Charles Melton Attempts To Keep Up with a Professional Chef

Don't put it on one spot and hold it there.

I know, Carla.

[Carla] You know?

[laughing]

Hey guys, it's Carla,

and I'm here in the Bon Appetit test kitchen today

with Charles Melton.

His movie, The Sun is Also a Star, is actually out today.

And you're also on Riverdale?

Mm-hmm.

Great, so we have 20 minutes, just a mere 20 minutes

to make individual Baked Alaskas.

Baked Alaskas?

Yeah and we're gonna see if Charles can follow along

with me through verbal instructions only.

Have you ever heard of a Baked Alaska?

I've never. You seem stunned.

Kind of stunned.

I've never heard of a Baked Alaska.

All right, so, on a count of three

we're just gonna turn around start cooking.

Okay, but I can't look at you and you can't look at me.

Okay.

Okay, all right.

Three, two, one, ta-da.

Bye.

Bye.

Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you.

Okay, on your cutting board you've got a pound cake.

And this is gonna actually be the base of our Baked Alaska.

So, take the ring mold that's on,

that cutter that's on your cutting board.

And just position it right in the middle from the top down.

And you're just gonna push straight through the cake

to make a cylinder.

So, do you have a cake cylinder, Charles?

Yeah.

All right, perfect.

So, the little scraps, those funny shapes,

you can just put those on the baking sheet

that's got the ice cream.

All right, so now turn your cylinder

on one of the round sides.

Okay, so, take the ring out.

Yeah and then I want you to use the serrated knife

by the cutting board.

Just get two nice even,

about three quarter-inch thick slices.

Turning it on it's side, cutting it down the middle.

Cutting it, yeah, so that you end up with

like a three quarter-inch thick disc.

Okay, the three quarter inch, okay.

Yeah.

And then the top one,

I'm basically just trimming the brown top off.

Oh.

We're just gonna use one of these

but I like to just make sure that we have

two nice circles to work with.

So, trim the top of the.

Yeah, the very top of the cake, sort of on that top slice,

can just come off.

Can I eat this? Are we gonna use this later?

You need these two discs.

So, put them on the rim baking sheet

that has the parchment paper.

One of mine is nicer than the other.

That's why I have us do two.

And then we can pick the nicest one.

All right and you don't need that round cutter anymore.

You can put that with your cake scraps.

And grab your ice cream.

Okay.

So, what we're gonna do with the ice cream,

is we're gonna do basically the same thing.

You're gonna turn, without taking the lid off or anything,

turn your pint of ice cream on it's side.

And then we're gonna cut cross-wise

through the paper, through the ice cream

to get about the same thickness discs of ice cream.

I cut off the very bottom, you know, cause it's like got.

Yeah, that extra.

So, I just cut that off

so that I can reveal the ice cream with one slice.

Chocolate chip.

Oo.

Nice.

The pint container is on an angle

so, you kind of have to account for that.

But try to get again, like,

three quarter-inch or an inch thick.

[Charles] Okay.

[Carla] So, just make another cut

above the one that you just did.

So, right now this is what I'm doing, Carla.

I think you might like it.

I grab the circle thing off the cooking sheet

and I'm using it to measure where I'm gonna cut

the pint of ice cream.

Whatever works.

So's long as you end up with two more discs of ice cream.

And we do have to work quickly because ice cream melts.

Alaska, it's gotta be cold.

Okay, you're right.

So, when you get another disc

you wanna just pick that up with the spatula

and place it right on top of your cake round.

Aw, I cut my finger.

Oh, no, for real?

No, I'm good.

Oh, God [laughs].

Did you turn around?

I turned half way, look at those guys to see.

Point deducted.

Okay, so, I'm gonna do a second slice just to be safe.

Even though in the end we'll probably just make one.

Take the plastic off of?

Yeah, take the paper.

So, I just push mine through

and lift the paper off at the same time.

And put it back onto your other cake.

