SPAM Thanksgiving! 2 Chefs Make Thanksgiving Dinner With Spam | Mystery Menu | NYT Cooking

“Oh.” “Did it work?” “Wow. Everybody’s surprised.” “That looks awesome.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “We’re back.” “We’re back. We’re here.” “Whoa. I’m Sohla.” “And I’m Ham. This is ‘Mystery Menu’.” “This is the show where we
get one hour and a mystery Ingredient, and we have to
make dinner and dessert. The last one was ube.” “They’re really
starting to test us. Let’s see how they
test us today.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Oh, it is heavy. Canned tuna?” “I would be into canned tuna.” “No. I’m sliding this here. Don’t open it yet.” “Oh, no.” “We’re getting wild. Oh, canned sardines? The shape is interesting.” “Oh, pretty –” “Oh, that’s a nice envelope.” “Oh, it’s like a nicer
envelope than the last.” “Yeah. Is it like a can of —

What is that? Corned beef that
comes in a can? Or Spam?” “Spam.” “Spam.” “Is it Spam?” “Nailed it. Spam.” “Spam. Oh my God.” “We’re back. It’s been a while since
we guessed one correctly.” “Oh, man.” “All right. Spam.” “We have to make Spam musubi.” “Of course.” “Before you get to planning,
you should probably open The letter.” “Oh no. Is it going to be
Spam but vegetarian?” “Oh, this is cool.” “Is it a Spam Thanksgiving?” “Is it a Spam Thanksgiving? It’s a Spam Thanksgiving.” “Oh my gosh. I want to do a
Spam Thanksgiving.” “Develop a Thanksgiving
tasting menu.” “Yeah O.K.” “O.K.” “O.K., we can do this.” “We can do — this is
a really nice card.” “Yeah, I like this. Are we — do we get
to keep the card?”

“O.K., let’s break it down.” “We got to start
with the turkey. Oh. I know. I know what we
do, a Wellington.” “Oh.” “That feels festive.” “That does feel festive.” “And I think it’ll
be pretty doable. We can still like, we
can do the duxelle.” “But what if we do
Thanksgiving Spam? I think Hawaii. So what if we go, pineapple
and kind of go in that Direction.” “In the Wellington?” “In the Wellington.” “Yeah, I’m into that.” “Kind of go, Hawaiian
pizza vibes.” “My concern is it’s going to
make the puff pastry soggy.” “It’s going to be wet. I think maybe we incorporate
that into something else, And then just do something
else with the Wellington.” “Let’s call it en croute. What if we just cover the
Spam in spices and sugar, Get a really nice
sear, caramelize it, And then just wrap
it in the puff?” “That sounds good.” “So then, we can just focus
on getting the puff crispy, And then we’ll add some
flavor with the spices. Maybe we just do four
Spam, and then –” “And then en croute that.” “Mousseline.” “And because then
all the flavor can go In the Mousseline.”

“So we could still go for a
spicy, sweet kind of thing.” “Yeah.” “Little chunks of pineapple. And then just wrap
that en croute.” “Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah. Sides. Sides to this Spam en croute.” “Well, we need
some kind of jus.” “Instead of — it could
be a teriyaki jus. I feel like that would
go with the en croute.” “Wait, it’s supposed
to be a tasting menu. So maybe they need to be
individual en croutes –” “Then they should
be individual.” “– with the jus. So then maybe the
one dish is going To be en croute,
jus, potato salad. And that’s it.” “And that’s it.” “So that’s one course.” “Yeah.” “That’s the main.” “Yeah.” “O.K.” “Hold on. What about instead of
pineapple, we use cranberry?” “Yeah, bring in
some Thanksgiving.” “Bring in the Thanksgiving.” “Yeah.” “And I feel like those
flavors will still work. You got the tart,
you got the sweet.” “For the teriyaki, can we add
some cranberry juice to that?” “Yeah, that sounds good.” “And then we’ll have
the whole cranberries

