-"Cook's Country" is about more than just getting dinner on the table.

We're also fascinated by the people and stories behind the dishes.

We go inside kitchens in every corner of the country to learn how real people cook, and we look back through time see how history influences the way we eat today.

We bring that inspiration back to our test kitchen so we can share it with you.

This is "Cook's Country."

Today on "Cook's Country," Ashley makes a classic southwestern snack -- Frito pie, Hannah shares our top picks for panini presses, I tell the story of the Potato Chip Queen of the West, and Morgan makes chocolate dipped potato chip cookies.

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

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with LED touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

♪♪ -If you've visited a concession stand in Texas anytime in the last, say, 60 years, you might have heard of Frito Pie.

A small bag of Fritos is torn open, then chili is piled on top, and the whole thing is served with a little bit of onion, maybe jalapeños, if you're lucky.

Now, it's a great thing to eat right out of the bag.

Usually, you have it at a ballpark, but today, we're having it here in the kitchen because Ashley's going to show us how we can make it at home.

-I am!

So, they're also known as walking tacos.

But surprisingly, these are neither a taco or a pie.

-Right.

-So, I have two tablespoons of vegetable oil heating over medium-high heat.

And you can see it is just smoking, so I'm going to add our beef.

-Okay.

-So, this is 1.5 pounds of 85% lean ground beef, and I'm going to add that into the Dutch oven here along with two teaspoons of salt.

So, now, I'm just going to go through with a wooden spoon and just break them up into quarter-inch pieces.

So, I'm going to let this cook for 12 to 14 minutes until the hamburger is well browned and there's fond developing on the bottom of the Dutch oven.

-I love that you're so New England you had to say... Both: Hamburger.

-Well, I almost said Hamburg.

-Yeah, perfect.

-Alright, so I've got two onions here and we're going to use the onions in two different places.

But first, we're going to be adding them to the pot.

But I'm going to go through and finely chop them.

Alright, so it's been 12 minutes.

As you can see, the beef is nice and brown, so what I'm going to do now is I'm going to add half of these onions.

Again, we have two cups total of the finely chopped.

-Right.

-Into the pot.

And the rest, we're going to be using for our garnish.

-Okay.

-So, I'm going to reduce the heat down to medium.

And then I'm going to let these cook until the onions are just softened and beginning to brown which will take about five minutes.

-Okay.

-Alright, this is looking perfect, so let's move on.

I have a good amount of garlic.

I've got six cloves of minced garlic that I'm going to add in here.

-You are not fooling around.

-Mm-mm.

No vampires tonight.

-[ Chuckles ] -Two tablespoons of cornmeal, which is a little different, but we loved how it sweetened up the chili slightly, and it gave us a really nice texture which mimicked the original version, which was, again, out of the can.

-Right, which is a little bit tight.

-Yeah, and it holds really well in the bag of corn chips.

-Very important.

-And this, I have two tablespoons of chili powder, I have two teaspoons of black pepper, one and a half teaspoons of cumin, and finally, I've got some dried oregano.

This is one teaspoon of dried oregano.

-Okay.

-So, I'm going to let this cook for about one minute until fragrant.

-Ash, that smells so good.

I mean what a difference a minute makes.

All those spices have bloomed in that hot fat.

-Yeah.

-Delicious.

-Yes.

Speaking of delicious, let's add some tomatoes.

I have one can of crushed tomatoes.

Just going to go in there and just stir and scrape off the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

And then, I have a mild lager.

This is 1.5 cups in total.

-Okay.

-And you don't want to use anything dark because it will make the chili taste bitter.

-Got it.

-And then, I have some minced chipotle in adobo sauce.

So, you can use between one and two tablespoons depending on how spicy you like it, but I know you and I both love a little heat.

-Yeah, we do.

-So, I'm going to add a full two tablespoons here.

And now, you can see we're already at a simmer.

So, what I'm going to do now is it's time to cook this.

But I'm going to reduce this heat down to low.

And you want to let this cook for an hour, but you want to check it every so often because you want to maintain a bare simmer, so you may need to adjust the heat ever so slightly.