And then these have to go

right back in the freezer while we do the rest.

So, let me know when you have your two cakes ready to go.

Wait, what?

So, it's cake on the bottom.

Cake on the bottom.

Disc of ice cream on top.

Okay.

And then again on the other one.

Cake on the bottom.

Okay, okay.

Yeah, I just like having two

in case something goes wrong with two of them.

All right, this next part is a little touch and go

but it's gonna be amazing.

You got a sauce pan on an induction burner.

And I want you to pick up the sugar that's in the bowl

and add the sugar to that pan.

Put it in the pot.

Put it in the sauce pot.

And this is gonna become a sugar syrup, okay.

So, take the water from the measuring cup

not the water in the bowl

and then add that water to the sugar.

And we're still not even adding any heat yet.

The sugar has to completely dissolve into the water

before it starts simmering

otherwise it'll never hit temperature.

Should I mix it?

Yeah, so, take your spatula and give that just a mix

to make sure it's kind of like wet sand, you know?

And you just wanna make sure your sugar

is like saturated with the water.

We're gonna start cooking the syrup in a second.

But at the same time

we're gonna use the mixing bowl to make a meringue.

What's a meringue?

A meringue is a egg white, whipped egg white.

So, it's kind of like when you whip whipped cream

and then you get to peaks.

And then you can have your strawberry shortcake or whatever.

So, egg whites.

It's healthy. Egg whites.

Okay, so, let's go ahead now.

You stirred your sugar, right?

Yeah.

Go ahead and turn the induction on.

There's a button in the very front that says power.

Okay.

Give it a few stirs as it's warming up.

Yeah.

It just looks like a milky water.

Is that normal?

Yeah, totally.

So, it's gonna look cloudy and opaque

until the sugar is dissolved.

And that's a great way to tell that your sugar is dissolved,

is that the liquid will start to look clear.

You can see the bottom of the pan.

Wait, what's this little bowl right next to the stove?

Yeah, so, you should have a little pastry brush

and you have that little bowl of water.

Yeah.

And so, now as you've been stirring

you kind of kick some sugar crystals

up on the side of the pan.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, I use that to brush the sugars?

Exactly.

Oh.

Yeah.

And that way you're syrup won't crystallize.

So, we're gonna let that hang out for a minute.

We're gonna come back.

We're gonna have to take the temperature.

But first we gotta get these egg whites in the bowl.

Now pour your egg whites into the bowl.

They're the yellowish blobby thing.

Boom, got that.

Then you got a tiny, little bowl that has cream of tartar.

Which one's the cream of tartar?

It's in the very smallest bowl

and it kind of feels like baby powder or talc.

Okay, got it.

Put that into your eggs.

And then a pinch of salt is in the little bit bigger bowl.

A pinch of salt?

A pinch of salt.

All right, so, now Charles, find the switch

on the left side of your mixer

and get that to like four.

Okay and then I want you to come right back over

to your pan of your simmering syrup.

And find this probe thermometer.

You got like a yeah.

The red thing?

Yeah, so, the other end of it, the very pointy ends.

We wanna get that into the,

get a good reading on the syrup, okay.

So, tilt your pan.

So, like, right in the middle

and then check your little readout thing

and tell me where you're at.

230.

Okay, perfect, I'm at almost 232.

And we're going for 238.

Okay.

So then you could just let that go back down again.

Gotta keep cooking.

Your egg whites right now,

do they look very bubbly and kind of pale yellow

and very frothy?

My egg whites?

I mean, they look white, like more like a cream.

Creamy, okay.

The bubbles are getting--

We gotta check our syrup.

How's your temp?

Cause I'm almost there.

Oh, my temp is 239.

Oh, okay.

So, here's what's gonna happen now.

I want you to hold your pan in one hand,

pour the syrup into the bowl

aiming for like, the side of the bowl not the beaters.

Okay, are you doing it right now?

I'm doing it right now.

