An Egg-cellent Selection

- Today on George Hirsch Lifestyle, I'll share how eight hands and a family run farm sustainable farm preserves how nature intended livestock to be raised and food to be grown.

Then Alex and I are sitting for a chat and chew, connecting the spiritual bond between eating well and living well.

In the kitchen, it's perfect scrambled eggs.

Then, double cut french toast.

And easy to prepare and impress dessert, mini egg custard pies.

(gentle music) - Long Island Farm Bureau is a proud presenter of George Hirsch Lifestyle.

Long Island Farmers continue their commitment to providing abundant, fresh commodities, supporting farmers and the local agricultural community for over 100 years.

- Well, one question I have to ask, and it's a very simple question, is why?

- Partly, it was an epiphany that we had, on our part, just realizing how much was broken and wrong with the food systems, and knowing that if there was going to be any sort of change, that it wasn't going to be this top down approach, that it was gonna be certainly a grassroots approach.

So it's gonna be individuals within their own communities, taking the system back.

- Let's try and raise our own food at home.

We have a couple of acres at home and Carol came up with that idea after watching food Inc. And then it was my great idea to say, "Well, why, if we're gonna do it for ourselves, why not do it for everybody?

Why not do it for the community?"

And then this was born.

- And we are a very lean operation.

So we do a lot ourselves.

We're, in the beginning, really, it was just us.

- When we started this, it wasn't just pump money down and try and figure it out.

We were on a rented field with no electric and no water.

So, literally, when animals needed the water, we would fill up coolers with water at home, drive them over, open up the little end of the cooler and put it in there.

We built a permanent fence around there, you wouldn't think you would do that on a rented field right?

But we did that so that we could sleep at night.

Electric fence just wasn't enough to give us the comfort.

And you know, those animals arrived and we're on that field, but that was our first foray into, you know, plowing the fields, tilling the fields, because it had mud Ward all over the place, you know.

So planting pasture, putting up the permanent fence and getting animals there and we went through two blizzards and hurricanes.

- You could read every book you want about farming, but until you're actually doing it and it's hands on, you have no idea, really, what you're in for.

- What about this region?

Why Long Island?

Why the eastern Long Island and why the North Fork?

- This place is paradise.

I mean, look at it.

You have all this farmland you have the bay on one side, the sound on the other, it's just so bucolic.

- One of the most amazing things is the sustainability and a 360 that you're doing here on the farm.

Just share a little bit about that.

- Sure.

The big part for us was that we bought preserved land to start with, because we have no interest in developing houses, and we wanna be a part of preserving that.

But what's more important, also for us, is permanent pasture, right.

Renewable agriculture, and that you're feeding the soil and the animals are feeding the soil and everything works in unison to be able to feed the soil, because what we're all learning now is how important that is where it starts in the ground, and that a soil that's alive and the microbes that provide the nutrients to the food and to the animals is really what's good for us as humans.

So for us, that was very important to us.

We just went through a whole solar project as well.

So all those sustainability sides, both environmentally but sustainability financially as well is important, so to kind of balance that was probably our number one priority for what we're doing here.

We did not want to be in a situation where we're, you know, tilling up land and just planting stuff in them, in the mode of production and the the motive of money.

Those things have to balance to us.

So the animals we raise, our heritage breeds and the chickens that we raise take twice as long as a standard industrialized breed, because we wanna balance both the renewable aspect of agriculture, but also the quality and the flavor and the product that we that we produce.

It's really where I hope we get to as a society and that, you know, climate change is the big buzz right now.

But it's vilifying a lot of industries that aren't necessary to be vilified, you know.

Then that, you know, this permanent pasture actually pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and puts it back in the soil where it's supposed to be.

When we're doing mono crops and we're doing the whole Midwest, is all mono crops being tilled, and then giving nitrogen fertilizer, the soil's sterile, the soil's, you know, dead and it's not really helping climate change and the same with feedlots.

So people have to put things into perspective and that's important to us, also, Not just for the food that we have in the store, but what we're doing out here and how this is responsible, both from an agricultural as well as well as an environmental perspective.

- As a chef and an educator, one of the things I see of the value of eight hands is the education process.

