♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Today on "Cook's Country," Natalie makes Bridget the best cast-iron baked chicken, Jack challenges Julia to a tasting of hot sauce, and Ashley makes Julia a perfect blueberry cornbread.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Cast-iron cookware has been a part of the American story from day one.

-Paul Revere refined the classic Dutch oven so that the lid had a flange for holding hot coals, and he added legs so that the pot could stand upright over a campfire.

-Now George Washington's grandmother, Mary Hewes, willed her cast-iron cookware, which she called furniture, to her daughter Mary Ball.

-Lewis and Clark carried the heavy pots throughout their two-year exploration of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804.

And they even brought along a few extra as gifts for any Native American they met along the way.

-Now at the start of the 19th century, there were hundreds of U.S. cast-iron cookware producers.

But by the end of the 20th century, only about a dozen stood.

-But cast iron is back!

New U.S. manufacturers have hit the market.

And since 2013, cast-iron cookware sales are up 37%.

-That is good news.

Today, we're using cast iron and taking a new look at baked chicken.

So let's head into the kitchen with Natalie to see how it's done.

♪♪ Baked chicken is a familiar dish.

It should be simple, easy.

But it can be problematic, and here's the problem.

You take a chicken.

You put it in a baking dish.

If you want the meat to be juicy and tender inside, the skin is kind of pale and flabby.

But if you get that skin super crisp, the meat inside is often overcooked.

Until today.

We have a baked-chicken expert with us, Natalie, and she's gonna solve all of these problems.

-Well, the simple things are the hardest, right?

-Right.

-And we realized during our testing that a glass baking dish wasn't really doing anything for us.

-Right, right.

-So we wanted to use a cast iron.

-We're baking in cast iron.

-Correct.

Once it gets heated up all the way, it tends to retain heat way longer than an aluminum pan or a glass-ceramic dish.

So what we want to do is, we want to heat it up in the oven as opposed to the stovetop.

-Right.

Because the stovetop is kind of spotty, the way that it heats up cast iron.

-So we're gonna start in a cold oven at 450 degrees.

-Cold pan, cold oven.

-Cold pan, cold oven.

And once it comes up to 450 degrees, it's good to go.

-Okay.

♪♪ -So we obviously need to season our chicken.

And we wanted to keep classic baked-chicken flavors, and we also wanted to give it some color.

So this is 2 teaspoons of salt.

And to this, we're gonna add 2 teaspoons of paprika and 1 teaspoon of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic.

-That's it?

That's the spice mixture?

That's easy.

-Exactly.

Pantry items.

I'm just gonna mix this until it's incorporated.

All right.

So we're just gonna set this aside for now, and we're gonna get down to the chicken.

We like to use a whole chicken here because it's more economical.

You get to control more of the parts as far as, like, what size you want, how much fat you want to trim off of it.

So we're gonna start by patting it dry.

-And how big is the chicken?

-This is a four-pound bird, and it's gonna yield three pounds in parts.

Then I'm gonna start by taking off the skin that connects the breast to the thigh, just using the tip of the boning knife.

I'm not using the whole blade.

-Yeah, I always say that the chicken will tell you where to make the cuts.

There always seems to be a little fat seam at just about every place you cut.

-And then we're just gonna flip it over and kind of pop this joint out.

Let gravity do the work for us, go along, take this off.

Use this little line of demarcation over here to take it away from the joint and separate the leg from the thigh.

We're gonna take off any excess fat so it doesn't render into our sauce.

And then we're gonna take this wing tip and use the same method, kind of let gravity do the work, and take it off from the breast.

And we're going to discard the wing tips.

And we're gonna do the same on the other side.

I'm gonna take off the back with the larger knife.

-Okay.

-I'm gonna take the chef's knife, and I'm gonna go down as close to the spine as I can.

I'm gonna do the same with the other side as well.

And then with this, I'm just gonna go along the breast bone.

And then once I get towards this breast bone, I'm just gonna press down.

Just... crush that bone.

So, now that we've broken down our chicken, we're going to season it.

So this is our spice mixture.

Season pretty liberally from up high.

-You get better coverage if you do it up high, rather than the... right on there.

-That's right.

So you have to make sure to season liberally on both sides.

We really want all these flavors to penetrate into the chicken.

-All right.

And we're using all of the rub?

-Yes, we're using all the rub.

-Great.

-All right, so we've got our chicken seasoned, and now we're just gonna wait for our pan to come up to temperature.

-Okay.

