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Hey, everybody.
I'm Guy Fieri, and we're rolling out
looking for America's greatest diners, drive-ins, and dives.
This trip...
Oh, it's already tasty.
...we're sounding the alarm...
[ Horn blares ]
...for dishes with real-deal roots.
Dude. This is out of bounds.
In Toronto, Canada...
[ Imitates record scratching ]
...the Jewish deli...
[ Exhales deeply ]
This is what we do.
...perfecting the smoked-meat sandwich...
Okay. I'll take fatty. Not that I need it.
...and going old school with the schmaltz.
That's as big as my head.
Don't say anything.
Then, somewhere in Orange County, California...
This is not gonna suck.
...this Singapore food truck...
Crab cake.
A lot going on in there.
...slinging the savory flavors of southeast Asia.
That's the last thing I expected when I pulled up here.
That's all right here, right now,
on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
You know when you go on vacation and you leave your hometown?
You leave all your comfort food behind.
I was in Italy and I was jonesing for some Mexican food.
So, if you're a fan of delis,
and I'm talking about old-school Jewish-style delis,
and you're cruising through Toronto, Canada, don't worry.
They got a joint for you.
It's right here at Caplansky's.
It just smells amazing when you walk in,
and it just hits you and you want to eat.
You don't take little bites at Caplansky's.
It's Jewish soul food.
FIERI: Something owner Zane Caplansky
knows a lot about.
It's the food that I grew up with.
It's the food that my parents
and my grandparents grew up with.
And when he couldn't find a smoked-meat sandwich
that hit his high standards, he decided to do it himself.
[ Exhales deeply ]
This is what we do.
Hand-rubbed, house-smoked, hand-sliced.
Best smoked meat you'll ever have.
And he passed on the secrets
to his kitchen manager, Patrick Berrigan.
What are we gonna make first?
We're gonna make the spice rub for the smoked meat first.
All right. So, first thing -- brown sugar.
Next thing, nutmeg.
Little coriander seed.
A whole bunch of it.
Oh, yeah.
Ground --
Chili?
Nope. Ground cloves.
Cloves. Whoa!
That much?
Yep.
Chili flakes. Add some spice.
A little cinnamon. Fennel seed.
So you toast all the spices ahead of time.
Yes.
Great.
And then we do some cracked black pepper.
Brown mustard seed.
I'd like 10,000 marbles, please.
Some celery seed.
Dried onion?
Yes.
Never seen it that big.
Garlic flakes.
Dill seed.
And the best hickory-smoked salt.
Love it.
What's up next is we get our brisket out
and give her a good rub.
You don't brine it before you rub it?
No.
Oh, this is interesting.
2 1/2 gallons of water.
Yep.
And then a liter of curing salt.
A liter of it?
A liter.
It's a little sweet.
Yeah, it's nice, huh?
Yeah, eh?
Yeah, eh?
Yeah, just throw it in.
Mix it up real good.
And what's this funky runky?
Ascorbic acid.
It helps, like, kind of preserve the brisket.
Ooh.
Put a lid on it and then throw it in the fridge
for about a week to a week and a half.
Rinse it off, rub it again, then go to the smoker.
Yeah.
Word.
How long's this brisket been in?
For about 12 1/2 hours now.
Nice.
Yep. She looks good.
Now, there's really a way that this is cut.
The cutters up front really have a technique
that make it that much more delectable?
Oh, my God, yes.
And you got a guy up there that'll show me?
Oh, he's amazing. He's an artist.
So, this is our slicer, Naomichi.
The tallest slicer I've ever seen.
What choices do I have?
I recommend the fatty parts.
The fatty parts?
Okay, I'll take fatty. Not that I need it.
He's faster than my vertical slicer.
So, this is the fatty?
Yep.
Look at that.
Hit me with the mustard. Whatever you think.
That's what we're talking about.
Oh, my God.
Tender, little bit of spice, good amount of smoke, juicy.
Mmm.
That's awesome, buddy.
From the rub to the brine to the smoke to the slice,
you knock out every factor of it.
MAN: It's phenomenal.
One of the best smoked-meat sandwiches I've ever had.
CAPLANSKY: Everything we do here, we do it from scratch.
If we don't do it ourselves, we get it from other people
that are family-owned, small-batch, old-school.
Start to finish, this is what we do.
FIERI: It's an attention to detail
that starts with the basics.
We use schmaltz as much as we can.
Schmaltz. Chicken fat.
You've got to love it.