In the mousseline.” “Yeah, that sounds good.” “O.K. I want some
kind of musubi. Maybe bring in the
Thanksgiving instead of rice And stuffing.” “That’s perfect. Oh, I love that idea.” “Stuffing musubi?” “I love that idea.” “Let’s do, like, sage, apple,
onion, stuffing, Spam, nori.” “You know how you often
start with a little amuse? We can buy those
little tart shells. So we can fill it
with a little bit Of mushroom bechamel. And then finely, finely-cut
pickled green beans, Some Spam. So it’s a little green bean
casserole bite with some like Pickled shallots and stuff. And that’s easy because
the crust is made. You just need to make,
like, mushroom bechamel. And then everything
else is knife cuts. And then we’ll just
need to make a few.” “Yeah, that sounds good. Can the crust
become the Spam?” “You really want to turn
the Spam into crust?” “Can we Google something?” “Yeah.” “O.K., so you can fry it.” “Spam chip.” “O.K., so that sounds good. So the green bean
casserole on a Spam chip.” “O.K., and then what
about for dessert, We do a little custard?” “I definitely think maple.”

“And then maple-glazed Spam,
like little crunchy bits?” “You can also just maple
candy some pecans as well.” “Pecan and Spam
candy situation.” “Almost like a crunchy
candied streusel type thing.” “Yeah, on a maple custard?” “Yeah.” “Pumpkin custard would be
cool, but I don’t know.” “I hate pumpkin.” “Yeah.” “I hate pumpkin. I hate pumpkin. I hate pumpkin custard. I’m biased against pumpkin. But that’ll be good.” “I think we should throw
in a little pumpkin.” “O.K.” “Maybe a little pumpkin spice. O.K. O.K.” “We did it. We got there.” “To the drawing board.” “To the drawing board.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Spam Thanksgiving.” “Spam Thanksgiving
— ‘Spamsgiving.’” “Oh, perfect.” “Spam chip.” “Spam chip green
bean casserole.” “Spam chip. Green bean kind of salad. Oh, there’s a mousse, mushroom
bechamel green bean situation. I feel like we should
just use French’s. Is that silly?” “No.”

“Or do you want to put
onion rings on top?” “Let’s do French’s.” “O.K.” “French’s and some
pickled shallots.” “Pickled shallots. So this is, what
are we calling this? This is — how do you
say ‘boat’ in French? This is — we have to
make it fine dining. [FRENCH] B-A-T-E-A-U.
That sounds nice.” [SPEAKING FRENCH] “Wow. So fancy “O.K., this one is the
Spam musubi with stuffing.” “We got our nori. That’s the nori. Whoa. And then there’s Spam,
hunk, and then Stuffing.” “Can the stuffing have
a little pineapple?” “Yeah, instead of apple?” “Instead of apple.” “Pineapple sage stuffing? Yeah, that sounds good. Pineapple sage stuffing.” “Do you want to glaze
the Spam in something?” “Yeah.” “Maybe a little maple? Oh, pineapple.” “Pineapple. Pineapple spiced Spam?” “Yeah, we can, like,
split a little Thai chili, Throw it in there as it glazes
just to get a little heat.” “Yeah, I’m into that. Spam en croute.

Guys, I took four
years of French.” “I’m actually most
worried for this one.” “So let’s do an X-ray. So we have Spam, we have
mousseline, then we have Spam. So then it gets wrapped
in nori and then puff. Sauce. And then we’re going
to have a mash.” “Yeah.” “Does that look like mash? That’s our mash. O.K., so then fourth course.” “Pumpkin custard with
maple Spam pecan on top.” “If we set the custard
in a dish, it’s safest, But it’s not cute.” “Will the garnishes be cute? Because I think
if the garnish –” “Because we’re talking
about just like glazed Spam And pecan. So there’s nothing
cute happening. So we got pumpkin
spice custard. These are my pecans. And then what if we make
the Spam like threads? Wispy. And we’re going
to be frying here. So we should fry the
threads and then glaze it. Pot de creme Au Spam. O.K., all right. I don’t know how — I think we’re going to
end up losing things.” “Yeah, garnishes. This one seems really hard.” “Spamsgiving.” [MUSIC PLAYING]

