JOEL: Coming up today on Homemade Live...

There are no secrets here.

I think that we should reveal everything.

We're revealing some of the most delicious secret family recipes.

And it is legendary.

YouTube culinary creator Nick DiGiovanni is cooking up a storm.

- Can you make sure it smells good?

- Oh, yeah.

- Yeah.

JOEL: Plus, I'll be learning the secret to my father-in-law's perfect pesto.

Guess what, Gino?

I found the recipe.

Let's do it!

(cheers and applause) It's all coming up right now on Homemade Live.

Hey, I'm Joel, a dad, husband, and sustainable chef in Seattle, Washington.

I believe the best ingredient on Earth isn't what's on the plate, it's actually what's around the plate-- the people, the places, the stories.

That's what inspired Homemade Live.

Each week, we go live from our kitchen in front of a studio audience with famous friends.

We share food memories and we recreate them on the spot.

Welcome to Homemade Live.

- Funding for Homemade Live is made possible by... - The American Diabetes Association has been here for more than 80 years.

- But we don't want to exist.

- We don't want diabetes to overtake us.

- To rob us.

- To break us.

- So we're standing tall.

- Rallying for affordable care.

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- Someday you won't need us.

- Until then... ALL: We fight.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (cheers and applause) JOEL: I love it.

Thanks for being here.

Let's go!

Oh, thank you guys.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Perfect, amazing.

I know I look really happy.

I'm actually a little bit, like, disturbed by today's theme, okay.

I don't love today's theme.

Today's theme is secret sauce.

Why I don't love it?

I don't know.

I don't love secrets in the kitchen.

You ever go to someone's house and you're like, "What's in that chili?"

And they're like, "It's a secret."

(laughter) I'm just like, "Okay."

You know, I'm a chef, I'm a chef on TV.

I think that we should reveal everything.

We're not magicians.

Like, you don't have to, like, keep it hidden.

It's nice to share all that.

My father-in-law does this.

I swear he does this.

On my wife's side, they have this pesto recipe.

and it is legendary.

I actually studied in Italy.

I've eaten a lot of pesto.

I'll turn sideways so you guys can see.

A lot of pesto.

(laughter) All right, I love, love pesto.

And this particular pesto, I'm telling you, it tastes off the boat.

And I asked my father-in-law, Gino, like, "What is in this pesto?"

And he will not tell me.

It's this big secret.

One time I remember, I was kind of pounding the basil and he kept looking over me.

He's like, "It's not fine enough.

It's not fine enough."

And I keep pounding and he's like, "It's not fine enough."

And he turned his away, and I-- this time I didn't even actually pound it.

I just did it on the table.

And I go, "Gino, how about now?"

He's like, "That's perfect."

I'm like, "Okay."

I'm like, "You're messing with me, man!"

Um, and so the other day, this is no joke.

A couple of weeks ago, I was over at his house.

Saw a little book sitting by the couch...

Recipe book.

Guess what, Gino?

I found the recipe and we're making it on PBS!

Let's do it!

(cheers and applause) (Joel laughs) For this first bite, we're making focaccia slathered in homemade pesto.

What I love to do, get a big sheet tray like this.

Put some olive oil on the bottom of it.

So good.

And then, yeah, here's your dough, right.

You just let it kind of rise.

When it's a pillow like this, you kind of just press it down and you don't want to, like, punch it.

I think, you know, a lot of people have this tendency.

They just want to-- boom.

Maybe it's just been a rough day at work or whatever it is.

But you kind of just want to like, spread it out when you're making focaccia.

Doesn't that looks so, like...

There's something about that I just love.

And you want to just use your fingertips and kind of dig into the dough, and kind of stretch as you're doing that.

And what that does is it just creates little pockets for this olive oil to kind of get into, right.

So, you kind of spread it out like this and then you just go with a little bit more olive oil.

And by a little bit, I mean, let's douse that puppy.

In fact, I'm not going to stop until you guys tell me to stop.

This is a lot.

(laughter) Yeah, I'll keep going.

Okay, I'm going the whole thing.

Let's go.

(cheers and applause) I mean, a little bit here, a little bit there.

(laughter) So, little bit of salt over the top of that.

And then, you just kind of let that rest, right.

And you put that in the oven and it literally takes about, I mean, literally no time.

I mean about 20 minutes, 400 degrees.

and you have a really fluffy focaccia.

I'll show you what that looks like.

But we all can do that, right?

