Hey guys! If you're looking for a link to the first video where Eva challenged my dad, please know that we were forced to take the video down due to legal threats from a certain media company which owns a certain television cooking show which will remain nameless... We're fighting this and will update the community soon because it's... an interesting story to say the least. Thanks for your support! ❤
I give a nod to Harper’s sense of humor in his editing. The two guys standing off in the background discussing how she’s doing. Then cutting to her post interview about it, spliced in at the perfect moments just like the cooking challenge shows! Extra points for going the full mile and super fun results!
I think that the logical conclusion to the MaxterChef saga is my dad and Eva going head-to-head with ME as the judge... Gimme your best ideas for challenges that they'll both find tricky!
Pick a cuisine that neither of them are super familiar with and have them make a few classic dishes from it? Maybe Mexican since a lot of the ingredients are at least familiar to them? Or make it super challenging and go Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.
You could either challenge them to cook three meals from cuisines neither are familiar with cooking with or maybe do a mystery box challenge with really random ingredients and see what they come up with!
A lot of the carb-heavy breakfasts became part of American cooking back in the day when most Americans were working on farms. Usually the entire family was up before dawn - sans breakfast - doing what they needed to do: feeding animals, milking animals, collecting eggs, cleaning house, etc. Even kids had their chores to get done before breakfast and before school. Mom's job was to cook up these heavy breakfasts so that when early morning work was done, the hungry could be fed. So by the time the family sat down for breakfast, they'd already been up for maybe a couple hours doing work. They needed those calories. I'm sure it was the same back in agricultural Italy.
@@Ann-pn9orI’m sure that’s part of it but I’m pretty sure the Anglo German makeup of 19th century America is a bigger part of it or at least the genesis. Both have meat for breakfast, Brits are big on eggs and Germans commonly have spuds. Those traditions combined and evolved into the various kinds of American breakfast IMO.
Um aren't italian breakfasts usually sweet so there's still a lot of carbs. And I don't get either american or italian breakfasts. I don't know how you can crave sweet in the morning or how you can crave a ton of calories. Usually I would go with something protein rich and light such as a poached egg, greek yoghurt, tuna salad
classic farmers in Italy have one small breakfast when they wake up pretty early in the morning with coffee and some little sweet or fruit and a second breakfast some hours later that is salty and more heavy like frittata di maccheroni, bread and cheese and some salumi or even a big fat homemade panino; all of that with a couple of glasses of wine, sitting under an olive tree for example. So is no so different from an American farmer experience in a different enviroment i think.
@@brunoserafimovski1903they are hab. To me fry stuff or meat in the morning are strange. When i travel i eat them however are really heavy to me. Considering that yes we made sweet bf however usually it's dimple: cornetto or other pastry are for special day. Usually is milk and coffee (latte e caffè) with biscuits or cereals, or fette biscottate with jam... To me it's very strange to think you drink milk for lunch or dinner 🤷🏻♀️
I honestly didn't think Eva had such a jar in her kitchen. But most likely that jar of sauce dates back to the days when Harper lived alone and still didn't know Eva. 😉
It's made an appearance many times. I can't figure out if it is a subtle dig at Lidia or not. But I chuckle every time she brings out the bread crumb jar.
She did pretty good on the mac and cheee!! Us southern scratch cooks NEVER eat kraft mac and cheese out of a box, truth be told. The only difference is that we don't use any parmesan or peccorino, and not white cheddar like Harper provided. We use SHARP cheddar, mixed with monterey jack and colby. Some people make the bechamel sauce, some use a custard base with milk and eggs, if that is the case, you mix a BIT of velveeta in with the custard base to give it some extra flavor and body. Good for putting the bread crumbs on top, she just needed more of them, and more of the shredded cheese directly on top.
"I didn't think that cooking a burger would be so difficult" I used to be a trainer at a Wendy's and I heard this from almost every person I ever trained on the grill. Now some of the stores have the clamshell auto-grills, but back in the day it was a dude in an apron, on a flat top with a spatula, covered in grease and raw beef residue.
I made my first smash burger at home recently and i found the process of making it not too difficult. I have watched alot of vids. What i found the most annoying though was the smoke. i used high smoke point oil a tiny bit, and the patties themselves were almost perfect but the small meat particles and the grease on the sides started to blacken and smoked up alot. Any tip on how to deal with that?
@@sabasiwach680 There really isn't a solution for that other than to turn the heat down a little bit, and to make sure you have good ventilation (or cook outdoors if you can). The reason restaurants can do high-heat cooking like that is because they have industrial ventilation systems. As far as the blackening on the edges and the burnt on (we used to say "carbonized") meat particles, try your best to scrape any little bits of broken off meat out of the pan before they have a chance to burn.