As olive oil is to Italian food,
pork fat is to southern cooking,
schmaltz is to Jewish food.
And it's the first ingredient
in what I've dubbed the King Kong of knish.
Smoked-meat knish.
The knish. It's really good comfort food.
It's just like my Bubbeh used to make.
Just good stuff.
Time to schmaltz.
Time to schmaltz right now.
All right, crank up the heat, kid.
First thing we're gonna put in here is the chicken fat.
That is about the most pure, golden, *** chicken fat
that I've ever seen.
Well, thank you.
Next thing we add is sliced white onions.
Just a little bit of salt.
And the chicken skin.
Yeah.
Okay.
We have to render it for about half an hour to 45 minutes.
Whoa.
So, now we got our schmaltz. Now we make the knish.
Yukon gold potatoes.
That have been cooked all the way down?
Yep. Cooked all the way down.
And lean smoked meat, ground up.
Hurry up before I eat it all.
And a bit of schmaltz.
Did you just sclop that out of your hand?
Sure did.
Some rosemary and some ground coriander.
Form it into a ball.
That's one?
Yep.
Is this a normal size for a knish?
Welcome to Caplansky's.
Place it in the middle of the puff pastry.
This is like knish gone wild.
[ Laughs ]
And then egg wash.
Make sure she sticks.
Another egg wash on top.
Sesame seeds to garnish.
That's enormous.
All right, in the oven. What temp?
350 for about 35 minutes.
VoilĂ .
That's as big as my head.
Don't say anything.
For some reason, I thought we were gonna hear a chain saw
when you got that fired up.
We throw some gravy on the plate.
It's a meal in itself.
There you go.
Dude, look at the size of this thing.
Dude.
This is out of bounds.
[ Laughs ]
It's salty, it's rich, it's smoked, it's schmaltzy.
The flavors are great, the balance is awesome,
the portion's ridiculous.
This will change the way you think of knish.
Knish is up.
Not that I need anything else to eat,
but if we were gonna have something else,
what would it be?
Let's have a little desert, you know.
Some maple bacon doughnuts.
Maple bacon doughnuts.
All right. I think I can be talked into that.
Not bad.
FIERI: We're hanging out at Caplansky's deli
in Toronto, Canada, where owner Zane Caplansky
has built a shrine to smoked meat.
He's putting it in everything, and I do mean everything.
Save room for some maple bacon doughnuts?
MAN: Absolutely.
Maple bacon doughnuts, ready to go.
All right. We're making the dough for the doughnuts?
Yep. So, baking soda.
Baking powder. Whole lot of sugar.
Some buttermilk. Eggs.
Salt?
Yep. Little bit of salt.
Nutmeg.
Egg yolks.
[ Imitates record scratching ]
See him start popping over there?
[ Laughs ]
Okay.
Beautiful.
Throw in a bit of the flour.
Cake flower?
Just regular A.P. flour.
Some crankage on this?
Yep.
Slowly.
Hold it. Hold it.
We keep that going for about 25 minutes.
And then we have to let it sit overnight, too.
All right, now we're gonna cure the beef bacon.
The beef bacon?
Yep.
Oh, 'cause there's no pork in this joint.
No pork.
No pork?
After working here, pork bacon doesn't even cut it anymore.
Let'*** it.
It's a 2 to 1 ratio
to curing salt to brown sugar.
And then one tablespoon of ascorbic acid.
And just give her a mix.
Make sure it's all covered.
So, we're using the belly of the beef.
Yep. Exactly.
It gets cured for about a week to a week and a half,
and then it gets smoked for about 8 1/2 hours.
Out of the depths of the smoker comes beef bacon.
All right, give me a slab of this. I want to check this out.
That's pretty crazy, dude.
Yeah.
Look at that.
Not too smoky, but rich, chewy, salty.
Wow.
Now time to do the doughnuts.
All right, it's a little bit of flour down.
Just roll it up into a little ball.
Throw some beef bacon in there.
Fold it up.
Yep.
Roll it a little more.
Then we'll throw them in the deep fryer.
You gonna serve that with gravy?
No. Maple syrup.
We're gonna remind all the viewers at home
that this is a doughnut stuffed with beef bacon.
Now drizzled with maple syrup
and a little powdered sugar.
There you go.
Oh, it's already tasty.
Mmm.
That maple syrup, with that little bit of saltiness there
of the beef bacon.
Wasn't what I was expecting.
I've had doughnuts with bacon on the outside of them
quite a few places.
