(upbeat music)
- If this works, this is the coolest thing.
Please work.
Hi, I'm Alexis
and I'm the senior food specialist here at Tasty.
Last time, my co-workers challenged me
to make a three-course meal using only a coffee maker.
I'm expecting the worst
but let's see what they have in store this time.
(laughs)
Oh no.
(chimes)
(groans)
Okay.
The coffee maker was one thing but I don't,
what am I gonna do?
Any good chef should be able to cook with anything, so.
Luckily I have ironed many clothes before
but let's take a look.
The first instruction is
use iron only for its intended use.
So don't try this at home.
Let's see what the internet has to say.
I just, like who are these people that test this out?
Okay, so this is clearly a thing
so I'm gonna see if I can elevate clothing iron cooking
just a little bit.
For the first course, I'm gonna try to make a flatbread
with like a caramelized shallot dip.
So because my dough for the flatbread needs to sit,
I'm going to get started with that.
Gonna do a really easy two-ingredient flatbread.
It's basically just Greek yogurt and self-rising flour.
Self-rising flour has baking powder in it
so you don't need to add anything else.
Do I like ironing?
I mean, I like ironing more than vacuuming.
Oh no, you're gonna try to make me do something
with a vacuum.
This is going to rest.
For the second course,
I'm going to make couscous and lamb chops.
I'm going to marinate my lamb chops
so those can get really flavorful
and hopefully it'll mask the fact
that they are being cooked on an iron.
This is gonna be really simple.
It's just garlic, rosemary, oil, salt, pepper.
It's pretty classic.
So I got these tiny little lamb chops
and I thought like if steak can be done,
so could a lamb chop.
And you want them to be on the medium-rare side
so this actually could work.
Also if you look at the chop compared to the iron,
it's pretty perfect.
So I'm just gonna blot these
so that the marinade sticks it better to it.
So these are ready.
I'm going to wash my hands, cover them,
and refrigerate them.
Thank you for the refrigerator.
For dessert I'm going to try to make a crepe cake
but I'm not using a recipe.
It's just like beat an egg, add a little flour,
add a little milk, and just do it
until you get a smooth consistency.
So my mom's Dutch so I grew up with crepes
or in Dutch, pannekoek.
She never followed a recipe,
so yeah, this is like my Sunday mornings as a kid.
Hi, Mom!
So I'm gonna do a few more rounds but that should be good.
I'm gonna put it on the linen setting
which is the hottest and see what happens.
This feels weird.
What do I do?
(laughs) I don't know, I've never done this before.
I don't know what's gonna work.
It's cooking in a way.
Okay, oh god.
This is not gonna work, but.
Do you guys see this?
Pretty perfect.
It would be really helpful to have pots and pans,
I just wanna say that.
Little butter.
Mold.
It looks like it's cooking around the very edge.
The crepes might be a little thick
but who minds a thick crepe?
It is a bit rubbery and thick.
It's weird.
Weird, but cooking.
Okay, I'm gonna taste it.
It's a bit raw.
I'm gonna try to make it a little thinner.
While that's going,
since technically a hand mixer is an appliance
which I cannot use, I'm hand whipping cream
which is not my favorite activity.
(whirring)
Look at that brown.
It's happening!
(whirring)
Oh yeah, got one done.
This is so weird
that it's actually making the coffeemaker seem
like kind of normal and easy.
I can't believe I'm saying
that I rather cook with a coffee maker.
We get very reliant on our appliances and tools
and it's good to be like, you know,
we can make great food with very little.
Okay, I'm going to add a little sugar.
Look at that.
I mean, this whipped cream looks really pretty.
Oh no, oh no.
It's salt!
(laughing)
Okay, it's fine.
Put the salt over here.
(screams)
Okay.
(whirring)
Okay, it's sugar.
Finally we have whipped cream.
It's delicious.
Okay, I've been making crepes for two hours now
but I think I can actually start building it.
They're a little lopsided so getting the cream even
is gonna be a journey.
You know, I'm really happy that the crepes actually worked.
I was really skeptical
when I first did that parchment paper thing
which was a mistake.
This is the cutest thing I've ever seen.
Next up are the shallots.
I'm just gonna keep it on linen.
That feels like the best move.
Since I can't use real pots or pans,
I'm gonna try to fashion one out of tinfoil.
It's like a little shallot boat.
I just want a burner.
Not asking for much, just a regular burner.
So usually when I would make this,
I would actually broil the onions
but let's see how this goes.