Seems pretty easy-- ish, okay, great.

Apparently, this is not easy according to my father-in-law.

But we're going to make some pesto.

There's some really specific parts of pesto.

I think a lot of us have made pesto.

You've seen pesto now with, like, arugula, not just basil or not just pine nuts, but with walnuts or cashews.

So, you can really make pesto whatever you want.

But there's kind of a basic, you know, formula to making this the secret best pesto ever.

First is, it's really important to use a mortar and pestle.

Why not like a machine, like a blender or something?

The blade as it kind of spins around, it heats up the actual, like, whatever you're grinding and it actually kind of cooks it.

So, it kind of mellows out the flavor.

So, it's really nice to just pound it.

Also, I just think it tastes better and fresher.

So, we start with a little garlic in the bottom here.

A big pinch of salt.

and you just kind of go to town.

Really easy.

And this is exactly how they make it in Italy.

Then we get some toasted pine nuts.

And this is, again, I'm like, "How can I mess this up?

How is he telling me I'm doing this wrong?"

You can tell I have, like, PTSD from this thing.

Years of feeling rejected from my father-in-law.

I can't win with him.

All right, so you kind of make a paste here.

It's almost like peanut butter, right, once you get those kind of pine nuts going.

Really, really nice.

And then, you want to go with the freshest basil ever.

And this is another thing that he always tells me.

It's, like, you should really only do this in the summer is his big thing.

Listen, you can go get basil at your local, it'll be fine.

But it is really nice to find just super fresh basil.

And you kind of want to overload it, right.

Look how good this looks.

You're going to be able to smell this in a heartbeat.

It smells so good.

And at first, you're like.

"God, this is just a lot."

But you really get in there and you just start kind of bashing it up.

When I was in cooking school, we would have this class which was all about seasonal Italian regions and what they would cook.

And they would talk about this one region, Liguria, where they would make pesto.

And, you know, we would learn about it during the week.

And then we'd get to go travel there.

So you'd learn about it in these books.

You'd be like.

"Oh, this is how pesto is created.

This is how they make it."

Then you get on a train and you can smell, I swear, you get off the train in Liguria, you can smell the basil in the air.

It's crazy.

And over in Liguria, it grows next to lemon groves.

So my little trick here, and I tell everybody this, I'm not secret with this, (laughter) is a touch of lemon zest.

(audience says "ooh") Honestly, they would never do this in Italy.

But the basil picks up lemony-ness from the trees.

And so I think it kind of emulates the freshness of Italy.

So you kind of grind that to a paste, and then you kind of just start drizzling in some olive oil until it's kind of that texture that we all know pesto to be.

That really nice paste.

Now, this part is really important.

Most recipes, 90% of recipes would say add in the cheese, and this is done.

I mean, really fresh, just green.

(audience says "ooh") I mean, slather that on the sidewalk and I'll lick it off.

That's good stuff.

(laughter) All right, but the key to this, and what Gino taught me, is to add the cheese when you're ready to eat the pesto.

So, don't add the cheese and then put it in the fridge.

Leave it like this.

And then, when you're ready to make pasta or do something like that, we have a big batch here ready to go.

This has no cheese in it, it's just the same stage.

This is when you grab your cheese, fresh Parmesan.

I mean, can someone make a pillow out of fresh Parmesan?

(laughter) I will sleep on that like a baby.

And then, you just kind of fold that in.

And the reason why we do that at the very end is because cheese is salty and it brings out a little bit of the moisture, and you don't want it to bring out the moisture.

You want it to kind of stay nice and fresh.

So, we kind of do that at the very end and we have this gorgeous pesto.

and then, we'll fast forward through time.

(audience says "ooh") Same focaccia, same focaccia.

(laughter) So, what I do is take this puppy out, look how good this looks.

And so, you just take this pesto and you just kind of... Yeah, this is not going to suck.

This is going to be... (laughter) Some people will bake it on.

I like the freshness of just kind of schmearing it on.

I mean, you could just-- you can taste it, right, exactly.

This makes incredible sandwich bread.

It's awesome just to have on the dinner table and you literally just kind of slice it up just like this and you just kind of start passing it out, and it's just heaven.

I know, it's like fluffy, airy.

So herbaceous.

And that is our first bite of the day.

(cheers and applause) Mmm.

Really good.

You heard my story, I want to hear your story.

So, check this out.

♪ ♪ - Hey y'all, I'm G.L.