But that right there, that's something in itself.
Great job, Pat.
They're amazing.
What makes them amazing?
The nice mixture of maple syrup and bacon
with the sweet dough.
Oh, my goodness.
That's the future of "Triple D" right there, by the way.
Hey, Zane, awesome joint, man.
Nice people, funny place, good energy.
Appreciate it.
FIERI: Up next, we're headed to Orange County, California...
Andale.
...where a Singapore food truck...
[ Whistles ]
...is serving up some serious flavor.
There's a lot going on in there.
You been here before?
GALVAN: Crab cake.
I hear it's the bomb.
It's a Singapore concept.
And they're never in the same location for lunch or dinner.
They're from Orange County, California.
This is Chomp Chomp Nation.
Yeah, it'll be me and the millions of people with me.
All day. Two steak, tofu, bean, and lamb.
Lots of fun, unique foods.
Singapore tofu burger, please.
How do you describe to people what Singaporean food is?
It's exotic, tropical Chinese food.
FIERI: Brought to America by the husband-and-wife team
of Robert Zuetell and Gina Galvan.
We call it quick gourmet.
Quick gourmet.
Comes out in 3 minutes, looks like $1 million.
Now, if you couldn't tell,
Robert's background is in restaurant P.R.
And Gina, I mean,
she just traveled the world as a food technologist.
I worked for all kinds
of restaurant chains and food manufacturers.
To develop food concepts and food recipes?
And she's picked up flavors that are
turning the truck into a spice market
with an outrageous blend mixed into this top seller.
Crab cake.
A delicious lunch for a good price.
[ Imitates drumbeats ]
[ Laughter ]
When I went to Singapore, I figured out
this is what Singapore tastes like.
And that's why I call this the aromatics package.
So, the key ingredients -- ginger.
Ginger.
Lemongrass. Shallots.
Galangal.
Galangal?
A relative of the ginger?
Yes.
Garlic.
Thai chilies.
And finally, the kaffir lime leaf.
Now, the kaffir lime leaf,
there's just such an intensity and such a richness...
[ Sniffs ] ...and such an amazing
aromatic flavor and essence that comes from it.
Okay.
Are you just gonna make this into a paste?
Kind of a rough paste.
All right. There it be.
[ Whistles ] Awesome.
So, what are we gonna make with this?
We're gonna make crab-cake sandwich.
Andale. What is this?
This is rice cake.
Cook it in this plastic,
and it compresses the rice as it cooks.
You boil it in that
or does it come pre-cooked in this?
No, you boil it in this.
And in Singapore, it's called ketupat.
It tastes like you cooked a bunch of rice,
little overcooked,
and then compressed it.
Mm-hmm.
The reason I put this in the crab cake is because
it makes the crab stand up nice and firm, you know?
Crumble that up a little bit.
Taste of Singapore in the aromatics packet.
Sri Lankan blue crab leg and claw.
Chili crab sauce.
I like that.
Sweet chili sauce. Mayonnaise.
Panko bread crumbs.
Panko.
Egg.
Oh, yes. This is looking good.
What is that over there?
[ Laughs ]
Caught you.
Can you get me that, please, which is the panko.
We're gonna make it a little crispy on the outside.
That's a good-looking crab cake.
Isn't that pretty?
Okay, now we're gonna walk over to the fryer.
You deep-fry it?
Yep.
FIERI: Everything's cooked in there, so you're just
frying it enough to put a crisp on it.
Yep.
What are we gonna make?
Our lemongrass kaffir lime vinaigrette.
Grape-seed oil.
Rice vinegar.
Our aromatics.
Kaffir lime leaves.
Kaffir lime leaf.
Whole thing.
And shallots.
Country Dijon mustard.
An emulsifier.
An emulsifier.
You're pretty smart there.
Chinese white pepper.
Lychee juice.
Lychee juice?
It's tropical and exotic,
so I like that exotic flavor in my vinaigrette.
Sweet chili sauce.
And cilantro.
Oh, yeah.
Yes.
Mmm.
Here we go.
Now we're making the slaw.
The slaw.
So, we have green cabbage
and red cabbage.
Carrots. Here we go.
Daikon.
Ooh, I like the daikon.
Cucumber.
Mango.
Oh, mango?
Uh-huh.
Red onion.
And this is the one I want to know what it really is.
Onion?
Green apple.
Really?
Mm-hmm.
All right, so, we mix it up, and then we'll serve
the slaw dressing on it to order?