That you've taken it to the food truck, to the market and you're not stocking the market with things that you would find at the local big box store.

Tell me about some of that curation and extension of what you're raising and growing.

- For us.

It was this whole vertical integration of the garden, the farm, the kitchen and the food truck, right.

So that we have zero waste.

Another environmental factor is that whatever we use, if it's not a perfect tomato, it will get canned, it will be used in a recipe.

If there's off cuts like the shanks and everything, we smoke them in the smoker, we'll pull that the way we have pulled pork sandwiches.

- The eggs get pickled.

- The eggs get pickled.

The eggs get made into egg salad.

Worst case scenario, something isn't used, guess what, it's fed back to the animals and even worse than that, if the animals aren't gonna eat it, it goes into the compost pile.

- The number one priority and sustainable farming begins with balance.

Do you know how your food is grown and raised?

(gentle music) - As a chef, I've cooked many eggs in my time.

And I'd like to share with you the best way of cooking eggs and getting eggs, whether you're cooking for one or 3000 is basically the same.

If you're cooking and getting eggs, pick eggs that are no antibiotics, free range.

Check the date on the package, freshness is the key.

Crack the egg open, not in the store, but crack it open on a plate when you get home.

And if the whites are congealed around the yolks, you know you have our fresh egg.

So most important thing know your source, know your market where you're buying it from, and if at all possible, buy it from a farmer and someone that you can trust.

(gentle music) - Low and slow doesn't only pertain to grilling and barbecuing.

It also pertains to a good breakfast.

A good breakfast with eggs and egg cookery.

I'm going to get started making perfect scrambled eggs.

We're gonna start with three fresh eggs.

These are farm fresh eggs and it's really important to know your farmer.

You know your farmer, you probably even know your chicken, right?

So three fresh eggs and you can see how fresh they are by the yolk.

The yolk is nice and yellow and round and the whites are congealed inside.

And to make our perfect scrambled eggs, I'll add in just a pinch of salt and a couple pinches of fresh chives.

I like to put some fresh herbs in, in the beginning, and then we're going to put some in in the end.

Some fresh ground black pepper, and a drop, just a drop of hot sauce.

I like to put it in in the beginning because it helps get a little bit of roundness to the flavor of the eggs.

So what makes a perfect scrambled egg?

Well, it really has to do with how you're cooking it.

Low and slow and also that, as it comes in contact with the heat, that the steam that's in the eggs from the moisture, toughen up with the proteins and tighten and gives you the lightness and the texture that most people will desire in an egg.

Now I've cooked scrambled eggs for one, I've cooked them for for thousands, and it's basically the same technique.

So we'll take our eggs, and now we're gonna beat them.

And it's just not for mixing the yolks with the whites.

What I'm also doing is, as it's mixing, air is incorporating in.

And that's what the whisk is doing.

A good amount of air is being whipped in there.

And you want to have a nice string on that.

See that, it doesn't really have the thread that hangs down.

Just a nice, a nice string.

So once we have our eggs nice and whipped, we'll take and bring them over to a saute pan that's on a low heat.

Again, remember, low and slow.

In a low temperature nonstick pan, add a small amount of olive oil and melted butter.

Add whipped eggs, and with a heatproof spatula, stir the eggs while gently shaking the pan back and forth.

Allow eggs to set, and stir again.

Top with fresh whole butter, and stir once more.

Repeat stirring until eggs are fully cooked and nice and light.

Repeat stirring until eggs are fully cooked.

Okay, let's plate up and you can see how fluffy those eggs are.

Gild the lily, again.

Put some nice, fresh chive flowers, if it's in season, some pressed chives, a little bit fresh, ground black pepper, little sprinkling of fresh sea salt.

And there you have it, low and slow, perfect scrambled eggs.

(gentle music) - When we're talking french toast, the thicker the better.

Now the best type of bread to use for a French toast, in this case is a challah bread or an egg bread.

You could use a brioche or even some other hearty bread.

And day old bread or even a couple days old is sometimes even better because it allows for better absorption for the batter that you're going to make.

So when we're talking an egg bread, we wanna make it nice and thick, the slices nice and thick.

So it has an opportunity to actually soak up the batter.