-So we've taken our cast iron out of the oven, and it's really hot, as you can feel.

-It's super hot.

-Screamin' hot.

And we're just gonna start off with two tablespoons of unsalted butter.

-I love the little handle cover you've got there.

-I know.

It's perfect.

-Little baseball mitt.

It's a good idea.

If you don't have a handle cover for your hot cast-iron skillet, you can wrap it with a towel, just to remind yourself that it's hot.

-To this, we're gonna add six thyme sprigs just for some aromatics.

-Mmm.

Nice.

-We're gonna start off with our chicken.

We're gonna start skin-side first, 'cause we want that immediate browning.

-All right.

This is like Rubik's chicken.

You've got to figure out how to jigsaw it all in there.

-Yeah, kind of like "Tetris."

So you can move around the thyme sprigs if they tend to be in the way.

-Okay.

So all going skin-side down?

-Yes, skin-side down.

-Yeah, I think you're gonna make it.

-It's great.

We're just gonna pop this in the oven for 15 minutes.

-And it's still at 450?

-Yes, at 450.

♪♪ -Ohh-ho-ho-ho!

-Thank you.

-It smells so good in here.

-It smells awesome, doesn't it?

Just gonna flip these over.

And you can already see that it has such nice color on it.

-Gorgeous browning.

Yeah, you don't get that in a glass baking dish.

-Oh, definitely not.

-Between the spices and the herbs that are in there, the whole kitchen smells phenomenal.

-It does.

So we're gonna let this go for another 15 minutes, or until the breast reads 160 and the legs and the thighs read 175.

-All right, so roughly 15 minutes a side.

-Correct.

-Great.

I'll get the door.

-Thank you.

♪♪ All right.

Look at that.

-Ohh, that looks beautiful.

-I know.

I'm excited for this.

We're just gonna temp one of the thighs.

-And we're looking for?

-175.

Ah, it's perfect.

So we're just gonna let this rest in the skillet for about 10 minutes, because we want the juices to get reabsorbed back into the chicken.

-Okay.

-All right, so our chicken has been resting for 10 minutes.

Now it's time to plate it up.

-Thank goodness.

-So start off by taking out some of the pieces.

And then, we can discard the thyme sprigs that are in here, 'cause they've done their work.

-[ Inhales ] Oh!

[ Tapping ] -So we have some pretty delicious pan drippings over here, and we're just gonna whisk this up a little bit.

-That's the gold in the bottom of the pan.

-[ Laughs ] Exactly.

We're just gonna spoon them over our chicken.

-Oh, yeah.

-Looks awesome.

-I like that you didn't have to make a sauce separately, keeping with the whole "simple is better" theme here.

-Exactly.

So would you like a breast?

-Yes.

-For you.

-Lovely.

-You have to see if this is actually really juicy, too.

-The key was getting color on the outside of the chicken, but juicy meat inside.

-Exactly.

You can hear it, too.

-Crispy skin.

-The crispy skin.

Oh!

Tender, Juicy.

I mean, look at that.

Mmm.

It is so good.

That spice mixture... -It goes a long way.

-Oh!

-It goes a very long way.

-It actually tastes like long-roasted chicken.

-It does.

Without the roux, without the minced garlic... -Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-...without the onions.

-Mm-hmm.

Just 30 minutes.

-The up-front work, the prep, it was just breaking down a chicken, which really is a great thing to learn at home, because it is gonna save you a lot of money.

And all these pieces are cooked perfectly.

But also, you can do all that prep while the cast iron is heating in the oven.

-Exactly.

-I know it cooks like a weeknight meal, but it doesn't taste like a weeknight meal.

-Unh-unh.

Not at all.

-It doesn't taste like you took any shortcuts.

The skin on that chicken is so well-rendered.

-It's perfectly juicy, too.

-Thanks, Natalie.

-Well, you're welcome.

-Solved all of our big chicken problems.

-I'm glad you liked it.

-Well, our baked chicken starts with heating a cast-iron skillet in the oven.

Meanwhile, make an easy spice mixture with paprika, onion powder, and granulated garlic, break down a whole chicken into parts, and season with the spices.

Add butter and thyme sprigs to the skillet, add the chicken skin-side down, and bake until done, flipping the chicken over halfway through cooking.

Let the chicken rest in the skillet and then serve with those pan juices.

So, from "Cook's Country," a foolproof and, really, better way to chicken -- it's cast-iron baked chicken.

