Nina Dobrev Tries to Keep Up with a Professional Chef

Look, I'm not a vegetarian.

I eat meat.

Yeah, but usually somebody else does this part.

I might become a vegetarian after this experience.

[upbeat music]

Hey, guys, it's Carla.

I'm here in the BA Test Kitchen today

with Nina Dobrev from Fam CBS,

and today we've got 20 minutes only

to make a crispy skinned fish.

We're gonna see if Nina could follow along with me

through verbal instructions only.

Alright.

How you feelin' about that?

Nervous, and excited, and nervous.

Alright, so on a count of three

we're gonna turn around and start cooking, ready?

One, two--

Wait.

Oh, gotta lose the shoe. [laughs]

I am not cooking in heels.

Alright, on a count of three we're gonna start cooking.

Yes.

One, two, three, go.

Tada!

Ooh!

Alright, so the first thing you're gonna encounter

is this big, beautiful red snapper.

[Nina] Yeah, I see it.

[Carla] Do you like fish, Nina?

I do like eating fish.

Great.

I have a confession.

Don't love seeing my food's face.

[Carla] Yeah, it does have a head and an eyeball,

but we're just gonna ignore that part.

So, first thing I want you to do is you've got

a rimmed baking sheet next to you and I want you to pick up

the little pair of red scissors on that tray.

Got it.

So, we're gonna filet the fish,

which means we're gonna take off the top filet.

There's a pair of gloves, if you want to wear 'em.

I'm probably not just 'cause they kinda get in my way.

But if you want to touch Mr. Fish, that's fine.

I feel like I'm Dexter right now.

You feel like you're Dexter?

[Nina] I'm Dexta!

[Carla] So, let me know when you have your gloves on,

and we'll get down to surgery.

Alright. I'm in.

In order to get to this filet

that's on the top side of the fish,

I just want to get all these little fins

and fish feathers out of the way.

So, there's three that we're gonna clip off,

the first one being right underneath the fish's jaw.

Just go to the base of those

and use your snippers to snip those off,

and then you can just put those little fish fins

back on the tray that the scissors came from.

Cool?

Yeah.

Are you there?

Did she leave?

[laughing]

She left.

I'm considering it, I'm considering it.

Okay, and then once you've got that one off,

we're gonna go right underneath the belly.

There's another set of fins, and it's easier

if you cut kind of against the angle,

but either way should work

with these little sharp, snippers.

Got it.

And then do the one that's at the underside of the belly.

Am I flipping to the other side?

No, don't worry about the other side.

We're just gonna take off the top filet,

and then once you've got the little belly fins off,

go back to the top, like the crown

at the top of the spine.

It'll be easier if you work from the tail end

up towards the head.

Zip that right off.

How are you doing, Nina?

[Nina] I'm halfway down the dragon tail.

Oh, dragon tail.

That's a good--

I mean--

[Carla] That's a good description.

It does look like that.

[Carla] Yeah, to me, they're like

the little fish feathers.

It's like the top of the chickens.

Alright, I'm done.

Okay, great.

So, he's gotten his little crew cut,

and now I want you to pick up that knife

that has the curved blade,

and the first thing you're gonna do

is just find the spot on the fish

where the head connects to the body, okay?

And we're gonna make one long cut kind of on a diagonal.

You want to angle the knife towards the fish's head,

and cut straight down to the jawline.

You want to go deep enough so that you actually

feel yourself hit the backbone.

I'm decapitating him, is what you're saying.

You don't have to take the head totally off.

Just go through the flesh until you feel yourself hit

the spine in the center.

Okay, I think I'm done.

Okay, now go down to where it turns into the tail.

[Nina] Yeah?

[Carla] And then just make a cut going vertically

so we know where the filet and the tail separate.

[Nina] Done.

Cool. Okay.

Now, we're gonna go back, and this is what we're gonna do.

In order to take the filet off,

you want to kinda keep the blade against the bones,

so you're gonna go back up to the head right at the top

where the two sides of the fish come together and meet.

That's where you're gonna put your knife in,

and then just drag the blade all the way down

towards that cut that you made in the tail.