@@markmallecoccio4521 all I have is a big windows in the kitchen and I realized too late that I should have kept it open. I think I should get a second smaller spatula cuz my current one is big, perfect for smashing and flipping but not great for the edges
Still have one of the original .Wendy’s manuals on how to prepare the various foods from the early days. Dave Thomas was a wonderful businessman, he had one of the best mentors of all time, Col. Harlan Sanders. Funny the original chili recipe came from the restaurant I worked at with some modifications that Dave made. Something I still can cook up from scratch.
This is my wife's recipe! She has been making macaroni and cheese this way with pecorino and parmigiano reggiano since our first of many trips to Italia in 2014. She even uses De Cecco number 81. The only difference is that she adds basilico fresco. Once when making mac and cheese for our skeptical seven year old grand daughter. Our grand daughter took one bite, made a face, and said, "this doesn't taste like my mom's mac and cheese". Now that she is 17, we're going to try again. 🙂Great video!
Great video. I'm laughing as I remember my time living in Spigno Monferrato for many years. I'm American and a neighbor asked me to fix a "real" American hamburger, something he had only heard about. So I hosted a small dinner party for 8 or 10 guests. I grilled hamburgers on the charcoal Weber grill I imported from the United States. With the single exception of the neighbor who requested the genuine American burger, every Italian disassembled the burgers I served to them and ate the components separately. I had even prepared a diagram of a hamburger listing the ingredients and the order of assembly and placed several of the signs around the table. That did not stop them from taking the hamburgers apart. Most of them, of course, were disappointed that the meal wasn't served in courses. My guests ate the baked beans as the primo, the meat patty as the secondo, the lettuce and tomato as the insalata, and the bun they treated as ordinary pane. There was some confusion over the potato chips; however, everyone had a good time since there was plenty of wine. My neighbor was thrilled but the other guests didn't much enjoy the food "because it wasn't just like Mama used to make". Later on, I invited that same neighbor and his wife over for grilled steaks, American style. I served beautiful New York Strip steaks cut to my specifications by our wonderful local butcher. I cooked them on the charcoal grill and although my neighbor said his steak was OK, he confessed that he preferred his beef boiled............. a true piemontese.............. sigh.
Eva can make a culinary masterpiece out of a piece of cardboard! She should never be doubted!!! The breakfast gnocchi is something I will definitely have to try to make!!❤
It is actually difficult for Eva with these challenges. For an Italian chef, this would be like Roger Federer playing tennis against a beginner. Very easy to win, but what happens if you make a mistake and lose a point. That would be embarrassing.
A few days ago max fosh (the guy who used an uno reverse card against a football referee's yellow card) made a video where he and some friends went paintballing but he secretly invited some SAS members along with them. It was obviously a bloodbath but at some point the regular guys did a suicide manouvre to shoot one of the SAS guys and it worked. Everyone in the comments mentioned that this particular SAS guy who got shot by civilians is going to get made fun of by his buddies for years to come. It's a pretty similar situation, though not as extreme.
I know this is heresy but our Sicilian neighbors (1960-80) would make Italianized burgers for July 4th and other cookouts, same meat as their meatballs (bread crumbs, onions, capers, egg, peppers) then some kind of marinara sauce and mozzarella on top with a store bought bun. It was sort of a "burger parm" if you will and I always thought the meatloaf patty was better than my mom's non-Italian gravel-like ground beef.
Brava, Eva! The Egg McGnocch is similar to the potato cakes we made in rural Illinois-- from leftover mashed potatoes, flour, egg, and fried in bacon grease.
I was surprised to tell the truth when the alarm went off, because it's not like there had been a lot of smoke. It will probably be a very sensitive alarm. Then as for stuffed gnocchi, hard for us Italians to imagine eating that dish as soon as we get up in the morning. 😊
Eva is so danged cute, I can hardly stand it! She is such an accomplished and talented cook and yet was stymied by "American" dishes! I was applauding her as she was doing the mac & cheese (up until she put what I assume was nutmeg) in her white sauce but it proved that her instincts are spot on! I adore the two of you and look forward to new videos every week! Thank you for bringing a smile to my face!❤😊
When you toast a bun on a griddle like that, you have to keep moving it around. Any pan or griddle is going to have hotspots and if you want an even browning, you have to just keep turning and moving the bread around the pan. I usually push down on it just gently to you to make sure that I’m getting contact all over the bread.
Y'all are so great; I just love your channel! As a chef, I love learning from Eva about traditional Italian cooking but you're both also funny. Thanks Harper to you for showing some skin ;-)
15:44 I've always wondered, too, how Americans do it when they get up in the morning and eat that stuff. For us Italians it might be a small dinner. I think for most Italians it is unimaginable to eat that stuff as soon as they wake up.