“I’m taking a first course. Sohla is taking
the second course. And then the third and fourth,
we’re kind of dividing amongst Ourselves. And then from there, we just
kind of hope for the best.” “Like, with the musubi, I
don’t know if the stuffing is Going to hold. I was going to press
it like you do rice. But maybe, I need to
put an egg in there, Bake it in the cans.” “Oh, so that they set.” “And pop it out and
then wrap it in the –” “That sounds good. That’s a good plan.” “We just problem solved.” “3, 2, 1. Begin.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “So first thing I’m doing
is I’m actually going To microwave these
potatoes for the purée. Pop these potatoes in there. Moist towel. So here. Ooh, that lovely sound of Spam
releasing from the container. I’m making a mousseline, which
is usually a purée of some Kind of protein with some
egg whites and cream. Shichimi togarashi, which
is a Japanese seven spice. And once that’s
nice and pureed, I’m going to add splashes of
cream until it’s the right Consistency. And then voila, you
have Spam mousseline. Do you think Jacques
Pepin makes a Spam Mousseline for Thanksgiving? And there you have a
nice, smooth mousseline.

And this is going to be the
binder in the Spam en croute. Right behind you, mousseline.” “I’m making the custard. So I’m basing this
off my flan recipe, But I’m replacing the milk
with the pumpkin purée And some of the cream
with creme fraiche. And custards like this
are super easy as long As you have about an
egg per cup of stuff. And the pumpkin is going
to add a little bit of body To the custard as well. It’s the salt of sugar. I don’t know how long
this is going to take, But my full flan recipe
takes, like, 45 minutes. These are smaller. So I imagine it’ll be faster. I’m going to do this with a
water bath so it cooks gently. Normally, if I want to
make these really perfect, I hit the top with a blowtorch
to get all those bubbles. But we’re going to
put garnish on top. So I think it’s O.K.” “I’m going to start making
my mushroom bechamel For the green bean casserole. This is for dessert. I’m going to simmer
pecans, and maple syrup, And bourbon until it thickens. And I’m going to fry it. And then that’s going to
give it a crunchy coating. Back here, I have
my teriyaki jus. So in there, I
have bone broth. I’m going to add some dark
soy, some coconut sugar, Some chives, some
ginger, garlic shallots. And then we’re just going to
let that reduce all together Until they become friends. I’m cleaning up as
I go to just, like,

Start gaining some space back. And also, it’s like, a
nice mental thing to see The ingredients slowly
start to disappear. It means — it makes me
feel like I’m making some Progress.” “O.K., so now, I’m going to
move on to assembling this Guy. And I don’t know how
this is going to go, As I have never
made Spam en croute. It will be an exciting
discovery for us all. This is such a strange color.” “It’s like hot dogs
all over again.” “It’s like hot dogs all — I forgot about hot dogs. Oh, it is like hot dogs. I don’t remember
what we made there. But I just remember there
was a hot dog brittle. I think I did something
absolutely disgusting. Oh, god. This smells so bad. So still need my egg wash
for my Spam en croute. I’m just using the yolks
that Ham had left over from The mousseline. No waste. Huh? Six servings per container? Get out of here, Spam.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Sichuan peppercorns. Absolutely love them. One of my favorite things. And it’s really
good in dessert. It’s tingly and almost
like adding acid. This is not something
I thought I’d ever do.

Fun. Spam sandwich.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “I’m still waiting for all
that moisture to cook out from The mushrooms. I know enough
moisture is cooked out When they start browning. So this is some Spam, and
I’m actually going to infuse My pommes purée cream
with just some Spam. I’m going to make just a quick
pickle here for both the green Beans and the shallots. So I’m using some rice wine
vinegar, a little water, Some sugar, some salt, just
a pretty simple pickle. And then I’ll just help bring
some acidity to the Spam, And the rich
mushroom bechamel. Let me give that
liquid a taste. We’re ready to go there. So it’s going to be a
really bright and fresh take On the classic green
bean casserole. We’re going nice and thin. I’m going to keep these raw. So I want the hot liquid to
not fully cook them, but kind Of tenderize them a bit. And cutting them this thin
helps that process happen. Pour it right on top. And then we’re just
going to let — Give that a little shake, and
then let our shallots pickle. O.K., and now same deal. Cover it. Let it pickle by
the windowsill.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “How’s it going?” “I don’t know. I’m trying to think
of how to do this.

