Shangela Tries to Keep Up with Carla

How's your batter?

Is you batter in your bag?

Trust me, I'm a drag queen, honey,

my batter has been in my bag a long time.

But let me just say.

[upbeat music]

Hey, guys, it's Carla

and I'm here today in the Bon Appetit kitchen

with Shangela. Halleloo, hey!

And today we've got 20 minutes

to make a recipe for churros.

Ooh. With bittersweet

chocolate sauce and we're gonna see

how well Shangela can follow along with me

through verbal instructions only.

Okay, well, Halleloo, let's do it.

Alright on a count of three.

Okay. Three, two, one.

Drama. Whoo!

Alright.

Shangela, first thing we're gonna do

is we're gonna start the batter for the churros.

And that's gonna happen in this pan.

Which one's a pan?

Into the pan, but before we get everything in there,

we're gonna keep it cold so find that measuring cup

with the milk. Okay, got it.

Milk, the white one, got it, okay.

Milk's going in.

Find the measuring cup. In what?

In what?

Into this pan right on the burner.

Okay, ooh, does that?

Ooh, burner, oh lord. But it's not on.

Okay, great. It's still cold.

You know my hair is flammable, girl.

Okay, the milk is in there now.

Milk and water. And the water's in there.

Okay, got it. There's an adorable

little bowl of sugar on that same tray, pour in the sugar.

Oh, this?

Is the sugar the one that looks like salt?

Um, there's salt, too, so add the salt.

Okay, okay, both of those.

Okay, got it. The sugar is kinda brown

and crystallized. Got it.

Okay, crystallized, I love it, alright.

So now, find the little half vanilla bean

on that tray. Oh, is it this long string?

Yeah, it looks like a long twiggy string.

Oh, wow!

This does not look like a bean to me!

Had you never had a fresh vanilla bean before?

No, I have not.

Should I taste it?

Um, yeah. No, I shouldn't.

It's a little bitter right out of the pod

but it's gonna go in. Okay.

So I'm going in, boom. Oh no.

Oh, you put it, alright let's go for it.

[Carla chuckles] Gonna put it in.

Oh, sorry. And then,

no, you're good.

We're gonna have to fish that out later, though.

Okay, okay, I'm good at fishing.

And then, [Carla chuckles]

and then the amount of butter.

Just drop that in as well. The whole butter stick?

The whole butter stick is in.

Alright, America, come on. [Carla laughs]

Okay. There we go, okay.

Butter, whoo, butter. So now looking down

at your burner, there's a little button

with a red flashing light and just hit that

to turn it on. Oh, yeah, yeah, power.

And now you power on and find the,

let's go with rapid boil. Okay.

Okay, so, grab a wooden spoon

out of the little container up front.

Okay, got a wooden spoon, whoo hoo.

And we just wanna stir.

Ooh, I feel like Fantastic Beasts.

Right? Okay,

stir the butter, right? Yeah, just stir

it around, I wanna make sure that the sugar

isn't stuck to the bottom and just make everybody

kinda get to know each other a tiny bit.

Well, when is the butter gonna melt?

As soon as this pan gets up to temperature.

Which is gonna happen pretty quickly.

Oh, the pot goes on the burner!

Exactly. Okay, okay, sorry, sister.

[Shangela and Carla laugh]

Yeah, this whole meta, this whole thing is gonna get hot.

Okay, okay.

Whoo hoo. [Carla laughs]

So use your butter melt,

[Carla laughs] your butter should be melting.

Okay, yeah, the butter's getting softer.

The butter is getting softer, gal.

So you can just leave the wooden spoon

in the pot on the burner. Okay.

And I just want you to find your bowl of flour

which is also on that tray. Okay, the middle.

Okay, got it, got it, got the flour.

Is your butter melted?

Cause mine's still kinda like a stick.

It's coming along.

It's, like, halfway there. Should I chop it in half?

[Carla] Sure, let's do that, it'll go faster.

That's good thinking. Yeah, look at that.

Mmhmm, I'm like a sous chef.

Like a Halle-sous.

Alright, so while we're,

we have a couple seconds, we can make our cinnamon sugar.

Oh, okay, great. Alright.

So there's uh, a bowl, a big bowl of sugar

and a little bowl of cinnamon.

Uh huh, I got, this is the cinnamon.

Add your cinnamon to the sugar.

Right into that. Done.

And then just using your fingers.

My fingers. Toss, cause it's really

the best tool with these little fine grains

and just toss together the cinnamon

and the sugar until it's all cinnamon sugary.

Okay, sure will.

I did this yesterday and every time

I brought my hand to my face, it just smelled

incredible for the rest of the day.