Now, you're just gonna keep going deeper

like following that same cut that you made.

[Nina] Oh, I get it!

[Carla] You know what I mean?

[Nina] It almost starts to peel off naturally.

[Carla] Exactly.

Once the filet is kinda peeled back

you can really see what's going on in there.

I almost wish I didn't know

what was going on underneath here.

Do fish have hearts?

Do fish have hearts?

Yeah, they have hearts.

[Nina] Where is the heart?

It's gone.

This has already been gutted.

She had a heart of gold, though. [laughs]

Take your word for it.

So, is your filet still attached to the body?

[Nina] I'm almost done.

[Carla] Almost done?

[Nina] My issue at this stage is near the neck part.

[Carla] Yeah.

[Nina] Oh, wait.

I'm good.

[Carla] It's not completely even.

The top of the fish filet comes up

like kind of on a curve more towards the head.

I've successfully removed the side of the body.

I think I missed a giant chunk

which now looks like a second fin

that it never wanted to have.

Yeah, don't worry about that.

We didn't want that fin.

I'm pretty sure I found its heart.

[Carla] Oh. Okay.

What is that?

So, once your filet is free,

you can just put that whole fish

with the head, and the tail, and the rest of the body

back on that rimmed sheet tray.

Okay, so now you're gonna notice that on the filet

there's sort of like the belly part.

It's very kind of thin and floppy.

So, what we're gonna do is we're just gonna cut

that belly part off, so what you're left with

is the thicker past of the filet.

Oh, sorry.

Are we keeping the skinny part or the fat part?

We're gonna keep the fat part,

the main part of the filet that is thicker,

not the floppy bottom part

that's in the shape of a V almost.

Okay, cut the V off?

Yeah, just cut the V straight off.

Go all the way through the skin

and you could put that also on your rimmed sheet tray.

I'm removing the spine heart,

this suspicious looking entity.

If yours have a heart, we're going to leave that behind.

Okay.

This is not fish organ yakitori night.

Right now, it looks like it got hit by a truck

so I'm gonna take some liberties and manicure it.

Yeah, the way that you would like to eat it,

you can trim it that way.

And then the next thing I need you to do

is run your fingers along the part of the filet

where you cut the thin part of the belly off,

and if you feel any bones kind of sticking

through the flesh, take those tweezers,

and just like you were tweezing your eyebrows,

just pull those out, and I definitely have a couple.

[Nina] Yeah, me too.

[Carla] Yeah.

Along the side, or just if they're sticking out

through the front?

[Carla] Wherever you feel a bone,

just find the end of it and get in there and pull 'em out.

[Nina] Alright, I think we're good.

Okay, cool.

Great.

Alright, there's a little oval tray right in front of you

with a tiny piece of parchment.

Put the fish over there, flesh-side up,

and we can get rid of fish butchery.

[Nina] Very exciting.

[Carla] Cool.

This part kind of made me feel like

I'm in Operation, the game.

Yeah, little bit of Operation, for sure.

Alright, so you've got your little fish filet

on the oval platter.

Bring that in front of you onto your cutting board,

and then there's a bowl of salt and a bowl of oil

right next to this cooker.

Yup.

So, take the salt and season the flesh side,

and then the pepper mill off the tray.

Once you've salt and peppered the flesh side,

just turn it over, and I'm just,

I'm gonna put salt on the skin side.

[Nina] Okay, is there a method behind that madness

so that I know when I do this at home every Tuesday night?

Totally.

We're gonna start the fish,

and it's gonna stay skin-side down--

Oh, shit.

95% of the time, and I just don't want the pepper to burn.

Yeah, yeah.

That would be really, really, really bad

if we put pepper on the skin.

It would ruin everything.

Shit.

Okay, so now take the incredibly tiny

and adorable bowl of oil.

Hypothetically--

Yeah.

Like I wouldn't do this, but if somebody at home,

if they were to put pepper on the back of it,

what would you recommend doing?

I would recommend eating it that way

because I really like pepper.

Great.

In fact, great idea.

I'm gonna pepper my skin

because you gave me such a good idea.

Awesome.