-Mmm, mmm, mmm!

-Let's take a look!

What are we working with here?

That looks so good.

-That looks great.

-Mm-hmm.

-Is it done?

-Yeah, it's absolutely done.

So, let's just take a look at the texture because I made a point of adding that cornmeal in there.

So, imagine this in a bag.

It's perfect.

-It is nice, yeah.

-So, I have a few bags here as you can see.

So, this is a perfect party food.

People can kind of choose their own adventure here, and it's fun!

-Yes, definitely.

-So, I'm going to turn the bag on its side, the long ways, and just cut about a quarter of an inch off the top, and then you're going to just fold it over.

-To be sure, you would want to use these kinds of corn chips, and not something like a tortilla chip.

-Yes.

Thank you.

Yes, exactly.

So, you want about a half a cup per bag.

I'm gonna put a little bit more in there.

-This reminds me of my purse at parties.

This is exactly what I do if I really like the food.

-I've heard that about you.

-I think there's room for some dinner rolls in here, too.

[ Both laugh ] -And butter packets?

-Yes!

-Not gonna say I haven't done it!

Alright, I'm going to add a little bit of cheese.

Let's do a little onion.

-Sure!

I'm not going on a date tonight.

-Okay, good.

Neither am I. Alright.

Cheers.

-We have never eaten a food like this on this show, so... Coming out of this bag.

-Yep.

Look at that cheese pull.

-Oh!

Look at that!

-Whoa!

-Yes!

Oh.

Oh, yours beat mine.

-[ Laughs ] -Mmm!

-Mmm.

-This really is a lot of fun because you go digging for the corn chips in there.

And then, they're like little bites of crunchy corn in with the chili.

-Mm-hmm.

-That chili is really good, by the way.

-So good.

A little bit sweet.

You get that chili powder, the dried herbs in there, cumin, oregano... -And a little spice.

-Mm-hmm.

-Ashley, this was quick to put together, that chili came together like that.

And what a way to eat chili.

-It's fun.

-I may never go back to eating it without the bag.

[ Both laugh ] Well, if you want to make this incredibly fun recipe, it starts by making a quick chili and adding a little cornmeal to thicken.

Cut each bag of corn chips down the long side, then top the chips with chili, cheddar, and onions.

So, from "Cook's Country," it's dinner in the bag.

Frito pie.

What else can I serve out of the bag?

♪♪ -A panini press is by no means an essential piece of kitchen equipment, but they do make killer sandwiches.

And Hannah is here to tell us more about all the options you can find at the store these days.

-Yeah, so, I was a little skeptical starting this testing, too.

Do you really need one of these?

Me and my team fell in love with these.

-Really?

-Yes.

So, let me tell you why.

First of all, you'll see there's a huge range in this category, right?

You'll start with the most simple.

That's just two searing plates.

Open that up.

Yep.

Hot, hot.

That's it.

-Okay.

-And it can go very deluxe.

Like, for example, this GreenPan model over here has all sorts of controls, different plates.

These promise to replace waffle irons, griddles, grills, some of them open flat like a pancake station.

-That's cool.

-Exactly.

So, we tested six of these.

The price range was huge -- $25 up to $300.

-Whoa!

-I know, and good news -- we found great options at multiple price points.

-Oh, that is good news.

-Yeah.

So, lower-cost options had no controls, and we didn't hate that.

You know, this was a simple machine that got the job done.

You could have a lot of fun with that, in a dorm room, for example.

More deluxe options, though, they got pretty fun.

We're talking grill presses, flat searing plates.

The next thing that was really important was consistent heat.

This model from Cuisinart over here really illustrated how important consistent heat was.

We actually watched bacon on this one, sizzle, stop sizzling, sizzle, stop sizzling.

-That's ridiculous.

-It's ridiculous!

And you could see the heat cycling which is not abnormal for machines like this or ovens.

Heat cycling is normal.

But we wanted even, consistent heat.

A sandwich is only in there for two or three minutes, you know, bacon eight, minutes, You want it to be able to cook those things through without visible temperature swings.