Douglas.

Now, I'm going to be honest.

I'm not a great cook, but I am a good maker, okay.

Like, I can make a Hot Pocket and I can make a hot dog.

But I have one recipe that is my go-to recipe.

If you ever need to bring something to the potluck, you need something quick and simple, I'm telling you, my honey barbecue meatballs is it.

Three simple ingredients.

A pack of frozen meatballs, a thing of chunked pineapples, and one bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's hickory & brown sugar barbecue sauce.

Take a pan, put them all in there together.

Cover it with some aluminum foil.

Stick it in the oven, 30 minutes on 400, and voila, I'm telling you.

And if you really want to get fancy, get a pack of those Hawaiian Sweet Rolls.

Put one meatball on each one.

and now you got meatball sliders.

I'm telling you, you will thank me later.

Satisfaction guaranteed.

(cheers and applause) JOEL: All right, all right, all right.

You guys, I couldn't be more excited for our next guest.

New York Times bestselling author, YouTube legend with 12 million followers, he is teaching the next generation how to cook.

He is such a sweet dude.

Give it up for Nick DiGiovanni!

(cheers and applause) - How are you?

JOEL: Oh, I so appreciate it.

- Thanks for having me.

(cheers and applause) JOEL: They love you, they love you.

- This looks great, by the way.

JOEL: Is this the best-looking book cover you've ever seen in your life?

(laughter) Dude, unbelievable.

This is so cool.

- It was a lot of work.

JOEL: Yeah, dude.

I'm sure, I'm sure.

I mean, you have blown up.

I mean, you're like a Beatle now.

Like, can you go places and people-- like, are people recognizing you left and right?

- It happens, it happens.

JOEL: Yeah, yeah, yeah?

- It's definitely-- and no matter what, whether it's one person or a hundred people, I mean, it's an adjustment, right?

It's an adjustment.

JOEL: Yeah.

You just got to get used to it.

JOEL: Yeah, yeah.

So, what is your approach to cooking?

I mean, what do you think really made you this?

- I mean, the simple answer is family.

I mean, back, when I started cooking, I was...

I wasn't, I wasn't on the counter... JOEL: Little Nick.

- I was just trying-- JOEL: Baby Nick.

- And when I say "cooking," I was probably grabbing things, throwing them on the counter.

JOEL: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

- But I just remember having that like, seeing that passion in my grandmother and my great-grandmother.

And then I just, I just wanted more.

I wanted to be a part of it.

I'm part Persian, I'm part Italian, part German.

So, I've got all these different sort of melting pot of different backgrounds, and that meant a lot of different food.

JOEL: Yeah, it must be trippy because, it really is the next generation who's watching you, Nick.

I mean, it's, you know, we actually have a superfan of you.

We've got Jude over here.

Give it up for Jude, guys.

- Oh, great.

What's up?

(cheers and applause) JOEL: Jude.

You watch all of Nick's videos.

What recipes have you tried?

- Um, I've actually made the mayonnaise covered salmon.

and it was amazing.

JOEL: Yeah, this guy slathers mayo all over salmon, which, we're from Seattle, that feels like sacrilege.

- Yeah, yeah.

(laughter) But was it good?

- It was amazing.

- It's good.

JOEL: Dude, I tried it, it's insane.

These recipes that you have are so simple.

They almost think they-- like, they wouldn't work.

And then you do it-- - Right.

JOEL: And it totally does.

- And to be fair, some of them once in a while don't work.

And, and I don't put them in the cookbook, so.

JOEL: Yeah, yeah.

Well, that leads to our next bite.

which we're going to be doing scalloped halibut.

- Right.

JOEL: Like scalloped potatoes, but with halibut.

- Basically, yeah, it's using all the same ingredients.

Scalloped potatoes-- you've had, you've had potatoes like this.

I mean, I've made scallops like this.

JOEL: Yeah.

- But if you coat anything in butter and cream and breadcrumbs.

JOEL: 100%.

- It's going to taste good.

JOEL: Yeah, absolutely.

- Yeah.

So, I grew up in New England.

JOEL: Yeah.

- And I was always around a lot of seafood.

JOEL: Me too.

- So, I felt like I got really confident with cooking seafood.

JOEL: I feel the same way, like, I grew up here in Seattle.

And, and like, when you go to the Midwest and other places in the country, you realize that, like, that they had chicken, they had beef but they didn't do the seafood thing.

