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Okay, Baba. What are we going to make now? I am going to teach you to make noodles. And
today Baba's Chicken Noodles?
And today is gonna be the day you're really gonna learn to make noodles.
I'm not gonna give up on you today. I will tell you, I'm very nervous. I'm actually
very nervous. I tried this 10 years ago and I failed.
No! Baba, I'm more nervous than playing on the
soccer field. Damir, why you are nervous?
Because I tried it last time. It was so difficult. Well, you're gonna learn today how it's not.
I'm telling you, even experienced, in my opinion are gonna - to do it right...
okay, let's just start with it and roll with it.
Hey, look Paige. She popped it this way. I've never done it that way.
Oh, cool! That's better.
Okay. That's kind of fun. On one of the shows I used the word "husk."
I don't know why I did that. I guess I was thinking about husk from corn.
'Cause we used to have a farm in Yugoslavia and we used to grow corn.
But I guess it's an egg shell. I do know what an egg shell is.
That was horrible, Baba. What? That's good.
Ah, look! I've got an egg... That's okay. You just pull out.
I did it again, Paige. Just pull out.
Well, I hope that my progress is a lot better than
the way I'm cracking eggs, Paige. I hope so too.
I thought you should be watching this. I am.
From that far? I want to sit down. I get tired of standing.
Oh, okay. Baba, now what do we do? As I take a little bit of Starbucks coffee.
Mix together eggs. With my hands?
Yes. My hands are clean. Let me do it.
Yeah! Okay, Baba let me do it because I gotta take
credit for this. I can't just let you do it for me. You gotta
mix it like this. Okay, then put two...
How long do I mix it like this? This is a weird feeling. I've never done this.
How much of that? Two! Mixi it.
Mixi it still? Yes!
Wow. Weird. Two.
It's been 10 years. I don't remember this. I try to forget that experience when I was
learning it the first time. That was painful, Paige.
Well how old were you then? I feel stupid. How old was I? I was 20. Ten
years ago. Don't you know by now I had you at 10.
Oh. Okay, I forgot. How long do I do this, Baba?
You mix together and make dough. This is a really weird feeling.
Why? If you've never done..
You never saw how I do? Baba, we did this before. Ten years ago. I
just can't remember it. Like I said. I tried to forget. So how much
more of that? You need to make hard dough.
Heart dough? Hard! Hard dough. Hard dough. Da!
Okay. Now what? You need to take from your fingers and put
a little bit on your fingers flour. On both?
No. On this one. And take out all those doughs. Oh, take out the dough off my fingers?
Yes. See how it does go out? I gets some more on me? It's kind of weird.
I cleaned my hands before I started this, Paige.
Okay. Don't you worry!
I saw so many people -- cooking people on the TV
they do with the hands. Really with the hands. Not with the gloves. Not with the spoons.
With the hands. This is definitely a process. I assure you,
to make this right, you have to use your hands. So, do me a favor. If I come to you house
and have Baba's chicken noodle soup, make sure you hands are clean.
I'm one of those guys that just gets wigged out when people make stuff with their dirty...
Paige! Did you see what Paige did?
Now you do this. Okay, this is Baba's infamous board.
Ivan made for me that. Chichi made this for you and it's 30 years
old? Yeah.
Wow. Okay, Baba. I gotta pay attention to this.
This is the part that's difficult. Because you have to know how to do it.
So she's adding more flour. The dough mustn't be sticky. It needs to be
very hard, because.. you're gonna work on that, Damir.
How do I do this, Baba? Look, I'll show you. It's so easy!
Look... Look...
An 80-year-old grandma is kicking' my butt on this. How embarrassing!
I'm kind of disappointed. I'm 100 times stronger than her.
The point is you made the dough until it's not stick on the...
So basically... hold on. What do you grind it here, with this?
Yeah. See? Let me do it, Baba. I gotta take credit for
this, for heaven's sake. Oh, I can do this.
Oh, that's like making cookies. The dough needs to be..
The dough is sticking. I need some more flour, Baba.
So you have to do this for awhile because you turn it-
Exactly! You gotta get the stickiness out of it because
it has to be hard, right? The dough must be hard and...