We'll lay the bread inside a pan, once it's been cut.

One, two, three.

Three nice slices.

And then, we'll begin to make the batter.

And the batter that we will use for the French toast is primarily with eggs and a dairy or a cream, you could use half and half, you could use milk.

If the bread itself is a very, very rich bread, then I prefer to use just milk.

If I'm using like a day old French bread or a baguette, then I would change it to a much richer cream.

So for a standard french toast batter, I'll use four eggs.

Some beautiful, farm fresh eggs, and just break up the yolks and the whites till they're lightly mixed together.

And this is a good standard custard batter.

So to those four eggs, and you can see how beautiful the yellowness of those yolks were, so that's going to make it nice and creamy.

I'll add in about a teaspoon of cinnamon with that mix in.

And a little pinch of salt.

The salt helps bring out some of the sugar.

I'll add in about two tablespoons of a light brown sugar or pure cane sugar and some fresh grated nutmeg.

That's kind of like that beautiful, breakfast flavor that you get in there.

And then for other flavors, of course, you could always use vanilla, you could put a little liquor in there.

I just like keeping it simple with a little fresh, grated orange zest.

About a teaspoon of the zest in there.

And this is basically the basics for the batter and then you're ready for the milk.

Now to add other flavorings to this, you could add some pureed pumpkin or even some apple puree for another layer of flavor.

You could make the batter up the day ahead, overnight, because the aromas and the flavors will only intensify.

So we'll pour the batter directly over the bread.

So now we'll take 'em, we'll cover the bread in the custard.

For about a half hour, we'll put it in the fridge, or even better yet, put it in the fridge overnight so it's ready for breakfast the next day.

Preheat a heavy gauge cast iron skillet to medium high.

Then add a generous amount of melted butter.

Add battered bread without overcrowding pan.

(gentle music) - Allow to cook, two to three minutes on each side.

Turn when golden.

(gentle music) - And add a small amount of fresh butter for additional flavor.

(gentle music) - So here we have the hot, fresh french toast.

Off the cast iron pan.

Cast iron is a great heat conductor, you can see that beautiful, beautiful smoke coming up.

Portion that right up.

Sprinkle a small amount of cinnamon sugar on top.

Serve it on the side with a beautiful blood orange, and drizzle some nice amber maple syrup right over the top.

And there you have it.

Cut french toast.

For a perfect breakfast, brunch, or a nice evening snack.

(gentle music) - When we've prepared breakfasts, you know, we always go all out.

Kind of like way we do everything.

But some of the things that we've been able to come up with over the years has been just amazing.

And this isn't self gratitude.

I think it's, I think more about the educational part of food and mind, body and spirit.

And I think that is kind of what we've been doing on our culinary adventures.

- Yeah, I think also, it's important to note that there's a reason why the first thing that every cook has to learn how to cook the right way is eggs.

- Absolutely.

I mean, and it's probably the most screwed up meal that there can be.

- The egg sandwich is always my go to breakfast.

I love a good deli egg sandwich.

But a lot of times you go out and you get an omelet, it's not cooked properly because there just needs to be real attention to technique when it comes to cooking eggs basically outside of over medium with some bacon on a roll.

- I get really excited today because I think people are becoming a lot more educated and in tune to what they're consuming, what they're eating, what they're buying, what they're preparing, what the chefs are preparing, sources of food that the animals ingested before it went through the full process, right down to the care of the eggs, each individually picked sourced.

- And the saying, "You are what you eat", it's very true.

But not only are you are what you eat, what you are what you're eating eats.

So you have to really follow it down the line.

- And I think with, you know, the whole, let's say circle of, let's say a breakfast or a meal being what you're consuming, where you're consuming it, but also whom you're consuming it with.

And I think your company and who you are sitting down and breaking bread is absolutely critically important today.

So when it comes to mealtime, it should be about joyful discussion.

Good, happy events, even if your day has been a little bit tough.

And for goodness sake, if we look over this beautiful coffee and breakfast, one thing we do not have on the table is any device.

There's no cell phone, there's no pads.

And again, consume and enjoy and understand what you're eating.

- Interact in real time with the people around you.

(gentle music) - And now we're ready for our sweet finish, a classic pie recipe.