Now, let's talk about cooking surfaces.

So, the red Dash over there, that is the most simple -- flat, two cooking plates.

But a lot of these have griddle marks.

Did you know paninis don't necessarily have griddle marks in Italy?

-Huh!

Actually, in my head, they always have griddle marks.

But a panini's just a sandwich, actually.

-Exactly!

In the US, though, they often come with grill marks.

Look at that gorgeous sandwich right there.

-It's beautiful!

-I know!

I want a bite of that.

We'll have to wait.

We love the marks that some of these machines put on sandwiches.

Let's look at the Breville right here.

So, it has a griddle side, you flip it over, it has a flat side.

We had a strong preference for taller ridges on our grill plates.

They made for more crisp, beautiful, distinct grill marks.

So, let's talk about loading the sandwiches.

Do you mind doing a little work for me over here?

-Of course.

-Alright.

Take that sandwich and put it into the Dash right here.

-Alright.

This is the one with almost no features, right?

It's just a plug and play?

-Mm-hmm.

-Alright, well, I can see what's wrong with this.

It's a clam shell, and only the parts of the bread touching the hot plates are going to get toasted.

That leaves quite a bit of the sandwich untoasted.

-Mm-hmm.

Now, take this sandwich and load it into the Breville.

-Okay.

-There you go.

Oh, I see what's happening here.

There's a hinge on this.

-Floating hinge.

-A floating hinge!

Well, that just means that you get a nice, even press on the sandwich so it cooks evenly.

And all the bread touches the hot plates.

-Right, and it's not just sandwiches.

You know, a whole eggplant.

I had a whole eggplant in here.

-Oh, that's cool.

-Mm-hmm.

Otherwise, it would squish right out of that thing.

-It would!

-Yeah.

So, it's just a little bit of luxury.

Helps with even cooking.

-Okay.

-Some of these machines have grease drainage systems.

Do you remember the George Foreman grills from the '90s?

-Oh, of course!

-Yeah, these are kind of like the next generation.

-Oh, they are, yeah.

-Yeah, and some didn't drain grease away, so things were a little, you know, soggy.

If they drained away the grease effectively, like this model right here from Proctor Silex, the food was crispier, we had better browning, and two factors contributed to that.

First, a little tilt.

The grease -- We wanted a little bit of a downhill.

You know, it wanted to run downhill, and that made the grease drain away more effectively.

Also, a large opening for grease to get through.

If it was smaller, it just puddled up and did not evacuate very well.

-That makes sense.

And the grease trap is -- Oh, right here.

Easy to clean.

-Yeah, take that whole thing, wash it in the sink.

-Okay.

-Really nice.

Speaking of beautiful grease drainage, that brings us to our winner, right here, from Breville.

It has these ceramic plates that come out for easy cleaning.

They flip around, so you can do the ridges, you can do the searing.

This whole thing opens flat for barbecue mode.

-Whoa!

-Yeah.

-Barbecue mode?

-Barbecue mode.

-And you said the plates on the bottom are flat, so now it's a griddle.

You could be making pancakes and eggs.

-Engage pancake mode.

Exactly.

-That's cool.

-Exactly.

So, it does a lot, it also costs a lot.

-Okay.

-$200 for this machine.

Which, you know, is great if you have it, but if you don't, we found a great alternative, too.

The Proctor Silex.

This costs $30.

The plates don't come out.

-Okay.

-They're not reversible.

You have to clean them, wipe them down in here.

But it cooked food beautifully.

Gorgeous browning, nice, even heating, great grease drainage, like I showed you before.

And for 30 bucks?

Great cooking?

That's a great deal.

-Okay.

Thanks, Hannah.

-Thank you.

-There you have it.

If you're in the market for a panini press, you have two options.

The Mac Daddy, the Breville Sear and Press Grill at $200 with lots of options, or a simpler best buy, that's the Proctor Silex Panini Press, at just $30.

♪♪ -If you've ever munched on a bag of crispy potato chips, then you have a woman named Laura Scudder to thank.