Yes.
Now we're gonna plate up our crab cake.
Our tiger slaw.
Our lemongrass vinaigrette.
Our crab cake.
Spicy ketchup.
Spicy ketchup.
Chili crab sauce.
Mm-hmm.
And the slaw.
This is not gonna suck.
I'm telling you what.
That's tasty.
You've got tangy, sweet, crunchy, salty.
This really nice balance.
And the kicker to the whole thing
is that slaw.
Yay.
That's ridiculous.
[ Laughs ]
Awesome job.
Thank you.
Wow.
Crab cake.
MAN: This thing tastes like a really expensive crab cake.
It's delicious.
The crab cake, please.
Awesome.
FIERI: And there's more deliciousness where that came from,
like a juicy burger packed with mint and spices.
I'll give you a hint.
Baa. [ Chuckles ]
We'll work on that.
When we come back.
FIERI: We're in Orange County, California,
where a husband-and-wife team is bringing
Singaporean flavor to the people.
GALVAN: I like to see people smile.
I like to see the, "Wow, this is great."
FIERI: The only challenge is pinning down
this 9-ton tiger-striped behemoth.
MAN: Find out wherever they are
and have the best gourmet lunch truck around.
FIERI: So, they make it easy with a combo
of new-school social media and old-school technique
picked up from the ice-cream man.
[ Horn blares tune ]
That's the Chomp Chomp growl.
You hit that horn
and you pull up to an apartment complex.
People don't have to cook.
They can come out and get great, fresh
Singaporean food.
Yes.
FIERI: Like this gourmet sandwich...
GALVAN: Lamb burger.
...inspired by the Little India section of Singapore.
Delicious.
Lamb's big in Singapore?
It is.
So, we have Halal lamb.
Halal lamb?
Halal.
Really?
Yes.
The humane treating and slaughtering of the animal.
First up is the aromatics package.
Again, the magic mix.
We have mint.
Parsley.
You have some cilantro in there?
Cilantro.
Dark soy sauce.
Okay.
Very Singaporean.
We've got some Worcester.
And tamarind concentrate.
Really?
Yeah.
So, you got a sweet and a tang.
Uh-huh. And then our spice.
Mild curry powder.
Mild curry.
And hot curry.
Yeah.
Chinese white pepper and kosher salt.
[ Whistles ]
Okay. I've got to stand on my tippy toes.
You're gonna fall in.
[ Chuckling ] I know.
[ As Arnold Schwarzenegger ] You can do it. Work harder.
Focus on your future.
Dig deep. Meld the flavors.
It's ready to go.
[ Normal voice ] It's ready to go?
All right. So, we make the patty.
How many ounces?
We're doing four.
Then we flat-top this?
Flat-top it.
Grill it up on both sides.
Mm-hmm.
And make some yogurt sauce.
Uh-huh.
First ingredient is Greek yogurt.
Got it.
Then we've got parsley.
Cilantro.
Mint.
Lime juice -- freshly squeezed.
And our curry powder. Again.
Mild and hot.
Mild and the hot.
And lastly, a little bit of kosher salt.
Give this a stir.
Mmm. Smells good.
Can I taste it?
Yes.
Wow.
There's a lot going on in there.
Our cooked lamb's done.
Nice.
Just a little bit of sauce.
Yogurt sauce.
Correct.
And edamame sprouts.
There we go.
That's the last thing I expected
when I pulled up here.
[ Laughs ]
I think Singapore,
I think soy sauce, Asian food.
But I'm a sucker for a lamb burger.
The flavors are well balanced.
I like the spicy curry.
And the lamb, the herbs.
And then the bean sprouts, I think,
are a different texture.
I love that crunch,
the sweetness, herbaceousness of them.
The whole thing's a package deal.
I mean, it is a great lamb burger.
You're the bomb dot-com.
Chomp Chomp Nation.
[ Chuckles ]
Really unique flavors.
WOMAN: Really melts in your mouth. Really tender.
Lots of great spice.
FIERI: Congratulations.
Awesome place.
Thank you.
Funky joint, and you really take a lot of appreciation,
a lot of time, lot of care, lot of energy in your food.
Awesome.
So, that's it for this road trip,
but don't worry.
We got plenty more joints to find
all over this country.
I'll be looking for you next time
on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."
What do you feel the economy in Toronto
is looking forward to in the next upcoming year?
Mm.
Lower prices and the oil's going up.
[ Laughter ]
Shut the front door.