent is much better.
However much garlic you want, I think it's gonna be fine.
- I'd like to imagine that Audrey would like
come home from her world travels,
and just like quickly throw this together,
and eyeball the recipe and the ingredients as well.
You know what I mean?
- Yeah, baking is a really precise science.
Cooking is just a free for all.
- When do you know it's time
to add the tomato sauce to that?
- The onions have turned slightly translucent.
We definitely don't wanna burn anything.
So I think we're actually pretty ready.
- Pretty ready?
How many does it call for?
- Two cans. - Two cans.
- Two large cans.
- What else can I tell you about Audrey at this point?
We've kind of covered--
- That's okay, we can have like a solid moment of silence
and just kind of enjoy our company.
I love cooking primarily because I don't have to talk
while it's happening, most of the time it's just me
and my stove and my cats.
(dramatic music)
- Hello, I'm Audrey Hepburn.
- We interrupt this cooking show for
an Audrey Hepburn life update.
That's right, before we can continue any longer,
with any of this juicy gossip,
we have to cover her young and early adulthood.
After World War II she moved from the Netherlands
to London, England to start her career
in modeling and ballet.
She actually go discovered by a photographer
named Angus McBean.
(snorting and laughing)
It's a very British name.
- [Camera Man] It's dumb.
- It's not dumb.
Angus McBean took the picture of her
that pretty much launched her career.
It helped her get noticed so she could move to the US
in the early 1950s.
And it only took her a couple years
to get a starring role in an incredible movie,
name
that
film.
- Roman Holiday.
- Yeah, do you know he hasn't seen Roman Holiday?
- I don't even know what that is.
- Show me the men, I want men.
- Okay, we're getting to her love life.
- Woo.
- Woo woo. - Woo woo woo.
(laughing)
- 1952, Audrey's engaged.
To a man named James Hanson.
- What a little dweeb. (laughing)
- She split her time between being in England with him,
and then also doing her work.
She realized it was really hard
to keep a long distance relationship going.
Home girl bought a wedding dress, and then called it off.
- She couldn't do it. - Nah, that's alright.
After her breakout film, she was enjoying some success.
She met a new man.
His name was Mel Ferrerer?
- Ferrer. - Ferrer?
- We've been over this before.
- Er, ger?
(laughing)
- The ror ror ror. - The roror jorer?
- He kinda looks like the-- - The first guy.
They had one baby.
He was the one who put her one blast
for how much she loved carbs, which we're so glad he did,
thank you Sean. - Thanks Sean.
- So here's the thing about Hepburn and Ferrer.
She would go off and have some romance on the side.
He would do the same.
All these infidelities damaged their relationship,
and after 14 years together, they got a divorce.
If we rewind the time line to 1954...
1954 is when she met this Hottie McHotterson,
William Holden.
And they met on the set of Sabrina.
When she first met this man,
she thought he was the most handsome man she's ever met.
Who wants to hear why she ended her relationship
with the hottest man she's ever met?
You two, okay, okay. - Please, we do.
- It's because he had a vasectomy.
You can't have pasta without sauce, you know what I mean?
(laughing)
So 1969, hehe, 69.
(laughing)
Andrea Dotti.
He is a psychologist.
He is a neurologist.
And he looks weird.
- [Camera Man] He definitely looks like
a later in life romance.
- They were married in 1969, and she had her next child
in 1970, at the age of 40.
With two babies, she decided to take a break from Hollywood.
She really settled into domestic life in Italy.
She would be seen attending her favorite cafes,
and walking the city streets,
which I think is just (kissing) beautiful.
12 years later she ended up getting a divorce.
It was kind of a tumultuous time,
because Andrea Dotti was like cheating on her all the time.
It was all over the papers.
- [Camera Man] There's always pasta,
which we should get back to that sauce.
- Woo.
- That was a lot of testosterone.
Let's refocus back on the food.
- Bring it back to carbs.
- That's cool. - Bring it back into carbs.
- Great.
So I gotta pound of pasta here.
- Wow, oops. - What are you doing?
(laughing) I didn't need you to touch it,
I just was showing it to you.
The package directions say that that's gonna take
10 minutes for al dente.
- Do you put oil in your water when you make pasta at home?
So it doesn't stick together?
- No. - No.
- If you just stir it every once in awhile
pasta should not stick together as it's cooking.
- Gotcha. - Anyway.
In this time we were sitting around,
you mentioned one true love, as you tend to do.
That was too many dudes to keep track of.
Who was it?
- I don't know if Audrey really had,
I mean I'm sure personally she had one true love,
- Yeah.
- I would argue that Italian culture and the City of Rome
was like her biggest obsession, and her one true love.
Okay, go with me here. - It's a cop out.