Oh my goodness, who needs Gucci Bloom

when you got cinnamon and sugar?

Lovely. [Carla and Shangela laugh]

Okay, and then,

I'm just, let's give another stir

because I'm starting to see some bubbles.

[Shangela] I'm, oh wait, in the heated pot?

Yeah, in the heated pot.

Oh my gosh, hold on, let me go back to that

cause I got caught up.

Okay. We're multitasking now.

So you've got your cinnamon sugar all mixed.

Yes, my cinnamon sugar is fully mixed.

And then you have, you should have a little tray

that's now empty, just go ahead and pour

that cinnamon sugar right onto the tray.

Oh, yeah, okay got it.

Yes. This is gonna be

our landing pad for our churros.

[Shangela] Ooh, this is like being at the airport.

Okay, a landing pad.

Probably landing somewhere in just, you know,

somewhere deep in the South America

cause it's, you know, with the, you know--

That golden sand, yeah. Yes, the golden,

the golden beaches of Costa Rica.

Talk to me about your bubbles in that pan.

My butter is fully melted, honey.

I'm hot, hot, hot. Okay, let's go.

So add all the flour, dump it all in.

Into the melted butter pan? Into the melted butter.

And then right away with that same wooden spoon,

just start stirring. Okay, there goes the flour.

Pa-toof! Pa-toof.

Okay, whoo hoo, okay.

Ooh, that's a lot of white.

Alright, here we go.

Now I'm spinning, I mean-- Stirring.

Spinning, we are, we're spinning the dough around.

Yeah, this is very soul cycle cooking.

I'm spinning, girl.

Oh my gosh, wait, mine may be too hot.

It got clumpy! No, it's perfect.

Keep going, stir past clumpy until it just forms

kinda this big lumpy mass.

It looks like macaroni and cheese.

Great, go a little more.

Do you see, as you stir,

do you kinda see the bottom of your pan?

I see the whole bottom of the pan.

I see all bottom, I don't see no top of the pan.

Just all bottom.

[Carla] And the dough is, like, sticking together?

Kind of in one or two big clumps?

Yeah, it's really hard,

it's really hard to, like-- Exactly.

Okay, perfect.

Alright, now lift up the,

the roof on the stand mixer, tilts straight back.

The, oh, the mixer! Yeah, the mixer.

Oh, I'm at the, I'm still at the bowl.

I'm sorry.

Did I, oh okay, I meant the mixer bowl.

But do I just leave that cooking in its hotness?

Um, yeah, we're gonna come right out of it

in like two seconds. Okay, alright.

As soon as we get this Kitchen Aid

push up from underneath.

Okay, I'm ready, Kitchen Aid.

I got, now what?

Lift, lift it up and dump the dough into the mixer bowl.

Oh, that part. [Shangela laughs]

Okay, okay, now dump the thick stuff into there.

Yeah, exactly and then,

oh, I'm turning off my burner

because it's making terrible noises.

Okay, mine is beeping, too, girl.

Just hit that power button. Oh.

Is it, I think I burned your pan.

No, you're fine, don't worry about it.

We have a scorch every day.

Scorch of the day.

And then I want you to find the vanilla pod

and just pull that out.

The vanilla pod. Yeah, should be mixed in

with your dough. Got it, okay.

This is gonna remove this surgically.

[Carla laughs] Cause surgical removal.

[Shangela] Okay.

Removal of the vanilla. Vanilla extraction.

Oh, oh, that comes in a little bottle

in the seasoning section, I know this.

That's exactly right. Okay, lovely.

Alright, I have extracted. Okay, now, there's a thing.

It's white and it's metal and it is triangular

shaped and it has-- Was it this band?

On the countertop right next to the mixer.

Yeah, oh, sorry.

It's hiding. [Shangela laughs]

Okay, got it.

Alright, you found that metal thing?

So that you need to put onto the little metal thing

that's sticking out from the bottom of the mixer.

Oh.

Okay, oh, assembly required, okay.

Yeah, a little bit.

And it just like goes up and then you turn it

and it locks on.

Oh, oh!

Oh, oh, because it's gonna be a mixer!

It is a mixer. Yes, oh my gosh.

Okay, I think I did it correctly.

Okay. [Shangela claps]

Okay, great. Okay.

Alright, now I'm excited for the next part

because we're gonna crack eggs.

Me too. Okay, good.

So come back over to your little station.

Okay, gonna leave that up.

Okay, I'm here. You got four eggs.

Yes. And you should

have an empty bowl. Yes, I do.

So we're just gonna crack the eggs into the empty bowl.

[Shangela groans]

Girl, I'm wearing nails.

You know the one dish I can make is scrambled eggs.

Okay, perfect, break away.