I am an American of Italian descent and I am addicted to my ritual breakfast. I make my own English muffins (they were invented in New York and in the UK they are called American muffins) and I put cut slices of cheddar cheese, a fried egg and a few strips of bacon on top and put them in the oven for about 5 minutes. If I go a few days without them for breakfast I get intense cravings for them. A perfect mix of fat, protein and carbs to start the day. I also always have my 2 breakfast sandwiches with a glass of raw milk. The breakfast of champions lol.
With all due respect.......................I can't imagine eating a sweet roll for breakfast. It spikes the blood sugar and would make me hungry again 90 minutes later. Some Americans eat a donut for breakfast and I just don't get it. My breakfast sandwiches on my homemade English muffins give me energy and keep me full for hours until lunch.
Eva: I knew you would pull this off and you did! That you turned bacon and eggs with fried potatoes into stuffed gnocci con "bacon" was hilarious and brilliant! Bravo!
I don't care what anyone says. Cheese comes in BLOCKS, not thin plastic coated slices of "cheese". I don't call that stuff cheese, I call it "American dairy product".
Max, Max, ya gotta buy some ground beef with some fat in it. Plus, ya gotta sizzle a little diced onion and mix it into the ground beef. You and Harper bought the stuff, so don't gripe about how dry the burger is!
As an American I think our most popular cooking technique is to use the microwave. Haha. Convincing Americans that bacon and eggs were a breakfast was an advertising push by Edward Bernays in the 1920s. Eva's instincts that this greasy, heavy meal isn't healthy 1st thing in the morning is spot on. We all knew the talented and sweet Eva would succeed in her own way.
Speak for yourself. I threw my microwave in the garbage in like 2010 and never looked back. The Soviet Union banned them for a reason. Maybe the only good thing they did.
The chief source on the Edward Bernays story is Edward Bernays. He was an advertising specialist that reveled in telling stories about how he could manipulate people, yet internet historians routinely take his claims at face value. Eggs, carbs, and some sort of greasy pork would have been the standard breakfast for most American farm worker throughout the 19th century.
@@blueishgreen76 Yes I am aware that Edward Bernays popularized bacon with eggs. Guess what? David Rockefeller ate that for breakfast. If you think a sweet sugary roll is a superior way to start the day I wish you luck.
Anche Pellegrino Artusi presenta una ricetta che fondamentalmente è precursore dei Mac and cheese. 64. - Maccheroni alla francese Li dico alla francese perchè li trovai in un trattato culinario di quella nazione; ma come pur troppo accade con tali ricette stampate, che non corrispondono quasi mai alla pratica, ho dovuto modificare le dosi nelle seguenti proporzioni: Maccheroni, grammi 250. Burro, grammi 60. Cacio gruiera, grammi 40. Parmigiano, grammi 30. Un pentolino di brodo. Prendete maccheroni lunghi alla napoletana, che si prestano meglio a questo uso, e date loro mezza cottura nell’acqua, salandoli poco; poi scolateli bene e terminate di cuocerli nel brodo; ma prima di gettarvi il condimento avvertite di scolar tutto il brodo per rimettercelo dopo, che altrimenti, il gruiera si appasta e non resta attaccato ai maccheroni. Se dopo averli tenuti ancora un poco sul fuoco li mandate in tavola sugosi, saranno più grati al gusto. È una minestra che fa molto comodo nelle famiglie, perchè risparmia il lesso, bastando un pentolino di brodo lasciato dal giorno avanti. Volendoli di magro, al brodo si sostituisce il latte. Il gruiera, conosciuto in commercio anche col nome di emmenthal, è quel cacio a forme grandissime, di pasta tenera, gialla e bucherellata. Alcuni non amano il suo odore speciale che sa di ribollito; ma fo riflettere che questo odore, nella stagione fredda, è poco sensibile e che nella minestra si avverte appena. Servite questi maccheroni con parmigiano grattato a parte, per chi, non avendo gusto al delicato, ama il piccante.
I wonder how well traditional American pork breakfast sausage would do if subbed for the bacon in the third challenge recipe? Or corned beef, for that matter? Brava, Eva! Improvising on the spot with what you've got is the sign of a truly talented chef.
Growing up on a farm in Midwest USA in the 1950s we made mac & cheese with a bechamel sauce and grated cheddar cheese which was then baked. We didn't even know what Velveeta was back then. We also had large breakfasts and lunches because in the summer, we had many farm helpers/workers who needed to be fed a high protein, calorie meal, to go back out and plant, plow and bale hay. They burned a lot of calories. During the winter, during school we had light breakfasts though. BUT I think Eva needs to make real Mexican food - yum!