Scudder started making potato chips in 1926 to provide for her family.

Her business quickly grew, and she started employing neighborhood women to work in her California factories.

At the time, potato chips were sold by the scoop from large barrels, but they went stale quickly.

Some grocers packaged them in stapled bags, but that didn't solve the problem, either.

So, Scudder devised a clever packaging solution, which involved ironing two squares of wax paper together to seal the chips in an airtight container.

Eventually, Scudder would control half the potato chip market in California, and she proved to be a shrewd businesswoman.

She promoted her company on radio and TV and wrote marketing content for newspapers.

Scudder was known for being tough but ethical, and she always looked out for her employees.

She even turned down a buyout offer that wouldn't guarantee their jobs.

At "Cook's Country," we salute the Potato Chip Queen of the West by adding the savory crunch of chips to a sweet cookie.

♪♪ -Cooks have been adding decidedly savory ingredients into desserts for years because it's fun and unexpected, like bacon on doughnuts, or olive oil in cake, or potato chips in cookies, which is what Morgan is going to make today.

-Yeah, Julia, I am here for it.

I love salty sweet things, so I'm all about the savory ingredients in baked goods.

So, this was actually invented by a company that was trying to market their potato chips.

So, they put a recipe on the back of the bag, and then people realized it was really good.

That said, you do want to be really thoughtful about the balance in your cookies because potato chips can make a greasy cookie.

-Yeah, they're pretty fatty.

-They are pretty fatty, but they're also delicious.

So, here, I have 1.5 ounces of reduced fat potato chips.

-A-ha!

-So, if you don't have a scale, you can just use a hefty handful and measure it after you break them up.

So, I'm just going to add them to a zipper lock bag, and then I'm going to crush them up.

So, you can do the gentle method... I guess it's not that gentle.

[ Both laugh ] -That just looks fun.

-You can get out your aggression if you want.

-Live it up, girl, live it up.

-I know, I'm like, "Live it up!

Smash some potato chips!

Enjoy your life!"

You want them pretty finely chopped because you don't want, like, a huge hunk of potato chip in there.

You just want little bites in there.

Like, almost like a sprinkle.

Alright, so this is where, if you don't have a scale, you can just measure this.

If you start with 1.5 ounces, you'll get half a cup of crushed potato chips.

-Oh, okay.

-And they are going into three quarters of a cup of all purpose flour.

I also have a quarter of a cup of finely-chopped toasted pecans.

So, these just add a nice little bit of complexity and a little crunch factor.

And then, I also have a quarter of a teaspoon of salt.

So, it's just table salt, but honestly, even with the potato chips, they're not salty enough.

We want to drive home the salty-sweet.

Let me give this a nice little whisk, get everything nice and combined.

So, we have our dry mixed, and now we can move on to the butter.

So, this is a lot like a standard shortbread cookie.

So, here, I have eight tablespoons of unsalted butter.

I'm going to add two kinds of sugar, so I'm going to add a quarter of a cup of granulated sugar and a quarter of a cup of confectioners sugar.

-Interesting.

-Yeah.

So, confectioners sugar has some cornstarch in there and it's a little more fine, so it gives it a really nice shortbread texture.

And I'm gonna bump this up to a medium-high speed, and I'm gonna let it go until it's really nice and light and fluffy.

-Alright.

-It'll take about three minutes.

So, now, I'm going to add in a large egg yolk, and then I'm also going to add a half teaspoon of vanilla.

I'm going to mix these until they're really well combined.

Just put it back over medium-high.

Alright.

Also looking good.

Just get every little bit in here.

So, it's a pretty simple dough to put together.

Here, I have my dry ingredients, so I'm going to add these in three different additions.

So, that's mostly just because you can get that, like, plume of flour happening.

So, you kind of just want to add little bits at a time.

I'll do about a third of it.

Alright.

So, let's get our second batch in here.

Alright.

And last bit.

So, once you start adding the flour, you want to be a little more thoughtful and careful with your mixing just because you can develop gluten, and these are very short, light cookies, you don't want it to turn into a tough cookie.