Is this kind of like making pizza dough? Yes!
Could you use this dough for pizza? Not! No, you need to have another kind.
So it's kind of but it's not, right? It's customized Baba's chicken noodle dough.
Yeah. You dot n't water, just eggs and flour. So this is why it takes longer, right?
See, Damir, you do good. I do good! Paige, I'm using some muscle. It's
sticky so now we need more, right? Here.
And how long? Well, the dough must be like mirror.
Like what? The dough needs to be like mirror.
What do you mean by that? It's like shy and...uh
Well, let me think. Shy and... Shy? The dough is not...
The dough is not a human, Baba. Yeah, it is. Let me see, Damir.
The dough, it's really like a ball. Okay, but are you doing it on the side like
I was doing it in the middle, but it seems like you are doing it more on the side.
I was rolling it in the middle this way, but that's not the way to do it.
You have to do it on the side. On the side and make a ball.
Cause then it makes a ball.
You see that, Paige? Yeah.
I got it. Damir, you got now.
I got it! Good job, dad.
Without these noodles it's not magical.
Even if you buy chicken broth and put my noodles in, it's really different soup.
Well, yeah, Baba. Because it doesn't have your broth. Hello?
That's right.
It probably is not bad for people that don't know it, but
if you know the broth side of it, then it is bad.
Can you feel it? Toughness.
Yeah, let me try it. Let me do it. I gotta get the credit for this, Baba.
It's still sticky, though. I can tell you, it's still sticky.
I don't want to put any more flour. We'll see.
I cheated. I found some flour there.
it's hard. -You are doing okay, Damir.
Now, I'm doing okay. I'm not doing great. -You are doing okay.
Good job. You want a cookie?
Hey, did you see how much I got paid for fixing the dishwasher, Paige?
How? Oh, yeah you have-
Cookies! -Oh, I'm still mad about that.
Why are you mad about it? She said, "I'm mad on you because you give him everything."
I only had two!
And I hid them from everyone.
I hid them from Danjela and Luka,
I mean I hid them and then all that effort for nothing, she just gave the whole thing to you.
But, Paige, of it a different way. Your father got paid handsomely for
fixing the dishwasher that needed to be fixed.
Yeah, that's true.
You gotta have some muscles to do this. -Baba says it's not about muscles.
She said, "You might be stronger than me, but I'm smarter in years."
She's doing it better than I am. -Do you see how smooth? Do you see? Smooth.
Wow that's a.. -Like a ball.
Okay, Baba. So what's the point? How do you do it with-
The point is you just put down. You just put down...
See? You just put down.
See? You just put down.
See? I'll show you how it's different with the dough.
Look. -It's very compact.
I guess you do this so you can make it more compact?
Yeah. That's right, Damir.
You can't be multitasking on this
Because this is the critical component of making Baba's chicken noodle soup.
It needs to be really hard when you roll it.
I remember that now. It's coming back to me, Paige.
Don't use any more flour.
Okay. No more flour. No more flour!
No more flour.
When the dough it not sticky.
Look, my hands are getting sticky.
But that's how you know that you made.
Okay, Baba. So now what? -Let me see.
Baba, I thought we were done.
She's making it into a ball much better than I am, Paige.
That's right. -if she doesn't like the way it looks she redoes it.
Well that's 65 years -- 70 years of experience.
Okay, this is the magic part. I remember you doing this as a little kid.
You're trying from the middle to go around.
I remember. You have to do this until you thin it out.
Here let me do it, Baba, so I can get a credit for this. This is kind of weird, Baba.
Why? Let me see. -Like that?
Yeah. -Front the middle?
Yeah. -Why from the middle? Why can't I go from here?
Because the middle is... is more dough than on the side.
Okay. Well, I'm just asking in case. You have a lot of cooking imbeciles like me
watching the show and learning how to do it.
Oh, it's getting... -Let me show you something.
Look. -Okay. So the ends.
Because middle is usually thickest.
Look, Paige, it's getting bigger! It's growing.
I see the little hand movements there like a football player.
See?
You don't push hard. Just slow.
That's kind of weird. I see. How do you do that?