- It's not a cop out. - That is a cop out.
- I think there's a place in the world where you can feel
like your best self. - Okay.
- Just like a soulmate can make you feel
like your best self.
- I wouldn't know.
Just kidding, I would.
- Main love, me. - No, what?
(laughing)
- Audrey Hepburn withdrew from the spotlight,
and she stayed in Rome, and when she did
she kind of leaned into Italian culture even more.
Her favorite recipe, which she ate literally once a week,
was such a staple of
Italian cuisine. - Italian cuisine.
- Right, and like even look at her career.
Her first picture that launched her career
had those like roman columns behind her.
Apparently she was a staple
in the city when she lived there.
She didn't just like stay in her house,
like she walked around the city.
She would talk to tourists.
- You neglected to mention that.
- Yeah. - That paints this picture
way better than you had previously, so I okay--
- Yeah, Audrey Hepburn's one true love?
Italy, Rome.
- Go for it Rome, good for you.
- Another thing that this recipe calls for
is Audrey rinsed her pasta.
- I hate that.
That is like a huge no-no.
- Oh no, why?
- In terms of like restaurant cooking,
and everything I've learned about cooking,
like you do not rinse your pasta.
- Why?
- You rinse off all the starch,
and so it kinda makes the noodles really slick
and then no pasta sauce is gonna stick to that.
- Then why would she rinse it?
- If you're like plating it on a plate
and then putting the pasta sauce on top,
like in this recipe, it'll make it easier to twirl.
But this pasta sauce is just gonna go all over the plate.
If you want to, we can chiffonade the basil.
- What was that word?
- What I did, I stacked the leaves.
Oop, our pasta's done.
Oh okay, so (laughing) did not plan on that happening
in that order but we got our pasta, we rinsed if off,
back to the chiffonade.
- Chiffonade.
- I stack the leaves, and I'm gonna roll 'em up,
and then you cut them.
- How fancy, much fance.
- And then you get these little ribbons,
which I wanna say is what chiffonade means,
but don't quote me on that.
(spitting)
- I don't know. - It's not a...
That's not a Jared fact.
Okay. - Okay.
- Should we plate this stuff up?
- Yeah, let's plate it.
- Just as Audrey likes it. - Thank you.
- Even though I think she's really wrong.
- (snorts) So Jared, you know how Audrey Hepburn
ate this pasta once a week.
- I do, since you told me that like--
- 30 minutes ago.
Not only did she eat this pasta once a week,
but she ate two servings.
What, what are you trying to do?
- Just wanna put this on the plate nicer.
If you like
spin your plate like this, you get this really nice
little nest of pasta.
I guess it looks very similar.
- It looks the (laughing) same.
- It doesn't look exactly the same.
I got better volume, sorry what were you saying?
- So, not only did Audrey eat this pasta once a week,
but she ate two servings.
- What? - So yep.
That's what we're gonna do.
When I say it was her favorite...
- Thanks.
- It was her favorite.
There you go, look at that. - See look, nest...
- Messed. - Messed (laughing).
Here, I'll do you first.
- Oh what a gentleman.
- You will notice that this pasta sauce
will just run all over the place.
- You are just so mad that we aren't,
we've rinsed these noodles like Audrey would.
- That's just not what you do.
That's not how life works.
- You want some cheese,
or did you not take your Lactaid pill,
not to out you on the internet.
- Out me in front of the entire world
that I'm lactose intolerant.
You just going for it?
- Mmhm. - Okay.
- Was I supposed to wait for you?
- Um, yep, I made this, Ryan?
- We're waiting for you.
- [Ryan] Oh for sure, thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you.
- Wow.
- Have at it, you deserve it.
- It's good. - It's good.
It has that tomato acid taste, but not to much,
and it also has like a little bit of a sweetness to it.
- The carrots and the celery help really balance it out.
Also onions, when you cook them down,
get a little sweet too.
- Should we do the Lady and the Tramp
thing with the noodles?
- [Ryan] You guys should feed each other.
- Should we? - Yeah.
To Audrey. - To Audrey.
- Should we make eye contact while we do this?
Absolutely. - Bon appetite.
(laughing)
- [Ryan] Now that's true love.
- Mystery solved.
- Until next time, this is History Bites.
Tell us who you, who's recipe you want us to recreate
for our next episode.
Also, go home, try Audrey's pasta.
It is good.
- Share it on social media.
- Mmhmm.
- Because Audrey certainly couldn't,
and we gotta make up for lost time.
- I can't eat all of this, this is a lotta pasta.
- This was a bad idea.
- Oh my god, I need my wine now.
(smooth music)
- [Jared] Oh yes.
(smooth music)
(camera shutter clicking)