♪♪ Today, I'm back in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to indulge two of my greatest passions farm to table cooking and historic hospitality.

-[Hotel man] Great to have you here, chef [Walter] In this town, history is not merely reproduced and reenacted.

It's diligently preserved.

Join me in exploring the roots of a town that predates the founding of our nation, as well as the roots of our ingredients.

[Walter eating in garden] Mmm!

All for A Taste of History.

[Narrator] This program is made possible by the Blue and Gray Education Society, whose mission is to preserve American history through its historical guidebooks, nationwide tours, and philanthropic endeavors.

♪♪ [footsteps] [Narrator] Founded in Germany in 1457.

The Moravian Church is considered one of the oldest protesting churches in the world, predating Martin Luther by over 50 years.

-The Moravians, in the 1700s, started sending out missionaries They came here to Bethlehem and founded the community in 1741.

It was actually named on Christmas Eve while singing a hymn with the line "not Jerusalem-lowly Bethlehem" And that's how Bethlehem, Pennsylvania received its name.

[Narrator] In 1747 Moravian missionaries James and Mary Burnside purchased the first privately held property in the settlement where they cleared the land for a farm and kitchen garden and built the stone farmhouse still standing today.

-After James passed away, Mary decided to sell the farm back to the church.

And so this became plantation number four.

The Moravians had four large farms, so this was one of the farms that was leased to tenant farmers, which helped provide food for the community.

♪♪ -Walter, welcome to the Colonial Garden at Burnside Plantation.

It's wonderful to have you here.

-I'll tell you, without a gardener, what would I cook right?

-The Moravians were terrific at planting very intensely and generating an enormous amount of food for a family and the community.

Myself and about 40 volunteers plan, maintain, and harvest the garden here.

-It's kind of a window into the past.

-Yea And the design is original to what it was.

We have three tiers: The culinary and medicinal herb section, The next tier is the root garden, and then the bottom tier was called the bean gardening, which now is primarily the vegetables.

And then we deliver to two food banks on a weekly basis which is very gratifying to everyone.

We are eager to show you around today and harvest some stuff and then cook it in the summer kitchen a little later.

So you recognize this?

-Honestly, if you go through my cookbooks, you're going to find marjoram so many times because in German cooking we use a lot of marjoram, we use it in a dry stage.

So you pull it and you dry it and then you use it for soups and for stews.

I've never seen this much marjoram in a long time so Well, you're welcome to take as much as you want today.

[Walter smelling] Oh, yeah.

Beautiful.

Over there I see the gorgeous fennel.

Yeah, the fennel is wonderful here Let me just get a cuting for you, and you can just smell how wonderful that is.

Oh, gosh.

You know, it's fresh and delicious.

[Walter] Fennel is so beautiful, especially the bulb to make a salad out of it.

-Absolutely.

-And I really like the idea that you have some flowers.

-The Moravians used them for potpourri in the house, but then they were for pollinators, to attract beneficial insects to pollinate the vegetables.

-Beautiful.

Every time I look behind me, I see those gooseberries, which I haven't seen since I left Germany, which is quite a few years ago.

But they're one of my favorites.

When the color changes from green to red that's when they're ready to eat.

And it makes the best jelly ever.

And the deeper the red, the higher the sugar content -Yes, absolutely.

-My childhood [Pat laughs] Why did I ever leave Germany?

I don't know.

Tell me.

[Pat laughs] It's beautiful.

Mm.

They're really sweet already.

They are good.

[Walter] My mind is already thinking of what could I possibly cook next when you see the abundance you got here.

-Yeah.

-And it's such a beautiful example of craftsmanship that you see displayed in this garden.

[Pat] Since you're going to be making that beet recipe, we have beets that are just starting to ripen and get a really reasonable size.

I've got the red Early Wonders.

-Early Wonders?

Nice.

-It's doing tremendously well.

We just started pulling them.

-Beautiful.

-These are going to be delicious.

I mean, you're going to cook these in the next 30 minutes and it's like you couldn't get anything fresher.

Do me a favor, hand me this one over here.

I mean, look at that.

Look at this one over here.

[Pat laughs] [crunching noise] Ohhhh!

-Listen to that crunch.

-Wow.

And the sweetness from that.

-Yeah.

[crunching noise] [Pat laughs] -Mmmm -I like a man who eats right in the garden.

[Pat laughs] -Those beets are so sweet and so spectacular.

I can't wait to try the recipe ♪♪ [fire burning] Joanne, what a pleasure to meet you.

Oh, welcome!

For a chef, It cannot get better than that.

We're cooking from the garden to the table.

And we're making a spectacular recipe that you researched.

[Joanne] This is called "To fry beets" It's from John Nott from 1724.

We took the beets, we baked them and then peeled them.