What are you doing? I was waiting for you.

Oh, [laughs] I started going.

I'm doing something really cool right now.

You're doing something really cool?

I'm lifting my pan up in the air

pouring every drop of this syrup.

Oh, wonderful.

And is all your syrup in already?

Yup.

Oh, wow. And what do your egg whites look like?

It's looks like a firm foam.

Does that make sense?

Okay, that's a great description, a firm foam.

Let's go up to eight.

Whoa.

And then in a minute we're gonna check our egg whites.

Feel the outside of the bowl.

Does it feel very hot?

Yeah.

Yeah, same.

And do your egg whites look more shiny now?

Yeah.

Okay, so, turn your speed off.

[whirring]

Tilt the head of the machine up.

So, the beater is attached to the machine.

I want you to just unscrew it and take your beater off.

You just push it up and rotate it, then it comes off.

Push it up, rotate it, okay got it.

You got it?

Okay, so, now with that beater is like a giant whisk.

Just kind of stir around your egg whites gently.

And lift the beater up straight so that

the egg white droops off the bottom.

Slowly stir, right?

Yeah, just like give a little

just to get some of the product on the whisk.

And then turn it over and see if your peak

has a little more peakiness to it.

It's a peak, it hasn't moved.

It looks like a mountain. Okay, perfect.

So, now we gotta go into our pastry bags.

Wait Charles, I didn't add my vanilla.

Did you add your vanilla?

I added my vanilla.

I didn't even tell you to add the vanilla.

That was very good because I didn't add mine.

Hold on, now I have to whip again.

[beep]

Should I whip while you're doing that, too?

No, I don't want you to over whip

and yours sounded perfect.

Were your egg whites very,

would you describe them as glossy?

Glossy.

And opaque?

Yeah.

Okay, great, that's it.

And now what has to happen

is we gotta scoop a bag full of this egg white mixture

into the pastry bag.

With the little other spatula?

With the other spatula.

The bag is folded down.

It kind of makes a collar

and you could put your hand under there.

Yeah.

I'm very sticky as it is but.

So, then just scoop up

and without deflating these egg whites.

Yeah, you know, I shouldn't mash it,

like push it down, right?

We're gonna have to mash it to a certain degree

because it's gotta get all the way down to the tip.

I'm like wiggling from the top of the plastic

and like getting it.

Yeah, is your bag full like up to the collar

where it was folded over?

Yes.

Okay, cool.

So, now just lift the collar back up

so it's like standing straight up.

You just wanna close this up

so that the meringue doesn't squeeze out the top.

We want it to squeeze to the bottom.

So, like folding it, kind of.

Just sort of that like little zig zag fold.

Zig zag fold?

Well, pleats.

I don't know what a pleat is.

[laughing]

Just hold it and then twist it.

I think I put too much in here.

It's okay, just roll with it.

A little might, you know,

you're gonna get a little back splash.

I'm gonna get a lot of back splash.

Just set your pastry bag down

and choose the most beautiful of these two Baked Alaskas.

Would you say the smaller one or the bigger one?

I'm torn, I don't know.

You gotta go with your gut.

Okay.

Okay.

And put that in the center of this cake turntable.

Okay, yeah.

The cool thing is this turntable, the top rotates, right.

So, give the white part a little spin.

What we're gonna do

is we're gonna start squeezing out the meringue.

But I want you to squeeze them out

to make like little mini mountains.

Okay, so, I'm squeezing little mountains.

Let's practice on the sheet tray that was in the freezer,

that had the other cake on it.

Let's just do a couple practice ones.

Okay.

Squeeze from the bacK of the bag.

And you're gonna squeeze out like

a little mound of meringue.

All right, I got it. So, what we're gonna do is

we're gonna make a bunch of those

all around the base of this Baked Alaska.

All right, so--

It's gotta go on an angle so that these guys--

Oh.

Yeah.

So, you wanna put the tip of the pastry tip

against the cake itself and squeeze some out.