Cool.

Okay, so now you have a very cute and tiny bowl of oil.

Just pour that right into the skillet.

Okay, is that one teaspoon?

[Carla] It's like a tablespoon.

Okay, good--

So now, pick up your fish filet

and just put it into the pan in the oil

and kind of like, just rotate it into the skillet

so that the oil kinda--

[Nina] Skin-side down?

[Carla] Skin-side down.

[Nina] Okay.

Alright, so this is a cold pan.

We're gonna cook it kinda low and slow.

What if we like it to be hot and quick?

Well [laughs], then--

Some of us don't have time for low and slow, you know?

You can cook fish hot and fast,

but then you get dry, overcooked fish

that doesn't have crispy skin.

No, we don't want it to be dry either.

[Carla] The choice is yours.

So, hit that power button.

Let's put that at 265 to start.

Ooh!

Already, my oil is sizzling.

It's alive. It's alive.

Has yours already curved up a little bit?

Oh yeah, it's fully coming to life.

Right?

So, it's like contracted and gotten higher

than it used to be?

Yeah.

So, take the slotted spatula.

Yup.

Just press down on the fish on the flesh side,

and kinda get it to smush back down.

We want to push it flat because we actually want

all of that fish skin to get nice and crispy.

[Nina] How long do I have to do this for?

Just a few times until you feel like

the filet is making contact with the pan,

and it's kind of flattened out just a little bit.

And then we're just gonna let it, ah!

Now we're just gonna let it go.

Alright.

[Carla] Cool?

Letting it go.

Alright, great.

Alright, now we're gonna make a whole lemon vinaigrette.

Okay.

Okay?

So, this whole lemon, we're gonna use

the pith, the peel, and the flesh.

Alright.

So, the first thing I want you to do

is take off the top and the bottom end,

the little pointy ends.

[Nina] Top and bottom.

Yup, until you can see down to the flesh of the lemon.

Bye!

We're good.

And then stand it up.

We're gonna work around.

Just cut from straight top to bottom to cut off one side.

All the sides have to come off, right?

Yeah, you're gonna go all the way around,

and so at the end, you should be left

with this little square of flesh.

Got it.

Okay, cool.

And then take the bowl that's on your tray

with the other ingredients.

That core of the lemon,

just squeeze the juice into the bowl.

Does this act as a disinfectant

for little, small cuts that you might have?

What are you doing?

Are you working with a lot of paper?

What's happening?

[laughs] Yeah, it's cold outside.

My fingers are cracking.

Alright, that's all liquid now,

and I got little lemon guts in my hand now.

Okay, great. Just toss that.

You should have an extra bowl--

Do I throw the little seeds, too?

Yeah, so tease out any seeds.

Wait, can't we make a lemon tree with the seeds?

Isn't that how the circle of life works?

[laughing]

Should we keep these?

We have time, let's make a lemon tree.

[laughing]

How's your fish doing, Nina?

You know, it looks like it did a couple minutes ago,

but a couple of minutes have passed.

Is it still sizzling?

Do you feel like the oil and the skin

where they're touching each other are making a sizzle?

[Nina] Yup.

And just tease up one corner

to kinda get a peek underneath.

My edge is getting golden brown.

Peekaboo.

Golden brown?

[Carla] A little bit golden brown.

[Nina] A little bit.

[Carla] A little bit. Okay.

More like rose gold, if I had to be super picky about it.

Well, it was a red snapper.

Let's go up to 280.

Ooh, makin' it hot in here.

[laughing]

Okay, so should have four pieces of lemon flesh,

and skin, and the whole thing.

What I want you to do is just finely chop that lemon.

Are we trying to chop it small, like dice it?

[Carla] Exactly.

[Nina] Can I use the bigger knife?

[Carla] Yes, you can use whichever knife--

Do I have to do your method,

or can I just do what I do to make it--

Do what you do.

Sweet.

Finely, finely dice, and we're gonna use the whole thing.

It just works for me going that way,

but then you get these little cuts

that have peel, pith, and flesh.

Are you still cutting?

I am.

I want to make a beach out of this lemon.