-When you roast something, you enhanced the flavor The sweetness.

Because the liquid evaporates and vegetables are usually 80 to 85% water.

-Right.

-So a roasting it is the way to go.

That happens to be Early Wonder is the name of the beet.

Imagine that.

-That's right.

Pat had said that Like me, I'm an early wonder.

Just kidding [both laugh] [Joanne] We need a fresh egg.

But we also need just one yolk and then we're going to use our birch twig whisk -What me to help?

-Would you like to?

Yes please -Oh, yeah.

-That would be lovely.

[Walter] Look how well it works.

-It works very, very well.

It works very, very well.

And we're going to add some sherry to it.

-Beautiful All right.

You got the sherry.

-The sherry, and then we're going to put in some cream.

-Here we go.

-OK, we got the liquid part of the batter done.

Let's do the dry part.

Add some flour some salt and a little bit of pepper.

-Do you need the cloves now?

-I was going to say, yes, we need the cloves.

-Oh, get a smell of that.

-Oh, nothing like fresh grated spices -It takes a lot of work.

-Yes.

-But it's really beautiful.

-OK -Oh, smells so good.

-Yes, it does.

And then add the liquid to the dry and then those slices of beets we'll end up putting in here, and they will steep for a while.

[Joanne] ust smell that.

[Walter sniffs] -Gosh -Isn't that good?

-I got to try a little bit of that marinade.

Wow.

I would've never believed that.

I was going to say so simple, but the flavor is just unbelievable.

Obviously, it's raw flour in there, but the flavor of the roasted beets together with a few spices.

I mean, that is spectacular I mean, that's hard to believe.

With a simple recipe, but so delicious.

Yes.

[Joanne] All right.

So we have some all purpose flour in here again, and we're going to add some breadcrumbs But there's no grocery stores at this time.

We had to bake our bread and use our rasper to grate it up.

We're putting twice as much breadcrumbs.

-Joanne, this is really hard to believe.

I have the flavor profile right in my tastebuds.

[Joanne] Then the parsley will go in here Oh, wonderful.

-It don't get better than that.

I tell you what.

You obviously know that this recipe is not going to stay with you anymore.

[Joanne laughs] You know that already right?

-Well, and I don't think we're going to have any beets to take home.

[both laugh] -I'm going to make this one time with golden beets as well.

Interesting enough.

-Oh, that would be good!

And now we're going to go get the frying pan ready we're going to bring out some of the hot coals and make a nice burner Well, we're melting the butter, and then we move it around to try to see how hot our pan is in different sections.

-Perfect yep -And it seems pretty even Dredge some of those beets.

-And stick 'em in the pan.

-And get them frying.

[sizzling] [Walter] What's nice about this particular skillet It's easy to rotate it so that you have even heat.

Oh, beautiful.

Wow.

What a beauty.

Look at the color, the beets shining through.

You got the fresh breadcrumbs, a little bit of the flour, the parsley from the garden.

This one doesn't take more than a couple of minutes, just brown on both sides because the beets are already roasted.

Cooked completely.

[Joanne] I've been waiting for this.

-You get the first bite.

-Oh, thank you.

I get the second bite.

Oh, gosh.

-Thank you.

-What a flavor!

I kid you not.

[Joanne] Very good, isn't it?

-You've done excellent.

Trust me, this is one spectacular vegetable dish From the garden into the summer kitchen.

Spectacular.

♪♪ [Narrator] Despite living in a closed society, the Moravians had an outstanding reputation for their hospitality towards outsiders.

In 1758, they established the Sun Inn just on the outskirts of the town.

Known for its renowned suites and accommodations, this Inn hosted passing travelers and even George Washington himself.

-Taverns, if they had anywhere to stay you may have been sleeping head to toe in a bed with another individual.

The Sun Inn was unique.

You had private bedrooms and a sitting area and also the cuisine was phenomenal.

So anybody of particular importance passing north or south would come here.

[Narrator] Not far from the Sun Inn the Moravian congregation would construct the Golden Eagle Hotel.

Built on the site of the very first house in Bethlehem, this lavish hotel would remain in operation for over 100 years.

[steel factory noises] In the early 1900s, the steel industry in Bethlehem was gaining global recognition for its introduction and success of the steel I-beam.

These fireproof beams fostered the construction of buildings taller than six stories high and championed the skyscrapers and bridges of modern day cities.

Recognizing the need for a new state of the art hotel, the president of Bethlehem Steel, Charles Schwab, tore down the Eagle Hotel and constructed the historic Hotel Bethlehem in 1922.

Made from Bethlehem Steel's new innovations, this rare fireproof hotel was a marvel for visitors and dignitaries from around the world and would become the grande dame of Bethlehem for decades to come.