♪♪ [ Applause ] -Hot sauce is big business, raking in over $538 million a year.

So Jack's here today to explain the difference between a variety of brands.

-Yeah, and I brought a little gift.

-[ Laughs ] Milk.

-Whole milk.

So, you know, the extra fat and the milk sugars are going to help you more than water.

-Oh, thank you.

-Now I should say, the lovely studio audience has picked the winner.

-Of course they did.

A smart bunch.

-And, yeah, in case you were wondering, I didn't make them do this.

-You didn't?

-No, they had it over cheesy, creamy grits.

-[ Laughs ] You guys didn't eat it straight?

-Well, I just met them, so... -[ Laughs ] You're gonna put me through it.

I actually love hot sauce, so I'm excited for this.

-Well, we'll see at the end of the tasting what you say.

-All right, so I'm just gonna dig in?

-Yeah, just dig in.

-All right.

These are traditional hot sauces, so these are not sriracha, which is, you know, sort of the trend.

-[ Whistles ] Yep, it's a hot sauce.

-Yeah, I like how you just went right in there.

-Yeah.

-You know, not like a little teeny bit.

Like, let's just go right into it.

Second one.

So sriracha has got sugar in it and usually a lot more garlic.

-Mm-hmm.

-So these are cayenne peppers.

-Mm-hmm.

-There's vinegar.

Some of them are aged.

So it's like, they mash with salt in barrels and they get more complexity.

-I like this one.

-Our winner... -I could drink that.

That's good.

-Wow.

Okay.

All right.

-Yeah.

-The heat level, as you know, is measured on Scoville units.

-Mm-hmm.

-And the samples here range from 450, which is very mild.

I mean, zero would be a bell pepper.

-Mm-hmm.

-A million would be, like, you know, a ghost chili.

So the sauces we tasted ranged on the Scoville scale from 450 up to 3,000.

For comparison, a raw jalapeño on the Scoville scale is about 2,500.

So it's about the same level of heat as the spiciest of these sauces.

-Okay.

-Interestingly, you can tell a lot by reading the ingredient lists and whether it begins with peppers, vinegar, or water.

And that will tell you a lot about what kind of sauce you're getting.

-The number-one ingredient on the list tells you what it tastes like?

-Right.

You're either gonna get a mild sauce, a hot sauce, or a vinegary sauce.

-Mm-hmm.

-So anything that you're noticing here?

-Yeah.

-[ Laughs ] I hope I brought enough milk.

-Ahh.

This milk is good.

Okay, yep, I'm good.

-Would you like to start with what you liked?

-Yeah, so I loved this one, as I mentioned.

I could drink this one.

I know this brand.

I know this flavor.

I put this on my wings.

This is the very traditional essence of a buffalo chicken wing in my book, so this is my favorite.

I like how it has a little bit of a garlicky flavor to it.

-And I love how, like, you have no confidence whatsoever.

-[ Laughs ] -You're like -- You're hedging your bets.

Let's see how your bet paid off.

-Yep.

-You are 100% correct.

That's the Frank's RedHot.

We actually did a buffalo wings tasting, and we loved it there 'cause it's got a really nice consistency... -Yep.

-...and it clings -- Well, it's also got a lot more salt than the rest of these.

-Oh, interesting.

-So it brings, you know -- If hot sauce is a flavor enhancer, all that salt helps.

Studio audience, landslide, that was their favorite.

-Ah.

Good choice.

-So what's your second favorite?

-This one.

I didn't recognize it, but I really liked -- It had a lot of other flavors going on.

It's spicy, but it had a little bit of a Worcestershire-y, umami, anchovy thing going on that I liked.

-All right.

So this is Tabasco.

-Ah!

-This is, I would say, the most vinegar-forward.

Vinegar is the first ingredient.

It's also -- I actually think it's the hottest.

And when we did the lab test with the Scoville units, it was the hottest, at the 3,000.

-Okay.

This one... -Yeah.

-Did not like it.

And I'm surprised to hear you say this has more vinegar than this.

'Cause this to me was watery, vinegary, sharp, acidic, cheap, awful lighter fluid.

That's what I would say about that one.

-Again, no opinions whatsoever.

I mean, you know, it just makes my job so hard.

Well, this has the most water.

This is Cholula.

-Oh, interesting.

This one I would say is really fruit forward, but not necessarily in a good way.

-No.

Wow, I own this.

I buy this regularly.

But I had no idea that I liked this one so much more.

-Well, now you know.

-Now I know.