Next one will be better. You’ll see, Shirley. I see the doubt in your eyes.” “I have no doubt.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “O.K., this is a
better method.” “39 minutes.” “39 minutes. It’s taking me way longer than
I thought to build these en Croutes.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Score. Score. Score. Score. Score.” “There we go. That’s going. That’s going. Burner on, on max. Do you have a free –” “Yeah.” “Burner?” “The extra challenge
is that –” “Surprise, the
stove doesn’t work. Cream is ready to go. So I’m going to kill it and
just let that Spam infuse. You can see it’s
starting to brown, You got some nice brown bits. So I’m happy with the amount
of moisture I’ve cooked out Of these mushrooms. Add some flour. So I’m just going to
cook this flour out. This is ready to go.

So I’ve strained that out. Then we’re just going to fry
these until they get nice And crisp.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Almost fried. I’m going to use
this French brandy. So I’m going to deglaze these
mushrooms with a little brandy So this is ready to go. A little splash at a time.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “I always add a splash at a
time into the roux and let it Fully incorporate before
adding my next bit of milk. That makes sure that the
bechamel is nice and smooth. It doesn’t really matter if
your milk is hot or cold. None of that matters. All that matters is that
you add it in increments So that it can fully
absorb into the flour Before you add the next bit. And then you’ll get nice,
lump-free bechamel.” “Next, I’m going to
get the stuffing going. And we started with a stuffing
mix to make it easier, Because we need all the
help we can get, clearly. So it’s going to be
already nicely seasoned. I’m going to add some
pineapple and chives. Wow. The Spam is really
tough to dice. It really sticks
to your knife. Have you tried dicing
some Spam yet, Ham?” “I haven’t.” “It really sticks
to your knife.” “Oh, sounds about right.” “That’s my custard
custom timer. Whoa. Are they done?”

[MUSIC PLAYING] “I need some pineapple
for my stuffing musubi.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “I’m actually going to
try and bake the Spam. I forgot. So I’m going to
go back to 350. I want to add egg to the
stuffing to kind of bind And then bake it in the
molds for the musubi, Which I have to get in the
oven, like, right now.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Do you have any
empty Spam cans? Whoops. Chaos. My station is chaos. I’m so sorry.” “25 minutes.” “25 minutes.” “Cleaning up. Just narrating
what I’m doing.” “You’re so much
cleaner than me. Oh, wow. How do you do it?” “I don’t know what I’m doing.” “Look at my side. It’s insane.” “Oh. Let’s see how this fries. So it’s nice and thick. That’s our — that’s
going to be our bechamel. That’s cooked off enough. And we’re going to let
that cool off in the back. And now, this is going to
be for the dessert garnish. So I’m going to
cut it really thin. And then hopefully, it gets —
turns into really crispy Spam

Threads. Teriyak.” “I just have to figure
out how to form my musubi. So I didn’t really
think through. It smells like stuffing.” “Where are you at? And how’s it going?” “I’m trying to get the — I can’t figure out
how you cut the cans. So I’m just filling them, and
just hoping they pop out.” “O.K.” “I should have looked up a
video on how you make Spam Musubi. Forgot. This — just worried
about a baby pooping. That’s, like, our life now. This glazed Spam smells
good, very sagey.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “These are going
to be really big. I put too much stuffing.” [BABY COOING] “I know. She agrees.” “This isn’t crisping
as nicely as I’d hoped. But maybe when it cools,
it’ll look better. And now, the moment we’ve
all been waiting for. I’m going to tamis
some effin’ potatoes.” “Oh yay. Your favorite.” “The key to making really good
mashed potatoes is making sure Your potatoes stay hot. So I have this pot
over very low heat. I popped a little bit of
cream on there so that when The potatoes fall in, they
don’t scorch and stick