[Walter] It's amazing sitting right here.

You couldn't possibly find a more historic site that I know of in this country.

This location effectively has been the center of the community of Bethlehem for over 275 years.

From this room, the view of the history that you speak of is incredible.

-It's right here.

-We look at the first municipal water system in the United States is right down below us.

The blacksmith shops here, the tannery, the Gemeinhaus up the street is the largest 18th century log structure building in America.

And all of the buildings are in continuous use.

Over 25 buildings preserved that represent the Moravian settlement.

♪♪ [chopping] [sizzling] [Walter] I am so excited for the opportunity to be able to cook today at the historic Hotel Bethlehem with my good friend Michael Adams, chef, It's a pleasure to be here.

And, you know your reputation precedes you.

Well, thank you very much.

And I look forward to cooking these dishes with you.

The recipes, you have a lot of European tradition, and early 18th century tradition, in incorporated in your offerings.

It's very nice.

That's right.

And, you know, we use, you know, classical techniques and marriage of flavors.

And then we're always throwing our own twist into things I see you're a big supporter of Pennsylvania Farms I can see that obviously, most of the things you purchase, you try to purchase as much as you can.

-Oh, we certainly do.

And farms just keep opening, new farms opening, and they just keep offering new ingredients and it keeps everybody excited in the kitchen.

Well that's a good thing because otherwise it gets dull and boring.

I mean, you got to come up with new ideas.

-We're preparing roasted Highborne Farm rack of venison with salsify, nice celery root soubise and port wine sauce.

[Walter] So salsifis, now, is almost a forgotten vegetable.

Almost forgotten.

Obviously, people like you dig for it and find it and bring the 18th century back to life.

-Yeah, we're really lucky to have Burnside Plantation with the Historic Museum and Sites.

And actually, they grow salsify every year for us.

You know, their goal is to emulate what they grew back in the 1800s.

And so, you know, it's hard to find other farmers to do that because it's a full season.

But they do it very successfully and we're happy to have them as a partner.

What we're going to do is we're going to start the port wine juniper sauce, and we're going to take a little bit of butter.

-Can never have enough butter.

-No.

And we're going to take some just thinly sliced shallots.

-I like shallots better than onions many times because they're sweeter.

-Oh, yeah.

-More flavor into it.

-Yeah.

-So, Chef, how does it feel being able to cook in the dining room today verses the kitchen?

-I think it's great.

It's fun!

[Walter laughs] -Well you got such a a beautiful hotel.

-Thank you.

-We wanted to show it off you know, so.

-We're going to do some juniper now.

And we're going to do some bay leaves.

-Yeah.

-And some fresh thyme.

We're going to put some peppercorn in here.

Just a few peppercorns.

And we're just going to sweat those shallots and bloom those herbs in the butter a little bit.

You don't really want caramelization on those onions.

You just want to sweat them until they're translucent.

-You get a beautiful aroma.

-Beautiful It takes away that rawness.

You get a sweetness from the shallot, and then that great juniper and peppercorn and thyme and bay leaf, a really nice balance.

And then we're going to take our port wine.

You make sure the port wine is good?

Did you taste it before?

[Michael exhales] [Walter laughs] [Michael] Not before the show.

[Walter laughs] We'll wait till after.

OK, now we're just going to take that and we're going to simmer that for a while.

Let that reduce and then our next step is going to be the celery root soubise.

-Yep, beautiful.

Celery root, again, a forgotten vegetable -It's strange.

Some things will fade away for a while.

Then all of a sudden it will show up on on menus everywhere.

You know, again, we use these in soups and then we'll throw them in the sous vide circulator as an accoutrement for, you know, our lamb dishes and our venison dishes, and you know, some of our beef dishes.

And we'll shave it down and pickle it.

And, you know, so we're always trying to come up with with new things.

The celery root is obviously great for stock because it adds a tremendous amount of flavor much more flavor than the green celery, as we know.

[Michael] Same size dice here.

-Because obviously that goes later in a blender.

-Correct.

We're going to puree everything together.

We're going to use some of the same herbs for this again, we're going to start off with some butter [sizzling] onions -You want all of it?

-Yep Put all of them in there.

All right.

So we're just going to do the same thing with the celery root and the onions.

We're going to sweat them down for about 20 minutes and we're going to add some aromatics to it.

We're going to do the bay leaf.

We're going to do the thyme.

And for this one, we're going to take a little bit of the rosemary.

-A little bit of rosemary -Just to perfume that sauce.

Juniper and rosemary go great together, -Big time.

-We'll put a leaf of sage in there as well.

Smash that a little bit.

-And so -Yeah We're going to take it and simmer it in the vegetable stock.