And when you've got like a little poof of meringue

pull the pastry bag away.

I got, I got, I got

the meringue coming out on both angles, both sides.

Did you make a little rosette yet on your cake?

Almost.

Go all the way around, right?

Yeah, you wanna go all the way around the base.

And you can just squeeze some out

and then turn the turntable.

Is your meringue standing up on it's own pretty well?

Yeah.

It's not slooping down.

No.

Okay, good.

Got it, got it.

Okay, so then directly above that row of meringue flowers

we're gonna drop another set.

Okay.

Kind of like same size.

Now you should be

halfway on the cake and halfway on the ice cream.

Yup.

Okay, perfect.

All right, when you have your row two done let me know.

Completed.

All right, great, let's go row three.

Row three, now I'm on top of the cake?

Yeah, you're kind of like

should be cresting the ice cream at this point.

Okay.

And so, fill that in.

And where I am right now on that third row,

I've got like a ring of ice cream exposed

in the very top center.

Yeah.

But the sides are totally meringue.

Is that true for you?

I think so.

[laughing]

Just fill it in with meringue.

That's the key thing.

So that the whole top has meringue.

So, wait, is there meringue

in the center of the ice cream?

Yeah, the whole thing should be enveloped in meringue now.

Do you have like a lot of tiny meringues or?

They're about the same size, smalls and mediums.

But then I did one larger one right on top.

And so I should kind of like, fill in the?

Yes and quickly because ice cream is melting.

Got it.

I don't wanna stress you out.

Got it.

I'm stressed. I'm done with the meringue.

We're good? Like if you looked at it

can you see ice cream or cake anywhere?

Nope.

You just see meringue.

I just see a meringue flower.

Okay, perfect.

Do you see your torch?

My torch.

Yeah, there's a metal torch on your station.

Okay, so, this is the way this thing works.

Back of it has a big round button.

And then there's a little lever.

You gotta pull that little lever down til it clicks.

And then hit the round button.

And it should make fire come out.

So now kind of waving the torch back and forth

over your meringue.

All over it, right?

Yeah, but don't put it on one spot and hold it there.

I know Carla.

You know.

[laughing]

Is your torch going?

Yeah, it's going now.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, so, we wanna get nice, deep golden brown

with some darker puff points.

But the torch will pick up

all the detail of your pastry test.

I feel like I'm painting with fire.

Exactly.

Okay, I'm done.

All right, great.

And on the count of three we'll just turn around

and I get to see your amazing Baked Alaska.

Wait, okay.

You got it?

Yeah.

Okay, one, two, three, ta-da.

[gasping]

Beautiful.

Oo, look at that.

Yours looks more like a powdery snow fall, you know?

And I went for more of like a, I don't know,

like a queen's crown kind of a vibe.

It's crazy, you even have the tips.

The little tips.

Whoa.

[whooshing]

So, this is what's gonna happen.

We're gonna cut into it so you can see all the layers.

Cut straight through the middle.

And then when you come down just use the knife

to kind of open it up like a bok.

The ice cream might be a little soft at this point

We just have to see what happens.

[groaning]

Oopsie.

Oh, yeah, beautiful.

Alaska got baked.

Ready to switch?

Yes.

I get to sample yours.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

[laughing]

It looks actually incredible.

It's perfectly right.

You got this layer of cake in the bottom

and then like the same height layer of ice cream.

And then the whole thing is enveloped

in this awesome, fluffy meringue.

I can't wait to taste it.

Mm, you got a lot of different

textures and temperatures going on.

You know?

I like the cake.

Now you can just torch stuff for fun.

So, how do you feel now after accomplishing Baked Alaska?

I feel good.

I feel relaxed.

That means it's calm, it's delicious.

And fluffy.

And fluffy.

Got to torch stuff.

Yeah, thanks for coming in.

Thanks for having me.

Come back any time.

We'll do savory food next.

Okay.

Okay.