Just not any pie, a custard pie.

And we're going to even, kind of turn it up a little bit better because we're going to make it a pie to share.

Typically, a pie might be like a nine inch pie or a 10 inch pie.

But here I have three individual pies that you're going to wanna find a partner, or maybe not.

So let's get started with some crushed graham cracker crumbs.

And the graham cracker crumbs, to that I'm going to add in two tablespoons of brown sugar, two tablespoons of pure cane sugar and a little pinch of salt.

So here we are mixing the crust or the bottom of the custard pie.

The custard pie is going to be made with the ground crumbs.

Simple two tablespoons, both of brown sugar and pure cane white sugar and a pinch of salt.

And to that we're going to add in eight tablespoons, one stick of butter, quarter pound of butter, either way, it's it's still the same thing.

Make a little nest in the middle.

And then pour some melted fresh whole butter inside.

And just give a little mix until it looks like wet sand; Wet sand in the beach at low tide.

And the only way to do this is really with your hands because, as you can see, it's just caking up.

And you want it to kind of hold together.

So it might need maybe another tablespoon.

Now one of the great features about this recipe and this crumb crust is this is a no bake graham cracker crumb crust.

So traditionally you might have been familiar with the graham cracker crumb crust or the bottom, with either pies or even mousse cake or a mousse pie.

So with your fingers, just press it in, and you want it to kinda build up to the edge, it doesn't have to come all the way to the top, just that it sets up.

And you do that equally to each of the individual pies.

So now that we have a classic spin on a custard pie, we're gonna let the graham cracker crust harden up a little bit.

The butter's going to solidify.

You could put them in the fridge, that will be fine.

Or if it's cool day, just let it sit out on the table at the counter for a few minutes while you make your custard.

Now for the custard, I'm going to start with three eggs.

And to the three eggs, I'll add in three quarters of a cup of sugar, and just beat the two of them together.

This is a very simple recipe, and it's based upon the principle of a typical custard, which is eight eggs to a quart, four eggs to a pint and this, we're using a little less than a pint, we're using like a cup and a half of milk or dairy.

You could use half and half if you wanted to enrichen it a little bit more.

But I think, just if you're using a good quality egg, you're using some nice vanilla some fresh vanilla, about a half a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of cinnamon.

You don't want this really to have a strong, cinnamon flavor, you want kind of a custard flavor, the natural flavor of a custard to come through.

Some fresh grated nutmeg.

The nutmeg is really fine.

So this is really the good basics of the custard pie.

You could change it up slightly, you could add again a little bit of rum or a little bit of Grand Marnier, or even some fine shredded coconut if you wanted to have a coconut pie.

But you can see the velvety texture of this pie.

So when it's made and it's served either chilled or warm, slightly out of the oven, it's that velvety texture that is the true character of this dish.

Now I'm going to take in, ladle in, the custard.

Again, it's going on that graham cracker crust.

This recipe is going to bake in the oven, low and slow.

We're going to bake it low and slow at about 300 degrees.

For this size about 25 to 30 minutes 'cause they're individual.

If it was a nine inch or 10 inch pie, you would bake it low and slow, 300 degrees for one hour.

So here we have our simple and sweet dessert, mini custard pies.

The mini custard pies have been out of the oven for a couple hours, so they've had time to cool and to set.

And in this wonderful, luscious, velvety dessert is something that definitely can share.

Serve it with a nice side of cream and that's a wonderful way to end a meal.

So there you have it, perfect scrambled eggs, double cut french toast and mini egg custard pies.

I'm George Hirsch.

Remember, if I can do it, you can do it.

We'll see you real soon.

For more on recipes, entertaining lifestyle tips, TV series blog and selected video clips from today's show, join me at chefgeorgehershey.com.

(subtle music) - To download and own episodes of George Hirsch Lifestyle containing inspiring lifestyle segments, original recipes and complete how to, visit amazon.com or chefgeorgehirsch.com.

(gentle music) Long Island Farm Bureau is a proud presenter of George Hirsch Lifestyle.

Long Island Farmers continue their commitment to providing abundant, fresh commodities, supporting farmers and the local agriculture community for over 100 years.