To the bottom of the pan. And I’m going to tamis
right into this pan. Here’s my Spam chips. I’ll put these
strands in to cook. 18 minutes.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Those are still
doing their thing. Let’s increase that temp too.” “Are they looking
good to you?” “They look fine so far. I think there’s time for
this to actually get chilled. How are you looking, Ham?” “I’m I think O.K.” “O.K. I think I’m O.K. I’m
waiting on stuff in the oven. And I just have
to do garnish.” “O.K., cool. Spam doesn’t crisp
how I thought.” “No.” “That was surprising. I thought it would
be like roni.” “Yeah.” “So here we go. And now, just Spam cream. Incorporate that. Now, I’m going to
add a lot of butter.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Perfect.” “Just to get this cool,
there’s a little salt To really cool
the solution down. Needs more water, though. Then do a little sticky
topping for our puddings. Kind of like a salted
caramel situation. But the salt is going
to come from the Spam. So this is going to be the
topping for the custard,

Some of the fried Spam.” “Behind you. How are you doing?” “I’m just thinking about if
this musubi thing is going To work.” “It’s really good. Since it’s Thanksgiving, we’re
going to add some cranberries To this.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “That didn’t do what
I thought it would do. It just floated to the top. They didn’t burst.” “Oh.” “That’s a surprise.” “Beautiful.” “Like my appetizer? These are going to be — They actually worked out. They’re not fully crisp. But you can — my goal was to
get something you could pick Up and eat.” “Oh.” “Did it work?” “Wow. Everybody’s surprised.” “That looks awesome. Wow. That looks fantastic.” “Wow. I was not expecting
that to come out. Cutie patootie. Aw. Aw. Whoo.

Hot fingies. Whoo. I like how they look
like mini Wellingtons. Everything’s like Spam shaped. We should have put the
custards in an oval bowl.” “I was going to pipe it
initially, but it’s too hot. So I’m just going
to spoon it.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “This went smoother
than I thought.” “Yeah. I didn’t think we were
going to have any food. We have all the food.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “These look awesome. Let’s do that. What’s that?” “4, 3, 2, 1. Time.” “Yeah, we’re ready to Spam.” “We did it.” [MUSIC PLAYING] “Thanksgiving a Spamsgiving.” “Spamsgiving. Spamsgiving. I’m just so blown
away by this.” “Cheers.” “Cheers. Some baijiu and
Spam caramel — ‘Spamamels’?” “Spam toffee — ‘Smoffee’? Shall we Spam?” “Well, before we taste –” “Uh-oh.” “– we do have a guest
on the premises.”

“Is it Vaughn?” “Is it Vaughn? Has Vaughn returned?” “It’s just me.” “It’s just Vaughn.” “I’ll be right back.” “Oh it’s not just Vaughn.” “Drumroll. I hope this person’s hydrated. Whoa! [LAUGHING]: Oh, no. This is a salty
one to come into.” “This is — I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry. I hope you like Spam. Hello, Pete Wells.” “Hi. It’s good to –” “Nice to meet you.” “It’s great to meet you, too. I think I’m going
to take this off. Right? Is that right?” “I’m really sorry. This is the salty one.” “This is a salty one?” “Yeah, this is a salty one.” “I’m glad I’m not on a
low-sodium diet here. Oh, my god.” “A green bean casserole
bite a la Spam. So there’s pickled green
beans, pickled shallots, French’s fried onions, a
little mushroom bechamel At the bottom, all on
a slice of Spam jerky.”

“Spam jerky. You made the Spam jerky?” “Yeah, well, we fried the
Spam hoping it would chip. But it did not chip. It jerkied.” “And then to Spam musubi, but
stuffing instead of rice.” “That’s a large bite.” “Spam en croute.” “Pommes purée with
some teriyaki gravy.” “That’s beautiful. I love anything en croute. So you’ve already won.” “Pumpkin spice custard with
Spam toffee and fried Spam, And candied pecans.” “This will be my
first Spam toffee.” “Yeah, I wish you
came for, like, uni.” “Do you have any idea how
much uni I eat in the wild?” “That’s –” “O.K., so –” “That’s fair. I would say Spam is a very
small part of my diet.” “O.K., so –” “Pretend everything’s hot.” “You need to use
your imagination.” “It’s like, wow. Whoo. Blow on it a bit.” “I feel like it takes
you on a journey. The French’s kick
in at the end.” “It is light-ish.” “Considering there’s Spam
and bechamel on there.” “I remember French’s
being different, Like darker or something. They’re just more
subtle than I remember.