And all four of them can go into this bowl.

Okay, got it.

Two, oh, yay!

Okay.

You have intact yolks. Three, three, very yolky.

Oh, crap, aw man. It's okay.

Um. If one breaks--

If you got a little bit of egg, um--

Shell? The shell.

It's okay, it's okay.

Crunchy. If you have a little bit

of shell, use half of the egg shell

to kind of scoop it out. Got it, got it.

And they like wanna be back together,

so it'll come right out. Okay, whoo hoo!

So we're gonna come back over to the mixer.

Okay. Okay, we're gonna

put the hood back down. That's this big,

ooh, it's like a car. Exactly!

Hood is down, okay ready. And then,

on the right side of the top,

there's a little lever that just locks down the top.

That's this, whoa! [Shangela screams]

Sorry, I pushed the wrong button.

No, hey, hold on, baby.

I'm sorry, I didn't do the lock.

Yeah, right side, right side.

Right side.

Okay. But now we know

how to turn it on. Yes, I do, okay.

Every lesson is a lesson, okay.

Sister, I'm working up a sweat over here, girl.

Okay, I'm ready.

Okay, whoo.

So the trick is gonna be, we're gonna add the eggs

to the batter but we want them to kinda

go in one by one.

Put your speed that you already experienced.

[Shangela laughs]

Put that up to, like, in between the two and the four.

So a three.

Two, three.

Okay, love it.

You know, sometimes it's hard to see

the numbers with these lashes but okay, I got it.

I'm ready.

Tilt the bowl and one egg

should just kind of break away from the others

and slide right in.

Got another egg, got an egg.

Alright, nice.

And now we can't add the next one

until this one's completely incorporated,

so you put your bowl down,

just kinda, it looks weird and mushy in there.

Yeah, but it's kinda cool.

It looks like scrambled eggs.

And then it'll kinda smooth back out

and that's when we know we can do the next egg.

I'm ready for egg number two.

I'm ready.

Swoop, I did it.

I got it, two eggs down, two eggs to go, hey.

Just try to find the rubber spatula

in your little container.

The one, yes, mine says love.

Oh! Okay.

Okay.

And now turn your speed off again.

Off, okay. Off.

That's not off!

That's off, that's off.

And then unlock the bowl and tilt it back up

and I just wanna scrape down the beater

and the sides of the bowl just to make sure

there's no-- What is a beaver?

The beater. Oh, okay, got it.

The white thing. Got it, got it.

And the bottom of the bowl just wanna make sure

that nothing is lumpy or weird

and then we're just gonna close it back up

and go with egg number three.

It's in the bowl, I'm putting the mixer piece back down.

I locked it in place and now?

Speed number three again. Speed number three.

[Carla] And then we're gonna go egg number three.

Egg number three. Okay.

I feel like Chef Depardieu from the movie

Last Holiday with Queen Latifah.

Oh, I don't think I saw that one.

Yeah, Last Holiday, Queen Latifah, great movie.

Turn your speed off. Oh, sorry, yes.

Okay, no you're good.

And then open the roof back up.

Unlocked? Yup.

And up, yes.

If you take the rubber spatula

and scoop up, like, about a cup's worth of it

and hold your spatula straight up and down,

does it look really thick or is it kind of?

No, mine is thick.

Girl, this is thicker than my foundation, honey.

This is thick.

We need to add another egg.

We gotta smooth it out a little more.

Oh, we do?

Okay, I'm down for that.

Okay, egg number four, action.

Okay. Got it.

So it should take ten-- She is spinning.

15 seconds, I'm smooth and I'm gonna stop spinning.

Okay, I'm stop spinning. Perfect.

Alright, so now.

Use your rubber spatula again,

scrape everything off the beater.

Oh, Carla, thank you so much,

you're such an awesome teacher.

Oh my gosh, this is the best.

Okay. Okay.

And then we just gotta get the bowl

off the stand. Can you eat the batter?

You could, it's got raw egg in it

but you know, we've been eating,

I grew up eating raw cookie dough.

I don't know about you.

Oh, yeah.

I was like if it's just cookie dough, we're good.

Yeah, pretty much.

This is good. They're warmed up, I guess.

Okay so now.

No, it's not good.

There's like a quart container on your work station.

Yes. Stuck in it.

We need to get the batter into this bag.

And then just scoop up your batter

and aim it, so get it into the plastic.

Okay, hold on.

We are scooping and we are scooping.

Honey, I feel like TMZ, I got the scoop, honey.

I'm full of batter, I'm ready.

Okay, now just press the two sides

of the bag together so they're, like, stuck together.

And then you wanna, using your hands on the outside

of the bag, just kinda nudge the batter down

towards the bottom.