So, you want to be gentle.

Just, again, over low speed.

Honestly, I'm going to give the last little bit a stir by hand.

-Always a good idea.

-Oh yeah, I did leave a nice little trail of flour down here at the bottom, but... -Happens to the best of us.

-Happens to the be-- Thank you!

It does.

I am just gonna get in here -- I'm using a number 70 scoop but it's essentially a scant tablespoon each.

-Okay.

-And if you have a scale, you can use that.

Sometimes, I like weighing cookies.

It's about 15 grams each cookie.

-Okay.

-So, I'm going to go through and I'm going to get 24 cookies.

I'm going to do 12 per tray, and I'm going to keep them about three inches apart on the tray.

I'm just going to keep going until I have all 24 of these scooped, and then I'm going to pop them in the fridge just to firm up the dough a little bit.

It'll only take about 10 minutes.

Okay, so, I left one sheet in the fridge just so that it can chill and stay chilling while we do these.

But yeah, they firmed up nicely.

-Really quickly.

-Yeah, so I'm going to stamp these.

I have a drinking glass, and dip it in flour, and then go in for a cookie, and just give it a nice little stamp.

And the chill helps it be a little less sticky, but honestly, this is a pretty sticky dough, so it still sometimes sticks a little bit.

And you can go in and you can just use an offset spatula or a knife or whatever you're comfortable doing if you need to.

The first one, always a little stickier.

You haven't floured it much.

-It's like the first pancake.

-The first pancake, you know?

Alright, I always like to check my first.

That's pretty close to two inches.

This dough doesn't actually spread that that much in the oven, so it really just gives them a nice, flat surface area.

Like, I want these to be really crispy.

You get the crispy edges.

they're not quite lacy, but they have this really nice, crisp texture to them.

And so, by getting them nice and thin, you're kind of playing that up.

I think they're looking pretty good.

Okay, so, I'm just going to bake these.

I'm doing one sheet at a time, so I'll grab the other one and stamp those out.

But I'm just going in a 350 degree oven, I'm going to bake them until they're just set, and they're gonna be just a little golden around the edges, but I don't really want them to start browning.

So, it'll take anywhere between 10 and 13 minutes.

I'm gonna get in there and rotate it once halfway through.

-Okie doke.

Ohh!

-Oh, yeah.

These are looking good.

Alright, so this is exactly what we're going for.

Just like, a little golden around the edges.

You don't really want them to get too golden.

That's a little too far.

They get a little crunchy and not crisp.

-A-ha!

-So, they should just be set, which is exactly what we're going for here.

These need to cool at least 15 minutes before we can work with them.

-Okay.

-But thankfully, we have this first batch out.

Nice and cool.

-Yeah.

-Nice and crisp.

Good texture.

-Those look good.

-They would be delicious.

And we could eat them like this, but... what makes a cookie even better?

Chocolate!

-Mm-hmm!

-Here, I have two different kinds of chocolate.

I'm going to show you a little way to quick-temper chocolate.

So, I have six ounces of finely-chopped bittersweet chocolate.

I'm just going to microwave this at 50% power.

I'm going to let it go about 15 seconds at a time and just get in there and stir really regularly until it's fully melted, but I don't want it any hotter than my own skin temperature, so you can feel it, and if it starts feeling hotter than that, that's too far.

You kind of just want to go by feel.

Alright, so, you do want to get in there and stir really regularly.

Chocolate can go from melted and delightful to scorched very quickly.

Back in.

Oh, we're getting somewhere.

-That's close.

-It is close.

-Is it close or is it there?

It's right on that line.

-I know, I think it actually might be there.

It's a little bit warm, so I kind of think the bowl's gonna get me the rest of the way there.

-Okay.

-Alright.

So, here, I have two ounces of grated bittersweet chocolate.

For this, I use a rasp-style grater.

So, I always like to freeze it because it makes it a little easier to grate it.

-So smart.

-But you just get this really fine chocolate.

And the warmth of the chocolate that's already melted continues to melt it.