Wow I love the idea of the Egg Mc Gnocchi ! I bet it would get a good laugh at your restaurant until they tried it. Then they would love it! Good job Eva!
Let’s be honest, Eva can cook ANYTHING and it would be great! I think they should open a restaurant!! I’m sure it would be a smashing success! I think that breakfast gnocchi dish looked Amazing!!! 🥚 🥔 🥓 😁👍👍👍
12:12 No Eva, you did not burn the burger. That browning looked very acceptable! Smoke alarms just mean you don't have a strong vent hood, but you did an awesome job. For your 1st try, that looked a lot like many people's 10th try.
Ava we Italian American's make baked macaroni which is not just pasta in a cheese sauce but mac baked in a delicious, rich cheesy custard with more cheese. Unfortunately no on talks about it much anymore... it's delicious. The hamburger comes down to excellent ground beef, you don't need anything else but salt & pepper. Ava's final dish is why she's wonderful and Italy always wins 😍
Avs actually did amazing! I think she did better at the dishes then some Americans I know lol. Thr Mac and Cheese looked delicious, I love adding parm to me, the burger looked great. I love this! Such a fun challenge
@@ps5801Bodybuilders slangily call their muscles 'guns'. A gun show is a place to look at guns. So when a bodybuilder has their muscles on display, they are 'showing their guns'. Or, from another perspective, putting on a gun show for spectators.
One more thing, and this is to Ava(Eva) especially, have you tried the Trader Joe's peanut buttercups? If you like Reese's, I recommend Trader Joes. Harper if you know you know!?😉
1. That stuffed gnocchi dish looked/sounded delicious. 2. Please freeze the Reeses cup for Eva. It will be whole other experience. Also try a frozen Skor bar.
Overall I give Eva a C. On the Mac and cheese I give her a B. It was authentic American but she didn’t cook it long enough to obtain the cheesy crust on top. On the burger I gave Eva a C. It was again it was Authentic American and she got of to a good start by toasting the bun but she made a mistake by trying to make a smash burger and smashed all the juices out of the burger to make just an average cheese burger. I gave her a D for the American Breakfast. About the only thing American about it was she used bacon. This was really and Italian meal and not even an Italian breakfast. It looked delicious but she failed the “American Breakfast” part. I gave her a D on the third test because it looks delicious. If not for that it would have been an F (sorry Eva). Thus I give her a passing Grade of C. Congratulations Eva. There is nothing more American than getting a C for a grade! 😂
Super fun video! I would love to see more of Ava making American dishes (American Goulash, meatloaf, pot roast dinner, grilled cheese & tomato soup, etc). Of course, I'll never tire of watching her cook Italian dishes :)
This is very unfair because she has never had a good homemade American mac and cheese that would be served at Holiday. You must make one for her! I am an Italian American with southern roots that took my recipe from my maternal southern grandma who was friends with my patneral Italian grandma. We don't joke with this dish. We do NOT use tiny macaroni, we use medium sized elbow macaroni or another pasta that is hearty to hold the cheese sauce. The cheese sauce is complex. I add onion, garlic , mustard and a pinch or two of fresh nutmeg too if I have it and blend it and sometimes strain it. These flavors should enhance the cheese, not over power, it's a total taste sensation from start to finish. I use three or four different cheeses that can vary but two MUST be a very SHARP cheddar that is YELLOW and a cream cheese style of cheese like Mascarpone or something similar and in a pinch I use just good ole Philadelphia. I add lemon as well to help balance. On top you MUST have LOTS of buttered bread crumbs. It must be baked perfectly to get a fine crispy top and edge but not burned! This is not an easy dish when done well. I serve it with good crusty Italian bread and a white wine and it is in high demand from my family. And yes at Holiday might serve with Lobster-but ON THE SIDE. It's rooted in French, Italian and American Immigrant cooking and I don't ever make it for people who don't appreciate it because it is a lot of work and most people today think Kraft is the way mac and cheese is supposed to taste-YUK
That's torture! Hamburgers, piled on pizza, macraroni and cheese. Bah! Besides, knowing you live in Tucson why don't you give Eva a real challenge and have her cook real American food- Mexican style. Chili colorado, pozole, tamales, rellenos. Those are the real American foods. (for those who don't know their history, Mexico occupied most of southern and western north America before colonialists forged their way across killing and conquering).
I thought Eva would have made a frittata with the eggs, bacon and potato! But she got way more creative! She’s amazing! However, Harper, I think you should cook the burgers. Eva can retire from burger frying. 😂
Eva that burger looks fine! Great even!!! I don't like mayo so take that off, give me ketchup/onion/pickle and a drop of mustard but I would definitely take that burger!