Okay, so. So it makes sense,

you just wanna get it away from there.

Oh, oh, it's coming out!

It's coming out!

So you gotta push it out. It's coming out!

It's coming out, oh my gosh!

It's pre-battering, this is a pre-batter situation.

Help me, girl, help me!

My God. Is it coming

over the top or out of the tip?

No, just the two, the squeegee thing, the bottom.

It's coming out of the bottom, that's fine.

That's good.

Just push it down, that's okay.

It literally goes into the quart container, it's okay.

Okay. So now what you wanna do

is just, with the top end, just like

twist it closed like the end of a Tootsie roll.

And now we're gonna just get rid of everything

so we can actually fry the dough.

Alright so go back to that little

Tootise Roll end of the bag.

Okay. Okay, good.

So just angle it above the oil

and just start squeezing until you get

about six inches of dough. Okay.

And just move the bag as you go

to just give it a place, place to go.

One, two, three, four, five, six inches of dough.

It's getting hot. Okay, mine just--

Ooh, it looks like a little snake in there.

Yeah, exactly, mine twisted, too.

Alright, let's make a new, another one.

Okay. I'm gonna try with this one.

I got, I got two good ones, girl.

You got two good ones? There it is.

Okay.

So now one of my favorite things for frying,

for turning stuff over is chopsticks.

So find your chopsticks. Girl, I'm not very good

with the chopsticks.

Oh, yes, I can, this is very good.

But you barely even need to pick em up.

You're just kind of gonna use the chopstick

to just push em onto the second side.

Like you can go from the middle of the dough

and just lift it over.

Okay, let's just do this.

[Carla] Mine are extremely large

and so it's making them hard to turn over.

I turned one over! Yeah.

Whoo! It's over.

Is it golden brown and beautiful?

Looks like an eel.

Ow, oh my gosh.

Done it, did it, whoo.

So now we're just going to golden brown

on the second side.

Okay, I feel like, you don't remember

in the movie Drumline?

When they're like. [rhythmic tapping on pot]

[Carla laughs] Yes.

You know, I'm in this movie called

A Star Is Born but I think a chef is born today, okay?

I think, I a hundred percent agree.

Alright, so now we've got these guys frying

so we have this paper towel lined rimmed baking sheet here

that's gonna be where the churros go now to drain.

So then find the metal thing

that has, like, a wire round end at the end.

This basket looking thing. Exactly.

This is cool, this looks like the thing

they drop french fries in. Exactly.

So then just use that to fish out your beautiful churros.

Okay. And put them onto to your

paper towel. For a beautiful churro.

Honey, let me tell you something,

you are gonna win a, I don't know, a Nobel Peace Prize

for food or something, the way you have sat here

and taught me this, you are a master chef.

So easy, right?

Yes. I think you're

the master chef.

Alright now, if they're drained

on your paper towel. No, honey, I'm drained.

[Carla laughs]

Lift them onto the cinnamon sugar.

Right straight into the cinnamon sugar.

I'm on it, I'm on it, I'm so on it.

Girl, I'm on it.

Pick em up, turn em over,

pick up some of the sugar, flush the sugar over.

They're like, we're glitterizing now.

♪ Whoo whoo whoo ♪

Now we got sparkle, cinnamon sugar.

Okay, oh my gosh. Once you're tossed in sugar

you are good to go. I'm so tossed in sugar.

Alright, magically, you should have a tray

with chocolate sauce sitting on it.

Okay. You got that?

Oh, is somebody having a bite?

Uh.

Let's just make a little pile of churros

on that tray with the chocolate sauce.

Oh, oh. Mmhmm.

I'm good at presentation now.

Oh, you are? That's the category

at the pageant I might win, honey.

Oh yes, okay, okay.

I'm so ready.

And then we're gonna turn around on three.

Ready? Yes.

Three, two, one.

[Carla And Shangela] Ta-da!

Beautiful. Yay!

Yours look great, too!

You did amazing. Oh, thank you.

You, too, diva. Pass through.

Oh, we're gonna switcharoo.

Someone came through with the tray.

Come through, tray. Yours look, oh, I want this.

I want this one.

Please, get in there. Go for it, girl.

Hold on, dunk. Dunk.

Mm, cheers, beautiful.

Mm! Mmhmm.

Oh my God. Mmhmm.

The vanilla.

Girl, I made this from scratch.

You're actually eating something I made.

You made it from scratch.

Farm to table, Halleloo. Never fried,

never made a batter, never did a thing.

Oh yeah, so you were a little nervous

at the beginning, where are you on a scale one to ten now?

If you're eating it and you're still alive,

I'm a ten, okay?

Halleloo.