And it's kind of nice to grow up on a coastal side where you get that.

- Yeah, yeah, I felt very lucky that way.

JOEL: Yeah.

- And so what I love about this dish is it's very simple.

You can use any sort of white fish that you want to, right?

JOEL: Yeah.

Yeah.

- I mean, halibut, haddock, cod, whatever you can find, right?

JOEL: Totally.

- Whatever's fresh.

And, you're really just kind of coating it in all these things.

JOEL: And today's theme is obviously secret sauce.

What does this kind of mean to you, like, what is this dish?

- I would say my secret sauce, it's very simple, okay.

JOEL: Yeah, yeah.

- And, and going off of that love for seafood.

I think the key is using some zest.

Lemon juice and lemon zest JOEL: Always.

- A little bit of salt, and maybe some cream.

That sort of the secret sauce, that it seems so simple.

JOEL: Yes.

- But, it can highlight pretty much all seafood out there in some way.

JOEL: Dude, there's been so many times where people come over to my house for dinner and they're like, "Why is this so good?"

And it's lemon zest.

- And it's the easiest thing in the world.

JOEL: It's literally lemon zest.

All right, so what's step one here?

- This is breadcrumbs, right?

JOEL: Yes.

- And then this is, yeah, buttery crackers.

JOEL: Buttery crackers.

I'm already like, what?

- Yeah, yeah.

JOEL: We're putting crackers on my halibut?

Okay, let's go, yeah.

- We're going to put these in here, right.

JOEL: Yeah.

- So, mix that up.

We'll put a little bit of, I mean, whatever herbs you want too.

You and I cook the same way, right?

JOEL: Totally, simple.

- We like to just cook.

have fun-- JOEL: Throw it in there.

Don't even measure it.

- Yeah, throw it in there, don't measure it.

So, I'll throw those in, a little bit of salt.

JOEL: By the way, his salt.

Osmo.

- Yeah.

JOEL: How cool is that?

- Yeah.

JOEL: When did you come out with this?

- Two years ago.

JOEL: Two years ago?

This stuff is flying.

- We just... JOEL: Like, it's so popular.

- The simple thing was that we just thought salt was really boring, is the kind of...

It's in every dish, but we thought it could be a little more fun.

JOEL: So, you know who one of his mentors is, right?

Gordon Ramsey.

Like, he's cooked with Tom Brady.

- Yeah.

JOEL: With Shaq.

How do you get cooking with all these guys?

- I don't know.

JOEL: Do you just reach out?

- It just sort of started happening, yeah.

Well, so Gordon and I did "Master Chef."

JOEL: Yes.

- And his TV show.

JOEL: Yes.

- I was very nervous, as you can imagine, right?

You walk into a room with him and you don't want to mess anything up, right.

JOEL: No, you do not.

- And so, that was a little bit crazy.

But he was the nicest guy ever.

He's kind of a softie, is what is what I ended up realizing.

JOEL: Really?

Okay.

- Yeah, he was.

And I learned a lot from him and I think he gave me that, he gave me an extra little spark in the kitchen.

And then, going off of that, I think just one thing led to the next.

And we'd meet these different celebrities who... Everyone loves food.

JOEL: Yeah.

- So, you just ask them to cook and it worked out.

JOEL: They're in.

- Yeah, yeah.

It's great.

JOEL: I love it, I love it.

All right, that already smells incredible, so what's next?

- Yeah, so now it's going to smell even better.

We're going to put some butter in there to kind of make... JOEL: Oh, inside the breadcrumb mixture.

- So what this reminds me of is making a crust for a cheesecake.

JOEL: Totally.

- When you want it to be nice and crumbly.

JOEL: Like the graham crackers, the butter.

Which is one of the best smells on earth.

Oh, my God.

- It's the best.

- I don't know, do you make cheesecakes?

Okay.

(Joel laughs) - All right, so we'll put a little bit of the butter in there and once that's crumbly enough that you can sort of coat it over the top of the fish without it falling off... JOEL: Yep.

Yeah.

That's when I'm going to take this dish here.

JOEL: Yeah, a little baker.

- Yup.

And then we'll toss the fish.

JOEL: Can you make this ahead of time?

Like, could you throw the fish in there.

the breadcrumb mixture on top and, like, put that in the fridge for a while?

Or does it have to be baked right away?

- Yeah, well, the reality is these aren't going to be too, too crispy once you're finish baking it?

So, I think it's okay to probably let it sit in the fridge, yeah.