I don't want it to be like Cabo beach.

I want it to be Caribbean, white.

I want to be able to lay--

It's okay to have little, tiny pieces of lemon.

Okay, I think we're good.

You're good?

I don't know.

We'll see later when you look at it.

[laughing]

Alright, how's your fish?

Let's check for crispy skins.

[Nina] It's opaque on one side of the edges.

[Carla] Okay.

And then the middle's pink.

So, let's finish our sauce and then our fish'll be done.

There is a little bowl of chopped shallots.

You can use one of these little spoons

to just scrape the shallot right on top of the lemon.

Is the lemon on the cutting board, or is--

No, you want to get the lemon from the cutting board

into the bowl that had your lemon juice,

and then add the black sesame seeds.

[Nina] I love shallot, by the way.

I do, too.

People always refer to it as a fancy onion--

It is.

[Carla] It's a shallot.

It's like a travel size onion, though.

Then there's a little bowl of toasted sesame oil.

Which one's the sesame oil?

It doesn't matter.

They're all going in the same place.

Oh, so just dump 'em in?

Yeah, just get 'em all in.

Boom.

Boom.

Oh, that's honey, so that's not gonna do that.

[Carla] Measuring cup with olive oil.

The honey goes in, too?

Honey goes in, too.

And then the oil.

Now, what's the rule on licking your fingers

when you're cooking? [laughs]

It is advised.

[Nina] Is that a big no-no?

It's advised and encouraged.

Oh, really?

[Carla] Yeah, sure.

[Nina] Alright, what about this measuring cup?

It's olive oil, so just add that whole thing

into your shallot, lemon, sesame, sesame, honey mixture.

Add the black pepper, like a bunch of cranks of black pepper

into the dressing, and then going back to that kosher salt

that we used on the fish.

[Nina] Okay.

I'm adding three big pinches.

Okay, so it's three big pinches of the little salt.

[Carla] Yeah.

I've always wanted to do this.

[Carla] Mm!

I just tasted mine.

Not practical.

Make sure when you taste it

you get a piece of lemon in there.

Sassy.

Whoo!

Ooh, that's good.

I could just eat this alone.

Right?

Let's go back to our fish.

Talk to me about what you're seeing on the flesh side.

[Nina] Flesh side is still pink.

In the very middle?

[Nina] Yeah.

The whole top?

Just the middle top.

[Carla] Okay, carefully turn it over.

[Nina] Oh, that makes sense.

Now do you feel like it's cooked through,

or do you want to peek at it?

Oh, so soon?

Mine was really only undercooked at the very top.

Oh, yeah! It's white!

Great.

We're gonna platter it up.

Are we done? That was it?

Yeah. That's it.

[gasping]

Grab your dinner plate.

Using the large spoon from your tray,

just spoon some of the dressing onto your plate.

You want to just lift up the fish

so that it stays skin-side up.

The skin is the pretty side?

Yeah [laughs], if there's something about this fish skin

that is not pleasing to you, use your sauce as camouflage,

and then just a little bit of flaky salt over the skin.

Are you salted?

Now, I am.

Do you feel like presentation time?

Okay, now I'm nervous.

[laughing]

Alright, on three.

One, two, three. Go.

Tada!

Oh, gorgeous!

Thank you.

Your knife work is amazing.

Yours, too.

Alright, let's switch plates--

Hardly seems fair, though.

Yeah, why?

How come you get the one that's not as good?

I get to tell people that you cooked for me.

Ooh, okay.

Yeah.

And I get to tell people that you cooked for me.

Can we do something super cheesy?

Yeah.

[laughing]

Oh, nice.

Mm. Mm-hmm.

This is really good.

I am gonna make this at home.

Fish skin's underrated.

It's like the bacon of the sea.

The next time I come, because whether

you've invited me or not, I'm inviting myself,

I'd like to come back, and I'd you to teach me

how to make something super complicated.

Okay.

Pork chops.

Okay, I have a good recipe for pork chops.

[Nina] Okay.

[Carla] But we're not gonna start

with the whole pig, if that's okay.

[Nina] No, no, no, I want the whole pig.

[laughing]