You know, we'll use a very neutral mélange of vegetables, carrots, celery, leeks, a little bit of onion, and we're going to let that go for about 30 minutes.

And then we're going to finish that by adding some cream.

We're going to reduce that down and then we're going to puree.

-Yep, perfect.

-All right.

-This is a gorgeous looking rack of venison you got there We're just going to demonstrate here how to tie it so that if you do roast the whole rack, you're going to get a nice even result.

Tie it on the bottom side.

So we're going to just make our first loop here.

And you don't want to tie it too tight.

So we're just going to keep that nice and nice and snug and we're going to do that all the way down.

[Walter] If you don't and you start roasting it, the lower part becomes completely well done.

-Yep, and you have rare at the other end.

-Yep.

-And you just do two loops like that.

And we're going to take it across the, the bottom the closer end.

We're going to take it up through and we're just going to do the same thing with every bone At this point, you know, for the restaurant because of the high volume that we do we'll put it in the sous vide circulator, for about 2 hours, and then we pull it out -A nice medium rare, 2 hours?

-Nice medium rare.

It's perfect.

And then from that point sear 'em in the pans, which is what we're going to do.

Wow.

What a miracle between classic and technology.

Isn't it amazing.?

It's an amazing balance.

All right.

So we're just going to take the the string off here.

And we don't have to untie everything.

We're just going to cut it at each loop.

And then we'll.. -Cut a couple of chops.

-We'll cut a couple chops.

I'm going to take this end chop off and do you see that?

That is just absolutely perfect.

-I can't even believe it, yea.

-Ya know, the next step is we're going to get some nice caramelization on here.

And we're going to baste it a little bit in some butter and those aromatics.

And then, I mean, it is an absolute gorgeous piece of venison.

I mean, it is.

-And what's so beautiful about it is the consistency you gain by doing it this way.

Yea.

That's great.

[Michael] Now, we want a slow caramelization on this.

-Well it's already completely beautiful medium rare.

So you just want to get the flavor enhanced.

And turn the heat up and then back down in a few minutes.

[sizzling] -Gosh, I get the smell of that.

Great.

-We're going to let these cook for about 4 minutes just to the point where it gets a really nice caramelization on there.

Once you get to about a minute away from it being done on the first side, we're just going to take a little bit of rosemary and a little bit of thyme and we're going to baste that a little bit.

So we're going to take that butter and again, you're adding flavor to each to each stage of the cooking process we did it in the sous vide bag and now we're doing it in the pan.

And you would do the same thing if you're roasting it, you just want to baste those.

Now we're going to get a nice caramelization on there.

-If I had my choice, I would like it like that better than roasting, -Oh, yea.

-Because you get additional flavor in it.

Look at that -We're going to get the flavor of the rosemary in there.

And you don't want the pan hot enough where you're going to brown the butter.

Just hot enough where it's melting down and infusing those herbs and, you get a really great result.

[Walter] So now in the end, you're just going to take the salsify that you already poached, peeled and poached.

Some garlic.

-Yep.

And that's it.

We're going to with same pan as the venison.

-Yeah, so you get the flavor.

-It picks up all those flavors, the rosemary, the thyme.

-You need some salt?

-A little salt and pepper.

-Perfect.

-And then let's just throw a smashed clove of garlic.

-Just a little bit -Just a little bit -Not to overpower it but to enhance it.

Beautiful.

-That's it.

Just warm it through.

OK, so now we're just going to add the little bit of demi-glace about equal part of demi and the port wine reduction With the soubise, we're going to just add some heavy cream and we're going to let that reduce down by about half finish the sauce with a little salt and fresh ground pepper we're just going to pull those herbs out of the soubise and you put it in your KitchenAid blender and puree it up and the venison.

-Salsify And it's again, grown for you on the historic farm, right?

-Yes, at the Burnside Plantation They grow the salsify every year for us.

I'm just going to spoon this up, but certainly strain it when you're finished the reduction.

-You've got a beautiful sheen to it.

Garnish that with a little bit of thyme.

It looks beautiful.

Almost too good to eat.

First, I got to try a little bit of your salsify.

Oh, I love salsify.

Then I want to try a little bit of the little bit with the soubise Oh, wow.

Give it up.

That's spectacular.

The flavor.

Oh!

All the aromas that we put into it penetrated that meat so extremely well.

And obviously the soubise speaks for itself.

What a beautiful plate.

What a great job, chef.

-Thank you All for A Taste of History from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

[Narrator] This program is made possible by the Blue and Gray Education Society, whose mission is to preserve American history through its historical guidebooks, nationwide tours, and philanthropic endeavors.

Viewers can find DVDs and cookbooks at atasteofhistory.org including the all new “A Taste of History Cookbook ” complete with step by step instructions of recipes seen on the show.

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