JOEL: Okay, good.

- I'll just pile these on top of here.

The best food, I feel like, it doesn't look that pretty a lot of the time.

You know what I mean?

JOEL: Ugly delicious, baby.

Ugly and delicious.

I love it.

- Exactly, exactly.

I'm not, you can see, I'm not trying to make this look perfect at all.

I'm just piling this on top.

JOEL: Looks really good, though.

- Yeah, it looks delicious.

I'm just going to just kind of pat it around here.

JOEL: You literally can smell it as the butter hits those kind of buttery crackers.

- Can you take a little smell for us?

Make sure it smells good?

- Oh, yeah.

JOEL: Yeah, see?

I mean, we're not paying him.

We're not paying him.

(cheers and applause) - All right, perfect.

JOEL: You're about to throw cream on this.

Which, like, for me, very rare.

- I would love you to help me-- JOEL: You want me to do it?

- Do a little drizzle of cream for me if you don't mind.

JOEL: First time on camera I've ever been caught putting dairy on fish, here we go.

(laughter) Here we go, just right over the top?

- Just a tiny little drizzle, yeah.

JOEL: Aah!

- That's great, that's great.

JOEL: Okay, okay.

- There we go.

(cheers and applause) JOEL: All right.

- And, it's as simple as that.

I didn't mention while I was doing it, but I did do it already.

Some lemon zest.

JOEL: Yeah.

- So, we're going to toss that in the oven.

JOEL: This is what it'll look like by the way.

Guys, look at this.

- That's what it's going to look like.

Yeah, yeah.

(audience says "ooh") JOEL: Dude, that looks... Yeah, yeah.

JOEL: Can you just whiff that?

Just give that a whiff.

- Oh, it smells great.

JOEL: It's insane.

- (laughs) JOEL: It's insane.

- It's very simple.

And it's...

I mean, maybe besides the fish, it's probably something you have all the ingredients for in your pantry at home, right?

JOEL: Oh, 100%.

It's humble.

So, I'm sorry, how long do you bake it for?

- It's however long it takes, you know?

(laughter) JOEL: He's the secret sauce guy.

It's my father-in-law all over again.

- Everybody has such a different oven.

So, I really think when you're cooking, you should be present.

JOEL: Yes.

- Just watch it and you'll learn when it's done.

JOEL: Yeah, it's like 375, 400, probably for about ten, 15 minutes.

- Yeah, yeah.

JOEL: Until it kind of flakes.

- Yup.

JOEL: That looks amazing.

And then, we're going to whip up just a really simple salad.

Kind of inspired by your grandma?

Is that right?

- Yes.

So while you-- do you mind, do you mind?

JOEL: Yeah, I'll be your sous.

- I don't want to come into your kitchen and ask you to be my sous chef, but if you don't mind helping.

JOEL: Any time, Nick, any time.

- So yes, as I mentioned, my grandma was someone who I took a lot of inspiration from.

And those right there, those toasted pine nuts.

JOEL: Mmm.

- That lit a spark in my eyes.

It gave me a little twinkle.

JOEL: It does have a unique... - And I saw her toast those pine nuts and I thought it was such a...

I thought it was a crazy.

crazy thing, right?

That she transformed the flavor in these sort of simple things that I'd had before.

Suddenly, they were so nutty and so...

I mean, I couldn't stop eating them, right.

JOEL: They're so sweet, yeah.

- And so, that's the secret.

JOEL: This is the secret to this.

So, we've got butter lettuce, we've got fennel.

We're going to put pine nuts over the top?

- Yup.

JOEL: How much?

Tell me when.

- I mean-- JOEL: Again, there's no rules.

I'm going with the whole thing.

You guys have learned, you've learned.

- That's good.

JOEL: All right.

And then, a little bit of apple, just give it a shave.

- Yep, yep.

JOEL: Guys, whenever you're chopping apple, always make sure it's sitting flat.

Don't try and chop it as it's roll-y.

Just so it's not dangerous.

- Ooh.

JOEL: Yeah!

(cheers and applause) All right, in we go, in we go.

- Perfect.

JOEL: And then, a simple dressing, right?

- Super simple vinegarette.

Yep, that was another thing that she did really well.

She was always... she was always making really nice vinegarette.

You can see those chunks that are falling out are a little shallot there, that's just going to give, right, a little texture and it's sweet.

It's delicious.

JOEL: That's beautiful.