Well, that's experience. I can't-
Baba, you gotta show me. I mean, that's experience is not going to do it, right, Paige?
Like this, see?
Very lightly go over the dough. -Here let me do it.
See? Very lightly, Damir.
Why're you doing it on top? Why can't I just push it.
Well, why don't you wash first your fingers, not to go apart in that?
Oh, wash my fingers. Paige don't laugh.
She just bossed you, big time.
Well, she is my mother.
Okay, so on this part, actually, your hands have to be very clean.
Clean, yeah because then the dough doesn't fall apart.
Cause I was tearing it up.
With one hit, we got everything today. Okay?
With just one hit.
Baba, I'm hungry.
Paige, that's why we're making the chicken.
Hello!
I have to wait four hours?
It's going to be another two - three hours, that's it.
So this is what it looks like. It's thin.
It's okay. I'll show you how it goes through the machine.
Okay, so this is pretty thin. -This is machine from Slovenia.
I remember this as a little boy. This is Noodlematic.
It's a noodle machine.
Wow, Baba, I can still read Serbian.
I does have English, I think.
I can still read Serbian,
even though I have not written Serbian in what, 30 years?
Okay, this is the magic noodle machine
And, Baba, what does the audience have to do, I mean, where do you get this?
You can't make the noodles without it.
We're going to look it up for you, where you can get this.
If you're not using this type of noodle machine, it's not going to be Baba's chicken noodle soup.
I remember catching this as a little boy. -That's right.
Now it's being flattened. What do I do with this? -Put it on the side.
It's very thin and it's going to get even... when it's cut up, when it goes through this side,
of the noodle machine, then it gets really thin, like little strands.
Two times through the machine. -Your run it two times?
How do you know whether to run it two times or not?
Just do it.
Just do it anyway? -Yeah.
Run it twice to make it really thin?
Yeah.
Oh, it's much thinner now. That's what I was thinking about.
It is much thinner now.
I would say, half as thin. -Yeah. Half, that's right.
I've got it opened up. It is very delicate.
And it is very thin, but because it is compact it's not breaking.
Run it twice?
Yeah.
I guess you have to dry it before you run it through the second side?
Is that what it is, Baba? Yeah.
Baba kind of surprised me here. We were not going to make the noodles today because
she knew I had fear about making then. Baba, you tricked me!
You tricked me because you know I have fear of making the noodles.
Znam
She said "I know" in Serbian.
Oh, this one is absolutely light, really light.
Damir...
So you break it up?
Because it was long. -Why are you hanging it?
Oh, she's hanging it, she told me in Serbian, we got enough noodles so
she's hanging it to make more space.
This is a long one. Baba, this is like Keystone Cops.
This is comedy without the clamp.
Yeah.
Wow this is a long one. Look! It's like a big snake.
Ah! Baba. -It's okay, Damir.
I got salt on it. -It's okay.
In the kitchen nothing is bothering.
You can fix everything.
Right?
Look at that.
Look at that. Wow! This is a long one, Baba.
Cut in a half and put over there. -No, Baba. I can hang it all the way.
Okay.
See now everything is all in order.
I do remember doing this, Baba, when I was a little boy, with you.
That's right. -Remember that?
Yeah. -I used to come and help you hold it?
In Yugoslavia. -Yeah.
I was about six or seven years old and I would come and hold this for Baba.
while she was doing it. When nobody else was around.
That's why I got the cookies later.
Wow
I got it, Baba. -Okay.
Let me do my job, ma'am.
Go ahead.
Ahhh! -It's okay, Damir.
Obviously this was not planned because we can't find Baba's noodle clamp.
Now, Damir. You need to check and put upside down
Noodles mustn't be be too dry.
If they are too dry, you can't fix it. -Put it through, right? Yeah.
-How do you know when it's not to dry? -I'll show you.
Baba, who taught you how to make the noodles?
My, mama. I learned everything from my mamma.
She learned everything from her mamma.
What the audience does not know is that the reason we are in America is
because of Baba's parents.
They came here...
in what... 1960s, right? -Sixty-two.
Sixty-two they came here. I wasn't even born.