So if you want to buy the winning hot sauce at the supermarket, go with Frank's RedHot original cayenne-pepper sauce at $3.49 for a 12-ounce jar.

[ Applause ] ♪♪ When we set out to make a new recipe here at "Cook's Country," we start by finding as many versions of that recipe as we can find, and we make a few in a side-by-side test.

Now, when we did this with blueberry cornbread, the differences were dramatic.

Some were cakey, some were savory, some had an odd bluish color.

Didn't they, Ashley?

-They absolutely did.

Almost gray even.

-Mm-hmm.

-And that wasn't very appetizing.

-Mnh-mnh.

-And honestly, it was just very simple what we wanted to do.

We want to find a way to add blueberries to cornbread.

The idea is simple.

But as it turns out, it's not as simple to make.

-So the first idea -- savory or sweet?

-Well, we kind of teeter-tottered in the middle there.

-[ Laughs ] Okay.

-We did find a really nice balance of the two, so I'll walk you through how we did it.

-All right.

-All right, so first, we are going to start with a nine-inch, greased, light-colored cake pan, and I'm gonna line it with 1 1/2 tablespoons of yellow cornmeal.

-Okay.

So instead of dusting the cake pan with flour, as you would with cakes -- Notice I said "cakes," and I asked you about sweet versus savory.

So we're already kind of treating it like a cake.

But instead of dusting the pan with flour, you're dusting it with cornmeal.

-Yes.

-That makes sense.

-Yeah, and it's just gonna help for easy release, and it's gonna give you a little bit of that cornmeal crunch.

I'm all about texture, so it's gonna be a good one.

-And I did notice she said "light-colored cake pan."

What happens if you use a dark-colored pan?

-You have to shorten the cook time.

-Oh, okay.

-Mm-hmm.

All right, now on to the dry ingredients.

Here, we have 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of yellow cornmeal.

And this is just the regular yellow cornmeal that you find in most grocery stores.

Here, we have 3/4 cup of granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and finally, 3/4 teaspoon of table salt.

I'm just gonna whisk that until combined.

-Now you said 1 1/2 cups of flour to 1 cup of cornmeal.

Now, obviously we must have tried different ratios.

That's more flour that cornmeal.

Sounding a little cakey.

-Well... -[ Laughs ] -...again, teeter-tottering.

We're walking that fine line, trying to keep you in suspense.

And I think it's working.

All right, so we'll move on down to our wet ingredients.

Here, we have 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, that I've gone ahead and melted and then cooled it down, which ensures that it's not going to cook or scramble the eggs that are in this recipe.

-I've done that before.

-This is 1 cup of whole milk and 2 large eggs.

-So not buttermilk -- Yet a different cornbread.

A lot cornbreads are made with buttermilk 'cause that tang's good, unless you're going for something a little on the sweet side.

-Mm, you're onto me, ma'am.

-[ Laughs ] -All right, and as you can see, I'm just whisking this until combined.

And because of the temperature of the butter and temperature of the cold milk, sometimes it does tend to clump.

And that's totally okay.

That's just because of the temperature of everything combining.

-Mm-hmm.

Those clumps would melt in the oven.

-Mm-hmm.

All right, let's combine everything together here.

-Here's the dry.

-Thank you.

So here we have the dry ingredients, and I'm going to add the wet.

Then I'm just going to whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.

And that's important because you don't want to form any extra gluten at this stage.

-Extra gluten means extra-chewy cornbread.

-All right.

This looks great.

I just want to reincorporate it just with my rubber spat here.

All right.

Now it's time to add the blueberries.

-Mmm.

The star of the show.

-The star of the show.

10 ounces -- 2 cups of these beautiful blueberries.

-Those are gorgeous.

-And just like earlier, I'm gonna fold this just until combined.

All right, now I will transfer this batter to the prepared pan.

Get every little drop in there.

So now just gently using my rubber spatula, I'm just going to ever so lightly try and flatten out the top of my cornbread here.

-That's a lot of blueberries.

-I guarantee one blueberry, at least one blueberry, in every bite.

Almost done.

Here, we have 1 tablespoon more of sugar.

I'm just gonna dust it on the top before going into the oven.

-How cakey of you.

-I've been called worse.

And you want to make sure all the cornbread gets covered.

So go slow at this stage if you'd like.

So I've sprinkled that lovely sugar on top of the cornbread, and I have an oven that is pre-heated to 375 degrees.