If we were going to plate one up.

show me what you'd do here.

- Let's both plate one up.

JOEL: Yeah, yeah, let's do it.

- Yeah, all right, I'll serve you...

I'll serve you first.

JOEL: All right, so you just kind of grab one.

Oh, my God, dude, it's falling apart.

It's flaky, yeah.

JOEL: It's incredible.

- It's very delicate.

JOEL: Really delicate.

I got you, I got you.

- Thank you, thank you.

JOEL: And then a little bit of the salad.

- Yeah, just take some salad.

JOEL: I love just a clean butter lettuce, butter lettuce salad like this.

Like, it's just crunchy-- - Crispy.

JOEL: Yeah.

- Yeah, It looks great.

As much color as you can have in food is beautiful.

And with the apple and with the shallots, it's just-- JOEL: This is, dude Guys, give it up, this is insane.

(cheers and applause) I love it.

I'm going to put a fork in this.

Yeah, dig in.

Yeah, she's like, "Oh, my God."

And how about to fan number one there?

Delivered by the chef himself.

- There we go.

JOEL: I love it.

(cheers and applause) You know, I learned about Nick.

We both went to college, you went to Harvard, which is amazing.

- Yes.

Yeah.

JOEL: And they didn't have like a cooking program there, right?

- They have math, they have science.

They have everything but they didn't have any cooking, so... JOEL: So, you made your own major?

- So, I decided to make my own major, yeah.

And I, I pushed through pretty hard.

I... JOEL: I did the exact same thing at the University of Connecticut.

They didn't have-- I knew I wanted to cook.

They didn't have it, so, it took me two years.

- Yeah.

JOEL: I can't believe you did the same thing.

- They rejected my, my application the first time.

And then, I pushed back again.

JOEL: Freaking Harvard.

- Yeah.

JOEL: Unbelievable.

- I know.

But, I pushed through, and it went through and then I got to study what I loved.

And, and I mean that kept... that kept my cooking journey going.

JOEL: Yeah, I'd say you ran with it.

- Yeah.

JOEL: Yeah, that's awesome.

That's fricking awesome.

That's awesome.

All right... well... (cheers and applause) You hold, like, world records, like, largest chicken nugget ever made.

Biggest-- seriously, no joke.

- It's crazy.

JOEL: How do you pull that off?

Just before I get into that, I'm so curious.

- The very simple answer is that I just have a very good team, which is lucky.

JOEL: Yeah.

- All of these big kind of records, they're these big stunts.

It's a lot of food.

JOEL: Yeah.

- One big part of it is we make sure every last bit of the food, every time, is donated.

Which is, I mean-- JOEL: Huge.

- Yeah, yeah.

(cheers and applause) You're big on sustainability and I love that.

Three questions for you.

This is kind of our segment we like to call Quick Bites.

- Okay.

JOEL: First, weirdest thing you've ever eaten.

You've done so much crazy stuff.

- I will say this sounds crazy, as crazy as it sounds, my brothers and I used to force each other to eat grass when we were little kids.

That, that's more-- JOEL: Oh, my God.

I should have said edible thing, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Well, it, yeah-- JOEL: No, that's legit.

- It's, it's strange.

I think it may have been Japan I ate some, I ate some weird body parts from, believe it or not, a puffer fish, and it wasn't very good.

Wasn't very good.

JOEL: Puffer fish body parts.

You might win the prize of Homemade Live of weirdest food.

Okay, that's legit.

- Yeah.

Next, close your eyes real quick.

- Okay.

JOEL: Best thing you've ever eaten.

Best thing.

- I was traveling in Ecuador.

I was on a cacao farm.

It was called humitas.

It was a sort of corn tamale type thing.

It was the most corn flavored corn I've ever had.

It was what corn felt like it was supposed to taste like.

JOEL: Interesting.

Yeah.

- I was just like...

It was the simplest thing I ever had.

It was so simple and so good.

JOEL: All right, this last one's a little hard-hitting.

But, um... - Okay.

JOEL: Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Yes or no?

(laughter) - That's a gut answer I feel like.

JOEL: That's a gut answer.

- And my gut said "no."

JOEL: Why?

- My gut said "no."

JOEL: Yeah, okay.

(applause) Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Why?

There's bread, there's meat.

You got to explain yourself here.

- I think a hot dog is in a category of its own.

I just... that's just what I think it is.

I think it's just you have sandwiches... JOEL: Give it up for that, I like that.