And did you make the
beans, like, today? Like quick –” “Yeah.” “Yeah, we quick pickled them.” “The chip, it’s holding
together, which is amazing.” “Are you going to try
and do it in one bite? No.” “Yeah, in silence.” “It’s totally a normal thing.” “You can hear the heart
fluttering around you.” “I think it works. You guys happy with it?” “I actually think it
needed more salt.” “I was so scared of salt.” “Yeah.” “Now, I’m surprised.” “The musubi.” “Musubi. It’s just like a
classic stuffing. And then the Spam is glazed. It popped out.” “It popped out.” “Which nobody believes.” “There was, like, an audible
whoa when it actually came Out.” “Well, I think that’s bona
fide delicious, actually. Like, not just like,
conceptually delicious.” “The pops of pineapple
are my favorite part.” “The stuffing sort of exploits
the saltiness of the Spam In a good way.” “I didn’t really put much
salt in the stuffing at all. So because I was worried
about it being too salty. So it balanced out.” “Yeah.”

“Right.” “Really worked out. That’s really delicious.” “It’s truly delicious. I’m going to have a totally
unnecessary second bite.” “Hey. Whoa.” “Look at that.” “Whoa. Spam with some spices.” “Yes.” “With the Spam mousseline
wrapped in nori. And then we have our pastry.” “There’s some Robuchon
pommes purée.” “You made those in an hour?” “Everything was
made in an hour. We made everything from Spam. It does.” “It takes a long time.” “It’s so hot. I can’t believe it.” “I know, right?” “Steam is just
pouring out of it. I don’t think — I’m not going to
say this is a flaw, But it’s not like anybody’s
Thanksgiving potatoes.” “These are the potatoes
we make for Thanksgiving.” “Yeah, and only Thanksgiving.” “Yeah.” “It’s like once-a-year potato. When you have it in
a slab like that, It’s really hot doggy.” “There’s more than
one bite happening.” “Yeah, that’s a good sign.”

“This is the most tense
tasting we’ve had.” “Oh, it’s supposed to be fun? I think it is a lot of salt.
I mean, it tastes good. The textures are surprisingly
nice, like the squishy, And then the crispy.” “O.K., dessert.” “O.K.” “So it’s like a
pumpkin spice custard. It’s very rich. It’s just creme fraiche
cream and pumpkin. And then there’s a
Spam toffee on top.” “All right. I’m excited about this.” “With everything together,
it’s not that Spammy.” “Is that a compliment? Or is that –” “No, in a good way.” “I wanted the toffee to kind
of remind you of pumpkin pie Goop. I feel like we got goopy.” “With all the other
stuff going on in this, The Spam’s not necessarily
jumping out as Spam. It does taste like a
pork product, but –” “I wish it was crunchy.” “Yeah, that’s what it needs.” “That’s a main thing. I wish that the
Spam got crunchy. But I don’t hate it, because
the toffee is so chewy that It’s kind of cool having
two kinds of chew.” “Is this the most perplexed
you’ve been after a meal?” “No, I’m not perplexed at all. I totally get it. If I could offer
one suggestion, I think we need to make
peace with what Spam is.

It’s not a crunchy ingredient. It’s not going to give
you that crispy goodness. It just is always going
to be a little –” “Would you eat at this
restaurant again?” “Am I paying? If it’s a free restaurant,
and I get to talk to you guys, I would do it.” “Did you have a
favorite, Pete?” “A favorite. I just think in terms of
coolness, the stuffing musubi. And I really am
loving the dessert.” “Now, I get why Spam musubi is
the only way I’ve really had Spam. And now, I get why
it works so well, Because all that rice really
helps balance how aggressively Seasoned it is.” “It’s really true. Well, I’m thankful to both
of you for cooking for me, And for just allowing
yourselves to think thoughts That maybe have never been
thought before in a kitchen Or anywhere else.” “Come on. This is cool.” [MUSIC PLAYING]