-And that just makes sure, as all the chocolate melts, it goes into the right crystalline structure so that it tempers properly on the cookie and gets nice, hard, and shiny.

-Yeah, we want a hardened, shiny chocolate shell.

We don't want any, like, soft chocolate shell!

-Mm-mm.

Nothing with streaks.

-Exactly.

Yeah, like, chocolate is its own world.

I have a friend who's a chocolatier and it's amazing, but it's like, it is a complicated art.

Alright, so, I still want to be able to see these cute cookies, so I'm just going to do a little dunk, but about halfway.

-Oh, the half moon style.

-The half moon dunk.

The first one's maybe not the most beautiful.

-[ Laughs ] -That's okay!

So, I'm just gonna smear off any extra here.

-Gorgeous!

-And on the back, as well.

And you can still tell what you're eating, but you've got a nice little bit of chocolate on it.

So, again, a little dip and dunk.

And a smear.

Alright.

-Those cookies look gorgeous.

-So, we've got plenty of the chocolate left for the second batch once that's cool.

I do need to let those fully cool.

But before these are fully cool, I do want to sprinkle them with just a little flaked sea salt.

So, I've got two teaspoons total here.

I'm going to use about half on each batch.

And I'm going to do a nice little sprinkle.

-Again, it's that sweet-savory combination.

-Yeah.

It also is just really pretty.

Alright, so, I'm gonna pop this in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

That chocolate's gonna get nice and firm, and then we can move on to the second batch.

-Okay.

-Alright, these are nicely firm and set, and it's time for us to dig in.

-Alright.

-These are gorgeous.

-I know, aren't they so, like, fancy potato chip cookie!

-And it didn't look like a lot of batter, but it made a lot of cookies!

-I know.

And it's a really beautiful, like, setup.

I'm sort of, like -- like I said, this is the kind of thing you could bring to, like, a dinner party and people would be psyched about, or it's the kind of thing you're like, "I'm gonna sit on my couch with this platter and enjoy myself."

-These are incredible.

-Mmm!

-You get the little crunch of the potato chips.

-Mm-hmm.

-Oh, that's good.

-I know, I'm like, "Ooh, I'm getting a lot of crunch!

Is it the salt?

Is it the chocolate?

Is it potato chip?"

-And the nuts really come through.

And the shortness, it's almost like... it kind of reminds me a little bit of a pecan sandie, but they're thinner and there's those crispy bits.

-Yeah, like it has that really nice, short texture.

It's not sandie, but it's, like, very short and it's really fun to eat.

-Mm!

I just, for the first time, tasted the chocolate side.

That's yet a different cookie.

Oh!

Because you get the chocolate sweetness, but then you got the saltiness to compare.

It really is a study in contrast.

Sweet and salty, the creamy chocolate, the crisp little bits.

Morgan, these are incredible.

Thank you!

-Oh, my pleasure.

-If you want to make this sweet-savory cookie, start by crushing reduced fat potato chips into fine crumbs using a rolling pin.

Flatten the cookies before baking and finish with a dip in tempered chocolate and a sprinkle of sea salt.

From "Cook's Country," a very cool recipe for chocolate-dipped potato chip cookies.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and select episodes at our website, CooksCountry.com/TV.

-I'm thinking about what else we can put potato chips in.

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

Visit our website anytime for the newest season's rigorously tested recipes, full episodes, ingredient advice, and equipment reviews.

CooksCountry.com/TV.

-The Complete "Cook's Country" TV Show Cookbook brings together every recipe, tasting, and test from 18 seasons of the beloved TV show, with trusted equipment recommendations and insights from the entire cast.

This book is your guide to the very best in regional cooking.

The cost is $24.99, $15 off the cover price of $40.

To order, head to our online shop at CooksCountry.com/book.

-Funding for this program has been provided by the following.

-Monument Grills -- offering innovative technology and design for the grilling enthusiast, with a lineup of gas grills designed with durability in mind, including the Eminence 605 with LED touch panels and side and rear infrared burners.

Learn more at monumentgrills.com.

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