(cheers and applause) I'm with you.

I'm with you, come with me.

All right, well, uh, Nick, you've been amazing.

We will not end a Homemade Live show without some sort of toast.

- Okay.

JOEL: And since today's about secret sauce.

- Mm-hmm.

JOEL: I wanted to make a Bloody Mary.

And I do have a secret ingredient in this, which I know you love.

- Okay.

JOEL: Which is fish sauce.

You a fish sauce fan?

- Wow.

Yes.

I have a big bottle at home.

JOEL: You do?

- Yeah.

JOEL: I mean, if you're not familiar with fish sauce.

it smells like gym socks.

- Horrible.

JOEL: Horrible.

- Horrible.

- I went on my honeymoon in Vietnam with my wife and we went on this island where they made fish sauce.

- Okay.

JOEL: And I tried to rope her into a factory tour.

And she's like, "Joel, "it's our honeymoon.

"We are not going on a fish sauce tour.

Like, that's just not going to happen."

I know you're going to go virgin.

I'm going to go, do a little bit... - Yeah, let's do it.

JOEL: Can you just do a dash of the fish sauce right in the glass.

- And by the way, when you're using fish sauce, you don't want to go too overboard.

Can we do one more quick smell test over there?

JOEL: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

How bad, Jude?

- (groans) (laughter) You had to choose the easy target there, yeah, yeah.

I love it.

All right, and then you take the freshest tomato juice you can.

You just kind of pour that over some ice.

Right over the fish sauce, kind of no one really knows that fish sauce is in there.

I'll let you do yours.

- I drink tomato juice straight all the time.

JOEL: Do you really?

- I really... JOEL: Is it your plane food or your plane drink?

People do that on the plane.

- Potato chips and tomato juice on the plane.

JOEL: I'm telling you.

- Okay.

JOEL: That looks good.

Pour that over the top.

- Perfect.

JOEL: And then I'm going to take a little bit of vodka and this is just one and a half ounces for me.

- Okay.

JOEL: You just kind of stir that in there.

- Nice.

JOEL: And then, it's kind of choose your own adventure.

I do like it spicy.

Do you want to give it a little bit of fresh horseradish?

- I would love some horseradish.

JOEL: Yeah, I got a microplane for you right here.

- And if a little lemon... JOEL: Absolutely.

-...gets there from the recipe, it's going to be great.

Do you want some or no?

JOEL: Of course, I do.

- Okay, good.

JOEL: I actually like chewing on my Bloody Mary.

I love it when there's like-- - Yeah.

JOEL: It looks like cheese.

- Yeah, it does.

JOEL: You sip it and you can kind of chew, and kind of break into that spiciness.

A couple of beautiful-- - Nice.

Some lemon in there.

JOEL: Absolutely.

You could throw some bacon.

- Yep, yep.

JOEL: Make your own skewers.

Check this out.

Isn't that kind of cool?

- Wow.

JOEL: Bacon and cornichon, - That's fancy.

JOEL: You can kind of tuck that into bed.

You want shrimp in yours?

- I would love shrimp.

JOEL: See, this is his level.

Right?

Shrimp in your drink.

- That looks great.

JOEL: Look at that puppy.

Someone like Nick, inspiring the next generation.

That's what it's all about.

Nick.

thank you so much for being here.

You rock.

- Thank you for having me.

Cheers.

JOEL: These things are nuts.

You guys are incredible.

and you at home, thank you so much.

We will see you next time.

Take care.

(cheers and applause) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ JOEL: To check out all the recipes we made today and more, visit us at homemade.live.

You'll find our free cooking class schedule where you can cook with me, live in real time.

I'll see you in the kitchen.

- Funding for Homemade Live is made possible by... - The American Diabetes Association has been here for more than 80 years.

- But we don't want to exist.

- We don't want diabetes to overtake us.

- To rob us.

- To break us.

- So we're standing tall.

- Rallying for affordable care.

- Lifting up people in need.

- And seeking a cure through research.

- So we can help end diabetes for good.

- Someday you won't need us.

- Until then... ALL: We fight.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (cheers and applause) - Great job.

JOEL: Do you really just go straight tomato juice on the plane?

- A lot, yeah.

JOEL: Any time?

- If they don't have a V8, they have tomato juice, you know?

(indistinct talking) What?

You work out too much.

- (indistinct talking) JOEL: Are you starving?

Are you dying?

- No, I'm great.

♪ ♪