I'm gonna bake this until nice and golden brown on the top and a paring knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Should be about 40 to 45 minutes.

♪♪ -Mmm.

-[ Laughs ] -It smells good.

-Oh, yeah.

I am so excited for this.

Thank you.

So I just want to test for doneness.

Again, I'm gonna insert this paring knife.

I'm looking for no crumbs attached onto the sides of it.

-[ Laughs ] There's no crumbs, but it's not exactly clean.

Looks like you stabbed a berry.

-It does.

[ Both laugh ] -All right, so I'm gonna let this cool in the cake pan for 20 minutes.

-All right.

-And in the meantime, I've got a little trick up my sleeve and it's called honey butter.

-Mmm.

-Mm-hmm.

So I have 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter that is softened, and here I have 2 tablespoons of honey.

And I love using these little spatulas for sticky stuff like this, or for things that are just in a little tiny bowl 'cause it helps ensure that everything gets out nice and cleanly.

1/4 teaspoon of salt.

And finally, a pinch of some cayenne pepper.

-Ooh, I like that.

A little cayenne, a little honey.

You know, making a flavored butter, a compound butter, is so easy, and it just elevates whatever you're cooking.

Just kicks everything up just a little notch.

-100% behind you there.

And people think you really went the extra mile.

-It's true.

-Meanwhile, it took two seconds to put this together.

So as you can see, I've been mashing it with a fork.

It came together really, really easily.

So again, we are going to wait 20 minutes for this to cool in the cake pan.

-All right.

♪♪ -All right, it's been 20 minutes.

The next step is to run the paring knife between the cornbread and the cake pan.

-Loosening it up a bit.

-All right.

And now I'm just gonna put the dish towel here just to hold it, put my hand right on top of the bread.

[ Rolls tongue ] Drum roll.

There we go.

We are in business.

-Nicely done.

-Thank you so much.

So this is still quite warm.

It needs about 20 more minutes to cool.

All right, it has been 40 long minutes, Julia.

It's time to slice into this.

-All right.

I've been waiting for this.

-All right.

So I'm gonna slice it into eight slices.

Using the serrated knife, I'm gonna cut it down the middle, from top to bottom, and from side to side, then crossways.

This just helps to ensure even sizes.

-These are nice big pieces of cornbread.

-Oh, yeah.

-You're not skimpin'.

-Mnh-mnh.

No skimping in my kitchen.

[ Both chuckle ] -Ooh.

And then the honey butter.

-Yes.

-I think I'm just gonna put a little bit on the top.

-Yeah.

[ Both chuckle ] -I'm goin' in.

-All right.

-Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

-Not too sweet.

-It really isn't that sweet.

I know I've been giving you a hard time about the cakeyness, 'cause I'm not a big fan of sweet cornbread.

It really is right on the line between cake and cornbread.

It's not dense cornbread, it's not cake, and it's not mushy.

It really is baked all the way through, but light.

-Nice and tender.

-Mm-hmm.

-That melted butter is really coming through.

-Yeah.

-And we paid attention to how much we are mixing this -- or, not mixing this -- 'cause we didn't want to develop that gluten, which is gonna make this tough.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it's a cornbread after all.

It's not a cake and it's not a hearty, hearty bread.

-And the sugar actually brings out the corn flavor a little bit.

Especially given that we're using supermarket cornmeal.

It's hard to get a light texture like that when you're making a melted butter or a bowl cake, because the tendency is to over-mix it and that makes it bready, but this is lovely and light.

I also love the little crunchy bits of cornmeal that are all around the pan.

It's like a little crunchy present with every bite.

I love that.

-Mm-hmm.

-This is delicious, Ashley.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-To make this amazing blueberry cornbread, start by dusting a nine-inch round cake pan with cornmeal.

Using a 3-to-2 ratio of all-purpose flour to cornmeal, along with some whole milk and melted butter, mix the batter together by hand before gently stirring in the fresh blueberries.

Dust the top with a little sugar, bake for 45 minutes, and let cool slightly before serving with honey butter.

From "Cook's Country," a great recipe for blueberry cornbread with honey butter.

You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our tastings, testings, and selected episodes, on our website at CooksCountry.com.

I'm kind of gettin' rid of the fork.

I'm just goin'... -Oh, that's good.

-Mm-hmm.

-Officially takes it out of cake territory.

-That's what I was thinking.

-[ Laughs ] -Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for access to this season's recipes, taste tests, and equipment ratings.

Or to watch current-season episodes, log on to CooksCountry.com.

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