When no one from a Communist country can go into America.
So they got out when nobody could get out of a Communist country.
Because they have Visa for Australia.
They had a Visa for Australia so... if this had ended the way it was supposed to end up
I would have been Australian. -That's right.
Because there's a huge influx of Serbs and Croats, or Yugoslavs in Australia
as much as Canada.
And in America there's a huge number of Yugoslavs--
And I say Yugoslavs because I still think of myself as a member of
of all the six republics.
In California, southern and northern, and also Chicago.
I can put it right there. -This is going to be done soon.
How long on the average? Do you know how long it sits there to dry? -I don't know.
Just quickly.
Done!
We are done.
With this phase. Now it's gotta dry.
You will know. It's starting to get dry.
Even if you don't time yourself, I can tell you, I don't even know how to cook,
but I can tell that it's time to do this.
Cause it's no completely dry... but this is the time to do it.
I would say it's been about 10 or 15 minutes, right, Baba?
So obviously you want it a little bit moist still so you can run it through this machine.
the second portion of the machine.
Now what I like about this machine from Slovenia is that
It's really thin. Notice how thin? -And it's a little machine.
And it's a little machine.
See. I'm gonna put here.
So you kind of open it up so it starts drying. -Leave to dry.
It starts drying. -Yes.
That's not dry. -That's not dry?
No.
And you just put upside down and it's very quick.
Hey, this is fun. So if you've got kids and you make this soup,
your kids are going to love helping you on this part..
of the process. I used to do this as a little kid, with Baba
in Yugoslavia.
It needs to be dry. Don't you dry this overnight, Baba? -Yeah.
I want to show the audience... I want to show you...
Look how thin this is. Okay?
That's what makes it so magical when you put it in the soup later
when it's all dried up. It gives it that incredicle dimension to the soup.
The soup is not fattening.
The soup has some magical powers to it
because my mom used to make it for my kids when they were sick.
And literally after they had Baba's chicken noodle soup,
they would feel better very quickly after that.
I mean sometimes within hours. It's amazing.
Okay, I'm just learning how.. -Just couple more minutes.
Couple more minutes. And so, Baba, you leave this out, right? To dry.
I leave that on the big table and do like this.
And I, all afternoon.
And then overnight I cover because I don't want Mitzy
to mess with with my noodles.
And so what happens is that once this is dried up it's uh...
When it's completely... -It hardens.
Yeah. When it's completely dry you can put in container.
You can put it in a container because you don't want it to be squashed down.
I usually use paper.. .like... картонска кутија.?
To translate, she uses a box made out of cardboard.
And then... put paper towel down.
Oh, paper towel? Okay.
And put a couple lawyers between paper towel and-
Oh, put layers.. -Yes.
Not lawyers. -Layers.
Layers.
You put paper towel on top on top, and then you put more, is that what you're saying?
Yes. You can put five... six layers.
So you don't squash them. -So you don't push them!
Well, we gonna have today beautiful soup.
And then when it's dried up, right?
When it's dried up and you're heating it up, then you just pour it in there.
Put in the boiling soup and then for three minutes it's out.
So when you want to prepare the dish you reboil the soup, right?
Yeah, you take everything. -The broth right?
Yes. -You take the broth out and then you boil it.
Yes. -And then you put it in for three minutes.
And that's you. You can serve. It's magical.
See what it means it's not to be too dry or too-
So you don't want to have it too dry or too wet because then it's just running through.
That's right.
Okay. -They're drying up, Baba.
I think these are good. No?
It's gonna be okay. -Yeah, they're beautiful.
Absolutely gorgeous noodles.
I've never seen in a store, even in high-end stores, seen thin noodles like this
Have you, Baba?
I saw some kind, Italian, very expensive, but that's not like fresh noodles.
Keep in mind that- -You can have those noodles a couple of months,
Even you can put in the freezer. -These?
Yes. -But I think they're magical when they're fresh.
Yeah. -I think if you can use the noodles within
two or three weeks they're absolutely magical.
I will tell you, I am an expert on Baba's Chicken Noodle Soup. I'm an expert.
I told you, nothing is hard. You just need to know way.