(gasps)
(onions sizzling)
The sound is good.
While those are doing the thing,
I can get the rest ready.
It's really easy.
Sour cream, mayonnaise,
a little thyme for some extra flavor.
Adding the lemon here for some acidity, some lemon zest.
So the shallots are starting to become a little aromatic.
They're getting some browning, which looks really great,
but I don't think they're gonna get deeply caramelized.
But I think for this, just a little golden brown.
If I can get that, that'll be fine.
I mean, I think this is the problem
with cooking with an iron.
You can't get really, really high heat
and you're so limited by like linen, cotton, wool.
My dough for the flatbread is more than ready.
So my deal with the flatbread is
that I can make it really thin
and then it'll have a better chance of cooking through
and crisping up.
Okay, this is very thin.
So I'll just put it on.
If this works, this is the coolest thing.
Please work.
I'm gonna roll out a few more.
I really, I don't know.
I mean, the coffee maker is really hard
but since then I've just been like dreaming
of all these other things I could make
and this feels like the new frontier.
(gasps)
It's starting to bubble.
Do you see it?
Okay, it's the tiniest, tiniest fleck of browning.
I just need like a few brown spots and then I can flip it.
There are brown spots.
(clapping)
Thank you.
I'm just gonna put the dip into the bowl.
I'm gonna add a few chives on top
just for a bit of extra color,
put the flatbread next to it, and we're done.
I'm gonna move on to the couscous.
I think I'm gonna use a measuring cup
and heat the water on top of the iron.
So usually when you make couscous,
well, always when you make couscous,
you want to bring the water to a boil.
I don't think that's quite going to happen here
but I think I can get the water to be pretty warm.
I'm gonna add some peas to the couscous
just to give it some more body.
It's honestly heating it up really fast.
Makes me think it won't come to a full boil
but that it could get significantly hot.
So I'm gonna let it go for a few minutes,
just chop some scallions and parsley
which can be mixed with the couscous.
I just added a little salt, pepper, and olive oil
just to give it a little more flavor as it cooks.
Okay, I think this is ready.
I'm gonna do it.
This.
Hopefully in five minutes, this will have cooked through.
Fingers crossed.
I feel like my confidence level is a solid six right now.
Just gonna fluff this couscous a little.
It absorbed the water.
Not quite cooked through.
I think I need to add more water to it.
Hope this isn't a mistake.
Hot.
Steam.
They're super thin so hopefully this is gonna help my cause.
See if this works.
(laughs)
I wonder if it's gonna get
like that kind of nice browned outside
or if it's just gonna look kind of gray.
Okay, something's happening.
So this little bit of brown,
kind of slowly but surely.
Okay.
I think maybe I just need to let it...
Okay.
Just gonna go like that.
Let's take another peek.
I mean, it's cooked, it's browned.
The backside's a little gray, could touch that up,
but this side looks pretty good.
Let's see this couscous.
It's cooked.
Oh my god, thank god.
So I'm gonna add the couscous back
to the scallions, parsley.
Okay, this little chop is perfect.
On to the next.
And then good to go.
I'm gonna wrap it up, plate everything.
I've texted one of my friends Niki
and she's gonna come up and try this
but she doesn't know
that I've made it completely with an iron.
Why are you so nervous?
- I don't know why I'm here.
Did you like make it in a vacuum cleaner or something?
Is this the appliance show?
- This is your first course.
There's a flatbread and shallot dip.
- Yeah, delicious.
(laughs) So kind.
- [Alexis] Your second course is couscous
with peas and lamb chops.
- Wow!
Lamb chops?
It's a little dry but let's do this.
- That's honestly a good move.
- Delicious.
Well done.
- And your third course is a mini crepe cake.
- (gasps) Oh, I love this!
She's beautiful.
This is only for me?
- Yeah, it's only for you, go crazy.
- In that case.
She's dense.
- She is dense.
- Delicious.
- Okay, so you're right, this is the appliance show.
- Uh huh.
- Do you want to guess?
- Is it something weird?
- Yeah, turn around.
- It's not a vacuum cleaner?
It's an iron?
(Alexis laughs)
You ironed all of this?
Did you just?
Well done.
Lamb intimidates me even when I have a whole kitchen
but you did it with just an iron.
I'm gonna take this.
- Sure. - Thank you so much!
- That took six hours, a lot of trial and error,
and a few batches of whipped cream, but I did it!
It was really cool and weird and I am excited
and kind of fear what's next.
Stay tuned.
(upbeat music)
(camera clicking)